Favorite Releases from December 2021
"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from…
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning…"
T.S Eliot
The month of December continues to paint sonic pictures of magical moments and shine the light on the mesmerizing releases, exciting remixes, and exceptional electronic music albums. We have compiled a list of 10 favorite tracks, featuring such fervent artists as keyeke, Dycide, Luigi Tozzi, SKY H1, John Beltran, Move D, Nthng, Rival Consoles, Polygonia, and Igacorosas.
Keyeke
Ambia
Something Happening Somewhere
The Dutch imprint Something Happening Somewhere closes the year on a high note with the fifth "SOMEWHERE" compilation. As usual, Nuno Dos Santos beautifully curates this compilation, creating a mood of mystery and deeply unsettled introspection. This edition brings together 12 talented artists such as Bas Dobbelaer, Sigward, the On-Board Music's Laura BCR, Vand, Paul Twin, keyeke, Stefan Vincent, Sabine Swills, Rochat, among others.
Amsterdam-based producer and De Lichting collective affiliate Nathan Kofi is best known for exploring the deep ends between music and art. He provides a beautiful contribution to the compilation under the new alias, keyeke. His track "Ambia" is a slow-shifting tapestry of multifaceted atmospheric soundscapes and pastoral images. Each element feels masterfully weighted and separated to create a sense of dream and harmony.
Dycide
Inner Revelation
Lowless Records
Lowless is a Paris-based musical project focused on deep and dubby techno by emerging and talented artists through vinyl releases and events. The label unveiled the fourth installment of its "Rhizome" compilation series featuring fifteen tracks from Bas Dobbelaer, Polygonia, Owl, Dycide, Kontinum, Laima Adelaide, Anechoic, Iberia, MTRL, and many more. "Rhizome 04"
Hailing from Munich, the IO record label co-founder Dycide has been quietly building a catalog of deep and ambient techno productions released on Solid Shape Records, Lowless, IO, and T3K. His track "Inner Revelation" floats on subtle and magical tranquility layered over constantly evolving organic textures and timbres.
Luigi Tozzi
Epica Del Ritorno
Hypnus Records
Luigi Tozzi returns to Hypnus Records with a third volume of his introspective "Deep Blue" compilation series. The latest edition, "Deep Blue: Volume 3," portrays deep atmospheres and moods overshadowed by hypnotic rhythms and imaginative sound effects. It comes complete with three bonus tracks included in the digital version.
The sixth track on the album, Epica Del Ritorno is brimming with delicate melodies, ambient touches cloaked in an enigmatic atmosphere of winding eeriness blowing through controlled cycles.
SKY H1
Topaz
AD 93
Belgian producer SKY H1 debuts on AD 93 with the highly-anticipated album "Azure." Across nine tracks, the artist fuses disparate moods, styles, and experiences into a vibrant collection that touches on ambient, drum & bass, grime, dubstep, and techno. The highly personal album evokes memories of her mother, to whom the album is dedicated. In the artist's own words:
"This is a personal album being dedicated to the memory of her mother and also referencing the Access Virus synth. A piece of kit that helped define electronic music around the turn of the century. At times 'Azure' has its feet in the past, but its eyes on the future."
Combining aural aesthetic with ever-evolving sounds of comet-inspiring modular synths, the third track,' Topaz', effortlessly flows through a delicate ornate of buoyant harmonies and sonic textures.
John Beltran
Love Freq
Furthur Electronics
The legendary Detroit producer John Beltran presents his new mini-album. Entitled "Aesthete" drew in broader strokes of emotional power, melting electronics with retro-futuristic rhythms, crystalline synth melodies, and engaging sonic landscapes.
The lusciously rhythmic track "Love Freq" closes the album with vibrant synth melodies anchored by shimmering rides lush groove that sends the listener off into euphoric bliss.
Move D
Inside The Freero Dome
Smallville Records
The latest installment from Smallville Records is courtesy of the veteran producer Move D. "Inside The Freero Dome" marks David Moufang's first solo release for the label following the numerous collaborative work with Benjamin Brunn and his contributions as part of the L'Amour Fou. The three-track collection beautifully balances on the edges of the sensuality of electronica and elegance of the minimal house.
The title track "Inside The Freero Dome" mixes the smooth piano chords and hazy waves of sound with the nocturnal-sounding atmosphere recorded inside the dome space at the Freerotation festival to craft a journey with an evocative mood.
Nthng
Sunshine In My Eyes
Transatlantic Records
Following releases on Mörk, Delsin, Lobster Theremin, Lobster Theremin Sequence, and his own Transatlantic Records, Nthng comes back with another diverse package, the "Earthseed" EP. Renowned for moving fearlessly through a broad spectrum of sounds, the four-track record brings forward a beautiful flow of ambient, heavily-rhythmic techno, and cinematic drum & bass mood.
In 'Sunshine In My Eyes,' the Dutch producer explores emotional moments, luring the listener with lush pads, balmy synth melodies, and atmospheric drum & bass rhythms all wrapped in a dreamy ambiance.
Rival Consoles
Overflow
Erased Tapes
Rival Console transcends the boundaries of electronic music with his seventh studio album composed for the renowned choreographer Alexander Whitley's contemporary dance production. Released through the Erased Tapes, the conceptual album "Overflow" reverberates with a kinetic energy "exploring themes of the human and emotional consequences of life surrounded by data, the piece echoes the concept of social media, advertising, marketing companies, and political factions exploiting our data to gain wealth, political advantage and sow division. Key reading for the project was based around the contemporary philosophical work Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han."
"I Like features the mapping of data from dancer Tia Hockey's personal monologue, which allows chords to be heard - but only based on the activity of her voice, drawing attention to things happening behind the curtain, invisible systems, algorithms. The album also features the previously released standalone slice of euphoria, Pulses of Information - described by UK mag Clash as "typically entrancing, Pulses of Information seems to encourage a form of internal dialogue, between our inner and outer selves.""
The title track is one of the stand-out tracks on the album, with distinct emphasis on shape-morphing soundscapes, vocal samples, and a powerful synth to immerse listeners in the world of a vibrating dance floor.
Polygonia
Jäger Der Lüfte
Huinali Recordings
Polygonia's musical journey through 2021 culminates with the new album "Abbilder einer vergessenen Welt” released via Huinali Recordings. Across eight tracks, the Munich-based producer and a member of the IO collective paints deep and atmospheric soundscapes with strokes of eerie textures and organic grooves, taking inspiration from the imagery of German forests. Here is what Huinali Recordings says about this album:
"It symbolizes an homage to nature from the artist's point of view and reflects the rich diversity of our ecosystems. The LP offers dark and textured moments as well as very bright and open parts. It describes the behaviour of animals, certain places you can find in a forest and the movement of plants using the special language of electronic music production."
"Jäger Der Lüfte" merges airy percussive rhythms with cool and refreshing textures, juxtaposing ambient sound washes and field recordings with frosty tranquility.
Igacorosas
Redub
Agos
Singapore-based imprint Agos marks the end of the year with the beautiful album from Japanese artist Igacorosas. Drawing from an amalgam of elegant soundscapes, "Munou" contains a wide-ranging palette of sonic textures, hues, and tones that propel its seven tracks through the landscape of the night city.
The slow-building fifth track, "Redub" reveals itself gradually, fluttering between subtly euphoric and vaguely ambient with a meticulous commingling of warm, organic flourishes and hypnotic techno rhythms.