Review: Cong Burn made a mighty splash with its first release, clearly flaunting the kind of wares you'd expect to hear from Livity Sound alumni or other such esteemed techno renegades. The second installment is no slouch either, featuring a new cast of crooked creators offering up their wares for the modern mutant dancefloor. BFTT has a weighty low end thrum powering "Public/Private", while Lack takes things in a scuffed and nimble direction. Chekov pushes out into more experimental pastures with the broken beats and displaced sound design of "Celeste" and Howes creates a wonderful strain of mystical deep house for darkened souls. Each one of these tracks is loaded with flair and personality, yards ahead of your average generic knock offs and presenting something with real merit to the convoluted world of dance music.
Loslassen(hand-numbered 12" + 7" in hand-sprayed sleeve limited to 200 copies (comes in different coloured sleeve, we cannot guarantee which one you will receive))
Review: Brighton-based Caldera is a talent behind the decks, but is perhaps even more remarkable in his studio expertise: his subtle productions weave a seemingly effortless sense of pace and texture, groove and abstraction, weight and space. For this colourful outing he channels - in turns - David Moufang, Thomas Fehlmann, Yanneck Salvo, and Sebastian Meissner, with deep techno, sumptuous house and beguiling ambience the bewitching end product.
Review: Earlier in the year, Livity Sound's "reverse" offshoot Dnous Ytivil returned after a two-year absence via a fine collaborative release from Hodge and Randomer. This relatively speedy follow-up is, if anything, even better, with debutant Bristol duo Cando serving up a trio of cuts that fuse typically Bristolian techno rhythms and serious bass-weight with tropical sounds and pleasingly glassy-eyed synthesizer melodies. It's a formula arguably best exemplified by bustling title track "Bleak", whose UK funky-influenced percussive pressure and surging bass-weight is offset by the picturesque quality of the electronic sounds placed on top. That said, the slightly more tribal Afro-tech drums and blissful synthesizer motifs of "Sundown" are also hugely impressive, while closing cut "Bleak (Dub)" is a sparse and heavy soundscape that reminded us of fellow Bristolian Ossia.
Review: This is a four-track sampler taken from parts one and two of the One Hundred and Fifty Steps VEP series which is all about exploring the rise of 150 bpm dubstep, a sound that characterised by fast basslines, broken rhythms and heavy halftime pulses. From VEP pt. 1, L.A.'s Carre delivers pacey wobblers and then Berlin's Formella debuts with playful breaks and more wobbly bass on 'Dripstep'. VEP pt. 2 features Leipzig's Old Man Crane with their intricate, syncopated style shinning through on 'Grey' and Valencia's Andrae Durden then shows class with a Kryptic Minds-inspired low-end powerhouse.
Review: Carrier's latest release continues his exploration of rhythmic pressure following his work with FELT and The Trilogy Tapes. This trio of kinetic and minimalist sounds sees Guy Brewer expanding on the approach from Neither Curve Nor Edge, stripping down dance forms to their micro-structures. The album focuses intensely on sound, texture and tense atmospheres with predictably excellent results. Tracks like 'Coastal' pulse with faint hardcore energy and muted dub, while 'Wood Over Plastic' deconstructs rhythm across surreal spaces. The closer, 'Locus,' delves into sharp percussion and creeping sub-bass that leaves you wanting more, in a good way.
Review: Guy Brewer is one of those artists who seems to make gold no matter the alias or stylistic intent. He has previously succeed as both one half of legendary drum & bass duo Commix and also moody techno purist Shifted. Now he is freeing himself of those purism shackles as Carrier and has started his own self titled label to do so. He means business from the off here with 'Into The Habit' a melange of busted rhythms and caustic textures and 'Shading' exploring minimalist drum programming and dramatic synthscapes. The combination of the light and the dark, the heavy with the more deft is intriguing once more on the loopy clatter of 'Still So' while closer 'The Motions' suspends you in some pensive pads while fizzing bursts of noise bring some texture.
Review: Wow! Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti return with the first tangible Carter Tutti material in some fifteen years and they demonstrate to be fully capable of manipulating monolithic sounds on these rather dashing looking Coolican 10". Last seen working with Factory Floor's Nik Void for Mute and reimaging the seminal Desertshore album by Nico, the UK industrial royalty signal their return to the universally known Carter Tutti project with two versions of one track seemingly inspired by the name of the metal lampshade used by Delia Derbyshire in her music-making. Both these versions are fine exercises in lurching, industrial body music and make for a welcome addition to their respected canon.
Review: Oh yes, Exitab's Proto Sites series delivers its third instalment and it's nothing but vibes thanks to a collaboration between Hungary's Imre Kiss and Slovakia's fledgling artist, Casi Cada Minuto. The former has appeared on London's Lobster Theremin while the latter has remained within Exitab's catalogue for the time being. Three tracks from each artist, all of them exploring the furthest ranges of techno and electronica. Casi Cada Minuto's contributions can only be described as ambient stunners thanks to their watery textures and sparse soundscapes, while Imre Kiss' cuts are undeniably more club-friendly, but only just about! "Dis Slo" is arguably the winner of the lot, bringing forth a twitchy beat jam filled with airy sonics and just the right level of grit.
Review: Aussie beat bruiser Cassius Select strikes on Accidental Jnr once again. Taking off where "90 / Herd" left us it's another full-strength stew of club fusions. "Essence" boils us right down to a bouncy UK funky-style bashmenty beat as we're bombarded with rubber ball bass licks, "Hype Hour" twists in vocal in the most demonic ways over a set of vibrant chimes and bubbling beats while "Shaolin Soccer" closes the show with skipped-out two-step and iced out atmospheres that wouldn't go amiss on a label like Samurai. Selector!
Review: Is there any artist out there more prolific than Shy aka. Special Guest DJ? Perhaps only few would - or should - already know that Caveman LSD is his latest alias. Breaking from his very own 3XL imprint, the inimitable artist lends his talents to Canadian label Isla (run by Priori and Ex-Terrestrial) for 'Total Annihilation Beach', an exciting divination and appeal to the intersection of techno, illbient, dub and (dare we say) deconstructed club. This EP is higher-concept and perhaps more serious than much of the work that's appeared under various monikers in the past, with crazy texturambient synapse-overloaders like 'The Sun Will Sink Into The Sun' blend happily with chirpy glossers like 'Lost Hours'. This EP is one of our highlights for late April 2023; don't miss it.
Review: It's rare to get one's head utterly spun by a fresh approach that has no interest in being experimental, but with "Shackles" Cc has managed just that on this release for CGI. Somewhere in between techno, UK Funky and broken beat, the second track on this record hits tough and eminently danceable, the catchy R&B vocal hook worked without getting irritating, the bass steeped in soundsystem culture and the drums rough and ready. "Calvino Italo" is no less stunning, this time focusing on the beat and making it shift and shimmy to a devastating end. On the flip Golden Donna brings a grainier version of the future, letting distorted dub chords strain into the red and sharing the penchant for stammering drums, rounding out an utterly essential slab of wax.
Review: Swiss label re:st: Music welcomes accomplished beatmaker Cedar for another of their leftfield ambient extractions here. Opener 'Transfer' drops you right in at the deep end, with a rolling, rubbery kick drum making a hypnotic rhythm as deft ambient designs and subtle sci-fi cues fill in the spaces. 'Sferics' is a similar pairing of driving and dynamic rhythm with cavernous open spaces while 'Proxima' gets more frosty, with icy minimal synths and a beat that rocks back and forth on its heels as if stuck in some northern tundra. 'VLF' is the most minimalistic of the lot, a barely-there but hugely compelling rhythm with sonar pulses from a distant planet.
Review: WNCL Recordings is the creative hub for Bob Bhamra's West Norwood Cassette Library project - now almost five years old and always specialising in the more intricate and subtle ends of the house spectrum. Over the years, however, several guests have appeared on the label such as Kevin McPhee and Ekoplekz and this time it's up to newcomer-probably-under-alias, CEO, to make his way down to South London. The Major Edits EP, as the title suggests, is a mashup of high-tek, sound futurism mostly all based beyond the 130bpm mark. The opener, "Screeching", is a fast-paced jungle burner with stripped synths and bouncy kick going off left-right and centre. The rest of the EP follows in a similar vein, where tracks like "Loud" are a truly sublime blend of hardcore, techno and jungle. An ode to rave and a wonderful addition to Bhamra's catalogue.
Review: Leeds lad Chekov was one of the first artists Shanti Celeste turned to when she launched Peach Discs with Housework pal Gramrcy back in 2017. Here he returns to action with his first solo EP since and it's a bit of a beauty. He beginnings with the immersive, sunrise-ready ambient swell of "Blanked Out", where layered synthesizer motifs flutter atop the sound of what sounds like a heavily processed recording of a babbling brook, before skipping towards the dancefloor via the beefy broken techno drums, 16-bit melodies and spacey electronic sounds of "Flote". "Swerl" is a near perfect fusion of immersive chords, bittersweet motifs, chiming melodies and crunchy house drums, while "SMP" is a deliciously wonky, low-slunk chunk of lo-fi electronica that defies easy categorization.
Review: Cong Burn continues to exercise one of the most promising instincts for future-minded music on this, their third release. It's surprising they haven't done more previously, considering the maturity of their curation, but either way the quality remains at an all time high here, leading in with some light and liquefied 4/4 sonics from Chekov before pirouetting into one of Duckett's illustrious abstractions around the techno blueprint. Label regular Lack is back on side B with the stern and punchy "Track 3," and then Haddon finishes the record off with "Anabiosis," a densely textured, slow creeping trip of a track.
Review: Beneath's Mistry label returns with a third release which finds Enklav boss Chevel on a stripped back weirded out UK vibe! If you were hooked on Dario Tronchin's remix of Webstarr's "Aegrus" for the last Mistry release you most certainly need to check out the two cuts here. Up top the stripped back "Tank" sees Chevel excorcising some reverb demons over a super spacious rhythm that operates around the 116 BPM mark. With so few elements utilised, the contrast between the dark sub bass and plinking bleeps is magnified all the more. The B Side "Beaviane" heads in the opposite direction as Tronchin essentially brutalises drum samples for five thrilling minutes.
Review: There has always been a hugely stylised aesthetic to the deep, heady techno of Cio D'Or. It is distilled to perfection and despite being reduced to the core elements always manages to make an indelible mark. That's certainly the story once more here on a fantastically immersive new album for Kynant. Quiet artists exudes from each tune, with rubbery rhythms established way down low then only the most deft synth motif of fuzzy pad layered up top to hypnotic effect. It's music for the late hours to get fully lost in and despite the serious nature, itoa s subtly uplifting effect overall.
Review: House Music Icon Kerri Chandler initiates the Madhouse offshoot MadTech with a four track drop from London producer Citizen. Described as an outlet for Chandler to release music that doesn't quite reflect the tone of Madhouse, it's nonetheless quite a bold statement to hand proceedings for the debut release to a relatively unknown quantity in Citizen. However, the move is justified with Citizen demonstrating his obvious potential for productions based in the stylistic tropes of classicist house that still pull in subtle elements from elsewhere. This is no more evident than the title track, a punchy arrangement based around 90s house motifs yet noticeable for its cavernous atmospherics and deft techy rhythmic touches. It's a promising start for both label and artist, with the former holding future weapons from Lakosa and Voyeur and the latter getting ready to drop a Jimmy Edgar featuring EP for the newly minted Love Fever label.
Review: Civilistjavel's most recent album, 2022's Janmatter, was a predictably atmospheric and out-there affair that blended suspenseful ambient moods and melodies with occasional IDM rhythms and plenty of experimental chops. Here two giants of leftfield electronic music and experimental techno give their interpretations of the album, crafting 'remixes' based on stems from a variety of different album tracks. Dave Huismans dons his familiar A MAde Up Sound alias on side A, re-imagining Civilistjavel's work as a hybrid deep techno/dub techno/ambient techno epic - all densely layered ambient textures, deep and distant beats, and waves of effects-laden synth sounds. Ossia takes a different approach on his 'Disconnected Dub', delivering an immersive sound design experience built around creepy, effects-laden ambient chords, unsettling rumbles and echoing bleeps.
Review: Tension and science here from UVB76's Clarity as he returns with his first productions this side of 2020. Two sides, two tempo ranges, two vibes: 'Basalt' opens up with dubby prowess, purring hypnotically while 'Different Ways' continues the 130-ish vibe with a strange dystopic two-step and tense textures drawn out in the background. Flip for the drum & bass he's best known for... 'You Alright?' (with Holsten) rattles with lean, venomous technoid funk while 'Drifter' lives up to its name with its heavy atmospheric pressure. Welcome back Clarity.
Review: Rambadu's self-titled label is young but already onto a good thing with a distinctly deep brand of techno. This time out the boss is back once more but in cahoots with Italian techno legend Claudio PRC. They cook up a trio of mind melters starting with 'Sai.' Warped lines menacingly roam about the stereo field over sparse kicks and deep abs. 'Matika' is just as paired back and atmospheric in a deep, dark way with slowly churning drums taking you deeper down the rabbit hole. 'Aqua' is a meatless blend of distant groans and wispy pads that keeps you in suspense.
Review: Brussels' Cleveland has made a name for himself with excellent, left of centre drops on ESP Institute, Hivern Discs and others in the past. Now he's up on Kalahari Oyster Cult with more adventurous freakery that deals in outsider grooves and playful synth acrobatics that positively demand your attention. "Gamma" comes on with a steady broken beat that carries some wild lead hooks that show off Cleveland's confidence with his kit. "Ora" is equally marked out by dazzling analogue brushstrokes and expertly crafted percussion to send body and mind whirling. Then on the flip Piezo and Beta Librae both remix "Gamma", veering from tough, bass-led drum funk to cosmic incantations respectively.
Gavsborg - "Did Not Make This For Jah_9" (feat Shanique Marie) (4:33)
Review: Techno arriving on 7" is not an all too common sight, but why not? This release from the fledgling Dispari out of Germany suggests it works well. Cloud Management and Gavsborg take one side each, starting with the former. Their 'Tempentary Dance' pairs thudding and broken kick drum patterns with dreamy and rising synth sequences and spoken words. It's brilliantly beguiling. The flip then finds Gavsborg offering 'Did Not Make This For Jah_9' (feat Shanique Marie) which is dark and moody, dubbed out and dystopian deep techno.
Review: Previously spotted on Nomine's Nomine Sound and Fox & Hound, Berlin's CPE gets his fractured jig on with Georgian label Transfigured Time. Weighing in at six tracks it's near-album sized, too. Highlights include the brittle neck snaps and alien charm of opener "CTRL", the grainy decays and paranoid ghetto funk of "Projects 32" and the physical rabbit punch beat blows of "This Is Science". And that's just the half of it...
Review: Charlie "Kasket" Baldwin returns to Pinch's formidable Cold Recordings stable, an imprint focused on "new movements in the ever-evolving UK hardcore continuum". For his second salvo for the label, Baldwin serves up four floor-friendly cuts, beginning with the off0kilter drum rhythms, savagely chopped hip-hop vocal samples and trippy stabs of "Lemons". Those searching for heavy sub-bass action should start with the pulverizing low end and polyrhythmic punch of "Bangers", before flipping the disc and dropping the needle on "Quite", a hot-stepping affair that draws influence from both dubstep and UK garage without particularly sounding like either. Further mind-altering insanity can be found on closer "Flat Football", a wild and entertaining mixture of scattergun drum hits and wayward electronics.
Review: Sure Thing presents Well of Sand, its second compilation. Six tracks from the label's friends and favourites, each new to the roster, offer bold, untempered explorations of tempo and weight, a concise yet expansive collection recalling the deliberate cadence of rippling sand and the sheen of shimmering oases. From Command D's subtly groundswelling, but snappy 'Half Blue (Violet Mix)', to Foreign Material's alarmingly alien 'The Living Planet' and Third Space's supremely stereoized, lowercase opus 'Push (Part 2)', this is a release for that large intersection of audiophiles and techno-philes.
Review: Coni really shouldn't be diving in secret... If you're going to partake in such a dangerous activity you should always let someone know where you're going. Caution warnings aside, this is ClekClekBoom at their darkest and deepest. The stripped back, naked title track gurgles with processed submarine radar bass and smoldering 808s. "Flip" lives up to its name; a full-on minimal techno joint it's got the snub nose acid of Hardfloor and the groove muscle of Robert Hood. "Feel Like Home" shows yet another side to the French artist; a silky jacking house work out with dubby undertones, it's a welcome slice of positivity after the previous two cuts of minimal moodiness. An accomplished EP.
Review: Sweeping up the demolition caused by his E-Fax EP as SENATE (with fellow Melbourne beat meddler Carmel), Consulate returns to Bitterfield with four remarkable fractured departures. Techno in spirit, breaks in a physical sense, there's a persistency and urgent loopiness running throughout on each track. That stabby chant on "Largs", those "Pulse-X" style depth plunge bass tones on "Trench Gun", and the rifle-like snare roll on the much deeper, mournful and almost Orbitalesque "Septieme Seur" are all fine examples. But for the most urgent, persistent experience of the EP he's saved the darkest jam for last; "Bloodline", a gritty, stern jungle piece that opens up into an almighty breakbeat crescendo right when you least expect it. Don't be bitter, be Bitterfield.
Review: Fresh faced deep house bod Contakt slides over to the equally youthful Icee Hot imprint and brings a healthy amount of techno influence with him in the process. "Tessera 04" in particular shimmers with dubbed-out chords and a stripped down beat, looking for a more spiritual kind of headspace whilst lead track "Nobody Else" gets busy with bright piano chords pounding out at a militant pace. It's a fusion of energy and depth that should work wonders in the dance, while Ghosts On Tape shed the deepness and focus on rave hysteria in a stomping house stylee for their remix of "Nobody Else". That leaves it to Robert Hood to get technical on an intricate and masterful remix of "Tessera 04" like only he can.
Review: It was an important year for Jon Convex and after his spectacular collaborative album with his Instra:Mental brother, Boddika, he needed to continue delivering the goods. London's 3024 has been his closest imprint, having released a string of fantastic releases for the label. The title track features the debaucheries of D&B legend, dBridge, where the pair have conjured a monter track, filled with swarming slices of bass, shifty drums and smooth vocals. "Zero" places its thumping drums next to bleepy melodies and a seriously odd bass line - a certified booty shaker! "Stay" is a gentler hymn, aided once again by dBridge's mastery, where 4/4 beats meet with anthemic piano keys and ludicrously seductive bass tones.
Review: The second collectible EP out of three, arriving on double white 10" vinyl, and containing tracks from Jon Convex's debut album, Idoru sees another four hard hitting fusions of techno and contemporary bass music. Unlike the first EP, which was surprisingly melodic, these tracks aim squarely at the floor, with "What I Need" a heavy tom-led piece of Detroit influenced techno, and "Aversion" providing some tracky functionalism. "Desolation" and "Four Faces" meanwhile provide some bleak electro dystopianism, much indebted to his Autonomic heritage.
Review: Jon Convex - otherwise known as Intsra:mental member Damon Kirkham, will be releasing his debut solo album very soon, but first he offers three tracks from the album via a gorgeous double 12" package. "Fade" is a big surprise - with forlorn male vocals singing over a backdrop of melancholy synths, only the tight 2-step drum pattern stops it sounding like a lost 80s synthpop classic. "New Model" meanwhile takes the mutated form of techno and bass Kirkham has been developing over the moniker with wobbling subs swinging underneath a firm 4/4 rhythm, while "Shadows" is a stripped back affair filled with rough synthetic rumblings, and contemporary rhythmic swagger. Finally G Vump - aka Brodinski and Guillaume of The Shoes - provide a unique dubstep inspired take on "Fade" filled with footwork referencing rhythms that has more than a bit in common with Kuedo's recent output.
Review: Any new 12" from Gerard Hanson is worthy of note, but there's something extra-exciting about this one. Fantastically, it sees him don the familiar Convextion alias - first used way by in 1995 - for the first time since 2007 for the latest 12" on Dynamo Dreesen's ever excellent Acido label. Boasting two long, slowly unfurling concoctions, Acido 22 is up there with his greatest work (and that's saying something). Thrillingly, it eschews the deep, spacey electro sound with which he made his name, instead turning to beat-less ambience; kind of Convextion does Pete Namlook, if you will. Both tracks are suitably sublime, with stretched-out chords, classical-style melodic movements, and memorable tunes that develop organically over the course of 11 or 12 minutes. Making great ambient music is hard, but Hanson knows exactly what he's doing.
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