OPM: Old Tech Is Good Tech

3am – Borrowed Grooves

Absolutely banging set of old-school techno, made the way a lot of old-school techno was made. And while the artist says, “I’m not saying this is a techno album by any means,” in the liner notes, well, I am saying that. This is raw, groovy, funky old-school techno that would absolutely blow up a dance floor, in the good way. 

Created completely with hardware, and showing plenty of rough edges, this is a revelation for anyone who finds current dance music a bit too polished and pretty. This has distortion, blown out timbres, and weird artifacts – and it’s fucking better for them. Tune in, turn up, and get down – this is good shit. 

(Listened to the entire album)

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Paul Griffin – Facets

Beautifully produced cinematic IDM and electro with lots of intriguing ideas and a keen ear for detail. Working in a similar space as classic acts such as Orbital and the first wave of Warp IDM, these tunes manage to pack a lot of emotion in with the breakbeats and synth squelches. The production and arrangements help push this over the top, setting those ideas in gorgeous, expansive imaginary spaces. 

Most of this sits in a fairly relaxed, downtempo-adjacent space, but a few, such as “Quartz Movement” and the title track pick up the intensity and drive it in the direction of the dancefloor (albeit a pretty unusual dancefloor). Definitely worth a listen from all who appreciate a nice mix of warm and chilly synths served over percolating breakbeats. 

(Listened to the entire album)

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Signal to Noise Ratio – Poszycie

A collection of four longform drone pieces that incorporate guitar, bells, analog synths, horns, effects and more to create languid, lovely, ever-shifting compositions. Each of the four tracks weighs in at about 15 minutes, making for an hour of material all told. A bit of patience is required to appreciate these pieces – not a lot happens and there’s basically nothing flashy or attention grabbing. 

Instead, small melodic phrases, tiny percussive elements and other tiny details serve to move things along. It’s very well done and beautiful work, meditative and energizing and welcoming to those who can give it the attention it deserves. 

(Listened to the entire album)

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Jessica Tomlinson – “A Haunted Soundscape”

An aptly named track that combines spooky samples and evocative synth sounds to good effect. Manipulated voices, ASMR-like textures, and a few Halloween sound FX record classics make up the samples. Those make a nice, eerie bed for the synths to work with. It’s suggested as background music for trick or treaters, and would work perfectly for it. 

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ring.agent.umbra – chaotic.umbral.thunder

Varied collection of noise, drone and soundscape pieces with a similar overriding aesthetic – dark, mysterious, vaguely industrial. Lots of manipulated samples, weird sound sources and harsh tones – and some not so harsh – get layered and applied in different ways. 

One extreme  sounds like a mellowish noise set, while another veers into post rock abstract guitar sounds, with plenty of weird and interesting points between. It makes for some hypnotic, if at times unsettling, headphone listening.