Back catalogue: Electro

Review: Acida Dominga makes their debut with 'Imagination Creates Reality', making their intentions clear: "(this) is my very first track, my very first EP and debut project as music producer, transforming music into a multi-sensory holistic journey." As she strikes a candid pose on the front cover, we're left puckering our lips at the pH levels on this one, with 'State Of Consciousness' and 'Lost Highways' sounding off raspy acids, while theming them after a psychedelic, hyperstitious consensus reality. Closer 'Coin Of Heaven' ends things on a wild harmonic layering over the acid sixteenths, with Twilight Zone radio murmurs swirling over the machinations.

Review: David Cronenberg's ExistenZ is a disturbing and mind-frying film, deploying every otherworldly trope from secret technology to layered virtual worlds to anatomical weaponry. But what happens when you take the thematic essence of Cronenberg's grotesque "bone guns" and the like, and transmute said abstracted essence into an electro EP? Spanish producer Allumynd has a demonstrable answer in mind and in hand, emerging from the shadows with a killer eight-track record that endeavours to push at the limit of the otherwise usually wholly computerised sound. Viral, electrical humanoid energies are conducted with blistering shock, charging each separate beat with excitotoxic neuronal energy when none would usually be expected: just take 'Neural Oscillations', for instance. The record's basslines and top elements, meanwhile, continue to gargle and snaffle away ('5K', 'Lost Control Again') , in a manner not unlike the mouth sounds emitted by the bio-demonic beasts found in Cronenberg's films.

Review: This new one on mysterious UK label MoonVoid Records serves up a trio of previously unreleased tracks that were originally recorded in the early 90s on tape cassette by Benjamin Wetherill under the Amethyst Moon alias. Apparently this EP is the first of a few, which is great news once you hear them. 'Lifestheme' is a crunchy and wiry electronic workout with fizzing synths and dense beats. 'Human At The Controls' brings slower rhythms and snaking synths and hissing hits while 'False Alarm (Look Over Your Shoulder)' spins you out in silky cosmic synths and snappy metallic snares.

Review: Spanish tastemakers Microm Records celebrates a decade of innovation in electro sound by bringing unreleased tracks from the past to vinyl alongside a selection of fresh current works. This project aims to honour the label's achievements while bridging the gap between its past and present and does so in style while also resurrecting hidden gems and encapsulating the evolution of its sound. From the dark, corrugated funk of Dark Vektor's 'Des Control' via MEKA's enthralling, vocal-laced workout 'If Electro' via Negocius Man's 'The Launcher', this is a superb electro collection.

Review: EC Underground is back with more inquisitors of low-end heavy sounds on Bass Scene Investigation vol 1 and again digs deep into the worlds of electro, techno, breakbeat and IDM. The compilation kicks off with the skittish percussive patterns of Illektrolab's 'Making Heads Dip', then heads into moody ground with ADJ, Pablo Funk brings some menacing synth work and Errorbeauty gets all weird and trippy with some mad electronics. Francois Dillinger offers a dystopian electro sound full of irresistibly jacked-up drums. A fine investigation indeed.

Review: A2L were active between 1988 and 1990 and released two albums and several EPs on labels like 1st Bass, Big One and Force Inc. Their sound blended British psychedelic house with elements of new beat, industrial, EBM and early acid house and in doing so captured the raw energy of the UK rave scene. Notably different from typical acid house acts of the time, A2L's music took in machine funk, samplers and turntable techniques to create trippy, infectious grooves. This collection compiles rare underground gems from them from 1989 and features standout tracks like 'Even Though It's Make Believe' and 'Come On.' It's a great look back to the experimental spirit of the late 80s.

Review: The Abstract Eye often works live and crafts tunes in one take, and that MO is the idea behind this new collection. It features plenty of hard-to-define sounds from over the last ten years, many of them with a cosmic synth outlook and raw analogue drums. 'Skyfather' is a real eye opener with its sense of mystic cosmic wonder, 'Real Myths' fizzes bring as burning phosphorus and 'A Yearning Feeling' is more paired back and introspective with jittery drums and electro rhythms all soothed by the melancholic synth work.

Review: Faithfully jammy acid techno from the idiomatic Acid Cuts, a new Grecian outing helmed up by an as yet unnamed head honcho. 'Der Compositeur Classique' is the first LP on the label and comes by way of producer Apoll, real name Andre Pollmann, a longtime fixture of the German industrial landscape come soundscape (he grew up in the Ruhr area), whose movements through the 80s industrial and EBM circuits through to minimal techno has made for a well-seasoned though not unbalanced purveyor of sound. An eight-tracker of knockingly brutal acid pingers, this is a motherboard's worth of complication and fidget here, best among them being the deep house-techno trembler 'Top Of The Block' and the utilitarian, preferential hip house verger 'Coffee, But No Cookies'.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The Frequency Domain label has been quietly issuing some of the most compelling electronica of recent times, with a staggering cast of characters including Anthony Child, Bass Clef, Luke Sanger and more delivering more introspective, experimental material over the past couple of years. Now it's the turn of Apologist, a lesser-known project from Brendan Nelson which manifested in one 7" back in 2006. If you appreciate dreamy, slightly dubby electronics which move through different moods and scenes without getting you up off the sofa, this is the perfect trip. Many layered, richly rendered and full of grit and personality, it's the kind of record you'll discover new secrets in every time you visit.

Review: In a Catholic or other ecclesiastical context, a requiem is a song written and recited as an intended repose for the dead; a lyrical aid for mourning. And with over 30 years of studio experience under his belt, British techno producer Kirk Degiorgio lands on De:tuned with his very own 'Requiem', an eight-track excursion through ambi-mesmeric audio in the vein of digital, calculative ambient techno and other adjacent dance styles; though we are indeed left to wonder whether we're mourning anything here, because by the sounds of it, nothing at all has died. A longtime alias of Degiorgio, As One is nonetheless joined by fellow songwriter and producer Catherine Siofra Prendergast for this particular trip through the cyberspace sublime; best among these acid ambient apotheoses have to be 'Message Received', which slings low compared to the gaseous highs that precede it, and the closing 'Requiem', a masterclass in nimbus-floating techno.

Review: De:tuned house As One on their latest album-length demonstration in melodic house and techno. With over 30 years of studio experience under his belt, the pivotal British producer also known as Kirk Degiorgio once again lands on De:tuned with the mesmerising eight-track album, Requiem. Now joined by Catherine Siofra Prendergast, this progressive melodic release spans every wondrous end from elegiac acid to fractal bleep techno, keeping every waking or sleep-dancing moment harmonic and blissful over its course. Only the cavernous 'Message Received' marks any comparatively sinister moment, its textural harmonics offering little respite for the purely diatonic ear.

Review: Jonny Dillon is Automatic Tasty and One Foot in the Rave is his debut album on Winthorpe Records. An influential name in acid-driven electronic music, Jonny has spent over 15 years with labels like Acid Waxa, Further Electronix and CPU and knocks it out of the park once more with this new eight-track LP. It's immediately recognisable as his work thanks to its sonic blueprints, melodic acid grooves, bleepy funk and warm analogue textures. Tracks like 'The Apocalypse is Now' and 'Raymond Tuesday's Big Day Out' bring upfront energy, while 'Starry Night' and 'Ringfort' infuse subtle psychedelia to make this a captivating braindance workout.