Various Artists – Ubikuitous – Music Inspired by Philip K. Dick’s Dystopias (2025; Unexplained Sounds Group) – Avant Music News
Author Philip K. Dick spent his career poking at the porous boundary between reality and illusion, questioning the reliability our perception and memory. Using motifs such as artificial intelligence (AI), mind-altering drugs, simulated realities, and corporate and governmental power, he examined our sense of identity, the nature of truth, and the very essence of reality. Given recent advances in AI as well as ongoing sociopolitical changes, Dick’s work now seems more prescient than ever.
Ubikuitous, yet another thematic compilation from Unexplained Sounds Group, uses experimental ambient and acousmatic music – with a touch of glitch and techno – to explore these concepts. Many of the 14 tracks employ synth-based droning with dark overtones as a core element, but from there they each branch off in their own direction.
Some artists, like Mark Hjorthoy, utilize drones combined with sequenced patterns, while borda contributes squeaking and shimmering aleatoric noises contrasted with brighter synths. Bruno Dorella’s High Castle introduces strong synthesized beats alongside repeating eerie themes. Mario Lino Stancati, known for contributing drones and abstract electronics to other compilations, provides a dense and gritty piece of sound art characterized by cosmic resonance layered atop oscillating textures.
Other tracks offer quieter ambiance, such as the piece by Drift. In contrast, Phoan + Luca Ferro’s effort is more disjointed, featuring bell-like tones, dark lilting, and object percussion punctuated by fractured keyboard passages. Richard Begin, whose work often blends ambient and electroacoustic styles with processed sounds, offers powerful synth that evolves into a disconcerting amalgam of simpler melodic and rhythmic structures.
The compilation concludes with two darker pieces. Lars Bröndum’s is a haunting blend of wafting, alien themes and processed noises. Tri:.obyte’s contribution is comprised of voice-oriented field recordings and ominous drones.
Dick’s focus on the fluidity of perception and the instability of identity finds a natural counterpart with the music herein. Particularly, acousmatic music’s intentional detachment of sound from its source aptly represents the uncertainty found by the characters of Dick’s worlds. Listeners can experience this detachment as an immersion in raw sounds. But the complex layering of these tracks is such that each iteration brings forth new observations, experiences, and insights.
