HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS Vinilo y CD

Review: Emotional Response returns to Dusseldorf with a compilation of the music emanating out of the Diskant label over some 7 EPs between 2009-2014. Featuring the productions of The Durian Brothers, Harmonious Thelonious and Don't DJ, their unique polyrhythmic percussive sound of the label is highlighted across this special double album. Legend goes it was discovering the first Diskant release on the wall of Honest Jons store back in 2009 that became a prime influences in the creation of Emotional Response. Born out of the early years of Salon Des Amateurs, the Diskant label was set up as a vehicle for the music and member's music of The Durian Brothers, namely Florian Meyer (Don't DJ), Stefan Schwander (Harmonious Thelonious) and Marc Matter. Coming together from their own music backgrounds to explore a new experimental polyrhythmic para-funk via distorted electronics. Using specially prepared turntables, hypnotic rhythmic patterns, noise and sequencing they have created a dense and fuzzy excess that over four sides of vinyl is here now presented as a retrospective, but not an end, to highlight their unique sound.

Review: Stefan Schwander's latest full-length release as Harmonious Thelonious is not a brand-new album, but rather a retrospective that charts the development of his now trademark sound, following a period spent focusing on challenging experimentalism. Featuring tracks previously released on labels including Disk, The Trilogy Tapes and Versatile, the varied instrumentals on show draw heavily on his love of African rhythms, ear-catching electronica and the sparse, subtly changing hypnotism of classic American minimalism. The plentiful highlights include the North African-informed dancefloor psychedelia of 'Apakapa', the dense drums of 'Ayranman' and 'Harmony Labelle' and the Reich-on-synths bliss of 'Some Blue Beats'.

Review: Polyrhythm-loving dancefloor experimentalist Harmonious Thelonious is finally releasing a sequel to 2016's "International Dance Record", an album that remains amongst the prolific producer's most potent works. This is not an album, though, but rather an EP that boasts two previously unheard cuts and some fresh remixes of tracks featured on its' predecessor. Opener "Shark Dance" is exotic and Middle Eastern in outlook, with bleeping electronics and foreboding refrains riding a mixture of synthetic and acoustic percussive, while "Blinky" is a chugging, mind-altering affair that reminded us a little of the 1988 version of the KLF's "What Time Is Love?". Remix wise, Tolouse Low Trax goes bass-heavy and mind altering on his revision of "Rivera", before Jan Schulte's alter ego Wolf Muller turns "RFS" into a hallucinatory lo-fi drum jam.

Review: The releases from Dusseldorf's Themes For Great Cities label are frustratingly sporadic, making the appearance of any new 12" from the imprint a cause for celebration. Mogul 3 is the latest EP in the label's occasional all-stars series, and the first of any kind from the eccentric crew since 2013. Naturally, there's much to admire, from the ultra-deep throb of Tim Schumacher's sleepy "Haze 23", to the krautrock-influenced Balearic jazz beauty of Al's superb "Anima I Tako". Best of all, though, is Harmonious Thelonious' "Cheap Thrills", an eccentric chunk of lo-fi house madness blessed with quirky accordion loops and more oddball electronic noises than Luke Vibert's sample bank.