“Post tenebras, Love” is an exercise in restraint. Though Switzerland’s Yungve, France’s OK Lou and Canada’s Casey MQ all play several instruments, their collaboration is surprisingly minimalist. Still, the effect is overwhelming. The sparse central groove is so subtly infectious that you begin to wonder whether it was in your head before you heard it. When that instrumentation is coupled with the harmonious placement of almost choral keys, each calculated element takes on new depth. “Post tenebras, Love” is what a jazz orchestra would sound like if they spent all of their time listening to Steve Reich and early Aphex Twin.

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Various Assets – Not For Sale 2016

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Yungve, OK Lou, Casey MQ - Post tenebras, Love

No matter how much we despise them, clichés sometimes contain a grain of truth. For Austrian producer Mirac, Taiwan’s RayRay and Dutch vocalist Sofie Winterson, three was the magic number. “Out of Sight” is a confluence of dubstep’s sub-shattering bass, grime’s skittering percussion and the synths that pulse through contemporary R&B. No matter the sonic variances, Winterson finds the right space to flex her ability to move from assured crooning to mesmerizing falsetto.

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Mirac, RayRay, Sofie Winterson - Out Of Sight

A loose and easy guitar solo launches “Summer Breeze On A Summer Night In Between The Shadows Of Winter,” a “desert rave,” according to Lontalius. He and UhAhUh remember dancing around the studio to this six minute-long Afrobeat-tinged jam, and why not? Funky and expansive – especially when Emma-Jean Thackray’s trumpet solo blurts triumphantly – this is exactly the kind of song you want to wriggle into your ears as you throw back your head and gaze at a starry sky.

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UhAhUh, Lontalius, Emma-Jean Thackray - Summer Breeze On A Summer Night In Between The Shadows

With the aid of studio team member Dorian Concept, Austria’s Schmieds Puls and Canada’s Casey MQ created the forward-thinking, purposefully dissonant piece of avant-pop that is “What I Remember.” A powerful and dynamic vocal pairing, Puls and MQ harmonize and trade their fractured falsettos as though they’ve been working together for years. “Immediately after hearing [Schmieds Puls’s] illustrious opening I started to work out these chords on the Prophet and we began progressing with the song.” Casey MQ says of the duo’s studio session. “The vision of the tune was aligned, so everything we both proposed for the song fit so well!”

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Mira Lu Kovacs, Dorian Concept, Casey MQ - What I Remember

With only two weeks at the Academy, participants tend to thrive on spontaneity in utilizing the people and equipment around them. “Mister” is one of many “unplanned experiments” that took place in Montréal. After Russia’s Unbroken Dub had started pounding on the Linn Drum, he, Canada’s Casey MQ, Spain’s Julián Mayorga and Brazil’s Érica Alves began crafting this funky slice of alt-pop. “The collaboration was completely organic in that we stumbled upon this vibe midway through a jam and immediately got excited about the possibilities of the track,” says Casey MQ. Once you’ve listened to the song’s lushly layered vocals, spritely keys and driving backbeat, making a strong argument for impulsive composition is easy.

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Unbroken Dub, Casey MQ, Julián Mayorga, Érica Alves - Mister

Academy team member Jens is one of the most popular non-participants at RBMA each year, the kind of person who always has your back. On “Ping Pong Pang,” studio team member Passarani somehow uses both Jens’ voice and the clattering of the Academy ping pong table to make one of the most aggressive electronic tracks on this compilation. As Passarani pitches the vocals to an almost demonic tenor, the grinding beat never relents. We’re not sure how Jens feels about Passarani manipulating his voice in this way, but he’ll probably be cool with it. That would be very Jens of him.

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