- Blanck Mass – ‘Silent Treatment’
Benjamin John Power is another revered visionary electronic producer from Bristol who, as one half of the duo Fuck Buttons, is used to challenge and delight our demanding ears with emotional and intriguing music since 2004.
Likewise, is the awesome ambient and dreamy sophisticated sonic palette under his solo moniker Blanck Mass.
‘Silent Treatment‘ is the second single taken from the forthcoming third album ‘World Eater‘ via Sacred Bones Records, and it’s another corker. Mixing trap-alike icing-synths, thundering and fractured percussive beats and bouncing swift choral and scattered vocal samples, the track builds a warped claustrophobic danceable atmosphere of ecstatic but threatening and obscure bliss that depicts the inability to communicate and the resulting fear of isolation.
Blanck Mass is another constantly evolving creative and innovative futuristic electronic project we could not afford to take lightly…”a beauty in a darker place”.
Fabrizio Lusso
- Council Of Nine – ‘Fallen‘
Cryo Chamber dark ambient label has released the second album in their “Tomb” series. ‘Tomb Of Seers‘ features Alphaxone and Council Of Nine, both of whom participated in ‘Tomb Of Empires‘ back in 2014. Joining the Cryo Chamber label for the first time are artists Xerxes The Dark as well as Wolves And Horses. Council Of Nine debuted his dark ambient career with ‘Tomb Of Empires‘, and now he’s back on ‘Tomb Of Seers‘, after releasing two brilliant solo albums. On his track ‘Fallen‘ Council Of Nine incorporates some of his most mystical sounding elements yet. Adding to this a heavy dose of bass-driven aural desolation. Prepare your crystal balls and gaze into the abyss, for in these modern times, humanity could surely use a few out-spoken seers.
Michael Barnett
- Khidja – ‘Die Wide Spirale’
Bucharest-based production duo Khidja is one of the most exciting and forward-thinking acts coming out from the inspiring and prolific Romanian electronic scene of the last years.
‘Die Wilde Spirale‘ (from the new EP out soon on John Talabot‘s label Hivern Discs) in its own sonic magnitude, is a gorgeous example of the duo’s skillful exploration, manipulation and blending of minimal techno, psychedelic and kraut rock influences with Middle-Eastern and cosmic-jazz elements in order to create a hypnotic and visionary mystical journey into the inner depths of the altered states of awareness.
Once again thanks to the imaginative vision of ‘progressive’ electronic alchemists like Kidhja, is that modern music is pushing its creative boundaries these days.
Fabrizio Lusso
- Depeche Mode – ‘Where’s The Revolution‘
“Where’s the revolution, come on people you’re letting me down...” sings Dave Gahan in the latest track from the upcoming Depeche Mode‘s ‘Spirit‘, out on 17th March. Yes, DM are getting political, back to their roots, more electronic than their latest offerings and with a production solid as a rock, This is a track, breathing fresh air in the electro-arena-rock sound that only Depeche Mode are capable of creating with such wisdom and perspicacity.
“The train is coming, get on board…”
Christos Doukakis
- Snail Mail – ‘Thinning’
Indie, indie, indie. The trio from Baltimore Snail Mail did it! Their ‘Thinning‘ video from their latest ‘Habit‘ EP on Sister Polygon Records, is one of those tunes that can eventually wake us up from our ‘indie hibernation’.
Slacker kids, grab your skateboards, pump up the volume and give a shout to Larry Clark.. It’s high time for the sequel of “Kids“…
Christos Doukakis
Compiled by Michael Barnett, Fabrizio Lusso & Christos Doukakis