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Artist: The Maniac Title: Birth Of Time Label: Self-released Date: July 3, 2019 Tracklist:- 1. Procreating the Universe 2. Birth Of Time 3. Cosmogenesis 4. Abode Of The Clouds The Maniac is one of my favourite artists to follow. Not only do we get a consistent stream of releases, those very releases showcase a jump in talent time after time. Ranging from the free, to the inexpensive, to money well spent, This guy is starting to deliver big time. I'm currently in Indonesia and can say that this release brings me far more joy than the $20 pair of bright yellow cartier sunglasses that I got yesterday. Those mother fafa's just make everything brighter, but in a, you about to squint more than what you did before laying down that 200,000 rupiahs sort of way. Wearing these wackers just made my life harder. Incidentally, The Maniac also made everything brighter, but in a, press play and watch your brain come alive with shapes and colours sort of way. Throw this album on and ride your Honda scooter at max speed down the highway while dodging tourist patrol sort of way. Procreating The Universe has some big loud zooms that synthesis your mind while the usual crazy leads that could wake Proxeeus Cthulthu reincarnate up on a sunday morning. Birth of Time follows the style with some big zips that the most advanced ear candling ceremony couldn't wipe from your mind. It's bright sunshine that I would be dancing too if it wasn't so damn hot right now. I wouldn't have minded a change in the lead tone as it ends up feeling like longer than 9.37 minutes but its fun while its fun. Cosmogenesis Comes in with a different and exciting intro that eases you slowly into a trance, when the leads hit they hit like a 7 seater Diahatsu that just saw the tide retract 300 metres from the shore. The leads in this track are doing exactly what i wanted them to do in the last one. A great track with some nice paino-esc synth work. For a moment you get the impression that The Maniac is going to chill out a bit. The title, the intro, but not the artist. No sirs & ma'ams. This is my favourite on the list, a track to put your arms out and float through the universe of Javanese flavours, the Nebula's of Sumatran short ribs, and wormholes of soft Rendang. Less intense but still there with the leads that make you the same old phrase 'How the F^ck did he do those on a phone'? For only 50,000 Rupiahs what are you waiting for? Give it a spin and support a talent on a trajectory to greatness. https://themaniac1.bandcamp.com/album/birth-of-time

Artist: Advanced Suite Title: Drifting Release: June 29, 2018 Label: Self Released Tracklist:- 1. Are We Ready Now 2. Cant Complain 3. Dusk Dyea 4. E Lastik 5. Get Movein 6. H Go Lucky 7. It's The End 8. Microdice 9. Right! 10. Sk8'n 11. The Edge 12. The Feets 13. The Kaliedoscope 14. The Underground 15. Tilted Ah, smooth textured daydreams, with hills of the sweetest smelling grass you've ever smelt, trees with the low hanging fruits of temptation, and around it all, oasis' with the coolest mnost pure water you've dipped your little toes into. And what are we doing? Why we are drifting through it all, sometimes bumping along to the dubby atmospheres of ... sometimes seemlessly to the sweet sounds of Are We Ready Know. Only one thing is certain, and that is that Advanced suite has got us covered, nay surrounded and eventually carried away by the cool echoey textured layers of his 15 piece album. Influenced by just about everything, it's hip-hop- it's reggae, it's dub, it's psychedelic, it's gentle. That's right, It's all that. Best summed up by the Bandcamp description:- It’s like a large pot that we all stir. I grab a piece, add my spice. And you do the same. Sometimes I’ll take a spice and add more flavor. And sometimes you do the same. In this way we feed off each other energy. Stirring the pot more and more. Each rotation sets the tempo and tone for the next spice. And each spice sets the tone and tempo for the next rotation. It’s boundary-less. Leaving plenty of room to push the envelope. The opener Are we Ready now is brilliant in showing us what he is capable of doing with sounds and samples. Can't complain is a more focused fluent piece with some hippity hop vocals drifting up and around the other layers. Dusk Dyea not only is a track with a cool name, but also a sparkly, deep bassy dubbed, dance number that gets you moving before you know what's what. Hammocks are over-rated, they take serious practice. So sure, I guess you couuuuld enjoy E Lastik while having a lazy swing, if you've found a spot to practice while none of the dreadlocked masses watch on. Or you could play this sweet little thang poolside while you dip your tootsies in the water. Get Movein has slightly less going for it than the other tracks so far, it feels shorter and doesn't do much to pull me in. Do these track names have a secret meaning? Are they all play on words, I mean some of them i get, but H Go Lucky, I need that explained to me. I don't need anything else however, the track delivers dubby fun all around before it also ends prematurely. It's The End has everything but an exclamation mark going for it. Not sure if i'm going to be delivered a country inspired dub number or a broody space odyssey. You don't have to wait long to find to find out that you can move to this track, though the background sweeps fill the track up just a little too much, i like my iced tea an inch from rim, not overflowing. The little speech and the piano however are nice and after the vocal break i'm back in happy drifting land. Next we get shifted back into the groove with Microdice, a groovy body swaying number that would be perfect for a daytime stomp in the dust. No messing around with the next track as we get """""Right""""" in and out with a 2 minute 41 track that takes me back to the sweet place at the start of the album. If it was just a little longer it'd be a favourite. Sk8'n (I 'get' that one) brings the album back to the soft dub that you can nod your head along to while vocals seep in and out of the other layers, a true dreamy piece of work. The first of the 'The' tracks comes along with The Edge, going in a more upbeat direction, the vocal sample is anything but distracting and worth it for the chants that come later, a great track for a beachside ritual sacrifice. The Feets continues on in a soft sweet dubby fashion with what sounds like some didgeridoo in the background. Set with it's own improper spelling (Hey I ain't no beter) The Kaliedoscope is the sort of happy little song you play on your way home from a 4 day festival in the Australian summer, a calming piece of music. My favourite track from the album The Underground is up next, the 13 seconds of silence at the end might make you think that the album is over but no, you'd be wrong, up comes Tilted another banger of a track that closes the album off nicely. Drifting is a soft airy filled dub piece by Advanced Suite that is true to it's title and description. While the album drops off a little in the middle i would still say its worth more than dribble of your grittle. What I mean is if you like dub and multi genre influenced music then this will be right up your alley. Oh and NYP so go for gold my friends. https://advancedsuite.bandcamp.com/album/drifting

Artist: Fiery Dawn Title: Trip To The UnderWorld Label: Self Release Date: September 8, 2018 3 more tracks and you coulda had an album. No matter. Fiery dawn is at a sweet spot in his production. Not only is his output just ridiculous, with a 2018 album, another Ep, tracks on various comps, a bunch of down tempo while maintaining what I can only assume is some semblance of a life. I have a life too, it revolves around listening to banger after banger of Fiery D and others output. This ep takes a couple of tippie toes away from the space trance that Dawn is well known for. Trip To The Underworld is the most unique. Coming at you without a distinct melody you know you'll need something else to keep your attention. Fiery know's too, he doesn't fail and has me hooked from that wonderful intro all the way to the end. It certainly is a track that'll take you to the underworld. Next up we got Phantasmagoria. Acid riffs, hard kicks, a squelch or two and a solid baseline are here to carry us away to trance land. Other than a few key changes (which are starting to irk me) the track is absolutely wonderful and full of funk. Even on bandcamp I missed the change between this and the next track. The flow is unreal. But we aren't off the hook yet. Goblins and Trolls comes in even hotter and crazier. Fiery D has either expanded his sound box or developed his repertoire, or both. Either way he is putting it to good use here. The track gets real wild just after the 3 minute mark and it doesn't let up. My favourite here. A straight arm flailing stomper. Temple of Warriors Is a nice little downtempo closer that Fiery D does so well. The Ep is awesome, with a unique first track and two flaming tracks following it up I would recommend getting this on your hard drives. transfer it to your phones, mp3's, listen on the band camp app, what ever you want. I'll be bumping this for a while as I feel like you can hear a strong development in his production and ideas. Good work I do need to ask what the idea behind key changes are? Can I get some artistic input. My position is it disrupts many a good moment in a track making it feel like an unnatural direction change. That being said I get over it pretty quickly and do understand that some notes need a different key to work. But I do know that I've never listened to a track and thought 'This needs to change key right about now'. Grumblings of a guy on a forum. https://fierydawn.bandcamp.com/album/trip-to-underworld

12 tracks accumulated over the past couple years, released into the wild to make room for new occupants: http://mudpeople1.bandcamp.com/album/laminar-flow