Every year Harmonious Discord showcases new under the radar artists through a sampler called Discordian Dreaming. This is often a launching pad for the artists to showcase their sound while always leaving the listener with a desire for more. In the case of Vegenaut we couldn’t wait any longer to get a full release and start introducing the world to his trippy synthetic funk. Herding Rocks is a collection tinker-toy driven dance workouts with plenty of Vegenaut’s patented cascading droplets of melody and off center moments of glitch. Vegenaut first crossed our horizon while playing parties in rural texas, we heard him playing some really amazing dj gigs and came to find out it was mostly his own creations. Since then our inboxes have been full of one quality tune after another. It is our pleasure to give him the feature on our 21st release and look forward to a long string of projects and remixes from vegetable explorer. Herding Rocks is a collection of musical journeys that pay homage to early techno and house, most notably older Soul Oddity and 808 state. Gone are the days of music with synthesis and pitch with every step. Vegenaut keeps these themes alive in a 4 track EP of selections that cause mounting shivers to the skin.
Harmonious Discord 021 Vegenaut – Herding Rocks
1. Herding Rocks
[audio:http://www.hdrecordings.com/audio/Vegenaut – Herding Rocks_PREV.mp3]
2. Mothra’s Tutorial
[audio:http://www.hdrecordings.com/audio/Vegenaut – Mothra’s Tutorial_PREV.mp3]
3. Buller’s Drop
[audio:http://www.hdrecordings.com/audio/Vegenaut – Buller’s Drop_PREV 1.mp3]
4. Dub Crystal
[audio:http://www.hdrecordings.com/audio/Vegenaut – Dubcrystal_PREV.mp3]
Our title tune Herding Rocks launches with simple rhythms and unsettling ambient textures. As they cross and collide, bend and flex, they build into drunken hurricane of cacophony. Buller’s Drop follows in similar fashion with staple 909 drums and lots of percussive melody lines. The drop comes in when the bass creeps to the forefront, stretchy to grimy regions of the sonic spectrum. Mothra’s Tutorial is next and a favorite of the label’s staff. A touch slower and thick with the roll of a great minimal techno tune, this selection is full of dissonant merry-go-round arpeggios that play against a building bass groove. All of which builds into a massive drop where the bass chews off the leash and goes bizzerk. Mothra’s Tutorial will be hidden gem for the minimal dj that has a head for the weird. Our excursion finalizes with a slow jam called Dubcrystal that is littered with tons of other-world synthesis driven by classic electro beats and bass.
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Vegenaut-
Taking piano lessons at an early age inspired in Vegenaut a love for keyboards and synthesizers which still persists. Collecting various different synths through high school and college, he fostered his musical skill and creativity by jamming with friends or playing in bands. At the age of 19 he began DJing, inspired by electronic dance events he attended around and in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Less than a year ago he decided to take his love for synthesizers and electronic dance music both to the next logical step, and began to investigate production. His releases today are an early result of this ongoing experience, and they clearly reflect his love for quirky, hypnotic, and techy sounds suitable for dancing and headphone listening both.
Reviews:
Deepchild – “Stoned-out wonk-fest! Woot!” – Trapez / Anabatic / Resopal
Tuomas Salmela (Phonogenic) – “buller’s drop is nice reminder of how electronic music used to sound.” – Moodmusic / Turbo / 2020 Vision / Cocoon
Luke Solomon – “yes yes yes !” – Music For Freaks / Classic
Orde Meikle – “interesting – will try out” – Slam / Soma
Jay Tripwire – “as much as i hate Mothra i enjoy his tutorial,when i was 8 i had a godzilla birthday party,and mothra showed up smelling of cheap rum and passed out in my birthday cake before he was supposed to fight godzilla” – Seasons Recordings / Tonality Recordings
Funky Transport – “Mothra’s Tutorial the one for me.” – Club Snafu / Bedford Studio
Justin Harris – “herding rocks is wonky – like it!” – Music For Freaks / Classic / Paranoid
Luciano – “Downloaded! Thanx” – Cadenza
Pete Groove – “Full Support” – Thoughtless Music
Pete Ballotta (Sneak-E Pete) – “nice clean electro goodness here…really enjoy Dubcrystal and Mothra’s – will play” – Blunted Funk / Samurai.FM – SF
Ben Mono – “nice little groovers.” – Compost / Various
DJ Tronic – “Very trippy tech. Will be playing a couple of these tracks on my radio shows.” – Dancefloor Mayhem Blog / KBOO FM (Portland) / Techno.FM
Denis Alentieeff (Denis A) – “Nice release!” – Diamonds Of Dance Music Radio Show / MGPS 89.5 FM (Moscow) / DAR Label
Tim Thaler – “for radio play, thanks.” – Berlin FM
Nico De Ceglia – “Very nice EP” – Radio 1 (promos for Pete Tong) / Various Clubs
Brian Peek / Jeff Stallings – “strange, weird and spooky… I dig it!” – Below Zero Radio Show / Energy FM (San Francisco)