Review: The Netherlands has always excelled at electro, particularly on the West Coast. As such it has a wealth of labels that are always go-to for proper electro heads no matter the day's prevailing trends. Frustrated Funk is one of them. 214 lands on it here but doesn't hang around for long, instead taking off to the cosmos on some enthralling rhythms and edgy synth patterns that flash and dash about the mix. 'Pocket Camp' is a stuttering, jittery one that shines bright and is backlit by celestial charm, 'Our Walks At Teneriffe' is another direct but cinematic sound and 'Isla Del Encanto' completes this one with the sort of urgent energy that carries you through the night.
Review: The Veiltail EP by 747 features two heavyweight songs: 'Veiltail', which is a driving, heavy cascading melodic track with bubbling acid flourishes and a touch of soaring trance influence, and 'Stairway', which is a more electro-slanted track that's nevertheless just as pulsating and dramatic as its predecessor, perhaps a touch of Rephlex-style aural radioactivity. The Canadian label Aquaregia continues to be a trendsetter in the very competitive genre.
Review: A credible eyewitness is arguably nonexistent; all narrators are unreliable in some way. But the ACEW label boss who bears the name makes a worthy attempt to justify it, laying down four killer downtempo dreams of the tongue-in-cheek, driving kind. 'Hypnotik' was clearly made with the aim to mesmerise in mind: 'Waz Up' and 'Sexy Waz' logically follow each other as snake-charming pendulum-swinging coldwave-chug trances to make up the A-side, while the B's 'Following' and 'Subreal' raise the pace again, deftly working illusory melodies round strangled electro workouts.
Review: The second release on the fascinating Mooziken Analog Room label comes not from Detroit-based Iranian Salar Ansari, who delivered the imprint's debut release, but rather British acid house, techno and drum & bass pioneer A Guy Called Gerald. The Mancunian channels the raw, analogue-rich heaviness of his early work throughout the EP, which sees him skip between twisted, cunningly swung, acid-fired heaviness ('Old Skool'), pleasingly metallic blends of electro, clonk and house ('Sugoi'), trippy and hypnotic early morning mysticism (the Berlin-friendly haziness of 'Flash Fight') and chunky, funk-tinged tech-house (the 'is it heavyweight house or light-touch techno' of 'False Religion', where Gerald makes a rare appearance on the mic).
Review: Satamile have got a bunch of great reissues of some old techno classics lined up and this 12" from A1 People, the No One Likes A Smartarse EP, is one of them. It is some high-grade and no frills electro from the off with 'No One Likes A Smartarse' layering up lashing synths and bleeping fax machine tones over kinetic drums with neck-snapping hits. 'Orash' keeps the energy levels up with more slapping hits and driving drum funk but this time with a more wispy and deft lead up top. Last but not least, 'From Detroit' is a loopy electro cut with hammering hits that nail you to the floor.
Review: Always a good week when some new RAND Muzik drops. The Leipzig imprint's brand of understated grooves are on fine display once again on this various artists EP. On RM 12015, feel the low-slung and funky dub of A2's 'Open Your Mind' which they follow up with some moody computer funk on the next track 'Entity'. Over on the B side, Andy Panayi serves up some dusty 303 shenanigans on 'Acidbend' in the vein of classic Cabinet Records and closing it out is Stopouts with the subterranean breaks of 'Pass Go'.
Review: The Abstract Eye aka Gifted & Blessed always makes electrifying music that brims and bristles with energy. It is dense and textural and requires close attention to unpack and get lost in but that effort is always more than repaid. This is another brilliantly heavy outing, a first on Technoindigenous, that makes great use of one of the most legendary bits of gear in any studio - the TR-909, Here the artist finds new ways to make it sing with acid-laced house, clattering percussion and cosmic synth work that will rewire your brain.
Review: The reissue of Acid Jesus's tracks 'Radium,' 'Uranium Smuggle,' and 'Hibernation Drive' is a momentous occasion for electronic music enthusiasts. Produced between 1995-1997 at Klangfabrik, these tracks are a testament to the duo's pioneering sound and gathered here for a vinyl pressing together for the first time. 'Radium' and 'Uranium Smuggle' showcase a similar sonic structure, with 'Radium' delivering a frenzied, peak-hour experience, while 'Uranium Smuggle' offers a cooler, more contemplative journey. The underated track, 'Hibernation Drive,' is not to be missed. This gem is stunning blend of IDM, techno, acid, electro, and Detroit influences. It's a masterpiece that transcends genres completing this German bomb.
Review: Some six years after debuting via a deliciously angular and energetic EP from Jaquarius and Mono-Enzyme 307, the Acid Avengers imprint notches up release number 20. Like most of the label's EPs, it's a multi-artist affair. Sometime Balkan Vinyl and Bass Assault artist Acidulant handles side A, bouncing between rushing, piano-sporting 1992 hardcore revivalism ('Super Rave'), sub-heavy deep electro haziness ('Save The Last Rave') and throbbing, arpeggio driven trance/breakbeat techno fusion ('Hauz Trax'). Voiron, who last graced the label back in 2016, takes over on the flip. The Paris-based producer first fuses glistening, spacey melodies, twisted acid lines, post-electro beats and dirty bass on 'Bon Kick Voiron', before opting for deep acid house on 'Digital Voiron Workstation' and atmospheric, Orbital-meets-'90s tech-house on 'Sugar Voiron'.
Review: Berlin producer Acud follows up 2023's Matjesfilet and Verbrennungsmotor with another multi-mix remix single, 'Supermarkt'. Flexing the network with a lead remix by none other than Prins Thomas - followed by versions from Ost & Kjex, Ana Helder, Dirty Acid, Mijo, and two from Amount - this remix EP makes for a comprehensive take on just how many times a track can be reinterpreted. Straying from the original's downtempo disco whimsies and supermarket-tannoy ready basslines, each producer lends their own deconstructed flair to the original, best of which in our view has to be Amount's retakes, which seize the opportunity to create something almost entirely new and singular from the stems.
Review: This new drop from key Dutch label Frustrated Funk is a 12" sampler for Adapta's critically acclaimed Memory Program album. It was only a cassette and digital release the first time around so it's great to have these tracks on wax. There is a serenity to the synths of 'Who Am I' that really captivates your imagination while 'Cousin Bruce' has whipping, lashing synth lines tearing up the broken beat funk and 'Cassette King' is a sludgy, lo-fi, gritty and mutant slow motion rhythmic workout. 'Memory Event' and 'Stars Hold' add yet more variation to a superb 12" and a great reminder of the quality of the original album.
Review: Banoffee Pies is one of those labels that doesn't miss no matter what genre it takes aim at. Best known for its hype garage sounds it heads into minimal territory here with Adelina at the buttons for the seventh in the Black Label Series. 'Outdoor' is a primo cut with judders groovers and sinewy synths demanding you dance, 'Spirit DNX' then slows down and gets all acidic and twisted and 'Double Danger' is a real cracker that fizzes with static. Last of all, 'Own Methods' is a future world where the robots have taken over and mysterious pads lead you through an automated world of cosmic energy.
Review: Remastered and reissued with new a new album cover via the Clone West Coast Series, Adult's 'New Phonies' EP first appeared in 2000 as the duo moniker of Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller, two legit electro stalwarts. This is a proper snappy electro EP - of the least sympathetic and most coldly calculating kind - evoking the fright of becoming trapped inside an inescapable subliminal-sonic cybernetic feedback loop, with all human faculties thrown to the wayside. 'Hand To Phone', for example, locks us into a communicative-cybernetic stasis, with spitty acid 16ths betraying the mood of becoming affective chasers of electromagnetic signals, unwittingly carrying out the bidding of our new techno-evangelist overlords. The A-sider 'New Object', meanwhile, with its sizzling 808s, transitional fluctuations and hip-hop vocal refrain - "I need you to accommodate my comunication needs" - touches on several layers of objectification at once: sexual, commodification, loss of the ability to speak. Adult truly dealt with adult themes and embraced their recapture into the machine - now you too can own their New Object.
The Advent & Zein Ferreira - "Defend Your Planet" (4:41)
Assembler Code - "Line Of Sight" (5:19)
Carl Finlow - "Syncopated Automated" (6:57)
Versalife - "SH09" (6:02)
Review: This is a special sampler 12" taken from the Various Artists compilation Defend Your Planet that Avoidant Records put out. It features a heavyweight crew of electro mainstays, first of which are The Advent & Zein Ferreira. Their 'Defend Your Plane' is a turbo powered cosmic assault with skewed synths and high speed drums. Assembler Code's 'Line Of Sight' doesn't let up, powering on through sheet metal snares and juddering drum programming and then man like Carl Finlow layers in prickly melodies, dark sci-fi energy and booming bass. Analogue master Versalife shits things down with the shadowy 'SH09.'
London Modular Alliance - "Lump Of Coal" (beats) (2:42)
Konerytmi - "Pulssi" (5:22)
DeFeKT - "Radar" (4:03)
Zobol - "Data Wars" (5:01)
Review: Exit Planet Earth continues its exploration of the world of electro universe with an expansive, extended six track EP, featuring The Advent x Zein Ferreira, DeFeKT, London Modular Alliance, Konertymi and Zobol. The Advent, whose weekly Gardening Club residency in the mid-90s helped to drag electro out of the realms of the retro and back into the future, team up with Zein Ferreira for a Kraftwerk-on-speed extended mix of 'CarpeDiem', before London Modular Alliance's more moderately paced but still squiggle and bleep laced 'Lump of Coal' plus a 'beats' breakdown for the DJs. The B-side brings us the acid-powered 'Pulssi' by Konerytmi, the bouncy, breakdance-friendly 'Radar' by DeFeKT, and the relatively pure, optimistic sonics of Zobol's 'Data Wars'. Thumbs up all round.
Review: A new project based out of Copenhagen - Aether's Spring comes shrouded in mystery but makes a bold statement with this first transmission. WATER: Dancing Moon 12" leads in with "House In Blue Rain," a downcast track bathed in melancholic pads and blown out percussion around a steady 4/4 tick. "Dancing Moon" is a more kinetic affair that works with all kinds of synth shapes alongside some primal drum machine percussion that lends the track a new wave quality that suits it just fine. Closer "Throne Of Clay" spreads across the B side in a brooding, journeying epic fit for the likes of classic James Holden or a more wave-minded Jon Hopkins.
Review: Age of Hyperion is one half of Alien Communication and here he lands on the label of the same name with the first part in his J.R. Isodore's Medicine Bottle series. It is a beguiling mix of electro and techno with weird grooves and innovative moods. The title cut is a slow and playful opener with jittery lines and smeared cosmic chords then it's into snappy rhythms and busted bass on Monkey Bones & Fish Brains' melodic madness on 'Ominus Voyage'. There are dark worlds explored on 'Material Metaphore' and 'Solar Pulse' then has whip-snapping synths lashing about over serene electro rhythms.
Review: Breakbeat means many different things to many different people but in the case of this new EP from Aggresivnes on Electroshock there is something of a turn of the millennium nu-breaks feel. Synths sounds like video game effects from a retro future world with crisp drum funk powering each track along. Spoken word samples, sirens, rave-ready piano stabs and warped leads all add extra personality to the playful beats. 'Popcorn' is our pick for the sheer neck-snapping crispness of the drums and hits.
Review: RFXN kicks off life with a new single from David Agrella which has seen early support from Ricardo Villalobos. First off he offers up his own Acid Mix of 'Perro Balearico' and it's a supple, deep and dubby track with liquid synths and prog chords that sound both retro and future all at once. The original is a more dreamy and spaced-out sound for 5 am sessions. On the flip is a more punch but still silky and warmly melodic remix from Mario Liberti before last of all, Gabriel Rai gets darker. His drums hit harder and the synths are moodier as he takes dancers down a late-night path of mystery and intrigue.
Review: Brixton-based David Agrella returns after the success of his Baby Ford-remixed 'Modulo 02', with two tracks and a nifty remix of each to boot. 'I Felt It Coming' is a heady peak time track, with Underground Resistance-style drum machine handclaps and an addictive synth hook and all the suspense and drama of a Stephen King horror tale. Domenico Rosa's remix turns that frown upside down, converting it into a perky, cheeky and altogether lighter workout that nevertheless will keep feet on the dancefloor. 'Reflexion Nocturna' (Priori remix) kicks off the B-side with fizzling dub techno stealth, subtly embellished with a smidgeon of 'Funky Drummer' breakbeat, while Agrella's original closes proceedings with head down, echo-set Leftfield-style prog house skank. Not for nothing is this chap known as one of the techno scene's fastest rising new names.
Review: Syncrophone presents the very first vinyl release from Aleqs Notal's label, Industrial Light. Notal here teams up with longtime friend and fellow producer Modern House Quintet, and together they lay down four pure dancefloor heaters for the contemporary disco-goer. Opening with two functional acid house bustlers, we then get deeper with things with the latter's nocturnal shuffle 'Nadrezacalenis', before ending on a return to utility with 'Disokouron' as well as an inversion of the A1, 'Message From The P', in an upped Chicago house style.
Review: For this fifth delivery from Mephis, label boss Alfalfa shares a nostalgic, dystopian interpretation of his migratory experience in a sonic format. In the words of the label, "imagine Franz Kafka fidgeting with a 303 in a waiting room, with a happy ending." Opener 'Frankfurt Flughafen' sets the tone with detuned saw chords and toothy acids, before harking the shuffly dub-inflected whirrs and scrapes of 'HBF'. Then there's 'Auslanderamt' and 'Ehrenfeld' on the B, two further and increasingly unstable melodic acid cuts, both of which nail the kind of curiosity and tension that connote transient new beginnings, all culminating on the euphorizer that is 'Urlaub In Kroatien'.
Review: On this interstellar 1994 electro-breaks track, Alien Rave sets out to get inside your head, introducing evocative and epic mental moments that give way to energetic tunnels built on a solid rhythmic foundation, carefully designed to withstand elegant ultrasonic bass frequencies. For electro-breaks fans, this record could be seen as a journey which originated in the German-inspired Florida scene before eventually finding its way back to Spain. It's funny how Florida, home to some of the most robotic and extraterrestrial electro-breaks music, is also one of the hot spots of the global UFO phenomenon. Coincidence? Maybe, but we're looking forward to the next contact: we know it's coming.
Review: Soul Jazz Records promise this is a one off and strictly limited pressing of Alien Starr's 'World Of Ecstasy.' It is a faithful reproduction of the original in terms of art and sound and has been restored from the label after they included it on their excellent recent Space Funk 2 - Afro-Futurist Electro Funk In Space 1976-84 compilation. tUSA in 1985 featuring big slap bass energy, hand claps, drum funk and electro boogie bass. .
Review: Fourth part of the compilation celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Milanese record shop. This collection is entirely composed of previously unreleased music, exclusively produced for the occasion by many artists of great relevance in the worldwide music scene, who supported the store over the last ten years.
This EP features Ellen Allien, Kreggo, Timeslip89, Itinerant Dubs and Heith.
Review: The latest Cultivated Electronics drop is a split disc affair which takes us right up to the forefront of modern electro, as you might well expect given the label's output. 'Darkness' opens up Steve Allman's side in a breakneck throw down of edgy synth ripples and crusty drums dialled into the machine funk frequency. 'Initiate Experiment' is no slouch either, precision tooled for punchy effectiveness on the floor. Alex Jann tips some tripped-out processing on top of his own tightly wound, motorik sequences on 'Mind Control Uses', while 'Punish Room' plays around with some artful spatial sound design on the edges of this steadfast electro workout.
Review: A hilariously dystopian yet also playful mood is instantly laid down on the latest 'Floating' EP by Anah - not least through its establishing record scratch, 'gangster' vox and electro fidget-saw. Admittedly, on first listen to this one, we hardly feel like we're floating; more bandied about through the various belts and assemblies of an automatic perambulatory factory, unfortunately chewed up between the cogs in the process. Naturally, the A2 is called 'Trapped', and pares the dynamics back for a more Reese-heavy electro wake-up slap. Then on the B, two conclusive mixes of the track 'Floating On Space' are heard, one of which errs more interplanetary nigh gated-snarey and the other more chuggy verging on cosmic disco.
Review: Anbau's debut on Bordello with a Giro d'Italia themed EP pays homage to the legendary riders of the race, notably the late Marco Pantani. Coinciding with the 108th edition of La Corsa Rosa, celebrates Pantani's iconic victory at Passo del Mortirolo in 1994. Inspired by disco and nu-disco, the tracks exude energy and rhythm reminiscent of the exhilarating atmosphere of the race. Each copy includes a limited edition sleeve adorned with a rare original Merlin collector's sticker from the 78th Giro in 1995, adding a unique touch to the release. With its blend of disco house and Italo disco, Anbau's EP is a vibrant tribute to the passion and determination of Giro d'Italia's heroic riders.
Review: Detroit mainstay and masterful hip hop and deep house fusionist Andres is back with not one but two new EPs. For this first one, he brings some silky electro rhythms to his signature sound but doesn't forgo that irresistible sense of r&b lushness he is known for. Track 1 brings a heart-aching vocal sample to quick beats and pristine snares, Track 2 has skittish rhythms topped with snapping snares and another classic, well-worked sample, then Track 3 takes off to the cosmos on ice-cold electro rhythms topped with plaintive chords. There is a hint of acid squelchy to Track 4 but it still somehow sounds very much like Andres. A fresh EP indeed.
Review: From the wide-ranging livestream sets he does from his basement to the sprawling hip hop and house albums he does for Moodymann's Mahogany via disco-laced house anthems like 'New 4 U', Andres always unites this music with a unique sense of groove and emotion. That is still true now as he steps out on GT Flips with a bunch of electro-leaning cuts that are classy yet primed and ready to ignite any party. Track 2 is a quick and punch one with ghetto undercurrents and jazzy keys, Track 4 is an excellent ass-wiggler with expertly deployed vocal hooks and Track 3 is a stripped-back bumper with a feel-good vibe.
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