Emotional Response レコード& CD

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 do a great service here to all lovers of braindance craving new fixes since Rephlex shut up shop. Brainwaltzera's debut EP Marzipan was a self-released concern that sold out quickly back in 2016, meeting with emotionally charged responses from those wanting to nab a copy. Now it's more widely available, the gorgeous lilt of bubbling 101 melodies and delicate drum machine patterns can spread their wings and bring some healing vibes to a broader audience of electronica devotees. Coming on with the sensitivity of Wisp and other contemporary braindancers, this is how comforting home listening beats should be done.

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: Having issued a mini-album from Fuxa earlier this year, Stuart Leath's tireless Emotional Response welcomes the Detroit band back to the label with an album recorded alongside Neil Mackay of Loop fame. Apollo Soyuz was originally released digitally earlier this year via bandcamp, but you can see why Leath would want to license it for a proper vinyl edition. The eight tracks form an exploration of the outer cosmos that is tinged with a deep psychedelia that will resonate warmly with fans of Emotional Response. From the space funk of the opening "Apollo Soyuz", Fuxa and Mackay lead the listener through galactic kosmische, spatial ambience and primal tape loop experiments and more with "Testz 1" a considered highlight.

Review: Alexis Georgopoulos and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's Fragments Of A Season was one of the highlights of Emotional Response's output in 2017, centred around blissful, Balearic instrumentation that shone a spotlight on the considerable talents of these accomplished artists. Now the label is revisiting the material with a couple of finely selected versions, the first coming from Emotional regulars Woo, who dutifully inject "Marine" with their effervescent, otherworldly expressions and create a glistening masterpiece in the process. Felicia Atkinson then tackles "AA Cleo" and sends it out onto the horizon in a haze of reverb romanticism, muffled percussive rumbles and murmuring vocals.

Review: Five years after its first release, Emotional Response is serving up this welcome reissue of Alexis Georgopoulos and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's classic Fragments of A Season. They came together after five years of superb releases and reached new highs here even though they aren't necessarily household names. It saw them turn in some wonderfully expressive compositions played out across all manner of organic instrumentation. The richness of the production and the highly developed ideas embedded within this gorgeous LP should resonate for a long time to come, not least because the pieces are all so easy on the ears.

Review: Emotional Response brings together two esteemed artists as they continue to celebrate five years of top-drawer releases. Alexis Georgopoulos and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma aren't necessarily household names, but their respective careers have touched on many a respected project in a variety of fields. Here, the pair turn in some wonderfully expressive compositions played out across all manner of organic instrumentation. The richness of the production and the highly developed ideas embedded within this gorgeous LP should resonate for a long time to come, not least because the pieces are all so easy on the ears. From Steely Dan precision to Balearic lilt, this is proper players music played by proper players.

Review: The acclaimed Kito Jempere joins Cherrystones and DJN4 on the label for 2020, with an album full of international minds. Working with array of collaborators across a cast of friends including Jimi Tenor, Wolfram, Hard Ton, Lipelis, Rich Thair (Red Snapper), Ruf Dug, Cedric Gasaida (Azari & III) and many more, presenting this, his third long play.

A hail of freedom of thoughts and voices before these changed times, recorded and shared across continents. Kito - following releases with DFA, Lo Recordings, Bordello A Parigi, Hell Yeah and Duca Bianco - acts as curator rather than conductor, the idea not to transform the contributions but allow them absolute.

Sending music and receiving back, nothing was touched to keep the truth and honour. From Tokyo to London, Berlin to his base in St Petersburg, trusting the chosen artists led to a broad palette, as his 4/4 driven funk expands with Jazz horns to Motorik percussion, Avant-Reich vocals to White Isle melodies, J Pop Balearics to Chanson stories wrapped around Club memories.

A true world meeting, crossing borders and genres. An eye on the dance floor and week long chill outs. With remixes from the likes of Samo DJ, Lipelis, Cable Toy and more to follow, this is more than Yet Another Kito Jempere Album.

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: Out 2 are the product of a New York-based partnership between Jeremy Campbell and R. Zanzibar, who are just the kind of cult operators that Emotional Response so dearly love. With one foot in classic Talking Heads inspired funk variations and the other in the catch-all stylistic melee of the modern age, this is highly developed party music for well-read rug cutters to bust out shapes to. Just check the gorgeous synth violin styles on "Fire" or the heavy dub beatdown of "Rubber Hour" - these cats know what they're doing. All new-no-minimal-wave lovers take note!

Review: Out 2 is a project from Jeremy Campbell and R. Zanzibar, who have previously worked together on albums for L.I.E.S. and Lectric Sands under different aliases. They sound right at home on Emotional Response, channeling the influence of 1980s New York dancefloor hybridization into six original tracks and their counterpart dub versions. It's an impeccable tribute to the forefathers of new / no / minimal wave with the right kind of funk rubbed in the groove and ample space in the mix for all the live dubbing the style demands. "Moving" is a surefire death disco party starter, "Dancing" hovers in a beyond the grave island boogie reverie and "Some Air's Red There" heads out into exotically enhanced territory without losing that NYC grit. It's a marvelous record, with the dub versions adding new dimensions to the music rather than simply repeating the same tricks sans vocals.

Review: Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club is the brainchild of Kito Jempere, who can often be spotted dropping heat on labels like Hell Yeah, Bahnsteig 23 and Bordello A Parigi. As such, he's right at home on Emotional Response, where he opens up the window to his loose-fit band project. The results are fantastic, steeped in studio sorcery with a grainy DIY bite, as bittersweet as it is heavy grooving. "Simple Customers" is especially heavy, with equal lashings of distorted blue-eyed soul, psych and dub, but don't overlook the freaky finesse of the remix of "Can't You See Me" by Auf Togo, Becker & Mukai.

Review: Dating from tape recordings made between 1996 - 2012, Cosmic Vibrations follows the Tropical Psychedelics (ERS003) album for the label, this time digging deeper in to the mind of Secret Circuit than the more dance flor inspired sounds heard on last years album Tactile Galactics album for Beats In Space. Again we glimpse a melting pot of pyschedelia, techno, balearic and ambient to create an electronic gem, but all done with a wry smile and jesters wink rather than today's penchant of moody seriousness. Life on the US West Coast shines from the album, from opener Out West to She Got Love, sunshine music that couldn't be made anywhere else. It's not all hippy-happy vibes though with Minimal Vibrations and the dub of Straightline taking things in to deeper and instropective territory. However, all things resonate in Eddie's analogue meets kitchen sink synthesis. Layer after layer flats across the album to create a smile-inducing whole. Journeying from the folk guitar of Somnambulation to the minimilism of Glass Skeletons, before bidding a fond farewell in the apt, Bells. This second and fial collection of early cassette works is not an end, but a blessing.

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: 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: With recent releases for Internasjonal and Tim Sweeney's Beats In Space Records, Los Angeles based producer Secret Circuit (otherwise known as Eddie Ruscha) has had a breakthrough year with his brittle synth jams, taking inspiration from Balearic disco and minimal wave alike. However, he's been a prolific producer since 1996, and this record on Emotional Response, entitled Tropical Psychedelics, collects productions from Rusha up until 2010 that have previously only seen the light of day on cassette releases. Described by the label as a "Balearic-Tropical-Afro-Psychedelic whirl", the album packs a rich palette of analogue textures into its ten tracks, from the Afro dub of "Afrobotics", through the hazy, beatless combination of piano and analogue synth on "Psouvenirs" to the psychedelic tropicalia of "Foggy Twilights".

Review: You can never really pin down what the excellent Emotional Repose label does and that is exactly the sinking behind the title of its superb All Trades show on NTS. The sheer eclecticism of that show is now reflected in this new two-part compilation, also called All Trades, which offers up little morsels of what they do, something like a sonic tasting menu at a fancy restaurant. There is chugging electronic dub from Apiento & Tepper, industrial clatter from Black Bones, cosmic ambient breakbeat from Paperclip Minimiser and blissed out dub from Yamila & SoFa Elsewhere amongst many more highlights.

Review: Featuring 4 producers that cross musical spheres is the labels way and again roster members are handed the keys to the treasure while welcoming other, less unknown producers a chance to highlight their aural visions.
Starting with the ubiquitous Secret Circuit, here following up his blissed out releases for the label with a first remix. Respecting Luke's leftfield production, but layering his trademark guitar work with a motorik groove, distant harmonic bells and uplifting keys that bring the friends and producers music in a Balearic tandem.
This is followed with William Burnett's Black Deer alias taking the wonderful, but sadly short I Recommend Starman and coming up with an extended edit that allows this modern krautrock masterpiece to truly shine as it should. Simple yet perfect.
On the flip is Not Waving's Alessio Natalizia with a beautiful take on the loved-up, R&B meets Aphex MDMA rush of Time For Thick. Totally replaying the song himself, it is the light industrial percussion and repeating keys that take the track on a journey to the skies.
Finally then, the EP comes back down to earth and closes with new label member, Australia's mysterious Tropical Hi-Fi. Taking the brooding ambience of The Music Hear At Sea World And Never Forget and turning in a drone meets field-recording masterwork.