#87 Feat. Staff Picks in Electro (Classic / Detroit / Modern)

Handing over the controls to well-known figure of the German and Georgian electronic scenes in the persons of .VRIL and HVL, our next installment finds the pair laying down a quintet of hybrid electro and techno weapons that sends us straight back to the heyday of Rephlex and like-minded visionary ventures. All in that stark contrast between ethereal spaciousness and steely, martial rhythms out the industrial spectrum, Far Field takes us on a voyage across the board, from breaks-heavy machine stunts to washed-out tapestries, via EBM-laced detours and junglistic maneuvers. Investigating the nexus zone between dance functionality and limitless escapology, it extrapolates both artists blends to further immersive, hypnotic effect. Taking over the A side, .VRIL gets the ball rolling with Lost Together, which sets the tone on a low-slung, nostalgia-drenched note; combining the syncopated swagger of downtempo techno with ambient-oid stasis and static-filled opacity. Like watching an all-metal sun sinking past the blazing skyline. Revving up the engines, Fnord feat. RYN conjures up a way more muscular arsenal of big-room-ready wares, from aggro snare salvos to anthemic synth kinetics, through that replicant-hunting kinda vibe. One to have the Saturn rings go hula hoop, with all woofers and brains in the vicinity melting in XTC. Shutting the A side off, We Believe returns to a lighter, more vaporous mindset but sure implements that signature heavy swing of .VRIL, flush with textured kicks and FX-soaked arps. True monster prog swell. Flip it over and theres HVL dishing out a textbook example of his vortical electronic furls with the title-track, Far Field - an oneiric drift that slowly rises from its heavy-lidded slumber, ascending towards bleepin n bloopin experimental effervescence as bars fly by. A number bound to hack your body and mind into two distinct facets, and while one dances its way frantically across the ever buzzing space/time continuum, the other shall reach a state of healing calm and transcending ubiquity. Smoothly shuttling us off to the upper layers of the ionosphere, Lancet Mxi clenches it on a trippy note, taxiing us midway zero-G UK bass territories and eerie ambient abstraction. HVLs total, widescreen vision at its most unhindered, all set at expanding your mind to yet uncharted horizons of sound and closing the gap between two distant, estranged galaxies. A fractured headspace to both dance and dream to.

Vril, Ræyn, HVL