Avian Vinilo y CD

Review: Since its emergence in 2011, Shifted and Ventress's Avian and Mira labels have become outlets for like-minded producers to express themselves in different creative manners, some choosing to work anonymously (Bleaching Agent) and others not (Burma Camp, 440PPM). A Vision Of Love falls in the former category, with the producer surfacing on Avian earlier this year with the first in a series of a series of self-styled "S & M techno tools" under the banner of Lessons In Hate. With the true identity of A Vision Of Love still very much under wraps, Part Two of the Lessons In Hate series now arrives with chiselled techno drums traversing squalling, savagely equalised electronics crafted using vintage gear and driven by a passion for classic second wave Detroit techno, whilst further alluding to A Vision Of Love's basic themes of S&M.

Review: Earlier this year Buchla synth expert and sometime Nine Inch Nails band member Alessandro Cortini delivered one of the most surprising and rewarding long players of 2014 in Sonno for Dominick Fernow's Hospital Productions. The Italian pulls off another surprise move with a new project called Skarn on Shifted's Avian label, swerving from the majestic textures of Sonno into droning techno experimentation. Some three tracks long, Revolver finds Cortini toying with droning tones with the title cut a superb exercise in slowly building up a wall of oppressive, brutalist wave of noise over minimal beats. With material due on Panzerkreuz too, it's clear Cortini is currently enjoying an unpredictable chapter in a long and illustrious recording career.