Review: A aka Mika Vainio's 'Fermionit' is a significant release from the late Finnish producer, who passed away in 2017. Originally featured in a Belgium Detuned 6x12 boxset just before his death, the track received critical acclaim from collectors and fans. Now, it returns to Mika's own Sahko label for a well-deserved 12" release. 'Fermionit' embodies the essence of Finnish techno with its minimalistic, cold and stark sound. The track's passive-aggressive edge showcases Vainio's signature style, blending raw, unfiltered textures with a profound sense of depth. This release not only honors Vainio's legacy but also offers a chance for new listeners to experience the pure DNA of Finnish techno. An essential listen for fans of minimalist and avant-garde electronic music.
Review: "I resynthesized some vocals that almost sounded human, but not quite. That's why I decided to name the track after a monkey." Depeche Mode mainstay, and one of the UK's finest modern musicians and songwriters, on his website Martin Gore cuts to the quick in explaining his latest solo release, which takes its name directly from Jared Diamond's book about the similarities between animal and human behaviour, The Third Chimpanzee.
It's certainly a pretty wild experience. Like the preceding lone wolf album, MG, here MG the guy gives us five tracks of synth goodness made on modular consoles. Visiting post-ambient, IDM and industrial noise, or rather luring those elements out of their natural comfort zones and into an atmosphere that almost feels as though you're lost in nature, it's a real opportunity for escapism at a time when many of us have never needed one more.
Review: Having built his reputation via a trio of must-check EPs on Bokeh Versions, Mars89 transfers to Alex Hall's "mutant electronics" imprint Natural Sciences. The producer is a neat fit on the imprint, with "2020" containing a quartet of creepy, hard-wired, industrial-tinged cuts that seem eerily fitting for these troubled times. He begins with the bone-rattling beats, machine-gun percussion hits, ricocheting metallic clonks and gut-punching bass of "GoodThing", before successfully fusing mutilated industrial sounds and paranoid rhythms on "JoyCamp". Over on side B, "DayOrder" is a strangely swung slab of mind-altering electronica that defies easy description, while "MiniLuv" is a thumping stomp through lo-fi techno territory in the company of a steroid-fired monster.
Too High To Play Bear's Campout (feat Brin) (7:35)
One4G
Review: No prizes for guessing the source of inspiration behind Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid's latest psyched out ambient odyssey, On Mushrooms is an immersive trip in itself but actually serves as precursor to the producer's forthcoming album, Mycelium Music, due to arrive in the coming months. An homage to the natural phenomena not just of hallucinogenic shrooms, but the bond between people and the natural world, and the hidden connections of that world. "When you go out for mushrooms in the hills of California there is an experience in which you wander for hours, scanning low until your eyes are fatigued and then suddenly there is a break in the chaparral and a cluster of immaculate King Boletes appears before you, posed with an almost hieratic intensity," says Matthewdavid. If you pay close attention to that moment of perception, it is almost always accompanied by a telepathic whispering voice that says: 'Oh hello, we've been waiting for you'."
Review: Outlier experimental label Eating Music brings back more for us to chew on here in the form of a varied four tracker from various artists. It is Mindexxx that opens with 'Track 1' which layers up snaking synths and deeply buried dark bass that grows in intensity and washes over you like a Tsunami. Laughing Ears then cuts back to a tender mood with soft piano chords and slowly unfolding rhythms that are warm and lithe. Gooooose's 'The Dusk Of Digital Age' is a churchy affair with textured drones shot through with beams of synth light and Knopha's 'Off-Peak Season Tourists' layers up choral vocals and jumbled drum sounds into something hypnotic and escapist.
Review: Local Talk hits the rather significant catalogue number of 100 with a forward thinking EP that stays true to its MO over the last few years. It finds MLiR aka Modern Life Is Rubbish joined by Arnau Obiols to serve up a brace of brilliant tunes that blur the lines between a myriad different dance styles. "Lajbans" is a playful, fun tune with tooting arps and cosmic melodies all married to a chugging beat that Todd Terje would be proud of. The Bellaterra dub on the flip reworks it with plenty of space echo, knob twirling effects and sci-fi atmospheres. A tidy little package.
Review: Say a big hello to the new Modez label here while getting lost in the hard hitting first release from Modelle. It's a bold barrage of bass, Baille funk and dubstep across six sizzling cuts. 'Pursuit' opens up with lithe broken beats wired up with electricity and percussive hits. 'Dum Dumb' is built on a distorted low end with hard-ass raps and brutal drum breaks, 'Razor Rex' arrests the attention with its pulsing bass and bleeping modular synth sequences while 'Petrie's Rage' is a hyper-speed cosmic banger. 'Jeff On God' (feat Parkinson White) shuts down with more low end energy and this time jungle breaks provide the power source.
Review: Monochord, which is the duo of Vienna-based musicians Bernhard Hammer and Jakob Schneidewind, diverges from their Elektro Guzzi roots with electroacoustic experiments and cinematic elements. Their music unfolds organically here, propelled by a forward momentum that distinguishes it while minimalist compositions explore electronica, ambient, shoegaze, and modern classical influences, maximising potential to logical and sometimes illogical conclusions. Introspective and filmic, Monochord's quiet, non-confrontational nature traverses various realms with a subtle pulse and evocative, droning textures that make for music which defies easy categorisation and evokes deep introspection.
About Tape (feat Brian Eno - Peter Kruder remix) (9:48)
Origami II (Takamovsky remix) (4:11)
Himmer Uber Lima (Ken Hayakawa remix) (6:59)
Review: Coming through in a limited quantity of 500 copies for Record Store Day 2015, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Christoph H. Mueller - two heavyweights of the German electronica tradition - offer up their tracks from the previously released Vienna EP for a bit of remixing action. "About Tape" features the great ambient master Brian Eno, but rather than just leaving it loose and hollow, Peter Kruder rewires the tune into a delightful blend of subtle tribalism and airy atmospherics; on the flipside Takamosky blends docile piano keys into more mechanical beat patterns with his remix of "Origami II", and Ken Hayakawa transforms "Himmer Uber Lima" into a laid-back, almost Balearic house cut. Wunderbar!
Review: Zach Murray is a fast-rising London producer who makes a great impression here with an ambitious and ultimately accomplished double pack on Oscuro. The title track 'Pieces Of The Puzzle' opens with sweeping ambient before 'Chill Pill' explores as glistening melodic world of futuristic tech and 'Can't Stop The Rain' has an old-school energy to its marching drums and rave stabs. There are also forays into acidic electro like on 'Keep Chasin'' and rugged breaks on 'Phase Me', elastic house sounds on 'Dubmotions' and cosmic turbulence in the trippy 'Dreams,' all of which show off this producer's versatility in style.
Review: Recorded in Essaouira, Morocco, Pedro Vian and Maalem Nabob Soudani present an exercise in melding the traditional and unorthodox, the old and new, the abstract and the direct, the exotic and, well, something even more exotic. Rooted in the Gnawa sound, but leaning heavily into deep electronic worlds, EMS AKS Synthi and buchla meet the qrebeb and guimbiri, everything contrasting yet complementing. The result is this intoxicating brew that transports you to the North African coastline on which this collection was conceived and captured, and then onto somewhere that's almost beyond the terrestrial. Close your eyes, allow the hypnotic looped musical phrases and organic aesthetic of the recording itself to wash over you, through, and around your body. Something to truly get lost in and a fantastic example of cross-pollination done properly.
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