Various
Pura Vida Presents: Beach Diggin' Volume 5

Far Out Recordings · Marcos Valle - Sempre

Tom Dissevelt - Fantasy In Orbit by We Are Busy Bodies

Black Truffle is pleased to present Sylva Sylvarum, an epic new work from Ora Clementi, the collaborative project of crys cole and James Rushford. Primarily conceived and recorded over several months together in Melbourne, Sylva Sylvarum is a stunning step forward from the mumbled, creaking sound world of the duo’s debut, Cover You Will Softer Me (Penultimate Press, 2014). From the opening ‘Peach of Immortality’, which takes an unpredictable journey from layers of chiming bells, vocal harmonies and lush synth pads to a desolate landscape of half-animal, half-digital wooshes and cries, it is immediately clear that cole and Rushford are working here with an entirely unique sound palette. Throughout the record’s four sides, we hear a large array of carefully detailed synthesizer sounds (many of them recorded at the remarkable Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio), sparse drum machine hits, wind instruments and field recordings of animals, often with a twistedly late 80s/early 90s flavour that at various points calls up New Age references, Robert Ashley’s later operas or the thinned-out textures of early digital GRM.

Micron Audio opens its doors to an external artist for the first time, welcoming in Ctrls with a crucial new EP entitled Your Data. Across four tracks, the Danish producer unravels a dark and funky electro core, taking inspiration from the rapidly intertwining codependence between technology and society. As digital twins, metaverses or humanoid robots lodge themselves deeper into our surroundings, Ctrls unpicks the deepening complexity brought on by our pervasive digital lives. Encouraged by Micron Audio boss Stingray to delve into the darker productions as a means of exploring a contemporary electro sound, Ctrls fixes a hypnotic heft with fresh industrial sound design, never resting as he navigates contorting track structures and twisting tones. The digital hum rages, as brain neurons fire from information overload, with a tsunami feeling and emotions in tow. Remarkable is the combination of pounding rhythm, hauled in by a magnetic motion, with tones of digital disintegration, all flux and shift. This electro sound is a far cry from a clone of the genre's forebearers - no retro-specificity. Instead, Ctrls delivers a timely dose of accelerated culture - The Future is Now.

Introducing Jaisiel; The Canary Islands’ answer to Bacalao. After years modestly honing his craft in Madrid and Tenerife and re-appropriating forgotten dollar bin gems for his label Ears On Earth, Jaisiel has found a home on Antinote with his shimmering ‘On the Universe’ EP. Tinged with a late 80s sound are 3 tracks of convertible top down, shirts unbuttoned, neon glow dance music.Opening the Maxi 12” is the ecstatic ‘Talk To Nature’ replete with chirps, coos and woofs. Its catchy melody a subtle nod to ATB’s seminal anthem 9PM (Till I Come) which was once quoted as sublimating sexuality with its “purring titillation”. There is an equally evocative fluidity to ‘Talk To Nature’ found in Jaisiel’s use of pitch bent guitar, climaxing snare rolls and pounding kick drum. However it’s all very lighthearted when compared to ‘Embrace The Unknown’ a driving and mystical track filled with vocoder commands, tinny drones and synth stabs whose accompanying pointed bass line makes this the perfect song for peak time transitions. Raving into the sunrise on the Carretera El Saler is ‘On The Universe’ a contemplative and melancholic closer. Still vibrating with residual dance NRG, the central vocoder breakdown beckons you to reach for trance, to consider The Universe, as it were.What ties together this On The Universe EP is Jaisiel’s penchant to upcycle 80s and 90s trance dance sounds in a clear and fresh flavour, distinctly Spanish, while simultaneously using just-enough-cheese catch phrases without being too cliché or pastiche. Talk To Nature, Embrace The Unknown, On The Universe…