Archive for January, 2024

Empty Machines – Velvet Sky

Posted: 3 January 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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15th December 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

Glasgow Duo Empty Machines promise a blend of post punk, shoegaze, and indie synth rock, and ‘Velvet Sky’ is an expansive, atmospheric tune, layers of vocals floating in a swirl of textures synths and guitars submerged in effects. Reflective, contemplative, there are some bold dynamics here as they take things down to allow level before surging back. The blurry, saturated, shadowy but dazzlingly bright video perfectly encapsulates the mood here – one which is centred around a range of conflicting sensations and uncertain emotions. You feel a certain sense of bewilderment, as if being transported by invisible forces, both physically and psychologically.

It’s the vocals which carry the melody through a tidal wave of dense instrumentation, and with the drums low in the mix in comparison to this cinematic instrumental maelstrom, there’s a sense of volume, of sonic force to this dreamy but powerful single, as soft and smooth as velvet, but as dense as diamond.

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T.N. – Siddung

Posted: 2 January 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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15th December 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

This is an odd one which will likely baffle and bewilder many of those who encounter it – which will likely be far fewer than it deserves. It’s rare for a track that isn’t thrash or grindcore to run to less than a minute and a half, for a start. I know absolutely nothing about T.N. beyond that they’re from Spain, but T.N.’s ‘Siddung’ is a sliver of minimalist hip-hop that sends a shiver down the spine.

If commercial hip-hop has come to be synonymous with bragging and banging, flashing cash and blades, it’s worth remembering that its roots were a different kind of ‘street’, and with acts like Last Poets emerged from spoken word, the jazz and beat scene of the late 50s, giving a voice to black culture and the civil rights movement.

This track is something of a hybrid – it’s ‘street’ but it’s introspective and uncomfortable, and after an atmospheric introduction, halts just as it seems to be finding its groove. It’s difficult to unravel the track’s meaning or intent: ‘siddung’ is patois for ‘sit down’ – as the cover art relays in a literal sense – but beyond that…?

It feels more like a sketch than a complete song, but one could imagine an album containing maybe twenty or so of these vignettes would add up to paint a quite compelling picture.

ALTR∞ – Infinite

Posted: 1 January 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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12th December 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

German electro duo ALTR∞ seem like a pretty chipper pair, pronouncing the arrival of their second EP with the theatrical, Shakespeare-referencing proclamation ‘The world is not a stage, it’s a dancefloor: welcome to the Cosmic dancefloor of Eternity!’

They go on to explain how the ‘INFINITE’ EP is a celebration of the complexity and the beauty of life and the connection that binds us all! The broad spectrum of music influences, woven into the EP’s music tapestry, symbolises the infinite flow of ideas and references that shape and drive the Collective Consciousness. We hope that these songs will make you feel free: dancing and releasing all worries and troubles! We wanted to try new things, while exploring a more dancefloor-oriented sound, while still sticking to our own style. The energy was there and the rest just happened as usual – immersing in the magic of the studio and channelling our feelings!’

The EP’s four tracks span just over eighteen minutes, and while they are certainly very rhythmically-orientated, in terms of commercial dance, they’re not what anyone would call bangin’ dance choonz – not even your dad or your grandad. Sonically, Infinite sits somewhere in the middle ground between the minimal techno favoured by Gilles Peterson on his 6 Music show, and the kind of stuff I find modular synth fanatics noodling out at the Electronic Music Open Mic nights we have around the country.

‘I Saw the Future’ is, ironically, a squelchy analogue workout that’s decidedly retro, and the sparse vocals are more 90s dance track dub remix than avant-garde futurism. The vocal snippets add layers or mystique and esotericism, ‘Hurricane’ brings more urgent beats, clattering hand drums rattling over a thudding bass drum and pulsating groove, with weaving synths conjuring an expansive and trace-like atmosphere. The last track, ‘Infinite Mind’ pulses away in an inwardly-focused way.

This isn’t music that will send you wild or dance yourself into a frenzy, but will instead likely catapult you into inner space, and inspect your own psychological circuitry – in a most pleasant way. It kinda sounds like the cover looks.

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