Placid Angles

Placid Angles served as the vehicle through which Detroit maestro John Beltran explored lush ambient/breakbeat techno, a direction that stayed close to the sound of his earliest solo releases. After more than two decades, the project resurfaced in essentially the same form.

The artist launched Placid Angles in 1997 via the Peacefrog album The Cry. Its tracks featured expansive pads, inviting melodies, sharp breakbeats, and sporadic brief vocal fragments carrying soulful textures. Although the record earned positive notice, Beltran treated the alias as a temporary detour and spent the next twenty-plus years issuing material solely under his own name. The project resurfaced unexpectedly in 2019 with First Blue Sky on Magicwire. Even after the long absence, the sonic identity remained intact, delivering a strong wave of nostalgia to longtime listeners. Only two additional years passed before Beltran delivered a third Placid Angles full-length, Touch the Earth, in 2021. Figure issued the set—an unusual choice for the Berlin imprint, previously known for concentrating on lean, utilitarian techno.