#defocus

[sleepynoonradio]

I like this new background picture I took yesterday. Night City looks best when intentionally defocused. Source: Sleepy Noon Radio

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Do You See 2000 IDM / Electro

Alright, back on some electronic shit for today. Here we have a 12-inch sampler from a little, short-lived label out of the UK called deFocus, which was run by Clair Poulton, a woman who first cut her teeth at Aphex Twin's own Rephlex label before launching a label of her own called Clear; and then after Clear closed up shop, she started up this one.

Do You See represents the first of two 12-inch releases that showcased the type of music that deFocus' roster was cooking up at the time at the turn of the millennium, which happened to be mostly different shades of IDM. Some of it was fused with an old school electro vibe too though, like "Touched," which was by a group called Aphelion, and "Mystery One," which was by Mystery, whose own identity (or identities) appears to've indeed been a mystery! Both of these tracks come with pretty standard electro backbeats, but their respective vibes seem to be diametrically opposed to one another—"Touched" has a chemically icy whimsiness to it and "Mystery One" seems to be more interested in plumbing the depths of hell 👹. (And for more Aphelion, you can also check them out as Replicant on the breathtakingly chill, 10-plus-minute beaut' from 1996 that is "Analiz.")

But while those are certainly both two pretty sweet tunes, I don't think that they really hold a candle to another type of IDM that's on here: the more emotive kind that likes to surround all those pecky and glinty, rhythmic IDM bits with captivatingly fluffy clouds of melody and lush synth pads. Plus One's "Mayday," which was written by Plus One himself, but actually produced by the one and only legendary IDM duo of Plaid, is one such example, as it first supplies old and dramatic, cinematic string work, but progressively floods the remainder of its track with a beautiful blend of electronic, intertwining synths that sound significantly much more sci-fi-modern. You think that this song's hitting its creative peak at about a third of the way through when it adds its first new synth to pair with all these strings, but it actually has multiple more levels to ascend through, which is definitely gratifying, but doesn't even seem all that necessary, given that it's already achieved its status as a chief highlight of this record once that first new synth is poured in in the earlier going! 😌

And then for a song that appears to mix some of the electro vibe with that lush and lovely synth work, we have the pretty sublime "Commuter Love" by CiM to close us out. It's not nearly long enough, but in a similar way to Mystery's "Mystery One," it too has a bit of a sinister underlying synth to it, but in this song's case, the light of the trancey twinkling stabs that arrive soon afterwards seem to do a lot to neutralize much of that darkness.

So every track's a highlight on this one as deFocus puts forth an IDM statement here that looks back on the past with a deliberate eye on elements of electro, but seems to have its other eye trained on the future too. And when you have a pair of eyes that appear to be looking in completely opposite directions from one another, then I guess what you can say is that their combined eyesight is definitely, well...deFocused (<_>).

Check out my post from earlier this year on Two You See too, which also has an alternative hip hop track by Jon Tejada on it that features abstract rap veteran Divine Styler.

Highlights:

Lackluster - "Starcell UK" Aphelion - "Touched" Plus One - "Mayday" Mystery - "Mystery One" CiM - "Commuter Love"

[impoliticwestie]

Kambos, Chios, Greece, 2025.

[valefarnotoria]

[koenichthomas]

[safepose]

Uçak yolculuklarını planlarken gün doğumu veya gün batımına denk getirmeye çalışırım hep🌅 yaptığım check-in'den asla pencere kenarı çıkmaz 🙃 bu fotoğrafın konumunu veriyorum 📍1-A pencere kenarı ve ateş 🔥 gibi bir #günbatımı #sunset #airplanewindow #hurtlamb #etczine #imaginarymagnitude #pellicolamag #noicemag #thinkverylittle #takemagazine #defocus #shotoniphone (İstanbul Havalimanı) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0g0-iFAEZq/?igshid=pdd874ws5szn

[matthewschiavello]

Defocused #95  190418 .

[afotoeu]

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