Still in the fall air is the burning range of colors and temperatures. Offering up a warm reception to the pending winter come Canadian artists Cosmic JD and Daniel [Dick] Diamonds. Joining us from the frosted north comes Deep North boss-man and 530 Techno/Bad Animal artist Dick Diamonds who sometimes moonlights under his various projects as Hermans and Jerry Riggs. Daniel teams up with Cosmic JD from the stunningly otherwordly group Elextra. We have been big fans of both Elextra’s and Daniel output and please to welcome them to the label. The focus on instrumentation and experimentation executed with supreme dancability offered in Tropicaux has an energy all its own.
Harmonious Discord 036 Cosmic JD and Dick Diamonds – Tropicaux
1. Tropicaux Feat. Botsi
2. Bronco Perdido
The first collaboration with singer Botsi offers a disco tinged dance workout. Pervasive percussion dances around floating pad swells as vocal hums lift the levels around a quickly building synthesizer story. Occasional breaks into broken beat inspired verses keep the neurons firing; a cerebral journey into synthesizer music. Bronco Perdido flowers from a different depth as subdued pads and tones bellow through echo chambers. Bass litters a dubby percussive cadence driven conversation between electronic pepperings and low passed atmospheres. Driven even further under the depths with legacy drum machine sequences we tune into a dialog of a lost soul.
In this series of posts we will expose you to the people that make the Harmonious Discord label visually and sonically compelling. These are the people that work behind the scene to make sure each release has its own mood, artwork, and mastering that compliments the releases.
Jamie Northrup is a long time contributor to the HD catalog artwork collection. She has taken the responsibility to craft a unique piece of simple yet impact-full artwork for each release. This has culminated in a portfolio of amazing graphics that tell a story and visually represent the progression of the label. Jamie’s artwork embodies the simplistic beauty of the artist’s contributions and often pop with intense contrasts of color and dimension.
Check out some the breath-taking images in her collection:
Arguably ten years in the making, we are extremely proud to showcase Herbert Berkley aka Smight’s return to the electronic music landscape with a collection of songs that defy genre boundaries while refreshing the notion of a really amazing progressively structured album. Herb was a founding member of the label and we have worked for years to find the best fit for his unique sound. We could not have dreamed of a better collection of music than is showcased in his album “Two Equals One”.
Harmonious Discord 035 Smight – Two Equals One
1. Mr. Folderol
2. Above the Clouds
3. Caldo De Amor
4. Mammon
5. My Specialty
6. Two Equals One
7. Two Equals One (Twinshape Remix)
8. Nervous
9. Sunshine
10. Final Movement
Smight first appeared on record shelves in early 2002 with a heavy string of focal projects released on some of the most revered progressive house music labels. His music was featured on Fade Records, Confi-dance, Acute, Kaya, Nascent, Pacific Front, Music is Freedom, and Pangea. The heat of his sound increased with charismatic flare and prompted the creation of his label “Cure” recordings. After an extended hiatus Herb has exploded once again onto the scene with a never-ending stream of amazing musical pieces. We featured two previews of what you can expect from the album on our recent Discordian Dreaming samplers and every time received joyous acclaim for the Smight additions. So in keeping with that momentum we give you an amazing ride of selections covering tech house, down-tempo, progressive, and trance all with the overarching theme woven with melodies and deep/thought provoking synthesis. We had Dallas, TX native and man of mystery Twinshape supply remix duties for the title track where he added his signature big reverb dream-state sound to the already hypnotic original. Expect for this just to be the tip of the iceberg as we look to a future peppered with Smight contributions.
As some of you have heard, HD recording artist and longtime supporter John Walker has been involved in a very serious car accident. It is times like these that provide a sobering reminder of the impact of independent artists to our scene and the impact they make in our lives and in this case in our sound. John has a multi-year tenure of productions for the Harmonious Discord imprint and has been an integral part of the success of the label.
On March 26th, John Walker was returning from a studio session and was involved in a car collision that left him with multiple fractures. When authorities arrived John was unconscious and has been in a coma since.
We are asking all that are able to help in contributing to support for his family and medical bills. Many times being a musical artist is a thankless tasks with little benefits and security. We often trade these luxuries for the ability to contribute to the creative landscape. That’s why it is important that we pull together in this time and further enable these artists to cope with the many curve-balls that life can present.
We have set up a donation collection that will contribute directly to the Walker family.
