Tentacle Loot #12 | Mætadata – Simulacra & Simulation

Simulacra and Simulation is synonymous with Jean Baudrillard’s book of the same name, a thing that’s no longer a thing. Something completely born out of virtual building blocks, refusing any reference point from the real world.

In an already alienated world of electronic music, one searches in vain for crutches, created by the artist to carry us back into the real world. Although it is “Electro” in the distant sense, it does not want to make us believe that it was written on analog sound generators with buttons, rotated by human hands. And although it sounds damn “funky”, every note, every beat is set by artificial intelligence. The only remaining reference is the core of this human tragedy: the loss of any reference point, wandering around in a hyperreality with the remaining question of whether this is the next logical step or the last step…

… and all in all, it’s damn funky, polished and suitable for clubs. Five out of five stars, desperately searching for their place in the vault of heaven.

Tentacle Loot #11 | The Hatcliffe House Tapes Vol. 7 – Incidental Moments And Accelerated Fusion

… or just one of countless research papers from the John Lee Richardson lab.

When you first land on the Bandcamp site of Indifferent Space Recordings, you feel a bit lost but yet tied up by unknown forces at the same time. What kind of planet is this? A tape label … an acid planet? But then track after track you become aware that you’ve stranded in a peaceful dictatorship, because this planet counts only one inhabitant:
Captain John Lee Richardson.

Richardson recently released the collected works of his two senior alter egos from his self-managed discography: Acrelid – Illegal Rave Tapes and The Hatcliffe House Tapes. While he indulges in a good old sample-loaded Braindance style on his Illegal Rave Tapes, his “House Tapes” are more dedicated to the laid back psychedelic spheres of retrofuturistic electronic music.

On the warm, limited frequency spectrum of a cassette recording, one get carried away into the infinite vastness of space and yet always has the feeling of being in a very personal, comfortably furnished parallel universe. Sometimes stoically impulsive as on old recordings of the Silver Apples, sometimes leaning back and playful as on many Ghost Box releases.

As I said, Vol. 7 – Incidental Moments and Accelerated Fusion is actually just an entry-level terminal if you decide to travel with Richardson. Because once you’ve started, you’re out there for a while. Far out!

Highly recommended are also his early Oscillopeisia releases as well as his YouTube channel, which gives a wonderfully blurry look from his spaceship.

Tentacle Loot #10 | Tihomir Zdjelarević – Mikrowelt

“Tihomir Zdjelarević is a Berlin based musician. He works with modular synthesizer, string synthesizer, guitar, Four track and hardware effects to create a large soundscape with a kosmic vibe”

Tihomir pretty obviously follows the paths of classic ambient music from the golden age of the analogue synthesizer. But he does so with a lot of passion and sensitivity. He put’s the Warp Speed Engine straight on 1 Lightmeter per hour and follows the routes of Cosmic Music, Krautrock and Psychedelia slowly and carefully. Therefore this music is by all means meditative, as it takes you to a place you’ve already been before – somewhere save – and lets your mind wander and expand.

So we highly recommend to just take these 40 Minutes off. Put away your smartphones turn off your computer, shield yourself from the surrounding Wifi and find a way to listen to MP3s in this rather uncommon setup.

Damn, what a stressful world.

Tentacle Loot #9 | Mindcolormusic aux4410

Mindcolormusic’s one man label mastermind DJ mnvr has been pretty busy releasing wonderful little mindbending braindance gems since last year. Sympathetically he skips back and forth between Compilations, EPs and Split-Eps on which he relies less on proven formats than on his sense of coherent track compilations. And so – behind the superstructure of Braindance, Acid and IDM – his publications  always tell a flush story beyond genre boundaries.

The fact that we are choosing the aux4410 from these short stories is, of course, due to the fact that Veglord Vodor L Zeck contributes his part on the knobs here. But together with Quadratschulz, Bromic, Sonornote, Bovaflux and a few others, it creates a wonderful something of nervous drum shuffle, sprinting acid lines and hovering disharmonic megarave emotions.

May the end of this story remain open for a long, long time!

Tentacle Loot #8 | Oxvac – Partials

As part of the American electronic music collective Pr0gramma Oxvac has been releasing his music since about 2015.

On his latest release “Partials” he clearly demonstrates references to abstract rhythm constructs as they were cited by greats like Autechre in the Warp era . However, he neither tries to make himself comfortable in homage nor in practising some kind of beatmashing-competition but adds a very personal coloring. Which, in its warmth, happily stands out from the cold, mathematical IDM sound. The warm analog origin of the modular system responsible for most of the synth sequences is clearly audible and the background noise that accompanies us throughout the whole album sets itself like a little piece of meadow under the tracks so that the organic melodies may writhe on it. The beat structures also seem to hover between complex patterns and a wide-breathing 4/4 bass drum.

So yet again another happy accident to find such beautiful electronic music from the U.S. of A. From this side of the Atlantic’s perspective I can  just say it’s nice that you’re no longer necessarily get overpowered by EDM-Metal-Dubstep, but can also lift the actual treasures (which have always been there!). At least on platforms like Bandcamp and Co.

Tentacle Loot #7 | Musik der Sterne Vol 1

“We are part of the universe and music is the code…“

This quote from Vangelis adorns the inlay of the tape compilation from Berlin-based tape label Per Musica Ad Astra. After a couple of vinyl releases and regular broadcasts on Intergalactic.FM they took the opportunity on their first compilation to run free on their obvious fondness for so-called Kosmische Musik . Restrained driving beats nestle in soaring pad sounds on their journey trough space to maintain a very homogeneous travel speed over the course to all eight representative planets (or artists as some may say). 

Well done Captain!

Sunken Treasures #1 | Patrick Vian – Bruits Et Temps Analogues

When I first became aware of Patrick Vian’s album
Bruits Et Temps Analogues by it’s release on Staubgold Records, I was not aware that this was a 1976 reissue because Vian’s expeditions to the soundscapes of jazz, fusion, electronica are so timeless and cross-genre.

In each of his titles, he builds up picturesque arrangements with the help of analog synthesizers, field recordings, percussion and all sorts of exotic instruments which never quite engage in classical song or instrumental structures, but always wavering towards an unique idea. Here and there it gets quite funky and you wait for the drums to go on the one, but Vian refuses the easy way, creating unique timeless sound paintings.

So, if you haven’t been travelling in a while, that’s the perfect Album to do so.

Tentacle Loot #6 | Brainwaltzera – Poly-Ana

When Brainwaltzera released Poly-Ana in 2017, coming out of nowhere, they were kinda hyped by the fact that they had no other than Aphex Twin as a true fan on their Soundcloud List. These Hypes can easily overshadow the true worth of an release or artist. But it must have worked and is granted to them.

Poly-Ana is kinda like a new Planet that all of a sudden appeared at your window and you start wondering if it always had been there. It combines the warm earthy sound structures of the ones like Four Tet with the wobbly Synth Melodies from Boards of Canada but always keeps to it’s very own emotional dimension. This helps the album to gradually break away from the mentioned comparisons in your consciousness and to develop a timeless value on its own.

Tentacle Loot #5 | Beathaven – Electro Sonatas

The mighty Beathaven himself labels it Devonshire Electronic Music.

“Unknown to the masses, techno and electro was invented in the dangerous back streets of North Devon. This music is in our veins, brains and hearts.”

Like most of his releases he published Electro Sonatas on his very own playground Midievil Records. And it’s yet another excellent example of the healthy diversity of acid infected, machine loving, intelligent dance jamming scene you can find under the hood of Bandcamp, Soundcloud and on various smaller Vinyl Labels.

It’s stunning how Beathaven keeps his tunes from the straight Four-To-The-Floor recipe but still gives you no other choice than follow with your body like a wigglely worm. Add some detuned Synth Lines on top and you can imagine how life was back in Midievil times. Dark but adventurous, rough but also spontaneous. So hopefully Beathaven will keep on leading us the way trough Devonshire Forest.

Tentacle Loot #4 | Ghostband – Grime Synthesis

Got that little scamp! Ghostband is not a band! It’s a kid in a candy store smearing his tunes with glittering melodies and evil plans to put you on one leg. And before you know it you are in the middle of a breakcore massacre.

Ghostband is throwing out self released recordings since 2011 but came first into my consciousness with his Tape Release Acid Deco which got some promotion via the legendary Bleep Store (Which is an offshoot from Warp Records as far as I’m aware). It had “Acid” in it’s name, so what could you do wrong by grabbing it. But it sure wasn’t an Acid Album. It reminded me somehow of Venetian Snare’s early sample based Breakcore mayhems, that always contained this errant wicked humor. But it wasn’t a Breakcore Album by definition. Instead it took all these ingredients and tossed them around with a very playful attitude.

Grime Synthesis takes this musical diversity even further (let alone that it’s not a Grime Album). It feels like AFXs Donkey Rhubarb on heavy rotation. Rhythmically it feels like a bouncing ball that refuses to listen to the laws of gravitation and while the melodies always start kinda fluttering around friendly, you know that this ain’t gonna end in peace.

Inhalts-Ende

That's the bottom of the sky.

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