Need something to help you celebrate being done with taxes? Look no further!
Album: Lone Lifter EP
Artist: EEZIR
Genre: Bass, Electronic
Lone Lifter is by Los Angeles bass producer EEZIR. Originally from Milwaukee, Eric Hanson (aka EEZIR) cut his teeth in the legendary 90’s Midwest electronic music scene. Moving to Los Angeles in 1999, EEZIR has performed for Friendly Integration, SMOG, and Droid Behavior. His productions on the Lone Lifter EP greatly contrast in mood and style; you will find classic acid sounds, heavy bass lines, and dreamy and gritty melodies. The title track "Lone Lifter" has a positive vibe with an added dose of intensity and pace. It is funky, catchy, and commanding, and has all the right elements in becoming a warehouse classic. The EP’s powerful acid track, "Blacktop Lane," makes you feel as if you're driving down a curvy, mountain road. The way you rise and fall, twist and turn, the unknown factor of what lies ahead. The contrasting moods from mellow and ethereal to snarling and aggressive in "Shifted View" bring an intensity and IDM flavor to the release. Just as your view can be shifted by an unexpected event in life, this track represents that moment that leads to a new view. The release ends with a remix by XI of the title track. Funky, slowed down, and deep is where he takes the original, and his rendition has funkier house and garage swinging beats with dreamy and playful tones.
Album: Pith
Artist: Ruby Fray
Genre: Alternative
Anyone who has seen Emily Beanblossom perform has surely left entirely taken with her. As the lead singer of Christmas, a band whose unique style of psych rock made them a cult marvel, Emily sold out both shows and records, due in no small part to her captivating, cultivated persona and the rare power of her voice. A vagabond for our ilk, she has lived life on the road and in collaborations, drifting down the line until she was called back to her family farm outside Chicago, Ill. Here she paused to lay down the hollowed noise that would become Ruby Fray. Her premier album Pith is a string of musical gems that range from harmonic americana and folk to shadowy psychedelia, united in their spectral chamber arrangements. Each of the twelve tracks on Pith come from demos Emily has been keeping close, and showcase her varieties of influence. “And the Moon,” with its steady drum machine loop, eerie harmonies and mandolin strings stands apart from its follower, “Mint Ice Cream,” a playful Americana-style duet with Calvin Johnson. “Closed Eye” is the same, a drifting melody punctuated by tinny drums and fuzzy guitar strumming. But this is the beauty of Pith—like the single, “Let’s Grow Older,” it gambols, and then falls to despair and questioning, is both the blossom and the thorny edge. Ruby Fray is a dark star risen, and the power and soul of Emily’s voice changes all that it shines upon.
Label: n5MDAlbum: Love In Times of Repetition
Artist: Asonat
Genre: Electronic
Love In Times Of Repetition is the debut album from Icelandic duo Asonat. While a new project, its members are already veterans in post millennial electronic music. Fannar Ásgrímsson (one half of Plastik Joy) and Jónas Thór Guðmundsson (Ruxpin) with a little help from co-patriot Kjartan Ólafsson (Ampop & Kjarr), Japanese singer Chihiro and the French singer Olèna Simon have made an album that sounds less like a paint-by-numbers Plastik Joy / Ruxpin team up but a fresh take on vocal-centric experimental downtempo. As one might expect Ruxpin's soothing IDM electronics are present as is Ásgrímsson's metered, programming and guitar but both artists elements are now shrouded in a new warmer blanket of timbre, style and emotion.
