SYNTHBOY retro-electro

ABOUT THE ALBUM

KUBIKMILK is an alias for Bucharest-based producer Adrian Budritan, who explores varied processes to create kinetic sequences, patterns with probabilistic accents. Matching analogue modular synthesis with experimentation in live settings of pedal effects. The album dives deeper into fractured rhythms and rich modulated sounds, exploring the space between introspective headphones listener and hypnotic beats, submerged atmospheres and pointillist percussive elements.

Influences: Retro Electro, Technopop, Robotpop, Electrobreaks, Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, Berlin School, Ambient Techno, Intelligent Techno, IDM, Trance, Chill Out, downtempo.

ALBUM INFLUENCES & INSPIRATION

ELECTRO-POP

Berlin wasn’t the only serious contributor to the development of electronic music. Germany itself is home to some of the most influential bands in the history of electronic music. One such band is Kraftwerk which was formed in 1970. Their music was revolutionary and was strictly electronic in terms of instrumentation, and vocals.

Kraftwerk’s electro soundscapes don’t just lend themselves to sampling. They also offered blueprints for the aesthetics of many of the new genres that have emerged in the last 30 years. The synth pop of the New Romantics in early 1980s Great Britain with bands like Depeche Mode, Ultravox, early Simple Minds or Human League modeled themselves in part after Kraftwerk. For Marc Almond of Soft Cell, the German musicians are the most important representatives of electro pop.

In 1974 the fourth studio album, Autobahn, by Kraftwerk not only achieved a high chart position – this monotonously repetitive electro-pop that sounded like a mix of German motorway, digital Modernism and cold machinery also inspired electro, techno and hip-hop pioneers all over the world. None other than David Bowie was one of the admirers of Kraftwerk and the Krautrock group NEU!

TRANCE

Another influential group is Tangerine Dream. Like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream developed in the 1970s in West Berlin. The music they played belongs to the genre of Berlin School of Electronic Music. Most people will not recognize the name of this genre, but chances are they’ve heard music belonging to it or music influenced by it. While Kraftwerk significantly influenced the development of techno, Tangerine Dream significantly influenced the development of trance. Their music is often described as space-like or dreamy. One of their most popular albums is Stratosfear (1976).