Crate Diggin': Avatism's 10 Influential Tracks

Spawning a plethora of captivating and distinctly awe-inspiring records since his very first shot at putting together an abundance of audio-fulled puzzles in the haze of his bedroom, Avatism, has garnered a wealth of critical attention through his musically enchanting works. His latest drop ‘Adamant’ (which we previewed on the blog here last week) is steadily gaining global recognition, firmly forming his position as a highly regarded artist of the moment. Ahead of his very special live show this Saturday, Avatism aka Thomas shares with us his influences playlist which features tracks from all across the electronic music spectrum from the industrial fuzz of Clarke to the melodic minimalism of Portable – that have gone some way to inform his musical journey to date. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - East Hastings Everything these guys do is beautiful, but this is one of the best things I have ever heard. All of the passages are out of the ordinary, listening to it feels like reading 10 chapters in an amazing novel: 18 minutes of everything from noise to melancholy to frenzied euphoria. There's more ideas in this one song than in most full-lengths. Four Tet - She Moves She A bit of an obvious one maybe, but Four Tet is probably (like for many people I know) my favorite producer. Everything Kieran does is backed by so much originality that things don't even need to sound right in most cases, they just casually fall into place. "She Moves She" is off the album "Rounds", which I can't recommend enough. Definitely a big reference for me. Murcof - Cielo When it comes to "emotive" techno nothing really beats Murcof. Music made of despair, listening to this almost hurts. Roman Flugel - The Improviser Roman always tweaks synths continuously (which is one his trademarks), but I love how he also keeps the parts which don't sound quite as right too, giving it a somewhat human touch despite the obvious "digitalness" of it all. This one especially just sounds like someone jamming in the studio. Trentemøller - Into the Trees (Serenetti Part 3) A classic. Never really gets old, I think it's the most-played "club" track on my iTunes/phone. AFX - Home Made Polysynth A hypnotic gem by electronic music pioneer RDJ. A lot of his works just seem otherworldly, but the whole "Analord" series is special because it's structurally simpler. Portable - Island of Thought Refreshing pop-house from Perlon mainstay Portable. There's a great raw feel in all of his productions which I always enjoyed. Clark - For Wolves Crew What I like the most about Clark's material (and this track in particular) is just how "heavy" every single element sounds. It's full of things going on but everything stays important. I wish my mixes sounded like that. Luke Abbott - Brasil (Gold Panda Remix) Weird arpeggios, broken synths and raw drums without losing any "listenability" or general appeal: "intelligent" dance music by two of my favorite techno(-ish?) producers. Atoms for Peace - Other Side (Stuck Together Remix) I read a negative review on one of the biggest electronic music websites of Atoms for Peace's album and I was a bit confused as it was one of the things that pushed me to finish my own (despite being very different.) This is not from "Amok" but its just as awe-inspiring and I think it brilliantly sums them up in in 8 minutes of pure expression. This is music from the future made by some of our generation's biggest heroes, not really sure what anyone can find wrong with it.