Dream Koala - Earth. Home. Destroyed

The past 12 months have been quite favorable for this young talent. His unique blending of his live singing and guitar mixed with electronic beats has been taking the global ambient scene by storm. Today Dream Koala is back with his new 5-track EP called Earth. Home Destroyed.

Watching the progression in his production and overall song quality has been really cool over the past year or so. These 5 songs are his best work to date. I feel like I can turn on his music, turn off my mind and just ride the musical sound waves to a better place. I especially like the song Gold for doing just that. I love the way the track amps up with the beating drums towards the end which keeps me as a listener captivated to the last second.

Earth is another great track from the EP. It is one of the most energetic songs I have heard from Dream Koala. I really like it because of that. All of his music seems to blend together if you play it all back to back, but this one would stand out to any fan of his as having more life than the rest.

The last song I really enjoy is A Cosmic Landscape. There are no vocals, but I love when a song can take your mind to another place without any use of imagery or descriptions in the lyrics and it relies solely on the sounds and whatever emotions or experiences they trigger in your brain. That is true ambient music.

If you like the EP, buy it on his Bandcamp or on iTunes! Throw him a 'Like' on Facebook too while you're at it.

Enjoy! <3

Tourist - Patterns EP

Tourist has been slowly making a name for himself in today's saturated electronic music world. He has been able to craft a sound that is all his own, and his new Patterns EP shows off all of his producing talent.

In today's EDM genre spectrum, I would say Tourist falls into mostly into the downtempo category. His music is always relaxed and simple. Whether it be finding the perfect samples or enlisting the help of some interesting vocalists, he knows how to create interesting and beautiful songs. My favorite track off the album is called I Can't Keep Up, which features Will Heard on vocals. Will's contribution to the song makes it. It is the perfect song to listen too to bring yourself back to your center after a long, stressful day. Check it out below.

The other song that I really enjoyed from this EP is called Together. I'm not sure whether its the sample saying "we should be together" or the groovy beat, or the perfect combination of both that make this song stand out to me. I love how simple the track is throughout, although it still demands my full attention all the way through. That is how you know you are doing something right as a producer. Check it out below!



Make sure you check out the rest of his EP on Spotify!

Enjoy! <3

Coachella Spotlight #12: Flume

I knew Coachella would be jumping on the Downtempo train, as that obscure genre has seen massive growth over the past year. They made an excellent choice adding Flume to the line up! I am sure his set will be one of the most interesting DJ performances of the festival.

This Australian-based producer got his biggest break from his remix of Disclosure's You & Me that blew up on the blogosphere last year. This song is massive. The string samples and the huge bass in the drop makes this a certified banger. I can't wait to see how it sounds in the Sahara tent with it bumping! Check it out below



After to getting to know his music more, I found some other really awesome tracks by Flume. He released his deluxe edition self-titled debut album last year and it was definitely one of the coolest electronic album releases of 2013. His unique production style and heavy use of sampling gives the album a really cohesive sound and sets it apart from your typical EDM album. He also grabs some awesome features from the likes of How To Dress Well, Ghostface Killah, Jazzabelle Doran and T-Shirt to name a few. My favorite tracks from the album include: Sleepless, Change, Space Cadet, and Warm Thoughts. Check out these tracks on our Spotify Playlist!

I also learned that Flume is one half of another awesome production duo that I have been a fan of called What So Not. I had no idea Flume, alongside Emoh Instead, was behind that as well. I am sure some What So Not music will be featured in his Coachella set. They run along a similar vein as Flume, but a little more trappy and upbeat than Flume's solo work. Check out their track Touched below and see what I mean!


Come check out Flume at Coachella with me this year! I promise you won't regret that decision.

Happy Coachella! <3

Moby - Innocents

I have never been a Moby fan. I think Eminem got it in my head that everyone hates Moby back in the day because "nobody listens to techno." However, that was 2002. Everyone listens to "techno" now. Although I may not have liked Moby when I first got into EDM because all I wanted to do is rage my face off to some high energy dance music, it seems that both my musical tastes and his progression as an artist have come full circle. I finally see his brilliance. I would officially like to retract my ignorant Moby aversion. His latest album, Innocents, is full of unique, interesting and beautiful compositions.

It is easy to pigeon-hole Moby as being an old school techno producer, but this album is anything but that. Moby mixes it up by incorporating a lot of live instrumentation throughout the record as well as dabbling in new genres with some down-tempo and ambient style beats. Each track, from the opening Everything That Rises to the closing The Dogs, is it's own masterpiece.

The song that stood out to me upon my first listen through the album was The Perfect Life. It's uplifting choir vocals are so overwhelmingly joyous that it becomes impossible to have any negative thoughts whatsoever when you play it. Moby has created a timeless piece of music with this track. Watch the music video below!

Another song that grabbed me was Almost Home. This song is more on the ambient side of the record, which has been a big area of interest for me lately. The beautiful vocals complement the soft synths perfectly to create a song that I would imagine sounds like something that would you would hear as your soul ascends to heaven after you die. Check it out below

There are too many good tracks on this album to put on one post, so check out my other favorites on my Audible Twilight Spotify Playlist. There have also been some remixes to a bunch of the songs on the record. All of them can be heard on his SoundCloud page. Definitely check out the Fuck Buttons and the Andrew Weatherall remixes of The Perfect Life. They are both amazing!

Enjoy! <3

Top 10 of 2013: Dream Koala - Odyssey EP

France has been on point with their young prodigy game the past couple years. First we had Madeon take the world by storm, now we have Yndi Ferreira, a.k.a. Dream Koala.

Yndi's career has gone from total obscurity to rising star in a very short time. His music is not exactly appealing to the masses in any way, but he was fortunate enough to have the Odyssey EP debuted in Vogue Magazine in October. The reason this made my list was because not only is this release really unique and different, but it also marks Dream Koala's transition from being a kid making music in his room, to being a full time musician. That transition shows in the progress made between this EP and his previous work.

The title track from the EP really shows his musical style. His music is basically comprised of downtempo electronic productions, full of samples, with his own vocals and guitar laid over the top. I have gotten to watch him perform live via the internet once and it was really cool to see him use the midi controller to create the beats and then play his guitar and sing throughout the rest of the song, while using loops to bring it all together. Check out the video for Odyssey below.

The other song I like from the EP has been unreleased for a long time, but he retouched it and made it better for the EP. It's called Ocean. It's got more of a head-bobbing beat than the other tracks, and is great for zoning out, especially as Yndi sings "don't wake me up" over and over again. Get your ambient vibes from Ocean below.

Make sure you Like him on Facebook and check out his SoundCloud for more of his older material. And, of course, this EP will be on the Audible Twilight Best of 2013 Playlist on Spotify!

Enjot! <3

Oceaán

Recently I have come up a very unique and talented producer hailing from the UK named Oceaán. I wouldn't even so much as call him a producer as I would a composer because of how beautiful his tracks are. I was turned onto his music from his remix of another favorite UK band of mine, Swim Deep. He remixed their track Honey into a downtempo, ambient dreamscape with solemn guitars and calming vocals, all dripping with reverb. Check it out below.





After hearing that first remix, I had to have more. After pouring over his SoundCloud (which is not as lengthy as I had hoped) I instantly fell in love with his sound. He can take any song and turn it into something special. His remix of Woman's Hour's song Darkest Place was the last straw for me. Simply amazing. I won't go into detail about the rest of his songs. Instead, I will let the music speak for itself. Check out his remixes below to hear more.




That brings me to his original work. I must say that I prefer his remixes to his originals, BUT that does not mean that his originals are any less great. I especially dig the track below. He only has two originals posted on his SoundCloud, but it is a great way to see how he started and it shows how much progress he has made in his production skills when you compare them to his more recent remixes.



Needless to say, Oceaán is definitely a producer to keep an eye on, because you can be sure that anything with his name on it will be worth the listen. All of his remixes are for free download.. so GET ON IT!!! If you want to keep up with all things Oceaán follow him on SoundCloud, and go 'Like' him on Facebook too!



Enjoy! <3