Label Interview: Smirk Sounds

Smirk Sound is a label that caters to “the smuggest experimental and vapour releases from around the world”. Its artist roster is quite varied and unique, featuring works from R0x4ry (of Asura Revolver), Methyr (of Question Records), Lukepi, and s a k i 夢 that touch genres such as lo-fi hip-hop, neoclassical music, and vaporwave. In the second week of […]

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L/S Disorder – Sub World Unknown

Recommendation: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sub World Unknown by L/S Disorder is a hodge-podge of heavy metal, dubstep, hip-hop, and drone as interpreted by plunderphonics. Along with Geoflesh’s self-titled album, it’s the most avant-garde release on Dublin label Smirk Sounds. Sub World Unknown was the second release by the label, demonstrating an early predilection for experimental sounds that need not conform to one’s […]

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¶¬ŠÆ©•§†‰]z·è®Ê&zØbž Z®«¦Wš±ìŠÐ – The Gates

Recommendation: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ No, that’s not the craziest typo you’ve ever seen. The Gates is the fourth album released by Dublin, Ireland label Smirk Sounds. It’s from the artist ¶¬ŠÆ©•§†‰]z·è®Ê&zØbž Z®«¦Wš±ìŠÐ, which looks like a random string of text you’d find if you opened an image file in a word processor. The Gates is sixteen minutes of ambient vaporwave and dreampunk […]

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s a k i 夢 – タンクの装飾

Recommendation: ☀☁☁ タンクの装飾1 is the fourth full-length from s a k i 夢,2 a project of Californian artist Kai Beckman. タンクの装飾 was originally released as Smirk Sounds’ sixth album, and it later found a home on Beckman’s Tetra Systems with a new album artwork and a cassette release. As with previous s a k i 夢 albums, タンクの装飾 chronicles the […]

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lukepi / methyr – Ocean Dreams

Recommendation: ✂ (“Brisk Wind”, “Snake / The Bowl of Rice and the Bamboo Tree”, “Someone, Anyone, No-one”, “Seaweed”) Ocean Dreams1 is a split release between lukepi and methyr that was released through Smirk Sounds. lukepi2 released his first EP at the ripe age of 17, then took a few years off until dropping No Wonder on Neetspeak in 2015. He […]

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//LUDOVICO-LTD// – Digital_Wave1.0

Recommendation: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (bumped up to ☀☁☁ if you’re a big fan of classic-style) (Classic-style) vaporwave is dead! … Right? Well, probably not – at least, not if artists such as //LUDOVICO-LTD// keep making stuff. Digital_Wave1.0 is the fifth release out on Smirk Sounds, released in June 2016. This Swiss artist generally focuses on glitchy recontextualizations of muzak and adult contemporary […]

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methyr – Digital Autopsy

Recommendation: ☀☀☁ methyr is Mitchell Hopkins of Brighton, England. Digital Autopsy is his third overall full-length. Hopkins is not an artist who is content to stay within genre lines. Over the past year and a half, his music has touched all sorts of areas of cyberpunk culture such as vaporwave, glitch music, IDM, and dreampunk. He released a classical music […]

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