Testpress Sf - Meet See Hear Our Community

Various Artists, SF Test Press, reviewed by Brick

Compilation of Bay Area electronic music with talent drawn from Epiphyte records and the San Francsico Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Styles on the album vary from Dancy Trip-Hop, Bedroom Electronic to Dub. A good smattering of textures and beats, but not anything groundbreaking. All tracks decent and playable.

FCC Clean.

My picks 1, 7, 9, 14,

1) Airy synth line with big bump[ing beat and justice-y sawtooth syth, mixed in with occasional big whining synth Full beat comes in at 1:06. Interesting textures used throughout. Builds into a beepy freakout, last minute a comedown of sort.

2) Shifty sonic texture with boingy psy-hop feel. Haunted tones, and shifty beat. Trip Hoppy Female vox

3) Heavy ambient opening with repetitive dubby bassline before heavy beat comes in at :41 sec. A good mix of textures are moved across this, with an Egyptian–y melody getting. No vocals another trip hop track. Very repeteitive.

4) Acoustic Guitar Light Stringy, mixed with rain sound and heavy textured with light drums, until song turns more techno’y at 3:30 with more electronic sounding drum beat, and light sample of a woman laughing and talking. A Guitar sound then gets mixed

5) Future Sound of London’y, twisted, pulsating sound, beginning moving into a semi-industrial bass heavy groove with haunted, harmonized female vox,with clichéd lyricals about “sanctity” and cleansing” or something of the matter, better to not pay attention to.

6) Slow chilled, bedroom groove, with sexed out, occasionally whispery, female vocals that get echoed during the chorus, melting morphing texture behind it.

7) Minimal beginning with slow heavy bassline and texture, that turns into nasty funky dubby, more uptempo groove at approx 1:20. Chanty vocals in a Spanish. .

8) Airy female trip hop vocals, with semi-tribal beat for intro. Bassline is simple 1-2 bump. Picks up a bit towards the end. Good beat and bassline, but the song doesn’t have much of a build.

9)* Funky, pulsating house groove with a bunch of spaced out textures, and a constant swirling outer space texture, and subtle vibraphone. Strange, heavily effected vocals.

10)* Big thumping tribal drum throughout the house 1990s Hi-NRG sound, w/ female disco vox and male dance vocals. Straight forward dance track with vox “work your body, release your groove,” and of the like. Solid beat, not as strong on textures

11) Shuffly 2 step beat, with male vocal loop “we carry on with all the other people,” repeated ad infinitum. Synth line and texture added later in song.

12) Wonky electronic opening, with piano hits sampled, uptempo beat, and dance music female vox,” I am so filled with love.” Song breaks it down a bit at about 3:30 and continually drops energy until ending.

13) Eerie ambient texture, with beat and simple bassline turning into a dubby groove, with an abundancie echo-y bending sounds. One of the better non-dancefloor tracks, and doesn’t drag like some songs.

14) Haunted female voice over sparse ambient scape during intro..Turns into DN&B Song at 1:18.