5mooth Selections vol. 2

Deer Drop Forest - Daisuke Tanabe. From Chiba, Japan, comes Daisuke Tanabe, originally a techno/breakbeat producer who decided to take things further by incorporating jazz and hip hop into his mix. This track comes from his Before I Forget LP (Circulations), the consummation of his career in London and Tokyo. Such a crunchy, compressed beat supporting those floating vibes while they evolve out of a simple riff.

To Be With A Person That You Really Dig - Lone. A pad-loaded and sidechained masterpiece. Piano drips underneath all that compression, providing the faint melody, but the real melody lies in the humming bass that surfaces into higher territory once in a while. Lone serves as the moniker for Matt Cutler, Nottingham native inspired toward production by early 90’s hardcore as well as ambient legends such as Boards of Canada. This track’s from his third studio album, Ecstasy & Friends (Werk Discs), released in 2009, the peak of Lone’s wavey, psychedelic phase before began to focus on dance music (see bonus link below).

Artist’s Valley - Bibio. Stephen James Wilkinson, also known as Bibio, put out his 6th album, Mind Bokeh (Warp), this year, and as many know, it’s nothing short of lovely. I especially appreciate this track’s use of chorus-effected acoustic guitar to compliment the routinely halting beat. The drums are so broken they seem almost uncontrolled at times— such difficult anxiety to imbue upon the listener.

Glow - Ichiro. I came upon Ichiro’s Zansho Mixtape (with outstanding selections from Dibiase, Joob, and Circle vs. Square), and was impressed with this Nerima-based producer’s style. He loves sculpting his music out of white noise atmosphere and forgoing traditional structures or catchy vocal riffs. This is the final track from his Noon EP, released last summer. In my opinion, its subtle implication of happiness shines over the remainder of the EP.

Channel Pressure - Ford & Lopatin. Oneohtrix Point Never’s Dan Lopatin and Tigercity’s Joel Ford decided it was time to explore the results of uniting their diverse musical backgrounds. The ambient, experimental electronic attitude of Oneohtrix Point Never and the electro-indie rock of Tigercity could not have united more fluidly, and the Brooklyn-based duo has been honing their take on chill-wave over the past two years. Their most recent release, Channel Pressure (Software), lands them at one of the most developed sounds of 2011. I’ve featured the title track because I just can’t get enough of those gated synths and 80’s nostalgic vocals.