SATELLITE SELECTS - June 2020: New Music From False Noise, Bop, Samurai Breaks, and More

In an effort to introduce you to new sounds, SATELLITE ERA will be selecting tracks released each month to share. Each Spotify playlist, ordered by premiere date, will focus on showcasing at least one song from current forward-thinking electronic releases.

Welcome to another addition of SATELLITE SELECTS. This month further progresses the extraordinary year that electronic music is having with a number of highly anticipated albums finally seeing daylight.

Already featured this month in their own articles are the following releases:

Photay Delivers Soundtrack to Summer With Sophomore Album "Waking Hours"

Bass Connoisseur ALEPH Announces New EP With Single "Breaking And Entering"

Patricia Returns to Ghostly With Long-Awaited Fourth Album "Maxyboy"

Highlighted below are some more of our favorite releases from June, followed by our Spotify playlist and a track list to archive since the playlist is updated each month.

False Noise - Floral Strobe (Upscale)

Album released on June 3rd, 2020 - support on Bandcamp here

The first release on our radar this month came from Canadian producer False Noise with his long-awaited debut album Floral Strobe. The new record finally sees the light of day on Colorado-based label Upscale Recordings, known to harbor some of modern bass music's most forward-thinking artists.

A glimpse of the album's direction can be simply derived from its cover. Floral Strobe is an ode to the lush soundtracks of indie video games, those influenced by distinct Japanese culture and drenched in pixelated art. Though some elements vary, like "Collapse Theme" with its processed vocals over an upbeat rhythm or "Dreamer" with a more ambient approach, all 53 minutes of this album still feel tightly weaved together by a main story. Unique textures in each track makes it worth replaying the album many times through to hear something that might've been missed beforehand.

Bop - Études 2008​-​2013 (Microfunk Music)

Album released on June 5th, 2020 - support on Bandcamp here

Russian producer and label head Bop has delivered an album full of loose tracks that may not have made it onto official releases, but stand together as a solid body of work.

The Microfunk boss showcases early renditions of his label's glorified sound: glitched out, bite-sized drum 'n' bass that tickles your brain. These songs span from 2008-2013, with some created before his debut album Clear Your Mind in 2009. Tracks like "Searching The Truth" and "Dub Forest" aged well and could easily lead concepts for an entirely new record nearly a decade ago. "Punk's Not Dead" was written a year before the release of his album with that very same title; could this be an early idea that streamlined into the full version?

Études 2008​-​2013 simply gives us more of what we love. Bop and his crew, all the way in St. Petersburg, has shaped drum 'n' bass into an inimitable style, spawning a peculiar subgenre of its own over the years.

Samurai Breaks - Acid Puma Racing Stripes (Off Me Nut Records)

Album released on June 20th, 2020 - support on Bandcamp here

Fueled by a theme of late-night, uptempo music ready to rattle clubbers to their core, UK artist Samurai Breaks delivers an album full of dance floor weapons with Acid Puma Racing Stripes.

Already being rooted in all things jungle and footwork related, this record expands the producer's capabilities and creates a wonderful palette for UK club enthusiasts. Everything from the infamous bassline subgenre to a blend of jungle and techno is jam packed into this nine-track album. Tracks like "Non Stop Body Shop" along with notable collaborations are the icing on the cake for this energetic pastry. UK-based label Off Me Nut struck gold with this release, especially with the incredibly unique cover art.

I'd also like to say: being from the juke/footwork capital of the world (Chicago) and growing up around the movement, it makes me quite happy seeing the genre thrive in new ways and blend with some of the UK's core genres like jungle and rave.

---

This June continued a three-month span of consistent release output, making for an incredible year of electronic music thus far. Though the quantity of new music may have been lower than April or May, this past month cemented the first half of 2020 to have some of the most unique releases heard in years, featuring ample newcomers worth keeping an eye on.

Other notable releases in June 2020: the first solo Pinch album in 13 years, a stacked compilation via 1985 showcasing the latest from both dubstep and drum 'n' bass, a promising debut album from Ackson on Culprate's Open Outlets label, and much more.

We hope you enjoy our selection of new music to discover; a typed list is provided below for archiving purposes as the Spotify playlist is updated each month to showcase all our favorite new releases.

---

SATELLITE SELECTS - JUNE 2020: TRACK LIST (ARTIST - TRACK NAME)

1. False Noise - Jewel Crust

2. False Noise - Bioluminess

3. Lordel (Halogenix) - Relic

4. Rumpistol - (There is No) There There

5. Badun - Aitea

6. Roly Porter - Burial

7. KiloWatts - Emotion

8. Photay - Warmth in the Coldest Acre

9. Photay - Fanfare for 7.83 Hz

10. Nahash & Osheyack - The Home

11. Abjective - Sages

12. Abjective - PixelPlanes

13. RefraQ - Voices of Aorr

14. ASC & Sam KDC - Interoception

15. Shutta - Pesochni Chelovek

16. Poztman - GB-3123-GGh09

17. Samurai Breaks - Xclusiv

18. Ackson - Blue Flux

19. Weith - Alternaty

20. Patricia - Myokymia

21. Patricia - Downlink

22. Gábor Lázár - Excite

23. ALEPH - Impulse

24. Pinch - Non-Terrestrial Forms

25. Bop - Dub Forest