Tagged with dark ambient

Silent Sunday: A cyberpunk scenario?

For this Silent Sunday I picked an ambient piece that takes you to a gritty, retro-futuristic landscape. Safe travels.

Non-Functional Harmony – A-1

It’s a rather dark piece, this. I particularly like the background details periodically embedded here. Sounds like something twisted, mechanical going in and out of focus.

Gets my imagination going for sure. Admittedly, as a cyberpunk fan it doesn’t take much for me to get associations with gritty, futuristic scenarios but I really do think it is to be heard here.

Too bad this track is too short (for an ambient piece). It could – and in my opinion should – last twice this length.

Non-Functional Harmony is a Berlin-based producer/composer. He says he is embarking on a series of 26 one-off releases of music that doesn’t quite into his other boxes, and most will be ambient or techno of some form (sounds remarkably relevant for us, right?). This is the first release in that series.

Sounds to be an artist to keep a tab on the coming weeks!

This track is added to our fantastic ambient playlist, “Ambient Universe”. A list that grows every week, always featuring our latest coverage on Silent Sundays.

Needless to say(?) it should be in the Spotify library of every ambient fan.

Industrial electronica: The other underground

This time I want to take you outside. Outside the scope of this blog. To visit an electronica artist with an exciting discography.

Although… It’s not that far outside our scope, considering we set out to cover the underground electronica. It’s still electronica, and it’s still underground. Only a different one. A darker one.

Neon Insect: Fist, Hit, Cracking Bones

Marilyn Manson. That’s the first though that ran through my head when listening to this track for the first time. A more electrified version of the great man and band.

It slams hard and proper. Definitely industrial. And the music geek in me can’t avoid to point out that it is so very well mixed. Wonderful energy level. Fantastic drive.

I mean, this is cool, right? Maybe not on our underground dance floor, but let’s not restrict ourselves too much. This track here is pretty well worth our time.

If we raise our focus up from this particular track it’s also worth noting that this artist really has an impressive catalogue. Some fantastically atmospheric dark ambient and slamming instrumentals, typically in a very cinematic wrapping.

Have a listen:

Chances are this may be a bit on the side of what many of our regular listeners usually play. Myself included. But seriously, check this guy out. He’s got some really cool material.

Double Oddball Special: Cinematic moments ahead!

My name on these double features, “double oddball”, must not be taken as a negative thing: Being odd is purely good in our neck of woods. But these tracks are really not easy to pin into one particular bag, and are overflowed with creativity.

Come on guys, let’s take a walk on the wild side.

DUGLO – 16ths

Duglo is a gentleman we’ve covered before, back then in an amazing, dark, ambient track – and here he again impress with his production. This track is totally off the hinges. You just simply never know what will happen next. A plethora of ideas and atmospheres gathered into one piece of music.

But – and this is important: It holds together. Well produced, well mixed, it’s not just the inside of a madman. There is a system to the madness, a proper production. I do receive tracks that are “just crazy”, a pile of ideas where the execution of those ideas suffer. Not so here. This is cool stuff.

I especially love the snippets of radio(?) recordings on top, they add such a cool layer on the experience. Details like that matter! It’s like a darker, crazier version of Fallout.

Neon Insect – m4z3rnn3r

Here’s another pice that really is the embodiment of cinematic. Ambient noises, a massive drone rolling in the background, a glitchy voice talking about the history of nuclear warheads, steps on concrete floor, a child screaming, I mean: This is dark, this is post-apocalyptic, this is… Fantastic.

And again – it’s not just a stack of ideas, it’s so well executed! So well mixed, sounds like a million dollar, and with plenty of little details to warrant multiple playbacks.

Neon Insect is an artist worth following. The difference between his last two singles (of whom I plan on reviewing the other single later this week) displays an amazing creative span. This guy is definitely not a one trick pony, and his creativity and ability yo put those ideas into production is astonishing.

No wonder he’s already done soundtracks for games. If I were a sci-fi director (and I want to become one, damn it!) I’d hire this guy as sound designer, for sure.

Two really cool releases that both deserves your attention. If you got what it takes for the wild side.

Neon Insect is added to our Spotify playlist “After The Apocalypse“, a newly created list that I really look forward to maintain and expand further. Already worth following, join us and watch it grow!

LudoWic & Moneõ – “Memory Loss”: The cyberpunked neighbourhood

Oh hello there, darkness. Please, allow me to introduce you to sir Pompous. You two will go well together.

As proven by today’s pick. A raw, dramatic and industrial atmosphere dominated by chaos and despair fills our speakers as we enter “Memory Loss” – one of the most cinematic tracks I’ve heard in a very long time:

LudoWic& Moneõ – “Memory Loss”

We need to head to the Netherlands to find LudoWic, and Moneõ is based in the UK. From what I understand this is LudoWic’s first single after the album Elka Village in 2017. And what a return!

This track is thunder and lightning. Artificially created to keep the masses at bay. This track places us straight into a cyberpunk urban affair. Gritty faces, cybernetic implants, a dark past and even darker future. Despite the grim outlook: I want to be part of it. Now.

This track is added to our Spotify playlist “After The Apocalypse” – a list that is currently very much under construction. But why not follow it already and join us as we discover more of these dark gems from the electronica outskirts?

click and follow

Trova, “Trono”: A cyberpunk opening

I’ve had quite a focus on ambient lately, and compared to how niche it is I have promised myself to try and balance it out a bit better.
But here’s a track that – yes – it’s ambient, but it also would work pretty well as an opening of a DJ set. And that’s my excuse this time. 🙂

It’s really dark, this piece. It’s also really short, but that’s alright. Like I said, it sounds like an intro to something more.

It sets the stage for a futuristic scenario, a cyberpunk world with broken electronic equipment scattered around a barely illuminated space.
Is it a room, or a back alley? I don’ t know yet. But I have a feeling I’ll be meeting an individual of dubious character soon.

But who? And for what? With whom, and why? These are questions I am dying to find the answers to. Here’s hoping this track indeed is only the opening for something bigger, an album that will take us across the world so darkly lit by this highly imaginative composition.

The stage is set, Trova. Now, for the rest!

This track is added to our upcoming “Dark Ambient” playlist, a list we will make public as soon as it reaches a critical amount of tracks. That list is going to be a cyberpunk dream come true.
But until then, take a trip via our “The Ambient Universe” where you find a gorgeous selection of very quiet ambient tracks for those spaced out moments: