Aphex Twin - CIRKLON3 [ Колхозная mix ]

Aphex Twin videos were always kind of an event unto themselves back in the day, albeit generally a kind of creepy event.  Whether it was buxom, bikini-clad women with terribly mutated Richard D. James heads dancing by pools or in limos, or a gaggle of mutant children...with terribly mutated Richard D. James heads terrorizing your grandma, each video was certainly unique, entertaining, and...creepy.  While the latest video from Aphex Twin, his first in almost two decades, is not quite as sinister or scary as previous outings, it was directed by a twelve year old.  And it's weird.  Watch "CIRKLON3 [ Колхозная mix ]" below and get the "Cheetah" EP from Warp next month.

Fatima Al Qadiri

"Brute" is the latest release from electronic musician/producer Fatima Al Qadiri, and the first release from the album, "Battery," sounds like an oncoming apocalypse, a harbinger of doom from which there is no escape, a crushing and brutal regime whose foot soldiers will silence the righteous uprising.  It's dark and heavy and awesome stuff.  Listen below and get the record from Hyperdub in March.

Arca - Urchin

2016 is here.  Happy New Year everybody.  Here's a new, free track from producer Arca called "Urchin."  Listen and download below and enjoy.

It's Christmas Time, Mr. Falcon!

Before the day is over, give Retro Promenade's Christmas compilation, "It's Christmas Time, Mr. Falcon," a spin.  Synth-pulsing, neon-tinted wonderlands to help you digest and rest.  Listen to Jaunter's "Carol of the Bells" below and download the whole album here.

Oneohtrix Point Never

Daniel Lopatin and Oneohtrix Point Never really need no introduction from the likes of me, so let's just get to the music.  New album "Garden of Delete" is out now on Warp, and it finds Lopatin channeling his inner Aphex Twin.  Listen to the twisted, sprawling, and chaotic "Mutant Standard" below.

Youth Code - Anagnorisis

Here's a new industrial screamer from LA's Youth Code called "Anagnorisis."  Reminiscent of the old Waxtrax days, the duo always take me back to my youth, blasting this kind of music at maximum volume in my bedroom.  Listen below and grab the 7" from Dais Records.

Argento

So Halloween has come and gone.  Pumpkin beers have been consumed.  My kiddo's stash of candy has been raided by his parents.  And my football team decided to stay home today.  As there are probably a whole lot of folks still partying with all the goblins and ghouls out there, here's some excellent jams to wind your evening down to, another fantastic homage compilation album from Retro Promenade.  The aptly titled "Argento" takes its cues and moods from the works of filmmaker Dario Argento, and though it's only four songs, it's a perfect way to close out Halloween 2015.  Stream it below and download it here.

Absinth3

"She's Not From Here" is the latest release from Retro Promenade featuring four jams from synth artist Absinth3, drawing inspiration from Stephen King's "Christine."  And that's all you really need to know.  Listen to the whole thing below.

Jean-Michel Jarre and Fuck Buttons

Longtime electronic music artist Jean-Michel Jarre has a new record coming out this week, "Electronica 1: The Time Machine," featuring a whole slew of guest artists, from Air to Massive Attack to M83 to Tangerine Dream and more.  Take a listen to the Fuck Buttons assisted "Immortals" below and get the record here.

Hungarian Synthwave Allstars

Hey you!  Feel like listening to some pulsing, 80's film score-inspired synth jams while being altruistic at the same time?  Of course you do.  You're a good person.  The "Hungarian Synthwave Allstars" compilation features a whole slew of Hungarian synth musicians and producers raising money to help a sick little girl.  If you download anything today, this should be it.  Stream the whole thing below and get it here.

Fear of Ghosts

At home today with Ash.  He's sleeping right now.  I wish i was.  So, here's some soothing, lulling, almost playful ambient music from LA's Fear of Ghosts.  Listen to "No. 5" below and get the self-titled album download or cassette here.

Nicholas Nicholas

Brooklyn's Nicholas Nicholas makes dreamy synth pop that fills the John Maus-sized whole in my heart.  Listen to his latest digital 7" below.  Both A-side "Because of a Fire at the Paper Manufacturer" and B-side "Call Me Number Five" feel like the kind of lo-fi, retro-pastiche to plant a permanent dreamy smile on your face.  Listen below and download here.

jj

I got really into the electronic duo jj about five or six years ago...haunting electronics, subdued and ghostly vocals, pulsing beats...but then i kind of just forgot about them.  I probably need to remedy that, as the band has released a couple of albums since then, and their latest "Death" EP has been working its way into my ears nicely.  Listen to album opener "Fuck It" below and get the album from Sincerely Yours.

Small Black - Boys Life

Here's a new airy, dreamy synth number from Small Black.  "Boys Life" comes from the band's upcoming album "Best Blues," out in October on Jagjaguwar, and it's a beautiful, little late summer jam.  Listen below.

Picnictyme

It's starting to get hot here in central Texas, temperatures nearing 100 degrees, the days just begging to spent on boats on the lake, in tubes on the river, or with cocktails by swimming pools.  Dallas' Picnictyme have a slinky, summery jam for your outdoor aquatic adventures.  Listen to the sexy groove of "Burnin Up" below.

Jean-Michel Jarre and M83

I'm not sure how i managed to miss this beautiful collaboration between French electronic composer Jean-Michel Jarre and M83 last May, but here's the video for "Glory" in all of its...um...glory.  The tune will be featured on an upcoming album from Jarre that also features assists from Massive Attack and Tangerine Dream (recorded before Edgar Froese passed away).  Should be pretty cool.  Watch the video below.

HÆLOS

So, i've been digging through a lot of the acts that i'm unfamiliar with that are playing upcoming festivals in Austin in the fall (ACL and Fun Fun Fun Fest), and i'm discovering that there is plenty of stuff i need to be paying closer attention to.  Take London's HÆLOS, an electronic pop band that feels like some mutant offspring of Massive Attack, Portishead, or any other number of like-minded artists from the mid/late 90's.  Count me as a fan.  Take a listen to "Earth Not Above" below and grab the EP of the same name from Matador.

KINS

London quartet KINS are set to release their "Cyclical" EP next month on East City Records, and judging from the band's 9-minute single "Little Dancer," we're looking at some huge, expansive, and moody music.  "Little Dancer" feels big, a growing throb of slow beats, cold synths, and haunted vocals that eventually climax into a cacophony of sound.  Listen below.

Grid Knights

Currently batting a thousand with their compilation releases is record label/art collective Retro Promenade, and their latest collection of synth explorations pays tribute to "Tron."  "Grid Knights" and all of its "Tron" inspiration, follows previous albums indebted to "Twin Peaks," John Carpenter, and "Miami Vice," and it's a pulsing, sweeping wonder.  Download the album here, check out the rest that the label has to offer here, and listen to Renz Wilde's "Mainframe" below.

Shamir

Whoa.  I'm back on the grid after a much needed vacation on the beach and away (for the most part) from social media and the internet in general.  And holy shit, i missed a lot of stuff.  Whether it be music, dinosaurs breaking box office records, race fights at a swimming pool in small town Texas, white people pretending to be black people, and a whole lot of cool people passing away.  Anyway, it's back to the grind.  So here's a jam off of probably what will be the party album of the summer, "Call It Off" from Shamir's "Ratchet" LP on XL.  There's a lot of sexuality at play on the record, but in a way that doesn't matter.  Gay?  Straight?  Transgendered?  Androgyny?  Whatever.  It's all good, and none of that matters anyway.  Let's just dance and have a blast doing it.  "Ratchet" is pop perfection.  Watch the puppet-fueled video below.