Kiasmos

Minimal, slow-burning techno that evokes the glacial grandeur of the Nordic landscape. Kiasmos is the fruit of two Icelandic musicians, experimental composer Ólafur Arnalds and electronic producer Janus Rasmussen, and they’ve combined their artistic senses into a real masterpiece closest in comparison to Jon Hopkins’ Immunity. It's longform dance music held together by delicate ambient washes, four-on-the-floor beats, and minimal touches of violin and piano. The music swells and releases at just the right moments, anchored by steady, shadowy pulses that drive the sound into dazzling, shapeshifting territories. This is deeply moving techno best experienced in solitude—headphones on, dreams open, intuiting the universe.

1. (6:25) ** Lit—Patient ambient intro, thick drumming, strings, hopeful.
2. (5:01) ** Held—Elegant piano, celestial strings that crest and fall, bittersweet.
3. (6:01) **** Looped—Music to die to. Piano-driven with some synth fills. Spectacular rise until its softly glowing finish.
4. (4:24) ** Swayed—House track! Pensive, still danceable. Play with the next track.
5. (8:59) *** Thrown—Massive, introspective house. Crying on the dance floor. Ends beatless.
6. (5:01) ** Dragged—Bassy, dark and cavernous, clapping sounds, really entrancing.
7. (5:45) ***** Bent—Jagged bass line, translucent piano brimming beneath, relentless ascension, devastatingly beautiful.
8. (9:21) **** Burnt—Atmospheric, churning, restless. Three-minute ambient afterglow with some stray piano lines. Epic closer.