For fans of Beltran’s sheen style or those who prefer vivid texture and melody in their ambient techno listening selections, 2020 EP is essential without question.
Expressing amazing textures and sound exploration in ambient techno modalities
The imaginative and aesthetically pleasing Mystic & Quantum, ran by Victor Ramos (aka Vagon Brei), is the label on display as John Beltran expresses amazing textures and sound exploration in ambient techno modalities with the 2020 EP, the fifth entry of the Lost Canvas Series.
An artist who has touched the pages of so many genres in the book, John Beltran’s special touch for production and arrangement is super sharp, and the reason why he has captivated minds and ears for the better part of 30 years. 2020 EP is flavored in John’s seasoned experience in production and scene setting elegance; intelligent techno with lush and ambient auras in high presence.
A reflection on this imaginative listening session ::
“Her Simplicity” opens this EP with pure deep techno flavors—combining beautiful melody and intricate drum rhythms in a way that’s major. The tone of the melody has an emotive core with bright leads revealing an inviting imagination behind it all; indeed the chords are colorful like the fall, with playful ruby sound textures enhancing the ears. The drums are dreamy in texture and frequencies—indeed very natural with plenty of space to hear the details. Kicks pack massive booms that fill the room while snare layers float in a subtle but very present way. Rimshots add a great touch of their own vivacity in this engaging track. This is an excellent piece to experience in nature and perfect for the various Autumn colors in season.
Scene building raw techno is painted finely with “Artful Echo.” The arpeggio melody has a deep vision in sight with a glass textured charm that reveals a clear starry night; additional strings arrive with so much melodrama and sense of reinvigoration, certainly the type of arrangement that can keep the mind in captivation. “Artful Echo” has a slower and shuffling pace with classy 808 cowbells, saturated hats, rimshots, zaps, ground shaking kicks, and obese snare taps. “Artful Echo” drives with confidence, almost like a march into battle, and the kicks are going to make your speakers and neighbors’ windows rattle. Very intelligent arrangements and emotional buildup.
“Eevie” takes the journey into ambience and beautifully textured soundscapes to open B-side of the EP. Lovely textured chords and leads are here in so much colorful vitality and deliver in a way that allows the scene of the track to become reality. The chords sail and take over the tail of music here, progressing with so much lush intelligence and dense presence in bass and atmosphere. Although more on the ambient side, “Eevie” has a nice rhythm foundation of ear candy effects and textured atmosphere that drives this track in a techno way that is clever and complex. A beautiful soundscape perfectly suited for great outdoor sceneries of lakes reflecting seasonal greenery.
Concluding the EP with intense emotive fire is the track “Tiger (Detroit).” The pads and strings here are melodramatic Detroit styles cloaking their precise delivery. The bassline really glows with its funky / old school arpeggios whilst bleeps activate the control-boards for a mission to space. The atmosphere at times, brings to mind those old school sci-fi films where the machines fly with lights that glisten. The rhythm of “Tiger (Detroit)” packs high charisma, progressing and morphing freely not contained to a singular prisma. Delivered with a mission to explore alternating between shuffling, anticipation building snare arrangements and eeep 4/4 with conga percussion that appeals to the dancefloor.
Concluding reflection ::
I left this listening experience feeling refreshed by the quality in sound and arrangement on these tracks. It’s perfectly suited for the headphones or deep listening nights with friends, or alone. It’s not contemporary club music so expect the experience to grow with every listening opportunity. Each track—depending on the time of day—can have a different sensibility. For fans of Beltran’s sheen style or those who prefer vivid texture and melody in their ambient techno listening selections, 2020 EP is essential without question.
As always with Mystic & Quantum, the artwork and presentation by Vagon Brei and Fred Gambino is stunning while Alek Stark is behind the mastering. All is represented properly with this fine portrait of escaping music right on time—depending on your global position—for the charming Spring or Autumn listens.
2020 is available on Mystic & Quantum. [Bandcamp | Clone]
