Soundcloud picks #02: April 2016

in

I've been excited by a lot that I've heard on SoundCloud this month, so narrowing it down to a few to post here has been a challenge, but hopefully you'll agree that the number I've selected here are truly exceptional tracks. So, without any further ado...

Dos Brains // Extinction Preview

I'd been following Colin Fisher (a gifted musician in his own right) on SoundCloud for a while when I saw a couple of his other projects - Soundprank, an electronic progressive trance project, and Dos Brains - a Canadian production music house with a focus on trailer music and sounds that are more on the epic end of the scale.

All of Dos Brains' work is consistently excellent, and the preview track for their upcoming release, an album by Phil Rey, is no exception. Their work is inventive, distinctive, and meticulously well-produced, and it sounds like Extinction will have these qualities in spades.

Dos Brains are on Facebook and YouTube, and you can follow Phillippe Rey on Facebook.

James Everingham // The Rest Of Us

James got a mention in last month's edition too; and each are fully deserved. I'm hesitant to repeatedly feature the same names in this list in order to give as many people as possible the chance to get in the mix, but The Rest Of Us is a truly exceptional piece of work. James' writing often displays rich emotive strings and pulsating synth lines, but not since Leviathan (a track written very much in the same vein) have we heard such euphoric writing from this talented young man. Featuring the exceptionally talented Chris Coleman on 'cello and an inventive 7/8 outro, this track is not one to be missed.

James is on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and you can visit his official website here.

Mark Laukkanen // Dwell

Mark is a gifted young Finnish composer with an output that shows consistent steady growth and development. I've been following his work for a while now and it's fair to say that there's an audible evolution with each track, as he matures and gathers experience. Dwell is one of my favourites of his recent releases, with a striking melody that moves in unison with a strong harmonic progression. 

Mark is on Twitter and Facebook, and you can check out his official website here.

I hope, like me, you've enjoyed these audio highlights from April, and as always, I'll leave you with a little something from me; this month, it's velocity.

- JJO

2015 retrospective

It's been a funny year, 2015. One with some incredible highlights, but also some of the saddest times I've experienced.  I'm just gonna talk about musical things here, but it's amazing how our personal journey can (and should) profoundly impact our work and output.

In June, I released my first soundtrack EP, And then, the mountains moved. This represented a big leap for me and an encouraging change of direction. Previously I'd been taking on a wide variety of music jobs without a huge amount of focus or agenda. At the start of 2015, I decided to intentionally focus on writing music for film, and knew that I needed to vastly improve my production technique and knowledge if I was to do so. ATTMM was the genesis of that process. I needed a project that would allow me to express the musical language I felt came most naturally to me, whilst also giving me a platform to develop my skills in music - specifically soundtrack - production. So from March to May I worked hard on investing any free time I had into writing and practising, until I had six tracks, but more importantly, the foundations of a new knowledge that I have continued to build.

Since June and the release of ATTMM, I've produced other singles which (I hope) demonstrate my continued growth as a composer and producer. I feel more efficient and more secure in my process, and every track I write feels more stable and more exciting in its context in my creative journey. Releasing roughly a new track every month, culminating the year with my Christmas release, Come and Behold (below).

As I look forward to 2016, I can hardly begin to imagine what's in store. At the start of this year, I would never have imagined half the things that ended up happening. Hopefully next year will be as exciting and rewarding as this, and I hope the same for any of you reading this too.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement, you have no idea how much it all means.

 

- JJO