Emotional Response レコード& CD

Review: Brain Machine's Peaks LP was a highlight of the Emotional Response catalogue last year, and it's only right that the album gets a high-class set of remixes to accompany it. The label have pulled out the stops here with an all-star cast, leading in with Salon Des Amateurs dreamweaver Toulouse Low Trax who drops a pinging, plucking version of "Light Space". Then Gigi Masin steps up with an illustrious revision of "Crystal Clouds", while Harmonious Thelonious brings a heavy yet measured, techno-minded presence to "Traces". Ronny & Renzo round the package out with playful synth splashes on their version of "Eclipse Predictions".

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: 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: 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: DJ Normal 4 has boiled his name down for this latest trip out on Emotional Response, which finds the German breakbeat evangelist getting into a specifically tranced-out mode which should sit right with many a new age raver. The 90s is plastered all over this release, which rolls low and heavy like a good trance record should, and there's an honesty about DJN4's particular approach which makes the tracks land perfectly. Conceptual consistency is also key, meaning the twitchier cuts like 'X Capsule' can sit comfortably alongside unabashed wig out fodder such as the psy-tinged 'Mind Expander XS'. If you love the early, moodier strains of trance, this record is essential.

Review: While they may have landed a fair while ago, it's great to see Emotional Response revisit Timothy J Fairplay's crucial early EPs with an absolutely on point remix package. Scientific Dreamz Of U brings his distinctive signal chain to "Stories Of Prison", using grinding synths and some snaking broken beats to create an early 90s trance mood to die for. Alessandro Parisi keeps things on a distinctly new wave tip for "Aim For The Yellow Sector", and Perseus Traxx brings a bold set of machine beats and technicolour synths to "Saco Bay". Antenna finishes the EP off by creating a winsome, wavey version of "Night Ferry" for sensitive souls to do the robot to.

Review: Pye Corner Audio shows off his love of acid on the first of two EPs for Emotional Response that drop simultaneously. This first one is his debut on the label and comes with a gorgeous cover that perfectly encapsulates the sounds within. 'Dust Acid' is a sparse cut with dusty drums and meandering basslines that slowly sink you in, then 'Magnetic Acid Two,' which like all of these was recorded live, is another expertly reduced brew of murkiness with plenty of frayed edges and vintage analog sounds. 'Wanna Show U Acid' is a late-night acid dream and 'Magnetic Acid Four' shuts down slightly more bite. Four timeless backroom cuts, make no mistake.

Review: Two revered dance music institutions come together here as Pye Corner Audio steps up to Emotional Response with his debut EP for the label. What's more, it is a two-parter with the second half also available now. This one from Martin Jenkins finds him making an homage to the acid house he has always loved with opener 'Stegan Acid' starting with slow grocers and foggy moods run through with subtle 303 modulations. 'Magnetic Acid Three' is another deep and stripped-back sound with rumbling drums and bass coloured with soft acid contours and 'Thermionic Acid' gurgles a little more as the icy hi-hats cut through a mutant deep techno swamp. 'Magnetic Acid One' is one final meditation on acidic house depths.

Review: Roy Of The Ravers may be best known for his lysergic rave pelters, but there's always been a hint of grandiose melancholy in his synth work that suggested there was more to the machine botherer than tear-out acid beats. Emotional Response worked with the artist in trawling through a vast archive of material recorded between 1997 and 2017, rescued from hard drives once thought lost, and now gathered as a compelling ambient release with the full fat hardware veneer of Roy's work to date, but coming from a more reflective angle. From cathedral-quaking drones to deeply submerged aquatic excursions, this album has plenty to draw you into the inner world of an acid hero.

Review: Arriving some five years after the original 12" created a dancefloor paradigm shift, Roy Of The Ravers returns to his 'Emotinium' classic with an EP of updated retakes, complete with the previously unheard original demo mix in all its twenty minute glory. 'Emotinium' first appeared on the '2 Late 4 Love' cassette in 2015, and caused a storm as part of a four track EP with the same name a year later, played as a festival opener by the likes of Bicep and in Sameheads' Berlin basement parties. The dreamy electro meets 303 melodics of the original are brought up to breaks speed accompanied by an Ambient Dub for afters and of course the longform demo.

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: REPRESS ALERT: Arriving at the mythical 23rd release is a time for contemplation. A chance to abandon the structures, guidelines and ethos of what has gone and do something different and fun. Here then is the apt titled 2 Late 4 Love EP from young Roy. To fit, the aesthetic of the label is abandoned for a sparse black + white hand stamped sleeves, limited one off pressing and congenial smiley on our faces. Afterall, everything starts with a 303...

One of the pleasures of running a label is the connections made, people met, artists worked with and also, opportunities it brings. To overcome ego is an unachievable life long challenge, so to work with others and bring the light their way is to seek some redemption. of a darkened soul.

Newcastleis Acid Waxa label has been bubbling away for years, putting out limited cassettes for the (acid) heads. Star of the show. Player of the year. Roy Of The Ravers !! Himself mythical beyond time. Here on new adventures in the search for love.

The title track comes in versions of snap electro percussives, dream-laden pads, all twinned with an ethereal otherness via contorting 303 melodies. Star of the piece Emotinium is itself a homage of a homage. Replays not yet banned, this is space-age dance music for the mind and body that goes beyond being bounced around via some Melchester Acid (anyone?). Crunching, tough, primordial, a return to our source.

All together an EP celebration of the TB-303 at its finest. All this still links to the Emotional family via a meeting of minds. An Acid Response.

Tadao Kikumoto...what are you like?

* MASTERING BY RADIOACTIVE MAN *

Review: Sad City's debut album was an absolute delight to behold when it landed late last year, and this remix package on Emotional Response does a great service to the quality of the original by offering up some truly outstanding new versions from impeccable talent. DJ Nature is one of the greats of heads down, dusty house, and his smoky handling of "Steady Jam" draws you in across two blissful versions that adorn the A side. On the flip, "Pace, Movements I-IV" gets a beautifully bubbly acid treatment from HOLOVR, and Herron plunges "Rain" into a murky bath of leftfield techno.

Review: When Juno Plus spoke to Emotional Response boss Stuart Leath recently, he talked excitedly about his latest time intensive project - trawling through boxes of old cassette recordings from L.A multi-instrumentalist Eddie "Secret Circuit" Ruscha to compile a follow-up to 2012's brilliant Tropical Psychedelics compilation. Predictably, the resulting collection is nothing short of brilliant. Typically eccentric, melodious, atmospheric and bristling with interesting ideas, Cosmic Vibrations delves deeper into Ruscha's archives and comes up with gold. Highlights are naturally plentiful, but keep an eye out for the psychedelic ambience of "Electric Brain", the analogue electronic explorations of "Nova Laser", and "Shockers", an acid-flecked chunk of chiming Balearic deep house with exotic, Arabic touches.

Review: Emotional Response returns with a second volume of its All Trades compilation which is named after its own NTS show. It is just as vast both in terms of style but also the eras it spans with a mix of dub, new wave, slow motion electronics and plenty in between. Tolouse Low Trax kicks off with the filthy dirty and seriously heavy dub glitch of 'Ossia' to provide an early highlight before the likes of Al Wootton get percussive and tribal with 'Altai' and HLM38 channels some African Head Charge on another devastating dub cut. Later on, London's Good Block brings a little more light and sunshine with their lovely 'Strong Relax.'