RxRy – Snwmltr / RxRy

Mysterious electronica producers are ten a penny so without further a do here comes RxRy, maybe pronounced ‘RexRay’ if I’m reading the myspace page clues correctly came to my attention the other day and the bright and mellow vibes suited the Sunday well. RxRy has a restrained, reflective electronica meets techno thing going on, you can imagine it either on Kompakt or as the soundtrack to the start of a hazy day. There isn’t anything glitchy about it, yet it’s not quite straight forward either. Loops and atmosphere, woozy soundscapes that remind me of the coming spring. Currently unsigned RxRy has released a debut eight-track s/t album and an EP entitled ‘Snwmltr’ as free downloads via the myspace (links bellow too).

Lightly bit crushed crackles, floating pads and strings along with heart pulse drums and subtle yet funky basslines are the mainstay of the RxRy sound and the two releases reflect this. Usually I like my electronica a little rawer or addled with glitches but there is something here that keeps bringing me back. The highlights include: ‘Sw Crstl Mlts’ an uplifting arpegiated almost trance like number from Snwmltr, it just cycles through its melody until some heartbeat drum kicks filter in half way through. The digital beach-scapes of ‘Hlljh Snds’ filter bird song and breeze through zeros and ones until you’re hypnotised by a droning bass tone. ‘Bld Drft’ takes bass guitar loops and keeps them fast and urgent but with that omnipresent dreamy atmosphere still in tact.

The s/t album is where things come into there own though, maybe it’s the added vowels in the titles that did it… The ultra smooth and woozy opener ‘Baulkn Slhts’ gently bubbles under with subtle loops and pads over a kick pulse. There is a melancholy yet hopeful emotional ambiance around RxRy’s music here maybe it’s the sound pallet or the gentle melodies. The electro drum hits on ‘Eaurowi’ play off the melodic pads and shifting subtly digitally distorted guitar loops, there is something a bit post-rock about it. The choppy pads on ‘Prajhil Ryhtm’ feel like a gentle morning light has just crept through your curtains, RxRy even gets a bit funky with the synth bass line here. Maybe the most upbeat track yet ‘Convrtbl Bvbes’ has a house kick and warm, bright looping pads but with a subtly hypnotic layer of guitar floating over it all. RxRy even gets a little evil on ‘Edvrd Rvrfy Guitr’ where he sounds like an outtake to a disturbing cyber chase dream sequence from a long lost SNES game. ‘Cartuulo Ashtry’, the final track eases you out into the calm…

If you’re a fan of gentle bedroom electronica of the likes of Gold Panda or The Field then you’re sure to find something in RxRy, you can get lost in these productions. The tracks seem simple as they progress, there are no wild twists or out there sounds. You just get some blissful slices of bedroom electronica to ease your day.

Edvrd Rvrfy Guitr - RxRy - RxRy 2010 from Rx Ry on Vimeo.

RxRy - "RxRy" 8 song LP

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mdtccs2myd9

RxRy - "SNWMLTR" 4 song EP

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mpj4mngtyjl

http://www.myspace.com/rxry

10-20 – Mountain [High Point Lowlife]

Third in the Landforms series EPs that have already seen 10-20 explore ‘Island’ and ‘Lake’ comes ‘Mountain’ a heady set of tracks. The Devon based producer takes his dense ghostly glitch addled electronica right up the conceptual mountain towards some skewed panoramic views. 10-20 is the sound of millions of nano-bots carrying out minuscule tasks as one flowing organism, turning the tiny elements of sound and shifting them into a cohesive whole like they’re carving a mountain out of found elements in a precise mechanical manner with an otherworldly organic flow.

The four tracks come thick with layers of sound: ‘Wercc’ opens the EP the way it means to go on, you don’t get much let up or change in pace here, just a steady stream of hypnotic glitches that seem to create a free roaming world of their own. ‘Wercc’ has an open air vibe, like your first breath on a cool county walk but it soon gets a little twisted as it’s fed through crunchy glitches and swirls. The ping-pong tweaks and bleeps of ‘Globe’ hit next, they echo an eerie calm under the tweaked out percussion, its reminiscent of an Aphex b-side that’s been washed-out and funk’d up…

‘Majik’ picks up the pace a little, with a spectral breakbeat clatter and airy soulful pads cut into something almost reminiscent of FaltyDL’s urban cityscapes, we’re still firmly in 10-20’s twisted vicinity mind but this track bumps. Finally ‘Littoral’ brings everything to a hypnotic close via echo drenched orchestral drones, space-laser synths and subtle rhythms to a windswept summit.

‘Mountain’ is another strong Landforms addition that takes Highpoint Lowlife and 10-20 nicely into 2010.

Buy: 10-20 – Mountain [Highpoint Lowlife]

http://www.myspace.com/1020musik

http://highpointlowlife.com/

10-20 – Lake [Highpoint Lowlife]

The second EP to be released from the Landforms series after the fantastic Island and the debut self-titled album from earlier in the year. The Landforms series will conclude in 2010 with Isthmus and Mountains but to round off a brilliant year for Highpoint Lowlife 10-20 drops some more haunted electronica.

The reverb drenched ‘Overloam’d’ comes on like a eerie underwater hip-hop traffic jam, distant breaks, alien bubbles, and horns make up a lilting groove. ‘Endzone’ and in fact the EP on a whole is more laid back and fluid as the name suggests compared to some of his work. The subtle twirling, looped melodies reach out and hypnotise like shimmering water. ‘Boat’ gives me pictures of the gentle chug of an engine against the simple calm of an open lake.

The finale comes in the form of ‘GolgothA’, which echoes the s/t albums aesthetic more than the rest of the EP does, with the sounds of an industrial past distantly working while the sound gets filtered through an 8-bit rendition of natural landscapes: A fitting end to this addition to the Landforms series.

Buy: 10-20 – Lake

Buy: 10-20 – Island

http://www.myspace.com/1020musik

10-20 – Isthmus EP [Highpoint Lowlife]

An Isthmus is a narrow neck of land that connects two larger landmasses this is just one thing I learnt from the most recent EP in the Landforms series by 10-20 and the other is that this is yet another brilliant piece of work from the Highpoint Lowlife stable. The first EP in the series ‘Island’ was a quality piece of music that continued where the self-titled debut album left off earlier this year, now ‘Isthmus’ comes along with no sign of there being a let up in quality.

At just three tracks long it’s the shortest of the EP’s, the opening track ‘Halogen’ with its punchy breaks and atmospheric reverb kicks things off in style. The synths come off sounding like tangled electrical wires made into sweeping smeared shapes. Everything’s so ghostly you can hear the spectral influence of everything from uk garage to hip-hop in the beats especially. ‘Athens’ has some of the wonkiest bleepy synths of the series yet, the lob sided grooves clatter and roll into mad locked grooves. There is a slightly industrial feeling to some of 10-20’s music and this one is no exception there is a real crunch to the percussion used here. The final track ‘Zizec’ is easily the spookiest, eerie piano can be heard low in the mix as found sounds crunch and clatter around the breaks.

10-20’s musical voyage is an interesting one, it’s like he’s bringing sounds from anywhere and everywhere and morphing them into his own vision of glitchy electronica and hip-hop infused broken garage. And you know what he pulls it off consistently you can get lost in these productions they’re mesmerising.

Out sometime on Highpoint Lowlife, I thought I’d get in early with this one. Two more EPs in the series to come as well keep them peeled.

Download: Future Sounds Of Highpoint Lowlife Mixtape

Download: 10-20 – Landforms Mix

Other 10-20 articles on The // Sonic // Minefield

http://highpointlowlife.com/?p=814

http://www.myspace.com/1020musik

10-20 – Island [Highpoint Lowlife]

As part of the Landforms EP series 10-20 drops the first of the four instalments ‘Island’ on us and there is no let up in quality at all after his excellent self-titled album earlier in the year, which is still on heavy rotation from me. Island takes things down a slightly smoother route, and this might be the beautiful weather talking but there seems to be a woozy sunshine vibe going on here. You can hear tropical streams and shimmering pads of sound played off against the glitch riddled beats and electronics until they all melt together.

The opener ‘Pol’ sounds like a waterfall and stream fed through electronic sound, the way the glitches and pads flow and take over are so hypnotic, then the track switches up into an off-kilter electro jam before melting back into the calm. It’s a brilliant start and maybe the stand out track here for me.

The more beat driven ‘Hallow’ takes over next with a subtle shuffle and electronic surf washes up on the side of a shore before beautiful looped pads make you fall into a blissful state. These first two tracks show the hazy side of 10-20 that’s for sure.

Things get a little more industrial on ‘Nei (reversion)’ it has a crunch and wurr like distant machinery but with an underlying softness that gives the track a unique atmosphere. The phrase I used for the s/t album still rings true here, it’s like flowing down a river and past a working industrial estate you can hear the working urban environment rubbing against natural elements.

The finale comes in the shape of the dreamy ‘Thing From Inner Space’ there is a hypnotic feeling here like the night is drawing in and the muggy heat of day is dispersing into a gentle cool. It drones and crackles and finishes off the EP really well.

10-20’s Island EP is a wonderful listen and a great start to the Landforms series, which is sounding very good indeed and explores many sounds from the sublime and ghostly to neon and beyond.

Download: Future Sounds Of Highpoint Lowlife Mixtape

Download: 10-20 – Landforms Mix

http://highpointlowlife.com/?p=814

http://www.myspace.com/1020musik

10-20 [Highpoint Lowlife]

Original writen for the Sonic Router, but this is so good I had to post twice ;)

You know when something comes out of the blue from a brand new unheard name and it makes your jaw drop? Well this is what happened when I put on 10-20 who is a young producer from Devon just dropping his debut self-titled album for Highpoint Lowlife.

This is a deep one full of hypnotic soundscapes made of electronic glitches and what sounds like a mass re-wiring of a super computer channelling fragments of hip-hop, ambient electronica, a wide array of dance music from either end of the spectrum and even a hint of krautrock’s pulse. 10-20 melts all of this and more into one solid flowing album that is quite hard to pin down.

The organic glitches of opening track, ‘Milvus’ has a chiming chilly vibe to it like a walk in the snow near a distant industrial site. It sounds cold; crunchy yet also has an endearing warmth to it. This robo-esq theme runs through the album, its like 10-20 has been making a tiny mechanical army and recorded the whole process. I think this army are built for good mind, as there is a sublime ambiance to the whole project.

The madly titled, ‘Wdrtrhjvelgrad’ sounds like the ghost of 2-step pirate radio being picked up over the top of a old skool electro beat and layers of ambient loops. These different section fade in and out and create something that’s both jarring and kind of beautiful. This melts into the truly wonderful, ‘InB’ which echoes the smooth chords of ambiance found in Aphex Twin or even the looped out brilliance of GAS, maybe ‘Arcadeagle’ is a better example of that. ‘sA’ has some serious crackle glazed dub sensibilities.

10-20 has made a dark and brooding album that flows like a winding river through industrial landscapes.

Download: 10-20 - Arcadeagle

Buy: 10-20