Day: May 5, 2013
Daniele Baldelli – Let’s Get Lost Vol.21 [LGL021]
Let’s Get Lost label’s 21st offering welcomes Italo Disco innovator Daniele Baldelli into the fold with an eight track, double 12″ cosmic transmission. Naturally given the length, Baldelli canvasses an array of styles, like the post punk and jazz fusion of “Dark Sax”, the pulsating future disco of “Teens & Teens” or the Studio 54 referencing “Portorico”. Baldelli also dips into some more down-tempo, ambient and darker italo stylings with “Tunnel”, while taking a Latin approach with “Conflitto Mexicano”.
Gramme – Gramme LP [GRAMMELP]
Gramme is the musically pioneering band that went missing in action sometime around 2000. Originally signed to Trevor Jackson’s Output label, the band emerged in the mid-nineties with a sound so out of step with the cultural milieu they found themselves swimming against the tide. Originally a five piece, the band formed around a shared love of the emotional melancholy now synonymous with Factory artists such as Joy Division, Section 25 and A Certain Ratio. Gramme were attracted by Manchester’s psycho disco of the early 80’s and NY’s subterranean proto punk-funk on 99 Records and bands like Liquid Liquid and ESG. The die was cast when, following a particularly intense Camden gig in 1996, the legendary DJ Nathan Gregory said the immortal words “ I love your band, but I dunno whether to dance or pogo?!”. The individuality of Gramme around ‘97 remains their lasting signature. Gramme 2012, now a streamlined four piece but equally as passionate and excited by the possibilities of their own music making. With three new 4 track E.P.s already on the shelves this year, reportedly selling out before the dust had time to settle. The next step is a 12 track long player scheduled for release in February on Tim ‘Love’ Lee’s Tummy Touch Records. The album represents about two and a half years of sporadic but intense writing, jamming, recording and editing and at least three complete fresh starts. The aim was finally to create something immediate and in the present but something that would also stand the test of time. It needed to work in the club, the car and the kitchen simultaneously.
Black Merlin – Salute To The Light [NJ005]
A self-confessed fascination with 80s Music and film scores from the same era..George Thompson has an ability to approach music with a strong visual aesthetic which is a common theme in his work, first apparent in his role as part of the duo “Spectral Empire”, alongside Kyle Martin. Spectral Empire caught our ear many years ago. with their sound that evoking a world of abandoned battleships, psychedelic fog and possession by dark forces through a maze of industrial beats, metallic drones and heavy baselines. A trip to Dusseldorf in 2009 saw Thompson connect with the cities’ currently vibrant electronic scene, with artists such as Kriedler, Der Rauber und der Prinz, Music Cargo and Toulouse Low Trax inspiring Thompson to continue his sonic explorations and push him forwards as a solo artist, under the “Black Merlin” moniker. As “Black Merlin”, the brooding, dark, cinematic elements remain, juxtaposed by Thompson’s obsession with late-80’s FM Synthesis and expansive production of artist such as Trevor Horn and Blancmange. Black Merlin’s first solo release was on Andrew Weatherall’s vinyl-only label Bird Scarer in late 2012.
The Hipodrome Of Music 