Science Cult US Vinilo y CD

Review: Extramusical hugeness from Texas's best experimental electro outing, Science Cult. A name like 'Commuting Observables', when lent to a V/A mini-album, is abstract enough to immerse us in the implied concept; it conjures a mental image of a glaucous laboratory of sorts, in which a cadre of sonic mad scientists toil tirelessly to yield the batch of effervescent sense-smushers you hear here. Be warned, this isn't your bog-standard, one-or-two-part acid-analog jam EP; no, every track and alias here plays out like a different iteration of some carefully spliced yet still egregious biogenetic experiment; monster faunamechs bursting free from their respective vitreal nutri-vats, and embarking on respective misanthropic rampages, all leaving trails of mimetic polyalloy gunge behind them. Were we to choose one of said bio-beasts as our fighter, it'd have to be Syrte's 'I'm A T-Shirt', shortly run up by a tie between Fleck Esc' 'Unrefined Intentions' and Ben Pest's 'From AU'. But we have to say, none of this music is standard fare techno: all of it is really quite wild.

Review: It's already been a busy year for Poladroid with album drops on Microm and Detriti, but now the dark side electro vigilante joins the Science Cult crew for yet another full-length release. It's a chance to take in the breadth of Vladimir Volkoff's sound, which taps into the gnarly underground electro with some brilliant acidic results on the likes of 'Codex' and boxy, pneumatic pressure on 'Son Of Moloch'. Prioritising experimentation and new ideas over standard formulae, Volkoff has successfully sculpted a formidable statement on the outer fringes of punky machine funk with a grainy patina you could break your nails on.

Review: The superb Astra Spectra series has provided us with many magnificent new sounds so it's a shame that this is the last of the eight part project. Alas, all good things must come to an end and so it does with one more quality EP. Label co-founder Syrte steps up for this one with an artful EP that fuses IDM, electro and ambient synth designs into deep space journeys. All six tracks are brain frying, synapse twitching jams that take you into another dimension. Also included is a collaboration with Science Cult co-operator Aura Nox to round it out in style.