Metro Rider - Europe By Night

[joshuatxuk]

 

First release of this project and label by Henrik Stelzer, who normally records as Fluorescent Heights. I stumbled upon his work back in 2013, he's been a prolific artist in the underground cassette tape scene.

 

This is a bit more varied than his other alias as well as less ambient/drone oriented. Still all analog synth recorded to tape. Lot of lo fi house / tape hiss heavy techno vibes akin to Sand Circles, the Cyclist or anything off the Not Not Fun label 100%. There's also some beatless tracks of beautiful retro synth ambient, including some with the decay and distortion that harkens fellow Swede 1991's releases.

 

This immediately shot up as one of my favorite releases of 2017 when I heard it earlier this week. Completely missed it when it came out in May.

 

Bandcamp

 

Also streaming on Spotify, vinyl via Juno, Boomkat

[joshuatxuk]

bump

 

this is quite good guys, you should check it out

[Extralife]

Sounds good! Thx for the recommendation.

[fumi]

Downloading now. When you name drop Sand Circles and 1991, that's got me interested.

[joshuatxuk]

That's the closest set of artists I could think of. I just really like those guys and this release hits that same sweet spot. I hesitated to compare it to lo-fi house in general - this seems more tactfully done, and I also hesitated to mention Opal Tapes as a reference point because I feel that stuff is often a bit on the harsher side.

[fumi]

Mmm. It's okay. It does share some comparisons with Sand Circles and 1991 but after (admittedly) only a couple of listens, I think their work is a lot stronger and more memorable. This guy is still worth keep an eye on, I reckon.

[joshuatxuk]

I agree, not as good but this seems like a promising project. If you like tape-drenched drone his other alias is worth checking out. Def more abstract and less engaging though (it's drone ambient after all). I feel like he's expanding beyond his Fluorescent Heights work.

 

Nothing is topping 1991 for me pretty much ever, lol, and I agree that Sand Circles edges him out. I need to find more stuff in this vein, Metro Rider def hones in on that same hazy emotional aesthetic at times...like a memory that returned suddenly after years for a visceral moment but drifts off again as you try to think of more details.