Singing Dust
Singing Dust

U-Trax: ...Ambient braindance from ItalyComprising Marco Simioni, Matteo Mazreku, and Francesco Pio Nitti, Qualia are a group of Italian producers who have never met in person. Due to the covid pandemic, they had to colaborate in the cloud, resulting in some exquisite ambient braindance.Having previously released records on Detroit Underground and fellow Utrecht label 030303 between them, they arrive on U-Trax with their eponymous EP of four deep tracks taking influence from a range of genres, including acid-techno, ambient, noise, and beyond.Leading the release, 'Perception' brings beautiful strings, funky 808 drums and acid tones for a deep and moving opener. The track clearly reveals the inspiration Qualia got for this release from the early Gescom releases. Stretched across the A2 is the ambient bliss of 'VV Cephei A', which brings Boards of Canada-esque drones and tones.On the flip, the title track 'Qualia' brings a headsy dose of braindance to the mix, recalling the early experiments of Aphex Twin with merciless 303 squelches and distant reverberations. Closing track 'Until I Break Apart' leads with dark, moody strings before a pounding kick introduces a stark tempo shift before deep ambient atmospheres engulf the final minutes.

No Corner: ...Spiritflesh, the brainchild of Julian 'Dj October' Raymond-Smith and Boris 'Borai' English, is the culmination of an expansive discography, countless hours of music consumption and detailed collective knowledge.Taking in a host of sounds, from Doom Metal and Drone through to Post-Punk, EBM, Dreader than dread Dub and Techno, Spiritflesh have truly blurred the conventions of their influences and spawned a sonic that is all theirs... spewing and spitting like a skeletal, fog-riddled construct of otherwordly ambience, guttural bassline and rhythm.Dream-like, yet crushingly physical, their sound is a cerebral kind of music that touches, with great conviction, on ideas of life, death and the in-between...

Piezo’s Ansia imprint returns for its 8th outing, ‘Imago’, inviting Berlin’s Unity Vega for a split EP of uptempo dancefloor explorations that mine that fertile space between footwork, drum’n’bass, dancehall and experimental contemporary club sonics.Berlin’s Unity Vega leads the charge with ‘No Body No Mind’ - a waterlogged darkside skanker that sits somewhere between the half-stepping jungle of the UVB-76 crew and the kind of oddball dancehall deconstructions often peddled by Ansia's extended circles.Appearing again on the flip, Vega ups his pace on ‘Set Em’ - a nervy footwork roller that pits gully hip-hop vocal chops against rising bell chords and washes of delayed noise. Think Rashad dubbed out by Kevin Martin and you’re in the right ballpark.Label head Piezo’s contributions continue along similar lines, albeit in his own unmistakable style. ‘Toughts, Heavy’ also finds the midpoint between d’n’b and dembow, this time marrying a gurgling acid bassline with a euphoric-turned-paranoiac trance lead. 
Up next, ‘Nel Frigo Ah’ strips things back to the raw, banging basics: a looping vocal call pinned down by a frenetic crescendoing drum workout.To close, Japanese legend Foodman delivers a pots-and-pans rework of ‘Thoughts, Heavy’ - a true curveball tool for the adventurous DJs amongst us.credits