Track Of The Day: Peverelist - Pulse XV (Livity Sound)

 

Track Of The Day: Ron Trent - Seduction (Subwoofer)

 

If there’s one track that typifies Ron Trent’s sound, then for me it has to be this one. It’s not my favourite from him, but it is unforgettable. It manages to be deep, driving, soulful and woozy at the same time. And the percussion, that sounds like a slick, air-dampened batacuda barrage. One of the great deep house tracks and long enough to support two or three lesser tunes on the mix.

Track Of The Day: Metamatics - Bodypop (Shipwrec)

 

A great track of weighty, slo-mo electro from Metamatics, aka Lee Norris, who has been releasing stuff from the mid nineties, but nowt since 2024. ‘Bodypop’ is electro suspended in amber. A track to gauge the retro in vitro. Cryogenically frozen beats inhabiting a strange funk hinterland where B-boys breakdance on elevated Persian rugs, levitating above their dreams to decompose and then regenerate, their body parts taking on new meanings and motions in the process.

Call Super | Kiosk x The Lot Radio at Horst Festival 2026

 

Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems) @TheLotRadio 06-13-2026

 

Tracks Of Yesterday: Erik Satie - Gymnopedies 1, 2, 3

 

In the nineteenth century ambience with rhythm was being produced. Erik Satie’s ‘Gymnopedies’ are almost certainly the precursor of the type. The first time I heard this was probably while watching ‘Diva’, when ‘No. 1’ is used in the scene in, I think, Le Jardin des Tuileries. Lovely stuff.

Stone Techno Festival 2025 - CCL b2b Priori

 

The Third Room · Stone Techno Festival 2025 - CCL b2b Priori

Trommel.247 - Sansibar

 

trommel · Trommel.247 - Sansibar

Dopplereffekt Live May 2026

 

DJ Stingray 313 | Live from Kansas City May 2026

 

Track Of The Day: Defunkt - In The Good Times (Hannibal)

 

‘In The Good Times’ comes from Defunkt’s eponymously titled debut album and is, not surprisingly, inspired by Chic’s more famous track of nearly the same name. It’s a documentation of singer Joe Bowie’s drug addiction at the time and is a great piece of bass-driven heavy avant funk. The guitar work and effects burst out all over the place, kept in check by the vocals, bass and horns. It’s another one that takes me back to the smoke-filled bedrooms of my youth and hearing it now brings on a Proustian rush. Defunkt’s first two albums are brilliant, and I was lucky enough to see them at the New Morning in Paris in the mid nineties. And I think I touched Joe’s trombone. 

Track Of The Day: Idealist - Immersion (Mojuba)

 

This is from the just released ‘Hidden World’ EP from Swiss artist Idealist on Mojuba. And it’s a nice slice of dub techno which, while eponymous its intentions, isn’t as obvious as you might think. It has a dusty, organic feel and feels like an updated take on ‘outsider house’, whatever that was, or is. It’s as laid back as piece was you could wish for, with a dreamy feel that sets it apart and gives it an extra dimension. Very nice, and on red vinyl too.

Track Of The Day: E-Dancer - The Human Bond (KMS)

 

I’m amazed I haven’t already posted this, well I have in a manner of speaking, around 15 years ago, with a WAV. Not in the modern world though. This for me is far and away Kevin Saunderson;s finest moment, along with the other side, ‘Heavenly’. This is the one that I come back to more, just for the weird vibe and bass. I bought it in IQ Records on Lexington St. Soho, in the late 90s, ’97 I think. It was a huge Wiggle tune, following on from ‘World Of Deep’, which had been released earlier. As already mentioned, this one is all about the growling bass, and to a slightly lesser extent, the raw percussion and what sounds like a sort of somnolent wailing. It’s a great combination.

ani/live Eighty Six: Patrick Russell @ Nowadays

 

Animalia · ani/live Eighty Six: Patrick Russell @ Nowadays

Track Of The Day: James Blood Ulmer - Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher (Rough Trade)

 

I can’t remember where I was a when I first heard James Blood Ulmer, either Vinny or Dave’s bedroom. Once heard never forgotten though. And I wanted to post ‘Are You Glad To Be In America’, as that seems strangely appropriate at the moment, with the World Cup approaching, and the Somalian referee being refused admission, as well as the Senegalese team being searched publicly on arrival. The Iranian fans being denied visas, the Iranian team having to hole up in Mexico, etc. The list goes on. Anyway, ‘Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher’ is four or so minutes of unrestrained raw mayhem. I think being on Rough Trade was probably the main conduit for JBU’;s entrance in to my, and my mates lives and, although I wouldn’t by any stretch of the imagination call myself an obsessive, the two tracks named here, particularly this one, 2have been regular eagworms for the last 40 years.

Track Of The Day: Two Smoking Barrels - Basses Loaded (Late Night Dub) (Yoshi Toshi)

 

This is one I haven’t played for a long time. A collaboration between Terry Francis and Tony Hewitt, ‘Basses Loaded (Late Night Dub)’ is a deep, pulsating piece of after hours house. The bass takes centre stage, allowing the vocal sample, skittering percussion and synth stabs, which aren’t a million miles away from the wild pitch aesthetic, free rein. Terry Francis’ productions still more than hold their own. A lot of what he made in the second half of the nineties and the beginning of the noughts was very minimal, pitched up huge with a n implicit wonkiness. This is, by comparison, straight forward and more derivative. Still does damage though.

Track Of The Day: T Dave - Bilatarale (We're Going Deep)

 

There really is some lovely electro being released right now so, following on from yesterday, here’s another which has just hit the shelves. T Dave is an Italian producer who is responsible for the latest release on We’re Going Deep, a label that operates out of Bristol under the stewardship of Paul Wise, aka Placid. The back catalogue is growing and becoming ever more impressive, with release from James Shinra, E.R.P. and Carl Finlow amongst others. Anyway, the featherlight beats cascade before finally exploding  on this track. And as you listen you can’t come to any more rational conclusion than you’re listening to some sort of regenerative sonic entropy. At least that;’s what I think, and I know what I’m talking about. 

Track Of The Day: Sound Synthesis - Emozzjoni (Aanalogical Force)

 

This has just come out on the ever essential Analogical Force from Madrid. Sound Synthesis comes from Malta where, no doubt, the cross-cultural ambience, as well as a unique geographical location, both positively contribute to productivity and imagination. Proof, if any were needed, that you don’t necessarily have to be in the midst of activity in order to invoke creativity and ideas. It can help immensely of course. The whole EP flits between drum and bass, electro and acid and so is a great example of what the label puts out. I think that this producer is best represented by his dreamy take on electro, which in many ways is similar to that of Plant43. Somewher on the spectrum between ghettotech and ambient.

Colin Dale - Abstrakt Dance Show - 04 06 2026

 

Lukas Wigflex B2B Ivan Smagghe @ Corsica Studios closing party 2026

 

Mixmag · Lukas Wigflex B2B Ivan Smagghe @ Corsica Studios closing party 2026

Track Of The Day: Chris Mitchell - Nibiru (Annunaki Cartel)

 

This absolute beast of a track drifted into my consciousness during the wee small hours a few hours ago and I have to try and find it amongst the sonic Din Gir Dialect that lies on my many shelves. The label was set up by Amir Alexander, and this is the nest release on it. Grandiose, transcendental and deep, it’s got everything. Especially that well-planted vocal sample and the growling bass. This is spaced out house music of the highest order and it is absolutely criminal that it was slept on. Every time I listen to music like this I try to imagine what could have been going through the mind of its creator. What is it that pushes someone to make music like this and, equally, what is in Ed Sheeran’s mind when he put together ‘Shape Of You’? It’s a tough nut to crack, but I’m working on it.

Track Of Yesterday: Prime Minister Of Doom - Deep In Your Heart (Planet Uterus)

I came across this album after having track searched an old Eli Vervain mix and finding something from it on it. The whole album is a series of dreamy, deep trance/tribal workouts and, for my money at least, hits that sweet spot better than almost any other album I own. That’s not to say it’s the best album I Owen, rather that every track on it does exactly what I want it to do when I want it to do that thing. ‘Deep In Your Heart’ straddles that hazy house middle distance where depth and minimalism give way to soul and emotion and, as such, it’s unsurpassable.

Track Of The Day: Boards Of Canada - You Retreat In Time And Space (Warp)

 

Track Of The Day: DKMA - Soul (Forensic)

 

Dana Kelley had three releases as DKMA on Forensic, an unlikely destination geographically for his deep aquatic grooves, but one which showcases some of his best tracks. ‘Soul’ is as good, for example, as anything he pout out as Callisto on Guidance, and is similarly characterised by a g=hard drum sound draped with all manner of diaphanous sonic embellishment. Vocals mumble abstractly in the foreground while others emerge siren-like from the background. And the percussion. Jazzed up rimshots a foil to the Basic Channel like metronome. House doesn’t get deeper than this.

Emily Jeanne ‪@TheLotRadio‬ 05-22-2026

 

Lamache ‪@TheLotRadio‬ 05-30-2026

 

Umwelt/DJ Mell G x Unklevon - For The Floor Vol. 5 (Cultivated Electronics Ltd)

 

Title: For The Floor Vl. 5

Artist: Umwelt/DJ Mell G x Unklevon

Label: Cultivated Electronics Ltd

Cat Number: CELT016

Genre: Electro

A1: Umwelt- Memoryscape

A2: Umwelt - Morphing Sequences

B1: DJ Mell G x Unklevon - Get Down

B2: DJ Mell G x Unklevon - Get Down (Sync 24 x Controlled Weirness Remix)

Umwelt’s ‘Memoryscape’ really is that, although it must be said that the memories must be strange ones. It’s a driving piece full of the type of swirling noises only available at a Harry Potter picnic. The proverbial dementor wormhole as seen from the backseat of an Uber in the docklands. ‘Morphing Sequences’ is heavier and more menacing, making good use of squelches, its a disciplined battery in amongst the chaos of Goldorack’s universe. The Mell G x Unklevon track comes in two versions. The original, relying very much on some neat, bullet point percussion is crisp and full of unhinged depth. The remix doesn’t depart much from the original, there is an amplification of peripheral ambience though which makes a very positive difference and gives the imprsssion its been flung down a wind tunnel of uncertainty.

DJ Haus - EnerGIZer (UTTU)

 

Title: EnerGIZer

Artist: DJ Haus

Label: Unknown To The Unknown

Cat Number: UTTU200

Genre: New Rave Interpretations

1: EnerGIZer (O.G. KLUBB MIX)

2: EnerGIZer (Shed Remix)

3: EnerGIZer (Zoriok Compressor Remix)

4: EnerGIZer (Yassokiiba Remix)

This is the 200th release on UTTU. So, what to expect? Well, it was the inclusion of Shed that brought me here. Then, on closer scrutiny, I find out that Zoriok is Legowelt, with Yassokiiba being a new name to me. I’ll start with Shed’s remix, as that’s what’s playing right now. Pounding, ambience dampened steam hammers with high frequency electronic squiggles. Then it takes off, meandering over the rave hills until coalescing with its beat. That’s what I expect from Shed so I’m not disappointed. The Yassokiiba Remix

seems to be a dub laid on top of the vestiges of DJ Haus’s ‘O.G. KLUBB Mix’. Everything is slowed down to a very manageable speed, which is nice as its 33 degrees outside right now. I’ve just taken the dog for a walk and we’re both knackered. The Zoriok Compressor Remix is an ingenious symphony of high frequency sonar dynamics underpinned by break beats, that is until it goes off on a tangent, marking for all its worth. The O.G. KLUBB MIX sounds almost conservative by comparison. Which it is, in spite of its heaviness and power. Moreover, not for the first time recently, I’m feeling the Neil Landstrumm influence here. Sort of Relief meets ghetto-tech with a more contemporary veneer.

Track Of The Day: Marco Passerani & Orlando Occhio - Criticise (Peacefrog)

 

It’s the start of meteorological Summer, with pagan summer starting in three more weeks. Typically the sun has chosen to take a nap, but it’ll be up and at ‘em again I’m sure. Anyway, here’s an essential cover version of Alexander O’Neil’s classic, delivered in suitable deadpan style by Orlando Occhio. Of course, it wouldn’t be nearly so effective if the backing instrumental didn’t jar in all the right places. A great cover version that has more than its fair share of dissonance, all of which grinds the sonic gears in order to produce a wonderfully harmonious and emotive piece of uptempo chug.

Track Of The Day: DJ Metatron - You'll Be The King Of The Stars (Traumprinz)

 

One of the tracks that I have in mind when “riding the panpipes back to base” comes into my head. There are no panpipes and there is no base, but this tune evokes, more than most, a divine journey. One in which you know you’re going to reach your destination, no matter what. So many symphonic and emotive layers, all perfectly pitched. A polyphonic harmony of all your best moments rolled into one. The anthem you didn’t know you needed. And, at nearly eight minutes long, far too short.

Coyote / Lonely Deckchair - Bodega Notts 30/5/26

 

isitbalearic..? · Coyote / Lonely Deckchair - Bodega Notts 30/5/26

Track Of The Day: Magazine - Suburban Rhonda (Virgin)

 

One of the standout tracks from ‘Magic, Murder & The Weather’, for me at least, as it used to be on heavy rotation in the various bedrooms of my late teens. Plucked from Magazine’s last studio album, and one which saw the disbandment of the group before it was released, ‘Suburban Rhonda’ has a laconic charm, brought into existence by Devoto’s characteristically sharp wit and a very relaxed backing. 

Track Of The Day: The Fall - Leave The Capitol (Rough Trade)

From ‘Slates’ one of the key Fall releases on their long and varied existence, ‘Leave The Capitol’ is an intense, electric throb upon which Mark E. Smith’s lyrics sit. It feels totally improvised and together at the same time. Hearing this in 1981 was a bit of a revelation. It feels forward -looking, but also trapped within the sum of its parts. MES’s voice as unrestrained as it gets, corralled within an effervescent broadside of garage band ballyhoo.

josey rebelle @ open ground — 25 april 2026 (dedicated to tuffi)

josey rebelle · josey rebelle @ open ground — 25 april 2026 (dedicated to tuffi)

Voyage de Lux w/ Alex Downey - 27.05.26

 

1BTN · Voyage de Lux w/ Alex Downey - 27.05.26

Track Of The Day: Millsart - Every Dog Has Its Day 4 A1 (Axis)

 

An amazing piece of music from a superb release. The ‘Every Dog Has its Day’ series should have got more coverage. This untitled track really is the music of the spheres. It’s the techno equivalent of Larry Heard and feels very spiritual. The ambience of an acoustic cave where all the rocks have a different sound as long as you touch them in the correct sequence. It feels very much like ‘Gamma Player’ which, in my humble opinion, is the best techno track ever made. And all of this release is in a similar vein. A cosmic fusion of electronics and soul, and not quite of this world.

Track Of The Day: Mark Ambrose - I Wanna Go Bang (Crayon)

 

Typical Ambrose. Will work equally well in a house or techno set, although my feeling is it would be better in the latter. Anyway, I guess that’s why the tech house genre started isn’t it? And once Ambrose started releasing music he became a major player within that sphere. This is madness. And there’s nothing like a party horn keeping time just to tip you over the edge. Which is where the synths come ion to widen the state of play. It’s the eponymous sample which gives the track more momentum than anything else though. Great for raising dance floor intensity and keeping it there as an underla

Track Of The Day: Sonny Rollins - Old Devil Moon (Blue Note)

 

90 Days Mix Cyborg Rhetoric

 

Cyborg Rhetoric · 90 Days Mix

Track Of The Day: Clio/Roberto Ferrante - Eyes (Paris Mix) (Planet Records)

 

Great piece of Italo here. Wonderful melody, arpeggiating into the distance. The vocal sounds a bit ruffled, which only adds to its charm. And once the chorus kicks in and the intensity is raised, it’s almost Japanese. Everything hits the right note on this track. Music doesn’’t get more synthetic than this, yet its soul is tangible.

Track Of The Day: Salif Keita - Soro (Afrika) (Stern's Africa)

The title track from Salif Keita’s breakthrough album, ‘Soro’ is typical of the rest of the album in that it feels a little over produced. That’s not an issue as such, at least not  when everything harmonises so well together. Keita’s voice stands out of course, as does the underlying rhythm which is a sonic pan-African potpourri. It’s a bit dramatic towards the end, m which is something that may have sounded better had it been rawer. It certainly made its mark though, and takes me back to when I went to see him live touring this at the Astoria back in 1987.

Coyote - Bank Holiday Sunshine

 

isitbalearic..? · Coyote - Bank Holiday Sunshine

INVEINS x Mostra \ Podcast \ 120 \ Melina Serser

 

INVEINS · INVEINS x Mostra \ Podcast \ 120 \ Melina Serser

Track Of The Day: Zillas On Acid - A Wonderful Time In A Terrible Club (Fantastic Twins Remix) (Inside Out Records)

 

More mutant nonsense, this time from Zillas On Acid remixed by Fantastic Twins. This is disorientating, paranoid dub. The tectonic plates present may seem a little ill-matched, but that’s this remixes genius. There’s about five different tunes here roped into one, and what holds them together is the steady beat of the drum. Great use of spoken word samples as well, giving it a very secret tapes cold war feel. Well, we’re back there aren’t we.

Track Of Yesterday: Velmondo - Name Your Price Edit 007 (Les Yeux Orange)

 

I don’t post many tracks straight from Bandcamp. However, I couldn’t find the video and this was the only way. And who minds advertising when the quality is this good and free? The ’Name Your Price Edits’ compilation is available for just that and this is one of its standout tracks. Chuggy, cosmic and dark. Redolent with menace and strong gothic overtones. Part of an alternative soundtrack to ‘The Seventh Seal’, I’ve got the scene with the flagellants in mind. Having said that, that just describes a normal evening in the town centre where I live.

Track Of Yesterday: Icho Candy - Babylon (Rockers)

 

If this isn’t sunshine music then I don’t know what is. The temperature suddenly soared yesterday afternoon, which coincided with me going to run a 5K with the remnants of a stinking cold. It was a tournament organised by the local running clubs here in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Herts. I’m happy to say that what was left of my malady was left on my shirt, which was soaking wet after the run. I also ran a very respectable 21:22, which is quite quick for an old fart like me. Anyway, on the walk back to the car we passed some kids playing cricket. This was around 8:15. They probably had another 45 minutes before bad light would stop play. Definite Augustus Pablo melodica ambience.

Track Of The Day: Gil Scott Heron - Angola, Louisiana (Arista)

 

‘Angola, Louisiana’ comes from the album ‘Secrets’, an album I used to own but sadly don’t anymore. And the reason I’m posting this is because when I looked at the track list I had a bit of a Prussian rush. Honestly, there are a hatful of tracks I could have posted, but this one stands out. ‘Angola, Louisiana’ references a high security prison. More specifically, it is “A courageous message about the unfair trial against Gary Tyler who supposedly killed 13 yrs old Timothy Weber during the assault by white students against a black student's minority recently integrated thanks to new antiracial regulations in '74...GT is still in jail”. That was cut and pasted from a YouTube comment, so it’s a bit all over the place, but you get the picture. Black American music is full of such references. People literally getting away with murder and framing others if they can. “There are more than 6,000 men currently imprisoned at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola—three-quarters of them are there for life, and nearly 80 percent are African American. It's the end of the line for many convicted criminals in Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the U.S.”

Vass The Mudd Show

Eli Verveine @ The Lot Radio 05-16-2026

The Lot Radio · Eli Verveine @ The Lot Radio 05-16-2026

Ransom Note @ The Lot Radio 01-24-2026

 

The Lot Radio · Ransom Note @ The Lot Radio 01-24-2026

Tia Cousins & Manuol Bone @ Kiosk Radio 15.05.2026

Track Of The Day: Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive (Wackies)

 

There’s not much to say about this track except that it’s possible to listen to it forever and not get bored. In spite of what feels like a simple structure, dub like this has the ability to suck you in and keep you transfixed. This is anything but smooth though. Because although there are tight boundaries, within those walls there is an elastic reality. 

Robert Hood - Spectra (M-Plant)

 

Title: Spectra

Artist: Robert Hood

Label: M-Plant

Cat Number: MPM52

Genre: Techno

A1: Spectra

A2: E. Dark

B1: Untitled (Spectra)

B2: Fiend

Even though it was released back in 2001, ‘Spectra’ may be a new tune to me as, although I bought a lot of the M-Plant stuff on sight, I think I’d stopped by 2001. Why, I have no idea. I mean I’ve got a lot of records so it could be in there, somewhere. In any case, in his heyday Hood was the innovator, alongside Mills. They both followed different paths though. Both onto their own specific artistic vision and while Mils pursued a sort of sci-fi aesthetic, Hood was gazing more inward. His minimal vision has always been a singular one and his production so crisp and physical that it is still amongst the most forward thinking music of its type today. On the face of things that may not be immediately apparent. However, once you’re locked onto the demented machine funk accordion of ‘Spectra’, you soon realise that this isn’t just any old process. There are myriads of different layers and inflections laid out which mutate with every different listening. It’s not all like that though. Both ‘E. Dark’ and ‘Fiend’ loop the loop and plough a relatively one dimensional furrow. They’re great at what they do however. And the quality of the production as well as the measured way that they let off steam means that they aren’t to be categorised with the normal fare enjoyed by the sweaty techno masses. ‘Untitled (Spectra)’ has a lot more about it. There are swirling phantom noises, for example, and even though it feels linear, there are small indentations  which emphasise the fact that it is a coalition of off-beat chaos. The keys are pure Detroit, and then there’s a violin. This isn’t an easy thing to imagine, let alone make. No problem for Mr Hood though. The devil in the detail.

Track Of The Day: Jun - B1 Outergaze 2 (Capricious)

 

This track comes from someone called Jun, of whom I have no more information, and is on Capricious, a Japanese label. This has atmosphere. Composed primarily of a lilting sub bass and syncopated urgency, along with the inevitable beat to hold it together there is an atmospheric interloper in the form of whirling synth swathes. These elements combine to form a percussive tech monster which threatens to burst once it plateaus, it never quite does that thankfully. It would sound great coming out of yesterday’s TOTD, or the reverse.

Track of The Day: Levon Vincent - Invisible Bitchslap (Deconstruct)

One of the best and most menacing pieces of dance floor focussed dub techno in existence. I doubt there’s anything to beat it, but what do I know. Such a large full sound that would be equally at home in a big room or a front room. Has to be heard on the right sound system though. No half measures with the equalising. This was the first release on Deconstruct, a label Vincent set up with Anthony Parasole which, while it had a short existence, contributed more than the sum of its parts. Vincent’s insistent, linear and tribal beats remind me a lot of what Octave One have always done. And, coming from New York, there’s also the shadow of Danny Tenaglia in there as well. These are Levon Vincent’s beats though, and it’s a pity he’s not still churning them out.

Hamish & Toby B2B XDB - Recorded live from fabric

 

fabric · 031 - Hamish & Toby B2B XDB - Recorded live from fabric

Truancy Volume 365: Mariiin

 

TRUANTS · Truancy Volume 365: Mariiin

Track Of The Day: B(if)tek - Wired For Sound (Murmur)

 

B (if) tek, an all-female group out of darkest Australia who I’m just discovering, released this, an homage to Cliff Richard’s tune of the same name, back in the year 2000. I wonder if it sounded as futuristic then as it does now. I mean Cliff’s original back in 1981 with its roller skating video was avant-garde enough, but this. And as Australlia take part in Eurovision, why not B (if) tek? This would sweep the board. It might even be enough to get Cliff to crawl out from under his carapace and slither into the audience to beam his positive waves towards the stage. 

Track Of The Day: Dorau/Kohncke - Durch Die Nacht (Geiger Mix) (Kompakt)

 

I randomly grabbed this from the shelves and played it for the first time in ages. It comes with a couple of remixes, the other by Wolfgang Voight. This is the one I prefer though. The filtered looped vocal played over the wistful, bittersweet beats. It’s got great chug potential too. Well, almost everything on Kompakt with the schaffel stride has. Great track that takes you somewhere.

Plant43 - Spells For Warding Off Evil (Silver Threads)

 

Title: Spells For Warding Off Evil

Artist: Plant43

Label: Silver Threads

Cat Number: 

Genre: Ambient/Drone

1: Spheres Of Protection

2: The City Lies Silent

3: Broken Hex

4: Music For Surgery

5: Dreams In Viridian

6: Resisting Infernal Gravity

7: Haunted Fields

8: Prey Of The Nocturnal Raptor

9: Bittersweet Tears Fall

10: Dreams In Vermillion

11: Buried Codex

12: Embers Of The Old World Fade

Well, if it’s an immersive experience you want, listen no further than ‘Spells For Warding Off Evil’. The sound design of this album feels like an experiment in expressing a stream of consciousness through the layering of undulating drone patterns against a backdrop of emotive, sonic dissonance. The tracks seem to have the potential to overlay themselves as well, with each of them occupying a specific region of sound that is prone to movement and, as a result, containment. Some tracks are more robust than others: ‘Bittersweet Tears Fall’, for example, feels concrete and onomatopoeic. ‘Haunted Fields’ is the soundtrack to a Battle Of Britain dogfight in a parallel universe, while ‘Dreams In Vermillion’ is the soundtrack to demons being invoked through a short wave radio. That these frequencies operate in regions of the subconscious which have suddenly been rendered concrete. From the ominous, subdued, opening of ‘Spheres Of Protection’, the sound design of which is subtly augmented by ‘The City Lies Silent’. Through to the twin pillars of ‘Buried Codex’ and ‘Embers Of The Old World Fade’, the confrontational former blending into the uncertain and unsettling latter. This is a voyage into sound.

Track Of The Day: Surgeon - Optic (Downwards)

 

This is a cut from Surgeon’s debut album, ‘Communications’ and seems to blend the minimalism of Robert Hood with the scything bleeps of Neil Landstrumm. What’s goos about it is the way the bulk of the track retreats into the distance whilst the bleep remains in the foreground, only to come back of course, but maybe not into as sharp relief as the listener might like. It’s a lovely track to have on the headphones, in spite of its viscerally uncompromising stance and slices up the senses from a different angle compared to its Detroit overseers.