Here’s some chilled drill from Do Quan Washington.
Do Quan Washington is a Music Producer and Audio Engineer from Brooklyn, NY. Here’s the opening track Sombrero from his new album Su Casa.
Sombrero is a lovely Spanish / Latin acoustic guitar line mixed with drill beats. I’m hardly a great drill connoisseur but I’m reliably informed that this has a “Dave type beat”.
Despite a 120bpm and an underlying depth of sub bass this is a laid back, reflective sort of track. It makes great use of the sunny and chilled appeal arising from the guitar to fabulous effect. That allows the beats to be a mix of background rumble, akin to far off freight trains, and hi hats that interweave with the guitar.
I’m too enjoying the heat to do other than want a cold drink, a bit of a sit down and a chilled track. Todays chilled offering is Holly from Banyan.
We had a remix from Banyan a couple of months back but here’s an original track. The SW Florida based duo offer Holly, named after Michaels mother who has had serious health issues. And it’s quite a tribute.
Holly is a deeply chilled organic house. It’s full of warm, lightly fuzzed sounds. There’s a bit of Koresma here, and Bicep there. It’s slightly tropical house. But then again not really.
The track has a low key epiphanic feel but without the bombast that usually accompanies anything that tries for epic. It’s low key House music seeking redemption and reassurance. But it offers you both in turn.
Feels like summer’s here. Dry days and sultry nights means I need to break out the chill. And who better than Poland’s premiere chill master, Padre Tóxico?
Padre Tóxico returns to these parts with Jazz Lullaby from his Afterlife EP. Too much of the study beat genre descends too far into gentle jazz lounge. The good Padre understands that study beats need that element of head nodding that comes from the beats or some dub.
Jazz Lullaby delivers the jazz of the title but also gives a rich dubby beat stew that has your head nodding in all the right ways. Oh, yes!
Keyboards softly offer melody with a wash of brushes. But also those critical beats which accentuate the fragments of trumpet. It’s all mellow, dubbed, stunned and a little soporific. As it should be.
Still not inclined to get terribly energetic this week. So, here’s some laid back IDM from ФЛАТТЕР.
ФЛАТТЕР (Flutter) may be connected to Arthur jheeze and be from Russia/Russian Federation – in which case Slava Ukraini! But I’m not quite sure.
That aside, the tune Ю is really nice. They says that they “would like to introduce ourselves with composition called “You” which tells a little story about a big (deep) trip. Journey that everyone interprets in their own way, but that starts with “I” and shows that all the answers were already inside this “I” from which we usually want to escape.”
Ю is a dreamy wash of synth with characteristically IDM clattering beats. The opposites work really well together with a little pastoral acid for company. A sort of Ultramarine for the twenties.
Half way through it wanders about a bit before coming back with some almost organic house or Bicep techno. All lush vocal romanticism. A bedroom techno lullaby.
I’m extending Ambient Sunday into Monday as it’s a public holiday here in the UK. Let’s have some dreaminess from moship & Michael Horowitz.
Moship is Colin Angus (ex-The Shamen from the 80s/90s) and Digital Habitat. Their biog says “Colin & Digital Habitat began musing together remotely before initiating Moship during the dark daze of the plandemonic/ crockdown era.” They are joined by psychedelic writer Michael Horowitz.
The track is A2E (radio rental instru-mental version). It’s unsurprisingly focused on psychedelia and LSD with the title meaning “antidote to everything.” Once you stop focusing on the heavy selling of psychedelics in the instru-mental version you focus on the lovely spiralling sounds.
There’s a bit of sixties hippiness but also water burbling, some flavours of The Orb and a spaced out vibe from The Shamen’s quieter moments. This is what ambient is all about. The Irresistible Force of course was part of The Shamen’s live package. It’s all quietly tripping rather than selling anything. A song to the introverted siren.
Ambient Sunday returns with a shuffling of feet and wistful air, accompanied by tracks from Dolorum & Einerlei, and JSDavani.
Dolorum & Einerlei offer Morrois (Assisi). Canada’s Dolorum is from Ontario. He’s been here before and of the track says “I was asked to contribute some music to a lovely compilation of ambient-adjacent music by my friend Alex (Einerlei) for a young French label named Emerald Garden. We decided to contribute this piece together.” The compilation album is Bocage Alluvial.
As someone once said, starts a bit quietly this one. But like an opening spring leaf this soon shows a delicate beauty. The track is fragile and beautiful. Sounds veer from spacey, through drone, and into the type of ambient that Fax we’re delivering in the 90s. There are shades of Irresistible Force at work here – this is that good.
This is exactly why the Ambient Sunday series exists. Revel in it. Drink deeply.
Next, JSDavani comes with something almost as delicate in the form of liminal spacing from his Imaginary Vowels EP. Other than being from the USA there’s no info on J Davani, so let’s focus on the EP. He says “Welcome to a collection of songs that encourage exploration and depth in getting ‘lost’.” The music is a mix of synths and field recordings.
Liminal Spacing is a term referring to being in transition, either physically or emotionally. That sense is in the sadness inherent in the sounds but also as Davani says relates to “Negative space, a concept more familiar to visual arts, is also approached as a dynamic tool and used to generate more contrast and effect.”
If that sounds a bit heavy duty it doesn’t translate into the track. This is synths as almost orchestral but without any of the pretensions so often found in neo classical. There’s a delicate dance being undertaken here as the sounds circle round each other. But it’s also grounded through the found sound that keeps it part of this world and stops it becoming too ethereal or weightless.
It’s not a ‘happy’ tune but it is richly rewarding.
Going for something utterly euphoric as it’s a Saturday. Here’s Feelings from Kirr Sounds.
Feelings is a tune so large it has its own postcode. This is a driven tumbling mass of breakbeats and sub-bass for good measure.
Synths rise like empires of the nineteenth century. World domination is what it’s after. Choirs ethereal make fleeting appearances. It’s carefully planned chaos.
There’s nothing in any way subtle about this track. It flaunts its lowest common denominator like a badge of honour. To paraphrase Wellington at Waterloo” I don’t know what effect this tune will have upon the enemy, but, by God, it animates me.” Slava Ukraini!
Friday build up with some delicate deep house from Hape. followed by some pulsing melodic techno from Alley.
Hape. is from Paris, France. But now Berlin-based, Arthur Porro produces tracks that blend melodic techno and deep house. The featured track is Rebirth.
This delivers the blend of melodic techno and deep house but with deep house winning over on this occasion. The production is beautifully clear. Beats have a bass richness alongside crisper sounds. Nothing muddied here.
That precision allows the softer synths to win through and give that deep house warmth and glow to the track. There’s a sense of the whole thing gently unfolding in onion like layers of sound as the intensity builds towards the deeper, darker final section.
Delivering on your Friday dance floor.
Alley is a producer from Spain. Much of his work is in the progressive house genre. But on And Then It Comes Alive he’s pushed the boat out into a throbbing melodic techno space.
And Then It Comes Alive is a vibrant confident track. Happy to take its time, this allows a sense of anticipation to build. Melodic Techno beats are blended with more progressive house synths that verge on melodic techno. It’s all spacey and spacious.
On the dance floor this is one of those tunes that’s gonna make you smile as it leads you on towards the peaks. It’s well designed and delivered. Just a hint of 80s synth work about it for just the right amount of retro / comforting feeling. And then… boom. It’s got you.
Yesterday we had a track from the Space Vibes 2023 compilation. Here’s another stand out track from Charlee Nguyen x Early Garden.
The track is Realized. It’s a collaboration between Charlee Nguyen from Texas, USA and Denmark’s Early Garden. This is lofi chill dialled down to its barest essentials. Beats are soft and far off. There’s guitar kept low and sparing. A slight brush of electronics and keyboard. And that’s your lot.
A track in which all the elements are set in the background. Only silence occupies the foreground. And yet… it manages to delicately hold your attention. It’s like the moment between breaths. Fragile, fragmentary and then…gone.
Space is the place today. A track taken from the compilation Space Vibes 2023 from Ouflen. The sounds are supremely chilled.
Ouflen is a Spanish producer who has been producing electronic and chilled sounds for some eight years. The track is Space Journey.
Space Journey is a beautiful track of chilled ambient but without ever quite feeling the need to settle genre wise. There are lofi beats that gives it a slight study beats air.
Beats are set into the background. This allows soft keyboards and vibes to float through. Everything is deliciously dreamy. Nothing rushed. All lush. Layers are set so everything blends into one. Nothing jars. A day bed for the mind.
ACID TED 