DJ_Dave – Array
Similar artists: yunè pinku, Grimes, Snow Strippers, Doss, A. G. Cook
Genre: Electronica
DJ_Dave tries to reimagine pop music for the future as a large, intimidating dance sound. Who could argue against such trends coming true?
Electronica music is neither meant to sound happy nor chilling. While it has had immense success, it is not strictly pop music. It is not designed to provide listeners with comforting news, to lull them into a false sense of security, or to make them want to go out and buy themselves a brand-new car.
It is neither like goth, black metal, or death rock in its scope. Electronic-based music isn’t meant to just deliver shocks and scares. It is not purposely designed to leave listeners in a state of dread.
While it is used for both those things, at its core, electronic music is about an uncertain future. DJ_Dave’s “Array” is a dance soundtrack to a future we know nothing about and shouldn’t decide whether we like it or not. At least, not just yet. While it echoes some modern influences, Grimes, most notably, the track dares to speculate what might come.
Cold Soviets – Requiem
Similar artists: King Buffalo, Depeche Mode, Spotlights
Genre: Progressive Rock, Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock
Cold Soviets’ music exists somewhere between nature channel soundtracks and chilling 80s-inspired post-punk.
While environmentalists tend to get preachy when discussing the issues affecting the planet, there’s one thing that all of us feel instinctively. Whether you believe that the issues they describe are, in fact, smaller or larger than they are made out to be, we humans have lost the balance we have struck with the natural world.
It’s been quite a divorce. And now that we are separate from the world that birthed us, regular descriptions just won’t do in explaining it. The same can be said for music. A classic guitar solo will just not be enough to describe the glory of towering mountains or colossal waterfalls. Further, deep inside, we all know we must find a way to understand the natural world.
Cold Soviets’ “Requiem” is a great mixture of prog-rock and chilling synth-pop, and it is designed as a meditation soundtrack. The topic to meditate on might just be the natural world’s shrinking world in our lives. The languid sounds and Dave Gahan-like vocals certainly add to this. It’s quite a world we’ve inherited, and we need all the resources, particularly art, to understand it.
