Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: ‘Now, it’s complete because it’s ended here.’

Hello reader! I have been meaning to work on this site for a while. The main reason for transitioning from the previous version was to have more control over the aesthetic and technology I embed within. I also wanted to have full control of the source files to prevent broken links — a side effect of hosting content on public servers. It seemed obvious for the music blog to be housed within the main domain.

As with all new technology, development must stop somewhere. It took some time to recreate the feel from the old version while refreshing the look. I can keep writing JavaScript and delay site deployment but I don’t think that’s worth it at this point — I am happy with where it is. Nevertheless, I still have a couple of upgrades planned, so stay tuned!

First up is Jacob Collier, an English musician, who is making his way through his 4 volume Djesse project. I personally enjoy the first volume the most. Even though most of Jacob’s tracks have excellent sound engineering, the track below never fails to improve my day and put a smile on my face.

The album Yes is a meeting of upbeat house and soundscapes (e.g. Hiroshi Yoshimura). This most recent album is the most mellow of his work but his albums are worth a listen.

Tech house in the day. Techno at night. Uncanny how the essence of the music is captured in the visuals. Check out Voltage Imprint for more tracks in this vein.

Here’s one of the many Gaelic tracks from Julie Fowlis’ collection of albums. In my book, this one is contender for best track she has made. I’ll post some of the other contenders in future articles.

RIN has, of late, justifiably gained a lot of attention in Germany. After a couple of early colabs with the folks at Live from Earth and then splitting to form his own label DIVISION, he has been steadily putting out well produced albums. Most of his recent work has been quite creatively monotonous, with an occasional descent into rhythmic auto-crooning (a guilty pleasure). I remain a dedicated listener of his earlier works with hopes that he might circle back artistically at some point. Please make another EROS.

Most of you know Mondo Grosso through the track Labyrinth, which has been making the rounds due to the YouTube recommendations algorithm and appearance of actress Hikari Mitsushima (art above by SIMgund). However, Mondo Grosso is far from a one-hit wonder and has been hard at work since 1989. Being extremely versatile, he has gone through phases of jazz (Sphere), hip-hop (What Goes Up Must Come Down), and soul (Laughter in the Rain) in his earlier days, and now electro house. The track below is firmly in the electro category and is one of my favorites from his recent work. Then a seldom heard acoustic version of Labyrinth.

You thought there weren’t any ads on this site, didn’t you? Well here’s one for dance lines. Check out Awesome Tapes From Africa, a site by ethnomusicologist Brian Shimkovitz who posts and sells music from Africa (with artist licensing). He had a lot of trouble tracking down the original artist who only had 50 copies of the original tape made. Anyway, the music is just so happy, I love it.