Review: A compelling compilation that delves deep into the cosmos of techno, offering four tracks that each explore different atmospheric dimensions. On Side-1, Charlou's 'Hidefaces' sets a dark, spooky tone with its stomping beats, blending elements of techno, industrial and 90s rave sounds. It's a haunting journey that captures the raw, visceral energy of underground techno. Mar C follows with 'Wentron', a spacey breakbeat track characterised by its crisp production, which elevates the atmosphere with a futuristic edge. Side-2 opens with Lanzieri's 'Vogue', a track that brings a touch of goa-trance influence, combining ethereal melodies with powerful basslines, making it feel like a cosmic flight through sound. Kvrk's 'Haunted Illusions' closes the EP with a progressive house touch, providing a deep, entrancing groove that muystifies. Each track offers a unique exploration of techno's darker, more experimental side.
Review: Given that both producers are underground titans, traversing the blurred lines between disco, acid, deep house and wide-eyed dreaminess, you'd expect this two-track collaboration between Eddie C and Keita Sano to be pretty darn good. It is, of course, with the pair carving their own mind-mangling, breathlessly energetic niche on 'Disco Universal' - a certified throb-job in which trippy noises, exotic instrument samples and pulse-racing electronic motifs rise above a thumping beat and Italo-disco style sequenced bassline. It slows down midway through, 'French Kiss' style, before the duo brilliantly bring it back to a peak-time tempo. They explore sub-heavy, garage-influenced deep house and breakbeat pastures on the dreamy, weighty, impactful and acid-fired 'Joy Joy Joy', once more showcasing the diversity of their musical influences.
Review: Inhuman (but not inhumane) electro-techno from Kafkactrl, bringing moods of faceless robo-bureaucracy to the Spanish label Another Perspective. Highlights on this cryosonic clatterer include the Modular K collaboration 'Weird Particules', an inner isolation chamber packed with overactive reagents, and Alonzo's version of 'Kuramoto Model', whose muddied UR-style hits resound like mechy hand-claps, as chaotic bass gunfire unloads itself across a traipsing mix.
Nordhouse (Luke Hess & Brian Kage Reference remix) (5:51)
Galaxian (Max Watts remix) (6:02)
Review: Detroit's Brian Kage is back with more Motor City goodness, this time as a remixer alongside a fine selection of peers. It is his Timeless Times album that gets reworked here and for his remix of 'Nordhouse' he works with fellow Detroiter and dub techno don Luke Hess to cook up a warm, shuffling sound. Elsewhere Delano Smith brings his signature smoky loops and plaintive keys to 'Detroit Techno City', Milton Jackson steps up with a buddy deep house roller and 'Galaxian' gets an electro remix from Max Watts to make this a classy, quality collection.
Review: Planet Trip Records calls Millos Kasier one of their favourite DJs on earth so they are buzzing to have him next up. He is a Brazilian talent who brings plenty of the energy and style of his homeland to this EP. 'Te Quero Perto' has woody, knocking beats and an old-school Chicago bassline setting the tone before glistering and retro-future keys arrive to bring light and hope. A Latin vocal and Italo chords then take things to the next level and make this a real summer sizzler. A Paco Cabana is more percussive and Lipelis & Orion Agassi offer two different versions that rework it for the club.
Review: Naming his latest tunes 'Target Practice' and 'Improv', Spanish electro producer Kalcagni is determined to flaunt his care-less, unruffled streak, implying that the production of electro floor-haulage is a cakewalk. After all, the best among us eat bangers for breakfast! The A-siders rattle out like inexhaustible mags, as we hunt down bullet-holed cardboard cutouts of mortal enemies, spied in the reticle. It's only until after such an opening bloodbath that we find a moment to catch our breaths and put on a 'Clean Shirt', where rejuvenative acids resound between roomier beat. Finally, 'Drift N Shift' hears Kalcagni pack in his shift at the shooting range and steal away into a misty, chord-laden night, though the sense of urgency is not lost on us.
Review: Who are the internet OGs, and who has a right to claim the internet as territory anyway? Present day acid house musician Rio Kawamoto queries us this in EP form, blasting us right on back to the era of static gif-laden webpages and firewall chinks, before platform-centric neoliberal whitewashing of the internet took hold. From 'Straight Outta GeoCities' to 'AOL' to 'Marathon 2', this is an extremely compelling time capsulate of the late nineties and noughts internet told through the lens of acid house. The EP makes deft use of noizy flat beats, farty cyberspatial sound design, and offbeat Kylie Minogue-ish organ hits for good measure (on Mogwaa Calle's version of 'Real Player'). The saying "you've got mail!" will never get old, not least when you find this one in package form on your doorstep.
Review: Domingo Dark makes his solo vinyl debut as Kaxtelian with an EP that really finds him stretching his legs across a mix of electro, UK hardcore and techno with a smattering of Belgian influences and the authentic sound of Valencia also peeking through. Created between the ghettos of Albacete and Badalona, the release marks a fine new chapter in Dark's career. 'Hardcore Motherfucker' is just that with its blistering drum funk and acid brightness. 'Ghetto Cyberpunkers' has booming low ends and caustic synths and 'Hardcore Boys' is a dense melange of ghoulish vocals and synth intensity that rides a slamming electro-techno rhythm.
Review: As many freshly minted dance labels do, France-based Handwerk Sounds has decided to make its debut release a multi-artist EP. Fittingly, debutant artist Kiss The Future kicks things off, serving up the rising and falling new-age synth sounds, sequenced bass, buzzing nu-disco lead lines and unfussy retro-house beats of 'WhatUWant'. Casual Plaza takes over with the mid-80s NYC proto-house-meets-freestyle flex of 'FM Paradise', before Disset blurs the boundaries between spacey tech-house and intergalactic deep house ('Connection Loss'). To round off a rock-solid first Handwerk Sounds EP, Amlee delivers the bleeping, electro-goes-early house excellence of 'Come Close' (all sparse melodic motifs, squelchy bass, supernova chords and talkbox vocal samples).
Review: Kitchen Plug is a Parisian trio that seeks to combine "the rebellious energy of punk and the synth-driven chaos of electro." This new EP on Chat Noir does bear that out with some playful and quirky cuts packed with fresh sound designs and charming vocals over some effective drum programming. 'A New Kind Of Peace' is a hooky opener with a carefree vibe, 'L'amante (feat Vica)' brings some disco licks and 'La Nuit' gets more raw and direct. 'Confusao' is a balmy and widescreen number that encourages you to daydream and 'Captain Nikouze' shuts down with some pixelated synth madness.
Review: It's 2024, and we must say, there's no label name less apt to characterise the spirit of the age better than Trance Pandemic Ukraine. With featuring artists Komponente and Kurillo launching their own imprint here - in turn named after the 2023 release 'Trance Pandemic' on fellow Berlin label System Error - their new extended play 'Boston Dynamics' is a DARPA-dogged acid techno acme ("trance" is debatable), fervently embracing the real-world threat of military robotics in sating the all-too-real, present cybernetic human appetite for war. War has, in fact, always been a muse for much electro and techno; the riffling sound design on this one comes backed up by saltatorial leg-kicks and stomping robo-march claps all throughout, and the sinister phase-twists heard most notably on 'Not From New York' do not help let up the mood of downtrodden pugnacity either. Serious stuff!
Review: For its ninth release, Gamine knocks it out of the park again with Konerytmi's new five-track EP. This release is a heartfelt tribute to the 80s, but it offers more than just nostalgia-it's an interpretation of the era's distinct musical style. The tunes capture the iconic timbres, drum sounds, melodies and harmonies of the 80s so take you back to that time on a wave of killer electro rhythms that are both vibrant and fresh but driving and club ready. If you're longing for the 80s but don't have a time machine, this 12" is the perfect way to relive the music of that decade.
Review: Transgender environmental activist Chris Korda founded the Church of Euthanasia (CoE) in 1992 and advocated for the end of humanity's destructive practices. Korda's work itself transcends activism by drawing on art, music and technology in groundbreaking ways. A retrospective of her oeuvre at Goswell Road unites her CoE actions with her personal creative practice and showcases original banners, archival materials and unseen paintings. Korda's music, meanwhile, is generated by kinetic virtual sculptures and collaborative algorithms that reflect her vision of machines as equals in the creative process. Her unique approach challenges traditional boundaries and results in some gorgeous groves that are powerful physically and emotionally.
Review: Moroccan favourite Kosh tops up a new trifecta of releases for his own Convergence label with this latest edition of 'Enslaved'. Melodic electro-acid tempered by vocoder lines (the 'Vox Mix'), speedy 4x4 trance ('Supernova') and deeper-down-the-rabbit-hole tabfests ('Above & Beyond'). Clearly, there's something here for everyone; even a delectable topping of bonus beats on the A2, which works just as well on its own as it does with its vocoded vocal centrepiece.
Review: Wiesbaden, Germany-born Florian Kupfer has spent the last decade exploring around the edges of the dancefloor with hugely evocative sounds that are always much more than mere tools. This latest mad-limited 12" is another doozy that opens with the menacing and mechanical rhythms of 'Sidelined' topped with eerie spoken word loops. 'Integrating The Shadow' is a more rugged electro rhythm with hissing hi-hats sweeping through the mix and downbeat chords adding a touch of melancholy. 'Unmasked' gets dark, dirty and messed up for those 5am wig-outs and 'Severed Lines Of Communication' is a hypnotic roller alive with static electricity.
Review: The "Rhythms Of The Pacific" series hears Vancouver label Pacific Rhythms reimagine dance music to aid in vast ocean traversals. Returning with another 12" sampler of material - the tracks are slated for inclusion in a celebratory ten year anniversary comp later this year - we hear Lnrdcroy, Waterpark, Kennedy and Active Surplus bring upper-echelonic, chameleonic beats of the much-less-peggable variety. 'Galaxio Salaxio' moves between dark synth and watery dub, scarcely preparing us for the immersive chordal swims that ensue on 'Coastal Plus'. Finally, 'Blue Beam' incurs an underwater search for coves and water pockets, as jets of pressure escape through riser synths and pufferfish drums.
Hazmat Live - "The Marriage Of Korg & Moog" (4:50)
Review: Passing Currents aims to stand out from the predictable by offering a deeply human touch in its music. This five-tracker backs that up by melding academic expertise with dancefloor intuition and the A-side features txted by Phil Moffa remixed by Yamaha DSP coder okpk after they met during doctoral studies, they flip technical mastery into bass-driven energy while Atrevido' fuses California warmth with analogue electro, Josh Dahlberg's rediscovered 2009 electro gem, 'Ass On The Floor', still bangs and Detroit's Kevin Reynolds delivers hypnotic grooves before Hazmat Live pushes boundaries with a sound rooted in soulful, experimental innovation.
Dirty Summer 2k6 (Greg Acess & Mafia Mike remix) (6:39)
Review: Another killer reissue here from the unrivalled team at ZYX who look back to the early 2000s for Dirty Summer, an energetic electronic album by Joy Kitikonti. This one very much captures the essence of summer nightlife and dancefloor thrills while fusing house, trance and euro-dance influences with big shiny beats and catchy melodies. Its uplifting sound is as infectious as a virus and the melodies are more sugary than a mountain of Haribo, all of which are designed to keep you moving and fill your hart with the sort of carefree fun that euro-dane is all about. It's an electrifying soundtrack for any party.
Review: Beaming into the future from the 1980s Belgian EBM scene, The Klinik (now reduced to two core members Marc Verhaeghen and Mark Burghgraeve) are a pivotal force. They helped found the underground, all while influencing a generation of EBM artists both locally and internationally. ‘Pain And Pleasure’ was their first blush, first released as an EP on Antler Records in 1986. Now recovered and “album-ified”, it takes on a new form as a full-length LP elongation, retitled Plague & Pain And Pleasure. With a new sado-leathered, plague doctoral, marble vinyl aesthetic, this is an electrifyingly chalky expansion pack taking after the original three-tracker, and which proves again the dark efficacy of their gluttonous, motoric overwhelmer sound, evidenced on the likes of ‘World Domination’, ‘Go Back’ and ‘Outside’.
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