The synths transfigure their composer’s thought-dreams, one of which has something to do with gamma rays melting corrupt politicians down to scorched collagen. When all the serrated dissonance gives way to a reverberative harpsichord, the planet begins to rejuvenate. And that’s just the first song.
Osborne creates maximally layered electronic music using VST and MIDI controllers, a virtual analog synthesizer, and homemade field recordings (including appearances by a faucet and a 1980’s-model Schwinn exercise bike). His latest full-length record as Incentive, titled Happiness, is 55 minutes of gorgeously gnarled compositions that fall somewhere between industrial music and IDM, a genre crag Osborne terms “post-industrial.” – The Devil Strip
Pittsburgh (and formerly Ohio) based producer James Osborne (aka Incentive) is a man of many skills – not only does he writes intense and ominous electronic music as Incentive (and plays in a few bands as well), but he also runs his own label Circle with a Dot (with DystopiaQ being his first/former one). Somehow with all that busyness he’s also been delivering guest mixes to IHN throughout years- lets recap those, shall we?
Mix 1 – featuring Merzbow, Cluster, Kelly Moran, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Mix 2 – featuring Moor Mother, Room of Wires, Neu!, Interbella, Cruel Diagonals
Mix 3 – featuring Siavash Amini, Taxxess, Pharmakon, Perrera Elsewhere
In other words – the man knows his ambient/drone/whatchamacallit and that’s why we’re happy to welcome his collection of favorites from 2019. Fire away, Mr. Incentive!
and don’t forget to check out Happiness by Incentive – out now on Wormhole World / Submarine Broadcast Co.
Tracklist
Amon Tobin – Velvet Owl (from Fear in a Handful of Dust)
Anne Müller – Drifting Circles (from Heliopause)
Sarah Davachi – Perfumes II (from Pale Bloom)
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Bridge of Death (from “Chernobyl” TV Series Soundtrack)
Cruel Diagonals – Embrasure (from Pulse Of Indignation)
Whettman Chelmets – I Still Miss You When Thanksgiving Comes (from Long Read Memories)
Lingua Ignota – Day Of Tears And Mourning (from Caligula)
Pharmakon – Self-Regulating System (from Devour)
Ilkae – Extra Stairs (from Format Format)
Creeps – Creep5 (from One)
Nancy Drone – Ingenuine By Proxy (from Displacement)
Sevish – Unreality (from Horixens)
Proswell – Dry Gain III (from GAIN)
Evil Robot Ted – Boxcuttr (from Will It Kill Us)
Lighght – Croosh (from Gore-Tex In The Club, Balenciaga Amongst The Shrubs)
Mukqs – Opposition to Questioning (from Any%)
Telefon Tel Aviv – a younger version of myself, (from Dreams Are Not Enough)
Floating Points – Sea-Watch (from Crush)
Little Simz – Boss (from Grey Area)
Siavash Amini – Semblance (from Serus)
Yeruselem – Autoimmunity (from The Sublime)
Zonal – System Error (feat. Moor Mother) (from Wrecked)
Moor Mother – Private Silence (feat. The Lost Cauze) (from Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes)
Boobs of Doom – S//A\\D (from Skeleton Jazz Wizard)
Perera Elsewhere – Sunk in Motion feat. Dis Fig (from Thrill EP)
Pale Spring – Belongings (from Cygnus)
somesurprises – Late July (from Serious Dreams)
Taylor Campbell – One Last Letter (from Sing To Me, Let Me Hear Your Agony)
Further Reading
Guest Mix by Siavash Amini / Matt Finney
Review of Caligula by Lingua Ignota (via Grant Hobson)
Review of Happiness (via Mike Stanton)
Post-Industrial Project Incentive Releases New Album “Happiness” (via Brutal Resonance)
Review of Happiness (via Bucket List)
INCENTIVE Releases New Album ‘Happiness’ (via Underground Press)
Listen to This! Electro/Industrial Incentive streams new album Happiness (via Louder Than War)
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