The Anti-Algorithm Scene

Music that still asks for your full attention.

The other day, I was flipping through recent vinyl purchases and scrolling through my Bandcamp collection, pulling out records from labels and names I’ve been circling lately: Motion Ward, Sferic, 3XL-adjacent artists, and others. My initial thought was to build a playlist. But that didn’t work.

Some of these records aren’t on streaming platforms at all.

The ones that are often demand full-length immersion, not snippets.

Sa Pa’s Ambeesh, released on Short Span, unfolds so subtly that clipping a single track feels like slicing a scene from a film. Florian TM Zeisig’s A New Life, on Belgium’s Stroom label, drifts in soft pads and bittersweet repetition, and its effect depends on letting it run start to finish. Even workaday titles like Mammo’s General Patterns (also on Short Span) or Andrea’s Living Room repay the trust you give them across a full listen.

This isn’t playlist bait. It’s music built to be absorbed whole, crafted by artists and labels that quietly resist the algorithm’s shortcut logic.

It turns out the limitations were the point.

Why This Matters

In the rush of summer, there’s something radical about choosing albums over algorithms. These records reward patience, not immediacy. Every shift in texture, every slow fade, every looping pattern becomes meaningful because you’re listening with intent.

So here’s to slow summer listening: pick one of these records, hit play, and let the music unfold on its own terms.

Listening Guide: Careful Plays Only

Sa Pa – Ambeesh
Dubby, fog-shrouded soundscapes that unfold like shifting rooms.

Mammo – General Patterns
Subtle grooves that barely pulse but pull you into motion.

Florian TM Zeisig – A New Life
Dreamy, melodic ambient on Belgium’s Stroom label with soft pads, gentle repetition, and a bittersweet tone that lingers long after it ends.

Burial – Comafields / Imaginary Festival
Ghostly, vinyl-crackling fragments that feel bigger than a single track.

xtclvr – Blessed Loops
Hypnotic, meditative loops that are warm and easy to lose yourself in.

Perila – Omnis Festinatio Ex Parte Diaboli Est
Intimate texture work that reads more like a private sound diary.

Jonnnah – Me, With You
Whisper-quiet ambient pop, like eavesdropping on a private reverie.

Purelink – Faith
Ambient lappings over subtle beats, water-like in motion and tone.

Andrea – Living Room
Domestic electronica that feels soft, welcoming, and lived-in.

mu tate, Nexcyia & Exzald S – Labège
Expansive dub-ambient hybrids, a drone-scaped landscape.

rRoxymore – Juggling Dualities
Rhythms that morph between club energy and conceptual textures.

Special Guest DJ – Our Fantasy Complex
Surreal club structures bending and stretching like a dream.

ex_libris – 001 and 002
Experimental tone collages that feel like paging through a sonic notebook.

Priori – This but More (Loidis reconfiguration)
A rework stretched into something hazy, dubby, and spacious.

Fabiano – Landmarks
Gentle melodic electronica with just enough grit to keep it grounded.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Sandy