Producer Machinedrum unleashed snippets of 23 new beats on his Soundcloud. He put out one of my favorite electronic records of 2011. My thoughts on Room(s) were posted a while back — check ‘em out.
Downliner Sekt’s masterful sound design
Barcelona’s Downliners Sekt told Fact Magazine that they see music as a “language,” with “the capacity to translate a wide range of feelings, to create imaginary worlds.” They’re steadily developing a busy brand of romantic and dub-influenced electronic music similar to that which is explored on Machinedrum’s Room(s) or on Mount Kimbie’s Crooks & Lovers, and they’re handing it out for free. Meet the Decline closes the door on a trilogy of thematically connected releases from the act that launched last year. There are four tracks here of masterful sound design — hushed pitched-up vocal samples, crusty sections of acoustic guitars, and a balance of both knife-hack snares and percussive lows that threaten to swallow everything in earshot. Moody, often wonderfully bleak stuff here. Visit their site’s ‘Releases’ section to download the whole thing FREE.
Room(s) is rife with crackling vinyl grooves and tumbling garage beats — a gauzy and melodic electronic record coated with warbled vocal samples and fast-dissolving synth lines. While producer Travis “Machinedrum” Stewart might object to this characterization, Room(s) is the full-length I’ve been waiting to hear from Sepalcure, the project that he shares with Praveen Sharma. In fact, if someone were to discreetly spin this riveting set of jungle-inspired productions — in all of its stylish and stuttering beauty — I’d wager that we were hearing more of the Sepalcure work that I 
