Review: We sit here in high summer enjoying some warming rays, but soon the long days will fade and the glow will be less bright. It is that feeling which is captured in this new electro EP from ERP on Apnea. It's been crafted with great care and attention to every sonic detail and 'Les Amble' is the opener to get things underway with its snappy beats and nostalgic memories. 'Miami Nice' has a playful zip to it and glistening melodies backed by diffuse chords. 'Comfortable Pants' has hazy half-remembered melodies and is doused in a fuzzy warmth while 'Summer Nights' has a more phencyclidine rhythm and fleshy bassline.
Review: Return To Disorder welcomes Evighet Records label head Marco Bruno for some brilliantly controlled sonic chaos on this new electro exploration. His Sharp Focus EP brings together ambient, breaks and techno to snappy electro rhythms of the sort that he has already showcased in style on labels such as Blueprint Records and Machine. This one opens with the sleek, future-facing and speedy sounds of 'Storyteller' before 'Values Over Ego' gets more textured and raw with knick-snapping hits and prying synth lines making for real turbulence. 'Twist Of Fate' is a jungle workout that ducks and dives on warped bass and 'Karmic Pattern' is a slow but textural and intense closer with rueful chords.
Review: Germany's Die Gestalten amounts to far greater than the sum of his influences, a fact which once again proven by his latest record 'Ruhe In Frieden' ('Rest In Peace'), a sweet and mournful electro tune the likes of which we have never heard before. An unsettling tune, its live rendition here takes the unusual step of bringing wake-bound tiny violins to a skittery electro jaunt, amounting to the kind of vinyl-pressed funereal object we only imaged we'd need in a distant future, as opposed to now (when funeral services are still occupied by overtly human forces - no matter - that'll all change come the ensuing cyborg revolution). Who knew that a disc on a turntable could express this much grief? Sure, they've slipped into the other room; no-one dared guess said room wasn't a dancefloor...
Review: We're all the Richer for having listened to this one. On 'Electrik Damage', the Roma-based producer focuses on the classic sound-waves of synthpop and electro, merging the two for a uniquely 8-bitty-itty journey in cyberspatial sound. As if bowling down the gradated green wormholes of cyberspace as might have been imagined in an 80s sci-fi TV-movie, opener 'Electrocute Me' pits pumpingly sidechained saws against soarer video-game melodies, to ecstatic effect; 'Lectrocardiograma' does similarly as much, but rather scans down to the body, envisaging a new form of electro-echoic heart scanning technology. Then there's the hilariously titled 'ElectroVISION at Fashion TV', which sonically imagines a totally posthuman catwalk, and 'Ritmo Electronico', which errs most bloopy to the chip-tune of tremolo'ing twizzles, brash beats and low robot mutterings-under-breath.
Glitch N Ass (feat Cheapskate Skutta, Dastardly Kids)
Birthday Pearls (feat QuikKash)
Pocket Pussy (feat Milfie)
TakeOffOnnaPorsche
TeeTees Dispo (feat Sprng4evr)
No Games (feat Nlghind, Dastardly Kids)
Track 13
Track 14
Track 15
Track 16
Track 17
Track 18
Review: After its initial release on vinyl on Omar S's FXHE last summer, Diners Club International have put together a new CD version of Hi Tech's Dttwat album featuring some new bonus cuts. It's a stylish blend of Motor City beats, ghetto energy and r&b vocals that all get cut up and chopped and spliced into short, quickfire but potent tunes that make a lasting impact. A wide range of guest vocals come from Cheapskate Skutta, Dastardly Kids, Nlghind and many more so these beats brim with colour and character. With the added bonus cuts this is a must-cop CD direct from the D.
Review: Drivecom's latest release, a 2xLP album, feature new tracks meticulously reworked from 2022-23. This collection is a sonic homage to past works like La Hora de las Maquinas and The Source by Boris Divider, yet it features a modern production twist. The album kicks off with 'The Way You Feel Me,' blending electro and synthwave with moog bass and arpeggios reminiscent of Arpanet. Following this, 'Letters From A Sleeper' evokes a postnuclear future with its prominent synthline. 'Distante' introduces slower BPMs, combining J. Carpenter-inspired synths with vintage digital rhythms. On Side-2 'You Know What I Know' recalls the signature sound of La Hora de las Maquinas with its sequential prophet's arpeggio. 'Sin Mirar Atras' stands out as a deeply introspective piece rich with vintage synths and reverb. 'Your Light' reappears as a future electro classic. 'Recursos Infinitos' offers a Tangerine Dream-esque instrumental interlude before the dark, dystopian 'Cenital' channels Vangelis' Blade Runner. The title track, 'Memories From The Dust,' merges 80s digital keyboard sounds with the album's overarching themes. The closing track, 'Out of Sync,' features intentionally misaligned synthlines recorded in one take.
Blinkduus Dischetto - "Sein Cirque Les Poppies" (4:45)
Monica Venturella - "Page Not Found" (4:52)
Orso - "Bastardo" (6:00)
Review: Proper euphoric tune-tutelage from the Ajaccio label Digital Finesse, a good name for the label for sure. Run by Jimmy Batt, Digital Finesse's M.O. encompasses curt EPs as well as multitrack V/As, polished and readied for maximum credo. 'I Bastardi Aiaccini' is one of the latter, a six-track compendium fleshing the best one-offs from their personal roster, all while accelerating and hyper-modernising the classic electro and Italo sounds native to the Mediterranean. Beginning with the crisp, hyperactive, arpeggio-heavy metrosexual fascinator 'Electromotion', we then move into the comparatively gradated boxer 'Concorde' by Human Aventura, before rounding off the A on a note of bursting acid innovation, the instrumental version of Pasqua Pancrazi's 'Danesi'. The B opens on a note of sleaze-funk with the speedy 'Sein Cirque Les Poppies' from Blinkduus Dischetto, before going full-throttle dystopi-speed by way of a minimal but no less driven flat-beat cutup from Monica Venturella, 'Page Not Found'. Orso's 'Bastardo' flaunts the more experimental ends of the label's capacity, with 'Bastardo' hearing motifs of IT-hardcore get plunged into more-than-smokey scourings of Reese and sizzle.
Review: This is a new CD version including bonus tracks of Hi Tech's self-titled album which comes here on Diners Club International but first landed on Omar S's FXHE. It is a full ghetto tech workout with pumped-up booty-bouncing beats that traverse a wide range of tempos. The high energy highlights come thick and fast with the likes of 'Big Prism' riding on juke beats, 'Milf Milo' bringing some lithe synth chords and raw claps and 'I Swear It's A Bop' (feat KAYY & ALLGIRLSALLOWED) featuring broken drum patterns, glistening synth stabs and r&b vocals full of soul.
Review: Coqueto Records introduce the third edition of its Various Artists techno series with a robotic one, shepherding the talents of Brian Topham, Acid Charlie, Rufo and Rambal Cochet into one effusive, overflowing field of talent. All tracks here channel that sense of primal radical jank for which the Spaniards are known; kicking off with Topham's 'Dissolved In Ether', a set-starter of EBM-alyptic proportions (giant gated snare, tick; low metallic stereo skreaks, tick; monotone decepticon vocoder grumbles, tick), the palette is well maintained thereafter; Charlie's 'Everything Counts' dives headfirst into the oubliette with sparse dungeon synth strings and Italo vocal gates; Rufo's 'Palta Market' takes the first trance detour with a surprise swerve into a root-noted reverie; and Rambal Cochet helms up the B-sider's curio duties with the percussive fog-out that is 'Catalyst Powder'.
Review: Human Rebellion & Power's 'Fake Reality' EP on Midi Mode Records delivers five heavy electro tracks for the headstrong. Side-1 starts with the title track, a dark, brooding piece with intense vibes, followed by 'Rabbit Hole,' a nod to Detroit electro with influences from genre greats. On Side-2, 'I'm A Freak,' is a chord-driven techno track with an electric, vibrant acid line that will have listeners eyes wide open in awe. 'Human Squad' stands out as a favorite, featuring a robotic and danceable bassline. Closing the EP, the 'Fake Reality' (Nite Fleit remix) offers a powerful reimagining of the original, making this EP a solid addition to any electro enthusiast's collection.
Review: Coeur De Glace on DKO Records (DKO 34) delivers four fantastic electro tracks, each with unique influences and directions. Side-1 kicks off with Binary Digit's 'U Want Dis,' an exuberant, high-energy track that pays homage to old-school rave with its lively vocal samples. Fasme's 'Morning' follows, blending smooth electro with soft keys and a whimsical AFX melody for a perfect combination. Side-2 features GGGG's 'La Cueillette,' a feel-good, fun and melodic electro tune. The EP concludes with Mud Deep & Sans-Qui's 'Mesonyx,' offering IDM goodness reminiscent of Rephlex, Squarepusher, and AFX. Coeur De Glaceis a vibrant and diverse collection, sure to delight fans of electro and techno.
Review: German artist Martin Matiske's musical journey began under the mentorship of DJ Hell, who introduced him to the decks at Gigolo label nights in Munich in 1999. Inspired by pioneers like Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre, Matiske started producing for International Deejay Gigolo Records and later for Frustrated Funk, Bordello A Parigi, and the Central Processing Unit. His new EP has already had support from Dave Clarke and Helena Hauff, including for the standout track 'Moments', which blends ice-cold snares with celestial pads and retro-future synths. Legowelt's remix of 'Moments' adds an astral electro vibe, while 'Dimensional Space Travel' and 'Analogue Being' explore cinematic electro with nostalgic, playful tones.
Review: Ilian Tape is back with a new entry into their ITX Series and as always it comes with four interesting but unhelpful keywords from the Munich crew themselves: Mind-expanding Spaceship Customer Support. The music sure is cosmic and mind-expanding from Struciton, who opens with the thrilling breakbeats of 'Just' which are wired up with fizzing synths and whirring machine noises. 'Flip' then gets busy with a nimble rhythm and bright, pixelated synth sequences and spangled percussion. 'Givven' strips things back a little to a more deep and dubbed-out but still vital groove while 'Sunray' is a mind-melting deep space trip. Unique as always, this one.
Review: For many an older raver, Artificial Intelligence will always be best known as the title of a seminal early Warp compilation. This label of the same name is slowly doing a fine job of establishing itself as a great outlet for brilliant new electro. Plenty of different styles are all explored with RTR's 'Waev' kicking off on a high-speed tip. Elsewhere Low Tape's 'Articelectro' slow things down to a rugged rhythm with woodpecker hits and singing pads, Principles Of Geometry gets pensive with the undulations of 'Dreampler' and Yaporigami's 'Custodian Of Ambience' is a heavenly blend of celestial synth work.
Review: The Aspecto Humano label's next outing is by a project headed up by the founders themselves under their Florida Cancer alias. It's music that combines several influences and inspirations from techno to New Beat to EBM. The opener 'Graveyard' is all squealing synths and menacing drums, and there is plenty more darkness, soot and raw texture to 'Amici Miei' which is lit up by strobe-like synths. 'Colony' has a more chugging tempo with twang synths and slapping drums. 'Ghost Dance' closes down the EP with spiralling lines and coarse drums, fragments of vocal and a general sense of dystopia.
Review: Russian label Analog Concept introduces a new electro venture here, all the way from Sweden and helmed by seasoned artists Alexander Johansson and Mattias Fridell. Under this new Unwonted moniker, they channel their expertise into melancholic, warm, vocal-driven electro music that leans on Detroit techno, electro, and hip hop. The rather excellent track 'A Moment Like This' evokes a dystopian, retro-romantic future that wanders through a desolate, crumbling cityscape, contemplating distant memories and the stark reality of the present moment. This composition encapsulates their narrative-driven approach and mixes up evocative atmospheres with a nostalgic yet forward-thinking musical palette.
Review: D Strange & Huey Mnemonic hail from the American Mid-West and certainly bring plenty of the usual tropes of their homeland to this new EP. It's defined by a rather moody narrative with Huey kicking things off with the glistening synths and scurrying baselines of electro-funker 'Black Manta Corps'. His second cut 'Red Alert' is defined by an unsettling siren that loops up and down while the freaky pads and old-school electro drums power on. D Strange then steps up to the flip with the more fast and furious sounds of 'Exoframe' and the turbocharged dystopia of 'Drapetomania.'
Review: Lovers of electro clash will be hyped by this reissue of some classics of the genre from Break 3000. They come from a specific time between 1998 and 2003 on red vinyl and mark the final chapter of the label's current reissue project. The A-side features Break 3000's remix for Germany's Pocketgame label in 2003, part of the We Are He-Man EP alongside a renowned Legowelt remix. Next, the dark electro track The Wait' appeared on Pocketgame's 'Bonuslevel One - North and South' compilation in 2003. The B-side showcases earlier releases 'Electric Blue' and 'Spacemachinenreise' and 'Lectrolite #2' on Break 3000's 'Casa Nova' imprint in 1999, which marked the start of his electro journey.
Review: German rabbit-hole techno pushers Miroloja are on a self-described 'hot streak', evidently having found a wave and continuing to stick with it. Now kicking off the Ninja imprint with its debut 12" comes this fantastic four-tracker, designed to leave minds bent, and bodies similarly torqued. Indeed, 'funky twisted music' is the label's strapline for this one, but "funky" lands as more of a feeling than a form. The beats here are really rather straight and unswung, allowing ample room for its many breakbeat through-girds and decorative acid echoings-out. The first two track titles come peppered with whoreson zeds at their ends, playing up the zany, zinging zones of Miroloja's zhared zound; the B-siders, meanwhile, do us a 'Solid' with a brief coupling of deeper-into-the-dance 'Flavours', the latter track of which is a real head-addler to say the least.
Review: Longhair steps up to the London label Opia with four more fresh cuts of future-facing electro. Up first is the zippy brilliance of '7up' with its fizzing lines and splashy hi-hats. 'Lunchbox' is another cracker with burrowing synth lines and lots of percussive energy that adds to the bumping bass. 'Salty Context' gets busy with a more trippy synth style that takes you to the stars over corrugated beats and 'Surf & Turf' closes out with a mix of all of the above plus some loon bird class, shiny bells and organic drum sounds.
Review: Esteemed electro explorer Emile Facey aka Plant 43 is back on his Plant43 Recordings imprint. Despite being hugely prolific, the artist always managed to find fresh new creative ground with each new outing and Concrete Echo is no different. The title cut is a high-speed opener with shimmering lines, fizzing static electricity and drama in the chords that make you take note. 'Emerald Shift' is a broken beat kicker with raw claps and scintillating liquid metal leads while 'Raw Vectors' layers up acid wobbliness and textbook electro rhythms. 'Mist Memory' closes down with a melancholic vibe and heady synths that take you into the cosmos.
Review: Electro has so much representation already that we'd have hardly imagined it needed a Coalition, but colour us mistaken, of course. Presumably functioning both as intergalactic senate and record label, here, on 'Robot Connection 001', the Electro Coalition commission four delegates to lay down one lengthy sonic deposition each. Sound Synthesis kicks things off with a moving acid purging, with soaring cutoff filters aplenty, setting the diplomatic record straight with a grand metaphysical treatise - 'Physical Terrain' - on the cosmopolitical terrain thus faced. Then Arsonist Recorder objects by way of a pure immaterial antithesis, with 'T & A' locking in heavy freq-layered constrictions between an accursed beat; then Neonicle's 'Combination' and Sinitsin's 'People Are Aliens', finally, form a worthy synthesis and thesis-return respectively, ending on a suspension of humanly intelligible feeling, in favour of a bellicist's power fantasy in harsh snap-breaks and chromatic arp-arcs.
Review: Body Mechanic has been turning out definitive Motor City techno on solid labels like Cryovac, and GASS for several years. This time out he lands-on Detroit Techno and serves up, well, some electro. It's classic 313 tackle though - heavy on the kicks, snappy snares and filthy dirty basslines that make you want to move. Ghoulish vocals add extra grit to the opener and from there 'Dance' gets more playful with jittery drum funk and scratching, 'Beautiful Bum' has a gorgeously tender and reflective vibe thanks to the minor chords and smooth electro rhythms, 'Magic (feat Tay) ' slips into a deep and soulful house groove and 'Househead' is jacked up, loopy and well swung amongst several more timeless cuts. All in all, a killer double 12".
Review: With his nom de plume, producer Anoesis - returning to Cyphon Records - posits an age-old philosophical question. Are there forms of knowledge that we can access independently of consciousness? Besides perception of phenomena, and by the use of reason, how else can we know things? One answer is "anoesis", which is the reception of impressions or sensations - sensory input, pure qualia - by the brain, prior to any intellectual (aka. noetic) work being done. As a form of 'Metacognition', anoesis is innate, paralogical, and before reason; such motor inputs are exactly the kind that electro and its adjacent styles hope to simulate and stimulate. 'Vision Off' and 'Do Don't Don't Do' seem to reflect something of this latent potentiation of thought, with patterned, helical beats, and bouncy neuronal noises, seeming to represent the ludicrousness of the unconscious and somatic mind. 'New Style Of Life' just as oxymoronic - irrationally rational - proving that the dancing body also follows its own, paralinguistic form of reason; sci-fi, Forbidden Planet-style, billowing synth note ascensions blend with clacky hats and snares, representing the forward-facing yet untempered drives of such a precognitive, subjective mental state.
Review: Sicilian electro-contemporary Monica Venturella steps up for Sex Tapes From Mars' seventh outing, serving four acid-bleeding, delirious cuts. A1 'Talk Dirty 2 Me' is a masterclass in rhythmic finesse, navigating the delicate balance between the syncopated shuffle of two-step drumwork and the subterranean swell of an early 00s growlbass. Then 'Don't Think About It' forays through bouncy, playful energies underscored by a distinctively corrupt acid line, not long before 'Oh Shie' flaunts a deranged, bumpy groove on the flip. Layers soon unfold with intricate detail, bespeaking the record's jilted finale, 'Espionage', which begins with a filmic, detuned set of vintage synth swells before dropping into no less than a seminal standout joyride in greezy waft. Verberating bleeps, clever pitch play and raunchy vocal stabs join in on the trip.
Review: The furthest-flung nether regions of outworld electro teem with unsung, immortal voices, yet unhazarded terrains in which undiscovered dialects remain yet unlinked to the mass. Or so it sounds to be implied on this latest more-melter, 'The First Word', from young experimental electro outfit Coduality. First released in 2022 as the result of neighbourhood friends from Minsk, Tsyd and Kayssych meeting, sharing in and relishing the alien imagos projected by their electro predecessors, their debut 'The First Word' is back by popular demand; we're unsurprised that, despite the apparent extraterrestriality of sound, the artists drew this set of productions from inspirations derived from their local environments, responding to a series of collaborative music-making experiments taking place in the countryside. Opener 'Sacred Walk' is an incredible would-be horror-sci-fi soundtrack opener, its uillean emulations and harp synths riffing against gizmo and ASMR sound effects to terrifically audiovisual effect. The three dance ensuers go from there, though not without ample grounding in the EP's must-listen introduction; the A1 truly is the highlight here.
DJ Korekaranokinkyusaigai & DJ Disappointed - "Acid Flow" (5:54)
Driven By Attraction - "Weaponize" (7:52)
Shcuro - "Fuel" (4:41)
Decent Damage & Shawn Cartier - "TD Playa" (5:30)
Review: Steffi's Klakson label is one of the few real creams of today's electro landscape; inviting only the very best of the best artists, few of its contemporaries can really say they've managed to achieve the same feats in the same space of 20 years or so. The latest V/A EP to grace their rolling stocks, 'Weaponized Fuel On The Acid Playa', looks ostensibly like it could be homage to old-school UR or its many Dutch copycats, but in sound, it hears back completely differently, feeling like a future electro hellzone in which all manner of evil mutant experiments remain on the loose. By far the best-produced electro EP we've heard in recent months, you won't be disappointed by the likes of Shcuro's 'Feel' or Driven By Attraction's 'Weaponize'.
Review: Cruz returns to Griffe with the new EP 'La Pasion Paga', delivering a wicked set of five elements in the form of neon-drenched electro and wearable wetware Italo. The title track throws us into an extrasensory fervour, serving visions of streaklit motorbikes burning phosphenic light trails onto our retinas, be this due to the various LED filter-cutoff stabs, flash-photo gated snares or two-tone melodic glow discharges heard thereupon. 'Music Addicted' furthers this sense of lubricious but psychotic drive, as we're continually bewitched and bedazzled by murderous murmurations and piquant flicks and guttural saws, glued by the clever working of police sirens into the mix's distance. B-sider 'Always My Illusion' finds a moment of brief respite, deploying a detuned synth xerogel that glues each otherwise sparse, janky electro element into a well-soldered prosthetic. 'Los Atajos Del Delirio' builds on similar themes of futural disillusion, yet ramps things up to yet another accelerative exponent, ending on a juddering but bittersweet note of finality.
Review: While most party DJs lament their wedding gigs while lauding their fun cool jobs, Wedding Acid Group - the openers of this latest V/A by Undersound Recordings - marks a point of going beyond mere cultural Stockholm syndrome, not just making light of our matrimonial masters, but redirecting those cheugy energies into a killer beatific-corrosive intro.AThen come three more riveting uplifts of a blissful and bouncey variety, from 'Do As I Say' by Albert Ess to 'Singlestranded' by Systelman to 'Love2' by J. Mono, seguing from industrial anvil clankage to a nightbus-bound house closer.
Review: The Berlin-based 432HERTZ crew kicks on here with a new various artists 12" packed with electro heat. Rinaldo Makaj gets things underway with the serene grooves of 'Computational Universe', which has some of the nicest snares we've heard in some time. Rickie's 'Mesosphere' is a nice off balance sound with thumping kicks and melodic bass, then it's time to get sleazy and more than a little ghetto with the raw Electric City jam 'Escape From Reality.' Pumio Space brings a little colour and playfulness to closer 'Mario's Juice'.
Review: Dark Vektor's 'Universos Infinitos' was first released a couple of years ago via HC, and the label have now resolved to reissue the record, by popular demand, on vinyl. Privileging a full-throttle, cosmic electro sound - one that makes full use of the digital medium's spectral potential, yet still echoes something of the imperfect medium that is space-time - 'Universos Infinitos' invites us to consider the vast expanse of the cosmos through a chrome-tinted radio telescope. From the off, of the title track, we hear analogous readings of vocoded pulsars and sidereal stabs, both of which are received loudly and clearly by our technilicious giant satellite dish. 'Darkness Around Me' is more an intermittent sound-source, perhaps signalling the cosmic presence of a partially botched nova - or even a Dyson sphere - through its equally ecstatic square waves and washout vocals from singer Marinetta. The Lost Boys deliver a rogue and vampiric schranz version on the B, shortly followed by an even archer footwork remix from our newest favourite outer-space visitor, Kaxtelian.
Review: Deimos Defender is a member of the Copenhagen Electro Alliance who brings his expertly cooked-up electro jams to Abstract Rhythm. The young label has impressed so far and that good start doesn't change here. Opener 'Doged Assault' has a ticket, funky groove with squealing synths up top and 'Gusto Bubbles' then take off on nice wispy pads with a pensive mix of melodies adding some cerebral heft. 'Serpentine Shadows' is a warped machine sound with rickety low ends and moody pads and 'Vortex Encounter' is the cinematic closer with kinetic rhythms at its core.
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