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Electronica Playlist – These days electronic based music encompasses a broad range of musical styles. For this playlist I have made it kind of a default for mid tempo electronic music that often doesn’t fit in any other of my categories. Photo of City of Toronto: The Star
“After the release of their debut, ‘Desire’, a record of otherworldly club music suffused with erotic vitality, the queer South African artist underwent training as a traditional Nguni spiritual healer, or sangoma, accepting the call from above to serve their earthly and ancestral communities. Their second album, On the Romance of Being, is a collective affair, with Marea stepping out from behind the laptop to front a 13-piece band culled from South Africa’s avant-garde jazz and experimental music scenes. Together, they take a leap from Desire’s digitized churn to swooning orchestral soul, dancing across the divide between flesh and spirit.” – Pitchfork
A third album ‘The Baddies of Isandlwana’ is due Nov.9, 2023.
On the Romance of Being – 2023
This video is a good segue into the second album
Desire – 2020
A sneak peak track from ‘The Baddies of Isandlwana, due Nov 2023. By this account it sounds as bombastic and powerful as anything they’ve put out. Really brings together both energies of the previous 2 albums.
Zuricha, with his background in classical, folk, experimental, pop, electronic and dance music, fuses his records with a large variety of sound textures and short musical stories interweaved gracefully to imbibe the listener into its deep, soothing and at the same time melancholic world. Zuricha used his wide arsenal of the musical crafts to create this unique soundscape. Soft and dynamic dance elements mixed with the live guitars, together with calm, emotive vocals and acoustic guitar . You cannot identify one specific style or influence here and one can certainly feel immaculate taste, precise execution and kindness at its soul when you listen to Zuricha´s music. Traxsource Distributed By Symphonic Distribution – www.symphonicdistribution.com
Inside Out – Released May 2018
Footshooter is the production moniker of south-east London based producer, DJ and musician Barney Whittaker. His production style blends the rhythms of UK dance music with the melodic textures and instrumentation of jazz and soul, alongside vocals, rapping and poetry from some of London’s most compelling new artists. – brainchildfestival.co.uk
One of the most exciting emerging voices in electronic music, David August has, at just 25 years old, continually refused to conform. He has released music on labels spanning underground hothouse Innervisions and Diynamic; remixed the likes of Max Cooper and The Acid; won 4th place in Resident Advisor’s best live acts of 2014 and 2015; embarked on a PHD in sound design; worked on politically charged music with Greek harpist and singer Sissi Rada; and performed with the 50-piece Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for 3 consecutive sold out nights. – Ninja Tune
Since having moved to Cape Town in 2007, Jumping Back Slash has released a slew of music including 13 self released EPs along with releases on the likes of Pollinate, Loose Squares, Enchufada and Cotch International. With a sound that fuses South African influences such as gqom with a grimey and dark sonic palette he has worked with the artist such as Spoek Mathambo, Okmalumkoolkat, Fantasma, Batuk, Omo Frenchie and Loui Lvndn as a producer/ co-producer and mixing engineer – Red Bull Academy
Inner City Outer Space Present: Sound of Suid Tronica Jumping Back Slash – UK born but South African based since 2007, JBS captivates his audience with his high-energy, hypnotic and penetrating sounds which veers towards Gqom and a darker, grimier and more stripped down sonic palette. Having grown up in the 90s London rave scene, JBS got in touch with South African kwaito and house music when he arrived in Cape Town and has since released music with labels: Pollinate, Loose Squares, Enchufada and Cotch International as well 13 self-released EPs. Having collaborated on productions with local artists such a Hlasko, Nonku Phiri, Shane Cooper, Umlilo, Jackie Queens, Spoek Mathambo and Eve Rakow to name a few. With a heavyweight catalogue of music that has garnered support from international acts Auntie Flo, Esa and Mervin Granger, Scratcha DVA, Mosca, DJ Simbad, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Alexander Nut, LV, Chrissy Murderbot, Jackmaster, Teki Latex, Falty DL and Benji B to name a few. A philosopher of great brilliance, Gareth reminded us of his prowess as he laid down this bold and beautiful set. – Youtube
Project Mooncircle front the debut full-length from Lyon-based artist Ivan Arlaud aka 1954. A Part Of Me is an LP of densely-crafted, emotional electronica. Tracks like ‘It Was Love’ and ‘Flowers Of The Dead Man’ come off like James Blake’s instrumental music if Blake didn’t leave so much space in his sound. Sampled drum breaks, deep-pitched vocals and mournful piano tracks flit around programmed drums and bass that hover between hip-hop, downtempo and Hotflush-era Mount Kimbie. Though vocals are often woven into the fabric of 1954’s sound, there are moments where singers take centre-stage – the neo-soul number ‘Blue Boy’ features a fine turn by Loup Na. – Bleep.
https://bleep.com/release/91613-1954-a-part-of-me
Sabrina & Samantha are an electronic music group originating in Paris, between Laurent Bardainne (co-founder of Poni Hoax, Limousine and Lost) & Julien Briffaz (co-founder of Tekel and Bot’ox). Sabrina & Samantha’s first release is KhEOPS
http://www.okayafrica.com/nonku-phiri-things-we-do-on-the-weekend/
Things We Do On The Weekend (Live)
Things We Do On The Weekend (Studio)
Branko – Let Me Go (feat. Nonku Phiri & Mr. Carmack)
Nice uptempo World Beat vibe
Regrettables. This one’s dark and grimey!
A playlist of some of her releases, it contains quite a bit of music from her rapping work with PHFat.
Brazilian experimental beat maker Pazes
https://soundcloud.com/pazes/sets/withabandon
Vienna based producer and Affine founding member Cid Rim hitting the streets again with two original synth-drenched firecrackers. The opener „Charge“ takes you places where hybrid dance music is the boss – sophisticated chord progressions merged with versatile funk flashes and organic slices. Followed by „Kano“, a rollercoaster ride through Cid´s characteristic drum machine workouts, convoluted beat textures and on top of that a wild fusion hook. On the flipside dutch crate-digger and avant-garde jazz cognoscente Jameszoo supplies a beautifully weird rhythm breaker rework of Charge. Soundcloud
Rioux’s latest on Bandcamp…
Moderat are Modeselektor and Apparat. Hardly anybody has brought electronic music from Berlin to the farthest flung corners of the world with more passion and enthusiasm than these two heavyweights. Monkeytown Records
Miguel Barros better known as Pional is a Spanish producer, remixer and electronic musician from Madrid, Spain. His solo career under the name Pional began in 2010 when he released his first EP, A Moot Point on the Hivern Discs label- Wikipedia
Brain Machine return to Emotional Response with their second album, Peaks. After their self titled debut became a cult for the cosmic, kosmische and kraut inspired explorers, they return some 8 years later with their follow up. Gone beyond. That’s what they say when a (astro) pilot crashes to earth and takes the journey into the big sky. When Juan Trippe took that last flight little did he know that his re-incarnated self would be an electronic pioneer. In tandem with his co-pilot Guido Zen (his own father also a pilot) and Kyle Martin (from the Land Of Light) they formed Brain Machine and scaled the highest Peaks to bring back music both unearthly and intensely human. Are we all not stardust anyway? This music proves it, takes you out flips you over and rolls you in stardust.
Rather than waste words, Marek Hemmann has always preferred to let his music speak for itself. Groovy House, minimalist Techno, sonic sensitivity and an unbridled joy in melody unite to speak of restless days and magical nights, tearing holes in the cloud cover and carrying sun beams to the deepest cellar. However camera-shy Marek Hemmann may be – he always risks something in his tracks. His musical roots reach far back into the nineties, when he was absorbing the spirit of local techno parties every weekend in Jena and its surroundings. Here he found a deep and blissful connection with people, rhythms, light and sounds. Inspired by this, Marek Hemmann’s particular sound developed over time: an essentially reduced but still expressive electronic dance music, aware of its origins, though always pressing new boundaries of sound. Deep bass meets voice fragments, shakers and percussion carry the rhythm – funky minimal techno leaves plenty of free space for other musical elements. Always in search of the perfect groove, and catchy melodies that resonate for a long time. Over the years, Marek Hemmann has written countless musical treasures into the repertoire and more than earned the moniker „unique”. He makes space and sound accessible to people by crafting it in his own way, and remains above all the explorer of a genre in which he and his music are long-anchored, but never stagnant. Today Marek Hemmann lives in Berlin and from there tours the clubs and festivals of the world. Like his studio productions, his live shows direct the focus first and foremost to the floor, but are always augmented by a very particular, musically sensitive ease. A sound not only difficult to resist, but which tells us more about Marek Hemmann than words ever could.
The Greatest Hoax is the pseudonym used by Taylor Jordan — a young climate scientist living amongst the political backdrop of Washington, D.C. — who is also a classically trained pianist and composer exploring the crossroads of classical and electronic music. The compositions on his self-released debut album Enso last year were the culmination of melding traditional instrumentation, contemporary soundscapes, and modern song structures — and also undoubtedly informed by the perspective of his day to day work.
On Special Cases, Jordan steps away from his somber piano melodies and focuses on the electronic elements that underpin his work. The resulting sound is spattered with vibrant synths, syncopated rhythms, and ambient noises.
Sheffield talent Pedram returns with his second EP next month, a cross-section of his many-pronged approach to the dancefloor that leads with a luscious downtempo cut, the dreamy and ornate ‘Lex’. The Iran-via-Yorkshire producer has recruited xxxy to remix the lead track, with the Berlin ex-pat breaking out the heavy machinery for a pneumatic and delirious ‘Warehouse Jam’ remix.The rest of the Lex EP touches on slow-mo euphoria (‘Ernstige’) and off-kilter deep house (‘Walked In’) with another remix of ‘Lex’ by Cardopusher