Amongst all the cold-call music submissions we get, perhaps only 10% are within the realm of what we want OEM Radio to sound like. I have a particular fondness for straight-ahead downtempo music with lavish melodies built on top of driving rhythm sections. I call it the Kruder and/or Dorfmeister effect. This chap Bryan Carrigan sent in two albums chock full of downtempo that hit the mark.
Bryan Carrigan – Focus
The first of his two releases, Focus really puts Carrigan’s attention to melody on display. Several tracks have heavy driving rhythm tracks, especially Catalyst and Cricket Crossing. The best track is perhaps Tzatziki, a decidedly tabla and bass driven song with strings both plucked and bowed. Enjoy a very pretty song from this album:
Summit
Bryan Carrigan – Passing Lights
This is the stronger of the two albums, with the lush instrumentation firmly meshed with the rhythm sections. The bass lines really come through and drive the songs. We really dug this album. One song I want to point out specifically is The Drive Home, which really sounds like something from DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo’s Ki-oku album, with its moody muted trumpet flowing over lo-fi’d slow beats. You can listen to the whole record on SoundCloud.
Alternatively, there’s a few youtube entries from his upcoming album Windows, which we don’t have yet. (We all have iMacs, anyways).
Seventh Stone
Into Light