tiananmen square dance //

The cycle has begun anew. We are now on year three of Tiananmen Square Dance’s reign. With the inception of our domain, our Twitter, Facebook, and Bandcamp page, our reach has expanded exponentially. As a result, so has the amount of time and level of dedication that we’re putting into locating, praising, compiling, and perpetuating this new wave of independent electronic music. With this second anniversary upon us, we’re excited to announce the first edition of a brand new series, VHS Wave Vol One. There’s no better way to describe that microniche sound that we live for, so we officially adopting “VHS-wave” as our cornerstone focus. It is getting so incredibly difficult to whittle the deluge of fantastic jams that we pull in every month down to an acceptable length, but we’re sticking closely to the formula. In addition, we’ll be adopting a side A / side B method that we’ve loosely employed before, and that will be the rule for future monthly free mixes. With this particular installment, VHS Wave Vol One, we dug deep into the dark corners of the discographies of some of our favorite retro lo-fi synthwave acts, unearthing some choice cuts by Vektroid and 18 Carat Affair. In addition, we added some funky fuel to the fire in the form of entries by Midnight Runners and Sloslylove, thanks to the free new Keats//Collective Vol. 3 playlist. Friendzone’s original contribution, along with their production of Mondre M.A.N.’s “Do or Die” also come courtesy of their recently released Kuchibiru Network 3 mixtape. Of course, we also took great care to represent some of this past month’s standout singles as well, most notably Teams’ rocking new wave tune “Hatsumi” and Mirror Kisses’ eighties drenched synthwave banger “Runaways”. We are very happy with VHS Wave Volume One, a reasonably cohesive mixture of VHS-wave, synthwave, and new wave (with a splash of underground hip-hop). We hope you enjoy this collection as well. If you’re just joining us, feel free to peruse our back catalog here at our site or at our Bandcamp page. Follow our Twitter and Facebook for regular updates that don’t make it to the site. Those of you who have been fans for some time, we appreciate your retweets, shares, and posts immensely. Remember that every track on this mix that you enjoy was painstakingly crafted by a corresponding artist that deserves your financial support. Pay for their Bandcamp albums, pledge to their Kickstarters, and buy their merch. We love this current musical movement, and if it ends because no one paid for the songs, we’re gonna be pissed. In conclusion, do tha right thing. Download VHS Wave Volume One here, or stream it for free here.

SIDE A

1.   VEKTROID  orion megalith

2.   MIDNIGHT RUNNERS  stop over

3.   SLOSLYLOVE  been a long time

4.   SPINOFF  understood

5.   TEAMS  hatsumi

6.   SOFT LIGHTING  relive the motion

7.   SHADES  y.g. united

8.   MIRROR KISSES  runaways

9.   CROZET  before tomorrow, nooka

10. PHASEONE  hunter

SIDE B

11. FRIENDZONE  moments (part 2)

12. MONDRE M.A.N.  do or die

13. GUMMY†BE▲R!  daydreamingdeath

14. THE PILLARS OF CREATION  lust

15. FUJIMOTO TETSURO  puddle

16. 18 CARAT AFFAIR  10th & quindaro

17. WASTED NIGHTS  views

18. SAND CIRCLES  continuity

19. SUPREME CUTS  epitome

20. NAPOLIAN  rejoice

Download here.

Due to fan requests, better local uploading speeds, and record traffic, we will be fleshing out our back catalog of free monthly mixes over at our Bandcamp page. We added Tsq Vol II-3 to the lineup of free streaming playlists this morning, and we intend to have every entry in the second volume of monthly mixes available as soon as possible. Vol II-2 will probably be up for your consumption tonight. Thanks so much for the interaction, guys. Keep the requests coming, the links reposted, and the jams streamed and/or downloaded. We have over 6,000 logged listens since the inception of Tiananmen Square Dance at Bandcamp and one verified successful referral. Someone paid for 18 Carat Affair’s Gorgeous/Fantasy after “Iced” was just recently featured on our newest entry, Tsq Vol II-12, so pat yourselves on the back. Remember to funnel that rabid support towards the artists that actually create the art that we bring to your attention. Speaking of which, anyone who is interested in having their artwork featured on the cover of a mixtape in our next volume should get at us, like, yesterday. Just message us through Tumblr, tweet us, email us, post on Facebook, whatever. Lastly, in case you’re interested, here are the top ten tunes over at our Bandcamp. Peace.

1.   GAUNTLET HAIR  mop it up

2.   SUMMER OF HAZE  pussy juice

3.   THROWING SNOW  le cœur

4.   SELVA OSCURA  canopy wake

5.   CAPO BLANCO  hi, belmondo

6.   GIRAFFAGE  visible

7.   WASHED OUT  good luck

8.   PURO INSTINCT  dream lover

9.   TEAMS  love distance

10. STONER SHOWERS  give me a chance

On a creative whim, we spent an afternoon mixing down some ringtones for iOS users based on recent favorites and a few upcoming features. Those of you who like free customized ringtones best be checking out a little open-source program called iRinger, or just download the .zip file here for some legit tones. You’ll likely recognize the sounds, but below is a rundown of the contents of the package, all files thirty seconds long, tagged, and in m4r format. Pass ‘em around if you like what you hear.

18 Carat Affair - “Desire”

1990 - “EEPROM”

1990 - “Seers”

Abadabad - “California Birds (Keep Shelly in Athens remix)”

Bon Accord - “True Delusion”

Chris D’eon - “Now You Do”

Collarbones - “Hypothermia”

Com Truise - “Closed”

Craxxxsoft - “Can’t Be Friends”

Dreams West - “Super Gran Turismo”

Elite Gymnastics - “Here, in Heaven 2”

Elite Gymnastics - “Life/Trap”

Exeter - “88 MPH”

Fixers - “Iron Deer Dream (Keep Shelly in Athens remix)”

Foster the People - “Helena Beat (Com Truise remix)”

Futurecop! - “Afterburner”

Games - “No Disguise”

Holy Other - “Held”

Holy Other - “Love Some1”

Hoodcats - “One Pacifico Swing”

Joy Orbison - “Ladywell”

Krusht - “Everything Is Beautiful”

Mes Enfants - “Silent Times”

Pictureplane - “Body Mod (Krusht remix)”

Prurient - “A Meal Can Be Made”

Rimar - “As Time Moves Into This Home”

Rimar - “Higher Ground”

Small Black - “Love’s Not Enough”

Southern Shores - “Night Is Young”

Star Slinger - “Moet & Reese”

Stillsound - “Do You?”

Stoner Showers - “Give Me a Chance”

Sunday Morning - “Summer Please Come Soon”

Supreme Cuts - “Jacy”

Tapes - “M4CH1N3 L0V3”

Teams - “Love Distance”

Teengirl Fantasy - “Orbit”

The-Dream - “Fast Car (Exeter Delorean edit)”

Toro y Moi - “Saturday Love”

Vektroid - “Tahiti TV”

Warm Ghost - “I Will Return”

YUME - “2GETHR”

ZIP download of Tsq Tones

We had the distinct pleasure recently of dialoguing with Moses Abrego, the man behind the San José solo electronic act 1990. Twitter is truly an amazing communication tool, allowing the most unassuming of bedroom blogs to kick it with the big dogs (or at the very least, people who actually make art). We’re all huge fans of 1990’s sparkling brand of retro downtempo production. After being chewed up and spit out by his most recent full-length The Chassis Collection, we were naturally squealing like a pack of pre-pubescent Japanese schoolgirls when he agreed to answer a few questions that were keeping us up at night. We hope you have as much fun getting to know this intelligent and intrepid young beatmaker as we did, and we urge you to delve into his bite-size portfolio at his Bandcamp page. Almost all of his work is totally free to the masses, but if you find yourself as entranced by his vibes as we all are, please consider grabbing his newest release, the four-track Summer Time Slow Jams Vol. 1, and donating generously. Thanks again, Mose! Without further ado, 1990!

1. What is the story behind the moniker “1990”?

I actually get a lot of references to the year 1990, it actually has nothing to do with the year. About two years ago I started producing/making beats and I was sending ideas back and forth to a young woman friend of mine in San Francisco, I decided to create a myspace music account and upload my ideas and have her dissect them and give me her feedback. During the process of creating the account, myspace asked me for my artist name, I didn’t have one nor did I give it any thought. So I was looking around my apartment for an idea. As I was staring down I saw a bill from verizon wireless, they were charging me for going over my monthly allowance of minutes, and the amount was for $19.90. I got sidetracked and repeated “1990? how the fuck did I go over 1990?” so I was just messing around and typed in 1990 and I remembered a teacher once mentioning that people naturally remember numbers when reading a body of words, that the numbers stick with us because the symbols differ. I liked it, it was short, simple, and easy to remember.

2. I know everyone hates being genre-tagged, but how would you describe your own music?

I actually noticed that I’ve been classified as chillwave on different blogs and websites. I never purposely intended to create chillwave. I always just wanted to make bright electronic music. I always envisaged creating music that would be played in a futuristic dance hall. Bright, electronic, floating. I’ve heard my music be classified everywhere from glo fi to wonky and pretty much everything in between, if someone absolutely made me choose I would probably settle with wonky, but it’s literally never been a priority of mine to classify it. It just never occurred to me.

3. What are your greatest influences (artists, experiences, weather, etc.)?

Artist-wise I have a few major influences and they’re very wide ranging. First and foremost would be Fleetwood Mac, I fell in love with Stevie Nicks’ voice at a very young age. I always loved that gypsy feel to her image and music. The first time I had ever heard beat music was on accident, I heard “Knock Knock” by Mike Slott in the beginning of 09’ and it completely changed my life. Structurally, I always envision a song to be synonymous with the structure of a house. You have a solid foundation, in which you build on, then you add little cute shit like flat screens, and jacuzzi’s and the dynamics change with every room just like the dynamics change in every verse and every chorus, bridge etc. I learned this primarily from the metal band Thrice. They display such a solid understanding of the mechanics of songwriting, and I’ve always admired that. I made it my goal for about a year to study every genre of music, and just meticulously dissect every aspect of what makes it appealing, and every aspect of that genre’s identity. I would spend two weeks studying Japanese traditional, and then the next week I’m listening to Hank Williams Jr. and Patsy Cline. I’ve always hated when people completely shut themselves off to other genre’s. 

4. What is your opinion on the ever-changing structure of independent music?

I was actually just talking about this with a friend the other day. I firmly believe this generation is so truly blessed to have all of the tools and music outlets that we currently have at our disposal. I can find an artist and download their entire collection within minutes, and I can find at least 20 other artists I would like based on my interest on the original band. All of the music blogs and websites working indefatigably and tirelessly to deliver to us the best of underground music is a beautiful and unique thing exclusive to this generation. I think it’s absolutely beautiful. The fact that I’m a 22 year old bedroom producer being mentioned in the same breath as some truly amazing musicians is solely attributed to the hard work of the online warriors preaching and supporting, which is so awesome and would be impossible without the underground online music community, I am beyond thankful.

5. Does making music pay the bills? Is it more of a dedicated hobby?

This is double sided for me. I am an independent artist but at the same time I’m a freelance music producer for hire. I work for rap artists/singers producing popular mainstream music which provides my income and supports my habit of dabbling in glitchy electronic collections which I offer up on my bandcamp. So one supports the other.

6. What do you do for a living, and do you like it?

I’m currently producing music full time. I’m about to begin audio engineering school. I’ve decided if I want to pursue a music career in composing/producing for film, video games, artists etc. I should prob be as well versed in all aspects of the game as possible. I strongly believe preparation and dedicated hard work can trump and bypass all luck. I always have back up plans to back up plans. Everything is about lists and being organized for me. Even when approaching music, I have itineraries and schedules for every clap and synth that gets recorded.

7. What are some other things you enjoy about life besides art?

I actually just recently started playing video games. I had gone all 22 years without playing video games and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I’m pretty hooked now. I actually have this uncontrollable tendency of losing a lot. I will play x box live and just get destroyed by all these kids from all over, and they’re like half my age. I might not be much now but I’m confident by summers end I will definitely step my game up. Eyes peeled for that release.

8. As a known music fan, what are some of best musical experiences you have had with other people’s music?

I have two moments that stand out the most. The first I remember being very little in a child seat in the back seat of my mothers car and she was playing “Lookout Weekend” by Debbie Deb and that beat just possessed me. The laser sound FX, the big hard hitting kicks, the futuristic synths, the computer robotic voice singing with her. That was where my love for that whole scene began. I absolutely adore high energy/club music from the late 80’s and early 90’s like Debbie Deb, Expose, Stevie B, Shannon, etc. I have to admit that genre is my biggest influence today. I actually sample “Lookout Weekend” by Debbie Deb in every single song I’ve ever released. Whether it’s miniscule or a Main Character it is in every song from my first beat tape (Mixtape Edit Vol. 1) to my most recent (Summer Time Slow Jams Vol. 1) My second most memorable experience would have to be when I was 9, my father took me to a Santana Concert and we were at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA and I remember laying on the grass staring at the sky listening to “Samba Pa ti” which is my favorite song of all time and just letting the music completely take over me.

9. Also, what are some of the most memorable moments for you in your own musical journey?

I’ve been blessed to have worked with some amazingly talented artists from all over the world. I’m always truly honored whenever an artist specifically selects me to produce for them. One moment stands out to me and will always forever. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a few years recently and I decided to compete in an iStandard Music Showcase competition for producers. The judging panel was filled with popular artists and label exec’s and after I played my 5 beats, the first judge to speak was Willy Northpole who was recently signed to Ludacris’ label Disturbing the peace. His response to my music was this exactly, “Do y’all want me to be real or do y’all want me to be fake?” of course a heavy response from the crowd requested he be real, in which he continued, “1990 please don’t ever play your beats again in public. I saw the crowd bobbing their heads, and I don’t know how, I couldn’t catch the beat. I feel like you’re surrounded by yes people who are telling you your music is good when it’s really not” I was crushed and I seriously contemplated quitting music, and as I was smoking outside I realized I needed to hear that, because it was fuel for me. I worked harder and harder, and it wasn’t out of spite but it sparked something inside of me in a way. I’m thankful I went through that. I learned a lot that night.

10. Ever have anything particularly weird happen while touring or playing shows? 

I’ve only played a handful of shows but I would have to say that the weirdest thing that ever happened was when I was playing a show in Tempe, Arizona and in the middle of my set someone accidentally activated the sound girl’s microphone and you could hear her conversation she was having on the phone over my music. I think the audience just figured I was trying to be eccentric and that I recorded a phone call and played it. It was actually a very nice ambiance. I might add that in future pieces, or just try to get in touch with her and ask if I can sample her voice or something.

MP3 Download of “Systems”, by 1990 (from The Chassis Collection)

We interrupt this top ten countdown for a very special announcement: Tsq Vol II-5 is now available for free download and stream. This collection of jams is one of our favorites that we have had the distinct pleasure of compiling. It’s jam packed with legit bangers of the chillwave and downtempo variety, only barely slowing down for a few R&B/soul numbers and an ambient nod or two. The army of monkeys and robots down at Tiananmen Square Dance is taking it up a notch or two, easily doubling our intake of tunes on a monthly basis, further refining the 80-minute onslaught on your hungry hipsteriffic ears every third weekend of the month. This month’s batch of songs is just stellar. Really. Vol II-5 is comprised primarily of songs of the lo-fi retro synthpop ilk, courtesy of Teams, Futurecop!, Exeter, and a significant grouping of other entries. Largely uniform in sound, the landscape is dotted occasionally by underground hip-hop (Clams Casino) and droning instrumentals (Kingt0m, Heathered Pearls). Come for the swag, and stay for the personality, bro. Do tha right thing, and grab a free download of the mix here, or visit the TSQ Bandcamp page to stream it here. If you dig it, follow us on Facebook or Twitter for chill daily updates that don’t make it to the drawing board. Repost the mix on your favorite social network, recommend it to your friends, or play it at your next house party. If you don’t do any of these things, though, at least choose to monetarily support the artists that you like by buying their releases via iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, whatever. Without intrepid composers marching to the beat of their own respective drums, music such as this would neither ebb nor flow. Without further ado, Tsq Vol II-5!

Tsq Vol II-5

1.   TEAMS  love distance

2.   FUTURECOP!  afterburner

3.   LAY BAC  babe ESP

4.   COM TRUISE  open

5.   GIRAFFAGE  LUV

6.   SLOW MAGIC  corvette cassette

7.   ERIKA SPRING  hidden (sportag remix)

8.   EXETER  88 MPH

9.   1990  EEPROM

10. CHRIS D’EON  now you do

11. CLAMS CASINO  wassup

12. SUMMER OF HAZE  weedwave (choongum remix)

13. RACE OF ROBOTS  unlimited love

14. TOKIMONSTA  gamble

15. LLLL  drowned fish

16. KINGT0M  sleepboard

17. HEATHERED PEARLS  left climber

18. GHOSTTAILS  off mind

Download here, or stream here.

(cover artwork: “cycloid”, by matthew divito; tracklisting artwork: “effigy”, by matthew divito)

Datahowler is Ross Edman, a retro enthusiast, goddamn hipster, and solo electronic artist from Dallas, Texas who proficiently melds various current genres together into a surprisingly cohesive mix that is pleasant to the ears and vibrant to the mind. Blending musical elements of chillwave, downtempo, italo-disco, trip-hop, and guitar-based indie rock with strong sci-fi induced graphical elements, he gets the job done with aplomb. The sound of Datahowler’s music is reminiscent of a thicker, sunnier blend of Com Truise and Shlohmo, with the aesthetic approach of Cinnamon Chasers peppered into the recipe. Perusing the fellow’s Bandcamp, you can tell that he is a learned man and is very comfortable riding the fence between two worlds: ours, and that of his lively imagination. Having released a full-length, an EP, a live album, and an embellished mixtape, Edman has quite a bit to offer in comparison to a lot of today’s other independent artists.

His debut album Slowdrifter follows a motif that the artist has laid out for himself, utilizing glittering, euphonious sounds to paint a honey-tinged portrait of some colorful concept, usually revolving around vintage visions of space travel and of almighty science. Datahowler resigns himself to no one audio concept, visual aesthetic, or song arc, but instead uses the analog and the electronic to his advantage, smoothing it all over with—what else?—a thick lacquer of nostalgic pleasantries. At times comic, at times restful, and at times unsettling, Slowdrifter, over the course of fourteen tracks and thirty-six minutes, is at all times evocative. The album features more than its fair share of polysynthetic sampling, but it also incorporates a wide range of instrumentation played live DIY style, in order to further his theme. It is good fun, like Wallace & Gromit’s “A Grand Day Out”, so do tha right thing and get sucked into this black hole of a release here. Bonus: physical copy available in CD and cassette forms for a very reasonable price. Support independent music, y’all!

MP3 Download of “Voltage”, by Datahowler

MP3 Download of “Data/Lapse”, by Datahowler