🐣 DJ SEINFELD —TIME SPENT AWAY FROM U

The overdriven beat is what starts this track on its way to you heart. It is not only the superficial decay of it, the lo-fi crackle as the booming kick begins to distort into a speaker-blowing splodge, the grainy swishing of the hi-hats as they cut through the buzzing air, the exploding handclap hidden in the splash of curdled noise, the snare like robust cardboard thudding its accents on the beat—it's not just the beat existing in this way. It's not just the entire track existing this way, actually, the whole of 'Time Spent Away From U' shuffling with the rhythm of funky house, big sunset crashes of synth destroyed by sidechain and the decay of the track, the vocals crooning ancient lovesongs into the mix. It is not the mere fact of DJ Seinfeld's track existing in this lo-fi manner.

It is more what this actually conveys. What does it convey? When people think of vintage crackle, what is that? It's from turntables, from old records warped and scratched, from old never-replaced needles. But the nostalgia, unless you are old enough to remember it, from these is borrowed, nonreal. The nostalgia of the warping and destruction of this track is blissful and intimate, it has a bootleg feel, as if it were captured on a tape recorder in someone's back garden shed, as if it were being shared by friends on a hi-fi, the speakers already damaged from playing music too loud and now this late night discovery blaring on the speaker, all of you crowded around. It is not just the sound of a song being played a thousand times already, but of the soundsystem it's played through being used even more times. The warmth of this situation, the uncapturable time-and-place perfection of it.

This quality, this aching tragic nostalgic quality of the track, our generation's recognisable nostalgia, not borrowed—this quality, coupled with the sudden gutwrenching drop in the stomach that the big pianos of the track conjure, perfectly illustrates its title. Missing somebody, longing, needing; simply told, bold and blocky, brash and blunt. And through the bleary-eyed sadness of it, we come through the other side, the crunch and depression of it ceasing to quake our ears, the final few seconds of the track free of decay and distortion as we enter into our cold realities once more.

---

• 🔔
• 🔔 This track is take from Barcelona-based DJ Seinfeld's debut album of the same name, Time Spent Away From U, which is being released on 3rd November courtesy of Lobster Fury (Lobster Theremin / Media Fury). You may pre-order the vinyl version of this, which features more tracks than the digital version, by clicking this hyperlink.
• 🔔

---

---

📠
☟ DJ Seinfeld Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 DAISILY — JEFF'S BEAT / SQUIRTLES DON'T DROWN

The emotive nature of this charged with nostalgia with the crackle of many moons past with the delights of some place some time that you reach for fingers outstretched and straining the odyssey of memory a fog in the mind slowly curling and crowding and fingertips glazed with yearning aim yesteryearly seeking for that one thing which is a something composite of many things this nebula of fond experience. It is beatmaker daisily's utilisation of this piano sample that so washes the track in gallons of organic ancestral yearning, a dusty tract of high-pitched keys that call out coldly chiming into a night that does not seem to be listening, or that listens a silently weeps knowing it can do nothing to ease the distress.

Wow. And that piano comes lifted, the musicmaker tells us via email, from an episode of the Pokémon anime called Pikachu's Goodbye: "it is pretty emotional if i say so myself." Light organs accompany the twinkling keys in the nicely named 'jeff's beat / squirtles don't drown' (it's true—they don't), now warped as if distorted through bleary tear-filled eyes, now fluttering like panicked heartbeats, providing soulful ambience on the backdrop of a crackling nocturnal canopy of sound, insectoid and chirruping, itself reminiscent of summer days, specifically summer nights, humid endless. The beat is persistent, the rapid double-tap thud of the kick, the full-bodied clack of the snare.

---

• 🔔 This nostalgic track is taken from LESS FEEL I, the beat tape by daisily, which you can download from Bandcamp. It's dedicated, says he, "to the progenitors of my friends, they inspired this by n' large".

---

---

📠
☟ daisily Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

---

🐣 EMMECOSTA — HEAVY HEART

Slowly slowly this track rolls along, the eternal trundle of curling clouds across a greyscale landscape, the horizontal energy of chillwave simplicity sweeping into the foundation of this track: the dom-dom glooping bass of the kicks and the thin abrasion of the snare tinged with lo-fi, the soft constancy of the synth constant like a tide in the sidechain of it all. 'Heavy Heart' unfolds like a flower turning and opening to the day's first flood of light, the vocals of Gothenburg-based Italian trio Emmecosta adding silken texture to the track, the languorous luxury of it heightened. Here we are laid-back and loafing, bleary and wandering.

And around 2:40 the brief disappearance of the beat, relegated to its most bassy parts, highlights another element that bejewels the track; these high-pitched pings, synth or effected guitar it may be, how they cry into the air, splashing watercolours, the stifling distortion of it, the degradation of the pure sound conjuring this feel of something pushed to its limit—and the energy in this scathing absent melodies is something that aches and pines and yearns, careering into a blanket of dazzling stars. The electronic tricks of 'Heavy Heart', the sometimes staccato cuttings through the track, that ebb-flow sidechain, both betray and bolster how human it is, how organic, how like a melancholy nostalgic longing howl into the ether it is.

---

• 🔔 'Heavy Heart' is taken from the August-released EP from the band, Velour, which was brought into the world courtesy of Stockholm label ICEA. You can listen to and download it from Bandcamp.

---

---

📠
☟ Emmecosta Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube

---

---

🐣 DAVVN — WITHOUT YOU

The atmosphere of 'without you' is instantly lovelorn. The gleaming synth chimes, cold and chilly and soaked in reverb resonating into the air of the track, signify distance; and warm sounds, like the continuous rumble of bass beneath it, compelling body and mind with feeling, strong emotion muffling and submerging you; the ghostly disembodied quality of the vocals, layered and in their lavish languor close to your ear; the lyrics, "when she woke up today sun soaking her face listening with tears / something had changed today she'd face her fears." It summons the warmth of human emotion versus the cold cruelty of being denied what you desire, a detached sense of muted-howling loneliness versus hot-breathed intimacy.

Boston duo DAVVN (pronounced 'dawn') combine this feeling with crystal clear pop affectations that allow it to be conveyed in a non-heartbreaking manner, something palatable. So the exquisite flavour of that sentiment rolls along with jostling kinetic energy, ticking hi-hats and tumbling rapid-fire kick-snare combos characterise a compelling beat, and the vocals seem to shiver and soothe at the same time, melodious and melting with the hook specifically and its pitch-shifted repetitions – "you're leaving me here without you" – leaving its silken traces behind in your memory. What an illustration of longing, with its immediacy and beauty painting it bite-sized and delectable.

---

• 🔔 It looks as though this is actually the duo's first ever song to appear on the internet. Keep your eyes on their SoundCloud for more.

---

---

📠
☟ DAVVN Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ facebook ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

---

🐣 RENÉ — I.N.T.O.

The voice of London singer RENÉ in her latest track is a revelation. Silken smooth it effortlessly navigates low notes almost purring as it resonates delving deep and then rising high lilting with accents and ornaments, trilling and sliding with satin sheen from one line to the next. Alone, her voice reverbs lonesomely into the distance, stark and beautiful, but layered as in the second verse (from 01:05) it's a slice of Destiny's Child-leaning R&B jam, rich and elastic and winding rhythmically to the clattering beat, a dark and futuristic instrumental leading us forwards with angular twists and turns.

Weaving with the vocals is a sultry synth that melts between fizzing trebles and muted lows in a pulsing flutter that veils RENÉ's voice and the track in an atmosphere of cyclical longing. This cuts out in the chorus, when the vocals sing out "Cause I'm not the one..." shining and sirenlike, room to breathe with this lull in the synth. And that starkness is played out with the collage of percussion in the beats, booming bass kick, clacking snares, ticking hi-hats, glassy metallic sounds, all of it rattling and stuttering in arhythmic glitch, a hint of grime in the darkness of it, in this sharp beat and in the lone overdriven kicks of the bridge. This keen sense of hazy minimalism allows for a distinct focus on RENÉ herself, and her voice, the lavish tone of it, rhythm, melody, all of it a gratifying intoxicating blend of heart, soul and vocal chords.

---

• 🔔 There's a video for 'I.N.T.O.' as well if you'd like to have a watch of that.

---

---

📠
☟ RENÉ Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram

---

---

YANDERE – 4GET

My exposure to Yandere began with the awesomely hypnotic guest mix crafted lovingly for YES/NO by Irish producer and gentleman, Harmful Logic. That's what's good about guest mixes, or any type of mix: introducing your listeners to the music that you yourself love, diluting tastes down into a mix that gets drunk up good by those who hear it, the dissemination of artists to others likely to like them too. And it's also like that thing in GTA when finally you jack a rare car you've been looking for, and suddenly every other car your drive past is the same one you're driving. There's a name for that. GTA-effect? I dunno. But there's a name for it. I think.

So so so, back to Yandere – formerly known as "euaxwhen". His remix of memory cards' track 'phoenix downs' really struck me, thanks to Harmful Logic's inclusion of it in his mix. I thought I'd check out his other stuff one day. And then yesterday, boom— a new track appeared! Called '4get' it surfaced on PRTLS – "a music community dedicated to giving independent artists and curators a place to share their unique voices" – and before I say anything else, let's listen.

It rises up with liquid freshness, expansive with filmic heart-throb strings and rich with plunge-pool waves of bass, all set to a trappish beat that clicks with woodblocks and rattles with snare and hi-hat. Beams of synth shoot across, joining the soundscape in bright bubblesomeness, sharp gumball vapour trails zig-zagging, with a break in the middle that rumbles with muffled beat and harpisichordesque glistening synth – all the while, vocal samples pepper the track with emotive shivers.

It's a cold track shot with open blue skies, grounded in the frozen earth, emotional and stand-offish – the soundtrack to longing without end. Perfect really, especially given its name, and also for the fact that it is taken from the upcoming compilation Finding Love In A Parallel Universe, curated by Tape Transport and Harmful Logic (alongside others). I believe it's closing for entries on April 1st, already including stuff from artists like Ulzzang Pistol and Low Tee and there's still a few places left, so if you think you got a suitable track (listen HERE for a preview) send it on over to TryingToFindLoveInAParallel@gmail.com.

---

---

Listen to Yandere on SoundCloud
Hear more Yandere on Bandcamp
Follow Yandere on Twitter
Check Yandere on Tumblr

---

---