Review: Boom! Finally another reissue of Boards Of Canada's seminal Hi Scores LP from 1996! Along with the likes of Aphex Twin, LFO and Squarepusher, these guys have helped to define how we see electronic music today and this particular LP is arguably their most complete when it comes to the dancefloor. The title track is a twisted, floaty bindle of breaks and beats, but it doesn't end there. Tracks like "Nlogax" are inherently Detroitian in nature thanks to the bleepy drum machines inside, and all we can say is that if you haven't laid hands on this album yet, you shouldn't miss the opportunity to cop it now. It's still so relevant and contemporary, it hurts.
Fmsquared (Epiloggy) (Beauvine bonus Perc version) (3:17)
Lansqape4 (Short_onetake) (5:57)
Review: Royal Wavetable Mellodies & Old TDKs by Mexico baed artist Brainwaltzera is a perfect coming totters of the symphonic, the synthetic, the organic and the electronic. It's a record that could be a lost 70s classic as much as a new school homage to minimalism, experimental ambient and vintage synths. In fact, this is a selection of archive recordings in the artist's characteristically idiosyncratic style that we cannot get enough of. The collection of tracks are gorgeously native and innocent, with wispy melodies and retro keys all smeared and smudged into moving pieces of ambient that are beatless but dynamic.
Review: Third 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. The artists who produced the music for this compilation are Egyptian Lover, Ellen Allien, Thomas Brinkmann, Neil Landstrumm, JD Twitch, Matias Aguayo, San Proper, Tolouse Low Trax, Jay Glass Dubs, Dj Marcelle, Jorge Velez, Tamburi Neri, Fabrizio Mammarella, Heith, Itinerant Dubs, Timeslip89, Kreggo and Intersezioni Ensemble. The entire work is composed of 4 x 12", plus a bonus EP.
Flex (Roy Of The Ravers Dont Mean A Fookin Thing mix) (3:45)
One For Da Laydeez (Crispy Jason remix) (5:36)
One For Da Laydeez (4:10)
Kiss Me Quick (Inkipak Venting Plasma mix) (8:01)
Heavy Soil (3:30)
Review: JP Buckle's 1998 album Flying Lo-Fi is an unsung gem of the Rephlex catalogue, full of crunchy flair and all the qualities you want in a kick-ass braindance record. Buckle has more recently been reactivated with scattered releases on Bandcamp and the like, and now he's revisited his finest hour with a remix double pack which takes us back to some of the album's standout cuts bolstered by remixes from the current crop of electronica legends. 'Flex' and 'One For Da Laydeez' sound as fantastically crunchy as they did back in the day, but it's great to hear emergent acts like Crispy Jason (spotted elsewhere on Winthorpe Electronics) getting freaky with such feisty source material. Look out for the Roy Of The Ravers version of 'Flex' - another highlight on this high-grade braindance affair.
Review: Burial's first full-length EP since 2012's 'Rival Dealer' hears the South London enigma plunge the depths of his newest dark ambient sound, wrenching the emo essences of rave from their breakbeats to produce a purely ambient affair. Spanning every emotion from depression to triumph, 'Antidawn' opens with a cough, in a seeming nod to the COVID lockdowns of recent years. Meanwhile, disparate sections buzz and weave in and out of one another on 'Shadow Paradise' and 'Strange Neighbourhood', never quite landing on their feet before being whisked away again. One of Burial's most defining world-building works.
Review:
After his surprise drop with music writer and producer Blackdown on the Keysound label last month, the enigmatic Burial is now back with a fresh new EP all of his own. It comes on his longtime home of Hyperdub and features two more of his deft designed, ghostly deep dubstep post-nightbus joints. 'Chemz' is a strict raver filled with rushed up sounds, plenty of dance floor love and big hooks that is many different tracks, moods and vibes all rolled into one. As always, these Burial sounds look back to go forwards and do so in thrilling fashion.
Review: Is there any artist in electronic music that releases as little music yet remains as highly revered as Burial? We can't think of any. As it happens, this new Streetlands EP is actually the hallowed UK producer's second outing of 2022 after the ambient offering Antidawn back in January. As always it finds him back on Kode9's Hyperdub label. 'Hospital Chapel' is eerie atmosphere and lo-fi samples, 'Streelands' is another sparse ambient cut that is full of melancholy and 'Exokind' is the soundtrack of a faraway planet with distant solar winds and only the smallest of microbial activities for you to tune into before a signature angelic vocal brings the beauty.
Review: 1asia is a label that focusses on Asian artists from a broad array of genres and Caslean is next up with the beguiling Sweet Adventure, a remix EP that finds her work reinterpreted by an array of innovative talents. 'Munir's Bandung First Trip' is serene electronica with lush and dreamy lines and naive vocals floating up above the smooth and uplifting rhythms. 'Meng Que's Yard' brings jumbled percussion and sugar synths to a broken beat jumble and 'Mogwaa's Studio In 07307' is a retro-future cut that pairs bouncy nu-disco with dubby pads. Last of all is 'Knopha's Re-clockwork,' another innocent and pure electronic world of neon synths and intriguing vocals.
High Lonesome Soundsystem - "Champion Sound" (Tom dub) (7:42)
Review: Tom Chasteen is an LA-born mega-musician who is widely credited for helping to spurn the San Francisco rave movement of the 1990s, not least by founding the Exist Dance label. Masquerading under various monikers such as Eden Transmission, High Lonesome Sound System and Voodoo Transmission, many of his tracks are cemented in the rave music canon as some of the most pivotal, thanks to their pushing of a rather psychedelic sound. Suitable for the looking-back era of the 2020s, the new EP by Tom, 'Selected Productions', zooms out of that era and into the present, re-homing in on some of that artist's later works when the SanFran heyday was over. Downtempo, full of international influences, and retaining that scratchy 'lifted from vinyl and remastered' sound, this is spiritual lyrical miziricle music for the dancing astral traveller.
Review: Sure Thing presents Well of Sand, its second compilation. Six tracks from the label's friends and favourites, each new to the roster, offer bold, untempered explorations of tempo and weight, a concise yet expansive collection recalling the deliberate cadence of rippling sand and the sheen of shimmering oases. From Command D's subtly groundswelling, but snappy 'Half Blue (Violet Mix)', to Foreign Material's alarmingly alien 'The Living Planet' and Third Space's supremely stereoized, lowercase opus 'Push (Part 2)', this is a release for that large intersection of audiophiles and techno-philes.
Review: Bristol label-turned-blog Innate launches a new sub-label, Innate Editions, which it says is dedicated to timeless UK techno, IDM, electro and ambient music, and it'll all come on heavyweight vinyl to boot. The first release revives Connective Zone's Palm Palm, a millennium-era cult classic and Ben UFO favourite that first came out on Mark Broom and Dave Hill's Unexplored Beats in 2001. Now, this long-out-of-print, expensive and hard to find gem has been remastered by Jamie Anderson and so sounds superb with many lavish electronic layers, richly emotive melodies and dynamic drums that lean on UK techno, IDM, and deep electro. Sounds as good now as it ever did.
Review: David Michael Tibet's exploration of the arcane mysteries through Current 93 are an intriguing subculture all of their own, sat somewhere to the side of Coil and the other mystics of the post-industrial scene. In Menstrual Night was released in 1986 as two long form pieces that layer up voices into a mesmerising swirl. The cast of collaborators on the project include such luminaries as Steven Stapleton, Keiko Yoshida, Rose McDowall, Boyd Rice and the late John Balance. Now House Of Mythology have created a faithfully recreated picture disc vinyl edition, sure to be quickly gathered up by the faithful followers of this fascinating corner of electronic music.
Review: Finnish underground icon Sasu Ripatti returns under his most frequently used pseudonym, Vladislav Delay, for another bout of Dancefloor Classics. The series has already established a loyal following, and the fourth episode is enough to explain why, even if you've not encountered any of the preceding instalments. Music for imagined dancefloors is how the official release information puts it, it quickly becomes clear just how vivid that imagination is. Throwing down a string of footwork inspired cuts, the four tracks here are frantically upbeat and packed with filthy, jacking potential. But they're also deep, at times ghostly - or at least a little eerie - and ground in a desire not just to make people move, but also push sounds forward into new territories. Never an easy line to tread, the overall results hit as hard as the beats themselves.
De Fabriek - "Lullabye" (Dunkeltier 'Hey Robot' mix) (7:29)
Dunkeltier - "Tik Tok Goes The Clock" (7:25)
De Fabriek - "Come Down" (13:31)
De Fabriek - "Come Down" (Khidja 5AM mix) (13:14)
Review: Platform 23's latest release sees them offer up a partial reissue of 'Music For Hippies', an impossible-to-find 1988 cassette from Dutch experimentalists De Febriek. What's an offer is a mix of original tracks and fresh remixes. In the former category you'll find 'Lullabye', a spacey, dubbed-out chunk of new wave/post-punk/cosmic funk fusion full of intergalactic synth sounds, rubbery bass, bluesy guitar solos and trippy vocals, and an edited version of the epic 'Come Down', a more atmospheric, but no less dubbed-out affair that combines layered ambient noise, rocket-launch sonics and a hushed, hypnotic groove. Bahnstag 23 contributor Dunkeltier provides two takes on 'Lullabye', a throbbing, druggy new wave mix and a total re-make. Completing the package is a fiendishly low-slung, dark and mind-altering '5am Mix' of 'Come Down' courtesy of Khidja.
Review: Berlin's Cocktail d'Amore and Tokyo's Ene Records have come together once again to present the music of Solidair. The duo of Cocktail alumni Luigi Di Venere and Jules Etienne present three tracks aimed to induce a dance floor hypnosis. Orgonite (Riding the Waves) does just that, a slow build awash in the ebb and flow of acid tinges, just enough to wet your whistle on a Saturday night. The original mix keeps the skeletal support but throws in a life preserver of 8 bit gaming synthesis. Frisky arps call and respond to each other before making way for sinewy pads to lift off. Tiger's Eye sets itself onto cruising speed incorporating elements of late 90's acid techno with the sleek and smooth clubbing aesthetics of modern day Berlin.
Review: DJ F16 Falcon's music has always been tricky to pigeonhole, with the fast-rising French producer frequently fusing dub-wise rhythms and off-kilter beats with unusual samples, Tolouse Low Tracks style experimental electronics and melodic elements that doff a cap to tropical, new age and world music. Ici Commence La Nuit, his latest excursion, treads a similar sonic path, delivering unusual but wonderfully inventive and entertaining excursions. The most accessible and warming of the lot is colourful, melodious and bass-heavy opener 'Ici Commence La Nuit', though the sludgy, modular-rich pulse of 'Trip a La Mode de Quand' and thoroughly odd 'Clope Sucree' are equally as potent.
Review: A three-track journey through meticulously crafted linear techno. Kicking off with the title song, the sci-fi groove, pulsates with a hypnotic energy perfect for main floors in the techno club. The production feels futuristic yet grounded, drawing listeners into a deep, atmospheric rhythm. On the flip side, 'Engine' intensifies the vibe with its crisp, addictive production. The track evokes an alien world, its steady beat anchored by sharp, precision-driven elements that build a sense of both tension and release. Closing with 'Cali', the EP takes a detour into ambient territory, offering a spacey, atmospheric experience. This one has you feeling like drifting through the cosmosiits sounds evoke a sense of weightless movement, accompanied by abstract noises that conjure imagery of space junk and distant space flights. Each track offers a different layer of sonic exploration.
Review: We first heard Doxa Sinistra's 'The Other Stranger' on the radio airwaves, but we suspect its status as an early coldwave oddball has been bubbling under for a good while. Instantly recognisable for its catchy, wahhy lead synth and unusual time signature - leaving the listener to wonder where on earth the inspirations for this track came from, not least for an early-eighties industrial band (Brian Dommisse, Hanjo Erkamp, Jan Popma, Ruud Kluivers) otherwise concerned with making crude rubbly dance - this track is an intense listen and one for the ages. Now remarkably reissued on Midnight Drive after its initial release over 40 years ago on Trumpett Tapes, this one stands the test of time; proof of this is the B-side 'Strange', which removes the obscure movie samples and sounds to recreate the track from scratch.
Review: There's something special in the water here. The Knife's Olof Dreijer presents three sprawling tracks on a new EP marking the start of a fresh chapter in his career, with the opener, 'Coral', starting the scoring with a strange and captivating bit of what you might call micro-techno. A lo-fi kind of workout that marries beautiful harmonic tones with a hoover bass in a way that almost calls to mind 'Rainforest' era Mathew Johnson, only more organic and live feeling. Overleaf, so to speak, 'Flora' invites us to sit on a cloud of gentle strings and mesmerising noises, like reliving a precious but now-faint memory, delicate enough to break. Meanwhile, 'Hazel' takes us back down to Earth, its slowly unfolding, muffled steel drum melodies feeling strangely homely while also not of this place, this here and now.
Review: In the wake of The Knife, Olof Dreijer has been plenty busy behind the scenes and scattering hints of his incredible production for those paying attention. Now it feels like he's building to a wider profile breakthrough as he lands a knockout blow with this release on Hessle Audio. It's a maverick release, which is its pass into the curious sound world shaped out by Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea, but equally it brings something new to the label. The joyous, colourful melodic daubs across the EP alone are something to make a dance collectively look up in wonder, with 'Camelia' being an especially beautiful, uplifting track to bring hope and positivity when so much club music tips towards the darkness.
Review: The fledgling Detach label continues to show it means business with a new 12" in a lovely screen-printed sleeve. Romanian artist Dyl is the one in charge and has been serving up consistently excellent and innovative sounds now for serval years. All of these cuts mix up great sound design with languid rhythms - the first is eerie, with watery droplets and glassy tinkles hanging in the air, while 'Glasshouse 2' has a percolating rhythm down low. 'Glasshouse 3' gets a little more dynamic with a shimmering low end and freaky abstract life forms and 'Glasshouse 4' layers in more intense and ever-shifting synth lines while the closer sounds like it's roaming through a deserted factory long after it shut down.
Review: Newly signed to Ninja Tune, Ebbb debuts with a five-track EP that shows great intent. Emerging from the same London avant-garde live scene that birthed black midi and Black Country New Road, the band has quickly developed a unique sound in just a year. Their music blends pulsing rhythms, immersive electronic production, sparkling melodies, layered vocal harmonies, and beats that range from ambient to industrial. Described by the band themself as "Brian Wilson meets Death Grips," the EP is experimental and unpredictable yet deeply considered and precise with an idiosyncratic hybrid of sounds that showcases Ebbb's innovative and tightly crafted music.
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