Experimental Electronic Music
A vibrant array of rhythmic and melodic flourishes defines Inmate Shuffle, a five-track suite from renowned Dutch IDM craftsman Kettel (Reimer Eising). Each piece, concise at around five minutes, showcases his enduring ability to fuse intricate beats with poignant, melodic expression.
Expansive and hushed, the landscape breathes through each piece, as Thorarensen captures its elusive essence using custom microphones—drawing out subtle sonic layers interwoven with synth hues and an almost tactile sense of presence.
The nine tracks of Death Mask fall into techno. However, such labelling does this record a disservice. Richard Fearless is pushing the limitations of the genre and forging new paths within the sound. His ability, and years of experience, come to the fore as new audio explorations are charted.
As the murk of modern political unrest deepens, these artists illuminate the darkness with warped frequencies and broken beauty, refusing silence. In its sprawling chaos and cathartic clamor, Solidarity [complete] doesn’t just advocate—it agitates, igniting sparks of resistance in every distorted signal.
Across this collection of concise compositions, modular synthesizers stretch and twist, weaving intricate strands of melody beneath tough, textured Skittles-like surfaces.
Monologue Intérieur takes a more intimate, solitary path—rooted in daily life, field recordings, and almost post-Cage-like sparse and fragile piano sequences.
These are soundtracks for forgotten horizons—the kind viewed distinctly on the project’s cover—where each composition unfolds in barren sequences of industrial hum, muffled turbulence, distant resonance, and vast auditory plateaus that seem to stretch without end.
A culmination of everything Day Before Us has cultivated over the past decade, while venturing into even more radiant, immersive terrain. For listeners willing to let go and drift in its pull, Dim Shores of Eternity is one of the most beautiful and haunting releases of the year—a spiritual monument built from silence, sorrow, and sublime sound.
Fresh from his music being picked up for a Ridley Scott Netflix production, Dalham brings the required noise in Cobra / And The Sun, a twin release from the estimable Castles in Space set to alter states across the planet.
There is a geography of the soul that Rafael Anton Irisarri mapped out in 2015, a cartography drawn with electrified mists, torn soundscapes, and submerged melancholies. A Fragile Geography, his third release on Room40 (see our 2016 review here), spoke at the time with a dark and hushed voice, the echo of an emotionally fractured era. Now, ten years later, the album returns in a newly curated edition by Black Knoll Editions.
