3 killer deep electronic music tips: “…something to easily fit into peak-time dancefloor action.”
This is Perfectly Deep Weekly #72, a free newsletter that makes it easy to enjoy quality deep electronic music every week. This week we review:
59 Perlen, Søs Gunver Ryberg, Cristian Vogel
Introduction
This week I’ve chosen to re-use a theme that we have already visited in an earlier newsletter: Putting the spotlight on my hometown of Copenhagen and highlighting some of the great music coming out of this northern cultural center. It is a mix of brand-new stuff and something a little older that I find to hold particular significance.
In any case, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did putting it together.
Keep it deep,
Christian Villum
59 Perlen — Live in Copenhagen (2022)
59 Perlen Soundcloud
Tags: #dubhouse #dubtechno
Behind the 95Perlen moniker sits Matthias Rosenkranz, a German-born music producer now residing in Zürich, Switzerland. For over 25 years, he has been producing electronic music in many variations before settling into the deep electronic music realm, with a particular emphasis on house music and ambient.
His trademark is the recording and releasing of long live sets that he performs on hardware rigs with a variety of gear. Also, he co-hosts a monthly podcast featuring independent musicians and works as a music tutor and producer for contemporary art projects.
One of his primary affiliations is to the Copenhagen-based Petite Victory Collective (PVC), which I have touched upon several times in this newsletter. PVC is a decentralized record label and music collective. Following that principle became a natural home for many of Rosenkranz’s releases, including this mix, which you can find a ‘proper’ album release on most streaming platforms.
The mix is a live recording from Urban 13 in Copenhagen and features only Rosenkranz’s own work. I am particularly fond of the part that kicks in around the 7:30-minute mark, which is in the middle of a track called ‘The Big Grey Fairy’: An overwhelming swath of dubby techno chords soaked in reverb and echo. It’s textbook dub techno, but dammit, it’s good. That stuff never grows old.
The set also features his track ‘Heavy Traffic,’ a composition that moves into trance territory. Typically not my cup of tea (I fell into the pond in the early 90s and at some point had enough to last a lifetime), but here it works. The set has several more highlights, including a nice, beatless ambient outro toward the end.
Søs Gunver Ryberg — Spine (2023)
Arterial Recordings
Tags: #experimentalelectronica #experimentaltechno
Søs Gunver Ryberg is a highly regarded music producer from Copenhagen and is known worldwide for her groundbreaking, genre-defining albums and live performances. Her music is characterized by strong and spherical timbres, textures, and rhythms that explore various realms of consciousness.
Utilizing electronic instruments and processed field recordings from various parts of the world, her music is framed by virtually symphonic shapes with their own expressiveness.
Apart from her albums, Søs Gunver Ryberg also creates sound art and performs her music live. Her music has been recognized with various honors and nominations. She is a frequent composer for immersive mediums such as multi-channel works, installations, dance, performances, film, VR/AR, and more.
Among her notable achievements was winning several honors for her work on the soundtrack for the critically acclaimed video game “INSIDE,” in addition to a BAFTA nomination.
‘Spine’ is her latest opus, which she “considers a sustainable alternative, buoyed by interconnectedness, empowerment, and understanding,” as the press material says. The album marks the launch of her own label Arterial Recordings, which will serve as her primary creative platform going forward.
The first serving is ‘Unfolding,’ a synth-pad-driven track with shuffly drum programming. The killer title track ‘Spine’ follows and adds even more syncopated rhythms on top of drone-based ambient pads and arpeggiated synth themes.
After this intense opening, ‘Sensuous Sky’ takes the pace down a notch in favor of proper ambient sounds that elegantly clears the board as an intermezzo leading up to the dubby ‘Mirrored Madness,’ which expands the ambient bedrock but adds experimental, almost jazzy beat fragments. It reminds me of the high-tech jazz styles explored in Detroit by Wajeed, Mad Mike Banks, and others.
‘Desert Bloom’ pivots the genres once again. With cinematic quality, it could easily fit into the next Bladerunner movie. I also really like ‘Out of the Shadows, ‘ which is a more energetic shift on the album driven by arpeggiators and rather high-paced kickdrums. Something to easily fit into peak-time dancefloor action.
The closer, ‘Levitating Fluid,’ is also a captivating, exquisite track to end a great album. Beat-less and ambient, but simultaneously carrying a particular dismay or sense of unresolve. Like a cliffhanger that tells us to stay tuned into Ryberg’s frequency.
Spotify Apple Music Bandcamp Tidal Deezer Youtube Music
Cristian Vogel — Rebirth of Wonky (2021)
Endless Process
Tags: #dubbyelectronica #experimentalelectronica
Cristian Vogel is a composer and music producer known for his experimental DJ and live performances, studio composition, and production. He was born in Chile in 1972 but grew up in the UK. After residing in Barcelona, Spain, for a while, he currently lives and works in Copenhagen and operates the Endless Process label, which, ironically, also released Søs Gunver Ryberg, which is also featured in this newsletter.
As one of Germany’s most influential producers for over three decades, he has made several prolific albums and released them on renowned experimental techno labels, including Tresor, Novamute, and Mille Plateaux.
Since 1992, Vogel has performed live and on tour as a DJ, a solo artist, and as singer and guitarist of the band “Night of the Brain,” as well as in “Super Collider,” with fellow well-renowned producer Jamie Lidell. Vogel has even had some work in the cross-over mainstream music space by remixing major league names like Radiohead, Maximo Park, Thom Yorke, and many more. In addition, he has produced albums for Chicks On Speed, Panico, Virüs, Las Perras del Infierno, and other artists over the years.
The album starts with a deep dub-influence techno track, ‘When You Can’t Go Clubbing Anymore and Have to Dance with Oaks,’ which I can only assume was written during the pandemic. It is a 8.5-minute deep electronic music expedition with long beat-less segments that intertwine with sections of ultra-deep kick drum-based pulsations.
‘Pendula’ is my favorite on the album. With clear influences from dub techno originators like Mark Ernestus, Moritz von Oswald, and the Echospace camp, Vogel has elegantly put together a gritty, beatless dark dub monster with lots of echoing noise samples cutting in and out in a musical patchwork that sends you off into the ether.
The album also features experimental electro tracks like ‘Acido Amigo’ and ‘Peace la Roche,’ the latter garnered with delicious acid synth loops. The closer, ‘New Born Wise,’ also deserves mention: A dub-centric track with organ-sounding synth chords that form a captivating melody.
As mentioned earlier, the album is out of Endless Process, his own label. A label that also houses, alongside Ryberg, Danish icon producer Bjørn Svin.
Spotify Apple Music Bandcamp Tidal Deezer Youtube Music
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Did you like these deep electronic music recommendations?
Perfectly Deep Weekly is a free newsletter that makes it easy to enjoy quality deep electronic music every week. It is curated by me, Christian Villum, an electronic music buff based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The idea is simple: I listen to the many releases that come out, pick the ones I like the best — and share them with you here.
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