Emotional Response レコード& CD

Review: With releases on a who's who list of labels that are pushing experimental, underground house and techno including L.I.E.S, Creme Organisation, Echovolt and Strange Life, William Burnett has been steadily putting out releases that have gained a lot of respect without having to shout too loud about it. So much so that as well as running his own stella WT Records label, William is now often cited as a producer's producer. Deep and full of dub aesthetics that encompasses a world of it's own, his music is not just driven by a need to keep the floor moving, but are also about taking your headspace somewhere else. Progressing things a stage further is the Black Deer project. Recently launched, but in gestation for some time, it's introspective slant, plus loose referencing to his upbringing in Texas, allows William more freedom for experimentation. The Last Tortuga is taken from the same sessions that yielded the Willie Burns The Overlord EP on Trilogy Tapes as well as Black Deer's Trail Of Tears EP on Rush Hour, this 6 track EP has been due on the label for sometime, but it's been worth the wait as his sound has developed and expanded to take in ambient, drone and krautrock and highlights his musicianship in a new light.

Review: Following the critical success of last years mini-LP The Last Tortuga, Black Deer is back on Emotional Response with a 4 track remix EP featuring friends and alumni Nacho Patrol, Luke Wyatt, Sad City and Valet. William Burnett returns to the label in the form of a remixes EP that takes his original productions and hands it to a broad selection of today's finest electronic producers, plus a rare outing from one of the label's favourite pyschedelic experimentalists. While Danny Wolfer's Legowelt project needs little introduction, it was only right that his inclusion on the label came from a more cosmic outlook. With must have EPs and a long player offered, his afro-infused Nacho Patrol moniker is a must check. In Circle Dance the original is taken by the hand down to an afro-tech-funk'n'breaks basement for one of his best remixes to date and rightly so for one of his old buds. Luke Wyatt follows with an uplifting and warped retake on Meditation. The kraut influence of the original is built on with fuzz guitar and a solo that builds across the track to a higher peak. Play this at sunrise for reaffirmation of life itself. Next is a big favourite of the label, catching the ear from his first release on Underwater Peoples
and a lush follow up for Phonica. His pure ambience of a remix strips everything back and lets the 4th World shine. With a 2nd EP due on Phonica, look out for something on this label soon. Finally, one of the main influences on the label when it started a few years back. Valet aka Portland multi-instrumentalist and mum, Honey Owens offers a deep, beautiful and haunting retake, adding whispers, drones, guitar, toms, keys and intonations to swallow you whole.

Review: Emotional Response reach out to another fine selection of sonic voyagers to take Brain Machine's excellent Peaks LP to task, leading in with the warm discoid undulations of Rollmottle who refigures "To The Stars" as a gentle, groovy warm-up joint. Die Wilde Jagd takes on "Mercury Ripples" and fashion a bombastic breaks jam out of it, and Merrick Adams pushes "Alpha Moon" into a curious but ultimately cosmic space somewhere beyond the titular lunar body. Cass takes the prize with the bittersweet synth tones that course through the two-part remix of "Nexus Vox".

Review: Having done such wonderful work alongside Wolf Muller on The Sound Of Glades album, Cass makes a welcome return with an expansive album release on Emotional Response. The German producer's ambient tendencies blossom here, occasionally meeting with laconic drums as on "U" but primarily dealing in huge swathes of melody. DJs will want to hold out for the dramatic pulse of "Ann", where a more pronounced drum set makes for one of the album's most club-ready moments. There's a strong variety of tones and moods across Youth Sessions, from the strafing arpeggios of "Running" to the bliss-out shapeless swirl of "Prismatic Prolog", and this ensures that the album will not dull with repeated listens.

Review: Emotional Response present something intriguing and oh so fresh from Cherrystones, who has most commonly been spotted recently lurking about labels like Bahnsteig 23, but in fact has a legacy reaching back to the late 90s. This new mini-album is reportedly the result of a pointed retreat to Scotland - a period of semi-isolation with minimal distractions from the serious business of analogue synths and reel-to-reel tape. There's a lot going on, from the slinky, boogie-licked groove of 'Amaziac' to the sludgy, wave tinted 'Rave Digger', but throughout the common theme is one of rough, upfront waveforms - maximal sounds with lashings of character, wielded with glee by an artist knee deep in their craft.

Review: Cherrystones returns with the second of the "Aged" EPs for Emotional Response. Time propels and so does sound, thus orbiting nuances and motion leads us here, to present whatever maybe or interpreted as. Since the acclaimed Aged Of Bronze EP a symbiotic progress of craft arrives in the aptly titled Aged Of Silver. Again each track is like a coded syntax, unlocking the puzzle to aid a listeners journey and experience, building blocks to a utopian scape in form without form notes and pictures living and residing in the dimensions.

Never pandering to trends, his art based on immediacy and the moment, no disposable sub genres that fade as fast as they emerge, transposing and emitting heard and unheard a way to communicate with himself and those that identify.

A capsule of touched emotions bearing gifts for those in the present and wishing to be present, a key with keys analogue for Silver Tongues and Brass monkeys living in the shadow of a Scorpian's Tail.

Review: The supremely talented William Burnett makes a belated return to Emotional Response, and this time he's got Brooklyn-based studio pal John Beall in tow. Those who enjoyed the duo's release on the L.I.E.S. white label series should lap up Shimmer. It hits hard from the off, with "Snaker Charmer" delivering a velvet-clad punch to the guts. It's techno right from the top drawer, with darting electronics and drawn out pads riding a thunderous groove. The title track is impressive, too, with surging electronics and throbbing synths riding a techno-tempo groove crafted out of an old hardcore breakbeat. There's some more considered fare on offer, too, with the shimmering ambience of "Hold Me Take Me Leave Me" completing a superb package.

Review: Elektronik Body Girl is the musical alter-ego of Shelbatra Jashari featuring production assistance from Brussels's soFa. The Belgo-Albanian postpunk pair cooked up sounds that accompany an imagined dystopian industrial wasteland with tons of improv and lots of raw, jagged rhythm. Dealing with the "empowering feminine" and its representation were key to the vision of Jashari as well as abrasive textures and stark atmospheres. Her vocals touch on her roots in Belgium and Kosovo from an outsider's position and label associate Toulouse Low Trax cooks up a brilliant beatdown mix to seal the deal.

Review: Emotional Response welcome Detroit's Fuxa to the label with a mini-album that takes their trademark pyschedelic guitar and synth instrumental rock and showcases the more spiritual and ethereal creativity running within. Specially curated from Fuxa's two recent digital only albums - "Dirty D" and "Frequencies for Physical, Mental and Spiritual Healing" - this special 8 track selection sees each album represented on one side of vinyl. Highlighting band leader Randall Neimann's talent, a mastery of the studio that creates a wall of (mellow) sound that envelops and encases in equal measure. While very much Randall's band, the colloborative nature of the project sees numurous artists appear, with members from Mazzy Star, Add N To (X), Dean & Britta, Spiritualized and founding member Ryan Anderson all providing willing support to seek his primal sound. Noteworthy too is his first appearance as lead vocalist. It is the uplifting to hear his voice on the celebratory Shout Out Loud, the paean of Dream (Don't Give Up) and finally the blissedout-surf-psychedelia of Amen. Dirty Frequencies is a welcome departure for the label, a pyschedelic turn in the mold of the Nick Nicely (ERS005) release, but all the better for it because these sounds and ideas deserve to be heard. An inner trip yes, but really a celebration of the deeper part of the soul - a way to connect.

Review: After the tense and dramatic soundscapes of Jason Letkiewicz's Nzambi LP under his soundtrack guise Alan Hurst, Emotional Response have put the tracks to the test for three appropriately oddball remixers. Fellow L.I.E.S. affiliate Terekke turns out a heavily sedated dub of "Nzambi" that rides a pacey house beat but buries everything in delay and reverb. Timothy J Fairplay brings some serious sleazy 80s electro tones to "Parallel Sensations", complete with predatory vocal and thick ladles of synthy goodness. Finally, Jonas Reinhardt cools off the intensity with a blissful ambient version of "Before The Dawn" which plunges headfirst into a warm bed of melodic drones.

Review: With such a collaboration heavy project in the "Yet Another Kito Jempere Album" announced it is no surprise that this following remixes pack comes laden with familiar friends'n'family, plus additional support.

Taking the ambient meets acappella paene Your Ghost In Me and creating one of his on-point dance floor dramas, Lipelis (Animals Dancing / LIES), utilising Hard Ton's classic 'US House' vocal delivery to create a perfect "big room" anthem.

Next up Born Free boss, Samo DJ (Public Possession / Trilogy Tapes) pumps A King Of Comets with Mood II Swing punch meets Ballistic Brothers riddim'n'culture for some hip-breaks-dancehall swing.

Cable Toy (Low Budget Family) presents the label favourite with his bouncing, yearning remix of album stand out, Time Traveller. Countered with a perfect touch of summer vibrations and melancholia this up and coming St Petersburg resident has to be watched.

Finally, Linja (Avidiya / Malka Tuti) offers a deep, shuffling version of Untitled Ritual. Arpeggios throb, percussion snaps, tempos shift, planets realign, vocals by Noteless call...wait believing, just we have seen it, God is waiting, nothing can bleeding.

Only friends. Only family. This is Kito's emotional response.

Review: Emotional Response bring you some truly healing sounds from Polish producer Bartosz Kruczynski, who first teamed up with the label as The Phantom for the first round of the Schleissen series back in 2015. He's since delivered a debut album to Growing Bin and released as Earth Trax on Rhythm Section and others. The mood across this collection of pieces produced for Polish studio TVP Culture opens up a rich seam of inspiration around the ambient end of Kruczynski's work through short pieces rich in sonorous delights. From fluttering fourth world-isms to hazy dub soundscapes, this is pure listening pleasure from start to finish.

Review: Golf Channel and Emotional Response embark on a mission to bring together two generations of Kraut excellence as Dunkelziffer's Dominik Von Senger collaborates with the Montezumas Rache pairing of Jan Schulte and Christian Pannenborg. As you'd expect, the resultant EP is rather fine. They set the tone with "Rheinfaren", where a low-slung, dubbed-out groove is complimenting by twinkling guitars, delay-laden Jew's harp parts, and other sun-kissed elements. "Tangerine (Krauter Mix)" doffs a cap to Tangerine Dream and Dunkelziffer, with tumbling guitars - some effected by a wah-wah pedal - and vintage synths combining to create an effortlessly Balearic mood. Closer "Guten Morgen Bromio" is a fuzzier affair, combining grooves and sounds reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Animals full-length with the out-there attitude of classic krautrock.

Review: Belated vinyl issue of the excellent second LP from Musiccargo for the Dusseldorf fanatics! It may well be the seventh release on Emotional Response, but the label happy Stuart Leath will tell anyone in close proximity that the Musiccargo pairing of Gerhard Michel and Gordon Pohl were largely inspirational in his decision to start the label. Probably most widely known for the early appearance on James Holden's DJ Kicks mix of their remix of "Disco" by Grackle, Musiccargo are modern day exponents of the Krautrock sound pioneered by Dusseldorf acts like Can, Cluster and Neu. Harmonie arrives some four years after the duo's highly sought after debut album Hand In Hand and the six track album is a sumptuous 'adult kraut' delight from start to end.

Review: Alessio Natalizia's Human Capabilities album was one of the highlights of the label in 2014, so it seems only right to get four artists to create their own unique versions for this EP. Starting with Pye Corner Audio, Martin Jenkins delivers a pulsating remix while Valentina Magaletti (Shit & Shine) and Tom Relleen (The Oscillation) take the industrial loops of "Mathematical Man" and provide an improvised jam of drums, bass and percussion. L/F/D/M's remix of "Double Blind" strips things back to the core of the track, looping it incessantly for maximum intensity before far away melodies bring you back again. The EP closes with a wonderous remix from drone specialist Abul Mogard, who again is at his best, taking the melodic ambience of the original and modulating it in to a brooding and emotional remix.

Review: Roy Of The Ravers takes a break from his mischievious outings on Acid Waxa et al to lay down some of his braindance tackle on Emotional Response. White Line Sunrise II.I (Le Roy Soleil) can rightly be considered a follow-up to White Line Sunrise II and indeed it represents a similar kind of spectrum of electronica. Roy's sound is edging further into the kind of 'artist' territory where slower, softer tracks, odd vocal diversions and some pop sensibilities merge with the acid, electro, breakbeat and other well-established tropes of his sound. It's the kind of record which could easily broach this quirky fringe operator of UK electronics to a broader fan base, and there's no doubt he's got the melodic, emotional heft on tracks like 'Versace 101624' to get everyone on board.

Review: Emotional Response open the Secret Circuit archives to some of Eddie Ruscha's contemporaries from the City of Angels for a fine exercise in how to do a remix 12". First up is Suzanne Kraft, aka Diego Herrera who forms one half of Blase along with Ruscha; in his hands the crazy afro-stylings of "Afrobotics" are pulled towards the dancefloor, adding percussion and sirens, forging the originals vibes in to a ethno-beat club jam that is all about that heads down moment. Next up The Samps turns "Shockers" into a warped mesh of psychedelic dance, whilst Superior Elevation's Tom Noble adds some killer boogie vibes to "Underdogs". Finally Sun Araw man Cameron Stallones appears under rare alter-ego Aristrocrat P. Child to re-edit "Roll" in superb fashion.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged, but otherwise in excellent condition***




Emotional Response open the Secret Circuit archives to some of Eddie Ruscha's contemporaries from the City of Angels for a fine exercise in how to do a remix 12". First up is Suzanne Kraft, aka Diego Herrera who forms one half of Blase along with Ruscha; in his hands the crazy afro-stylings of "Afrobotics" are pulled towards the dancefloor, adding percussion and sirens, forging the originals vibes in to a ethno-beat club jam that is all about that heads down moment. Next up The Samps turns "Shockers" into a warped mesh of psychedelic dance, whilst Superior Elevation's Tom Noble adds some killer boogie vibes to "Underdogs". Finally Sun Araw man Cameron Stallones appears under rare alter-ego Aristrocrat P. Child to re-edit "Roll" in superb fashion.