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Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest

After about eight years of silence, Boards of Canada return with Tomorrow’s Harvest, which might be their saddest and most desolate record to date; directly emulating much of the progressive synth and soundtrack music that has always informed the duo’s style.

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Boards of Canada – “Reach For The Dead”

Boards of Canada releases its first track from the forthcoming Tomorow’s Harvest, and it’s a cinematic doozie, featuring some steady beats and cinematic synthscapes that are sure to set a slightly ominous mood.

This new album of BoC’s will be dropping on Warp records early next month! The anticipation!

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Autechre – Exai

Autechre may be coming from the same cold, analytical place they usually do, but Exai shows that their skills for crafting sound are stronger than ever.

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Squarepusher – “Angel Interger”

With distorted, melodic leads and a punchy beat, Tom Jenkinson, a.k.a. Squarepusher, has dropped a new track from a forthcoming EP he’ll be releasing on March 11th. Enjoy. Check a review for his last full-length right here:

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Atoms For Peace – Amok

On this debut Atoms For Peace LP, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke uses this new band of his to continue honing the electronic style he’s been toying with since 2006′s The Eraser. Stylistically, it’s almost a sequel to Radiohead’s The King of Limbs, and this just happens to be one of those moments where the sequel is better.

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Gold Panda – Trust EP

Via the widget above, stream the latest EP from electronic music producer Gold Panda. Remember him? He’s been pretty busy since the release of Lucky Shiner a few years ago, and Trust is a show of the progression he’s made since, showcasing some smooth and simple microhouse sounds that are sure to seduce.

Look for sampled saxophones, crackles, endless rhythms, and some somber synths as well.

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Igorrr – Hallelujah

Admittedly, if I had casually heard the phrase “operatic breakcore” getting tossed around in a music conversation, I’d truly be fighting the urge to step in and shout, “GIMMICK! GIMMICK! GIMMICK!” However, that’s really the only word grouping I can conjure to describe the sounds on Igorrr’s Hallelujah. I guess it isn’t truly functional, though, because there’s an indescribable metal influence on some of these tracks, too.

Grab this album on vinyl, CD, or MP3 on Bandcamp.

While I’m not completely convinced that the music streaming in the above widget isn’t a gimmick, at least it’s detailed and impressively produced. The pairing of genres here may, on paper, look about as appetizing as a mustard and jelly sandwich, there’s some serious gourmet cooking going on here.

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Vessel- Order of Noise

While Vessel does create a pretty consistent and well-groomed style on this album, which fuses elements of IDM and techno with some of the most shadowy sounds on record, some tracks are clearly more well-developed than others.

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Lorn- “Diamond” & “Weigh Me Down”

Streaming below are two videos from the new Lorn album, Ask the Dust. The electronic music producer’s sophomore effort is out now via Ninja Tune.

I talked about this album a bit on a Y U NO REVIEW segment, saying that I was impressed with the improved production from Lorn on this new release. Ask the Dust is definitely a step up in texture, and combines sounds both beautiful and rough for a really nice atmosphere. My qualms with the album, though, sat mostly with the sequencing of the rhythms and synths on the track, which I thought could have been a bit more detailed.

While I still feel that way to an extent, I’m pretty impressed with the two videos available below, and I have to admit the sounds I already thought were great are starting to fill in the enjoyment gaps left by the lack of, well, I guess, complexity, in some of these instrumentals.

To get back to the videos at hand, both are visually appealing, with one making more of a social statement than the other. Of course, I’m referring to the very dark, depressing “Weigh Me Down,” which takes a shot at cookie-cutter culture. On the other side of the spectrum is “Diamond,” which feels way more abstract, surreal, and dreamlike in its visual content.

Both feature beautiful animations that have a bit of 8-bit chic to them. Boss stuff!

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Stream Two New Four Tet Tracks

Today marks the release of Four Tet’s new record Pink, a compilation of sorts that collects all of the 12″ singles that he has released recently for his Text imprint. The album also includes two new tracks, both of which hover around 10 minutes in length and both of which are serious IDM bangers. “Lion” is a retro, house-influenced jam that recalled Aphex Twin’s first collection of so-called ambient music, while the slightly longer “Peace For Earth” is a bit dreamier and forward thinking, with some woozy, disparate synths that give way to lush pads that definitely invoke the song’s title.

Stream both tracks above via YouTube and pick up Pink via Four Tet’s website.