andi

I originally compiled two weeks worth of mixtapes at once here, filtering out one mix of only conventionally listenable songs (to be posted last week) and one mix of only experimental electronica/idm (to be posted this week). And then… something happened, and they got sorta mixed together. If you want the "all IDM" version of this mix, swap tracks 1 and 3 of this week's mixtape with tracks 1 and three of last week's.

1. "CHOMPI Ambient #1", Syncopator One

The CHOMPI is a digital sampler inspired by tape-music workflows and basically custom targeted to appeal to Kickstarter, with buttons made of keyboard keycaps, a toylike/"play"-oriented UX and a pink variant (yesss…).

This track shows the device off making highly effective infinite-reverb ambient. I've never thought "Music for Airports" felt like an airport but this feels like an airport. Like early in the morning, when it's mostly empty and the dawn light is giving everything a kind of unreal air.

2. "Soyut", DJ Strawberry

Very good, driving electronic music with frenetic, skittering beats, moving so fast by the time you understand what they're doing they're already past you. (Is this "Footwork"?) Has this emotionally ambiguous mood I can't quite describe except it's really intense. Someone on Mastodon named Eric Stein described this as "sense of unease (asmr jam)".

The musician recorded this album while processing his personal experiences of the devastating February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey; the title appears to be Turkish for "Abstract".

3. "I'd Chill For Your Sins", WINFIELD

Yamaha's 1983 DX7 synth was the sound of the 80s, the basis of Michael Jackson and so much else. The Yamaha PSR-11, meanwhile, is an almost-entirely-forgotten budget keyboard from 1986, discontinued after a year and based on a cut-down variant of the DX7's chip that was later used in AdLib and Soundblaster PC cards in the US. The PSR-11 has only two FM operators (compare six in the DX7, or even four in the Sega Genesis), and so while it vaguely suggests that classic FM sound it's just too primitive to deliver it. Its voices sound uncanny, like a demake of the 1980s.

This musician uses this primitive, demake-y feel to amazing effect, making every sound in this song on a PSR-11 (even the drums) as you watch. Result: The most evocative song that 1986 forgot to record.

4. "untitled", The Bleeple Syndicate

As far as I can tell from their YouTube, the "Syndicate" are 2 or 3 dudes who periodically meet in a basement and film themselves noodling with musical instruments. They don't seem to care who's listening.

Here, a big messy pile of electronics bumps out a chill vibey pattern while the Dudes play electric guitar and flute (regular flute) into echo pedals. This video has 42 views on YouTube and I really like it.

5. "Ghost Obelisks", Space Town

This musician uses two Dirtywave M8 handheld trackers laid out like DJ turntables, and controls the mixing on the tracks from a 16-knob MIDI controller in the center. There is a picture of a Chihuahua. This setup guides us through ambient shining sounds into effective 90s dark electronica with thumping beats and acid groans and yelps. Makes me think of Prodigy or Juno Reactor or MTV at 2 AM after midnight on a Sunday in 1999.

A 40-minute, continuously-changing live set with good "production values".

⬇️ Click below for some dub/ambient ⬇️

Some music made on desk tops

1. "ambient house / YAMAHA QY70", hi-channel!

Man, the QY70 is a beast! This is the 1997 music workstation/PDA/ur-groovebox I've linked works on before, used to make polished downtempo house music (bordering on hip hop beats to study to). The groove is super compelling and suggests a whole studio of gear.

This piece has kind of three movements, and I really like the first & third but find the second a bit cheesy. Maybe that's your thing tho.

2. "Lithium Drift", Eric Archer

This is synth designer Eric Archer, doing a product demonstration of his new (as of 2019 when the piece was recorded) modular unit the Rare Waves Hydronium. He uses four of these configured for different musical roles plus one distortion pedal and some minimal drums to make a downtempo acid journey that's a really compelling piece of music entirely apart from whether you're buying the synth. Feels crisp and clear.

3. "Sequencing with Pamela's New Workout and a Precision Adder", Electrum Modular

What's coolest to me about modular synths is when you use waveform generators not just as sounds but also to generate pitch control voltages. This peppy techno track does that by "adding" voltages of two slow waves, one for root note and the other for variation. The video shows an explosion of spaghetti wires then walks you (in detailed text captions) through each strand of spaghetti in the chain.

4. "Yuki Satellites", Radix

This is a classic tracker tune made in (apparently— the YouTube poster is the original composer) FastTracker II for DOS. One of my favorite pieces of tracker music— lots of vocal samples and cool-sounding crunchy beats, just really fun.

Made in 1999 (post-BBS era) this track was actually originally distributed as mp3, not as tracker files— the .XM only got released when tracker tech got a revival in the late 00s.

5. "Elektron Octatrack + Make Noise 0-Coast Electro / IDM Jam", cnstruct

A quirky, funky techno jam with a really distinctive fresh feeling. (Lovely sampled 808 drums.) Has really strange sound design that it kind of slips past you, it took until my second listen to notice how weird the drum patterns and 0-coast sounds are. Second half kicks up the energy level in a nice way. The soundtrack to a space program based entirely on astral projection

⬇️ Click below for two more tabletop IDM jams ⬇️