‘It’s eerie how frequently one thing can lead to another in terms of exposing any which artist opening up your very own outlook to a vortex of likeminded musicians, and that’s precisely what occurred after we yesterday featured the quietly sublime Koloto. In its wake trailed a couple emails from acquaintances and/ or affiliates of Maria Sullivan, the pick of which would surely be the produce of inscrutable UK producer Ekoda Map. It’s again a stylistic mode which is more closely aligned with so-called organica than it is electronica I suppose, in that manipulable gadgetry merely functions as facilitator in place of focal point, and the samples which string together absolute standout Rafters are themselves natural as the imagery of dense tropical spaces the song’s couple minutes so vividly evoke. It’s man in perfect synergy with machine to achieve an overtly human accomplishment and, bedaubed with the dexterity of Messrs. Dicker and Jenkinson, I don’t doubt there being plenty more accolades coming this particular Tom’s way sooner rather than later…’
Posts tagged Gold Panda.
‘There’s no negating electronic musics being at their best when they’re powered by those most cerebral capacities of the human brain, just as there’s no doubting the disparate genres thereof now approaching a point of absolute saturation. It’s precisely why Daphni is preferable to Modeselektor, or why Pick a Piper pips Gold Panda in the stakes of immediate intrigue. And playing into that same richly academic school of thought, production value and so forth is Canterbury’s Koloto, or rather Maria Sullivan to put a name to the otherwise isolated nom de plume. Sullivan tinkers with the age-old trope of genuine instrumentation pulverised and reprocessed by electrically operated equipment though as is her moniker, she does so in quite singular fashion. And never is this better explicated than on her latest recording Sinope, during which what sounds a kalimba being compulsively beaten out of shape sticks its metallic teeth into bloopy cascades of lavish synthesis that are as though the slow forming of stalactites of sound. These then descend into dense forestries of dank glitch and dim bits of letup here and there. Concisely compiled and masterfully executed, be sure to expect a lot more challenging electronica from Koloto in the coming months…’
![‘It’s pretty tricky knowing what to do with an EP really, as they’re too concise for a red-blooded review and too bulky to cover concisely so they’ve got to reside down toward the spectacular end of the spectrum to merit much online acclaim. And that’s precisely where that from Badalona inhabitant Sau Poler weighs in. For as does nearby Barcelona, A Soundless Echo resonates on two very distinct, distinctive, and indeed disparate planes. That is to say that whereas la capital de Cataluña differs illogically from the touristic niceties of the day to the traumatic debaucheries of the night, Sau Poler seems caught between a more meditative, and so too distinctly Mediterranean ambient and the grubbier ’90s garage aesthetic its author calls upon during its mid, and thus appositely more mediocre points. Though as he comes out the other side of the urban mugginess of both Arts Quarterly and Reflections, he hits gold dust [delete, and line up any predetermined powder as is appropriate of Barça here] with the restive skiffle of Love Minded. It reminds me of much of the music I’d inadvertently hear in passing – or rather blared when speeding in my dad’s car – during my teens, and for that alone I’m deeply into it this afternoon.’ But the flipside to all that sultry humidity is a more free, breezy, and Sónar de Día-easy feel employed to devastatingly relaxed effect on Rutes, or irrefutable standout and EP opener, Isolated. Of course it should make absolute sense that it sounds like a vibrant lovechild of Kieran Hebden and Derwin Dicker given the frequency with which the two electronica kingpins pass through Cataluña with coordinates set for either Sónar or Primavera Sound, though this is the sort of blissful rapture bedroom producers the world over coop themselves up indoors for forever – perfecting, yet never pulling off to such immaculate impact. Lapping vocal samples gently grind against ever intensifying, exclusively electronic rhythms and the jejune chiming of a sampler made to mimic the pacific waltz of a kid’s mobile as it swirls giddily from the ceiling above. Hypnotic stuff, this.’ A Soundless Echo is out now on Atomnation.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/ba5f770c7a2c135c3003f71585302bd4/tumblr_ml3lvfbsqg1qegiweo1_500.jpg)
‘It’s pretty tricky knowing what to do with an EP really, as they’re too concise for a red-blooded review and too bulky to cover concisely so they’ve got to reside down toward the spectacular end of the spectrum to merit much online acclaim. And that’s precisely where that from Badalona inhabitant Sau Poler weighs in. For as does nearby Barcelona, A Soundless Echo resonates on two very distinct, distinctive, and indeed disparate planes. That is to say that whereas la capital de Cataluña differs illogically from the touristic niceties of the day to the traumatic debaucheries of the night, Sau Poler seems caught between a more meditative, and so too distinctly Mediterranean ambient and the grubbier ’90s garage aesthetic its author calls upon during its mid, and thus appositely more mediocre points. Though as he comes out the other side of the urban mugginess of both Arts Quarterly and Reflections, he hits gold dust [delete, and line up any predetermined powder as is appropriate of Barça here] with the restive skiffle of Love Minded. It reminds me of much of the music I’d inadvertently hear in passing – or rather blared when speeding in my dad’s car – during my teens, and for that alone I’m deeply into it this afternoon.’
But the flipside to all that sultry humidity is a more free, breezy, and Sónar de Día-easy feel employed to devastatingly relaxed effect on Rutes, or irrefutable standout and EP opener, Isolated. Of course it should make absolute sense that it sounds like a vibrant lovechild of Kieran Hebden and Derwin Dicker given the frequency with which the two electronica kingpins pass through Cataluña with coordinates set for either Sónar or Primavera Sound, though this is the sort of blissful rapture bedroom producers the world over coop themselves up indoors for forever – perfecting, yet never pulling off to such immaculate impact. Lapping vocal samples gently grind against ever intensifying, exclusively electronic rhythms and the jejune chiming of a sampler made to mimic the pacific waltz of a kid’s mobile as it swirls giddily from the ceiling above. Hypnotic stuff, this.’
A Soundless Echo is out now on Atomnation.
‘Without question, if there’s one genre to have greatly benefitted from the ever more infinite nature of the internet, then it would surely be electronica. And there are more SoundCloud accounts updated daily by producers worldwide than there are mucky spots of monochromic grim lining the Great British skies during this most bleak of wintertimes. Though in amidst it all are rays of more tranquil, if no less resolute talent that permeate those rather more sporadic flurries and one such to have shone through is UK bass sculptor Jack Hyde, aka Quiet Sun. Conflate is his patent standout track – a scrupulously considered mesh of faraway samples, reverberant lower tones and lustrous warped vocals, it’s dewy as any which spring morning however sprightly and as effortlessly accomplished as anything Gold Panda has yet to put out. It’s looking bright for Hyde at the present time…’
