Daily Discovery: Glocque

Image via Glocque

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Image via Glocque

Image via Glocque

Daily Discovery is a feature that highlights a new or recently discovered artist who we’re excited about. See the rest of our Daily Discoveries here.


SoundCloud is full of producers looking to make a name for themselves, to the point at which the beatmaking community on the site is starting to look like a overstuffed taco bursting at the seams. Thankfully, thanks to a small handful of producers really pushing for a unique and easily identifiable sound, SoundCloud at times comes across as a gourmet restaurant rather than a Taco Bell. Despite the website’s current problems, producers like Glocque are making it worth sticking around for dessert.

The debut full-length from Chicago-based producer Glocque is like the light at the end of a tunnel, but Gloveless Brain Transplant opts to drag the listener through said tunnel backwards. The resulting listen is like Boards of Canada reinterpreted for the internet with the assistance of a drum machine and the spirit of John Carpenter. Despite its distinctly lo-fi crunch, particularly on its looming bass and impressively interwoven synth melodies, Glocque’s Gloveless Brain Transplant remains one of 2015’s best produced debuts.


I fucking played guitar on “Jet Click Saviour” which was so fun because I really have no idea how to play guitar.

Glocque tells us that the album took around six months of on and off work to complete. “Mostly every track I’ve ever made starts with making a synth,” he says, adding that “sound design is one of the most exciting parts of my music to me.” One of his defining production techniques is the downsampling he employs on his bass: “There is a ton of downsampling and compression on most of my basses, and even on most of my master tracks. Most glocque master plugin chains aren’t complete without an overdrive.”

While there’s a clear sense of cohesion to his latest project, there’s also a playful adventurousness to it as well. In speaking with him moments after releasing the album, he said, “I fucking played guitar on ‘Jet Click Saviour’ which was so fun because I really have no idea how to play guitar.” Despite the fact he doesn’t know how to play guitar, the track is one of the many highlights of the album not in spite of its outré guitar plucks, but because of them.

Everything on the album feels deliberately placed, and while its length as a solely instrumental release may put some off, it’s an album worth the forty-minute-plus investment. Whether it’s background noise or the main event, the album is capable of commanding attention while still allowing itself to simply soundtrack another day. Both toying with intimacy and grandiosity, Glocque is sure to make a name for himself amongst countless other producers with Gloveless Brain Transplant.

Listen to the album in full via SoundCloud below, and purchase the album for $5 via Bandcamp here.

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