XANDER X XXYYXX — SETTLE

⌾ LISTEN TO XANDER X XXYYXX, SETTLE ⌾

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Ever since xxyyxx's 'About You' infused itself into YouTube in 2012, the whole aesthetic movement that is "chill hop" seemed to grow, coinciding with the birth of channels like Majestic Casual. But it wasn't a landscape that the producer (real name Marcel Everett) trod alone; there were and are others — many, many others.

One such is a veritable proponent of the genre, xander. Both he and Everett recently teamed up for a gloopy, glossy collaboration in the form of 'Settle'. Jointly classifying it as "great brain food", the pair lend their respective styles to the track: an uptempo shuffle into a landscape of woozy chords and urgent synth arpeggios, percussion driving it forward in a virtuosic collage together with acrobatic, elastic bass.

The vital aspect of 'Settle' — created remotely via facetime — is that it eschews the "chill" element for which both artists are known, instead casting a certain restlessness, a sense of struggle, no matter how outwardly sparkling or glossy its aesthetics may be. Given the context of pandemic and political upheaval the world over, it's no wonder.

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• 🔔 You may not stream the whole thing on SoundCloud, but you can stream and download 'Settle' via whichever streaming service on this list is your favourite.

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☟ xander Internet Presence ☟
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☟ xxyyxx Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ wikipedia ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter

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🐣 ANOMALIE — CANAL

From literally the first few seconds of 'Canal' we're dropped into an ultrachill atmosphere, one that begins smooth and viscous, hefty on the sub-bass and the lounge-flavoured piano that meanders throughout—and which turns cinematic, with flashes of freewheeling strings that zing on beds of wide warm synth; this morphs into a tract of hard-boiled electronica, with wibbly synths and brash columns of synth-bass buzzing beneath. Canadian musicmaker Anomalie sets us floating down this chilled flow, actual water noises and waves washing on sand interspersed throughout.

And besides the obvious chill of this track there's the dynamism of it all – very much helped by the rattle and thump of the prodigious drums ; the way it sways between different atmospheres and different textures, being neon bubbling contemporary synth jam one moment before reverting to peals of kinetic piano the next: the corollary being this contemporary nocturne, a highly polished, ornately sculptured piece of noir that remains light instead of weighed down by the world. The six seconds between 2:24 and 2:30, with the piano's motif at the end before those synth chords again, sums up the playful virtuoso and expansive subdued nature of 'Canal', sitting somewhere at the juncture between gorgeous inactivity and exciting hyperactivity.

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• 🔔 This wonderful slice of classy piano is taken from Anomalie's upcoming second EP, Métropole Part II (out 13th April), the follow-up to last year's Métropole EP, which featured tracks like the well balanced jazz of 'New Space' and the elastic 'No Way'.
• 🔔 You can download and stream 'Canal' variously here.
• 🔔 The artwork was created by fellow Montreal resident Ali Hassanein.

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☟ Anomalie Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

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🐣 ANOMALIE — NO WAY

The Montreal maestro of keyboard Anomalie inducts us once more into his world of virtuosity with 'No Way', a squiffy head-nodding hip hop-influenced track that with its boom-bapping organic drums and their ticking hi-hats gives an aching sway to it all, founding the whole thing on a cartoon sea, all of it bobbing on deep blue waves. And if you thought the regular beat was fine just wait till the little fill at 2:09, all riddly diddly—just one of many ornamentations that make this whole experience pretty opulent in terms of sound.

Alongside that bounce is the star of the show, the keyboard, the motif throughout refraining with all the squishy wah-wah you could imagine, plasticine electric slime giving it an elasticity which, although the track is a slow one, crams your soul full of potential kinetic energy, winding you up like a spring. The vocal sample – "No way…" – adds colour to the groove. The crashing cymbals as the refrain rolls around again, they help, splashing metallically. And it ends with lounge piano, warm and sophisticated, the swank of a fancy restaurant dawning as the wonky squelch of the streets ends.

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• 🔔 You may download 'No Way' for free if you choose to do such a thing.
• 🔔 Anomalie has a new EP coming out in April 2018, arriving after his debut Métropole EP last year.

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☟ Anomalie Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ spotify

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🐣 ÄTSCH — UP

What really is surprising about this track is how it sounds like a variation on a theme of Bert Bacharach's smooth 'What The World Needs Now', its introduction fogged with those reminiscent chords, soft and lounge-leaning, a lull of resting heart-rate and horizontal chill. It is not exactly reflective of the track as a whole, nor the heart of the track, but it is a component of what this instrumental journey is all about—and that is drama. So this intro, the heartfelt touching sweetness of it, a trough of energy, soon builds with a flying formation of acrobatic distorted guitar into a peak, the concoction of it soon towering and vibrating all around you cinematic and atomic.

There's a great point in 'Up' where the Dublin-based band ÄTSCH, having already skipped up some gears via new zooming tempos and cascading drums that skiffle and shimmer sharply and a storm of bass, where it all joins together in-sync and wonderful, jumping into staccato patterns at 03:05, locking in gloriously and falling away for the drums again to roll tornadoes into the proceedings, and the virtuoso guitar wailing now with jazz freedom furious rapid lightning in the crashing noise of it all. And we end where we began, the gentle piano chords resonating quietly, framing this dramatic sojourn of sound, this ascension into the clouds and somewhere beyond.

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• 🔔 'Up' is taken from the Irish band's upcoming EP; peep a preview of that here.

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☟ ÄTSCH Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud

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🐣 ANOMALIE — NEW SPACE

Wow there is nothing quite like listening to something that is instantly loveable, but not just that but more like completely coursing through veins from the first few seconds, literally merging with your blood cells and sailing the capillary network to your heart with all the calories and cholesterol and electric energy of it all. That is 'New Space' by Montreal-based keyboardist and producer Anomalie. Citing everything from J Dilla and George Gershwin to Daft Punk and Skrillex, as well as his classical background and jazz study, the musicmaker explains the track and the EP its taken from: "basically a melting pot of all my major influences while featuring the keyboard as the centrepiece."

And as the central tenet of this track the virtuoso keyboard canters gloriously throughout, displaying effortless glassy lounge chords that tremolo blissful while underpinned with fuzzy texture basslines, a whirl of bold colour set to a lush crackling raw organic beat that shuffles with hip-hop breeziness and bright metallic zing. Keys drip-drop with pliant cuteness, flowerbuds popping open with cartoon vigour, so easy so easy Anomalie creates this ultimate VGM-leaning instrumental odyssey, a tantalising teeter between lounge horizontality and the hyperactive funk dynamism of jazz, the composition jumping jostling atmospheres, stable instability bursting at the seams.

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• 🔔 This comes from Anomalie's debut Métropole EP, out now on Lowtemp Music. You can buy it digitally over on Bandcamp for CAD$3.99.

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☟ Anomalie Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ spotify

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