Two razor-cut slices of electro from Venture Silk (Ruslan Shyshniak), a Ukrainian ex-pat based in the Netherlands. I will absolutely never tire of well-executed Detroit-style electro. When done well–as is the case here–it’s the ideal vehicle for Roland/vintage synth fetishism. Some may idolize the 909s of 4×4 techno and 303s of acid house (I love those too), but nothing quite does it for me like 808s and 606s doing the syncopated robot step. Shyshniak hits that mark very well here, keeping the essential historical structural elements intact, but still allowing the tracks the benefit of modern production techniques and aesthetic variation. Both of these are available for streaming or on bandcamp — or you can grab them below. The first is from the artist’s recent Venturing Into the Unknown EP, the second is an older one-off release from 2023.

Venture Silk – “Control Your Mind” (mp3)
Venture Silk – “Sabotage” (mp3)

Next up this evening are two more lovely tunes from Akage Design Co (Phillip Conley), whom I wrote about last month. Conley is from Pittsburgh, but I keep wanting say he’s from Portland of the early aughts. His style feels like it would have fit perfectly into the scene they had there then, in which artists like Copy and brothers E*Rock and E*Vax (of Audiodregs Recordings) were cultivating seemingly naive and plastic whimsical sounds into blooms of tenderness and depth. Conley is definitely carrying that torch. These two are from Akage Design Co’s recent album, Lightt, which you can grab on bandcamp or find for streaming.

Akage Design Co – “Gatekeeper” (mp3)
Akage Design Co – “Ginger Paw” (mp3)

Finally tonight are four submissions from Jake Back, a Los Angeles-based artist–from his recent EP, i looked back and saw nothing. I’m not sure how best to categorize these. Based on the EP’s and songs’ titles, Back is clearly into conceptual work, and all four of these songs speak to that inclination. They’re all subtly unconventional, but still totally accessible. There’s a clear undercurrent of emotionality here, especially in the album’s closer, “i woke up today” which is my favorite of the bunch. But there’s humor and charm here too; the record also sees Back injecting fragments of sunny-day funk and stoned warm-evening riffing. It all makes for something personal and connected–I don’t really know anything else concrete about Back, but I feel like this record helps you get to know him nonetheless. You can grab the record on bandcamp or find it for streaming all over.

Jake Back – “i woke up today” (bc)
Jake Back – “i looked at it but then it started yelling at me” (bc)
Jake Back – “i just came across this” (bc)
Jake Back – “i lost it all but i found myself” (bc)