HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS Vinilo y CD

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: Stefan Schwander aka Harmonious Thelonious is back on Italic presenting a new album of globetrotting sounds. More often seen experimenting with polyrhythms with Florian Meyer aka Don't DJ and Marc Matter as The Durian Brothers, most of Schwander's work these days is centred around his Harmonious Thelonious project. Often contributing to Meyer's Diskant label as well as presenting original works on his Asafa imprint, International Dance Record follows up last years Santos LP. The Harmonious Thelonious sound is undoubtedly centred in traditional musical forms, but not bound to specific practices from any one part of the globe. Starting out with the uplifting Afro vibes of "Uhura", there's plenty of variety on offer when considering the sublimely exotic drum science of "Kimbili", the feelgood Nigerian boogie vibes of "Remake" and of course the killer drum sampler workout "Too High To Get Over".

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.