downstream – Page 132

2020 HindSight

An instrumental hip-hop set from Philadelphia's Nex Millen

December 22, 2020December 22, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

<a href="https://nexmillen.bandcamp.com/album/2020-hindsight-millennium-beat-ep">2020 HindSight Millennium Beat EP by Nex Millen</a>

February, July, September, and December were my favorite months this year. Not this year meaning this year, but this year as memorialized in a dozen tracks, one for each month, on Philadelphia producer Nex Millen’s *2020 HindSight Millennium Beat EP*. From tightly clasped hi-hats to loungey keys, jittery atmospheres to nearly subaural bass line melodies, refracted guitar samples to vocal playfulness, stereo hijinks to ratatatat percussion, those four tracks are among the album’s moodiest. Each, presumably, map’s Millen’s state of mind over the course of 2020’s countless horrors. Now his instrumental hip-hop is something to relax to, to recuperate to. There’s much more to *2020 HindSight* than just those four tracks, but they’re the ones helping me make it through the last few weeks of the year.

Album originally posted at [nexmillen.bandcamp.com](https://nexmillen.bandcamp.com/album/2020-hindsight-millennium-beat-ep). More from Nex Millen at [twitter.com/nexmillen](https://twitter.com/nexmillen).

Advances and Atmospheres

On the new album from Orbitalpatterns, aka Abdul Allums

December 21, 2020December 21, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

<a href="https://orbitalpatterns.bandcamp.com/album/bitter-magicians">Bitter Magicians by Orbitalpatterns</a>

“A Vessel in the Fog” was the title of a live video that Orbitalpatterns, the Michigan-based synthesizer musician, posted back in July on his YouTube channel. Shortly after its initial release, I praised how its textures [“twist and turn like clouds of smoke, turning in the air before vaporizing and being replaced by something else, something similar and yet apart.”](https://disquiet.com/2020/07/15/orbital-patterns-goes-deep/) That track now is one of seven that comprise *Bitter Magicians*, a fine album of exploratory compositions. Many of the pieces evolve considerably as they advance. Take how “The Magicians Notebook” moves from wispy and hesitant to something denser, more full-throated, or how the singsong sway of “Demi-Gods Ramble” gets more orchestral as it presses on. Which isn’t to say, as an atmosphere-minded musician, Orbitalpatterns (aka Abdul Allums) shys away from the sublime. If anything, the final track, a warpy treat titled “That Last Mile Will Go On Forever,” is engulfed by its own echoes by the time it slurs to a close. *Bitter Magicians* is a tremendous collection throughout.

Album originally posted at [orbitalpatterns.bandcamp.com](https://orbitalpatterns.bandcamp.com/album/bitter-magicians). More at [instagram.com/orbitalpatterns](https://www.instagram.com/orbitalpatterns/).

Current Favorites: Aphex on Guitar, Advent Sounds

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

December 20, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. I hope to write more about some of these in the future, but didn’t want to delay sharing them. (This weekly feature was previously titled Current Listens. The name’s been updated for clarity’s sake.)

▰ **TA2MI’s [*Kanchi | Complete Cure*](https://ta2mi.bandcamp.com/album/kanchi-complete-cure) explores downtempo, instrumental hip-hop** with a freshness that will not just appeal to but even push the comfort level of DJ Krush fans, the samples all the noisier, the beats all the more broken. TA2MI is Tatsumi Akinobu, based in Yatsushiro, Japan.

<a href="https://ta2mi.bandcamp.com/album/kanchi-complete-cure">Kanchi | Complete Cure by TA2MI</a>

▰ **Simon Farintosh adapts various works for classical guitar, including music by Aphex Twin.** Here’s a gorgeous, romantic take on [“Flim,”](https://youtu.be/_Ub04hInps8) off the latter’s *Come to Daddy*. Farintosh, who was born the year after the release of *Selected Ambient Works Volume II*, lives in British Columbia.

▰ **Hilary Robinson continued her winter-solstice advent calendar of sound sketches today** with [a track of melodica and train noise](https://soundcloud.com/hilaryrobinson/sounds-for-shrinking-days-20). There may be one more track in the series coming, since tomorrow is the 21st, though [Stonehenge celebrated the solstice Sunday evening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bEEaA9Rzvs). She is based in London, England.

Hector Plimmer x Kidkanevil

A remix of a loop

December 18, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

<a href="https://hector-plimmer.bandcamp.com/album/tapeloop-kidkanevil-remix">Tapeloop (Kidkanevil Remix) by Hector Plimmer</a>

Another great A/B listen, comparing and contrasting an original and its remix. First came “Tapeloop,” a brief, lofi, understated groove from Hector Plimmer. It’s high impact low impact, modest moves in service of a greater mood. There’s a brief keyboard riff, echoing lightly above a smothered, raspy handclap of a beat. Occasionally it pitches up or down. And then it slinks into the shadows. It’s called “Tapeloop,” and it’s barely a minute and a half long, so you hit repeat.

To the remixer’s credit, when Kidkanevil goes to work, he manages to augment and add, dissect and course correct, without ever losing what made the original so compelling. He glitches it out in a manner that reflects the original’s surface tension. He adds vocals that sound like someone doing hyperspeed play-by-play on the production. He injects and carves, but never loses the balance that made Plimmer’s source audio function. Kidkanevil plays Jenga with the building blocks, yet the material never even teeters. Not every remix needs to pay tribute to the original, but when it’s done right, it helps you understand the original.

“Tapeloop” originally appeared as the fifth track on Plimmer’s late 2019 album, [*Next to Nothing*](https://hector-plimmer.bandcamp.com/album/next-to-nothing). The Kidkanevil remix is part of an ongoing series that has included Alex Harley, Matthew Herbert, Elkka, and Bex Burch.

Album originally posted at [hector-plimmer.bandcamp.com](https://hector-plimmer.bandcamp.com/album/tapeloop-kidkanevil-remix). More from Plimmer, who is based in London, at [soundcloud.com/hectorplimmer](https://soundcloud.com/hectorplimmer), [twitter.com/HectorPlimmer](https://twitter.com/HectorPlimmer). More from Kidkanevil, aka Gerard Roberts, at [kidkanevilofficial.com](http://kidkanevilofficial.com/).

Disquiet Junto Project 0468: Mirror Rorrim

The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together.

December 17, 2020 / By Marc Weidenbaum

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 21, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2020.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0468: Mirror Rorrim

The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together.

Step 1: Make up a new musician, someone other than yourself. Give them a name, as well as creative traits different from how you perceive your own, perhaps even in stark contrast with your own.

Step 2: Record a duet together, you and the person you invented in Step 1.

Step 3: If you would like, when posting the track include some description of your collaborator, and about your working relationship.

Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0468” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.

Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0468” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.

Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.

Step 4: Post your tracks in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:

[https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0468-mirror-rorrim/](https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0468-mirror-rorrim/)

Step 5: Annotate your tracks with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #disquietjunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.

Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Additional Details:

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 21, 2020, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2020.

Length: The length is up to you. Maybe you have learned something about time this year.

Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0468” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.

Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).

For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:

More on this 468th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Mirror Rorrim (The Assignment: Create a new persona for yourself, and record a duet together), at:

https://disquiet.com/0468/