Picks Of The Week (24.09.22

1. Moekel - Loner LP [ENFORCE RECORDINGS]

Recommended if you like: Camo & Krooked, Misanthrop, Fred V

It's Schnitzel time!

You might remember Moekel from some of my earlier reviews like my spotlight of the enigmatically-titled Eggong / Goomnepla or his winning remix of Teddy Killerz' remix competition for Shine. Or, if you're German and follow my every step, you might remember me talking about him another few times. You little stalker you. Point is, I adore his style. Sometimes it's going in the heartfelt string-heavy liquid direction, sometimes he builds up incredibly vibey atmospheres with his trusty analogue Moog (anamoogue) synths, sometimes he even does both in the same track! I'm not the only one who quickly fell in love with this though. His unique approach to DnB has paved the way for the Graz-based producer to go from being a regular on Baked Beats Records to regularly starring on RAM-offshoot ProgRAM to providing the soundtrack to Ben Attic's and Michael Shynes' latest hit on multi-genre label ENFORCE. So when I heard he was about to put out his debut album spanning nine new Moekel masterpieces on ENFORCE, I was of course ecstatic! And after listening to it, my ecstasy has reached even higher heights! So let's talk about why I love this so much, let's talk about Loner.

This nine-piece box of wonderfulness starts with Pieces. Right away, a emotionally-charged combination of melancholic piano chords and heavily processed yet soulful vocals start tugging on your heart strings and before you know it, you are launched into the drop. Smoothly rolling drums fire up their engines beneath you, while the basses create an incredibly warm backdrop, solidifying this as a certified liquid anthem. We smoothly slide over to our next stop, Don't Leave Me Alone. With an even bigger focus on the gloomier-than-ever piano melody, an even eerier vocal evoking some incredibly sad imagery and an aetherial atmosphere doing the rest, we are in for a real heartbreaker here. Especially the extra little melody that comes in at the end of each chorus is just glorious in its sadness.

Speaking of sadness, next up we've got Sad Eyes! After a gorgeous intro, consisting of a stunning vocal and a frankly strikingly beautiful arrangement of strings, Moekel's signature analogue synths start bouncing in. Once we arrive at the drop, these very same synths are arranged in a seriously syncopated staccato rhythm to build up the anticipation even more, before the rest of the instrumental comes back in for a more straight-forward rolling experience. Then, a tsunami of distorted bass crashes right into you, throwing you off your path once again, resulting in one hell of a satisfying call-and-response. Even Half-time lovers get their fix on this one, you just gotta stick around for the second drop! Definitely one of my favourites of the album.

After this introduction into the world of wonderful Moekel synths, we jump over to the deep and darker sides of this particular spectrum, with Diamond & Pearls. Slowly and multi-layered, the track's main vocal and the accompanying piano lead us to a bubbly-wobbly expedition into some of the deepest depths Moekel has to offer on this long player. What starts out as a simple combination of a captivating drum loop and synth wobbles, builds itself up more and more and more as times goes on, resulting in a climax you don't want to miss. Forever High applies this same concept to its whole buildup. Over roughly one and a half minutes, Moekel takes us on a cinematic journey through fantastic strings, basses massaging your ears and otherworldly vocal chops, before dropping us right into this minimalistic yet super groovy rhythm. Just the infectious rhythm of the metallic snare would already be enough to satisfy me, but then, halfway through the drop, we are hit with this monumental switchup, in which the signature Moekel synths come in and start bra-bra-brapping their own catchy rhythm on top. I honestly can't get enough of that part, every single time it comes on I just have to brap right along with it. Another favourite for sure!

While we are going deeper and deeper into the album, Moekel takes us into deeper and deeper atmospheres, as evidenced by the techy roller Diamonds On Ice. We start with a heavily processed, now incredibly moody sounding sample by the vocalist from Vibe Chemistry's Balling, setting the mood on the vocal front right away. Together with a perfectly eerie atmospheric melody and mini bass earthquakes shaking you to the core, Moekel smoothly shifts over to the drop, where said tremors start even more prominently wobbling to the surface, while a head-nod-inducing loop of great techy drums keep things rolling all throughout. Now we take a step outside our comfort zone for a little, let's take a trip through the Arabian desert! Why do such a specific thing, you ask? Because I've got the perfect soundtrack for it: Aladdin! Various different Arabic instruments that I'm neither knowledgable nor brave enough to try and identify are masterfully layered over eachother, while bouncing on a minimalistic vibe of a beat, creating the perfect night in the desert atmosphere. If you listen for long enough, however, the sun quickly returns and starts scorching down on you, in the form of one dry and distorted drill of a bass stab after the other, leaving you all sweaty. This heat drains us so much, in fact, that we have to take a brief break by slowing down to Half-time in the second half, before we can continue.

Behold, the return of the vocal sample™️ is nigh! For the penultimate tune of this album, Consensus (Break The Spell), Moekel dug deep once again to find another incredible vocal, which he then improved even further with his hand for grandiose orchestration. Once we reach the peak of this monumental buildup, however, all hell breaks loose. Emphasis on breaks. That's right, Moekel shows us that he still got some tricks up his sleeve with some of the most unique and break-heavy drumwork on the whole album, giving this track a vibe unlike anything else he has done so far. Lastly, we end things on an absolute highlight, with Axolotl! For this grand finale, Moekel took the bouncy synth vibe that has been present in a lot of his tunes and constructed one of the most compellingly progressing tunes of the year out of it. Sure, it might start simple enough, but each subsequent drop kicks it up another ten notches or so, resulting in one of the craziest finales for a track I've heard in quite some time! There's a good chance Axolotl was inspired by U (not u, the person, but U, the track! obviously) considering the similarities in vibe and structure, but I honestly think that our Austrian talent here managed to put his own stamp on it. Another one of my favourites for sure.

Whew, we did it! Obviously I absolutely love this whole album. I probably could have told you that even before taking my first listen though, since I just trust Moekel to deliver only greatness at this point. Even then, I was positively surprised by how many different styles he could pull off so damn well, while still keeping his signature sound intact. The whole LP is just bursting with creativity, entirely too catchy vocals and unique yet incredibly melodic sounddesign. If you enjoy liquid and/or techy DnB, you will most definitely find some joy in this album too.

Similar things from this week:

Camo & Krooked, Mira Lu Kovacs - No Way Out (of course)
The Caracal Project - The lights on your face.
Matens - Tagfalter 💎
Empaths, Low:r - Mad World
Fred V, Audioscribe - Lose Yourself Again