Spectrum Spools レコード& CD

Review: Donato Dozzy has long been one of techno's most inventive and singularly minded talents. Even so, this latest full-length - his first since 2013 - is pretty conceptual. There's something more than a little Matthew Herbert-esque about Dozzy's desire to create an entire album out of the near operatic vocals of Rome-based singer Anna Caragnano. Using nothing but her voice - harmonies, solos, grunts, whispers, speech and dreamy freestyle passages - and a swathe of sound effects, Dozzy creates a rich, evocative, often spine-tingling range of largely ambient, otherworldly tracks. There are occasional rhythmic passages, of course - see "Festa (A Mattola)" in particular - but for the most part the Italian producer concentrates on textures and atmospheres. The results are rarely less than beguiling.

Review: Oh, how we've longed for the return of our favourite head-banger and it seems Spectrum Spools has answered our prayers. Ren Schofield, otherwise known as Container, has already released two LPs for the label, both called LP, but each one has seen a constant rebirth of his distorted and utterly screwed up view of techno. There's seven tracks on here, seven devilish pieces of brain dynamite masquerading themselves as jams made by a human and not by an extra-terrestrial. The LP starts with a shock, "Eject", and doesn't get any more sweet or easy on the ears. From "Remover" to "Calibrate", Container unleashes a filthy collection of clusterbombs which will render any dancefloor a living, walking hell...and we love that idea! A must, as per usual.

Review: Since the termination of Function, Regis and Silent Servants's Sandwell District it's been labels like Modal Analysis, Opal Tapes, Semantica and his own Archives Interieures that have coaxed music from the Belgian Yves De Mey. What's more, is that he's back on our beloved Spectrum Spools; easily one of our favourite US labels when it comes to weirdo electronic beats, ethereal ambient and other techno oddities. In fact, this new album seems tailor made for the label, and we hear Yves distancing himself from the sleek, stripped-back sound of his past releases, and moving onto something more jarring, improvisational, and rough-edged. While the majority of the album is near beatless, the producer manages to construct rhythms out of abstract sonics and airy melodies, and it makes for both the perfect listening experience, and something a little different to mix into your regular, four-to-the-floor. One for the heads, and a truly magnetic piece of work. Recommended.

Review: Even a decade on, the prospect of Donato Dozzy reworking Bee Mask for the Spectrum Spool label is a mouth-watering one. Now the timeless album gets a special reissue to mark the 10th anniversary on double LP collection. Originally commissioned to turn in a remix of Bee Mask's 'Vaporware' track from last year's LP for Room 40, Dozzy apparently felt the track's inherent beauty merited more than just the one and sent over seven! This decision has resulted in a superb collection of reimaginations from the Voices Of The Lake producer, ranging from calming moments of serenity to bleepish, deep techno explorations.

Review: ** Bee Mask Repress **The prospect of Donato Dozzy reworking Bee Mask for the Spectrum Spool label is a mouth watering one and this double LP collection, entitled straightforwardly enough Donato Dozzy Plays Bee Mask more than lives up to it's billing. Originally commissioned to turn in a remix of Bee Mask's "Vaporware" track from last year's LP for Room 40, Dozzy apparently felt the track's inherent beauty merited more than just the one and sent over seven! This decision has resulted in a superb collection of reimaginations from the Voices Of The Lake producer, ranging from calming moments of serenity to bleepish, deep techno explorations.

Review: There should be more than a few techno fans getting rather excited right now. You see, Donato Dozzy and Nuel's Aquaplano Sessions is something of a "holy grail" for tribal-influenced minimal techno collectors. Originally released over two 12" singles on the short-lived Aquaplano label in 2008 and 2009, the material has long been held in high regard - so much so, in fact, that copies of the original vinyl pressings are extremely hard to find. This reissue from Spectrum Spools is great news for anyone who missed out first time round. While there are some immaculate deeper moments (see the becalmed dreaminess of "Aqua 8"), it's the robust, aggressive, bass-heavy and occasionally intense tracks that really stand out.

Review: Most recently seen collaborating with vocalist Daniel O'Sullivan as Miracle on an album for Planet Mu, Steve Moore resurfaces in solo mode with a fine LP for the Spectrum Spools label. If you are a fan of the US synth underground, then you will undoubtedly own at least one record by Moore, whose solo output draws from John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream and nudges these influences into patient, evolving synth soundscapes that have positively healing effects. Nine sumptuous tracks long, Pangaea Ultima might be Moore's most ambitious set yet; themed around the super-continent of the same name that geologists have speculated will form in the next quarter of a billion years, the music occupies "an atemporal space" that is far removed from retro pastiche or obvious sci-fi tropes.

Review: The alias of American musician Rachel Evans, The Motion Sickness of Time Travel is the latest addition to the ever expanding Spectrum Spools catalogue, and in a year of fine releases from the label this self titled album stands out as one of its best. Although the artist was introduced to world by a blink-and-you'll-miss-it vinyl run on Digitalis in 2010, this record should see her gaining wider admiration. Although her synth based sound has echoes of Oneohtrix Point Never and Emeralds, her vocals - although shrouded in reverb and reduced to mere sounds - imbue her synth drones with a sense of humanity a lot of her peers lack. With four tracks clocking in at nearly 100 minutes long, you'd think it would require serious patience to appreciate this album, but despite the tectonic evolution of her soundscapes, she draws you so far into her world you'll never want to leave.

Review: For a long time Giuseppe 'Neel' Tillieci has been known best for his supreme mastering skills for labels such as Morphine, Prologue and Northern Electronics and as the other force behind the revered Voices From The Lake project with Donato Dozzy. The Italian artist now debuts solo with the album Phobos, a completely ambient work of earthly sound design and alien atmospheres in a 45-minute journey laced with otherworldly Martian motifs. Neel's defining opus comes through John Elliot's Spectrum Spools, closely following the lauded reissue of The Aquaplano Sessions, and it's a wholly rewarding body of work best enjoyed in full in the one sitting.

Review: Joshua Eustis and Turk Dietrich are not the most prolific duo out there, the former being limited to one EP on Bpitch Control back in 2011 and the latter a compilation for Distance Recordings, but their new Second Woman moniker has warranted the attention of the excellent Spectrum Spools and, to us, that is a certified seal of approval. In reality, though, it's easy to hear why they've picked these tracks up; each one of these nine segments are both refreshing and deeply alluring, with drug patterns being given new and exciting shapes by the duo. In fact, the whole LP seems to be made up of a new interpretation around percussion, where Second Woman's jarring sonics are haphazardly folded around layers of brittle drums and noisy electronic manipulations.