Tag: synthesizer

Deep and Diverse

deep and diverse music

Welcome to the latest Voxel Records news from March 2018!

This month, we found yet more deep and diverse tracks, showing off some great production talent – listen to the playlist and read more about them below.

Back in the studio, Maze Car continues to work with a couple of new artists on tracks for release this year. With each songwriter bringing urban and folk vibes into the studio, our resident producer is adding the xtronica suffix for new and interesting results.

Meanwhile, in the news, it seems that the inevitable has finally caught up with our social media masters. Indeed, the incessant hunger for personal data means abuse is rife. The resulting dip in public trust is the theme observed in Maze Car’s 2014 release Trust Me. Who would have thought we could be so prophetic …?

First on the playlist this month is Dove Holes by Spite Zoo. This could be considered a kind of showcase for Manchester’s Matttech Modular euro-rack synth store, but this is no detriment to the epic exploration of evolving tones that lovingly immerse us here. A maze of modular timbres echo and dance around the stereo field until all the rhythms are bound together by a solid deep bass line and acoustic dub drum loop. It’s well worth taking a quarter hour to meditate within this labyrinthine production, which is a perfect polygamy of modular, dub and funk.

Standing out proudly on the Eyes. All. Red. EP, the glitch intro of Satisfye‘s Decay deals us a heavy dose of dub shuffle with its simple wubbing rhythms. The purity of the groove is lost when the track breaks down, but the mood is rebuilt with a long pad that ascends into plodding stabs of synth-wave disco. With this track, Satisfye proves there is no need to be adventurous with melody when the sound palette and rhythms are so succulent: Fat. Deep. Wide.

Lastly, Heather Jayne offers up her latest track Better Than This as a quality follow up to last month’s Let Me In. Heather’s pouting, urban vocal is immediately familiar, warm and accessible to any lover of modern urban pop. Gritty backing vocal loops and swirling effects are spun into the captivating production and garnished with acoustic drum accents. The essence of tape-spliced loops are the original hallmark of Heather’s production, presenting all the wow and flutter of lo-fi alongside the brilliance of contemporary urban soul-tronica.


Go Boldly

Welcome to our update from the month of February 2018. Last month, we were working hard in the studio on some new projects, combining our electronic production with local singer songwriter talent. Keep checking the website for the results over the next couple of months!

Meanwhile, our sound surfing found us stumbling upon a bunch of songwriters who assert bold style through original compositions. The tracks we selected this month are a reminder that we have to be true to our souls and keep making those original sounds – random, retro or minimal, we experienced it all in the last few weeks.

Live Tonight is the latest drop from scientist musician Dysfonic. To some, this may be a challenging listen, but if you appreciate the pop punk innovation of Sparks and the synth arrangements of the Nik Kershaw era, then the beauty of this creation becomes clear. The synthwave sounds and jangling faux-funk stabs are masterful recreations of yesteryear, and yet the track is individual, new and fresh. The vocal is brilliant, even though it struggles to cut through over the bold instrumentation. Go check out more of Dysfonic on Bandcamp here.

Prarie Type Situation, Like a Homestead. Life is Easy on the Farm is from the EP You’re Going Down to Clown Town by Slop Child. Random could be an understatement, but this track works some brilliant jazz drum licks into dissonant glitch and bit-crushing that keeps you guessing throughout. Eventually, a conventional trap beat breaks through the gloom of electro synths before the melange collapses into a watery breakdown. Curious? have a listen!

Jason v (vcr mix) is a workout of succulent synth tones and dirty electric beats by German producer Duality Micro. the parent EP is a collection of cryptically titled blips, pops and buzzes which demonstrate a consistent style and texture throughout. The sound design imparts a bouncing energy to constantly varying rhythms and percussive accents, making this a great example of purist modular electronica. It all shines through in this close, clean and no-frills mix.


Acid Hop

voxel records electric jelly

Welcome once again to the Voxel Records view of underground electronica. This month, we have discovered some great tracks by producers exploring acidic techno, hip hop and jungle crossovers. There’s some inspiring ingenuity in this month’s playlist, so go enjoy it right now!

The Source is a project for which veteran techno DJ Freddy Fresh steps out of the booth to collaborate with Dr. Walker of Air Liquide. Straight off, this track lobs us a brief, bouncing motif which is filtered, resonated, echoed and distorted with modular sweeteners as it twists and turns throughout. The percussion sounds are sprinkled with sugary bit crushing to make the drum track equally buoyant, so this funky modular masterclass and should whet your appetite for more creations from The Modulator.

Traveler opens with a simple acoustic drum and bass refrain, but producer subPAR soon injects a gritty bass synth and electro traps, with echoing reverse-keys haunting the background. A few well-timed drops of silence give an extra edge to the overall no-nonsense production, and there are many more great examples of creative beat making over on the subPAR stream, so go check it out.

Our final discovery this month was DnB Ultra  from Tosmen. This lengthy dose of hi-energy dub opens with clean, spiky drums as they splutter like a starter motor, but quickly reach jungle speed. Regular fills and dub FX pepper the mix without overloading it, and acerbic filters eat away at monotonic riffs without losing any energy or pace. The rate and diversity at which Tosmen is uploading tracks should put us all to shame!

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Fresh drops of new music from the cloud

voxel records je suis paris banner

And we continue: the winter holiday season is approaching, so if you are wondering what to give your fellow electrophile buddies for xmas, why not snide on over to our NEW GEAR STORE …?

Voxel Records 909 Boom Hoodie

909 BoomVoxel Records 8-bit Love T-Shirt8-bit Love TeeVoxel Records Egg Beat TeeEgg Beat Tee

We are now offering a new line in high quality clothing and accessories, each adorned with exclusive Voxel Records designs. As ever, we also bring you another selection of the music we discovered as we crawled around the internet this month – check out the reviews below and listen to it all on the playlist.

For Voxel resident Maze Car, it’s out with the new and in with the old as he gears up for his next vintage sound experiments, so there are beats and beeps galore over at DAW ’84. He also promises to upload the results of the current project to the cloud when the studio stops crashing :s

First up on the playlist this month is Horizon by French producer Hubrid. This track is immediately reminiscent of Tron: Legacy era Daft Punk, at least in terms of timbre and tempo. The production style stands up to further scrutiny with its leaping synth arpeggios, podgy drums and epic underlying pads – but develops a darker edge as the riffs become more gritty towards the drop. It is the length of the track that leaves us wanting more – so if you are still hungry after this taster, then check out the other similarly styled tracks on the Hubrid stream.

Next is Venom by American producer Telekrex. He specialises in twisting effected synths (and indeed other sounds) into workouts that ooze fat, juicy tones right across the spectrum. This example of his work is suitably aggressive in terms of rhythm and filtering, which results in a distinctive down-tempo dub sound. The Telekrex stream mutates between ambient and modern dub styles and provides plenty to sink your teeth into.

Finally, we present Firecrackers by Kristaps Locmelis. Here, laid back jazz licks on the guitar are underpinned by a sparse, shuffling beat. The drums grow from seemingly organic roots, but are fashioned with electronic duality as vintage strings reverberate from beneath. Any followers of electrophonic crossovers like Broadcast and Air will appreciate the vibes emanating the Kristaps Locmelis catalog.

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