Mapzzz EP04 – shortcircles

The music of Matthew Tammariello (a.k.a. shortcircles) has had a bit of a fabled past with the Mapzzz crew. As one of the first artists that came to mind for our free, bi-weekly EP series when we launched it back in February, we’ve had the opprotunity (via a number of emails) to hear these tracks go from rough sketches and loose ideas to full blown compositions. Tammariello’s productions seem to have carved themselves into a unique place between instrumental hip-hop (think Teebs, Bonobo, and the likes) and blissful techno (think Four Tet, Gold Panda, and the likes), incorporating dense soundscapes and sparkling melodies along with deep bass and starkly minimal beats. Vocals come in the form of chopped and pitched samples, mostly revolving around the theme of love in such an ambiguous way it’s hard to tell whether they are intended to be inspiring or melancholy. But perhaps the point is for us to forge our own emotional path based on the music at hand, with its wide open spaces and heavenly lush production, shortcircles leads us to a place where we can sit alone and contemplate, bringing us out only at certain moments to remind us where we are and how we got here. You can stream/download Mapzzz EP04 – shortcircles below or head to our Bandcamp if you’d prefer. (Also worth noting that this EP has some former Mapzzz EP personnel contributing with Empty Pockets providing a few tasty guitar licks and Forest Floor adding some choir-like vocals to the EP’s last track)