Esplendor Geometrico - "Rotor" (Broken English club remix)
Prostitutes - "Cuyahoga Frankenstein"
Review: The Contort Yourself tradition of electronics pioneers, modern masters and new names continues into CY003. Enrique comes under that latter banner. The Hot Releases alumnus introduces the EP with the piston pounded belligerence of Dissociate. L.I.E.S. and Nation veteran Beau Wanzer continues this stroll into aggression. Weasels is an upturned work of techno. Nuts, bolts and the grisly inner workings are on show for this fast paced floor mangler. Spain's industrial stalwarts Esplendor Geometrico open the flip. From 1988 the grit of the factory floor is carried into Rotor. A touch of the mystical is injected, chants looped through the hypnotic rhythms in this simmering classic. Broken English Club is on hand to rework Rotor into a guttering piece of Electro tainted machine music. If you're hoping for some respite, think again. Prostitutes (Diagonal) closes with the cruel pummelling percussion of Cuyahoga Frankenstein. A brutal, beefy and brilliant 12.
Review: Most probably missed out on Pan Daijing's 2015 debut, a limited-edition cassette filled with industrial-inspired techno improvisations. This 12" for Bedouin Records is the Berlin-based Chinese artist's first appearance on wax, and contains a quartet of intense and distorted workouts. Some will hear nods to classic Chicagoan acid and EBM in the thrusting industrial techno of "Tenderloin Tanz", while the moody, synth-laden throb of "Exile" recalls some of Cabaret Voltaire's most memorable moments. Flip for the spooky EBM of "A Season In Hell", where ghostly melody lines and aggressive stabs prod away at the senses, and the Nine Inch Nails style audio anger of "Nomenklatura".
Review: Back in December, Genevieve Pasquier quietly returned to action after six years by contributing a remix of the previously unheard "Fairy Tale" to Frigio's The Midas Touch EP. The original version of that song takes pride of place on Reflection, alongside three other clandestine trips into industrial pop territory. It's all deliciously dark and moody stuff, with metallic drum machine percussion, fuzzy synth lines and the artist's own atmospheric vocals taking centre stage. We're particularly enjoying the buzzing guitars, low-slung groove and Nine Inch Nails attitude of "Bouge!", though the decidedly weird, crackly and sparse "Tu Es Le Star" is similarly impressive.
Nocturnal Emissions - "Even The Good Times Are Bad (1983)" (4:33)
Innyster - "Todis" (6:08)
Review: Contort Yourself reaches its sixth installment with yet another era spanning gathering of post-punk and industrial oddities for the most deviant of dancefloors to digest. In the contemporary corner we have Penelope's Fiance, a promising industrial artist from Greece. Meanwhile on the B-side, Nigel Ayers as Nocturnal Emissions takes us back to 1983 with the utterly chilling "Demon Circuits Bloodbath" and "Even The Good Times Are Bad". L.I.E.S boss Ron Morelli steps up as U202 to remix "Even The Good Times Are Bad" as a death march of malevolent percussion.
Review: Having already established one sub-label in Perc Trax Ltd, Ali Wells further expands the remit of his Perc operation further with the first release on his Submit label dedicated to experimental music. Arriving with the following mission statement, "Analogue, digital, laptop, modular, field recordings, circuit-bent, vocal, and every sound source is welcome. No format, recording technology, musician, producer or band is outside of the label's horizon," it's clear Submit will have a pretty broad approach and as debut releases go, this is quite the affair. The works of celebrated German industrial act Einsturzende Neubauten the focus of attention here as Perc presents his own take on four tracks from the group's LP Kollaps. The results bear comparison with the hard edged abstracted approach of contemporary Phillitronics (Metasplice, Great Circle) and the battered, primitive electronics of CHBB though the enduring feeling is this EP proves once more how vital Perc is.
Review: In a decidedly enthralling meeting of French electronic minds, drone and synth champion Richard Pinhas meets with Zombie Zombie's Etienne Jaumet to stretch out across two sides with the expansive tones of "Vents Solaires". The A-side is largely given over to beatless waves of warm melodies, oscillators and filters turning at a glacial pace while a healthy amount of bleeps and squiggles pass through delay units for a perfect new age meltdown excursion. On the flip side a coldwave disco edge creeps into the synth, although keeping anything as precise as a beat subdued underneath a fulsome bassline and plenty more textural decoration.
Proletarian Submission 2 (The Howl) (Alessandro Adriani edit) (4:47)
Review: Back in a distant 1982, Italian duo Fabrizio Lucarini and Silvia Innocenti were making music under the Plath moniker, a project that was arguably ahead of its time and knee deep in what was later going to be termed 'power electronics'. But, Mannequin have reissued this specifically because it sounds like nothing else; "I Am Strange Now" and its mutant offspring "Proletarian Submission 2 (The Howl)" are a pair of slithering, lo-fi industrial experiments with an itchy framework, and this is taken to the very limits of sense on "Telik 12345". Label head Alessandro Adriani throws down an edit of "Proletarian Submission 2 (The Howl)", which focusses more heavily on the beats and deranged sonics, leavings the vocals to fester slowly in the background. This is excellent, as per usual...
Club Music (Ancient Methods Pogo Im Saurebad remix)
So We Went Electric (Richard H Kirk main mix)
So We Went Electric (Richard H Kirk dub mix)
Review: With the label at the peak of its powers after a breakthrough 2014, one of the final Diagonal releases sees material from Powell's excellent Club Music 12" treated and abused by the titan-esque figures of Ancient Methods and Richard H. Kirk. If you've seen Powell towering over some decks or heard his Melon Magic show on NTS it's likely you will recognise at least one of the four remixes here and it's hard to pick out one favourite. Ancient Methods goes all turbo-charged Nitzer Ebb on his opening Korpersaure91 remix of "Club Music" whilst the playfully juddering rhythms of the subsequent Pogo Im Saurebad effort should explain the title. On the flip Kirk boils down "So We Went Electric" to it's barest rhythmic elements on a fizzing main mix whilst the accompanying dub is full on crazy.
Review: ** Diagonal Repress ** Since Powell last appeared on his own Diagonal Records label back in 2012 with Body Music, his unique mulch of post-punk textures, industrial techno and jerky no wave beats has taken the world by storm, seeing releases on The Death of Rave and Mute's Liberation Technologies imprint. While Powell's sound to date has been characterised by frenetic, seizure-inducing rhythms, Club Music sees Powell bring things down to a more mixable tempo. "So We Went Electric" is the closest thing to straight techno he's made, though the frazzled textures sound like more Evol than Regis, while the pumped up monosynths that drive "No U Turn" are anchored by an underlying beat and guitar shreds that sound as if they could have come from an old Neptunes beat left to rust. Finally, the Russell Haswell collaboration "Maniac" is as crazed as its name suggests, a shrewd piece of contorted midtempo noise-funk which combines the raw power of both producers brilliantly.
Review: With recent releases from Zomby and Special Request to their name, XL Recordings seem to be returning to their dancefloor roots in a big way. Here, they welcome back Diagonal boss Oscar Powell, who follows up his recent "Sylvester Stallone" 12" with two more certified dancefloor bombs featuring the widely publicized sampled sounds of Steve Albini. "Insomniac" is particularly potent, drawing on EBM and industrial for inspiration. The result a distorted, vocal-laden, punky affair, like DAF or Front 242 given a 21st century makeover. Flipside "Should've Been A Drummer" is a similarly full-throttle affair - admittedly with more of a standard 4.4 swing - with ragged analogue electronics and the kind of grit-laden sonic textures for which he's renowned.
Review: Sardinian master trance inductor Claudio PRC teams up with Puglian hypnotic techno upstart Dubit for some dark industrial ambient escapades that soundtrack a one-way ticket to hell and back. "Pattern A" is not for the faint of heart: sixteen masochistic minutes of harsh textural abrasions pushing the same threshold as Shifted or Sam KDC have been doing in recent times. "Pattern B" on the flip explores sinister atmospherics of the cinematic kind much like Ryo Murakami's recent work. For fans of recent releases on Auxiliary or Hidden Hawaii, take note!
Review: There's a tongue in cheek sensibility and an air of confrontation to much that James Donadio does as Prostitutes which made him more than suited to Powell's Diagonal label when the Cleveland artist debuted on the label last year. It's nice to see Donadio back with the Simple Minds-riffing Ecstasy, Crashing Beats & Fantasy and contributing one of the final Diagonal records of 2014, a year that's been most successful for both artist and label. Donadio has said in interviews Powell tries to encourage him to take a more explicit approach to the dancefloor and that's evident on this quartet of Prostitutes tracks. The curdling acid of "Dollars To DMs" and the faltering bleep electro of "Side Effects Of Living" are particularly potent Prostitutes productions!
Review: And just like that, France's Kump label is born. The newly formed crew make for some pretty promising prospects if this debut EP is anything to go by, and they've started flying off our shelves with the same sort of zesty energy found across its five killers! Thankfully, this isn't yet another deep house joint and, one the contrary, it provides us with some seriously fresh strains of house music built for the next decade. Ricco's opener "Gilbert & George" is a punchy, mid-tempo pulser with a subtly acidic flow, and Pletnev's "Thunder" follows beautifully with the same sort of beat, but comparatively tamer harmonies. On the flip, Ju-Ju83 gets all sombre and industrial on "Untimely End", while "Nirvana" by Roe Deers offers a totally different sort of 'sad', and Markus Gibbs's "Dernier Souffle" manages to blend mid-90's acid with something that, well, we can't quite put our finger on...
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.
Parrish Smith - "Revolution Will Always Be Televised"
Pankow - "Das Vodkalied" (Helena Hauff remix)
Pankow - "Das Vodkalied"
Pankow - "I’m Food For You"
Perseus Traxx - "Get Away"
Review: REPRESS ALERT: Parrish Smith's debut of dystopic forbidding sets the tone of this label's impressive first release with a superb stark, acid ridden slab of body music. Helena Hauff adds to the proceedings with her remix of Pankow's"Das Vodkalied" taking no prisoners and using heavy percussion in contrast to a wonderfully tense set of arpeggiations, which all descend into skull crushing pressure. Carrying over to the flip side are Pankow, pioneers of the Italian Industrial/EBM scene, with two tracks from their legendary first tape "Throw Out Rite" from 1983. With "Das Vodkalied" disembodied vocals are cut up and come from every direction driven by a raw, off-kilter energy and pounding beat. "I'm Food For You" cranks up the drive and anxiety to create a killer track based around stark arpeggiation. Last of all, Perseus Traxx provides an acidic stripped down venting of frustrations which he spits out with vehemence.
Review: Few labels would choose to issue a CD compilation for their second release, so kudos to Perc Trax offshoot Submit for showing some ambition, more so when the focus of Feral Grind is on a number of producers who "operate at the intersection of techno, drone and DIY electronics". This 12" sampler sets the tone for what to expect from the compilation that's been curated by Ali 'Perc' Wells and music journalist Justin Farrar with tracks from Pete Swanson, Burial Hex, Prostitutes and Profligate sharing space either side of the record. If you've been a fan of the recent output from Diagonal, Spectrum Spools or Type then you should engage in this sampler - "Braces On My Fangs" by Prostitutes is a particular highlight.
Review: Thomas Freiro and Alex Knoblauch recently described VEYL's first multi-artist offering as "an experiment in noise and body music". 'In practice, that means a blend of moody, paranoia-inducing drum machine chug (Years of Denial's dark, arpeggio-driven "Is It Over Yet"), bustling, funk-fuelled Nitzer Ebb revivalism (the rather fine dancefloor workout that is Autumns' brilliantly named "Get It Booked You Bastard"), red-lined industrial electro (RNXRX's "Cybele"), slamming techno/thrash metal fusion (the punch-to-the-guts that is Maenad Veyl's "Subtle Violence"), Depeche Mode style creepiness ("Beetleguise" by Poison Green) and vaguely unsettling, paranoid electronica (Exhausted Modern's superb EP closing cut "Nekam Nesen"). It's all pretty clandestine and gothic in ethos, but also really rather good.
Review: As Editions Mego continue to ladle the fertile broth of Musique Concrete for forgotten gems, this selection provides an interesting spread of artists, with the approaches of five different experimentalists in the field of sonic research winding up mutually beneficial. Juxtaposing the forlorn and otherworldly collages of sound helps give these pieces a little context, with the differences between them providing a great entry point for undeniably obtuse listening. Edgardo Canton's "I Palpiti" is an especially enticing romp through the inner workings of a sixties science fiction laboratory, while Mireille Chamass Kyrou's "Etude 1" features pops and clicks so close in the mix that it'll send shivers down your spine.
Review: Atomin Paluu translates to The Return Of The Atom, a documentary by Jussi Eerola and Mika Taanila about the first nuclear power plant built after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Pan Sonic allegedly created the soundtrack using third-party field recordings of the building site as sound sources. Although the soundtrack was finished in 2011, the film had been entangled in legal proceedings due to the controversial subject matter, but finally surfaced in the form of a final cut and gaining independent distribution. It was also awarded Best Soundtrack at the Jussi Awards. the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars. Now Blast First Petite grant Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen final work as Pan Sonic a release on the format it deserves, a 2LP pressing that amplifies their peerless grasp of sound design.
Touch The State Of That (with Jennifer Touch) (7:15)
The Motion (with Mutado Pintado) (6:16)
Review: When it comes to wresting maximum emotion and energy from analogue electronic instruments, few artists can match acid revivalists Paranoid London. They've certainly made their machines sing on Arseholes, Liars & Electronic Pioneers, their third full length excursion. Kicking off with the EBM-meets-acid growl of Joe Lewis hook-up 'Love One Self', the set includes such gems as 'People (Ah Yeah)' (an ambient acid number featuring Bobby Gillespie on vocals), the hard-wired acid trippiness of 'Up Is Down' (with DJ Genesis), the squelchy and spacey excellence of 'Start To Fade' (with Josh Caffe), the acid-electro brilliance of 'GRINDR' and a genuine future anthem in Mutado Pintado collab 'The Motion'.
Review: Seven years after his last album, UK techno mainstay Perc is back with another thrilling full length that brings together the past, present and future of his sound. Hard techno is very much in right now but Perc has always dealt in a tough take on the genre that is at odds with the usual tropes and he showcases that again here with plenty of high-energy tracks and a healthy dose of his signature industrial texture. In between percussive workouts, there are some flashy acid lines and all manner of deeply penetrating drones. A great return for this vital artist.
Review: Pharmakon's Maggot Mass, the latest release after a five-year pause, sees Margaret Chardiet pushing the boundaries of her sound. Departing from the original frameworks of her previous work, this album blends the raw power of noise and power electronics with industrial and punk elements. The album reflects Chardiet's deep-seated disillusionment with humanity's fractured connection to the environment, exploring the isolation that arises from this disconnect. Pharmakon challenges the conventional notions of worth and privilege, questioning humanity's hierarchical dominance over nature. The title track, Maggot Mass, draws a provocative comparison between humans and maggots, suggesting that maggots contribute more to the ecosystem by recycling death into new life. Chardiet's exploration of grief, loss and the concept of rebirth through decay is both unsettling and cathartic. Maggot Mass is a visceral, thought-provoking album that confronts the discomfort of our existence and the destructive impact of human life on the natural world.
Review: Despite being involved in quite a range of artistic endeavours over the years, Suzy Poling has still managed to be involved in a quite hefty amount of long players under the Pod Blotz banner since the project was started back in 2002. Her twelfth album, Glass Tears, finds a kindred home in Glasgow's Clan Destine Records, and a sense of tension is apparent from start to finish of the nine track set. Drums rattle, nightmarish electronic textures unfold with spine chilling effects and on "Die & Come Alive" Poling manages to harness these squalling elements into something approaching a genuine hit. Her heat treated vocals glide perfectly on a dead-eyed synth hook and tumbling drums for a track that lodges effortlessly into your cerebral cortex.
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