Since the beginning of this magazine that we have been receiving great electronic tracks. For some reason, we didn’t post about those submissions because we felt they should be integrated into a specific mood. We are now building that mood with a monthly post focusing the best of indietronica. Because we want to also give our support to other types of arts we invited Wilson Gracart to illustrate it. This is Electromental – part 3.
Andrew Rothschild – Lokta
Lokta, the newest track by Andre Rothschild, is the best track to start an electronic compilation, feeling, or dance. Breezy, incorporating a lot of Oriental sounds and a lot of experimentation, but never losing a sense of melody and the capacity to surprise and engage with the listener. It is exciting and it is a beautiful exploration of sound and music. The percussion elements are the icing on a very flavorous cake we can’t get enough. But also a cake that feels light. A cake that elevates us.
Alex the Flipper – No One
By filing the video-clip of his latest song in the mountains, Alex the Flipper managed something beautiful and rare: the capability to further portray the ambiance of a track. No One is a great track because of its cadence and the clever way it is mixed and its (slowly evolving) melodic progression, but mostly because it feels like a savoring wind that miraculously appears on a very hot day. A bit like what we would feel if we were running in the mountains like he is. We are supposing, it looks nice and chilled. Just like No One.
Billy Hammer – Mirage
When we think about electronic music we likely think of DJs and/or producers. Billy Hammer is a producer, that’s a fact, but not a common one as he is a great multi-instrumentalist since his early years. The LA-based artist explores his knowledge in classical instruments such as guitar, violin, and piano, mixing it with future and psychedelic sonorities and some groovy beats. Mirage has it all, an uplifting track, full of strange and mysterious elements as well as some melodies that can resemble something we’ve heard before, and also transports us to his imagery and private world. It’s a trip we want to continue taking, and to turn it into a more realistic experience you should watch the video:
Christian Cohle – Wallflower
Every similarity with James Blake or Nick Murphy is pure coincidence.
Christian Cohle sounds quite familiar at first but as we listen to Wallflower again and again we notice his unique way of composing drum&bass lines and post-dubstep ones. The similarities don’t go much further than his vocals and the musical style; Cohle presents us a more mature and very distinct song when compared to his previous ones, since Breathe and Ghost, the Dublin-born-and-raised artist has shown his great talent and sense of novelty, having in Wallflower the less melodic yet more complex composition so far. Stay tuned for what might be coming next with a debut LP at the end of the year.
Goth Babe – The Trees and As She Dreams
Do you think it’s possible to live in a campervan going up and down the Pacific Coast of the US, surfing, and snowboarding, and recording music in a solar-powered studio? Apparently yes, it’s possible, because that’s what Griffin Washburn a.k.a. Goth Babe has been doing with his dog Sadie. releasing his debut EP North Coast, he closes it up launching two singles at the time: The Trees and As She Dreams. Being the first one the closing track of the EP, we can feel a clear relaxation throughout the song, being possible to visualize a closing cycle, like a day, watching the sunset. This is a really nice build-down song! And in As She Dreams, the whole song becomes more pop-ish, melodic and less imaginary, in another hand, the dreamy vibe remained and engages with a continuous path that elevates more the vocals and emotional capacity to write songs.
JK Soul – All The Beauty In The World
All The Beauty In The World is bringing back the soul nostalgia to electronic music. It does without too many apparatus or being explicit. It does it with taste and cleverness. The track that is particular short seems made for a particular feeling or need. We identify it as the need to chill and re-think. By extrapolating all the beauty in the world it does it naturally just like beautiful scenery that leaves us staring. We stare to the latest JK Soul track. A proper ear stare. And we don’t need more words to describe beauty like this:
Maddeof feat. pixl. – back on earth
Two distinct parts of the world – India, and Georgia – get together for a beautiful contemplation of electronic feelings. back on earth is the new track of a collaboration between Maddeof and pixl. and a track that goes by like a whisper and that leaves us breathless and in need of more. It feels like the air itself has found a way of being represented in music. We loved back on earth the first time we heard it. And a couple of listens later we feel we need it as much as air. Gorgeous piece of music.
Parvenu – Falling
Vague and airy at first, but gently evolving and surprising. Parvenu’s latest release with Falling is ambient music that feels active and very present. Released this week, this is the fourth 2020 release for the British electronic music duo based in Hong Kong, showcasing some of the reasons for their huge international projection. The track conveys for sure a melancholic feeling, but it is a beautiful melancholy. Like a nostalgic feeling that we like to remember about. “Sometimes it feels like the sky is falling, however, it may ultimately be the rain that’s required to wash away the past, and cultivate what’s new.” The song is also inspired by their new home city of Hong Kong!
thom.ko – Confusion
Just with 21 years of age, thom.ko. is doing what we wished Chet Faker would have continued to do. Pop electronic (or the other way around, it’s hard to distinguish) on its best form giving us the dancing beats, the speed but meaningful vocals and lyrics, the distinctive percussion in the back, and the hooking variations. It is like purposeful chaos was the new way of living. Wait? Isn’t it already? Maybe because of that Confusion makes so much sense nowadays. We need music capable of entering the chaos and showing as a way to continue to feel. thom.ko is achieving that.
You can listen to all these tracks (and previous others) in our ElectroMental playlist on Spotify or here: