Articles
Spotlight 10
Ten Favourite Labels 2013

Albums
52 Commercial Road
Chantal Acda
David Åhlén
Daniel Bortz
Peter Broderick
Brass Mask
bvdub / bvdub & loscil
Colorlist
Dale Cooper Quartet
Cuushe
Jack Dangers
Deco
Deetron
DFRNT
Egbert
The Foreign Exchange
Nils Frahm
Bjarni Gunnarsson
Robert Haigh
Marihiko Hara & Polar M
John Heckle
Arve Henriksen
Joy Wellboy
Kaboom Karavan
KILN
Land of Kush
Jessy Lanza
Last Days
L.B. Dub Corp
Lights Dim with Gallery Six
Livity Sound
Moskitoo
MUfi.re
Oddisee
Om Unit
Ø [Phase]
Raudive
Matana Roberts
Sakamoto + Deupree
Secret Pyramid
Quentin Sirjacq
Sleeper
Sonicbrat
Special Request
Stratosphere & Serries
Thisquietarmy
Ricardo Tobar
Tom Trago

Compilations / Mixes
Foundland
In The Dark
Mathias Kaden

EPs / Cassettes / Singles
Anduin
Anile / Lm1 & Kharm
Cursa
Gerwin & Nuage ft. 2Shy
Hessien
Jon McMillion
Miaou

CD-Vinyl-DVD
Seaman and Tattered Sail

DFRNT: Patience
Echodub

Issued in a digital format on his own Echodub label, Alex Cowles's latest DFRNT effort, Patience, plunges the listener immediately into an ambient-dub soundworld with its opening piece “Sunrise.” A serpentine synth melody lends the setting a rather prog-like flavour, but the ten-track, hour-long collection largely orients itself around heavily atmospheric dub-techno more than anything else—something that becomes clear when a reverberant series of dubby washes introduces the second piece, “Synasthesia.”

Its Plastikman-styled title notwithstanding, “Concept 01” is an exercise in ocean-view languor with a laid-back drum pulse the primary soothing element. Not everything is so serene, however: dark clouds sweep across “Boreal,” whose brooding chords imbue the material with an unsettling degree of drama and portent. The album's longest piece, the eleven-minute “Mountain,” suggests the successful completion of a daunting, step-by-step ascent, but Patience is at its most engrossing when it's at its rhythm-heaviest, such as during “Moon” and “Plains,” which Cowles powers with snappy dub-techno pulses that wouldn't sound out of place in the club.

The differences between the tracks aside, the one thing common to all is a multi-dimensional production design that turns each piece into an ultra-immersive listening experience. As representative examples, “Concept 01” evokes a tropical setting so convincingly, one almost starts to feel the warmth and humidity of the locale, while “Boreal” conjures the image of a setting so drenched in rain one considers seeking shelter in anticipation of the coming storm.

November 2013