2024 Music Enjoyer Pt. 8
Intergalactic Light-Rail // Utopian Express Line
The Grand Intergalactic Light-Rail spans a million galaxies and more stops than can be counted in any terrestrial lifespan. Suffice to say—name a feeling, a type of place you want to be, and destinations matching your desires shall appear, seemingly without limit, arrayed in lights upon the glowing surface of your ticket.
Here, we find a scattering of stops along the Utopian Express Line, leading around a wondrous circuit of worlds caught in moments reflecting the joyous, aspirational hope of the past now joining with the trembling, impatient hands of the future, which ever seek to pull us all onwards to greater & brighter & better days…
Once again— for all new passengers, please— do keep all limbs inside the ride...even if you find yourself dearly wishing to stay forever on one of these perfect audio-worlds.
Synaptic Voyager - Disconnect To Reconnect
I must admit, I was caught off-guard when Synaptic Voyager launched themselves directly into the innermost part of my brain a few years ago via their exquisite State of Play album a few years ago via the solid-gold Frame of Mind label, because it scratched an unbelievably specific, utterly incorrigible itch in my soul for new utopian techno.
To my great delight, they’ve followed it up with an even bigger album this year in the form of Disconnect To Reconnect, which boasts a magnificent suite of brilliant tracks, as well as a looming shadow-universe of much longer digital-only expanded versions and bonus numbers. Jam at max volume & get healed, my friends.
Los Hermanos - Remember Detroit EP
Detroit techno masters Los Hermanos know how to make your heart sweat right out of your face using only synthesizers & drum machines sequenced just so. Rapturous dancefloor magic at a therapeutic dosage. If you haven’t heard their classic album On Another Level from 2004, do your soul a favor and check that out too.
ReKaB - Cyborg Romance
Y’all there are tracks, and then there are TRACKS. “Cyborg Romance” and “Minimal Mind” fall indisputably into the latter category. If you hear them, you may catch feelings you didn’t realize you already held inside. Side effects may include: crying in the club, significant emotional exchanges with strangers, unmetered dance maneuvers, and more.
BioFusion - From The Soul
OK folks, quick primer — if you don’t know the absolutely sprawling constellation of familial labels which includes Móatún 7, Neotantra, Fantasy Enhancing, and Intellitronic Bubble (amongst others), well: now you do. You are welcome. They are all utterly splendid and worthy of your time and money. Darren Nye (The Elusive Man, Plankton Warrior, owner of SpaceTime records, etc.) and Michael Robinson (aka iNF0) have combined forces to form BioFusion on Móatún 7, and it’s a true gem even amongst the glittering hoard of that wildly stacked label family. Stargazing techno for deep-space mind-travel.
Nuron - Blanchimont
Nuron aka Nurmad Jusat stands as another righteously resurrected 90s master of emotionally resonant electronic music, and I’m beyond delighted to see them get such a fantastic opportunity to expose a whole new generation of minds to their sounds.
This EP on the ever-amazing De:Tuned label follows on a string of impossibly good reissues of older material and other new works from Nuron, and even remixes of elder jazz masters like Billy Cobham — how could we ever have forgotten this artist?
Fossil - Excavation EP
While 2024 has been a blighted year for many things, it has yielded an unbelievably bountiful crop of new music from Yasutaka Sato, aka Fossil, aka Virgo, and the labels most closely associated with their music (Form@ Records in Japan and, more recently, SpaceTime in the US). Most of these Fossil tracks were produced in the 90s but never saw the light of day until now, and it’s a testament to their excellence that they still sound like pure audio starlight.
Virgo - Cluster of Galaxies
Folks I was not joking when I said the crop of new music from Virgo was ‘bountiful’ this year. I’m seeing fourteen (14) distinct releases from them this year, almost all new material. This is, to put it mildly, a whole lot of music, people! And it’s all really, really good! I had to restrict myself to just mentioning 2 on this list, or it would have wound up being Oops All Virgo in here. So if you’re a fan of deep, gleaming utopian techno, get ready to feast for days.
Dan Piu - The Mystic Mind
Dan Piu and their sprawling Childhood Intelligence label alliance never cease to amaze me with sheer sonic wonders. This one’s still vinyl-only for the moment as it just came out very recently, but I would guess that it’ll be available digitally sometime soon. I’ve got a copy, and trust me— it’s an absolute delight. For now, check out the SoundCloud for previews. Also be sure to check out their iridescent Astral Flights EP from the Terrestrial Funk label, 4 perfect tracks of lustrous, deep-dreaming techno.
Barce - Timemore
Blessings be upon all dedicated weirdos like Tim Humphrey who run labels like Discovery (and Re:Discovery) off pure love & energy. This particular EP from Spanish producer Barce deserves some serious love from anyone who enjoys the interstellar synthesizer beaux-arts.
As One - Requiem
The last stop on this leg of the Utopian Express Line is a stunningly gorgeous new album from a true electronic maestro, Kirk DeGiorgio, with another flawless outing under his As One alias on De:Tuned Records. This music positively gleams with the light of alien sunrises, suffused with warmth like the lingering memory of a wondrous dream. If you’re new to his work, there’s so much out there and it’s all brilliant. I’ll leave you all with this classic tune he made with Ian O’Brien and Jamie Odell (as Super-A-Loof), from his exquisite 2005 ART label comp The Electric Institute, which just happens to be one of my favorite tracks of all time: Night on the Promenade.