Electronic Music
Songs Synthesized From COVID-19’s Genetic Code Can Now Be Purchased as NFTs
Exploring nonstandard methods of music creation has been well on the rise in the age of big data and artificial intelligence. In one such data-driven music project titled ViroMusic, music producers have iterated upon this approach to even begin synthesizing genetic code into songs. The process of developing these songs began with software sifted through the contents of COVID-19’s RNA to identify strands of data which could be turned into music. A proprietary algorithm subsequently translates the data sets into musical notes, leading to a melodic progression that could be played by a musician. ViroMusic call this transformative process DNA Sonification. In total, a series of 10,000 sequences were synthesized into songs, which were then minted as NFTs. Musicians soundtracked the o...
Deftones’ Chino Moreno Joins HEALTH and Tyler Bates on New Song “Anti-Life”: Stream
HEALTH and composer-musician Tyler Bates have shared the new collaborative song “Anti-Life” featuring Deftones singer Chino Moreno. The track is the latest single from the forthcoming Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack from DC Comics and Loma Vista Recordings. The electro-industrial intensity of HEALTH combined with the cinematic sheen of Bates’ production makes “Anti-Life” an aural powerhouse. The sheer sound and fidelity is jaw-dropping. Topping it off are pristine vocals by Moreno, whose singing always works well in an electro/experimental context. Like the previous singles we’ve heard from the soundtrack — including Mastodon’s “Forged by Neron” and Chelsea Wolfe’s “Diana”, “Anti-Life” is inspired by the storyline of DC’s Dark Nights: Death Metal comic series. In the third issue o...
Jon Hopkins Announces New EP, Covers Roger and Brian Eno’s “Wintergreen”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-09T15:37:32+00:00“>April 9, 2021 | 11:37am ET Jon Hopkins has announced a new EP of cover songs called Piano Versions. The four-track release is due out April 16th via Domino, but the electronic mastermind has shared a song from the EP today — a cover of Roger Eno and Brian Eno’s “Wintergreen” — that you can stream below. On their original version of “Wintergreen”, taken from their 2020 album Mixing Colours, the Eno brothers use glittery keyboard notes to build a sparse, minimalist, electronic piece that sounds like the night sky slowly coming to life. For his take on the track, Hopkins uses an actual piano to mirror each movement of the piece. It’s quiet and stirring, and by the...
Helena Deland and Ouri Announce Hildegard Album, Share “Jour 1”: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-07T20:53:56+00:00“>April 7, 2021 | 4:53pm ET Canadian singer-songwriter Helena Deland and South American-based producer Ouri (Ourielle Auvé) have a new project together called Hildegard, named after the artistically-inclined 12th century nun Hildegard of Bingen. They’re releasing their self-titled debut album later this spring, and today they’re previewing it with a new single called “Jour 1”. In her solo discography, Deland makes a shadowy blend of folktronica and art-pop, and many of her sonic overtones are a natural fit for Ouri’s dense, murky electro-R&B compositions. Back in 2018, the two linked up for just eight days of studio time, where they quickly connected and...
Justice’s Record Label Suggests Justin Bieber Knowingly Ripped Off Their Logo
Last week, Justin Bieber shared the cringe-worthy artwork for his new album, Justice. Looking like an overblown ’90s photoshop job, the image includes a not-so-subtle celebration of the pop star’s Christian faith by using a cross for the “t” in the title. If that little biblical ode gives you the same vibes as the logo for electronic duo Justice, you’re not alone. In fact, the French artists themselves noted the stark resemblance — and it turns out Bieber’s team actually contacted Justice’s management about working together on the graphic last year — before going silent. “Bieber’s team emailed us in May of 2020, asking to be looped in with Justice’s graphic designer to discuss a logo,” Justice’s management told SPIN. “We tried to set up a call between Bieber’s team and our designer, but th...
Danny L Harle Unleashes New Album Harlecore: Stream
Danny L Harle has unleashed his new conceptual club album Harlecore. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. The PC Music member and producer for Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama has been at the forefront of the experimental EDM scene for over a decade, but Harlecore is technically his debut full-length as a solo artist — and it’s an ambitious one. The album is set at a club in an alternate reality with four different dancefloors and four different DJ’s — DJ Danny, MC Boing, DJ Mayhem, and DJ Ocean — who each have their own unique style. Each DJ is, of course, just Harle under a different alias, and the album ping-pongs between the rooms at a blissfully disorienting clip. The English musician previewed the record by giving fans a taste of each DJ’s set, but it all comes together ...
R.I.P. SOPHIE, Futuristic Pop Producer Dead at 34
Futuristic pop producer SOPHIE tragically died Saturday in an accidental fall. She was 34 years old. According to a statement issued by SOPHIE’s record label, the producer “climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.” The accident occurred in Athens, Greece, where SOPHIE had been living. A native of the UK, SOPHIE first made a name for herself in the early 2010s with a series of bubbly, surrealist singles, including “Nothing More to Say”, “Bipp”/”Elle”, “QT”, and “Lemonade”/”Hard”. During this time, she also became a close associate of PC Music, collaborating with label figurehead A.G. Cook as well as with GFOTY and Danny L Harle. SOPHIE’s early success ultimately led to more high-profile collaborations. In 2016, she teamed with the then-budding...
The Knife’s Olof Dreijer Remixes Robyn & Röyksopp’s “Monument”: Stream
The Knife had a big 2020, marking their 20th anniversary with a series of reissues, a long-awaited migration to Bandcamp, live performances, and a new anti-nationalist anthem. With the celebration behind them, though, the group’s Olof Dreijer is back to his own work. Today, he’s shared a remix of “Monument” by Robyn & Röyksopp. “Monument” comes from the Swedish collaborators’ 2014 Do It Again EP, but it’s given a completely new spin here. The original pulsed with heavy sultriness as Robyn delivered slow and deliberate lyrics of determination. Dreijer kicks up the tempo considerably, speeding the vocals and panning the audio back and forth. The instrumentation also has been given something of a more classic dancefloor vibe, to the point where you can almost see the flashing lights cutti...
D’Angelo, Björk, FKA twigs, and The Chemical Brothers to Curate Their Own Sonos Radio Stations
FKA twigs (photo by Matthew Stone), D’Angelo (photo by Gregory Harris), and Björk Ready those speakers, because D’Angelo, Björk, FKA twigs, and The Chemical Brothers are about to take over the airwaves — on Sonos Radio, that is. The online radio streaming service has asked all four acts to curate their very own radio stations. Given the eclecticism of this group of musicians, the new stations are sure to contain exciting finds. Airing first is D’Angelo’s station, named “Feverish Fantazmagoria” (January 13th), followed by FKA twigs’ “main squeeze” (February 10th). On February 24th, Björk will debut her lengthily titled “21 years worth of wave files liquidated into a stream”, while The Chemical Brothers will launch “Radio Chemical” on March 2nd. In addition to these stations, all four ...
Blanck Mass Announces New Album In Ferneaux, Shares “Starstuff”: Stream
Blanck Mass is the solo electronic music project of Benjamin John Power, co-founder of drone outfit Fuck Buttons. Today, the British artist has announced a new album dubbed In Ferneaux, due for release next month via Sacred Bones. The follow-up to 2019’s Animated Violence Mild was written and recorded during quarantine, and is very much a product of its time. Blanck Mass created the album using a decade’s worth of field recordings from his various travels — purposely bringing memories and relationships back to life during a period of great separation and isolation. These recordings inform both halves of In Ferneaux, with each section representing a so-called “long-form journey” in the UK musician’s life. “The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations,” descri...
Madlib and Four Tet Unveil New Song “Hopprock”: Stream
Give Madlib his flowers now. The legendary producer broke through in 2004 with Madvillainy, a seminal collaboration with MF DOOM that provided a blueprint for a generation of witty, irreverent rap music. DOOM recently died, but Madlib continues to author some of the most vital hip-hop of the day. He recently announced the album Sound Ancestors, created in collaboration with Four Tet, and today he’s back with the new song “Hopprock”. “Hopprock” was released only under Madlib’s name, though the credits list Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, as both writer and composer. The instrumental track opens with a natural soundscape that includes meditative sounds of water and wooden percussion. But after one of Madlib’s trademark grimy samples stutters through an answering machine message (...
Grimes Announces New Miss Anthropocene Remix Album
Back in February, Grimes dropped Miss Anthropocene, one of our favorite albums of 2020. Now, nearly one whole year later, she has announced a corresponding remix album. Tailor-made for the clubs, Miss Anthropocene Rave Edition is due out January 1st, as Pitchfork reports. The 11-track effort includes reworks from pop producer and longtime associate BloodPop (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber) and hip-hop artist Channel Tres. However, the bulk of the project comes courtesy of veteran dance music producers such as Modeselektor and techno/tech-house heavyweights Richie Hawtin, Tale of Us, and ANNA. The original Miss Anthropocene incorporated elements of “techno-pop” and pounding industrial music, so a remix record of this nature shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Two of the remixes — Blo...
