Review: Most of the time you expect Terence Fixmer to deliver a steely strain of techno which reliably moves monolithic crowds in any temple you care to mention, but on this album for Novamute he's purposefully opened his palette to the EBM and industrial sounds which sparked his imagination as a teenager. It's instantly apparent on the abrasive jackhammer sonics of opening track 'Test of the Times', while 'In Synthesis' comes on with the sort of tough but sexy arpeggios you'd readily associate with Nitzer Ebb or Front 242. There's still a dancefloor functionality in these tracks, but pure techno is not the order of the day, and the results are thrilling from start to finish.
Review: Death On Wax has already slipped out a handful of sharply informed edit and remix 12"s which fly the flag for the early 80s dance culture, when seedy, nocturnal bands were colliding with the flamboyant grooves of disco and synth pop. On this latest record, Jaz goes low and slow on the new wave goth tones of 'Cleopatra' before Frantz leans in on the Eurodisco freakiness of 'Hyde & Go Sleaze'. DJ Rocca & N2B pile on the pressure with the camp delights of 'Abuse' and Facets completes the set with the boxy beats of 'Never Passing'. Essential cuts for any discerning death disco.
Review: Shift Records debuts with a potent collection of four techno tracks on their first release, bringing a dystopian future to life through sound. Set in the year 3666, the label's narrative is one of a world where humanity has lost hope, and a clandestine operation, SHIFT, emerges to breathe life back into a darkened Earth. On Side-1, it opens with Sanktion Libido's 'Dream on You,' a haunting track that pulses with deep, hypnotic rhythms, that blend EBM and techno. A2 follows with Fakk's 'Naturalenza,' blending organic elements with mechanical precision for an intense, driving groove. but also, a nostalgic trip. On the flip side, B1's 'Fuzschal' by P.O. is a sonic weapon, its relentless beats and dark atmosphere pushing the listener further into the dystopia. B2 closes with AMQN's 'Persecuta,' a track that combines futuristic soundscapes with a raw, industrial edge. Shift Records #1 delivers top-tier techno that captures the essence of a future in need of sonic salvation.
Review: "Eclectic digital dub" are the words Digital Sting use to describe the latest from Feel Free Hi Fi. Given Feel Free Hi Fi also run the label, we can take the phrasing as gospel. A few minutes into 'Blood' and you'll be short of any evidence to suggest otherwise, too. Bringing together the timbres, aesthetics and tones that have defined their preceding short form and extended play output, this is a debut album which defines the idea of an amalgamation of sounds. Drawing on their own experimentations, but also a multitude of canons and sub genres, industrial meets weirdo dancehall, meets broken techno, meets spacey stepping beats, meets frog sounds, and then some more. Cinematic, au naturel, yet also born from machines as much as Mother Earth, if you're not hearing this come 10am at one free party this year we'll eat our steel-toed hemp shoes.
Review: This reissued album from Justin K. Broadrick follows the sold-out 2022 CD release from Fourth Dimension Records. Since 1983, Broadrick has worked under the Final moniker, evolving from power electronics to a more expansive yet still intense sound over the years. This record features nine tracks all named and numbered after the title and they delve into murky textures, crepuscular guitars, harsh noise and dissonant bursts. The relentless, unforgiving sound captures anger and despair and prove Broadrick's ability to transform early power electronics into contemporary, boundary-pushing forms with deeper emotional resonance.
Review: Front 242's decision to re-release No Comment in partnership with Alfa Matrix is a testament to their influential status in electronic music. Originally released in 1984, the album marked a significant moment for the band as they solidified their lineup and began to attract a devoted following. The remastered version by Daniel B. allows listeners to experience the album's innovative and unmatched sound in the best audio quality possible. No Comment was a early example of Front 242's high-tech, hard-edged electronic punk dance music, establishing them as leaders of the emerging electronic body music movement. Front 242's commitment to pushing the boundaries of sound and technology is evident throughout the album. Their cold, synthetic brand of electronic dance music became their signature sound, influencing electronic music for decades to come.
Review: Front 242 are reissuing five timeless classics on stunning crystal-clear vinyl, with their 1982 debut Geography standing as a particularly seminal record in electronic music history. This influential album played a crucial role in the development of industrial and EBM music throughout the 80s and beyond, forming the foundational sound that defined Front 242. The reissue offers fans a chance to experience the album's groundbreaking tracks anew, appreciating the enduring legacy of this iconic band.
Review: Legends of EBM, Canadian electro-industrialists Front Line Assembly should need no introductions, given their work stretches back to the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, they occupy a relatively obscure space - made for dance floors, but twisted, dark cornered, writhing, distorted dance floors where many fear to tread. With that in mind there will be some newcomers, and The Initial Command is a great starting point because it's the starting point of the band's back catalogue.
Originally released in 1987, this is the first album from an impressive 17-LP-strong body of work. And it's also the most definitive of their sonic style, setting a benchmark for all that would follow. Fiercely original, not least for 'it's time', from the glittering synths and harsh metallic percussion of the unarguably cinematic 'Casualties' and the abrasive white noise on 'Ausgang Zum Himmel', to the punchy breaks and dramatic strings of 'No Control', re-releasing Command is an essential act of unearthing.
Review: But back in the early 1990s, it was feasible that neural implants could remain a lofty form of spycraft forever. Front Line Assembly's 'Tactical Neural Assembly' is built thematically on the excitement of that assumption; it's an album of blistering electro-industrial music, drawing heavily on the Mute-Factory-4AD tradition while appropriating contemporary acts like Nine Inch Nails - and with arguably even better mixing. Eight absolute units from 'Mindphaser' to 'Gun' raise sonic hell, and all cement the industrial as a formidable and well-defined genre.
Review: While Ben Frost's work has long been marked out by deft-touch dark ambient, experimental instincts and clandestine aural textures, he's always thrown in surprise excursions and drawn on musical inspirations that other like-minded producers would fear to embrace. This latter characteristic comes to the fore on Scope Neglect, his first solo set for six years. Remarkably, it utilises the moodiness, weight and ten-ton guitar licks of metal - played by Car Bombs guitarist Greg Kubacki and bass-slinger Liam Andrews of My Disco fame - as a starting point. Frost naturally puts these through the sonic wringer, combining them with his own skittish, IDM-influenced beats, dark ambient soundscapes and razor-sharp electronics. The results are unusual, impressive and emphatically enjoyable, sitting somewhere between timeless electronica, Nine Inch Nails and experimental metal.
Review: Ben Frost's Aurora has inherited a rare, lucky crowning achievement: it's one of those "introductory" records - touted by new ambient music neophytes online - used to initiate rookies into the so-called true ordinances of real taste. Divesting ourselves of this knowledge for a hot second, we prefer to draw attention to the fact that Aurora has reached another milestone: its tenth anniversary. Frost, the renowned Iceland-based Australian composer, crafted a tense yet glacial record back in 2014: Aurora's implicit takeaway seems to be the that to explore a polar land isn't a far cry from the act of exploring another planet; little context is grafted onto the sheer, real cold sound of the record, though the references are tentative if obvious: 'Nolan' and 'No Sorrowing' allude to "epic" cinema imagism - the lost causes and "no, go on without me" moments native to the seat-edge nailbiter soundtracks of survival flicks - whilst the utter dystonia of 'Diphenyl oxalate' lends a chemical influence, recalling a harrowing, cliff-edge SOS scenario aided only by the dim glimmer of glowsticks and flares, brandished by hazmat-suited heroes, lost, stranded far from the research station. Frost now shares a limited edition red vinyl edition here, limited to just 300 copies and including alternative artwork as well as an exclusive download of his blistering 2014 live performance of the record, at Berlin's Berghain.
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