Presenting 7 tracks of twilight drone, this is XZICD‘s EP Monolith.

To the kind soul who highlighted this mix on their social feed I thank you. I’ll put my hands up and say I can’t remember who, but thank you nonetheless. This EP has been sitting in my web browser for the past week and I’ve indulged into the EP numerous times since whenever I first clicked on it.

XZICD might already be a name familiar to some of you, he was to me, with his work on German netlabel Crazy Language.

The work of one Portuguese Francisco Godinho, XZICD is, at least as far as my understanding goes, known more for his intricate IDM work than of the beatless drone. Though, thinking about the tracks I’ve heard previously of his, the synth work has always been a strong feature.

Monolith is a rich, melancholic and calming listen; a listen that for me, rewarded for repeated listens long into the night and way past your bed time.

To describe individual tracks on a beatless drone ambience collection such as this is pretty redundant. Monolith is semi lucid, hinting at narrative. The pieces flow, drift, and ebb into one another, it makes for a very personal listen. However the almost juxtaposed strings on the collaborative piece 417 Bridges with Maesia does stand out.

XZICD writes of his EP:

A selection of ambient songs, recorded at airports, forests and beaches.
Field recordings recorded during trips throughout Europe and Portugal’s rural landscapes. All these audio memories were then mixed at my studio through old tape recorders (now destroyed and gone), passing through both analog and digital compressors, finalizing the process with some mastering…

XZICD – Monolith
Listen

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XZICD – Phoebe
XZICD – Under The Moon We Pledge
XZICD – Ocean Lore
XZICD – 417 Bridges (With Maesia)
XZICD – Valentine
XZICD – Melyridae
XZICD – Wolfie