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Comfy Collaborations – Album Review

Comfy Collaborations is a collection of six co-productions by artists who connected through Radio Free Fedi:

Key 13 – The Space Between the Sea and the Sky (Default Transmitter Remix)

Starting with atmospheric ambient drones swirling around your head and steadily building, the track breaks out into some lovely crunchy rhythm, this version of Key 13’s track from Default Media Transmitter has a dystopian futurist feel about it (or does that just make it current idk?), Stuttering, echoing electronic drums joined by deep synth drones, but rather than stay in darker moods, the track sounds optimistic with some lovely twists and turns, becoming ever more dreamy and curious as the track progresses, culminating in a beautiful, soulful, bleepy breakdown. The drums return and all is well with the world. Perhaps there is hope for humanity after all…

Futzle ft. Aelyth from sideSisterLeave – The Light On

An old time swing rhythm is quite the style shift from the previous track but the sense of optimism prevails and the opening line “I have to stand up, I have to be strong everyday’ is a sentiment I can certainly relate to. Aelyth’s vocal shines through on this track with electric piano and groovy tremolo’d guitar sounds. It makes me think of something Tarantino would use alongside some ultra violence, not that this track sounds at all aggressive, the total opposite in fact but I hope that helps portray the atmosphere of the sound? Well at least it does to this listener and it’s lovely song. Hopeful, optimistic and self affirming. Very cool.

C.Circo and sknob – You’re Not Alone

There’s something reminiscent of The Black Dog here in the way electronic textures are used to create a sentimental feel. The vocal sounds like it could be lifted from something very old, but it’s processed in such a way to give a contemporary feel “You are far away but you are not alone” There’s so much going on here, pitched vocal samples meet acoustic guitar and lovely Mellotronesque synth pads, cool drum machine programming. A gorgeous, intriguing piece of music. The sort of piece you keep finding new elements to on repeated listening. Something I feel compelled to do. Lovely stuff.

Matt Young & Edvards – Shame

A big bold opening with an 80s feel, not so much in the big snare, big hair kind of way, this is more reminiscent of The Cure to these old ears (hold on, didn’t I just say not big hair?! Damn, that will serve me right for trying to be clever). Another swing rhythm but this time with big, bold plonky piano keys with an open, chunky feel. This song tells a story of childhood mischief and a poor little robin being shot. Some childhood regret evident for this misdemeanour, ‘the things we do when we’re young and dumb, the things we wish weren’t true’ is certainly very relatable. There’s a sort of Tom Waits quality to the production with some nice story telling to boot. Poor little robin!

Secret Deal – Think Twice

At first listen I thought Philip Oakley had appeared in my shed! Lush, warm synth chords and a strident vocal reminiscent of The Human League but as the song progresses, more modern sounds come into focus with swooping, rising synths and funky guitar with a nod to Daft Punk. I should add an apology here, as a music maker myself, I’ve been critical of music journalists comparing work to others but, as my first music review demonstrates, it is a handy short hand to describe the sound. So apologies if I piss off the musicians involved! This is a great, sunny, good-time feeling song: funky disco with pulsing synth lines. Very nice.

Default Media Transmitter/Xylander – That One Day

This sounds big from the get go, crunchy atmospheric synths joined by a low pitched computerised vocal, there’s a reel sense of doom here. Dark, industrial, electronica with a dystopian vibe. Like a modern day Pink Floyd a la Welcome To The Machine. It paints a picture of desolate, dusty landscapes, maybe the last thing heard before the planet is devoured by an ever expanding sun? I’m not sure but I am sure I like it. Very cool.

Released March 10th 2025, listen to Comfy Collaborations here.

(@defaultmediatransmitter, @keefmarshall, @elsemusic, @futzle, @jimbob, @sknob, @CCirco, @EDVARDS, @mattyoung, @xylander, @ethicalrevolution, @stefan, @axwax, @inpc, @radiofreefedi)

[Read in full on NHAM]

Meljoann X Kristoffer Lislegaard Live Glide Full of Surprise

Tonight was a good night.

We tuned in to the Gravitons stream expecting to see Meljoann promote and perform her brand new single, Data Ghost. What we got was that plus a whole lot more.

The hyperjack star began her interactive performance to multiple audiences (us Fedizens were tuned in to the Owncast stream) with the usual crazed interactions between Meljoann and her Meljis. (You know, Meljis: Like ’emojis’ but a collective term for fans of Meljoann.)

She did warn us that her therapist might be calling midway through and before long that fear came to fruition. It wasn’t any old therapist though. Oh, no, it was none other than Synergy Myers, blissfully unaware that she was dishing out her sage advice to Meljoann in the company of her disciples. Mind you it was just as well she was unable to see us because one heckler commented that Ms Myers, ‘really put the sinner in to Synergy’.

The call did Meljoann the world of good. We could see all of her worries evaporate as it went on. So much so that she was then able to gift us shackle-free performances of Translate Me, Bye, Data Ghost and more.

In an attempt to raise awareness for the Scout Hardcastle Memorial Fund, @meljoann then surprised us all with a previously-unseen video that had been made for the late Mr Hardcastle just prior to his passing. Apparently it hadn’t seen the light of day as, being the perfectionist he was, he was never quite happy with it, but we all lapped it up.

The double surprise of a Synergy Myers appearance and a Scout Hardcastle exclusive prompted @limebar to question whether this was the first time the two had ever been seen in public together -A conspiracy theory going around Big Social thinks they are one and the same- but another audience member soon quashed that by confirming they’d once seen them together in Lucy & Yak in Brighton.

Before we knew it our hour was up but no sooner than we could begin to clap for an encore in came the next surprise. Meljoann offered us the chance to ‘glide’ in to an impromptu live stream of ambient electronic musician Kristoffer Lislegaard (Sgrow, Øy).

At the click of the button Meljoann and the Meljis were in Oslo where @lislegaard was sampling the final track from Meljoann’s live set and mixing it with various samples (including voices of passers being picked up by a mic out of his studio window) to create some lovely mellow sounds for us all to chill out to.

Chatting with us as he live sampled sounds from the interior and exterior to synthesize live tracks, Kristoffer made this another really great experience. Despite being from all over the world it felt as though we were in the studio with him helping to hone the drone!

After 90 minutes in the chill zone with Kris there was still space for one last surprise before signing off for the evening. He let us in to a very exciting little secret to do with Autechre, which I can’t repeat here just yet. He will make a public announcement in the coming days/weeks so be sure to follow his feeds for that.

This was a fabulous Friday night in the Fediverse, gliding from hyperjack to ambient textures, with lush sounds abound all round.

Keep your eye on the NHAM Attend page which will display future Fedi Live Streams if they’ve been listed.