After covering several hundred releases in 2022, many notables—including links to their respective Igloo reviews or release pages—are cataloged at igloomag.com/features/best-of-2022. As usual, there are no winners or runners-up as the lists are alphabetized by artist and selected tracks are featured on our Soundcloud playlist.

Igloo Magazine :: Best of 2022

Access Denied

No Signal

Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/3B5O1d4
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A1 Nuron - The Coded Message

Taken from the upcoming 'Nuron + Fugue - DAT Tapes 1993-1994' LP, released 28 October 2022 on De:tuned.

www.facebook.com/detunedrecords

Pre-order

A1 Nuron - The Coded Message

Download the song for free in high quality: https://zahozhiy.bandcamp.com/album/dreams

Zahozhiy - Dream 3

Swiftness’ takeover radio show hosted by label heads Paul Popa & Filipp. Tune in for 2 hours of music sharing, rhetorics on music related topics & guest interviews/mixes!

See all shows & tracklists at https://bit.ly/3o0hdMz

Swiftness Takeover w/ Filipp & Paul Popa - 6th October 2022

Stream, download or order 'Ultra Truth' on limited edition double white vinyl, blue cassette or CD: https://ffm.to/ultratruth

Daniel Avery's most ambitious and accomplished studio album to date, 'Ultra Truth', is out now on Phantasy + Mute.

'Ultra Truth' offers a very different listening experience to any of Avery’s previous records. It inhabits its own world of sound, a construct built in Avery’s Thames side studio with collaborative help from a host of friends: the production touch of Ghost Culture and Manni Dee, the vocals of HAAi, Jonnine Standish (HTRK), AK Paul and the voices of Marie Davidson, Kelly Lee Owens, Sherelle and James Massiah.

Ultra Truth

Stream / Order Album

Brick and Air

Brick & Air VI

'Brick & Air VI' - Brick and Air - [Audiobulb, 2022]

d’Voxx 1984 DiN75

Release date 18th November 2022
Limited to 500 copies Digipak CD

It’s always said that the second album by any band is the difficult one to create and release. This could well have been the case for the duo d’Voxx who launched their debut record “Télégraphe” (DiN58) on DiN in 2019 too much critical acclaim. Rather than continuing in the same vein they have really raised the bar with a stunning sonic interpretation of the classic twentieth century novel “1984” by George Orwell. Not only that but they have the blessing and permission of the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell to not just use the novel’s title but to directly quote from this seminal work.

Over the course of eight tightly focused tracks, which feature stunning sound design, what unfolds is a musical work that really captures the essence of this great work. Male and female voices quote from the novel as modular systems churn and chatter around their syllables. Throbbing sequence lines and incessant percussion grooves worm their way into your consciousness as the overall sense of unease and paranoia is gradually ramped up throughout the course of the album. Heartrending strings and melodic themes twist and turn to superimpose an emotional layer over the brutality of the underlying message.

Written in 1949 the dystopian themes of the novel seem even more relevant today than when it was first published. Most importantly the ways that truth and reality can be manipulated by governments and large corporations seem to be an insidious force that affects us all. This unique album by d’Voxx could well be the greatest musical interpretation of this novel to date and is another milestone in the burgeoning catalogue of the DiN imprint.

 

01 Airstrip One   04:53
02 Doublethink [A study in Newspeak]   04:02
03 Julia   06:12
04 The place where there is no darkness   05:40
05 Ministry of Love [Miniluv]   06:36
06 Telescreens   04:24
07 Ministry of Truth [Minitrue]   05:10
08 The re-education of Winston   04:08

Total Time :  41:25

1984

Buy CD / download

1984 by d'Voxx (DiN75) Demo Mix

Skal_Ghost

Audd_Shut

Sun Dawei - Zuǒ
Release Date - 1 December 2022

Written and Produced by Sun Dawei, Wuxi 2022 
Photo & Design by Sun Dawei

Shanshui on Facebook - facebook.com/shanshuiofficial
Artist on Facebook - facebook.com/ctafad
Artist on Soundcloud - @ctafad

Track List :
1. Jiāng Wú Zuò Yǒu
2. Shì Yǒu Rú Wú

Sun Dawei - Shì Yǒu Rú Wú

Impermanence

Parallel Worlds Plector DiN76

Release date 9th December 2022
Limited to 300 copies Digipak CD

Greek synthesist Bakis Sirros who records under the name of Parallel Worlds has become a familiar name to followers of the DiN label. His debut release was “Obsessive Surrealism” (DiN26) back in 2007 and since then he has released a further solo album, “Shade” (DiN32), as well as several collaborative albums with different artists including DiN label boss Ian Boddy & Node guru Dave Bessell.

“Plector” (DiN76) is his third solo outing on the DiN imprint and continues the deep dive into organic, analogue modular excursions that this talented musician is so adept at. Throbbing, deep bass lines are accompanied by sparse drum patterns and beguiling melodic synth lines. The album has a beautifully cohesive, dark and brooding atmosphere. Hints of a John Carpenter like synth soundtrack lurk around every corner but the sound world that Sirros creates is very much his own. At times the raw beauty of his synth patches grab you whilst at other moments the delicate, glitch like sound design details hover just out of sight. The album is built upon two groups of three rhythmic tracks interspersed with the dark drone of “Atmoform” and the beautiful, almost Enoesque final track, “Harmonic Pathways”.

Lovers of Electronica, Dark Techno, Downtempo & IDM will find much to admire in “Plector” and this new album once again showcases the unique talent of this highly individual musician.

01 Plector   05:26
02 Shapes   05:54
03 Angles   06:34
04 Atmoform   05:09
05 Dysfunction   05:49
06 Dark Machinery   05:24
07 Intensity   05:44
08 Harmonic Pathways   04:08

Total Time :  44:21

Plector

Plector by Parallel Worlds (DiN76) Demo Mix

Microscopic Cookbook is the first album I have ever put out as "Gama." it was published in 2017 by the Osaka collective CHILLMOUNTAIN (♥), which distributed the Cassette in Japan. MC is a piece of music that could've been a movie but turned out to be an abstract radio drama. The 8-track tape tells us a semi-continuous Carrollian story with detailed, microscopic sounds. At the time, my addiction was collecting recordings and making these loose "ASMR" beats; that's how the album got its name.

For the 5th anniversary edition, I've added two tracks that were left out from the original tape, plus new, clearer mixes to give a new life to this record. This version is a modest, intimate celebration, a way to get to know each other better. While I work on new music, perhaps these tracks can show both of us some perspective of now & then.

So fasten your headphones! We are about to dive into a rabbit hole.

Microscopic Cookbook (5th Anniversary Edition)

Footprints part II - 2017 Outtake

Taken from the album "Photisms", released on Kaer'Uiks

»C Mantle opens the floodgates on Photisms. / … shedding light; especially in the dark, on the exciting new Photisms with Kaer’Uiks. / It’s a whirlwind of creative and mechanical activity that flexes and deforms along the way. / We’re still baffled at C Mantle’s scope of audio work and utterly enjoying this one inside and out!«
(Pietro Da Sacco / Igloo Magazine)

Photisms

Gr nul;te

Gr Nul;te

Space installation slow burner

Excited to release my debut novel PROM ETERNAL

Swag out at https://gregblock.printify.me

Slow Dance

winedark by rosewither and Natalie Hogue is a collaborative effort which explores the dualities between harmony and disorder. A resonant chorus of tornado sirens, lawnmowers, and car horns, winedark explores nature in both its violent and serene states; nature as something revered and beyond control; nature of the world and of the human.

Check out Natalie's work here: https://nataliehogue.com/

Bandcamp

rosewither, Natalie Hogue - Plastic Neptune

tv is off might turn it on stortion 5 20 bpm take 1 8525

Igloo Magazine is an electronic music e’zine publishing articles about current, classic and upcoming music from around the globe. Our mission is to introduce readers to the burgeoning undergrowth of electronic musicians by covering a wide range of genre’s including ambient, experimental, dub, dubstep, shoegaze, electro, techno, drone, IDM, industrial, post-industrial, and all the debris in between. Pulling together a vast tapestry of like-minded contributors, the virtual Igloo doors officially opened December of 2000. We consistently seek to provide coverage for musicians creating left-of-center music that is not necessarily covered in general music media. Igloo Magazine publishes articles in the capacity of Newswires, Reviews, Features and Profiles for artists that wouldn’t normally receive the light of digital ink.

'Brick & Air VI' - Brick and Air - [Audiobulb, 2022]

Moss Covered Technology

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