It’s always exciting to discover a Triplicate Records compilation and see just how many talented artists are involved. Music for Modification is the latest release from Trip FM, the ambient and downtempo series from Richmond, Illinois-based Triplicate. The fifteen tracks were curated and mastered by Michael Southard, with cover art by Bryan Kraft. Music for Modification features “the most exciting producers in underground electronica”, the kind of album that both rewards longtime fans and helps new listeners discover artists.
Blistering and Slick in Equal Measure
Jonny Fallout’s “Only the Beginning” is the fourth track on a lineup that covers everything from dreamy ambient to energetic digital noise and echoing chamber electronica. Triplicate Records described the track as having “blistering yet softly slick beats” with “splashes of colorful synths and a powerfully optimistic vibe.” Fallout has spent years perfecting this balance. His music is powerful but never harsh, energetic but still warm. On “Only the Beginning,” that contrast is front and center. The beats are sharp and urgent, but the synths above them have a bright, gentle feel that longtime Fallout fans will recognize from his five albums so far.
In Good Company
Trip FM’s compilations focus on ambient and electronica: think ambient, IDM, chillout, and downtempo. The tracks around Fallout on Music for Modification show just how wide the album’s range is. Right after his song, Survey Channel’s “Emergent Worlds” takes a different path. Triplicate called it a “slow ambient burn of celestial objects aligning before bursting into a decadent synth-core paradise beat,” with a slow build and big payoff. Suncastle’s “Like a Castle in a Cave” is “a simple focused mechanistic beat set against a tornado of melancholy piano loops and an angry synth bass,” making it sound like a dark, dreamlike machine. Next, Cathode Ray Tube’s “TERRESTRIAL” comes in, and the label (in all caps) said it hits with “manic drums and waves of glorious rumbling and blinding digital noise.” Time Rival finishes this section with “Fineliner,” which features “reverb heavy skittery percussion paired with impossibly pretty bells and brittle pianos”, what Triplicate called “peak Time Rival composition goodness.”