As promised, I will be posting reviews of the songs and artists, two at a time, which will appear on the upcoming Twice As High Records full LP compilation (the first vinyl full LP release from TAH) Thru the Clouds of Smoke.
The opening track of this compilation is a song by the artist Juxta, which is important for a few reasons. The first is that the music that inspired this compilation was all first heard on Atom Collector Records (@atomcollector). I kept hearing songs that I loved at that place, and kept thinking "damn I wish I had that track on vinyl!!" And then I found the community of folks involved with that place, including those who go to the weekly radio show on the discord server for ACR. Anyway, that place has been a big inspiration for TAH Records, and it was started by none other than Juxta himself! So it is fitting that the founder of this community opens this LP. The other reason why it is important that this kick-ass track is the opening one is that it is a loud in-your-face affair, and I really wanted to make this compilation announce itself with authority. It is full of paranoia and distortion, which matches the psychedelic theme of the collection. So here is Track 1 of Thru the Clouds of Smoke, I Fear The Robots by Juxta:
https://soundcloud.com/abcreposts/i-fear-the-robots
This song is only one of many many other fantastic Juxta tunes. Just over a year ago, he released the album Surveillance Society (find it here: https://juxtamusic.bandcamp.com/) which is a dynamic listen from front to back, has some fantastic collaborations, and has fantastic cover art to boot:
Here is track 2 off of that album, The Journey Begins:
https://audius.co/juxta/the-journey-begins-251592
There are a lot more Juxta tunes to check out, starting with the albums on his Bandcamp page:
https://juxtamusic.bandcamp.com/music
After the loud start, the second track of Thru the Clouds of Smoke slows things down to a trippier psychedelic pace. This one is by Psionic Tremors (@psionic-tremors), and is one of the first songs I ever heard on Atom Collector Records. I really love the vibe of this song, and I think it is the perfect track to come next on the album. Here is Darned by Psionic Tremors:
https://soundcloud.com/psionictremors/darned
I love all of the tracks that I've heard by Psionic Tremors, so it is a bit hard for me to pick out only one more to feature here. She also has some very nice visuals on her YouTube page, so here is a video from there with the track Sonic Eye:
Here is just one more track of Psionic Tremors, which is another one of my favorites, the track Sedation:
https://psionictremors.bandcamp.com/track/sedation
If you want some chill electronic music that also has a very moving energy to it, you cannot go wrong with Psionic Tremors.
I seriously get more and more excited about this compilation the more I work on its release! Tune in here for the next post in a week or two for a review of the artists from tracks 3&4 of Thru the Clouds of Smoke!!