RxRy: “DLTRA”.

01 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Maybe that's just me, but in my humble opinion, the enigmatic, US-based producer RxRy has dropped some of the finest, most forward-thinking and demanding electronic music over the past year, yet he still lacks that kind of attention and appreciation that you'd expect. But then again, maybe that's just me. However, I seriously dig his latest effort DLTRA, made available for free only a few days ago via his blog. And honestly, though they might not recite any hip house tropes or motivate anyone to dance along in excitement, you don't hear tracks as finely arranged and twisted as album standouts "Aertheiwflx" or opener "Tvarng" all that often, and RxRy's close attention on every detail is a sheer delight. Listen below, and download the whole thing over here. Highly recommended. Read more →

Samaritan: “Untitled 1982”.

01 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Norwich producer Sam Martin aka Samaritan uploaded a short yet very rewarding new track to his Soundcloud recently, the slowly flickering "Untitled 1982 ". Martin earned some well deserved props last year for his brilliant first efforts Part of the Jurys Vol. 1 and the Don't Try Love EP, and this track is a pleasant reminder that we can hope for more to come soon. Read more →

Announcing: Ad Hoc.

01 Feb 2012 — Henning Lahmann

When we mourned over the sudden demise of one of our favorite underground music resources Altered Zones last November (and thereby unfortunately upset a few people who we actually love and whose work we admire), we did neither know nor expect that something even more amazing would soon be announced by former AZ editors Emilie Friedlander and Ric Leichtung to follow in its footsteps - Ad Hoc - and that we, as a rather exciting side note, would subsequently be asked to take part as one of the ten music blogs that will constitute the core of the site, alongside all those truly essential and devoted music sites Visitation Rites, Raven Sings The Blues, Decoder, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Dummy Magazine, Mutant Sounds, Rose Quartz, International Tapes, and Distonal (ex-The Decibel Tolls). But as announced in the video above, Ad Hoc will be more than a blog collective: "Ad Hoc is also a quarterly zine - available in electronic and paper formats, and full of original art work and long-form features. Resurrecting the curatorial logic of zine culture, Ad Hoc will paint a dynamic, living landscape of the underground music world at large, setting the reflections of professional journalists and critics alongside artists, promoters, and other music-world personalities. Ad Hoc is a mosaic of voices, each offering its own partial illumination of underground music today, and what it means to navigate a rapidly changing industry in the era of information." Emilie and Ric and all other people involved have worked hard to make all this possible in the past weeks, and will continue to do so until the site's launch. However, we could use a little bit of your help, too, so a Kickstarter page has been set up, with (seriously) amazing rewards to gently convince you to aid us funding our dream. Regular transmissions will start soon. Until then, you may already connect via Facebook and Twitter, and we'll also keep you updated here. We hope Ad Hoc will be able to deliver what we've promised: Everything That You Could Ever Want In A Blog. Please help us make it happen. Read more →

Compilation: “Dark Side Of Pop”.

31 Jan 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

In courtesy of the Polish netlabel Cowshed Records, we were last week briefly introduced to the 19-track compilation Dark Side Of Pop, of which you might already have guessed features darker soundscapes of electronic pop, including exclusive tracks from a fine selection of producers and acts on a highly international level. Amongst the contributors are also NFOP favourites Pleq, Sun Glitters and Saskatchewan, but also some exciting new discovers such as UK's Face+Heel or Polish residents Body Spam, to mention a few. All though a great part of Dark Side Of Pop is centered around the deep, industrial sound with an obvious relation to the so-called witch house genre, it also proves to spin in a more interesting, almost brighter distance. Here, the Italian shoegaze trio Port-Royal provides with the stargazing listen "Electric Tears (Nothing's Gonna Change)", while Electric Fitness on the other hand dives further down into beauty in his remix of "Our Falling Snow" by Copenhagen's Sleep Party People. Below, we've picked out some of our favourites from the compilation, which you can also download for free if you follow this link. Pleq - Chamber Port-Royal - Electric Tears (Nothing's Gonna Change) Sun Glitters - Things Are Vortex Rikers - Serenade (hidden track) Face+heel - White Chalk Read more →

Video: Dylan Ettinger - “Wintermute”.

31 Jan 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Dylan Ettinger's (re)turn to songwriting after the spaced-out jam sessions of New Age Outlaws and his open embracement of deepest 80s cold wave is one of the most exciting music-related things to happen in 2012. The synth wizard's forthcoming album Lifetime Of Romance should be out in the beginning of March via Not Not Fun, and there'll be a slightly more elaborated piece about the album in the January edition of my Beyond Beats column on Electronic Beats that will be published any day now (though not in January apparently). Right now however, I strongly recommend the video for the stellar opening track "Wintermute", directed by Melissa Cha. Read more →

Premiere: Power Animal - “Exorcism”.

31 Jan 2012 — Henning Lahmann

Very honored to debut the title track of Power Animal's forthcoming tape Exorcism here today, the project's sophomore effort almost two years after the first full-length People Songs on Waaga. The Philadelphia outfit, once started as the solo project of Keith Hampson but now grown into a full band, carries out a delightfully experimental kind of leftfield pop with "Exorcism", bright and upbeat yet with a considerable amount of reflective and subtly melancholic undertones, some folky hints and above all beautiful harmonizations. Exorcism will be co-released February 21 by Crash Symbols and the band's own label/charitable non-profit organization Human Kindness Overflowing. All of the profits from digital sales will be donated to Philabundance, a Philadelphia-based charity organization that provides food to the needy in the area. Read more →

NFOP Sessions #7: Philco Fiction.

31 Jan 2012 — Tonje Thilesen

It's exactly a month ago since we gave you the 6th NFOP session with Ghost Animal, so obviously it's time for another one. We were lucky enough to get a hold of Oslo-based Philco Fiction when they paid a short visit to Berlin for the first POOL Showcase at Prince Charles last week, playing a stripped-down version of the outstandingly beautiful "Portrait Of Silence" backstage, taken from their debut album Take It Personal. It is by far the longest session I've done so far (lasting for as long as 8 minutes), but we can assure you that it will be worth the whole listen, even though the sound is quite poor compared to their studio material, obviously. Enjoy. Read more →