The first thing that one needs to know about Indian Wells is that he’s a real tennis fanatic living in Italy. He records and samples sounds made in a tennis match, blending them all together with smooth, dreamy synths and beats. With more and more producers experimenting and trying out new things, modern electronica seems to have taken its own path, promptly moving on. The whole sampling experiment went on to become an 8-track album called ‘Night Drops’, released by Bad Panda Records. Atmospheric, side-chained and relaxing, urging you to play it mostly when the sun goes down.
The track that opens the album goes by the title ‘Wimbledon 1980’ (Wimbledon being the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world), so that only marks tennis as a big influence. There is a sense from the very beginning that this album is all about creating a beautiful inner mood, finding and analyzing yourself through the music. You listen to tennis ball sounds surrounded by haunting melodies, soft applause and the voice of a commentator. But after a while of drawing yourself in, you get past the ‘sampling part’ and you just enjoy what you’re hearing. A repeating Burial-esque voice on ‘In The Streets’ with a rather down-to-earth beat, until a clearer sound of the tennis balls comes in again on ‘Golden Shoes’, keeping your mind at peace. The album reaches its peak on ‘Deuce’, which deservedly was the first single, with a steady perspective on rhythm, followed by the smoothly distorted ‘Love Frequencies’. Excessive sampling returns on ‘Night Drops’, where Indian Wells does a great job; a haunting background voice that you can’t tell what is saying makes the difference. ‘After The Match’ is an awakening, an uplifting side-chained track fading out perfectly, providing enough space for the ending ‘South Beach’. An underground, middle-frequency reverbed synth melody stigmatizes Night Drops’ closing, leaving the listener with a pleasant hearing experience.
There are only 100 copies available, hand-signed and numbered, which I suppose are selling out pretty fast. But ‘Night Drops’ is provided by the Bad Panda people for free downloading as well, that’s the way the label works. It is a free-download netlabel afterall, having discovered, promoted and arranged releases for interesting new artists that passionately make and share their music across the world.
