Forget the adage about “dancing about architecture” – talking about music is important. But talking about music is made more meaningful by listening, the real reason we do what we do. And so, we’re pleased to follow our profile of Australia’s Enig’matik Records with a collaborative sampler. It’s a diverse selection of tracks that lets you really hear these musical characters we think are making something worth exploring. Label founder Jake Rose aka Sun In Aquarius came to CDM with the idea, eventually leading to a full compilation to tell a more complete musical story. I’ll let contributor Matt Earp explain why we’re pleased to go on this globe-trotting sonic adventure. -PK
I’ve come to think of this project as curating a curation – picking a label we like and let then letting that label head showcase the talent associated with it. It’s lending a megaphone to the curators we already like.
Jake’s done an superb job hunting down tracks, getting them mastered, doing the artwork and chasing up bios, all completely while on the road half-a-globe away from his home in Melbourne. The result is the Frag’mnts compilation, ten tracks of highly complex Glitch/IDM/PSy/Chill/Post-everything – what Kaminanda jokingly but lovingly refers to as “Ethno-step” – by artists both young and established from around the world. This was all while he was playing shows AND putting together his giant label showcase showcase in Melbourne — hard working man.
CDM present Frag’mnts – An Enig’matik Records Sampler
01. Mind Tree – Owl and the Penguin (Theophany Remix)
02. Fine Cut Bodies – Amendment XVIII
03. Circuit Bent – Flutterby
04. Auma & Desiseq – Chute
05. Woulg – End
06. The Cogent Project – Movement and Weakness
07. Quanta – The Passage
08. Whitebear – Primal Stomp
09. Super Galactic Expansion – Metacognition
10. Interlaken – Genghis
Full, free download available on Enig’matik’s Bandcamp
Above is a collage of all the tracks from the release, kindly jumbled together by Rose. See below for pics, bios, and links to each of the individual artists on the comp – please check out their productions. Taken together they represent a wide range of influences – with the strongest connecting thread really just being incredibly high value sound design! Thanks to all of them for submitting tracks.
Help us spread the world on the project – if all goes well, CDM may well do more of this sort of thing in the future.
Theophany [Los Angeles, USA] – Owl and the Penguin (Theophany Remix)
A relatively unknown artist producing some of the most emotionally rich music on the planet, this is Theophany’s first release with Enig’matik. Deep haunting etheral atmospheres are coupled with meticulously crafted 2-step rhythms which combine in a thick wall of moving frequencies.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
Fine Cut Bodies [Budapest, Hungary] – Amendment XVIII
This name is not simply a rotund sobriquet. It rather represents an attitude, a brand of musical approach. Fine Cut Bodies has been here since the first wobbly steps that electronic music took in Hungary. He doesn’t give a damn of genres too much: looking under the bed, you’ll find breakbeats and some electro lying there, or sneak up to the attic stuffed with tech house, experimental music is on the cupboard. No matter what, if it rolls deep grooves and abstract beats, you’ll find it.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
Circuit Bent [Melbourne, Australia] – Flutterby
Eli and Jesse were manufactured inside the bowels of a top secret laboratory for the purpose of being super soldiers hell bent on world domination. After the mad scientists realized the true nature of the monsters they had created they tried to destroy the foul creatures they had spawned but were overwhelmed by the sonic insanity and bled to death from their ears. To this day the location of Eli and Jess is unknown, but their presence on the internet is evidence that the world is still not safe from the global menace lurking around the corner.
Links: Website, Soundcloud
Auma & Desiseq [Australia] – Chute
Auma produces deep, emotive electronica, sweeping your thoughts through a plethora of expansive imagery and emotions, conjuring thoughts of childhood and forgotten worlds, leaving listeners unawares to the otherwise fast paced world we find our selves inhabiting on a daily basis. Desiseq {pronounced. des-sis-sec} is the alias of multi-instrumentalist/producer Stephen Tan based in Melbourne, Australia. The Desiseq sound incorporates a blend of ambient noise, heavily processed synthesised and recorded materials, glitch’y hyper-edits, digital sequencing & original sound design fuelled by kinetic beats. This is their first released collaboration
Links: Auma Soundcloud, Desiseq Soundcloud
Woulg [Calgary, Canada] – End
Greg Debicki is a Calgary-based composer and new media artist. He completed a BA from Alberta College of Art and Design and studied music composition at the Dartington College of Arts, UK. He writes custom software for performance and uses hacked and modified hardware on stage. His influences range from Steve Reich to Venetian Snares, but he’s not shy to admit he doesn’t sound much like either.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
The Cogent Project [Vancouver, Canada] – Movement and Weakness
Adam Lastiwka is a Vancouver based Media composer with a passionate interest in creating music for all kinds of media. His main focus is on Film composition, but is open to working with just about anything that can be enhanced by music. Although he maintains a very diverse interest in numerous styles of music, he works to specialize in the forms which have come most naturally to him. Starting off with guitar and classical composition, he then grew an interest in many forms of electronic music, as well as being heavily influenced by ethnic music from areas of the Middle and Far East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Links: Website, Soundcloud, Facebook
Quanta [Cornwall, UK] – The Passage
Behind the ‘Quanta’ project is a producer, Shane Harris, who is determined to share his passion for making music for the soul purpose of enjoyment and experience. Shane, from Newtown, Wales has been producing music for over 18 years, working with record labels such as Hustle Recordings, Whoop! Records, Dirtyblue Records and Cuba Recordings. He has also been playing bass, keyboards and guitar for as long as he can remember. This project has been influenced by sounds from Interchill, TwistedMusic, Bluetech and Ott.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
Whitebear [Melbourne, Australia] – Primal Stomp
Complex soundscapes turn to glitch, break then flow; psychedelic sound infusions leak straight to the brain. Whitebear has a particular addiction to mangling samples into twisted, incomprehensible sounds. And when paired with his deep, dark and groovy basslines it makes for one hell of a journey.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
Super Galactic Expansive [Philadelphia, USA] – Metacognition
Super Galactic Expansive is the collaborative hip hop project of Anand (Amagine) Petigara and Jamie (KiloWatts) Watts. Glossy futuristic beats and tomorrow-land synthetic hooks… sci-fi mysticism with sharp social commentary.
Links: Website, Facebook
In:terLaken [Switzerland] – Genghis
In:terlaken is a fantastic mixture of ambient, downtempo, and electronic. Wonderful tunes, smartly combined with asynchronius background effects makes you lose yourself in realms of your lost thoughts gently creating feeling of a subtle morning dream.
Links: Soundcloud, Facebook
Previously:
A Bandcamp-Only Label of the Future? Australia’s Enig’matik Records and the Art of Detail
Matt Earp is a regular music critic and contributor for CDM, based in San Francisco.