- A stunning compilation showcasing the healthy state of ambient techno, with some real head-turners.
- Over the last few years, there's been a new crop of what you could loosely call ambient techno: beat-driven music that floats, bubbles and gurgles, melts or sublimates into a pleasant fragrance. Artists and labels like Huerco S, Motion Ward, Ulla and West Mineral Ltd. have driven this trend, borrowing aesthetics and sounds from '90s IDM and electronica, then turning it psychedelic. It's backwards-looking without actually really taking a step into the past. Channel Plus, a new compilation from upstart label Speedway 29, is one of the most stunning documents of this de facto movement yet, with a focus on New York as well as a global outreach that encompasses chilled-out trap, electro, downtempo and even early '00s electroacoustic music.
Compilations are tricky to write about and often even trickier to listen to all the way through, but Channel Plus is painstakingly put together. The obvious highlight comes from DeKalb Works, whose "Look At The Board" is a sprawling late-night soundscape of shudders, chatter and swampy percussion. It's like listening to dub techno floating on the wind. Xen Model's "Lurch" is a spray of beats and unsteady melodies, with all the stability of a marble wobbling on an uneven surface. pent's "Section5, Insert1" sounds like a drunken Mark Fell track, its rapid-fire rhythms but generally meandering feel pushing at the definition of what it means to make ambient techno.
The aesthetics here vary from dark, neon-lit urban soundscapes to brighter, fluffier vibes. K Wata delivers a bit of vocal-perfumed fog, where heavy beat drops disappear into a mist, while Ben Bondy's "Beatboys" shrouds a ridiculous Bob Seger sample in pastel cotton candy. J. Albert delivers a darksided, muttering tell-off—this compilation's equivalent of electroclash—and Cajm offers queasy industrial rhythms defined by an attractive guitar phrase that never quite resolves the way you expect it to, leaving every melodic line unfinished. And Relaxer's "Feeling Great" combines the minimal techno of his recent releases with a dark, occluded core, hiding the sharp edges in the shadows.
My personal favorite is Special Guest DJ's "Knot," a smudge of vocals and far-away pads reinforced by ticking trap drums that frame the track like gentle ocean raves rocking a boat at a pier. It's a little throwback—think Balam Acab or Ryan Hemsworth—but undeniably alluring, with any low-end menace smoothed out into a welcome massage. Like so many of the tracks on Channel Plus, it feels timeless, maybe even retro, but also locked into what appears to be an endlessly creative pool of artists, all making ambient-leaning music that carries itself with strength, feeling and poise.
Tracklist01. Xen Model - Lurch
02. tofudj - Unt
03. Dekalb Works - Look At The Board
04. AshTreJinkins - 7LKNL0053
05. pent - Section5, Insert1
06. K Wata - Everything
07. Ex Wiish - Needle
08. Special Guest DJ - Knot
09. LXV - Conduit
10. Cajm - Q1
11. bsw - 9ninedub Ov
12. J. Albert - Realshit
13. Windowseeker - Step In
14. Opehliaxz - Mimicry
15. Axine M - Prehistoric-Groove-Slip
16. Relaxer - Feeling Great
17. Ben Bondy - Beatboys