Vertical Amigo
Ridge
Coldtear Records


Musical sound effects with splatterings of pulsing jazzy underscoring mean this ambient and abstractly produced E.P. carries a ghostly but mellow edge which gently rests on the airwaves. Echoing from left to right with gusts of digital breeze and pinned to the music with tiny sharp rhythmic nails, we are treated to a slow and progressive thrust into Ridge, track one of the four which make up the extended play mini album. An underwater world element is given as the hard reverb and drawn out echo means everything swirls together in a spiralling draw down into relaxation and stillness.


Melody begins to make itself available when Valley enters the playlist. It is simply made, and nothing is done to excess, however after the first track, the application of tune and a more rounded edge to the voice makes the step in the direction of the sky. It raises the vibration without adding pressure, an album which increases in depth but feels like we're in a well made mini-submarine, floodlights piercing the dank and murky waters of digital exploration.


As we progress even further into the realms of Vertical Amigo, a beat is slapped down onto what has already been built to mark the entrance of track three, Plateaux. A new level of energy finds itself worming into the mix when the cool but excited drumming sits like a decorative icing on the stable and well defined cake. Tunefulness makes another cameo appearance in the pause between sections, a gear shift means that we can turn around and take a different perspective. A new distance forms and perhaps the current is letting us glide a little.


Resurfacing requires a complete reversal in the engine's power output, and when showing this musically, a different form of wave needs to be applied to demonstrate this change. It is no surprise to my ears that a saw effect begins the journey for the last and fourth track on this short but interesting collection of sounds. Peak marks the top of the mountain, as the album art shows a green hill with windswept edges, my journey has been a reversal of what perhaps the artist intended. For me, we are in the mirror. Taking ourselves to a place where the view is unique in the workings of music and rhythm leaves the imagination wide open to our own suggestions.  

​Ticon
Mirage
Eboga Records


Freshly engineered trance-techno music with an uplifting euphoric heartbeat enters the room within a few moments of track one. A relentless bass pulse with accompanying drums that match to a digital pinpoint, electronic music with the fully computerised production technique can only mean that someone has spent a very long time, with many dials and controls, crafting something that sounds amazing. Mostly, it does, and Mirage is already on the way to success before we meet the second instalment.


A much more progressive standpoint begins to wash over the original underlay of scene setting entry level sonics. When we reach around ten minutes in, the playful element of the artist's escapades begins to shine, and we're given some interesting sound effects and a much less full on delivery. Melody doesn't meet the same levels as a classically composed piece, we're more considering the beat with this genre of music, but tunefulness is a part of what we are getting here, if only just.


Dance music of any nature needs to carry a continual rhythm and this means the pace seems to be very dry if we're expecting something else, but once we appreciate the need for consistency, and maybe begin to move something of ourselves, if not all, to the beat, everything becomes much clearer in the listen. It can feel that we're being let go of at times as one section builds over and down, working into the next, but for an album, it's for the best. Mixes tend to allow for overlay, but of course to give one, there must be an element of break down in order to mix it in. Techno has a lot of rules, and if they're not followed then the tracks wont be played as often and in the right places.


Soundtracks for the imagination, from mindful strolls to shuttling throttle jumps, we can work on something manual and tedious like the washing up as well as enjoy the journey gifted to us by the means of this album. Vocals begin to make an appearance, drifting in another layer to the previously purely synthetic sounds, yet they don't make so much noise to qualify as a section really, just phrases to fill the spaces, the perfect choice I think.


Back to the groove with every fresh perspective, this is an album of predictability and drive that probably deserves to be re-mixed a few times, used to create other things, and do well by itself. Love for the tribal part of our psyche is most suited to making music to dance to.

Find Ticon on Beatport 

​Tycho
Epoch
Ghostly International


Ambient music has to have a flavour, when mildness is the call then it is important to distinguish it from another, perhaps this is the biggest challenge in this genre. Tycho has been able to craft some wonderful home sounds with an effected guitar and synths which resemble that of M83 or Ulrich Schnauss. The space age sweeps and cerebral spirals of beat form a droplet of watery textured music that flows like a calm river.


Glider is a wonderful escape into the stratosphere upon the silken wings of arpeggio and basic movements of tone. It melts over the room like slightly warmed butter, and flicks of light seem to dance on the runny lather as the pressure rises a bit more with the oncoming of track two. Horizon keeps us afloat but the gliding person has by now become accustomed to the flow of things, and the sky meeting the land is the outlook. Winds come along and jolt us, in places the bars find a new level of franticness which can occasionally be a little jumpy. Not for meditating to really, it's just not that ambient. This is definitive music for enjoying as is.


Slack and Receiver have reduced the power and flow and replaced the energy with a higher reaching melody, skillful organic guitar echoes, and a freshness that keeps us interested. Once again, with this kind of music, finding the balance between boring and beautiful can be a little tricky. Much deeper in the mix is a nicely knitted distortion which warms everything up, but it really needs to be listened for, otherwise it simply fills the gaps between the music.


By the time we find ourselves listening to Local, we find that time really flies when we are having fun, and the album is almost at an end. Continuum feels like a new morning, in which everything is given a fresh perspective. Field being the last track, takes us to that place inside where the grass is green and the books have already been read. It is a delightful ending to the album, and when the ending comes like the scratch of a record, it simply feels like a cue to press repeat and listen again.