“I love the internet. You can do anything,” declares Tomáš Slunský, one of the co-founders of Gin&Platonic, reflecting on the endless possibilities granted by the hyperconnected digital age. The Czech label, which operates between the industrial city of Ostrava and Prague, started out as a music blog in the mid-2010s before organically evolving into an outlet for releasing music. Part of the philosophy of Gin&Platonic, run by its collective of four minds, is to seek out music responding to digital delirium and sensory overload – exploring the ecstasy and dread of living online through abrasive electronic and experimental ambient sounds.

aircode “Surface Tensions”
From Surface Tensions

One of Gin&Platonic’s 2023 highlights is the second album by London based Swedish producer Julia Svensson aka aircode. “We love aircode from her first EP. This heavy, sluggish, eerie, often claustrophobic sound,” notes Slunský. Surface Tension experiments with deconstructing dubstep, disassembling the genre into particles and musique concrète. The title track “Surface Tensions” weaves together chimes and aircode’s haunting vocals, going on to generate hydraulic pummelling beats.

SINERAW “You Want Soft”
from MIMETIC FAUNA

Known for his explosive DJ sets, Italian producer Francesco G Gagliardi aka SINERAW was previously associated with the label Clam Pressure. On MIMETIC FAUNA, a collection of post-club maximalist tracks, SINERAW jumps from uncanny trap bangers to overclocked jungle. On “You Want Soft”, he displays his full sonic arsenal: from ballistic sounds to cyber-phantasmagoria.

Ursula Sereghy “Karyotéca”
From OK Box

“The usual narrative of the melody annoys me,” declared Prague based producer Ursula Sereghy in an interview published on The Wire website in 2021. “I work a lot with granular synthesis, and I really enjoy the fact that it is difficult to control, and it is not very possible to understand it in some classical way.” Her debut album OK Box was created during the pandemic while living in an isolated cottage in the Central Bohemian region of The Czech Republic, and the results are disorienting. On the track “Karyotéca” disruptive melodies whistle and beats gradually run out of sync, even as the music's vitality increases with every second.

paszka “pary”
From lapton

The title of Krakow based artist Szymon Sapalski aka paszka’s 2023 release lapton was inspired by the anecdote of his friends’ grandmother misspelling the word “laptop”. There's humour in the music too. Paszka’s productions sometimes sound like multiple tracks all playing at once from different tabs in your browser, bringing many styles together in a jumpy, carnivalesque way. The album is full of weird gems, its narcotic melodies giving you a sugar rush, as exemplified by the track “pary”, which rhythmically borrows inspiration from gqom or singeli music.

Ludwig Wandinger “Testimony Concerning A Sickness”
From Spiritual Decay

The drones and floating ambient music of Berlin based producer Ludwig Wandinger’s Spiritual Decay offers a change of pace within the Gin&Platonic catalogue. The title of his slowly building second album – composed on a laptop in a kitchen during the pandemic years – is inspired by themes explored in the writings of William S Burroughs. The drones Wandinger sculpts on “Testimony Concerning A Sickness” appear like looming glaciers that stir emotion and reflection.

julek ploski “ja dziewczynka”
From śpie

One of the leading producers of the contemporary Polish experimental club scene, julek ploski has built a reputation within the digital underground. He has released an album on Ohio label Orange Milk. From 2019’s śpie, “ja dziewczynka” paves the way for ploski’s current eerie maximalism.

Read Miloš Hroch's Unlimited Editions Gin&Platonic column in full in The Wire 477. Wire subscribers can also read the article via the online magazine library.