MORAH レコード& CD

Review: Featuring six tracks from an eye-catching array of rising stars and confirmed underground heroes, VEYL's latest release is a must-check affair. There simply isn't room to mention each and every track, so instead we'll pick out some of the many standout tracks. Check first the sleazy, foreboding filth of Jenson Interceptor's hybrid electro-techno treat "The Outer Limits", before diving headfirst into the even more mind-altering, synth-heavy darkness of Lokier's "Secrets". Randstad skilfully doffs a cap to Nitzer Ebb while keeping the grooves rooted in electro on the growling guitar-laden sweatiness of "Metalloid", while Cardopusher's acid-fired "Bloodlust" is a stylish blend of EBM weight, jacking drums and twisted electronic motifs.

Review: Helena Hauff's mighty Return To Disorder is back with a various artists 12" packing phasers set to slay. LFT is as evil as it gets on "Flare," dropping the kind of sleazy, Bunker-ready, acid inflected electro that darkroom dreams are made of. Marc Ash has an edgier tone, maximising the distortion but also capitalising on uneasy space in the mix on grimy workout "Beirut Calling." Morah sends things in an airy direction on "Cold Water," building up layers of noise but maintaing a strange air of optimism. Hauff herself lands the B2 slot with a curious belter that channels the spirit of 90s MIDI game soundtracks amidst searing arepggios and a bloated kick.

Review: Helena Hauff's Return To Disorder label plunges once more into the grimy underworld of electro and wave music, this time guided by dungeon dweller Morah who debuted on the label in 2015 and has since gone on to great things via Lux Rec, Berceuse Heroique, brokntoys and more. "I Saw, Strained Her Eyes Peering Into The Gloom" is a bittersweet dance with distortion as disheveled as it is catchy, while "Dance When Lights Off" pushes even further into the red with scintillating results. "Against Your Beloved" sounds positively shimmering by comparison, even if on its own it's still a truly dirty slice of jacked up electro. "One Shade The Less, One Ray The More" is a strong closing bout that draws from a similar sound bank and applies it to a more techno-minded structure.

Review: Modal Analysis continues its unrelenting march towards the darkest territory in the electro landscape with this deadly 12" from Morah, which wastes no time in laying waste to the good vibes with the sinister stomp of "Voltage#1". The second track pumps up the rhythm section and lays down a sidewinder of a synth line that smacks of understated rave perfection, and it's that same synth that courses through the marginally more hypnotic "Voltage#3". Vapauteen offers up a remix of "Voltage#3" that slows the original right down and works a kind of mechanical tropicalia into the bones of the original.

Review: Fresh from delivering the dirt-encrusted intensity of The Anarchy EP on Berceuse Heroique, Morah pops up on Zurich institution Lux Rec. The fast-rising producer begins with "Around You, Around Me", a sparse-but-energy packed fusion of wild acid lines, rising and falling, high register melodies, and sweaty, full-throttle drum machine hits. "Don't Tear My Soul Apart" drops the tempo, but persists with the bold electronic riffs (it's kind of like the original 1988 version of The KLF's "What Time Is Love" after a session smoking crack), while standout "It's Been A Long Time" whips off its shirt for a muscular dance around the altar of mid-80s EBM.

Review: This is Athens-based DJ and producer Morah's second release, following an outing last year on Helena Hauff's Return to Disorder. It certainly lives up to its title. "Anarchy" itself uses a very simple ploy of pitting lo-fi drums against screeching, angle-grinding noise, but it proves to be deadly effective. "Impasse" is more bugged out, with chattering sound scapes playing out over a wiry rhythm, while Morah explores a sound not too dissimilar to Gesloten Cirkel on the grinding, wind tunnel techno of "You Say No". As a counterbalance to these wired dance floor tracks, Morah diverts to deeper tracks for the sub-aquatic ambience of "Looking Back".

Review: For the second release on her Return To Disorder label, Helena Hauff taps into the dark underbelly of the Athens techno scene and presents the undoubted talents of Greek producer Morah. A resident at Athens party Phormix, Morah has clearly been crafting his productions skills in private for some time as this three track 12" is a powerful display of techno at its dankest. "Solution" sets the tone, dipping into gnarled acid electro that seems to teeter on the brink of all out chaos with fellow A-side track "Take All" similarly nasty. Morah gets a chance to show his more experimental side with "Up In Flames", a scorched exercise in freeform electronics with some particularly haunting vocals.

Review: Russian label Mosaique has thus far carried some serious heat from artists like JASSS, Caron and Savage Grounds, and now they're shifting their nightmarish electro tendencies back to the various artists format of their Universe series. Umwelt leads the charge on this second installment with the eerie machine snarl of "Fallen Empire", followed up by two versions of the devilish "Sleep When You Die" by Moralez & The Horrorist. Alessandro Adriani is first up on the B side with the driving, noirish techno pulse of "Cosmic Transmissions," and then Morah rounds things off with the squelchy, spiky workout "Track 5".