Chill, dreamy and atmospheric, here Jon combines my favorite echo/feedback/hiss device (the Strega) with a new device from SOMA which is actually not a synthesizer but is a literal bowed string instrument with guitar pickups. (It reminds me of some of the east Asian monochord derivatives, though SOMA themselves say they were inspired by Persian and Hindustani instruments.) Jon uses all this to create string and synth-tone sounds drifting in and out of aural fog.
- "Guess The Picture", DSP Kills
A fun, peppy jam that seems to be trying to hit as many different electronic music genres within three minutes as possible, but especially seems to love timbres from IDM and jungle. Created on an absolute nuclear control panel of a modular setup, but it's orchestrated from a PC running some sort of tracker so it's structured more like a complex mixed/prerecorded piece than typical live modular. I like the bass.
- "3x NYMPHES and 1 spare hour to shoot a video", Dimitra Manthou
As the title says, a synth designer/cofounder at Dreadbox had a slow afternoon one day, so she grabbed a Nymphes and over an hour dubbed it on itself 3 times to make this strange little song. It's short but it turned out really compelling, there's a fascinating mood to it. It tastes to me like aluminum.
If you've been following my music recs you'll notice I frequently push tracks that consist entirely of ominous howling, and this is for a simple reason, which is that I really like ominous howling. This is a great 10-minute track depicting the constant approach of an enormous swarm of invisible insects, punctuated by periodic electric squealing.
- "Finding Beauty in Distortion", Raucous Studio
Six minutes of meditative "weird noises" based around using an analog implementation of an OR gate as a distortion filter. Mostly very quiet actually, but full of lovely subtle moments. A good demonstration of how one can perceive rhythm in otherwise ambient works through simple things like a repeating click or a phaser pedal.
Headphones recommended.