Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland – The Narcissist
Gorgeous tune, all the way from the beginning till the end. Love the contrast of dark, minimal music with strong lyrics.
Shinichi Atobe – Regret
First of all, the mystery surrounding the artist is worth attention in itself. And this tune is an orgasm to the ears – a simplicity at its best.
Neil Young – Dead Man
I’m not the biggest fan of guitars, but this track strikes the right chords. Haunting and beautiful.
Jon Hassell – Blues Nile
Tribal, atmospheric experience. A great way to connect with nature while being away from it.
John Cage – 4:33
Conceptually one of the strongest records. No one before John Cage ever thought of something like it. The only piece the neighbors want you to play.
Boards of Canada – Amo Bishop Roden
Has to be at least one track from BOC on the list. Nostalgic and timeless music.
Dan Levy – J’ai Perdu Mon Corps
Beautiful score from an amazing film ‘I Lost my Body. If you haven’t seen it, highly recommend it – follows a story of a severed hand looking for its human across Paris. It is a breathtaking sensory experience.
The Cinematic Orchestra – Arrival of the Birds
If music could be described as a language of the soul – this track would be an anthem for that. Life manifested in a song.
Ben Frost – Theory of Machines
Love the build up and the rich drone textures of this track. If one day AI car engines decide to make music, I hope it will sound something like this.
Sonique – It Feels So Good
Flashback from the 2000’s. Great memories when listening to this.
Deri Dako – Low Motor ( Self Released)
Vilnius-based electronic producer Deri Dako channels his own traumatic experience into this, his second immersive electronic album in two years. ‘Low Motor’ explores sonic imperfections as inspired by a strange and unidentified virus he contracted while living in Malaysia in 2013. The virus left Dako having feverish dreams, unable to walk, eat or think properly. It eventually subsided but returned
a few months later when he was back in Europe, and again after that for a brief time. Doctors could never identify the virus, but it was such an intense experience that it has often weighed on the artist’s mind so he decided to manifest those thoughts on this record. He says, “The unidentified virus tested my mental and physical boundaries and got me thinking about scenarios which we can and cannot control. Despite our best intentions, some things just happen. There is a wide range of diseases that can instantly change our life trajectory. I wanted to understand those better, and that exploration resulted in this album.” As such, the album finds Dako exploring imperfections and questioning fixed concepts with his music. He digs into the secret mechanisms that regulate our desires and does so with sounds that demand to be more than just background listening. He draws upon everything from field recordings to analog synths, live instruments to digital tools to create his unpredictable sonics. Each song relates to a specific concept, from white matter to neuroplasticity, laboratory experiments to brain stem structures. Musically, the album is about working towards raw, expressive, and less prescriptive outcomes, as is the case for artists who continue to create after brain injuries. The work becomes more abstract, symbolic and vibrant while growing ever less rooted in the real world. That is the case from the off with the sombre ambient electronics of ‘White Matter.’ ‘Ataxia’ has ethereal synth modulations, slow and heavy drums and the distant sound of voices then ‘Borderline’ pairs pulsing rhythms with synth dreamscapes in gorgeous fashion.
Elsewhere there is the cosmic spaciousness of ‘Ca++’ featuring more heartbroken chords, and the brilliantly deep and lonely electronic world of ‘Plastos.’ The delicate fusions of ambient lushness and suspensory groove continues through the likes of the eerie and unsettling ‘Paradigm’ and hopeful piano work of ‘Encoding.’ The brilliantly melancholic ‘Neuroma’ has heavenly chords glowing bright and absorbing closer ‘Medulla’ ends on a pensive mood full of despair and dejection.
Deri Dako – Low Motor (Self Released) Release: 23rd November 2021 Cat No: DD001 Format: Digital, vinyl
