It’s unlikely to get the hipsters stroking their beards in contemplation but for any fan of good old fashioned tuneful and chilled electronica, Exist is a must.
This Finnish artist has been producing since 2004, releasing a steady stream of excellent electronica on various netlabels that are usually free to download. With a sound often inhabiting the gracefully melodic timbres of Ulrich Schnauss circa A Strangely Isolated Place, Planet Boelex is a curiously underrated and underexposed producer.
“Exist” commences things in classic Planet Boelex style—saccharine sine waves, gentle percussion, pulsing bass and melodic progressions to make the heart sing. I would say it’s worth the entry price alone but Planet Boelex is kindly donating this to your ears for nothing—and it’s clear from this track alone that piles of thought and work have gone in to this release. There are plenty of collaborations here including a couple of vocal outings featuring guests Lisa’s Antenna and Krister Linder—the latter really soaring in combination with the usual excellent Boelex production. For the purist IDM heads there are further beauteous instrumental tracks too. “Unreasonable Reasoning” (with Bad Loop) is a particularly fine melange of skittering beats and infectious melodies whilst closing track “Leaving Quietly (Weldroid Remix)” marries Bladerunner style synths to low slung reverse bass stabs.
It’s unlikely to get the hipsters stroking their beards in contemplation but for any fan of good old fashioned tuneful and chilled electronica, Exist is a must. There’s an extensive back catalog too with archive.org holding the majority of these. The Sinking in the Soup EP from 2005 is a great place to start.
Exist is available on Soft Phase.
