SPACE CANDY – SHIMMERING BEACH WORLD

What happens when two experimental electronic labels team up for a compilation? You get a lovely cocktail of flavours, that's what. Two labels DESKPOP and Galaxy Swim Team recently joined forces for their Summer Solstice compilation, which dropped a week or so ago. With it dropped this particular morsel of music, fallen from the sky from some distant planet: 'Shimmering Beach World' by space candy. Who is space candy? What does space candy want? Otherwise known by human name Alex Polanski, there's not a lot else I can say about this musicmaker.

As for 'Shimmering Beach World', it's a blend of jabbering vox, rich synth chords that buzz and flash, and beat combinations that whilst disparate work together wonderfully. At once it feels intergalactic and spacey, wonky soft chords winding like wreaths of smoke with glittering unexpected melodies bustling around, a sense of intoxication and otherworldliness emanating from the unusual, unconventional sounds. Combine with moments of slow, seething beats, drums tumbling like boulders, fizzing percussion, a definitive intensity set against the more horizontal parts, and you have yourself a little party in your ears, like the aural equivalent of a popping candy and sour Haribo mix, with marshmallow thrown in for good measure.

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• Enjoy and maybe purchase the Summer Solstice compilation in its entirety over here.

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LUVIIA – X V V W

Here is something short and sweet from Taiwan-dwelling beatmaker-/-producer Luviia. It's called 'x v v w' and it's tagged on SoundCloud as "Downtempo" and, well, yeah, that's what it is: utterly chilled. It's quite short, just over a minute long. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you want it to be longer; 10 times longer would be lovely. You can, however, just stick it on loop and enjoy it fluttering in and out of your mind.

It's a waterfall of sound... muffled synth chords rush between thumping heartbeat kicks set against a backdrop of nocturnal insectoid chirrupings and intermittent bass groove. Soft mellow chimes and bright string arpeggios decorate the track all the way, till it cuts out and drops in again – clearer, sharper, more deliciously crunching and with crisp percussion adding luscious texture. Paints a mood of growing chillment, the anticipation of escaping; nocturnal solace after a long, busy day, sinking into content fatigue.

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• Wanna hear more? Check Luviia's latest album, Mo' Butter, released at the beginning of this year on Inner Ocean Records

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LUMI – BOUNDLESS

All I know about lumi is that they appear to be from DC (Washington DC is that right?) and they appear to be 15 (years old? minutes late? metres tall?). Other than that, nothing. But being unknown to YES/NO until about 20 minutes ago isn't a big deal; they've got traction, and for a good reason. Simply put, it's very nice sounds all round.

Case in point: 'boundless'. After a quiet and fizzy crackling build-up, rough backwards sounds rolling gently like waves of static across a somewhat bossa nova rhythm with handclaps and fingerclicks, the track goes into full swing. Jabs of synth and crashing drum between slabs of empty space that leave you reeling, skiffling hi-hats and soft arpeggios adding flavour and fervour to the pastel furore of the track. There's even a key change at the end. It feels boundless, the galloping rhythm and the power of the staccato synth chords fuelling this sense of open space and excitement.

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• And whaddya know, this track is available for downloading free of charge.

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SLUGABED – I LUV U & I MISS U

It's beats galore here, a deft command of lounge-feeling groove, continues with this tumbling beat and then drops into a deeper gorge of sound, heavier, pummelling with punches of bass, percussion strewn about, some of it woody and scuttling, some jangling, crunching. A distant feel with soft tropical sounds playing sweet glittering melodies over breaths of synth, and awkwardly slanted with metallic cutting sounds. It's as wonky and robust as it is light and spacey, and it's fascinating how much slugabed can put into one track without it transitioning into complete difference.

Later in the song its title becomes clear. 'I love you... and I miss you... and I really want you to call me back' spoken over the phone, despairing and crooning like an aching ghost in the dead blank loneliness of night. The faraway exotica of the broken beat echoes this distance, this bobbling mantra of beats and reflecting the unease and sadness of whoever might be saying these words and feeling these things. At the same time, the seeming disconnect between the vocal sample and the sometimes happy-go-lucky sounds breathing throughout might be illustrative of someone who, upon hearing the words, doesn't care all that much. It's open to interpretation.

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• This track is a free download, which is lovely isn't it.
• Also, you know slugabed right? If you don't, he is called Greg I think, he's been making music for five maybe more years, he's from London, and he runs a fun label by the name of Activia Benz.

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JULIEN MIER – THE HAND FOLLOWS THE EYE

Getting hooked to this track is as easy as pressing play and beginning its ping-pong insectoid clatter percussion noises simmering away. It's a treat for a brain that wants to listen to these luscious noises, combined with and underpinned with a heady wave of rich bass. Click click clatter click pop. The beat develops and evolves with a skipping syncopated snap, percussive stringy sounds adding to the soft crunch of this popping candy soundscape, colourful atonal chords bouncing along.

The way it breaks into something more sombre is beautiful, the beat suddenly falling away to reveal a wash of rain, an intensifying slosh of sound. Then— nothing. Nothing: brief silence, room to breathe, and then the beat and the percussion enjoy their final fizzing fade to the end. It feels gloriously cluttered, a meandering progression, a busy mind gradually adding more weight and more thoughts until that rainy drop into brief oblivion... and then— and then, it starts all over again. Or its a portrait of going through the motions, automatic living, perhaps, until you begin to think about it too much.

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• This is taken from Julien Mier's new album Shiny Silver Lining, released on Canadian label King Deluxe. You can listen to that or buy it here.

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