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Kevin Richard Martin: "Feel no pain" (Frequencies for Leaving Earth Vol.3, Intercranial / Bandcamp)

KRM's entire Frequencies for Leaving Earth series conjures up equally awe and anxiety, and this is one of my favorite cuts. These came out in quick succession in the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, which somehow brings me a feeling of dread and gratitude.

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Fever Ray: "What They Call Us (Âme Remix)" (Rabid, 2024)

One of my favorite cuts from Fever Ray's Radical Romantics gets the extended dancefloor treatment by German duo Âme.

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Matthew Mercer: Achromia (Bandcamp, 2023)

It's been a long time, Tumblr… here's some of my music that I released late last year. More to come soon!

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The Artificial Arm: "You Are Listening to an Electronic Jam" (Emotional Machines (Catalogue 2001-21), Dominance Electricity 2022)

This track was originally released on Orson Records back in '04, but Dominance Electricity has done a great roundup of both unreleased tracks and previously released EPs on this comp.

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Jörgen Kjellgren: Invincible Summer (Past in the Present)

Beautiful, dreamy ambience radiates from this set of tracks by Swedish writer and producer Kjellgren. He created the album as a love letter to his wife, imbued with memories of holidays past and relaxing locales, Invincible Summer is a warm, calming remedy to the winter blues.

Listen/purchase: Invincible Summer by Jörgen Kjellgren

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Thomas Köner: Motus (Mille Plateaux)

Another new Köner release showed up as quiet as is the music itself, a faint undertone to an unsettling year. Motus incorporates more of an undercurrent pulse, never quite veering even into the underwater techno of The Sight Below, but the faintest of rhythms. It's stark and desolate, not surprising from the person behind 1993's ice cold Permafrost. But Motus seems to deepen and enrich his arrangements just enough to inch them closer to the post-techno atmospheres of other Mille Plateaux legacy artists such as Gas. Highly recommended.

Listen/purchase: Motus by Thomas Köner

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Philip Glass and Aphex Twin, 1995. Photo by Steve Double.

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Ross From Friends: “Burner” (Bandcamp / Scarlet Tiger)

The latest from Ross From Friends lives up to its name, now avail on Bandcamp & RFF’s new label, Scarlet Tiger.

Listen/purchase: Burner by Ross From Friends

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C. Diab: White Whale (Injazero)

Fans of virtuosic instrumentalism will no doubt find a lot to love in Caton Diab's latest full length; Diab is perhaps to the cello what Colin Stetson is to his saxophone. He manages to get such a broad variety of sounds and timbres while multitracking his singular instrument. Compared to his 2016 album No Perfect Wave, White Whale employs far more distortion, often giving his long, gliding bow a coarser edge. At his most rousing and dramatic, Diab uses tenacious staccato patterns, often cycling through the same chord progression with urgency. "Haunter" and "100 Famous Views" are notable exceptions, featuring more prominently lo-fi guitar that brings to mind Americana composers like John Fahey. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the potential for lyricism within instrumental music.

Listen/purchase: White Whale by C. Diab

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Mr Velcro Fastener: Otherside (I220)

Tried n true chunky, techy electro courtesy of this Finnish duo who were active from 99 through the mid 00s.

Listen/purchase: Otherside by Mr Velcro Fastener

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Beatrice Dillon: Workaround (PAN)

Beatrice Dillon's first album is unsurprisingly unpredictable. Just as her discography zigs and zags across very different sounds, Workaround subverts any expectations that may have been there, however vague. Workaround's various tracks have some of the spaciousness of dub, but her arrangements often are drier and restrained, with additional players contributing hand percussion, strings, vocals and more. Even with all of those assorted complements to Dillon's explorations, Workaround feels scaled back and sparse. Not a sound is out of place, and its crispness gives it a certain confidence that's understated. "Workaround Five" emphasizes Lucy Ralton's strings as a minimal, neoclassical interlude, while many others are downtempo and intimate sounding. At other times, Dillon shows off her leftfield dance music chops, as in the uptempo skitter of "Clouds Strum" or the nervous twitches of "Square Fifths" (both of which feature percussion from Kuljit Bhamra). Some of the sparer, shorter cuts lend a certain sketchbook quality to the album, which is part of its strength. It has a willingness to indulge fleeting instincts as far as feels appropriate and then shifts gears for the next in a way that feels inspired. 

Listen/purchase: Workaround by Beatrice Dillon

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Intus: “Intus” (Speicher 50, Kompakt 2007)

Almost forgot about this weird tweaky techno jam from Intus aka Wolfgang Voigt (Gas, Mike Ink, etc etc etc)...

Listen/purchase: Intus by Intus

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AHRKH: Beams From a Spiritual Panorama (Golden Ratio Frequencies)

This solo effort from Gnod member A P Macarte, originally released on cassette on Golden Ratio Frequencies but thankfully also available digitally on their Bandcamp page, explores the notion of devout spirituality and nirvana through two sides of epic, soaring sound. In contrast to the often brutal density of Gnod, Beams tips far more toward transcendentalism, away from darkness and toward light. It reflects Macarte's own interest in therapeutic sound as a fully trained and qualified Sound Therapist Practitioner at the British Academy of Sound Therapy (BAST). The result is an exalting and heady colorfield of sound that starts off with layered, ghostly vocals and builds into something much fuller and, eventually, more instrumental.

Listen/purchase: Beams From a Spiritual Panorama by AHRKH

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Ear Influxion 2020 Favorites

Life changes and priorities left me without much time to write about music in 2020. Despite that, Bandcamp Fridays have rekindled my love of discovering new music, connecting with and supporting artists directly, and engaging more deliberately as a listener. In a way, not writing about music allowed me to more fully do all of those things.

Here’s a list in alphabetical order of the various works that have moved me in some significant way. I’d planned to write a blurb about each one, but since that is taking some time, and we’re already into January, I thought I’d do this differently. Instead of linking to reviews from the past year, I will add links to this list as I add reviews after the fact. Many of them are already written, but it’s grown in scale to the extent that I don’t think it would make sense to publish them all in line here.

AHRKH: Beams From a Spiritual Panorama (Golden Ratio Frequencies)

Ellen Allien: Auraa (BPitch Control)

Atom™ <3 (Raster)

Autechre: SIGN (Warp)

Autechre: PLUS (Warp)

Daniel Avery: Love + Light (Mute)

Julianna Barwick: Healing Is a Miracle (Kranky)

William Basinski: Lamentations (Temporary Residence Ltd)

Bellows: Undercurrent (Black Truffle)

Frank Bretschneider: abtasten_holden (Faitiche)

Cabaret Voltaire: Shadow of Fear (Mute)

Caribou: Suddenly (Merge)

Richard Chartier: Variable Dimensions 1-6 (LINE)

CLEARED: The Key (Touch)

Lucretia Dalt: No era sólida (RVNG Intl)

Destroyer: Have We Met (Merge)

Beatrice Dillon: Workaround (PAN)

C. Diab: White Whale (Injazero)

The Fear Ratio: They Can't Be Saved (Skam)

Feu St-Antoine: L’eau Par La Soif (Éditions Appærent)

Gallery S & MoMA Ready: Gallery S (HAUS of ALTR)

Ghostwerk: Ghost Dive (Schematic)

Grand River: Blink a Few Times To Clear Your Eyes (Editions Mego)

Giuseppe Ielasi: Five Wooden Frames (12K)

Ital Tek: Outland (Planet µ)

KMRU: Jar (Seil)

Thomas Köner: Motus (Mille Plateaux)

Gabor Lazar: Source (Planet µ)

Sophia Loizou: Untold (Houndstooth)

Kevin Richard Martin: Frequencies for Leaving Earth Vol. 4 (Bandcamp)

Monolake: Archæopteryx (Imbalance Computer Music)

Morusque: The End of Music (Bandcamp)

Chad Mossholder: Receiver (Somewherecold)

Jake Muir: the hum of your veiled voice (Sferic)

Oneohtrix Point Never: Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (Warp)

ONO: Red Summer (American Dreams)

pinkcourtesyphone: Leaving Everything To Be Desired (Room40)

Potter Natalizia Zen: Magari (Ecstatic)

Lyra Pramuk: Fountain (Bedroom Community)

Ana Roxane: Because of a Flower (Kranky)

SAULT: Untitled (Black Is) (Forever Living Originals)

Scanner: An Ascent (DiN)

Simon Scott: Migrations (Touch)

Shit and Shine: Malibu Liquor Store (Rocket Recordings)

Geneva Skeen: Double Bind (Room40)

Richard Skelton: LASTGLACIALMAXIMUM (Corbel Stone)

The Soft Pink Truth: Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (Thrill Jockey)

Speaker Music: Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry (Planet µ)

Squarepusher: Be Up a Hello (Warp)

Sufjan Stevens: The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty)

Rian Treanor: File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet µ)

Yaeji: What We Drew (XL)

Ye Gods: Dumah (L.I.E.S.)

Flora Yin-Wong: Holy Palm (Modern Love)

Zakè: Orchestral Studies Collectanea (Past Into the Present)

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Now available: 02:20 MIND by Matthew Mercer

I’ve compiled two retrospectives of my music, covering 2002-2020, now available on Bandcamp. “Zenith” is included on 02:20 MIND, a chronology of more intimate headphones listening favorites from the past 18 years. It’s taken from my 2016 album Salvo and sits in good company with several previously released tracks as well as a handful of unreleased and new ones. All July proceeds of 02:20 MIND and its dancefloor companion, 20:02 BODY, will be donated to SMYRC and Trans Justice Funding Project.

Buy now on Bandcamp

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R.I.P. Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)

Ennio Morricone was a true legend in his field. He revolutionized film scores with his often unorthodox approach to sonic storytelling. The Thing finds Morricone channeling John Carpenter’s signature dark and sparse synth arrangements and taking them to a new level.

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Matthew Mercer releases dual retrospective compilations, 3 July 2020

02:02 BODY is one of two retrospectives I’ve just released on Bandcamp. The releases coincided with Bandcamp’s Artist Day, when Bandcamp forfeited its revenue share and most of the proceeds (minus Paypal processing) went straight to the artists. I’m curious if they will do it again since COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon...

However, the cost to the customer is the same regardless of what goes to the artist. For the month of July I’m donating all proceeds of both of my compilations to Portland’s SMYRC and the national Trans Justice Funding Project organization. I’d been considering how to extend Pride beyond June, especially at a time when celebrating Pride seemed at odds with more pressing and dire circumstances. This is my way of giving back to the community through my art.

Whether through buying the albums on Bandcamp or donating directly, please support these types of organizations that continue to serve our most underrepresented.

20:02 Body by Matthew Mercer

20:02 BODY covers 18 years of beatmaking and dance music. It’s a reverse chronology that starts with new, previously unreleased tracks before moving back in time, dipping into each album and single along with some unreleased ones along the way. It proceeds from minimal to more aggressive techno and then back into my early cut-up microhouse days, ending with the lead cut from my first single on Forte Records way back in 2003, “Secrets.”