spectral gates - 'contact bounce' (IDM/math-rock/experimental)

so... we've been sitting on this for a while now.

'spectral gates' are a sydney-based rave/doom/math two-piece. albums #1-#3 have had a bunch of local radio play and some spotify - album #4 comes out early 2022.

this one is a rolling linear live rhythm freakout over an 0coast and a pocket operator beat. steve (the drummer) told me there's a 13 in the time signature. i couldn't figure out where the 1 was though, so it doesn't matter. lots of home-made DSP (delays, mostly) in here as well.

we've been writing software for a much more elaborate video clip for a more conventional lead track from the forthcoming album, but we were burning out on that so we smashed this clip out in a few days.

hope you like it. if you're near sydney, we're playing 21 nov - ping for details.

cheers!

Pretty kool. I was kinda disappointed by the lack of progression, but since you said this was made in just a few days I figure it's not an issue. I quite likes the mix of digital and live drums.

Forgot to add, good luck with the album launch!

This is really neat! The guitar sounds are really beautiful, nice floaty mood. I like the combination of live and electronic drums too, although I feel like in terms of mixing they don't quite gel together as well as they could. Definitely gonna check out the rest of your stuff on Spotify.

ah sorry for the late replies! thanks for the comments.

yeah the launch went great. was good to shake some rust off.

  On 11/18/2021 at 1:23 AM, SeparateHold said:

Pretty kool. I was kinda disappointed by the lack of progression, but since you said this was made in just a few days I figure it's not an issue. I quite likes the mix of digital and live drums.

Forgot to add, good luck with the album launch!

this one felt right going out pretty raw and basic. a lot of our stuff is jammed out and primal/linear, but we have a new album complete and coming out soon with a bunch of longer journeys on it.

  On 11/18/2021 at 2:22 AM, springymajig said:

This is really neat! The guitar sounds are really beautiful, nice floaty mood. I like the combination of live and electronic drums too, although I feel like in terms of mixing they don't quite gel together as well as they could. Definitely gonna check out the rest of your stuff on Spotify.

yeah it was a really impossible mix, thanks for the feedback though.

cheers all!

Oh yeah I had a listen to Lunar on Spotify and it was quite lovely

Groovy as hell! I think acoustic elements make for a nice contrast to the rigidity of the electronic background.

Maybe it could be a fun experiment to run the drums through a lofi filter or tape emulation or something if you want it to sit more in line with the electronics - just an idea, although it sounds pretty good to me already.

  On 12/10/2021 at 4:26 PM, ArtificialDisco said:

Maybe it could be a fun experiment to run the drums through a lofi filter or tape emulation or something if you want it to sit more in line with the electronics - just an idea, although it sounds pretty good to me already.

cheers! yeah this one (and the album it's from) is already baked in, but we're heading into the studio for three days of drum tracking in a couple of weeks, will likely give something like that a go.

  On 12/9/2021 at 7:42 PM, springymajig said:

Oh yeah I had a listen to Lunar on Spotify and it was quite lovely

thanks!

cheers all for the supportive comments, it's appreciated.

the album this is from comes out on monday next week. we made another clip for the lead track, it's a bit of a weird one. maybe a bit like a shoegaze-y talking heads instrumental. we had to hand-code a sudoku solver, a bacteria colony simulator and a physics engine for the clip, among other things.

some of the other stuff on the album is a lot more electronic, i hope you forgive the band-iness of this one.

sparkler is very nice! it feels refreshing to hear electronic stuff mixed with live-sounding drums. i like how pronounced the snare is.

cheers! yeah, it was a bit less aggressive originally but our mastering guy pushed the kick and snare pretty hard and i think it came together pretty well. bit of a nightmare to play live but we're getting there

thanks again!

I've really been enjoying this. What platforms on are you on? Can't find you on Spotify, although I know that's no anyones requirement.

Just wanted to say I think the drums meld really well with this, and even so with the mix, which I know had to be sort of tough to figure out. 

cheers! we should be on all the services - we're on spotify here:

(it should be available worldwide but please let use know if it's not coming through)

also bandcamp: http://spectralgates.bandcamp.com

thanks so much!