The latest by prolific ambient-drone producer, Meho Grbic, based out of Bosia and Herzegovina, produces dark/deep ambient and drone, often as a musical response to post-war Bosnia and its ongoing political, social, and economic malaise. Grbic works in mainland Europe for half a year and lives as an artist in Bosnia, where employment is scarce, the other half. However, he always brings his microphone and music production gear everywhere he goes to absorb and musically respond to the world around him. In Bosnia, Grbic finds no shortage of inspiration as his environs are frequently the source for his album and track titles, not to mention the very title of his label, Crna Zemlja, which means 'black city'. For all the bleak vibes and darkness that inspires Meho, the music itself is meditative, darkly beautiful—in a dreamy sort of way and recalls some of the early work of Thomas Koner. “04:00AM Wake-up Call” is an example of the way a Meho track is crafted, starting with a sustained ring, either from an alarm clock or an actual wake-up phone call, then processed and melded with ambience until itself seems a kind of illusion. “Grey Communist Buildings” feels more space ambient for all its vast, resonating feel despite its title. “Third World Train Ride” starts with reverb-drenched creaks and shuffles of busy movement, leaving a train station before it plunges into drone world, with continuous, lulling clickity-clacks and echoes, perhaps emulating the half-sleep state of drowsy commuters. “Vertigo” is the darkest drone piece of the lot, where amidst sustained, menacing tones it seems a demon is trying to speak through a nether-portal. “Sandman” is gorgeous, likely the respite of the “Crappy Day”, evoking the dreamlike feel of the music of Celer. Each track here has unique textures and tones so you really feel as if you are listening to a full album rather than mere variations of a theme. Pretty much all Meho albums are worth immersing yourself in, but this one is not a bad place to start. Pity about the title, because listening to “Another Crappy Day” makes my day anything but.

Part of the ongoing Vintage series by Cologne, Germany-based Marco Koller aka Smooth, Vintage 04 is among the more ambient-atmospheric and downtempo releases as it is deep, nocturnal and resonates with a touch of romance. Earlier iterations such as Vintage 03 and 02 were more deep techno and tech-house a la Swayzak with strong kinetic energy, but 04 contrasts with a dreamy voyage. Vintage 04 also strives to be 'otherworldly', evidenced in the use of either science documentary or fiction narratives and rocket launch pad dialogues that weave in and out of the sonic aether as well as track titles such as “First Contact”, “Galactic Outpost”, and “Into Space 2080”. However, this star system was already charted by the likes of Basic Channel/Chain Reaction and if you are an Archive.org dweller, Rktic's Northern Lights (THN005) release. That this corner of the galaxy was already explored does not diminish its beauty as it is still a pleasant excursion and Koller guides his spacecraft expertly through the region. The Vintage series and especially 04 works well to download to a digital player and take on long night walks or read sci-fi to or trip out to at home as the shortest track clocks in at seven minutes and the longest, 17. One of the coolest details about production of the Vintage series is that Koller exclusively uses hardware electronic gear and outboard effects to produce them such as an assortment of Korg's, Rolands, and Behringer's and has a comprehensive gear list on his artist site. Case in point is “Into Space 2080” where the tracks starts off dreamily with shimmering Basic Channel-esque electronics and what you initially think is a grooving bassline then morphs into TB-303 acid tones followed by nice, understated rhythms and beats. The Vintage series is a treasure find for electronic/deep techno enthusiasts and Marco Koller is a skilled purist worth listening to and following.

A two track digital ep of lush, larger-than-life melodies with smooth, harmonic vocals that surfs on rolling synth waves, Mos Emvy is a respite in a New Era of commercialized Hip Hop. Mos Emvy is alias of Cincinnati, Ohio-based hip hop artist and producer, Bryan McCorvey. McCorvey was schooled by his father in digital music production at a young age, who then grew to make instrumentals as early forays before also taking to vocals. McCorvey's influences range from luminaries like Jay Z and Nas to bands one would not normally associate with hip hop such as Nine Inch Nails, which is refreshing. While Hip Hop is narrative to a beat, it is also a genre not shy to experiment with its historic use of drum machine and sampled beats, record sample vocal fragments and audio collage as well as unconventional audio textures. The Next to Me ep title track recalls Burial's dubstep rhythms and bass that interplay with trance techno keyboards and eerie ghostly female backing vocals then pierced by Mos Emvy's harmonic rhymes to layers of electronics. “You won't see me” overtones darker electronics that sweep with ray gun intensity and some wailing feedback that either is an electric guitar or sounds a lot like one, accompanied with aggressive, driving beats. Mos Emvy delivers his lyrics with black belt martial arts precision and topical depth and maturity. This ep is produced by Apex and sounds great with more presence than you would expect from an mp3 release, as in 'I can't believe its mp3!'. Mos Emvy is a talent who embraces hard and lush electronics to deliver the goods and is an artist worth anticipating more great work from.

Deftly crafted IDM glitchno, Neko is sometimes Alvin and the Chipmunks on the slow-jam tip with glitch/IDM beats; other times it is deep, dubby techno that recalls Swayzak; it is the finer moments of Phonem and early Autechre but with sexy melodies and atmosphere sprinkled with chip-tune accents and more. The production notes on Neko indicate that the album started off as instrumental pieces subsequently cut-up into Franken-tracks, or perhaps the bride of Franken-tracks as they are nuttily put back together, but in a lovely way. Neko is rich in textures, from the instrumentals of the source material, to vocal samples that inhale helium balloons, then cut up and further distorted into Picasso-style fun, to drum machine rhythms accompanied by chip tune beats and lush keyboard melodies. Some stand-out tracks include “Conclusion parcial: cascada inversa”, “Estado del arte: Barco-Inercia”, and especially “Estado del arte: Kid Perro”. “Conclusion parcial: cascada inversa” is a heady bit of atmospheric electronic jazz that flows with the infatuation soaked dreaminess of a perfect date while “Estado del arte: Barco-Inercia” starts off with austere beats before the Swazak-esque dubby elements roll in like a romantic fog out of a classic movie while vestiges of vocals intermingle with spritely keyboard melodies. The golden track is “Estado del arte: Kid Perro” which is glitch-jazz with catchy bass lines, shimmering keyboard melodies, rich-layered rhythms and an overall mood of gradually unfurling euphoria that inspire repeated listens. Cafeina Kid is Pablo Cornejo, a Chilean artist who shows both his zany and charming side on a winsome album to be sure. Neko is available for free download on the Pueblo Nuevo net label in conjunction with Archive.org who adhere to the Creative Commons ethos. Music this good shouldn't come this cheap, download today!

At once evocative of mid-to-late 90’s era Autechre with nods to Alec Empire and Apex Twin among other artists such as Arovane and Phonem, but countered with more ambient-abstract textural palettes for a dynamic listen. T. E. S. O. are a Milan-Italy based duo Matteo and Jacopo who mostly self-release digital files, cassette tapes, and CD-R’s of their abstract electro-acoustic atmospheric excursions, melded with construction-site-grade beats. However, they also have releases on Fat Cat, who put out music by exemplary artists. Over A Neutral Landscape tends to alternate between darker ambient atmospheric and frenetic IDM from track to track, but when the two styles blend, the result is marvelous. Case in point is the opening track, ‘Jaz’ which is akin to a robot or machine going into system malfunction and circuit overload whereas “Parte Prima” is an eerie bit with creepy audio samples, perhaps culled from a horror film with intermittent aortic beats. However, “Matin” is a standout track and easily my favorite; a melodic piece with intricate beats haunted with the ghosts of Burial-style dubstep and lovely keyboard hooks. That one goes for inspires repeated listens. In the following ‘Catalogue’, we are taken into subterranean passages through winding, dusty tunnels and sustained horror movie soundtrack tension. Still further yet the following “Pgm-Tik...” and “Akrp...” we are in pure abstract malfunctioning IDM beat territory with frenetic robots and unmaintained machines. Occasionally there are moments of melodic overtone as in the following track “Lezione su nastro”, but around this time we are more into Confield-era Autechre. The final track ‘K’, starts off ambient but over the course of nearly the next twenty minutes, gets noisier and gradually dissolves into madness. Over a Neutral Landscape is a CD-R release with handmade packaging, but that in no way diminishes the album, which is excellent. I look forward to listening to more fine material by T.E.S.O. who are clearly a talented duo bringing new things to the IDM genre.