After several months punctuated by impressive modular rig shots, enigmatic sound design videos, ritualistic filmic objects, and a few singles released on Bandcamp, we finally get a clearer picture from the black and white world of LA producer Snakes of Russia, in the form of a first self released EP named “At Home Alone With Lions”.

Right at the crossroads of all distorted cinegenic downtempo music we love, (let’s say if you’re already into Lorn or Eprom, you should feel cosy here), “At Home Alone With Lions” is a remarkable display of sound design. Grounded by heavy and tightly clocked drum impacts, themselves tempered by calmly roaring basslines and textured synth leads floating on top, SoR delivers a methodic sequence of sonic shapshots, leaving no superfluous excess get in the way. Definitely the kind of project we want to hear more often.

Those interested in his background and production process should check his interview for Noise Engineering, in which a wide array of topics are discussed, from his modular setup to questions of music synchronization. By the way, he’s also released some Ableton Wavetable presets, called ‘Isolation Presets’, available here : https://gumroad.com/l/hXfkb

If you’re only here for the pics, we got you : here’s his Insta : https://www.instagram.com/snakesofrussia/

2020 – Digital compilation

“FROM JAPAN TO THE WORLD WE ARE ∞”

Behind this enigmatic motto lies one rich and fascinating art project, an interconnection between Japan, Europe, fashion, visual arts underground electronic music. Their last project, CREVASSE OF MIND[S], has been in heavy rotation back in 2013 and ever since. After 6 years of patience, a third compilation came out this month, released precisely on Earth Day. 13 track strong, gathered around a brutalist keyword assemblage, both a mantra and a statement of sorts that resonate with the heartbeat sounds you’ll hear at several places in the project :

HUMAN BLOODS DNA EARTH HUMAN BLOODS DNA EARTH

https://utopiansocietys.bandcamp.com/album/a-connexion-of-blood-s

Expect rich aesthetic deconstructions and soundscapes in this project. Starting with a strong abstract hip hop segment with Wad Plasma Automator & T-DK’s ‘阿 ー 魂道’ (could be translated as Soul Road, check notes below*), chaos × ksk,s ‘o’clock’ and rich asymetrical beats by french producer Le Parasite’s Fractal Cosmology (present both their and our latest compilations), the projects mutates towards more minimalistic electronica / dub-techno with Anonumous Letter’s remix of AKI PALLADIUM, Taishin Inoue’s Distant City lights, before diving in complextro territory, incorporating various blends of IDM and breakbeat for a couple dense tracks. Then, after a swift transition to more ambient material, hydrant house purport rife on sleepy’s troumen (also on Thirty Three Records’ catalogue, gotta check this out) we unexpectedly switch back to lo-vibes hip hop with the laidback Gan-Kyu by mic.edu. Not the latest surprise you’ll get from that release, and we’ll leave the rest for you to discover.

Spot our program at https://unlog.info/radio in the next few days, you might see it appear as a featured release in our listening sessions time slots.

If you want to leave this to chance, just connect to our radio and see what happens. If you don’t just go and grab it on their bandcamp below.

*We’ve been lucky to have some more detailed explanations of the titles of intro and outro by one of the initiators of this project :

Track 1 : 阿 means ” birth “, ” beginning of universe ” in Buddhism. – 魂道 – is original subtitle for 阿 which means Soul Road.
And track 13 吽 is a set of words with 阿. 吽 means ” dead “, ” end of universe ” in Buddhism. We say 阿吽 A UN basically.

https://wiklow.bandcamp.com/album/bloom

Link to all available streaming platforms

https://unlog.fanlink.to/bloom

“Bloom” is the latest experiment from Canadian downtempo artist Wiklow (Michael Gary Dean). Fuelled by recent audio-visual collaborations with artists Push 1 stop and Diagraf, Wiklow merges computer-generated rhythms with sensitively crafted melodies. In “Bloom”, Wiklow shows us a path between chaos and cadence, discovering softness in uncomfortable places.

All tracks produced by Wiklow
Artwork : Jérome Guilleaume
Mastering : Cristobal Urbina

https://bplrxxiii.bandcamp.com/album/weird-cult

Link to main streaming platforms :

https://fanlink.to/weird_cult

Weird cult est un album produits dans une optique bass experimental avec une connotation “vodoo”. 80% des sons ont été enregistrés avec les objets qui se trouvent autour de moi. Je vis en forêt. Cette forêt est très inspirante car elle dégage un certain mysticisme. Les sons très riches en texture pris dans ce bois ont été très soigneusement choisis pour dégager le plus possible son aura qui m’inspire un culte paiien oublié.

______

bplrxxiii found his inspiration in the wooded areas that surround him and the mystical energy they exhale to produce an experimental bass album with hints of voodooism. The material used in Weird Cult largely derive from sound recordings of nearby objects and textures recorded in forests, carefully chosen for their mysticism and the aura they emit, as if conjured from the remnants of a forgotten pagan cult.

“For Weird Cult I also wanted to take a different direction from the IDM influences of my previous EP, blending juke / footwork infused rhythms with a “glitchy” vibe, with all the cosmic artifice that I use in my technique of production. “- Bplrxxiii

https://himuro-yoshiteru.bandcamp.com/album/view-from-bottom

While incredibly active as a sound designer and composer for movies, art projects, ads, this is the first release from japanese artist Himuro Yoshiteru, since OUR TURN, ANYTIME released in 2012 on OILWORKS Rec. Back in 2013, we were very honored to have one of his track open our second compilation, the excellent “Almost Robot” open for our second compilation, a precisely crafted banger that not only hit like a ton of bricks, but also paved the way for some of our more experimental and IDM releases, such as Fausto Mercier, and Romanowitch‘s “I’m done“

Needless to say, a new album from Himuro Yoshiteru was something we’ve been longing to hear for a while now, and needless to say, ‘View from the bottom‘ delivers. From the dark and ominous ambience haunting The Gate, an opening track that’s highly reminiscent of what we’ve known in past works, we then move towards compositions that incorporate more melodic and cinematic elements that state the obvious : each track of this project is a demo of worldbuilding each evolving according to its own rules. Not only it is a great display of production and composition skills, this album reveals a large palette of influences, used in all its diversity to create an uncanny mix of novelty and familiarity.

In a hurry? Check the track Venn Diagram, and come back later

About Himuro Yoshiteru :

https://himuro-yoshiteru.bandcamp.com/album/view-from-bottom

https://himuro-yoshiteru.com

Trailer for Netflix’s Devilman Crybaby

Here’s our first PLUG’N’PRAY playlist, for August 2019

Hear some tonight for a special Domesicle edition.

https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1303156

http://sat.qc.ca/fr/evenements/-domesicle-party-5-special-unlog-0

https://2020ldnrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/binomium-heloph-os-hunt

20/20 LDN are set to release ‘Binomium’, a collaborative EP between Up High Collective and Vorace. The raw sound of minimalist hip-hop beats with a dark techno undertone is a strange crossover of the individual styles of Up High and Vorace. Synths slowly evolve into new sounds, accompanied by a steady 808 drum machine, glued together by routing signal paths through tape delays, preamps in overdrive and voltage controlled MS20 filters.

“It’s the first time we did a collaboration like this. Most beat makers that visited our studio don’t fit our style or just don’t know how to get around with the gear. We’re very stubborn when it comes to crafting our music, we have a certain sound in our head and we stick to it. So when Vorace came to Belgium, completely unexpected and unannounced, we jammed for a couple of hours and were surprised how easily it all came together. This never happened before, so we said, “Ok, let us set a date and do this properly”. So we did. Vorace came back a few months later and stayed for three days. We set up some rules like; no overdubs, no sampling, no pre-programmed sequencing, everything played live, only cutting out the best parts and pasting them together. At the end of the three days we had 92GB of recordings of bleeps, trash, noise and beats: the result is what you hear.”
– Up High Collective

Also, shout out to our friend LLL, talented VJ and visual creator, who is responsible for the animation below.

Latest signature on Sound Museum is this 2 track EP by
Austin-based producer Alexandre.

This is his second release on the iconic black and white imprint, sister label of Saturate Records, which explores music that all kinds of refined experiments that derive from dubstep, drum and bass, hip-hop, trap, techno, UK and footwork.

angles :

gravity I
cube dub
zero
spin dub
gravity II

There was a period in which I had mostly given up on any kind of beats and rhythmic elements to focus on sound texture design, harmonics and duration. Only a few beat based tracks emerged from that period, those five were the most hypnotic ones to me.

From what you’ll gather reading the titles, there’s something with forces. While the ‘gravity’ theme tracks are composed in a classic tension/release fashion, the three other tracks are more elusive, made of minimal blocks, apparently loose yet glued together by discreet forces.

Word salad stops here.