Bleep

Christoph de Babalon & Mark - Split

Simply entitled Split, this EP finds de Babalon delivering three tracks on the A-side while Mark locks down two for the flip. The trio from de Babalon moves in a similar manner to the Hectic Shakes record that he released via Alter back in 2019. Breakcore is more guiding hand than holistic aesthetic for de Babalon here - all of his entries contain swirling drum breaks, and ‘Webs Of Wraith’ and ‘When To End’ get up to jungle tempo, but these sounds are often positioned against droning keyboards and shadowy textures that draw first and foremost from dark ambient.

Pessimist & Karim Maas - s/t

Joining forces with compatriot Karim Maas following the unprecedented (but entirely earned) success of his self-titled LP debut on Blackest Ever Black, UK producer Kristian Jabs — aka Pessimist — remerges with a collaborative effort with more than a hint of apocalypticism about it. But there’s no jouissance to be had in this wasteland, more a menacing inhale, followed by spluttering exhale. Pessimist & Karim Maas takes downtempo and drives it into the ground, spinning crackling dub into ominous sub-techno landscapes, dotted with melted-down industrial marches. Forget dark ambient. Forget drum and bass. This is the start of a New (Dark) Age.

Boreal Massif - We All Have An Impact

Boreal Massif is a new link-up between Pessimist and Loop Faction. The press release for their debut LP We All Have An Impact references a wide range of musical styles - ‘anarcho-electronics’, ‘new age’ and ‘heavy-weather ambiences’ are but three of the phrases used to describe these twelve tracks. While seemingly disparate terms, when taken as a whole they form an accurate picture of an intriguing piece of contemporary illbience. The golden age of The Orb and The Future Sound Of London is recalled by the fogged dreamstates of ‘Weather In August’ and ‘Deerhound’. Elsewhere on We All Have An Impact the duo reach further back into the history of the electronic avant-garde - there’s more than a pinch of My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts to ‘Artificial World’, for instance.