May is upon us and we spring into action with our next release and once again we introduce a new artist to V&P roster. Audioglider has been making music waves for a while now with his progressive House and electronica production and that is not to try and pigeon hole this creative artist, because genre's are something he has never paid to much attention. With his shapeshifting approach to producing his music and his very distinct talent, that was all part of the appeal and the reasons for asking him to release with us.
This DJ/Producer has one foot in the past and one firmly planted in the present, and this gives him his unique approach and vision in the electronic ether. Growing up in a bleak post-industrial city drove Roberto’s need to escape through all manner of musical discovery: experience borne out in his esoteric musical influences of 80s and 90s shoe gaze, from bands such as Ride, MBV and the Cocteau Twins through to synth pioneers including the aforementioned Kraftwerk and a pre-Dare Human League. Choosing to compose and produce as well as become a DJ, Roberto released tracks under a range of pseudonyms before finally settling on his current nom-de-plume ‘Audioglider’. His big break came with the licensing of two tracks under the new project name – Whiskers and Zusammenallein – for Nick Warren’s Global Underground CD, GU30 Paris.
Fast forward to 2022, Roberto has since released on a whole host of labels whose A&R policies are eclectic and wide ranging, to suit his huge range of genre bending and blending of pieces with a retro future sound and detailed percussion. While Covid lockdown has seen DJs and Producers competing for stream time over the last 2 years, Roberto threw himself into production, pushing his musical boundaries ever further, emerging blinking into the light with two albums in 2021 - The Comet Will Save Us, on VSLI and Kill Yer Idles on TILT’s Guerilla Movement label. Blending indie dance, breaks, progressive house, ambient, synthwave and more, they’re both ambitious and impressive bodies of work.
His most recent material has seen Audioglider collaborating with enigmatic vocalist Melatron, on the From A Ripple To A Wave EP, on Manual Music incorporating indie dance, shoegaze, broken beat, progressive and downtempo with strong vocal compositions throughout. Think Gorillaz and William Orbit jamming round at Four Tet’s studio and you might be close. Critically acclaimed remixes, EPs, appearances on VA compilations - over 40 releases in 2022 alone) and various guest mixes across the musical spectrum have firmed up Audioglider’s place within the UK’s electronic music scene. Even now Roberto’s ambitions are as strong as ever. With a flurry of releases and remixes in 2021 and into 2022 on labels such as Manual, Melodic Beats, ARRVL, Guerilla Movement, Emotional Content, Resonate Together, Droid9 we now have the pleasure of his company for his first release with our tribe of musical creatives.
He brings to the table the offering of a 2 track EP introducing his unique style both tracks are placed in Electronica but are far from sticking to that musical music style, we did tell you. The strongly break influenced "Loka en Enginn Sigur" is a mix of reverb claps and 90's dubby stabs wrapped up in big basslines. Our curiosity was sparked by the title so we asked ? "OK. So I knew that Sigur Ros in English means Victory Rose. And I love them as a band. I wanted to have an Icelandic title, and then put the phrase 'Close But No Cigar' into Google Translate and then substituted the word for 'Cigar' with Sigur. You now have an idea of how my mind works. I shouldn't be let out in public.
Art of Letting Go is still fixed in the same era but this time its the bassline that sends us back in time, with big Balearic chords. The swirling arpeggiated synth gives it that distinct sound with the main lead reminiscent of hedonistic beach parties of old. There is an underlining theme to this track and its one of happy times spent dancing in the heat of the night, which over the past two years is something we have learnt not to take for granted and now we are very pleased that there is a soundtrack for us create new memories for the future, if anything this a musical uplift of the spirit and very fitting for out ethos here at Voodoo & Prayers.
We really very excited to have Audioglider with us on the imprint and to be part of our journey to bring a collective off artists and there interesting, distinctive music to the globe.
