Review: Fidelio and Luca Piermattei hook up here to explore worlds where acid, techno and electro all happily coexist. Fidelio's A-side offers three cuts that fuse 90s acid rawness with baroque drama that results in a unique mix of classical organ melodies and razor-sharp basslines. Punchy kicks and sizzling hi-hats drive the energy as you're happily lost on a neon-lit techno odyssey. On the flip, Piermattei's 'Gas' features a fluid bassline and glitching robotic vocals that are eerie yet inviting and 'Third Rec' (with Tascam 122) rounds out the release with pulse-driven electro and intricate percussion, perfect for late-night explorations.
Review: Yay Recordings closes out another solid 12 months with a various artists' EP that showcases right where the label is at. Heavy Mental kicks off with 'Dabro', a colourful and loopy house jaunt for sunny days. Twowi's 'Metaverse' takes off to the cosmos on lithe electro rhythms with ice-cold beats and widescreen pads. Parchi Pubblici & Lucretio's 'Aladdin Sane' brings some wonky deep tech vibes with of-balance drums and muffled spoken words and Rinaldo Makaj closes down with a fresh party sound perfect for cosy floors. There's plenty of variety here, which makes this a great addition to your bag.
Review: Mole Music branches out for the first time to vinyl here and shows it has a great wealth of talent to call on with a various artists' EP that is presumably the start of a new series. Holy Guacamole Vol 1 kicks off with JHNS keeping it deep and lively with 'Nevermind' while Steve End and Colau hook up for 'Back Spin' and lay down some magnificent drum loops that are silky and infectious. El Funkador's 'Shame' brings some 90s New York vibes with lovely snare sounds and warm bursts of chords. On the flipside, Alben & Laje & Errat, Hot DLVRY and Craftsmanship all cook up more fresh fusions of old and new school house.
Review: A Klang Elektronik Release on top of the pop charts? Heiko MSO and Michael Laven between Kanye West and Rihanna on MTV?
Well...I have to admit, this scenario would be realistic in a world a little more righteous than the one we have here. But to say the truth,
'Reach', the new Laven & MSO single has deserved it for sure. After all the two Producers from Frankfurt put so much pop-appeal into
the vocal-mix feat. Malte (Does anybody remember Tiefschwarz's 'Schmetterlings¬flügel' or Losoul's 'You know'?), that colleagues like
Fischerspooner should prepare themselves. But: Don't get me wrong! Vaporise it to four or five minutes and you'll get a fine (electro)pop
hit. But the whole gorgeous ten minutes of 'Reach' have enough power to atomise every nightclub into dust. Everybody who can take
another one after this should listen to the b-side, 'Reach' as 'Alte Schule Acid Instrumental' (old-school acid instrumental - pretty self-
explanatory, isn't it?)
Review: Short Attention Records makes a welcome return here with a new drop of wax that fits the label head into its roots in deep techno sound worlds. This one takes the form of a various artists' EP crafted with an intake feel for cosy floors and who better to kick off in that vibe than the revered Lawrence whose 'Hawser' is a groovy and melodious track. Next, New Jersey don Joey Anderson sets a slow and deep tone with 'Human Kind' which has moody vocals and Japanese artist Takuya Matsumoto follows with 'Three Flowers', a more potent and driving cut with a fine acid bassline. Rounding off the EP is 'Desired Spring' by R/K, a loop-driven deep house gem designed for both listening and dancing.
Review: Liquid Earth is an alias of new school underground house hero Urulu and he's dropped fine beats on Kalahari Oyster Cult, Butter Side up and Small Hours. He has also recently started his own self-titled label which is where he arrives now with four more fresh and well-infused cuts of spaced-out breaks, electro, house and minimal. This one starts with 'The Breakdown' (Charms Of Gaia mix) which has fast-paced trance-techno overtones. The Trips & Skips mix of the same tune is more dark and on the flip are the whacked-out acid-laced breakbeats of 'The Closer' and 'Cobblestone Stomper,' a white knuckle tech house thriller.
Liro is Larry Sebastian Peters Leal, a producer from Santiago, Chile. He follows up a couple of great releases on local label Cumpa Limited with this new one for Italians Re.Face on their limited Koi series. Be hypnotised by the arcane minimal techno sounds of 'Yujuuu' taking you deep into the exotic with its majestic arrangement, receiving a trippy afterhours minded rework by Ukranian Silat Beksi. Over on the flip, be drawn into the ebb and flow of the ethereal journey that is 'Perdido Cuatro Efe'.
Review: Giuliano Lomonte is something of an Italian veteran. He shows off his deep-seated understanding of real house dynamics here with a new EP on Re.Face Limited that offers up some shimmering sounds. Drawing a delicate and refined distinction between house and tech, he kicks off with the bubbly synths and snappy drums of 'Glasshaus' which are run through with some muttered spoken words and will get an outdoor crowd going if laded through a nice festival sound system. 'Opportunity' is deeper, with striped back drums and molten ads making for a more heady experience.
Review: Loquace is back with his first release in four years, which is on Cesare vs Disorder's Serialism label. The Eternal Sunset EP sees the Frenchman remain centered in the minimal/tech house sound; whether it's the swing-fuelled shuffle of the title track on the sunny, minimal roller 'Side Effects' on the A side, to B side cuts going for UK vibe like 'Not Anymore' with its 2-step beat and, the new school nu-skool breaks of 'Bail Bresson'.
Review: Rawax's Motor City Edition series is back with more tech from Detroit and this time it is Los Hermanos at the buttons. Gerald Mitchell opens up the 12" with 'Two Feet Up' which brings warm and soul-infused techno vibes and some lush strong stabs. 'Remember Detroit' is a just as deep cut with slick drums and sci-fi melodies rippling throughout the arrangement and then the flipside ups the energy levels with the more twitchy and synapse-firing 'Central Nervous Systems' complete with plenty of busy melodies. Things chill out a little for the closer, 'Path Of Tranquility', which showcases some lush melodies and serene synth strings.
Review: Buoyed by the profile boost provided by Running Back's expanded reissue of his 1996 classic 'Open Door', Peter Kremeir AKA LoSoul brings his unique brand of dusty and hypnotic house to Rawax's RX series. He begins in confident fashion with 'Outer Signal', where squally flash-fried funk guitar notes and subtle synth tones get locked into redlined beats, dark stabs and looped bass. He flips the script on 'Art Form', offering for a pitched-down groove, fuzzy analogue bass, mind-mangling modular loops, trance-inducing house drums and echoing, soundsystem style bleeps. Basically, it's another top two-tracker from one of Germany's most singular-minded house producers.
Feel Young Again (Ricardo Villalobos remix) (16:24)
Don't Let The Light In (Ricardo Villalobos remix) (15:13)
Review: For fans of off-kilter, minimalistic dance music, there is little more exciting than seeing the words "Ricardo Villalobos remix" printed on to the label of a brand-new record. For all his faults, Villalobos rarely delivers a duff rework, and he's once again hot gold with these revisions of experimental art-rock ensemble Low Island. He first tackles 'Feel Low Again', reinventing the indie-rock cut as a low-slung chunk of woozy minimal techno full of drifting vocals, bubbly electro bass, distant cymbals and snare-heavy beats. On the flip Villalobos reworks 'Don't Let The Light In', offering a slightly less dense and undeniably energetic take full of oddly-tuned electro bass, glitchy sounds, hazy chords and layered vocal samples.
For several years Luciano was one of the kings of the underground. The Swiss-Chilean rode the crest of the minimal wave and had his own distinctive Latin edge that marked him out in a class of one. Now he is back to DJing - often with his equally heralded brethren Ricardo Villalobos - as well as producing. Rawax has the latest goods from the man in the form of this suitably epic two-track EP. 'Assanti Sana' is all subtly shifting grooves and stringy percussive lines with some textured, expressionistic synth lines. 'In Xs' is deeper, and warmer, with ever-evolving rhythms and lots of stringy lines all woven together in an intricate fashion.
Review: Romanian artist Lumieux joins Switzerland's Adam's Bite crew with the When I Think Of You EP. Hailing from Bucharest, Lumieux epitomises the region's style-stripped-back percussion, nuanced details. Known for releases on Subtil Records, Antrakt, and UVAR, and part of Sunrise Agency, Lumieux kicks off with 'Psycho' which spans nine minutes, blending murky dub chords, fluttering bass, and choppy vocals over a swinging groove. 'Tifosi' continues with choppy stabs and wandering bass, modulating percussion. 'What You Are To Me' on the B-side features twitchy synths, hypnotic vocals, evolving kicks. 'Nebula' closes with a plucked bass groove, delayed atmospherics, and saturated rhythm.
Review: You can never stop good music from making it out into the world and so it is that new label Secret Keeper from Ukraine makes its bow here despite what is going on back home. Luschn steps up for the first EP and sets a high standard with it from the off. 'Track 1' is tech with a menacing undercurrent and an undulating rhythm while 'Track 2' gets a little more loose in its loops. The mood switches on the b-side, where disco-tech comes to the fore and some deft melodies bring a cosmic feel to 'Track 3'. Last of all, 'Track 4' is nice and dry, stripped back and whacked out tech from another planet.
Review: Mattia Lapucci (Burbi / BurbiDub) and Francy Ricci's inaugural 1551 EP on the Cow Beats label last year was rather impressive, and here's the much awaited follow up. "Dark System" is a chunky, all-analogue sounding minimal house stomper in the vein of Spacetravel or Fabe. Spaniard Do Or Die aka Drugwork (My Own Jupiter/Libertine) ushers you aboard the acid express on his frantic remix up next. Over on the flip, get deep into the rave on the restrained epic "Let's Go Owners" followed by the hypnotic bleep techno journey "Galactic Storm".
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