Floral Ancestors by Raduns

Imaginary friends Akka & BeepBeep share the third release on their label: Floral Ancestors by Raduns. The 12” offers blooming ambient rooted in dub, lush drone and hand-picked cosmic that’s all grown deep in Detroit.

Spacious sonic arrangements vividly swell yet keep grounded within a sculptural rhythmic core. Raduns sows synth basslines and wispy pads next to harmonious guitars and muted field recordings. Grooving propulsion drives throughout. Rhythms appear, in negative space, like outlines between leaves. Recorded with machines direct to SD card, the compositions represent ephemeral blessings of experience. As if strolling into a verdant conservatory, the layered and diverse sensations blend into a single cohesive experience.

Originally released digitally in 2020, the project has been meticulously remastered by Eddie Logix, this radiant remaster prunes the sonic foliage and levels the soil to reveal the recordings’ aural blossoms.

On their first record, Raduns draws an ancestral line in Detroit as inspiration, encircling a time when you could ride a streetcar from Dexter-Linwood to Belle Isle; a time before freeway expansion demolished vibrant Black neighborhoods; a time before the rebellion, motown and white flight. Back when Raduns’ great-grandparents were florists in the city, serving the community in times of celebration and times of grief. This introspective circle provides the space in which Raduns summons these Floral Ancestors in sonic form.

AKKA’s Side: “Grass Boulevard” exhales a luscious soundscape that develops through wave-crashing synths and circulated guitars to a transplanted acid lead. “Spread” lays out a decoration of blended sample and hold synth with kosmische styled guitar licks. Tracked as a single take in a Detroit community studio, the tune intuitively reseeds the symbiotic sprout between krautrock and Detroit techno.

BEEP’s Side: “Metrograde Bouquet” submerges you into the chamber of a handcrafted vase. Dub techno roots grow out into murky water with energy that is subtle yet profound. “Oldest of Arrangements” textures breaths of misty air cascading ventilating in on itself. The track’s time seems to stretch and disappear within a dark and deep undercurrent. A harmonic and reverberant resonance closes the record in a flowering of beauty and peace.

“You’re a flower child. Put this music out.” - Someone Important in Detroit

Records by Akka & BeepBeep

Real Music from Imaginary Friends

Jo(nah) Rad(uns) Silver(stein)

Technically, Yeah.
Detroit