tiananmen square dance //



This track by Tarsier may be deemed out of place on a hipsteriffic blog such as this, due to its wiggy jungle sound, but I feel like it pays mad proper respect to some of the forefathers of IDM and downtempo music, like AFX and LFO, in a surprisingly heartfelt way. In fact, the servo-esque tone of “Flicker” kind of reminds me of some of Lusine’s or Outputmessage’s work, particularly the standout tracks available by way of Ghostly’s many various artist releases. Tarsier, an artist I discovered to be loosely affiliiated in some way with abstract hip-hop artist Alias via What.CD’s fantastic “related artists” map, is a Birmingham, UK electronic artist that only has a couple of tracks up for grabs via his Soundcloud, so do tha right thing, and get ‘em for free before the man’s jams get big!






MP3 Download of “Flicker”, by Tarsier



MP3 Download of “Atoll”, by Tarsier




1990 - “SEERS”




1990 put a new single out last November that I guess I missed. Available for free on his Bandcamp page, “Seers” is hopefully an indication of a new direction that artist may be taking with his next release. Taking the 16-bit era video game sound of The Discovery 1 Beat Tape and mixing in some Krusht-esque underground hip-hop stylin’, this larger-than-life single will probably be the best thing you hear today if you’re a fan of this newfangled chopped and screwed strain of chillwave. Do tha right thing and grab this badass electronic jamĀ here, and while you’re at it, grab theĀ Discovery 1 Beat Tape, if you haven’t already.



MP3 Download of “Seers” by 1990



MP3 Download of “Falcon Sword”, by 1990 (from The Discovery 1 Beat Tape)


MOUNT KIMBIE - “VERTICAL”



This sweet jam stood out like a beautifully sore thumb amid all the junk and clatter on “Overture Mixtape”, LYFSTYL’s most recent and, unfortunately, most awful offering yet. Forgive the negativity, please, because it’s been raining for days, but Will’s mix just wasn’t very good. In addition to the inclusion of Aphex Twin’s “IZ-US”, though, this little experimental electronic tune definitely needed to be repped a little bit more. British duo Mount Kimbie is known primarily for their work in dubstep, so naturally, they’ve kinda flown right by me without my noticing.

This track is from the Maybes EP, and it just may have convinced me to rethink the ambient, unimposing side of that genre. Akin to the lion’s share of what I’ve been hearing coming from Scuba, Mount Kimbie’s “Vertical” descends down from warm waves of negative sound space and muted tones, and is then joined by clear, glassy percussion and glitches. The track takes shape about halfway through when both the droning croon and the unintelligible lullaby kick in, but by then, it’s already over. Gotcha. You have to re-listen to catch the melodic twist again. Do tha right thing, and join me in checking out Mount Kimbie’s Maybes EP today.





MP3 Download of “Vertical”, by Mount Kimbie (from Maybes EP)



MP3 Download of “IZ-US”, by Aphex Twin (from Come to Daddy EP)


No, this post is not about a Fleetwood Mac song. Listen closely, and within the very first few seconds, you’ll notice heavy similarities between this song and a song I’ve referenced countless times on this blog. Fleetwood Mac’s “Seven Wonders” is heavily sampled by Pictureplane in his landmark rave jam “Goth Star”, from 2009’s “Dark Rift”. Unfortunately, while Pictureplane has a remarkable ability to fuck things up for the better, the original song is what makes “Goth Star” such a kickass anthem. Mildly buzzkilling, but then again who doesn’t sample these days? Visit Whosampled to “explore and discuss the DNA of music”, and also for a really neat resource to determine what was sampled in some of your favorite retro chillwave tunes.



Here’s what I found out about Pictureplane, Star Slinger, and Teengirl Fantasy. Really interesting thing to check out, as long as you do tha right thing and don’t hate!





MP3 Download of “Rene Storm”, by Star Slinger



MP3 Download of “Floor to Floor”, by Teengirl Fantasy