Review: A credible eyewitness is arguably nonexistent; all narrators are unreliable in some way. But the ACEW label boss who bears the name makes a worthy attempt to justify it, laying down four killer downtempo dreams of the tongue-in-cheek, driving kind. 'Hypnotik' was clearly made with the aim to mesmerise in mind: 'Waz Up' and 'Sexy Waz' logically follow each other as snake-charming pendulum-swinging coldwave-chug trances to make up the A-side, while the B's 'Following' and 'Subreal' raise the pace again, deftly working illusory melodies round strangled electro workouts.
Review: Age of Hyperion is one half of Alien Communication and here he lands on the label of the same name with the first part in his J.R. Isodore's Medicine Bottle series. It is a beguiling mix of electro and techno with weird grooves and innovative moods. The title cut is a slow and playful opener with jittery lines and smeared cosmic chords then it's into snappy rhythms and busted bass on Monkey Bones & Fish Brains' melodic madness on 'Ominus Voyage'. There are dark worlds explored on 'Material Metaphore' and 'Solar Pulse' then has whip-snapping synths lashing about over serene electro rhythms.
Review: Soul Jazz Records promise this is a one off and strictly limited pressing of Alien Starr's 'World Of Ecstasy.' It is a faithful reproduction of the original in terms of art and sound and has been restored from the label after they included it on their excellent recent Space Funk 2 - Afro-Futurist Electro Funk In Space 1976-84 compilation. tUSA in 1985 featuring big slap bass energy, hand claps, drum funk and electro boogie bass. .
Review: Altone aka. Yuki Takasaki is a champion channeller of dub techno trueness, having made many a wave on the Tokyo underground scene already; his efforts come to a renewed head on the new EP for Primary Colours, 'Wonderscape Numinous', a high-impedance, phantom-powered trip through figurative J-scapes; to 'Self-Replication', 'Adaptive Swarm' and 'Wonderscape Numinous', we imagine a simulacrum web of nanobots splayed across the city, their many lens refocusings and field reconfigurations emitting a syntonic electric hum. The closer is especially beautiful, haunting the nighttime itinerant ear with cutoff chord ricochets and an endless fumbling foley sound; the sound recalls a restless cyborg, endlessly fiddling with its field recording equipment as though it were a dopaminergic Rubik's cube.
Review: The seemingly unstoppable rise of De:tuned continues, as they take a break from serving up sci-fi techno, IDM and ambient techno to deliver something a lot more intense: a surprise EP from original House of God Birmingham resident DJ Paul 'Damage' Bailey. Channeling the spirit of his friend Surgeon while offering up something fresh, the two original tracks on show are undeniably inspired. 'Hadal Zone' adds weirdo noises, bleeps and mind-mangling electronic pulses to a slipped Afro-techno groove, while 'Decompression' is a wonky, triple-time workout full of Ket-addled electronics and wayward loops. Makaton re-imagines that track as a locked-in late-night techno throb-job, while James Ruskin turns 'Hadal Zone' into a buzzing, industrial-influenced electro-bleep number.
Review: Distrikt Paris head honcho Bassam is back with a superb double album that defines his own unique take on the underground. It is genre-defying and widescreen in its cope as it flows freely from sound to sound. 'Electronic Rhapsody' is a superb symphony of lush synth design and airy breakbeats that keep you suspended in space. 'Apres Faut Aimer La Fete' brings twisted acid to slick tech house beats and 'Sos Marrakech' brings a more retro synth sound with crashing hits and stiff, angular rhythms. Elsewhere are more poppy sounding melodies and synths on 'Panorama Vision' and a turbocharged future tech cut 'LAP Memory' (40ine mix) is another late nightlight.
Tougher (live At Hollis Park version - Jorun Bombay remix) (2:39)
Who's House (live At Hollis Park version - Jorun Bombay remix) (4:04)
Review: Jorun Bombay is king of the edit and an expert wielder of his sonic scalpel and now he is back with a couple of new bits of work that are coming on plain wax but also here, on this limited translucent red vinyl 7". The Soundweight release features a reimagined live-at-Hollis Park version of 'Tougher'. It's a brief but potent track with raw, bumping breaks, gritty vocals, and hints of proto-electro. The B-side offers 'Who's House' (Live at Hollis Park version - Jorun Bombay remix), which is less ragged and a little more smooth and deep and detailed with feel-good horns and distinctive scratching. These two diverse yet equally compelling tracks showcase Jorun's expert touch and innovative approach.
Review: Written by James Ernard, 'How Close' is a poppy funk track with as much history as killer synths. Written after his previous Ohio-based group Perfect Element declined opening for Prince on tour, Ernard left to set up his own label (which met a similar end as he and co-founder Kennith also had a falling out over creative differences). 'How Close' is a sensational piece of 80s American pop history, with a killer synth line and earworm vocals that'll have you shaking your hips before even realising. Side B has a nippy little remix by an undisclosed producer (which is sometimes the case with such niche pieces of history), that nonetheless breathes even more life into such a colourful track. It's often the 7" records that tell us the full history of the music industry behind the scenes at that time, and this release is no different - a perfect addition to that niche 7" collection you've been building up...
Review: Colossio and Luke Garcia combine on this new EP for Microcastle and offer up a mix of solo and collaborative cuts. Musically, techno is the foundation sound here but is explored far and wide. Colossio gets things underway with 'Amen' which is all fizzing pads and buzzy synths over tough drums. Luke Garcia's 'Ryen' is then an explosive mix of strobe lit and peak time tackle with writing lines and freeform energy. Then the pair combine for 'Situation' which is more white knuckle techno and finally 'My Body' which is a dark industrial cut for tense moments.
Review: As far as we can tell, Cyril The Great is relatively new on the scene, and certainly this is the first release on the Brave Potatoes label. In the absence of hard facts, we must zero in on the sound, and Cyril's got that on lock. If you appreciate hardware jams which sound like someone speaking through the circuitry, you're going to dig this record. Ostensibly this is braindance-esque electro with a home-listening sensibility, but it swerves any particular genre tropes to become its own idiosyncratic thing, which is of course the pathway to the most interesting music. If you love 303s given a proper workout until they truly sing, you'll be more than satisfied with this plucky spud.
Boogie Night (feat JZP - Astratto Fool mix) (6:34)
Bank Robber (4:29)
Magic Circle (2:58)
Brazillionaire (2:58)
Brazillionaire (The Mechanical Man remix) (6:45)
Review: Daddario proves he is the daddio with a new electro excursion on the fledgling Ragoo label. Rather than all out cosmic dance floor assaults, this is electro steep in funk and boogie from the off. 'Shift' is a playful one with stiff melodies and lush chords while 'Boogie Night' (feat JZP) is just that. 'Space Lou' has a feel good disco tinge to the hip swinging clasp and jazzy keys and after an Astratto Fool mix that slows 'Boogie Night' down to a soulful slow dance the flipside brings dazzling electro-disco and downbeat analogue grooves that seduce and tease. The Mechanical Man remix of 'Brazillionaire' might just steal the show at the end.
Review: Cyclo Records starts the New Year right with a label debut from Dis Oui, a collective from South-West France. In its original form (track one), 'Take a Pill' is an intriguing fusion of styles, in which hands-aloft piano stabs, subtle acid tweaks, rushing chords and heavily accented English vocals rise above rock-solid electro-house beats and a joyously squelchy bassline. There's an accompanying instrumental mix for those who are less keen on the vocals and a fiendishly heavy, mind-altering 'Acid Mix'. This is naturally built around a wild, intense and psychedelic TB-303 line and offers a breathlessly rugged, ragged and intense take for those searching for something that's as raw and gnarled as it is trippy and strobelight ready.
Review: Drivecom's latest release, a 2xLP album, feature new tracks meticulously reworked from 2022-23. This collection is a sonic homage to past works like La Hora de las Maquinas and The Source by Boris Divider, yet it features a modern production twist. The album kicks off with 'The Way You Feel Me,' blending electro and synthwave with moog bass and arpeggios reminiscent of Arpanet. Following this, 'Letters From A Sleeper' evokes a postnuclear future with its prominent synthline. 'Distante' introduces slower BPMs, combining J. Carpenter-inspired synths with vintage digital rhythms. On Side-2 'You Know What I Know' recalls the signature sound of La Hora de las Maquinas with its sequential prophet's arpeggio. 'Sin Mirar Atras' stands out as a deeply introspective piece rich with vintage synths and reverb. 'Your Light' reappears as a future electro classic. 'Recursos Infinitos' offers a Tangerine Dream-esque instrumental interlude before the dark, dystopian 'Cenital' channels Vangelis' Blade Runner. The title track, 'Memories From The Dust,' merges 80s digital keyboard sounds with the album's overarching themes. The closing track, 'Out of Sync,' features intentionally misaligned synthlines recorded in one take.
Review: Motech is one of those label that has been an ever present in the underground for years and it likely always will be that way, such is the consistency of the output. Label head DJ 3000 steps up for this latest release which takes the label ever closer to 200 outings over all, and as always he mines a perfect sweetspot between techno, breakbeat and house. 'Meze' has tense drum tech underneath mystic and exotic leads from the Middle East, while 'Humble Quest' keeps things nimble with deft synth smears over thud drum funk. The synth-infused and Detroit style techno of 'Tanbur' makes for a serene listen while 'Snake Eyes' brings a little freaky synth energy to close out.
Review: A deliberate exercise in Y2K aesthetics and cyberpunk electrance comes in the creative output of DJ Natural Nate - his latest EP for Hoodwink Recordings, 'Notes To Jiggabot' - which consists of four tracks eulogizing his cybernetic partner-in-crime, Jiggabot (several releases from this pair have come out since mid 2018) and seemingly the object of his fantasmic affections. Whether the likes of new numbers 'Chasing The Rhythm', 'I Will Shine For You' or 'Far Away' originate from some angelic conceptual otherworld or this banal material one, it's hard not to love the signifiers poured into the EP: US freestyle jaunts, pure femme vocals doused in reverb-reverbs and melismatic hums; hyper-compressed, lightsabre-sculpted beats and visual cues reminiscent of childhoods spent lost in postmodern futuristic fantasies, such as those of Deus Ex or Blade Runner.
Review: DJ Sotofett is one of those producers who operates on his own plane. His sounds are like no other, his ideas are weird and wonderful and his execution is always exceptional. He is a producer who does things in his own playful way and that bears out on this new 12-track album. It's couched in electro with 80s Nintendo console vibes and a fusion of analogue and digital synthesis that makes for a jubilant celebration. Along the way, things shift from acid-infected beats and catchy electronic pop to avant-garde electro cuts. Vital stuff.
Review: Let's hear it for Ed Upton, otherwise known as the evergreen DMX Krew. We're never short of essential electro of all stripes from the Rephlex veteran, but there's a special place in our hearts for the vocal turns he used to do back in the early days. Around 2004 he was focusing on purely instrumental experiments through the Collapse Of The Wave Function series, but Japanese label Poplot convinced him to return to the feelgood vocal electro and synth-pop sound and snuck this out as a CD-only release. Now on double vinyl, it's a love letter to the best of boogie and electro funk and Upton has a whale of a time laying down those endearingly straight-up party time, open-hearted lyrics about good times and love lives that any proper boogie record needs.
Review: Legendary Rephlex alumni and electro mainstay DMX Krew revisited a Minneapolis sound with boogie and freestyle elements in this timeless 2005 Japan-exclusive release. After almost 20 years it finally gets a vinyl issue over there in Europe thanks to Cold Blow and is a surefire way to kick start your day no matter the mood you are in. As ever, the studio wizard cranks up through the gears, gets the most out of his array of machines and explores rhythm and sound from many different angles, sometimes seemingly all at once. This remains a great record despite its vintage.
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