Category: Get This

This next review comes via the epic soundscape that is Ebola Ape’s Dance in Haze, out in all major shops on February 1st, 2014. Ebola Ape is an emerging Polish producer of “eery, nocturnal atmospheres”. He describes his work as “Music of the night. Reverbed emotions of solitude.” Original productions, using analog synths and original vocal samples.

This album is heavy, goes hard in the paint with some seriously deep, massive, gooey soundscapes. Almost immediately upon cranking my WinAmp up a notch, a heavy cloud of ambiance, trap beat, choral vocals and jungle animal sounds fills my head, in the form of the opening track, Lombok,  instantly relaxing me. What an opening. Boom! This is Dance in Haze.

Lighthood is as deep as they come on this album, with dark organ sounds accentuated by reverberated female vocals and a tightly wrapped trap beat. This is the music of 2014, stuff I haven’t heard before. There is some Enya-like influence in there – a mysterious vibe.

Honest is a hard-hitting spoken word/rap/trap style track with some slick and sick vocal fx, meticulously and accurately laid out. The vocals shine through the deep atmosphere and come across as clean and crisp as it gets. Back to Uluwatu is another, similar vocal rap track – truly a unique production.

Sigh is one of my favorite tracks on the album, because not only does it use all of the elements described before, but it also introduces a melancholy melody which shines a dim light on the overall heavy production. Irian is another, similar track that really stands out, melodically.

This album took me on a true aural journey, transcending and undermining so much of what is now mainstream electronic music. Whenever I hear someone say that electronic music is going downhill, I laugh – to myself – because I get to take these secret weapons of electronic music and unleash them on the world through my reviews. This album is a stand-alone in a crowd, deep and unforgiving, mocking the cookie cutter world of mainstream electronic music with it’s sheer primal, animal rawness.

Whatever you’re into, this slow-paced – worldly- album is one you at least want to hear once, but as for me – I’ll just be over here playing it again. This is music licensing gold, so don’t be surprised if you hear this in a film or show in the foreseeable future.

Dance in Haze on Bandcamp:
http://ebolaape.bandcamp.com/album/dance-in-haze

More information about Ebola Ape and his label:
http://astralritual.net/
http://ebolaape.com/

Ebola Ape on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/ebola-ape

Ebola Ape on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/bol-P/313921475311015

Scott Hunt aka Hunter is an American composer, songwriter, singer and producer – releasing albums for almost two decades. Recently, a friend of Scott’s reached out to me, asking me to check out what he felt was an overlooked album, which should be heard. After listening to Crutches, I have to concur.

While Crutches is not an album which I would personally categorize as electronic dance music, per se, it does feature some elements of dance music (namely disco), and does contain some electronica components (lots of analog synths). Whether it is or isn’t EDM isn’t really what’s at stake here. What it is is a brilliantly produced retro-sounding indie, music-nerd-style treat.

The album starts off slow with Never Believe, a filtered intro with some psychedelic backing choral vocals, definitely feeling some strong 60’s/70’s influence here with the bouncy bassline and flanged vocals, the Beatles style panning.

The album is arranged in a nicely flowing way, with one track seemingly more interesting than the last.

The highlights of the album, to me, are:

the vocals – the vocals shine on this album, and add at least half of the album’s appeal, it just wouldn’t be the same without them

the panning – Scott’s attention to details is very evident by the meticulous and deliberate placement of each little element in its own place on the track

the beats – loved the drum sequences on this album, the timely fills, builds and breaks, the crisp sound of the percussion

the basslines – each track has a unique feel, while keeping to the same theme, driven in large part by the bouncy basslines

All of the tracks on the album are honestly outstanding in their own way, so it’s hard to pick favorites, but if pressed, I’d have to say that No More Rider and Three Finger Hands were my top picks.

I can appreciate the effort and love that went into producing this album. I would say it’s easily on par with many indie albums on regular radio rotation. The sound is professional, and it begs to be heard.

I could see some interesting remixes coming out of this, if Scott were to release a remix pack for some of the tracks.

At $7, this album is a bargain for anyone who is interested in hearing some original, creative, “good” music. You can grab a copy here on Scott’s Bandcamp.