Review: The sixth issue from Jealous God, and the first of what promises to be another year of intrigue for the label, pairs up visual director Juan Mendez with 51717, aka New York artist Lili Schulder. Any fans of Schulder's 51717 cassette for Opal Tapes or her Shadowlust collaboration with Svengalisghost will be excited by the prospect of some new music committed to wax and she's on wonderfully abstract form here. Listening to opening track "The Glove" is an experience similar to being slowly covered by a viscous liquid to the point of suffocation, with her barely audible spoken word delivery only adding to the sense of foreboding. Complementing this, 51717 provides two shorter but equally striking compositions with "Regard" especially chilling. It's a mood that seeps into the two Silent Servant productions with "Severed Union" ripe mixtape opener material. Do check the mix CD from Surface Tension pair Nihar Bahall & Jason Polastri too!
Review: Adding yet another record to the pile that has so far been provided by the label A_A, the experimental dub artists behind said outfit (Satoshi Tomiie and Nao Gunji) have really outdone themselves out here. On pink splatter vinyl comes 'Dissonant', one of many EPs to have emerged from the same heads-down studio session that saw to its predecessor, 'Radiant'. Tracks 1-4 lock in a slew of impressive ear-scourings and dub-delayed experimentations, with the first and last tracks particularly blowing us away with their broken beats, which allow for more attention to be paid to every undulation, crackle and knock.
Review: Artificial Owl Recordings welcomes aboard New Yorkers Satoshi Tomiie and Naotake Gunji for the label's fifth release; a recording of their collaborative A_A project and live show, which first came to light at the Fridman Gallery in Manhattan. A_A, an ongoing audio project, explores the visceral tension between floor-centric ambient electronica and improvised sound/audio performance. Here, found and object-activated sounds fire a collective dub trigger, producing a distinctly somatic regrounding across five original works.
Review: The Oraculo imprint simply cannot stop releasing the heat, even when the waves are as cold and tenebrous as this new collaborative EP! A Million Machines roll out the vintage sounding "Synthetic Eyes", a pure synth journey at its most romantic, while Scannoir Project's "Loss Hellwyl" tears the groove apart by replacing the vocals with all sorts of complex sonic structures from outer space. On the flipside, Vox Low's "Galactic Pot Healer" has more in common with downtempo and trip-hop than it does with EBM, and "Infinite Space" from Stellar Tribe delivers a deep, wondrous journey into the farthest reaches of the stratosphere. Intergalactic vibes.
Review: Stochastic Resonance come through correct with their sixth instalment of the series, this time bringing together the talents of Akamoi, Ynaktera, Cosmonauta, Mariano, Ghostphace and Scual for a proper stirring of the senses on this noisy, drone-laden beat of an EP. Akamoi starts with furious swells on morphing feedback soundscapes, while Ynaktera goes for a pixelated sample workout recalling Pan's Jar Moff. Mariano's "Mysterious Ways" sets the dance tempo, amalgamating a twisted, slightly off beat pattern with bleeps and stabs and "Rome Boredom" by Ghostphace is another special moment - quick, psychotic synths fall into an absolutely terrifying ocean of distortion and satanic noise infusions. What a blinder!
Review: Khidi rolls out another anniversary EP here and it is another various artists affair that takes no prisoners. On their opener, Ancient Methods & OTHR bring some hellish metal and industrial overtones to the stomping, vicious 'Vast Vanishing' with its horror-core vocals. Roman & Boyd Chidt don't let up but offer a more linear and streamlined bit of stomping techno pressure. Silent Servant unleashes lashings of metallic synths over his signature tech sounds and then the floating loops of Unhuman & Vulkanski suspend you just above a rusty old factory floor.
Review: Having been friends and occasional studio collaborators for the best part of a decade, M>O/S Recordings main man Aroy Dee (real name Steve Brunsmann) and Marc Antonio Spaventi can usually be relied upon to bring the goods. While Brunsmann is of course better known for analogue-rich deep techno, his outings with Spaventi usually explore the pair's mutual love of throbbing, synthesiser-powered Italo-disco. That's certainly the case with 'Sorrow', a mascara-clad slab of raw, arpeggio-driven new wave/Italo-disco fusion that comes topped off by a particularly stylish, half-sung, half-spoken lead vocal. Heavier and more breathless dancefloor thrills are supplied by the accompanying 'Space Dub', where the track's pulsating groove is ratcheted up to 11 and periodically submerged in sparkling deep space synths.
Review: Auxiliary's first vinyl experience of 2015, the "Veil/Unveil" series returns with four stark visions of the future. ASC lights the touch paper with an 85BPM swagger jam, all sheet metal snares and creepy vocal shots and Synth Sense follows with a warped, squidgy bass journey into the darkest pastures of the fractured beat fields. Further on Sam KDC goes all sci-fi with heartbeat subs and a rising bassline that creeps up alleyway-style before Method One closes the show with a deeper, cosmic affair where the palpitating bass plays the consummate beat bedrock as scattered drums ooze in and out of the mix.
Review: Limited to a pressing of just 250 (with a promise of no represses) this clear vinyl release is special in every sense. Powered by some of the most exciting names on the fringes of bass and electronica; each of the four cuts strut with raw melodic futurism. "The Noncolour Entity" rumbles with a dubby techno groove a la Funk D'Void. "Irradiate" comes with an almost Bonobo-like dreaminess while "Lovesick" shakes and shudders with a sub-soaked groove and bright, bold swinging breakbeats. "Glimpse" closes the show on a timeless analogue note. Coming on strong like an old Guy Called Gerald record, it's all synths and classic electro breakbeats. Outstanding.
Review: The seventh and final instalment of De:Tuned's brilliant Unboxed Brain series - an unashamed tribute to 1990s IDM and ambient techno featuring contributions from many of the artists who defined that scene - is predictably special. It features a slew of new remixes of previously released tracks, plus "Monolith", a previously unreleased ambient track from the Future Sound of London that's every bit as weird, wonderful and out there as the duo's greatest work. Elsewhere, Kirk Degiorgio (as Future/Past) and Mark Broom both drag B12's "World's End" towards the dancefloor (the latter providing a punchy electro re-make), while The Black Dog provides a brilliantly blissful, string-drenched ambient interpretation of Scanner's "Eros".
Review: Well Curated is a series of releases and parties that - in its own words - "reflects the ethnomusicology of the last 50 years of music" - and aims to reach into all genres, merging classic styles and breaking down barriers. Steve Spacek occupies the A-side with the breezy broken beat and soul-in-space of 'Alone In Da Sun', while Lukid's 'Hair Of The Dog' is a more intense counterpart, with wobbling sub-bass and swirling, surging atmospherics hovering above.
Review: Once again, Music From Memory has dug deep for inspiration. Very few will have come across the original 1987 pressing of Ich Traume So Leise, a long-forgotten collaborative album that brought together trumpet player Heinz Becker, songwriter Karl-Heinz Stegmann, and poet Isabel Zeumer. Predictably, though, the tracks which the Dutch label has chosen to reissue are exceptionally good. "Mein Tanzlied", for example, features Becker's meandering trumpet lines and Zeumer's eyebrow-raising spoken word vocals seemingly drifting over an intoxicatingly funky, mid-80s dancefloor groove, while "Dir" is a seriously atmospheric chunk of beatless jazz poetry. Flip for the Balearic electro-funk of "Der Schnupfen" and the languid, new age ambience of "Abends".
Review: It's another magic moment of old school vs new school on this fine collaboration between no wave legend Stuart Argabright AKA Black Rain and man of the moment Nino Pedone AKA Shapednoise, on his own Cosmo Rhythmatic imprint. "Metal Home" merges Argabright's screeching guitar feedback with the shredding white noise so typical of Pedone. "Autonomous Lethality" has Shapednoise all over it with its relentless body bashing bass frequencies. Miles Whittaker delivers an absolutely mental reshape of "Interceptor" like only he can before we're presented with the original version, which is equally as intense in its own right. Shapednoise's unmistakeable white wash of distortion merges with Argabright's dark atmospherics so perfectly. Not for the faint of heart!
Review: Following on from their widely acclaimed album Afraid To Leave, Berlin's beautiful maudlin post-punk outfit Bleib Modern presents a compilation of remixes and reworks by esteemed artists from across darkwave, post-punk, and EBM. From IV Horsemen's club-worthy rendition of 'Bitter Smile' to M!R!M's dreamy synthpop take on 'Into The Night' via Dune Messiah's crooning 'Loony Voices, 2 Afraid 2 Leave: Remixed Reimaged Reloaded Part 2 offers truly diverse interpretations. With contributions from luminaries like The KVB and Blind Delon, it provides a fresh perspective on Bleib Modern's sound and serves as an exciting interlude that showcases the band's versatility and paves the way for future creations
Review: For German retroverts Sign Bit Zero, it's "all about the expression of hate, despair, pain, waste, destruction, tristesse and misanthropic in art and music!" and that's good enough for us, really! On offer here are five noisy reinterpretations of some serious industrial unclassics. Hamburg's Wosto (of Fallbeil) takes the razor to UK pioneers Nocturnal Emissions and the raw tonal energy of "Bite Them Back". Label boss Kilian Krings appears also, delivering an edit of vintage EBM classic "Nervous Breakdown" by Suicide Commando and also for short lived Dutch trio S.M. Nurse and their grinding minimal synth anthem "Heinwerker". Some great edits on here for the new industrialists.
Review: It's been some 10 years since Roger Semsroth made his debut under the Sleeparchive alias, with the unashamedly stripped-back Elephant Island EP. Here he doffs a cap to his rarely used Civil Defence Programme alias - last seen on The All Clear label in 2009 - with an EP of industrial-minded compositions. It's all pretty bleak, as if Semsroth has spent rather a lot of time contemplating the apocalyptic results of all-out nuclear war. The trippy "The Comfort of Things" and "Fifty Fences (Live)" are particularly dystopian, offering little more than surging, looped-up electronics and fuzzy, brain-melting beats. He mixes things up a little elsewhere, though, via the undulating EBM of "Assembly Line Work" and "Incomplete Open Cubes", a kind of contemporary German take on 1990 UK bleep techno.
Review: More abrasive and pitch black electronics from France's Nocturnal Frequencies camp. Their new various artists EP sees them debut on vinyl after a series of great digital and cassette releases - and in rather frightful fashion indeed! From the aufnahme + wiedergabe affilated Codex Empire who presents the brooding "Ourang Medan", the guttural analog intensity of American veteran Paul Birken's "Slipper Dimple" comprising the A side- the latter one's a respectful tribute to the old school techno sound. On the flip, a more direct and dancefloor oriented techno represents here- yet be assured that it's as bleak and metal-edged as expected on "NF1" by Spanish duo NX1. One half of Talker Jonathan Krohn aka Stave completes the carnival of lost souls here - reaching right for the jugular on his fierce IDM epic "Shove" reminiscent of the British Murder Boys' sound.
Charles Cohen - "Conundrums" (Robert Turman version)
Review: Well, you can always count on Rabih Beaini's Morphine Doser to deliver the drip and send you peacefully into heaven. What's particularly incredible about the label is its diversity and continuous evolution - one moment releasing deranged, experimental house cuts by Madteo and then dropping the most abstract of sonic patchworks the next. This particular release is the third instalment of the Redose series, and these particular EPs just keep on getting wilder. The first track is by upcoming Morphine signees Senyawa - a hardcore band from Indonesia - and it's masterfully reinterpreted by the legendary Charles Cohen, an artist who has released some of the most cutting-edge electronic sounds known to man, and who has also contributed to the Morphine label with a sublime series of LPs last year. On the flip, one of Cohen's own track, "Conundrums", is torn apart by Robert Turnman, an experimental artist who needs no introduction thanks to his countless releases, some of them on highly coveted fringe labels such as Aaron Dilloway's Hanson Records. Essential, obviously.
Review: Kolony Gorky is back with a third EP in less than a year that once again offers some stylish and artful rhythmic interpretations. DDrhode & Sohrab are behind this one and it opens with the airy percussive pattern and suspensory loops of deep and deft jam 'Ghoroob' (Kryptic Rhythm) which becomes dusty downbeat and late-night jaunt when served up as the 'Haleeteh?' version. 'Azadi' has the feel of a sixties spy thriller with its mysterious leads and 'Distant Sun' shuts down with some zoned out and loved-up deep house romance. Another hard-to-define but easy-to-love EP from the already vital Kolony Gorky.
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