My log has something to tell you...

[Satie]

Yeah, all three of those songs have pretty simple production that doesn't really pull me in, and the lyrics that I can make out are kind of annoying. "Can't You Tell I'm a Sociopath" has that cool hook, though, and the album it's on isn't a million years long like Temporary Forever, so I might check that out in full at some point. In any case, pretty impressed you managed to tell the truth about his music and still suck me in with your enthusiasm and writeup.

[undefined]

[undefined]

next on the list we have

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Palmbomen II by Palmbomen II

Hypnotic outsider house in which every track is named after an X-Files character. I don't feel like I should really have to say anything beyond that


BUT I'm gonna do it all the same.

I LOVE the direction house music has been going lately. I don't know how long this trend has been going on exactly (I first started to notice it early last year with Kassem Mosse's Workshop 19), but lately a lot of house producers been pushing the boundaries of the genre by doing progressively more with less. You've got artists like OOBE, Perfume Advert, Michael DeMaio, and the aforementioned Kassem Mosse making house music that still functions as dance-friendly and stays true many of the genre's more traditional compositional elements, but is more subdued, more atmospheric, features more warped and distorted textures, and is unafraid to sometimes just be weird. It's the kind of music that if you were to play it in a club, everyone would look moderately confused for a few minutes before they all started grooving, eager for more. It's a slow-burn type of house, that doesn't sucker-punch you with killer keyboard loops, erratic 808s, or thundering synths, but which really works to subtly flesh out a unique kind of atmosphere. (It's a trend I've also noticed in grime, with producers like Logos really exploring the potential of instrumental grime to function well beyond the dance floor.)

The general structure of the music within Palmbomen II is fairly reflective of the overarching aesthetic of this new (at least I think it's new) trend. The tracks tend to be centrally focused on a basic set rhythm (which may or may not involve heavy syncopation), but stack atop that a couple ambient loops and slightly but perfectly "off" beeps and boops of all kinds which can develop in all sorts of different directions while always being centered on this initial rhythmic pattern; the base rhythm remains repetitive but everything beyond that maintains a kind of unpredictability rare in dance music (although I would argue that this style of house is just as much headphone listening material as it is dance music)

Another interesting aspect here is the way in which the various layers of audio complement and build off of each other without there being any kind of sonic spotlight on a particular loop or sample. Everything is very carefully layered and leveled so as to make each track feel like full entity rather than a series of loops and sounds being stacked upon each other; everything melds together in delicate synthesis to the point that one song can have completely sonically reformed itself by the end of the track but the adding and subtracting of loops and sounds and the general morphing of the track is subtle enough that you don't even really notice the transition; you might find yourself having danced to what is essentially two separate songs without even realizing it. This kind of careful handling of changing sonics makes the whole experience very easy to digest even when the sounds are at their oddest, and sure it starts to feel a little samey by the end but even at its worst its hardly less than pleasant. As far as this style of introspective sounding house goes, I think I still prefer this year's respective releases from the abovementioned Perfume Advert, Michael DeMaio, and OOBE, but I can still safely say that if I ever walk into a nightclub where Palmbomen II is coming out the system, I'm grabbing a drink and sticking around for awhile



Also I'll just say it again EVERY TRACK IS NAMED AFTER AN X-FILES CHARACTER and tbh that should be reason enough to check this shit out

[Satie]

Judging by your description (which has earned Palmbomen II a download), I think you'd also be wise to check out

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Person Of Interest by Person Of Interest

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[BrandonMiaow]

awesome write up. Yeah if I'm honest I haven't even listened to those instrumental demos (I might order the record though so then naturally I'd hear them), I just gave you that bandcamp link since it was easier.

will get to your rec soon!

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[BrandonMiaow]

[undefined]

just yanked this from Geevy's 2015 chart

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Geo Fi by CC Not

At first I thought I was in for some more of this newfangled low-key house I keep going on about, but this is far more in the realm of ambient techno, but with a heavy focus on low-frequency plodding and high-frequency clicking that bookends a mid-section that seems to consist almost entirely of floaty ambience, with tracks rapidly alternating between relaxing and energetic with surprising fluidity. I'm sure this would fly pretty well in a club setting, but there's something very alien going on here and I can't quite put my finger on it. The album almost evokes some kind of uncanny valley sensation and I don't really know if I wanna move or just intently sit there and try and sort out what's going on, which is especially interesting because compositionally this is fairly minimal, with only a few layers of audio that exhibit some mild transformation throughout the track but stay mostly focused on a central motif or sonic structure of some kind. It seems like pretty basic stuff so why does it make me feel so weird?

That's the best thing about the album honestly, this alien feeling, this mild discomfort underneath quite a bit of what more or less amounts to "ho damn this is some cool shit" that just throws everything a tiny bit out of whack, just enough to really highlight all the meticulous melodic subtlety atop the thumping bass and speedy click-clacks. It evokes the feeling of being lost in an alien world that a lot of similarly toned electronic music tends to touch upon, but where plenty of third rate ambient Warp clones attempt for a kind of "aimless floating" in this world, CC Not work at keeping you on a steady rhythmic glide through the whole thing where any surprises are all part of the plan, and it's one dizzying hell of a ride like some kind of slow-motion cyber-roller-coaster, and I'm already ready to get back in line and ride the whole damn thing again. I've a feeling the experience isn't gonna be quite the same the second or third time around, and that seriously excites me.

Geevy wins again

[undefined]

(satie quick to the punch with this adding albums to the db thing)

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Agitations by Lotic
will write some actual shit later when I'm done digesting but atm I'm essentially just