Tabula Rasa Records - Here & Now

This project from label Tabula Rasa is massive. Here and Now doesn’t really require any context or lineage explanation, even though Co-Founder RamonPang has a storied history with IDM and indietronica. Critics first described projects like Warp’s Artificial Intelligence as Electronic Listening Music, and this is a project fit for the dancefloor or home listening. I would feel completely comfortable spinning the 2 step tracks at the start of this project.

YouTube: youtu.be/d45FJHO0VrM 

EPROM - Syntheism

Heads Up! Eprom is dropping his highly anticipated album Syntheism soon. Untitled Emotional Acid is a track that harkens back to the days of IDM as well, this time with an updated Acid House track, one of the genres that birthed Jungle. There's a spritz of trance in here at the end, and the single has a tracker mix which, for you kids, is when you program each of the sounds in with keyboard shortcuts in a completely different software than a DAW like Ableton or Logic Pro. The tracker remix has some hardware artifacts and distortion.

Bandcamp: eprom.bandcamp.com/album/syntheism 

Matt OX - OXygen

OXygen is a really fun project. Sure, he was a meme back during the Soundcloud 1.0 era, but Matt Ox has really spent his time deepening his craft. Also, SURF GANG produced this record, and I honestly thought AT LEAST WE TRIED was the last project they were going to work on. There’s some really fun tracks on here, like Wormhole and Fast. Pitchfork gave this a scathing review, which is more an indication of how out of touch that website is.

Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2TshAc1eZFt6PPYRnvozyU?si=X7jDYuWlQMy17cvUuOIIbg 

Dazegxd & quinn - dSX.fm

I’ve been listening to these two since Daze’s Game 3, and when Drive By Lullabies dropped I remember where I was. There’s been stories about quinn’s affiliation with the Eldia crew, and I’m really happy this album came to fruition. quinn is such a good vocalist, and Dazegxd updates that timeless jungle sound in such a fun way. There’s a footwork track on here as well, which is super exciting.

Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/4J6dUbViYDAQNDsJY7VYJx?si=lfuHgxNsQcuST9cFudj_Zg 

Tony Velour - 3ihanna

3ihanna is such a fun project. Tony messes with the Detroit flow in Atlanta. He’s a visionary for sure, and in Atlanta we celebrate our musical weirdos. The sampling is probably all uncleared, he made all the beats, and his raps are confident and weird. There’s so much humor in this project, yet he’s still better than your favorite rapper. Sorry you had to hear it from me.

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/tonyvonurmind/sets/3ihanna?si=2ae42dcef591412892d4c99bca3ff994&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing 

MOH BARETTA - 1017 / JOAQUIN PHOENIX

1017 / Joaquin Phoenix by Moh Barreta is a really good touchpoint for where rap may be heading. His flows slide back and forth across the beat a la Tony Shhnow, and his beat selection with this track is on point. I love the moody saw waves, bell lead, and slippery flows.

YouTube: youtu.be/qN7RzlBn3QA 

BEAR1BOSS - lemon pepper stepper

Bear1boss is an inspiration for Atlanta artists at this point. Lemon Pepper Stepper is such a dopamine rush of synth, piano, autotune and beat tags that it becomes essentially sound collage art interpreted through a dark plugg lens.

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/bear1boss/lemon-pepper-stepper-saint?si=e4fa12537cdc41b68206d734162a52b1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing 

JHL - Crystalline

JHL’s Crystalline is a beautiful collage of pop tropes. According to the Bandcamp liner notes for this release, they used a frankenstein approach, which to me sounds like they took pop structure and recontextualized it into a super shiny reconstructed pop song. This is the type of track I would love to hear playing out of a phone speaker between friends or on a massive sound system.

Bandcamp: soulfeeder.bandcamp.com/track/crystalline 

Knats - One for Josh

One for Josh by Knats is a track I’ve been spinning as of late. It’s got the modern jazz backbeat, some housey drums, and a great fusion sound. I was initially introduced to this group of young Brits by Kam Robinson who highly recommended them. There’s definitely plenty of potential and talent in the group, and I am super excited to see where they take their sound.

Bandcamp: knats.bandcamp.com/track/one-for-josh 

Girl_Irl - bullseye

With Bullseye, girl_irl updates their industrial pop sound we discussed earlier last year. I love the funky drum phrasing and metallic timbres of this track. There’s some adventurous vocal mixing with more distortion. Their voice is even more deadpan and cunty than ever before.

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/girl_irl/bullseye 

Sage Hardware -BH​-​017 Auto​-​Decay

Auto-Decay takes notes from modern black metal as well as early 2010s vaporwave. A-la Machine Girl, Sage Hardware and Dreamgliding switch from genre to genre effortlessly. Call it Cybergrind, Vapor-Metal, etc: it’s exciting, dreamy and worth a listen.

Bandcamp: basshousehtml.bandcamp.com/track/bh-017-auto-decay-feat-dreamgliding 

Agriculture - Look, Pt. 1

Speaking of black metal, Agriculture burst onto my timeline last year with the Circle Chant EP, and I love their most recent release Look, Pt.1. If you don’t have the ear for black metal, check out this project or Deafheaven’s Sunbather for nice introductions to the genre. One thing worth seriously noting about Agriculture is their departure from the bleak lyrical content of their predecessors into something more sublime and life affirming.

Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/3YCjhCRLDtOC8xIoz3fYii?si=lvZwZ0eYSYaVuZBMojzQEA