Anhnch - The Beaming EP
New EP from yours truly releasing today, and I’m gonna write about it!
Normally I pop on here 2x a month to do brief write ups about however many electronic music releases have caught my ear in the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been doing that for most of the year (after realizing that I should leave the political commentary to Heather Cox Richardson and Paul Krugman). It’s great fun even if I’m mostly writing into the void!
After a few quiet months for me on the music producing front, I have a new EP that will be live on Bandcamp, Mirlo and Subvert by the time you read this, with the various streamers to come in the not too distant future.
First things first here are the various links to it:
https://www.subvert.fm/anhnch/the-beaming-ep
https://mirlo.space/anhnch/release/the-beaming---ep
So, it’s one new song and three remixes, which is not atypical in the electronic music genre of course. The track is one that I’ve had sitting in my files for about a year, and for whatever reason it just never seemed to flow or fit with any of the other albums. I added it in various places in the respective running order of each of the ones I’ve done since I wrote it and just couldn’t find a place for it so always pulled it. And as an old timer, I still think in terms of albums as a journey that tells a story from Point A to Point B, not just a bunch of random tracks thrown together. So if it can’t be part of that story it shouldn’t be on the album!
Upon re-listening to all of my unreleased tracks recently as I think about putting my next album together, it just occurred to me that I should release this as a single with a few remixes and stop trying to make it fit. Cause I think it’s a pretty great track, if I do say so myself! So that’s what I did.
The first remix is done by me, and it’s an ambient version of the track. I changed a few elements, obviously removed the beat, and I also put a different bass track on it, as I felt the one on the original was just too enmeshed with the beat. No one else probably would’ve noticed if I left it but it bugged me when I tried it, so insert new bass line! And then I found this great sample! It’s from a whole folder I have of classic 20th century speeches. Babe Ruth, Queen Elizabeth, etc. This particular one is from the 1976 Democratic convention here in the US of A, as Jimmy Carter is accepting his party’s nomination. As we sit here in 2026 fifty years from that event, the difference between listening to Jimmy Carter and the “person” who inhabits that job today is so stark and dramatic it seems poignant to utilize the sample. Plus Jimmy’s line about “taking power from the government and giving it back to the people” seems like words we’d do well to heed this year! And not just in America!
Okay putting my soapbox away…
I had also reached out to two brilliant producers I’ve had the honor to get to “know” through my music project. CommsBreakdown has a tremendous back catalog full of excellent electronica oriented stuff, and his tracks run the gamut from dubby to ambient and all points in between. Dip into any of his albums and you will not be disappointed! He turned in an absolutely brilliant dub/downtempo mix of the track that absolutely blew me away, I never imagined the track that way but now it makes so much sense. And then the mighty Parallel Return, who has two exceptional albums of (and I hope he’ll consider this a compliment) Warp Records imperial age inspired electronic music. He brings it all home with what I called an “intelligent techno” take on the track. The beat he put behind it is simply untouchable, just try not to at least nod your head while listening! You can’t!
I strongly encourage anyone who reads this to visit each of their Bandcamp’s and spend some time listening to some truly exceptional music! And spend some of your hard earned cash on their offerings because both are deserving!
https://commsbreakdown.bandcamp.com/
https://parallelreturn.bandcamp.com/
These two producers have provided me with so much joy from their own music, and I’m honored and truly blessed that they decided to take on one of my tracks. It’s truly special and I can’t possibly thank them enough!
For the cover image I went to the always reliable Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) and found the image you’ll see above, from a photographer name Nath Jennings (Nathjennings.com). It’s perfect and I love it so much.
Brief digression - Unsplash and similar sites (royalty free art/photography) make it absolutely INEXCUSABLE for any artist to use an AI cover for their albums. Share art from real, working artists, even if you don’t have the money to pay. JUST SAY NO TO AI ART SLOP!
Enjoy the music and I hope it brings you some joy. We all need it!