Don’t get scared off by the first belting out, its worth sticking around for this. I have veered away from anything that touches folk or even something like this on the blog because I just don’t hear anything that catches my ear anymore. This track was a unique one, I was caught off guard by the vocal then just road along for the next 2 and a half minutes because of the animated video styling. Both paired very well, I love than panning of a still drawing and mixing that along with some gif versions of the screens drawn in, it really holds its own.

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I’ve been waiting for the full album stream to share this release with you but I got antsy, you need to hear this release. Future lush dance music that opens up and tunnels down through virtual pipes and opens in spaces we’ve never seen, sooo happy to have him on Ghostly.

FULL ALBUM STREAM RIGHT NOW @ Hype Machine

As half of Teengirl Fantasy, Logan Takahashi is best known for making glassy, expansive tracks. On his debut solo album NoGeo, however, he creates an intimate world of fertile, furtive rhythms. Throughout the album, techno-tinged patterns unfurl with zeal and digital melodies slowly rise and fall. If the music of Teengirl evokes widescreen, technicolor club scenes, NoGeo is a zoomed-in study of timbre, rhythm, and melody. “I started a lot of these tracks almost as etudes for myself,” Takahashi explains. “I was trying to draw on my experiences both from the last few years of my life working with TGF and from my musical experiences beforehand.” Takahashi grew up studying classical violin as a child and attended Oberlin Conservatory out of which TGF was born. “There are many things that I still either use or try and consciously reject from my musical upbringing and this was a way for me to explore some of that.”

Much of NoGeo was composed using Elektron’s Monomachine, which contributes to its minimalist aesthetic. There’s a uniformity to the tracks on NoGeo; though each has its own distinct, vibrant shape, all of them are cut from the same cloth—built on a sturdy rhythmic foundation that’s ornamented with buoyant candescent, sounds. “People talk a lot about borderlessness in dance music, and indeed I’ve always been most drawn to music that exists in or a works to create new grey areas,” Takahashi explains. “From the late ‘80s Japanese Neo Geo genre to the early ‘00s Brooklyn tabletop electronics scene, I’ve always been inspired by the notion of being able to create your own vocabulary.

As Takahashi points out, the album’s title is a nod to the musical style that Ryuichi Sakamoto spearheaded, one that fused Japanese and Western influences. Sometimes that influence was direct: the track “Kazoku Ogawa” was inspired by Takahashi uncovering a box of lost letters written by his grandfather containing family secrets from Japan. Others, like the somber, quietly cruising “Rekr,” simply use the idea of obscuring borders as an abstract starting point. “There’s an idea that I’ve been pretty inspired by for the past 5 or 6 years, and it’s the idea of viewing technology and computers as ‘organic,’” he says of the thought-process behind “Rekr.” “We normally think of ‘technology’ and ‘organic’ as two separate things, but computers are made of crystals and metals and magnets from the earth. That idea is interesting to me.”

Binding everything is Takahashi’s steady hand and clear musical voice. While each track has its own distinct, vibrant shape, there’s a oneness to NoGeo; it is the sound of Takahashi standing on his own for the first time.

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gan Takahashi

You know the drill, this guy is one of our favorites, just dive in.

On Silicon Tare, the sci-fi story that Seth Haley, who records as Com Truise, began on the Galactic Melt LP and continued on the Wave 1 EP takes a dark turn. At the conclusion of Wave 1, the protagonist, Earth’s first synthetic astronaut, successfully makes contact with the far-off Wave 1 colony but, once he does, things get fuzzy. He falls in love; there is a war coming. A story that began in hope and dreams of discovery ends on an uncertain note. Change is in the air.

It’s evident Haley’s style has matured since 2010’s Cyanide Sisters. Sisters wonderfully warped sonics could have been the sound of broken VCRs spinning analog tapes, all of them singing in unison. His 2011 full-length Galactic Melt was rich and expansive, full of slowly-coasting synths, melodies that wriggled and popped, and masterfully-controlled rhythms. Since then, Haley’s sound and production techniques have progressed, becoming wider and fuller—high definition 3D madness. His always-cinematic signature sound and 4/4 kick drum patterns are present, of course, but the dynamics and tempos are increasingly more colorful and varied.

Silicon Tare opens with a skating sheet of synthesizer before easing into a steady, walloping beat. It doesn’t stay there for long: halfway through, the lights come up, and synth notes crackle across the sky. “Sunspot” is a departure–its soft-pink tone, synthetic slap bass and quasi-808 percussion recalls the edgier end of ‘80s pop. And he pushes the boundaries even further on “Forgive,” a big, booming number with fat streaks of synth and a gleefully hectic rhythm track that stops, starts and sputters over and over again.

Silicon Tare moves Haley and the fictional Com Truise even deeper into the cosmos, discovering new lands along the way and offering a glimpse of where he may travel in the future. And if the characters at the center of his ongoing story may be in peril, Haley himself is in control.

Tare sets the stage for the final chapter in Haley’s Com Truise saga, which will be the first official follow-up to Galactic Melt. It’s not only the perfect prelude to that finale, but the perfect representation of Haley’s ever-expanding universe of sound.

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Our 5th installment of the ISO50 Colorcast Mix Series has been carefully put together by a kind northerner by the name of Tyler Derosier. We got a 2 hour boy this time around, just look at the tracklist below:

1. Dresvn – A2
2. Kyle Hall – Mysterious Lake
3. Warren Raww – Ross
4. 2 Bit Crew – Hoop Dreams
5. Terrence Pearce – Stroker
6. SVN & Porn Sword Tobacco – Fresh II
7. Moomin – Time Circle
8. Dorisburg – Irrbloss
9. D. Tiffany – Orange Crush (Plush Managements Mix)
10. Jupiter Jax – Armed for Peace
11. Royer – Window Sun
12. Jonas Palzer – Solid Liquid
13. Alvin Aronson – Mat
14. Royer – Facts
15. Studio OST – Bent Light
16. Chaos in the CBD – Digital Harmony
17. Heathered Pearls – Interior Architecture Software
18. Nas1 – Exit 12, 13
19. Frank & Tony – The Gales
20. Deep88 & Melchior Sultana – Days Go By
21. Jordan Blacksmith – Naja

The good people at Sanpo Disco out of Melbourne, Australia have been delivering an endless supply of mixes for nearly a year. Here’s a good entry level one that got me hooked. Dive deep!

via Sanpo Disco

Tobia Scarpa

“As always when starting a new album, I wanted to do something that sounds fresh, but doesn’t stray too far from what I have so far done as THE FIELD – and that’s always the tricky part”, says Willner

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Photo by Sonia Alvarez

by Gallagher

Leftovers are sometimes great especially if its music. The artist gets to remind people of what they put out and maybe get some new ears on it and diehard fans get a bonus and in this case a pretty one indeed.

From the You’re Dead! sessions plus some additional “random stuff.”
– Pitchfork

– Glass Temple by Takashi Yamaguchi

I’m looking forward to music from Mark Pritchard more than I am from anyone from Radiohead and this track makes me feel good about that thought. Mark is a top of the line swiss army knife when it comes to production, plenty of patience and precision, he uses things sparingly, just guides you to how you want to feel.

The Sea by Philip Plisson

If you’re late to the game on Kyson its alright, i’m pretty sure the vocal additions being this clear is a new venture for him. How about that though? this voice was there all this time, sounds like a seasoned veteran to me.

– Show poster designed by Jansen Cumbie

ISO50 has paired up with the fine people at Hype Machine and Tiny Mix Tapes to bring you a solid day show for Mazda + Hype Machine’s Hype Hotel during SXSW. Featuring:

Leon Vynehall
D∆WN
Mumdance
Rabit
Jlin
Blanck Mass
Heathered Pearls
N.A.A.F.I crew

Check out the youtube playlist above to hear all the acts playing the day time show.

via Hype Machine