Veyl presents an experimental sonic experience from Llimbs, the project of Hagen Ebejer. He began making music in the early 2000’s and started Llimbs in 2016 and now he arrives on Veyl with “Midnight Amber”, an 8-track album which fully realizes the Llimbs sound and vision. Inspired by dark and experimental sounds, “Midnight Amber” is a tour de force of genre-bending compositions, conjured using downtempo and dreamlike sounds which explore both the organic and digital. The result is an undefinable affair which is both haunting and infectious at once.
Known previously for his contributions of deep and hypnotic techno, Toki Fuko presents on Astral Industries a further development of his sound in this long-form work. A two-part sojourn into vibrant organic soundscapes and liminal sonic archaeologies, ”Spirit Medicine” is an ethereal yet human-centric venture into the realms of consciousness. Soft chimes mark the opening, making way for expansive pads and the emergence of a bristling jungle panorama. Solitary flute melodies call out to the valley, riding over a bed of drones and earthy rhythms. Later juxtaposed with broadcasted voice samples, the natural fabric ruptures with exposed layers spilling through, only to fade back into the ether. Perhaps a memory, or the momentary glimpse of a parallel reality. Part Two adopts an equally atmospheric flavour, substituting fauna and flora for deconstructed, psycho-somatic mysteria. Overall darker in tone, broken beats combine with avant garde adornments, underpinned by a subtle existential narrative. Wading through a wilderness of eerie remembrances, their starkness is counterbalanced with a peaceful return – a form of clarity and reconciliation that the listener is offered in the final act.
“Ambient Trip Commander” is a hand drawn/painted feature animation film made by Danny Wolfers. The film premiered on 28th of May 2022 at the EYE film Museum in Amsterdam Holland with a live soundtrack on synths by Legowelt. This is the soundtrack album of my 2022 Ambient Trip Commander animation film on cassette tape and digital.
Levon Vincent released on Novel Sound bandcamp a follow up of his cassette album “Silent Cities”. “Silent Cities II” is a perfect extension is Levon’s private moods and states.
Mike Inzinger from Vienna presents his third solo release, featuring three Detroit Techno tracks of classic Robert Hood minimalism style and 1 Electro track.
Japan’s Katharsis Recordings turns to Sabatoj to offer up two deliciously deep techno cuts. ‘I.C.U.’ is a heavy, slow motion roller with a grinding bassline and an eco-system of deft cosmic designs peeling off the groove. ‘Missing Man’ is slightly more speedy but no less heavyweight with its wall-rattling bass and rising sense of tension. Mike Parker steps up to remix on the B-side and does so with wiry and futuristic electronics and Kannabi keeps it heads down and moody with his remix.
Another instant classic electro-techno banger from the mind of Erik Travis. Ever since his first release in 1987, Erik Travis has become well known for his individual style consisting of pared-down, up-tempo drum programming, short vocal samples, and synth stabs.
The Collection Artaud is a record label based in Berlin and run by Yu Miyashita. After a year of drought, the label is back with a release from Romanian drum & bass experimentalist DYL.
The new LP by Krefeld-born, Berlin-based artist Philipp Otterbach entitled ‘The Dahlem Diaries’. Recorded in a little-visited corner of the German capital, ‘The Dahlem Diaries’ is a convergence of ideas, sketches and tracks, both old and new, most of which were produced between 2020-2022. Whilst eerie atmospheres, electronics and drums have played a pivotal role in Philipp’s earlier releases, his latest is a rather more introspective affair, in which the guitar takes a leading role. A role Otterbach uses to quietly bring light and hope to his music. Combined with a strong use of effects and field recordings, ‘The Dahlem Diaries’ feels somewhat like a scene or fragment from a story, in which the narrative remains undefined. It is a playful album that is something of a blurred underwater adventure, sounding as bright as it is hazy, even psychedelic at times, yet with an almost melancholic positivity.
Mini-album releases featuring a collection of 5 tracks from the Sound Metaphors catalogue masterfully remixed by Anatolian Weapons. Sound Metaphors gives their keys of the label’s catalogue vaults to Aggelos Baltas aka Anatolian Weapons and this is the result. 5 tracks previously released on the labels now submitted to the studio prowess of the Greek machine. Dubbed out, tripped out, slowed down, sped up, mind blown. Aggelos brings his distinctive flavor to the table and re-constructs some of our dacefloor oriented favorites from the early 90’s.
Sequencias unveil the label debut by Ali Berger with his EP “Continuation”. The EP is a beautiful mix of tracks that could please any dance floor at any moment, or easily take you on a journey through your headphones.
Close your eyes and merge into Benedikt Frey’s ‘Fastlane’. Imagine sitting in the driver’s seat of a an automobile, one with exceptional horsepower and torque, as you stare out the windshield at the red light, warping in fata-morgana a mile down the road. It’s a straight-away, a black top with two lanes, and against your better judgment you decide to floor the gas. No hesitation in your muscle, your ankle or the ball of your foot, which you now realize is some kind of universal pivot, the first point of contact fusing your body with the will of machine. In this moment you’re in awe that you, a human, an animal, grew from pond scum into something so advanced as to engineer this thing, a mechanical beast capable of overwhelming power and exhilaration. But you also feel a seductive dread, an outside force diverting you from caution toward a dangling carrot of curiosity, asking yourself, ‘How far can I take this thing?’ The dread, now a constant, is numbed, equalized by an adverse intoxicating gratification. You feel both sensations in real time, however, rather than take responsibility for yourself, friends, family and innocent bystanders, you cement your foot to the floor and lean your head back. Noise around you fades to mute. Smell the benzene-scented air, feel the wind on your face, the menacing vibration of the vessel you control beneath you and every grain of asphalt under its tires. This mile has now lasted an eternity and you’ve left your body for some objective view, as if watching climax of a film. Past the point of no return, you embrace abandon and lean into fate. The film becomes slow motion, a crawling pace so mesmerizing you convince yourself of an option to eject yourself from this madness, but as you finally let go of your last morsel of fear, you run the red light head-on into the nucleus of a fantastic glistening sculpture of torn metal, glass, oil, broken dreams and heartache. ‘Fastlane’ may be just drum machines and synthesizers if you’re timid, but listen harder and know the catastrophic reality of existence, a wreckage so gruesome we dare not rubberneck, but afterall it is our nature to stare.
Reflection | Reaction is a trilogy of EP’s written by Plant43 over the course of winter 2022/23, the first in the series marking the 10th release and third anniversary for the artist’s Plant43 Recordings label. Over the course of twelve tracks and over an hour of new music Emile Facey takes the listener on an emotional journey through the frosty depths of winter and into the warm sunlight of spring.
Ricardo Baez draws on many influences. Electro, house, synth-pop and italo are pillars of the Italian artist’s unique style. The Florence based musician arrives at the Bordello with ‘On and On’. Featuring Curses, the opener is a floor-filler. Known for his EBM-stained wave works, this vocal mix is a late night Summer romp. Crisp percussion and warm bass lines usher in addictive hooks and throaty vocals from Luca Venezia. The original version follows. Lyrics are stripped back allowing the upbeat synth play to take the limelight. Cascading notes announce the flip. “Sfida Notturna” is built on delicate drum patterns and arc of string before breaking to a heady dawn. “Dietro L’orizzonte” brings the curtain down. Toms and cinematic synthlines introduce rasping rhythms and vocoder samples. The piece is perfectly measured, fragile keys ascend next cymbal crashes and computer voice. Sumptuous sounds from the north of Italy.
2023 official repress of the EP originally released in 2015 by the Swiss/German production team “Jack Pattern”. Electronic music with italo-disco influences at the highest level.
The Hipodrome Of Music 