Name: NKC - Strak by Sea Cucumber
Duration: 5 min
Description: Losing your mind in the brainforest at night. Scratching out ancient signs in the undergrowth. Hitting panic mode in an old railway tunnel. Running topless through the trees with camo-dirt smeared on your face. This is what it sounds like.

Losing your mind in the brainforest at night. Scratching out ancient signs in the undergrowth. Hitting panic mode in an old railway tunnel. Running topless through the trees with camo-dirt smeared on your face. This is what it sounds like.

Beams

NKC - Strak

410 - Think Again [SS ED1T]

IM089 - @galtier - Pulchra Es Elementis
Label: Infinite Machine
Release Date: September 24th,2021
Format: 12" / Digital

With 10 years in the ‘biz’ firmly under his belt, Jiah Wells is poised to release the first full-length LP of his Galtier project, Pulchra Es Elementis. Whilst Galtier is arguably one of the originators of the percussive style that would eventually fall under the Hard Drum label, the heightened theatrics of his recent output have seen him channel Blade Runner-styled sonics and move further away from absolute club functionality. Whilst Galtier’s output often seems to soundtrack hypothetical, off-planet words, Pulchra Es Elementis turns the focus inwards: towards Wells’ own emotional constellation, his evolving spirituality and his attempts to tap into planes of existence beyond the tangible. The album’s Latin title translates to ‘Elements are Beautiful’ and encapsulates the artist’s belief that there is grace in all of life’s aspects; pushing past what we deem as good or bad, minuscule or massive.

Pulchra Es Elementis begins with Crystalised Larva, a brooding opener of breathy pad synths and expansive kick drums which reverberate through the mix as if the hits originate from the bottom of a valley. There’s an indistinct sense of tension on this track, in part due to a central melody, which never resolves but only descends lower in pitch. This tension turns to explorative wonder on Wilfull Saviour, where a mirage of musical ideas come in and out of focus. Although the sonic worlds Galtier explores are internal to him, Wilfull Saviour still possesses that sense of a cosmic journey we’ve come to expect from Wells; an ardent fan of dystopian films and literature.

Continuing this emotional odyssey, Bruised, But Not Broken sees the artist push deeper into the psychological undergrowth; its murky tonality juxtaposes crisp, Reggaeton-inspired drum patterns with a heavily compressed one-note synth line that modulates wildly - cutting through the mix like a nagging thought that won’t leave your mind. Next up is U Were, U Are & What U Will Be, one of the more club-ready tracks of the LP, which gets us moving with a snarling bassline and layers upon layers of percussive hits and inflections.

At Pulchra Es Elementis’ mid-point is the LP’s title track, a drumless interlude where blissful, shimmering synths create a patchwork of intensities. Galtier’s approach to songwriting shines through here; ignoring musical pragmatics, he opts to feel his way through his compositions without knowing where they might end up. Following on from that weightless breather, Phantasiai turns up the freneticism with its head-spinning mix of drum programming and a glitched-out synth line that yo-yos up and down octaves. Things get even more furious on the Superficie-featuring Cavernam, a hollow Hard Drum banger inspired by Eskibeat sensibilities and designed to create a sense of self-implosion.

The album’s penultimate track, (U Are) Beautiful, is a tale of two halves: beginning with a moment of serenity as synthesizers swell like an ocean tide before evolving into a marching crescendo of raw energy. Rounding off the album, Shine Forth hurtles through pacey drum work and all manner of strange zaps and klaxons before giving way to a final dose of nebulous ambience.

A musical journey unlike any other ‘club music’ albums, Pulchra Es Elementis is an LP that demands to be consumed in one sitting. Reflecting on his place within the universe and the musical landscape, the album could be viewed as a musical exorcism which sees Galtier working through and shedding huge chunks of his ego that stuck to him out of fear of the unknown. Pulchra Es Elementis begins on an insecure, overwhelming or, even, existential note before rounding off with a related sense of vastness seen with new, more positive eyes. It’s a voyage we hope you will join him on.

Galtier - Shine Forth

Taken from SBKT049: Osheyack - Intimate Publics
Release date: 8th June 2022

Intimate Publics, Osheyack’s second album, is an homage to Shanghai, the city he has called home since 2012. Over the past ten years the producer has evolved from an avid club-goer to a key member of the vital soundscape that emerged from ALL Club and its predecessor, the now defunct club The Shelter. As hinted by the title, which draws on American social theorist Michael Warner’s work on publics and counterpublics, the album expresses a commitment to mining the utopian potential of club music, forging new worlds and generating future social relations, just as the artist bids farewell to the city at a moment of uncertain transition. While tracks like 'Edging' and 'Thrall' continue to present his signature collage of harder club music, the rest of the record reveals a shift to synthetic approximations of acoustic instruments. 'Still', the central track of the album, is a piece composed almost entirely of samples found on Vocaloid (a vocal synthesizer developed by Yamaha, commonly used to give voice to Japanese virtual idols). While echoing themes explored in previous projects, like the nature of realism and authenticity in a techno-mediated landscape, Intimate Publics is charged with an unexpected emotional candor and vulnerability, unveiling a personal side Osheyack is only beginning to explore.

Words by Alvin Li
Artwork by Xiaofei Qiu
Design by Luke Griffiths
Mastered by Raphael Valensi

Intimate Publics

Osheyack - Thrall

Between UK bass continuum, percussive experimentations and other sharpened rhythms, B E N N signs a solid track on the first compilation of the label POSTWORLD.

Read more on CxC 🔗 couvrexchefs.com/en/b-e-n-n-postworld-photon

Article

PREMIERE: B E N N - Photon (POSTWORLD)

has made a remix of Kygo, Zak Abel - For Life
hope you like it, please give feedback :)

Kygo, Zak Abel For Life You (Tigo92 Remix versjon 22

Cat No: MATERIA07
Title: Magnetic Field
Artist: @tsumutsumu
Label: Materia 
Release: 6th September 2019

1. Magnetic Field	
2. Industrial Ecosystem
3. Coup
4. Dominator
5. C4

Magnetic Field

T5UMUT5UMU - Coup

Breaksy, sparse rhythms. 

More: https://ins-rt.net

Crawl & Dwell

Premiere: Kuthi Jin - Crawl (Le Dom Remix) [TV Showw]

HEART FIELD (x MORGIANA HZ)

More info - http://loose-lips.co.uk/blog/ice-eyes-maps-of-despair-abadir-remix-edt10
@ernestdtapes
@ice_eyes
@rami-abadir

Antipodes EP

Maps of despair (ABADIR Remix)

Pre-order

PREMIERE: Ice_Eyes - Maps of Despair (ABADIR Remix) (EDT10)

Single from @yungadultxx's debut self-titled EP, forthcoming 18/12/20 on @hi_nrg.

Mastering: @morair
Artwork: Ryan Huff

Pre-order: https://hi-nrg.bandcamp.com/album/hard-fantasy-ep

Hard Fantasy EP

PREMIERE: Hard Fantasy - Hard Relate [Hi-NRG]

Sea Cucumber is a label founded in 2021 by @Tzusing 
Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide.

NKC - Strak

Sea Cucumber

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