PULSAR DIARIES

TRACKLIST A1. Pulsar Diaries A2. Delphic Expanse A3. Blackburn Tales B1. Fourth Amendment B2. Farewell Theme B2. Ursa Major INFO Ilija™s discography stretches back to 2003, and over those 20 years he™s packed it full with albums, versions, remixes and singles. His releases are often perfectly-penned love letters to ˜80s boogie, electro and disco, and like postcards from an old flame, they™ve landed in an array of record label catalogs, from Bear Funk, Rong, and Electric Minds, to Is It Balearic? as well as his own Red Music and Imogen Recordings. He™s long-been an active voice on the underground club scene, and if you™ve been out dancing in Zagreb, Berlin or even Tisno beach, chances are you™ve gotten down to one of his beautifully blended sets of cosmic-tinged electro funk and disco dubs. On Pulsar Diaries, Ilija delivers a panoramic collection of spaced-out synths and drum machine grooves, dedicated to the planet and our place in the universe. The A side opens up with the blissful, weightless pads of the title track, before it breaks out into filtered stabs over a minimal b-boy bounce. Delphic Expanse ebbs and flows like a lunar eclipse, sounding like a futuristic version of Key-Matic™s Breaking In Space, all uprock rhythms and syrupy synth horns as it spins off beyond the asteroid belt. Side A closes out with Blackburn Tales, a suspenseful and spacious electro rhythm packed with strings and 303 squelch, which you might call anti-gravity acid, if you were so inclined. Side B picks up the tempo with Fourth Amendment, perfect for the space station discotheque with its sweeping bass filters and ice-cold synth melodies hovering in orbit. Farewell Theme takes an introspective moment, slowing the pace to a cosmic 90 bpm and inviting a certain cinematic feel to proceedings. This feeling applies not just to the vivid landscapes we travel through, but also wider thoughts about humankind: as we pause for a breath and look around, we find ourselves in Ilija™s space, considering human motivations, like the pursuit of happiness, or the eternal struggle with the self. Every journey begins with a goodbye, and so the last track of the album feels like the arrival at a new destination: Ursa Major is ablaze with cascading drum fills, bubble-wrapped bass riffs and bright synth chords that sparkle like city lights underneath a re-orbiting satellite. With Pulsar Diaries, Ilija Rudman has created a rare artifact: an album that straddles several worlds at once. Part soundtrack to space travel, part meditation on the human condition, part deep-burning dancefloor dynamo - whether in the club surrounded by friends or at home by yourself, this is a record that expands the mind and lets the imagination soar.