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.
Nebelgelb (feat The Metropolitan Narrative) (6:57)
Tau (Vril Vintage Tool remix) (7:11)
Nebelgelb (feat The Metropolitan Narrative - Sleeparchive remix) (4:59)
Review: The smudged, dark and shadowy nature of the creepy artwork for this new 12" on TMN Trax is indicative of what to expect musically of this new label. It's a collab EP from Ones and Rasval with an appearance from The Metropolitan Narrative and remixes from Vril and Sleeparchive. 'Tau' is the deep and dubby roller that opens up with a grainy vibe and foggy atmosphere over muted drums, then 'Nebelgelb' gets more edgy with layers of subtle haunting pads and paranoid voices panning about the mix. Vril's contribution is a pacey, warm and lo-fi techno hypnotiser and Sleeparchive closes down with muted dub brilliance.
Review: If you've ever been luck enough to attend the Freerotation music festival than plenty about this remix package will make sense. Not least the interpretation by event co-founder and modular synth hero Steevio, here delivering a remix on vinyl for the first time. Bringing in elements of jazz, ambient, field recordings, dub, house music and - albeit barely audible - subtle shades of tech, it's a sophisticated package that fully buys into the theory of electronic sounds being a form of high art. Running the gamut from the stepping, poised but decidedly free spirited 'Lucid' and Deadbeat's tense, drone-y take on'Sam Gimignano', to the lush keys and white noise of Andrea Cicheki's redo of 'Siegfried 2.0' and Dr Nojoke's beautifully blissed out smoky house, it's as dense as it is accomplished.
Review: After four years of work fusing acoustic and electronic sound worlds, Rand finally unveiled the fruits of their labours with Peripherie. The duo of concert pianist Jan Gerdes and minimal techno producer Dr. Nojoke have cooked up urban and sensitive music for piano and electronics that was all recorded live with no overdubs back in 2019 at Berlin's Chez-Cherie Studios. It was made across three pianos with improvisation at the heart of the process. It's a great collision of worlds, from dark and intense pieces of pulsing techno to more light and hopeful and empty soundscapes that perfectly blur the edges between the different tools used. Fans of Nils Frahm, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto will enjoy digging into this one.
Review: Lukid and Tapes are on a proper roll with Rezzett at the moment, following up on a knockout 2023 on The Trilogy Tapes with this self-released clutch of weirdo techno-not-techno nuggets from the outer reaches. There's distortion in abundance, and a laissez faire approach to soundsystem impact in favour of textural, atmospheric sculpting. It's dripping with intention even as it stumbles inquisitively from one lo-fi tweak to the next, sounding utterly inspired and delightfully unhinged in equal measure. What's most important is the melodic warmth which peeks through the noise, edging this above the usual murk associated with noise-doused electronics.
Review: Roy Of The Ravers takes a break from his mischievious outings on Acid Waxa et al to lay down some of his braindance tackle on Emotional Response. White Line Sunrise II.I (Le Roy Soleil) can rightly be considered a follow-up to White Line Sunrise II and indeed it represents a similar kind of spectrum of electronica. Roy's sound is edging further into the kind of 'artist' territory where slower, softer tracks, odd vocal diversions and some pop sensibilities merge with the acid, electro, breakbeat and other well-established tropes of his sound. It's the kind of record which could easily broach this quirky fringe operator of UK electronics to a broader fan base, and there's no doubt he's got the melodic, emotional heft on tracks like 'Versace 101624' to get everyone on board.
Review: London promoters Sagome continue their evolution and expansion into an essential label with their third release. This one comes from Italian duo Rain Text which comprises Giuseppe Ielasi, a renowned mastering engineer and one-half of Bellows, and Giovanni Civitenga, who hosts the long-running Skyapnea show on NTS. Their new album III offers sequentially titled, intricately detailed electronic compositions that blend abstract techno, glitchy sound design and experimental electronica. Comparable to Mika Vainio's sonic manipulation yet more densely layered, III nods to the fractured sounds of Actress and the decay-driven textures of late-period Jan Jelinek. It's engaging and unique, to say the least.
Review: Ten year anniversary? Has it really already been ten years since Recondite's sophomore album 'Hinterland' came out?! Recondite almost single-handedly was responsible in many peoples eyes for the resurgence in techno during the early 2010s. After beating down the doors of Ghostly International for many years, the fans finally get their wish in the shape a new, shiny reissue. Coming on smokey black vinyl this time, nobody has a reason to not have this record in their collection. Included are legendary tracks like 'Stems', 'Clouded' and 'Leafs'. Many think that not only is this the best Recondite album but one of the best techno albums of the year 2013.
Review: Mind Express boss Refracted, AKA Berlin's Alex Moya, emerges from the depths of some murky, oily, opaque lake. A place unsettling and unnerving - the site of some unknown tension - but also wonderfully inimitable and hard to countenance. Powerful stuff, just not really in a way that immediately presents itself as such. Nevertheless, before you know it these tones have enveloped and ensnared. Call it ambient techno, call it ambient, call it pure futurism - parts here almost feel like the ambient noises of familiar things that haven't been invented yet. If that makes sense? A moody precog of a record, it whirs and drones, echoes and dissipates. There are moments when structure become more defined, like the mystery of 'Initiation', but for the most part these are aural infinity loops.
Review: Rivet's newest album for Editions Mego blends optimism and negation, emerging sanguinely from a period of personal tragedy and disillusionment undergone by the artist. Mika Hallback, a key figure in the Swedish underground, first gained attention with industrial techno as Grovskopa before shifting to experimental work, including On Feather and Wire (2020). After the loss of fellow musician Peter Rehberg and his dog Lilo, Hallback created the somber L+P-2 (2023), and now Peck Glamour marks his return, coming reinfused with hope and exploration. Drawing on punk, industrial, techno, and trauma, the album combines synthetic and organic elements, with 'Orbiting Empty Cocoon', with its tugging, metal ballistic sound-rooms sounding like an Au-technic, cybernetic ritual, a dance anthem 'Patitur Butcher' and 'We Left Before We Came' concluding on comparatively layered zoonotic notes; posthuman synthesis backed by birdsong.
Review: Multidisciplinary artist Seth Horvitz aka Rrose returns to their own EAUX label here with a new album, Please Touch, which comes after their Lotus Eater collaboration with Lucy and a number of influential EPs on the likes of Sandwell District and Stroboscopic Artefacts over the years. These potent, stripped back and synth-laden techno cuts explore new vistas while building on what has come before. Rose has studied with West Coast avant-garde trailblazers at Mills College and feeds their sounds through "elaborate webs of interrelated audio processing" which means a change in every element of the music has a knock-on effect on all the others. It means this is music in constant mutation.
Review: Mysterious techno artist Rrose presents their first ever CD release, and their second full-length project to date. Following 2019's Hymn to Moisture, Please Touch features 11 slippery slinkers, flaunting Rrose's penchant for hypnotics and minimalisms; the likes of 'Spores' and 'Spines' refuse to indulge too many novel sounds, preferring to allow their more immersive textures to rattle and ricochet over each mix, producing a delugey wash. Thematically, the LP deals with themes of touch, intimacy and embodiment, doing some of the work to bridge the schizophonic gap that's remained open since the dawn of recorded music.
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