Review: Dan Andrei is arguably one of the finest selectors of this generation and a master minimal producer who makes electronic music of the highest order. His latest outing sees him inaugurating his own brand-new label alongside Claudiu Stefan. Rainbow Hill is a platform for their more personal ideas and starts with four more of Andrei's brilliantly deft yet dramatic tracks. 'Numan's Touch' kicks off with rolling drums and bass and a fine eco-system of cosmic pads, twinkling keys and fizzing synths that are theatrical and involving. 'What Else?' then gets darker and more intense with heady loops and wispy pads, and again the ante is upped and the darkness pervades once more on the tense and taught dub-tech roller 'This Is What I See'. Last of all, 'Bluer Than Ever' floats above the floor with airy pads and radiant chords. A perfect 5am vibe.
Review: B 2DEP'T were a curio of the early wave of techno in Japan in the 90s, releasing a handful of cassettes and mini-albums but remaining a cult concern rather than breaking through to major success. For those in the know, their productions were way ahead of their time, and Junki Inoue seems absolutely hip to this as he signs them up for a release on his archival label Saisei. If you enjoy the boundaryless exploration of the early techno boom and prefer brightly melodic motifs to match, you'll love this record. It's brimming with oddball personality and it's more than punchy enough to cut it with modern club fare.
Review: Who said music has nothing to say these days? In an age of plastic people distracted to the point of distraction from the shocking atrocities, privilege, inequality and prejudices that are frogmarching society into a death trap of a future, Benefits stand out like a beautiful sore thumb - battered, bruised, and British, they are the epitome of an 'issues band' and we welcome any opportunity to listen and write about them.
Like some sort of rabid Idles, here the Middlesbrough one man crew make noises that defy logic, twisted cacophonous bars of ravenous distorted sound, and then layer council estate spoken word over the top. Angry enough to make you feel like there is still hope, and innovative enough to make you wonder whether - in an increasingly risk-averse music industry - enough people will get to know and love them. Make sure you do.
Review: Bringing bruising good time Oi-punk to the new generation, Chubby & The Gang have made quick work over the course of their two exceptional full-lengths. Now, less than a year removed from the life affirming scrappy anthems of 'The Mutt's Nuts', the gang (no pun intended) return with a literal 'Labour Of Love.' The single features three new cuts, all love songs, delivered with the manic, crusty, anthemic beauty one could ever desire from new school hardcore-by-way-of-Oi! punk revivalists.
Review: Codek is the brainchild of Jean-Marie Salaun who grew up in Paris influenced by the folklore of the inner city. In 1978 he joined art rock group SpionS alongside Gregory Davidow and recorded two singles. Diving into the Paris post punk scene he met Claude Arto and designed the artwork for Claude's single on Celluloid "Kwai Systeme / Betty Boop." Robin Scott (M "Pop Music") had produced the SpionS first single and wanted to collaborate further. With Claude, Jean-Marie wrote "Me Me Me", intended for a choir, for M. Then SpionS split and Robin was off to Switzerland to record an album to follow-up his hit single. That left Jean-Marie alone in London, where he began working as Codek, a play on the brand name Kodak The "Me Me Me" single was released by MCA Records in 1980. Back in Paris, now with some studio experience, Celluloid Records hired Jean-Marie to produce records for Artefact and Les Orphelins. Over the next 2 years he began working on ideas for the next Codek single "Closer / "Tam Tam".
Review: The 21st Century is riddled with new ghosts, according to this somewhat surprise comeback EP from pop rock veterans, The Copyrights. A four tracker that runs headfirst into themes of relationships collapsing and our inability to truly leave them in the past thanks to the hyper connectivity of our digitised world, the idea is simple - with each passing day we deal with a new haunting. Music, however, can be our salvation. Creative expression, artistic declarations and explorations of emotions we may not always know what to do with until we properly look at the options. On 'New Ghosts', the band go for a main stage guitar sound that nods to pop punk and then dives headfirst into stadium indie, catharsis on on the scale of anthems.
Review: Cititrax/Minimal Wave come together to put out this new release from the Vancouver-based synth wave duo Cosmetics, which was originally formed by Nic Emm and Aja Emma in 2008. They have been quiet over recent years but recently got back together with a new full-length called Baby that's due soon. The lead singles from it now arrive on this 7" and are full of sultry minimal sounds, moody synth craft and seductive vocals from Emma that really cut through as the clavier a dark, film-like narrative that is beautifully beguiling. A great return ahead of the much anticipated full length.
Feeding Off The Sweat (Maral Mahmoudi remix) (6:03)
Review: Pioneering punk outfit Crass continue with their ambitious The Feeding Of Five Thousand Remix Project, a self-professed testament to just how multifarious the group were when they dropped The Feeding back in 1978. Melding elements of rap and grime, before either were even a thing, with raw and raucous anarchistic guitar spirit, there's a lot that can be done with those original stems.
This is the fourth case in point, which involves the innovative and hugely influential sonic industrialist Paul Jamrozy, AKA Test Dept's most iconic member, who here delivers something that's part-ode to the source material, and part-nod to his own outfit, which is also sadly no more. Flip to find an altogether different beast, from dublab and Ninja Tune's Los Angeline production wizard, Maral Mahmoudi.
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