Muscut X (Test Pressing II)

A Ukrainian record label that describes itself as “focusing on pseudo and practical audio archaeology,” Muscut has alternated mostly between tape and vinyl releases. This vinyl-only compilation is one of their best, representing the vast cohort of musicians that were encouraged and equipped by the digital technology of dance music but no longer make music for the dancefloor. There are several small triumphs of ambient-adjacent music here, my favorite being Mark Templeton’s “Soft Education,” a slow leak of viscous bell tones and pianos, hitched up to a loop that sounds like shoes and brooms rotating through the air and smacking the floor.