Echo Conscious - Emotional Patterns (Harmonious Discord)

What do many past releases on Harmonious Discord have in common? They are all blessed by the multi-alias shape shifter Echo Conscious (Molecule, Dorian). Brad Dale is a full-time sound engineer and head of the label's mastering strategy. In addition, he is an early shaper of the Harmonious Discord sound. However, this time, Brad is the one changing shape. Emotional Patterns is an 11-track exploration of the deep understanding that Brad has for sonic invention predicated by his work as a mastering engineer, audio instrument designer, and film soundtrack composer. In this album, Brad steps away from the console and into an expansive palette, infusing his love of dub electronics, UK bass beat construction, and catchy melody hooks.

"Now Then" bursts the project into existence with fluttering circus melodies and rough and rumble kick construction. "1997" follows with blissful synth intros before cascading to an expertly crafted liquid jungle beat. Melodic dancing abounds as chimes collide with synthesis amid a backdrop of mellotron tension. "Blue Berry" follows trend flexing stuttered vocal programming with a dial into dubbier constructs. "Mycelium" dives deep into theory, as the main rhythm pattern is an electronic impulse measured from a mycelium network. Looped, applied to a kick drum and side-chained. "Daughter" delivers rich piano interplays on top of lush soundscapes and is layered periodically with cut-up home sampling. The album's namesake, "Emotional Patterns", derives strong feelings of anger, excitement, and bliss. Starting with thundering kicks and bass accompanied by dark synth melodies, suddenly shift into light rhode-laden reprises. "Orbital Sunrise" plays deeper on the melodic tension, cycling through lush beds, mellotron patterns, and dub percussion, giving it the lofi downtempo feel with a hint of edge. "Acrosonic" resets with a tine-tinged piano melody that dances with processed and reversed synth calls. This aerial display bubbles into floating arpeggios as the underlying patterns rotate and combine. "Season No More" enters a somber realm, expertly captured piano artifacts in contrast with the mounting arpeggios and washes of cinematic drums. "Space Squirrel" enters with a playful coloring, driving the drum programming into the IDM atmosphere only anchored by the signature drum construction. "Arrive" lands in an expansive atmosphere with pulsating radio waves and synergisticly melodic swells. This album is deserving of a listen from beginning to end, a true testament to a life of sonic creation.

Nick Warren (Hope Recordings) – “This is a cracking album.”
Rory Hoy (Super Hi-Fi) – “An extremely creative and original album.”
Adrian Lugo (WEFT 90.1 FM) – “Solid album. Quirky production gives it’s sense of airiness while still hitting kind of hard. On Air support.”
DJ Firefly (WRCT 88.3 FM) – “Love all the creative details on here.”
DJ Doubles (Freestyle Fusion / Urgent FM) – “Love this! Joyful, emotive and greacefully diverse.”
Hober Mallow (Mighty Reel Show) – “Love this. Incredible sequencing. Just really fresh vibes all the way, will support here.”

Available Now From: Bandcamp, Beatport, Apple Music, And Spotify.

Onium - Immix EP (Harmonious Discord)

From the seedy depths of dub-infested marshes comes the sound manipulations of Onium, a tenured producer with a handbag of pseudonyms and secret projects. The man behind the moniker, Stephen Moon, uses this alias to focus heavily on expanding the ‘dub techno’ genre. Always pushing the edge while seemingly staying true to the dub framework, Onium partners his vast knowledge of song creation with a deep understanding of what makes dub techno amazing. Harmonious Discord first featured Onium in the Discordian Dreaming series which resulted in a call to headquarters for more. Delivering on that promise, the label is proud to present Onium’s debut full length, the Immix EP, with remixes by artists forging ahead in sound like Echo Conscious, Bleupulp, and Hemipetra.

The journey begins with a deep breath of relief stretched into a progressive build of elastic dub melodies. Lulling the listener in, “He Breathes" creeps along before busting out later in the tune with heavier techno attributes. "Opslo" follows in a similar unwinding fashion with two key dub themes that dance in-between each other as subtle percussion scurries intriguingly. Echo Conscious — real name Brad Dale — is first up on remix duties with his cowbell-laden groover. Brad elevates the mood to be more relevant on the dance floor, turning the subtle original into an attention grabber with bright bells and a smoothly shifting bass line. From there the release takes a dive into the subversive depths of cerebral techno with contributions from Hemipetra and Bleupulp. Rumbling echoes of dissonance converge as these two selections travel into strange soundscapes. This changes with "Piped,” a melodic tech-house experiment still heavily swamped with dub effects that does a great job of balancing dub techno purism with real world feet fodder. A worthy book-end, “Sharing Light" takes dub chord construction to new levels, paying special attention to revolving melodies. It’s a meditative windstorm ready to drift the listener into the outer reaches of the stratosphere. Thus the journey ends … for now.

Anthony Pappa (Red Light District / Bedrock) - “Cool EP … the best track for me is ‘Opslo.’”
Nick Warren - “Wow, this is fantastic! I love the originals and those are some great remixes.”
Terry Francis (Wiggle / Fabric) - “The Echo Conscious remix is the one for me.”
Orde Meikle (Slam / Soma) - “Cool tunes … I’m liking this.”
Tyler Stadius - “Lovely tracks here. It’s tough to pick a favorite. Perfect headphone and late night grooves.”
Stacey Pullen - “This is cool.”
John Templeton (Great American Techno Festival / Emote Music) - “Very solid release. The originals have a lovely lush dub sound that is very appealing.”
QuestionmarQ (Red FM / Vision Collective) - “Outstanding stuff … I’m loving all the tracks. The Echo Conscious remix put a big smile on my face.”
Satoshi Fumi (Klik Records / Plastic City) - “I love the Hemiptera remix of ‘Opslo’.”
The Zars (Till2012 Records / Progrezo Records) - “Really warm pads and strings.”
Al Bradley (3am Recordings) - “Great EP. The Echo Conscious remix is great from the remix selections, but the originals are the picks for me. ‘Sharing Light’ in particular is superb … really feeling the darkness there.”
Myxzlplix (Subdivisions Global) - “Dreamy and well constructed.”
Adam Collins (Euphoria Records / Omni A.M.) - “So musical and out there. Super good for the Burning Man crowd. Good stuff.”
Demarco Electronic Project (Soul Industries, Argentina) - “Excellent release! Nice sounds and ambiences and a great remix by Bleupulp.”
Danuta Kurkowski (Acid Ted) - “Gorgeous dub techno with impressive remixes! What’s not to like?”

Available now from Beatport.