Review: There's a delightfully celebratory feel about this debut volume of Cititrax Tracks, a new 12" series from Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax. As beautifully presented as we've come to expect, Tracks Volume 1 boasts a quartet of dancefloor-ready smashers from a blend of new faces and label stalwarts. Amato (aka The Hacker) kicks things off with the glistening EBM funk of "Physique" - all restless synth refrains and pounding bottom end - before LIES affiliate Tsuzing go all dark, psychedelic and twisted on the thrillingly intense, acid-flecked "King of System". An-I go all DAF (with a touch of Front 242) on the fuzzy and dystopian stomper "Mutter", before Cititrax regulars Broken English Club delivers a storming chunk of industrial-tinged analogue funk ("Glass"). Bravo!
Review: B 2DEP'T were a curio of the early wave of techno in Japan in the 90s, releasing a handful of cassettes and mini-albums but remaining a cult concern rather than breaking through to major success. For those in the know, their productions were way ahead of their time, and Junki Inoue seems absolutely hip to this as he signs them up for a release on his archival label Saisei. If you enjoy the boundaryless exploration of the early techno boom and prefer brightly melodic motifs to match, you'll love this record. It's brimming with oddball personality and it's more than punchy enough to cut it with modern club fare.
B-STOCK: Torn sleeve otherwise in excellent condition
Nedgravd I Naturen (Roland System 100)
Morklaggning (Yamaha DX-7)
Midnattsmanifest (Roland SH-101)
Cirkelskifte (Oberheim Matrix 6R)
Vitmossa (Waldorf Microwave)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Torn sleeve otherwise in excellent condition***
Grand River's always-illuminating One Instrument label reawakens with a new album from Martin Sander and Michel Isorinne's Bandhagens Musikforening project. Having previously appeared on Northern Electronics and Semantica, now these two advanced synthesists place all their attention on a select few studio pieces to see how far they can take them. First up is the Roland System 100, which affords them plenty of tonal possibilities for the pulsing, kinetic 'Nedgravd I Naturen'. With the Yamaha DX-7 they create a towering ambient piece of FM synthesis, while the Roland SH-101 gets applied to a dense and detailed slice of obtuse leftfield techno. The Oberheim Matrix 6R becomes a vehicle for cinematic melancholy, and the Waldorf Microwave teases out an immersive swirl of ambience as you might well expect from the One Instrument series.
Review: Few artists have had such a global impact on electronic music than Thomas Bangalter, the legendary DJ, producer and songwriter who is best known as one-half of the former dance titans Daft Punk. He has many more skills up his sleeve though as he has proven since leading the duo. One is writing soundtracks such as this one, Chiroptera, for Acte 2: Retour a la Caverne, which was a JR creation with choreography from Damien Jalet. It was performed in Paris in front of the Opera de Paris (Opera Garnier) on November 12th, 2023 and involved more than 150 dancers. You can now relive it musically with this limited 12".
Review: Berlin-based producer and DJ Barker has long been an underground innovator associated with plenty of vital labels but he hasn't dropped a new solo EP for a couple of years now. Thankfully he rights that wrong and and steps up to the 30 year strong Smalltown Supersound out of Oslo with a new four track offering that "sees him inverting the musical equation and exploring both the variability and sonic possibilities of a kick-drum." Opener 'Birmingham Screwdriver' will rewire your brain with its fizzing frequencies and skewed bass, 'Wick and Wax' is bright and hyperactive techno-pop and the flipside gets much more raw and dark. A fine return.
Review: The icy techno sounds of Cologne's Barnt make their way across Europe here to Studio Barnhus's Swedish bunker. Across five fresh cuts, he brings plenty of experimental flair but also some playful rhythms to a forward-thinking EP that sounds like little else. 'Aqua Melopella' is an unsettling opener with glistening synths scurrying like ants over a sparse rhythm, 'Aqua Breeze' establishes a marching beat and 'Aqua Bass' brings twanging synths and frosted loops that keep you on your toes. 'Millennium Silver' is another tune blend of dystopian synth sounds and distorted lines that speak of human destruction and last of all 'Millennium Melopella' offers moments of ambient reflection.
Review: Leeds-based label Turnend Tapes showcase the wide and very assured skills of Malmo man Martin Abrahamsson aka Bauri across a choice selection of five tracks from the more thoughtful and atmospheric end of the techno scale. That's not to say there aren't grooves aplenty going on. Opening track 'Zoom0036' has some irresistibly shiny, downbeat electro moves, offset by a touch of Autechre-like ghostliness. 'Jody' comes on like Drexciya at their perkiest, with a soupcon of Air Liquide's cheeky phasing, while 'Sunrise (take 2)' has the majesty and simplicity of Aphex's first 'Ambient Works'. Flip it over for 'Easter Sunday', where streamlined polymetric machine funk and solar flare arpeggios do a merry dance, before 'Feeling Reprise' finishes things off with spiralling half-speed beats and yet more melodic grandeur rising out of the mix. Abrahamsson has a long, impressive pedigree with more alter egos than you've had hot dinners, but this is up there with his most original and confident efforts. It's a Flow-brainer.
Review: Well Curated is a series of releases and parties that - in its own words - "reflects the ethnomusicology of the last 50 years of music" - and aims to reach into all genres, merging classic styles and breaking down barriers. Steve Spacek occupies the A-side with the breezy broken beat and soul-in-space of 'Alone In Da Sun', while Lukid's 'Hair Of The Dog' is a more intense counterpart, with wobbling sub-bass and swirling, surging atmospherics hovering above.
Review: Beau operates at the sharp end of the UK electronic underground and creates an immersive, dark ambient sound that is influenced by trailblazers like Burial. His soundscapes combine ethereal textures with moody rhythms and that is very much the case here on Lacuna, his new album for Feat PLAtes. It is full of roomy sounds, icy glass synths, smeared pads, late-night moods and evocative atmospheres that draw you in ever deeper, sometimes looking over your shoulder, always lost in deep thought. A real lost tape from the short-lived night bus genre, you could say.
Review: John Beltran's label debut sees the maestro flexing and showcasing the full spectrum of his composing and production skills over four diverse tracks.
Review: A repress of Innershades & Betonkust's 2018 new beat sensation 'Forever In Boccaccio!' has long been requested by hardcore record collectors. And now it has become available and has been fully remastered and housed in a new sleeve design, limited to just 300 copies. It was first made, according to the two being it, in January 2017 "under grey Belgian skies," when they had been consuming lots of acid and new beat, which of course shows. The title cut is brilliantly dark and gothic but is backlit by haunting vocal harmonies and underpinned by a menacing bassline. The three other cuts explore similar moods and grooves with great authenticity.
Review: Sam Binga has established himself with boundary-pushing club tracks on labels like Critical and Exit and for this one teamed up with Welfare, a junglist and the Rua Sound label boss. Together they were inspired by the rugged beauty of Conamara, County Galway and began the project in a 300-year-old cottage overlooking the sea in a place free of creature comforts but rich in inspiration. Using a handheld recorder, the duo explored tidal caves, ruins and windswept coastlines while recording the ambient sounds they heard on the way and then turned them into these deeply textured dub compositions through live desk mixing at Dubkasm's studio.
Review: With an extensive legacy and a list of alter egos longer than your arm, Martin Damm aka Biochip C achieves a delicate balancing act on this 11 year old record, a handful of extras copies of which were recently unearthed in what can only be described as a highly fortunate 'warehouse find'. He pulls off a delicate balancing act here, letting the abrasive, industrial punk rock side of his music off the leash to frolic unhindered, while never losing sight of the needs of dancefloor and its needs across the six tracks. Highlights? Well, the title track's speedy electrofunk is highly addictive, 'Eraser' has a driving, chunky techno edge that fans of Force Inc will love, while the double dub speed grooves of 'Knobgine' and 'Liquid Silence' are forces of nature in themselves.
Review: Bluets' debut on Kimochi Sound seamlessly integrates into the label's well established and distinctive style. This one, with a hand-sprayed sleeve as always, opens with "if you can imagine," a confident bit of microhouse that mixes rich melodies and a lively bassline. 'Action Potential' echoes RDMA's aesthetic with its precise beats and on the B-side you will find a vaporous melody that weaves through sparse downbeat house grooves to make for a dreamlike atmosphere. Closing the EP, 'Buong Bilog' features distorted IDM rhythms and a poignant refrain that balances twitchy textures with melancholic tones. This carefully crafted release bridges home-listening electronics with dancefloor clout.
The Sixteen Steps - "Signals From The South" (6:28)
The Sixteen Steps - "Promises On The Run" (7:17)
Review: Rampant and 'up for it' as usual, the Cititrax label is back with a new set of wayward technoid experiments for the more trained ears on the dancefloors. This time it's Romania's Borusiade and newcomer The Sixteen Steps who share two sides of a wax plate and, of course, proceed to annihilate any idea of a quiet night in. The former sets off with the mechanical acid bumps of "Infatuation", guided by an eerie set of vocal blurs, and that's followed by the comparatively more beat-centric techno of the apocalyptic "Confutation". On the flip, The Sixteen Steps first lands on "Signals From The South", a house banger with noxious levels of mutant bass at its core, followed by the single-minded industrialism and sheer techno brutality of "Promises On The Run". WOWZAH!
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: It's been a while since we heard from London's bass innovator Brassfoot. In fact, this is his first new EP since a great album back in 2022 and it offers up trippy electronics of the highest order. 'Cat Riddles & Ginnels Juice' is a murky world of lo-fi sounds, scratchy drums and wiry sonics that is pure scuzz. 'Double Speak' is another caustic and rusty melange of rhythmic motifs and fuzzy synth decay while 'Kinda Vicarious ' is all twisted church bells and otherworldliness. 'Earthiopia' is hyperdriven experimental minimalism and 'A Nation, No Flag' closes this most avant-garde EP with more eerie urban electronics. A truly out there EP.
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.
Review: Apparently James Adam Brown had one very definitely theme in mind with There Is Space Under Your Seat. Put simply, he wanted to explore aural interpretations of the human desire to create mental breathing room by pausing emotions to process feelings when circumstances become overwhelming. And, let's face it, they frequently have a habit of doing just that.
Recorded at ICP Studios in Belgium, after demos were laid down in his own facility deep in the stunning Yorkshire Dales, it's hard to imagine a more fitting setting for these ideas to form. A place that's equal parts bleak and beautiful, and certainly remote (in UK terms, at least). So what we have here is sometimes eerie, always stunning, packed with spatiality and a tangible emotional quality you will not be able to escape from.
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:
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: Philadelphia's cultural significance doesn't quite resonate in the same way on the European side of the Atlantic as it does back in the States. Of course we all know about Philly Cheese Steak, Hall & Oates, and The Roots, but the extent to which the biggest city in Pennsylvania acts as a melting pot for creativity, without really shouting about it, is really quite remarkable once you lift the lid. And we've not even mentioned It's Always Sunny... yet.
Cutting to the chase, far too late, Alex Burkat, is a case in point for the talent at work in said metropolis. A producer and DJ who has graced labels like Mister Saturday Night, Permanent Vacation, 100% Silk and Third Ear Recordings in the past, here he turns his well-tuned ear to ambient work, delivering three accomplished drone outings that do as they should - hypnotic, tunnelling, creeping but commanding.
Review: Matti Bye is Between Darkness & White Snow on this deeply absorbing new 12" on Northern Electronics. It comes as four separate pieces that all play out as part of a larger narrative. First up is 'I', a quiet, gloomy landscape on a grey winter's day with the gentle sound of flowing water and muted synth modulations placing you right in the middle of it. 'II' has more presence, a growing sense of melancholy and unease and 'III' allows a little heavenly light into the mix to gently uplift. The final chapter has a feeling of hope with subtle keys radiating from deep inside.
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: B12's 1993 debut album, Electro-Soma, has long been regarded as one of intelligent dance music's "must-have releases". Offering a decidedly intergalactic blend of otherworldly techno, ambient and deep space electronica, it remains a brilliant piece of work. Here, Warp Records give it the reissue treatment, packaging the peerless original album with a second disc of early B12 rarities and hard-to-find cuts recorded during the same period. There's naturally plenty to admire on this bonus disc, from the shimmering electro bustle of "Transient Pathways" and Motor City futurism of "Debris", to the intoxicating ambient brilliance of "Go With The Hiss". That this material is every bit as good as the tracks included on Electro-Soma is testament to the (then) duo's rarely matched brilliance.
Review: Hardanger is a collaboration between Mariska Baars, Niki Jansen and Rutger Zuydervelt. Named after Jansen's Hardanger fiddle, the album expands on Baars and Zuydervelt's established chemistry after beginning as Jansen's improvisations with Baars adding vocals and guitar, all later shaped by Zuydervelt into two long-form tracks-one an electro-acoustic collage, the other more meditative. Baars blends ambient and folk and is known for collaborating with artists like Peter Broderick, while Jansen is a folk violinist and Zuydervel's prolific output as Machinefabriek is well worth checking as are his film scores and collabs as Piiptsjilling and Fean with Baars.
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