Beggars In a New Land – Space Touch EP (2011) [AMDISCS] // Grade: B-

Microsoft Word’s worst fonts, hodgepodge-d image art and found-footage videos of animated screen savers with blinky, flashy things- the visual side of New Jersey/New York pair Beggers in the New Land might certainly lead some to question their proficiency but after hearing the eight songs collected here as the Space Touch EP, you’ll find yourself doing an about-face. Created by Eric Brody and Harry Cubberly, this 34-minute, free-to-download set find the pair’s emotive, beat-backed psychedelic drifts—formerly released for collective/label Crash Symbols—now fully-formed and spewing heavy with unabashed love for electronic genres past.

Shacked up with prolific ‘future reserves’ purveyors AMDISCS for this eight song release, Space Touch shows that BITNL have not only moved deeper into exploring varied textures of the electronic variety, but have grown more mature as producers in the process. Blanketed with a wide range of styles, the EP marks the pair’s shift from lulling soundscapes to more together, bounding pop creations, samples and vocoders in tow. Following 2009’s Perpetuum EP and 2010’s debut LP Teething, BITNL throw in the likes of witch house/drag (“Church”), techno/acid-house (“Remember the Destiny”), chillwave/ambient (“Secret Passage” or “Same Dream”), progressive house (“Gone Low” is straight Underworld’s “Born Slippy” with a teenage falsetto) and smooth R&B (“Can’t Explain”). The collection manages to mix well the likes of feelings coming from the camps of Pictureplane, Shine 2009, Psychic TV, Taragana Pyjarama or Fostercare- so I’d recommend fans of any take note.

From being poolside in Miami, under witchy wooze or lost in the palpable sexual tension of smoothed-out groovers, these cosmic northeasterners deliver a release that’s all about the mood. There’s still some work to be had to bring their celestial clubtronics back down to something not so diverse to something with a bit more focus, but considering their age and the lack of payment required to add this Space Touch to your library, I suggest you click on through the link below and press download right now.

Download Beggars In a New Land’s Space Touch EP (Click Here)

- The Holloweyed