released December 4, 2020

Will Alfred draws the curtains on the Da’aro Youth Compilation with ‘Staring Longingly at Blank Walls’, a track that provides a startling glimpse into the organic/synthetic hybridity of its creators sound. Brooding drums coax out long sweeping melodies tinged with hyperrealism from the electronics at Will’s disposal. As if summoned by the rapture preceding it a piano enters taking the track to tiers of fervency both celestial and shamanic.

‘Tarnished’ follows. A deep and slow burning cut, created by Dashiell & Pascal. In equal parts melancholic and dissociative the melody in ’Tarnished’ spirals and cycles as a baseline bubbles to the surface only to evaporate in an instant; introspective and intimate.

With ‘Strange Weather On J°38’ Vina Konda beacons us into the aquatic realm with siren-like calls, bubbling signals and increasingly flurried electronics until maximum depth has been reached. Drums are rolled in, swaying with the groove of UK Funky. Resulting is track of liquid energy and sound brought forward by a gritty, forward thinking take on UKF.

Snapping into action, Caldera produces a track that stomps along relentlessly, punctuated by low frequencies of bass and cleverly programmed drums. A vocal sample, chopped and mashed, cuts through ‘Lyrical O.D’ adding an extra toughness to the track as it plows forth.

Gavnlig lays down some shimmering and scattered technoid breaks in Left, a track that sits somewhere between the IDM-Techno-Bass trinity. Utilising glitches out sonic pulses, snappy beat changes and a luscious shaker, ‘Left’ generates a highly digitised sonic landscape that is rich in texture and musicality.

Turnend Tapes own Dockett Eddy’s solo contribution to the the Da’aro Youth Compilation comes in the form of ‘AriBn’. An ambient piece, deeply textured and oceanic in tone. Dockett Eddy catches a beat as the track wains introducing the rhythm that was there all along.

‘Abeyance’, a low slung and shuffling tune leaning towards dubstep that traverses neon-lit cityscapes in an array of colours that bleed into one another in soft-focus. Carter Wolfe & Korin Complex convincingly sets this scene and then some with music that is kinetic and vibrant, spaced-out but with a solid sense of drive and rhythm.

Seethe in company with Dockett Eddy present ’Turbulence’, the 8th track of the Compilation. One that begins with the lingering wails of Seethe, invoking hypnotic distorted dread. Drums steadily roll in accented by sludge-ridden baselines and nasty pad delays. Raw and gritty until the end, Turbulence does what it says on the tin.

Next Rawtrachs offers up a piece industrial broken techno titled ’Survival’. A perpetually tumbling melody falls in slow motion surrounded by the stunted crashing of metallurgic drums and an ancestral voice echoes with phantom serenity. Tones from below then intervine taking ‘Survival’ subterranean.

Albino Sound masterfully displays the power of percussion in Hand Brewed, a track animated by the steady implementation of numerous rhythms interweaving with one another. The communion of drums Albino Sound has unified are brought into fruition with deep twangs and exhaling synths. A lazy chant settles into the track adding to rhythm and resonating well along side the more organic drums within ‘Hand Brewed’.

Keppel introduces a new iteration of his sound at the close of the Da’aro Youth Compilation. ‘Indelible’ plays into the more cerebral aspects of dub techno, suspended in warm uncannyness. Attributing spoken word and vocal samples to his work, Keppel once again achieves sonic harmony between the human and the machine conveying single worded messages patterned into synthetic sound that are both affirming and reflective.

Mastered by Sid Quirk