PREMIERE: Brendon Moeller - Driftform [Samurai Music]
In the past few years, Brendon Moeller has quietly retooled his language without abandoning its core. Long known for dub techno escapades, his recent output has leaned into the murkier overlaps between halftime, drum and bass, and ambient, finding renewed momentum on labels like ESP Institute, Constellation Tatsu (included in our favorite releases of October 2024), Quiet Details, and especially Samurai Music. Samurai has become a natural home for this phase of his work, providing space for records such as Vacuum (featured in our Editors’ Picks in 2024), Further, Shadow Language, and the inaugural release "侍栽培一" on its Saibai sub-label. Moeller’s dub instincts remain central, but they’re applied to new structures, reshaping how rhythm and weight interact. The result sits firmly in the grey zone where dub techno density and drum and bass architecture blur into something elastic and constantly shifting.
Our premiere, “Driftform,” is a clear example of how that approach plays out in practice. The track brings together different facets of Moeller’s work in tight alignment. Operating in the 85 BPM range, it keeps its center of gravity low while leaving its structure deliberately open. The low end is thick and chugging, moving steadily while carrying a hypnotic dub sequence with ease. “Driftform” balances an eerie, grounded groove with lighter, more fluid melodic movement, the two elements locking together without friction. Moeller builds an atmosphere that works just as well during early hours on a dance floor as it does in a home listening setting.
Shadow Language, the new 15-track album, is out February 6 on Samurai Music.