Glitchy, funky and drenched in 80s’ corporate culture kitsch, ‘On the Telephone’ will have you dancing then drooling all over the living room floor as your friends call for an ambulance. Chasing down the sounds of that sweet after-work drink gone off the rails, ‘Preferred Stock’ feels like a dosed-up trip across the city night, lit by the ambulance warning lights flaring across the neon-paved landscape.

Tagged onto the release is the announcement of an upcoming EP and Album for the coming year, and we couldn’t be more chuffed to hear what Nmesh has in store for us.

On The Telephone / Preferred Stock by Nmesh

Nmesh ‘On the Telephone/Preferred Stock’ is out now on bandcamp.

Vengeance III by Starfounder

Favorite tracks : Purgatory, Gray Man

Starfounder is out now via Bandcamp.

Kagami Smile’s Secrets Between is available via Kudatah on Bandcamp and Spotify.

Known for his unusual and intense blend of darksynth, techno, and industrial, “Discordian Disco” deviates a bit from Filmmaker’s usual sound. In what may be his last full-length release of 2020, “Discordian Disco” is light on the disco and heavy on the discord. Although this might not seem retro at first, there are some gated-reverb drums and warm yet-minor key tonalities that anyone familiar with David Lynch’s work will feel instantly be nostalgic for.

Drawing inspiration from Greek goddess of chaos, Eris, and elements of the Discordian religion, Filmmaker has crafted a uniquely interesting album that explores elements of dissonance and disharmony – creating an incredibly interesting listening experience. Wrapped in a cloak of IDM-styled beats, “Discordian Disco” is the perfect tribute album to the fickle goddess of discord!

Grab a listen here!

However, in spite of the name and sound being somewhat derivative – there is a lot  to love in “V​.​H​.​S. Volcanic / Harmonic / Sounds!”  Complex IDM beats overlap interesting synths that meld together and contrast to create some really fantastic tracks.

In fact, listening further, one can hear where “V​.​H​.​S. Volcanic / Harmonic / Sounds” actually take a lot of cues from Com Truise – but then branches out and creates something new, sounding a bit more influenced by traditional electronic dance music, and here the album truly begins to shine. Other moments feel more like traditional synthwave as well – an aesthetic that Com Truise himself predates.

Overall,  “V​.​H​.​S. Volcanic / Harmonic / Sounds” is an interesting mix of genres and a decent first showing for Buspin Jieber. It feels a bit derivative – sure – but underneath that is a decent sound waiting to escape and we’re interested to hear what he has in store for us in the future!

Listen to “V​.​H​.​S. Volcanic / Harmonic / Sounds” Here

Sn

A few months ago, while on the phone with T.S., the founder of NRW, I was talking about certain trends in avant-garde styles of pop developing in London, and how it would be interesting to see these aggressively experimental musical choices manifest in the synthwave scene. With Migration 2019, Fixions has managed to craft an album that not only answers that call, but that also delights me to the point that it feels specifically made for me.

While I’m not certain if Fixions was inspired by the idiosyncrasies found in PC Music releases, some of the stylistic choices are similar, as is the sheer commitment to strangeness. The first track, “2019”, captures much of what I love on this album. The experimentation is most obvious in the chopped and pitched vocal samples, adding something in between melody and percussive textures to an already funky and catchy song. There is a playfulness in the beats in the song that is carried over into much of the rest of the album. “They Live” follows, and pulses with Daft Punk-inspired groove. Even on the darker, moodier tracks, like “Grégoire & Nathan” or “Blasterion”, Fixions manages to keep the energy to the point where the track feels like it could explode at any moment, all of which is laced with the experimentation found on the rest of the futurist android music festival that is Migration 2019.

Fixions fixation with IDM becomes more prominent as the album progresses. “Anathar”, one of the album highlights, is littered with an intricate sort of randomness, feeling at times like a synthwave Aphex Twin. There’s a spontaneity to every sound and every synth, but it all fits together seamlessly, with catchy passages connected and layered. “Entity” is a similar track, in the sense that it is composed of unexpected moments. When the song lulls you into calm moments, it builds anticipation through mesmeric lines and some of the most interesting percussive sounds I’ve ever heard in the genre – one of which resembles a blacksmith hammering an anvil. The inventive nature of the album isn’t limited to one or two production tricks being repeated. Fixions’ ability to push the album sonically in so many different directions while also giving it a distinct and unifying sound is impressive.

There really aren’t dull moments in the 14 tracks of the album. Each song has a commitment to evolution, leading you to places that you might not expect the songs to go. 2016 has been a year with a lot of interesting growth and change in the genre, and this makes me excited. Migration 2019 is one of the least generic, most original sounding releases in the genre, and is a record that feels fresh after multiple spins. Each listen has different highlights throughout the run of the entire album, but also throughout individual songs.  

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