Author: hipodrome
Carlos Souffront – Radio Rituel 40
RUMORE & Kosmik – Black Lodge Radio EP 76
Stacian – Fractal ID [CLEAR007]
A project based variously in the Midwest, the Bay Area, and currently Nashville, Stacian is a longtime vehicle for dance floor alchemist, electronic artist, and producer Dania Luck, who delivers for Chicago’s CLEAR a collection that synthesizes a wide breadth of influences; from varying strains of minimal wave, to the darker baroque flourishes of German new-wave and post-industrial— all while scavenging the displaced futurism of early analog electronic music. From the glam-spattered invocation of “Dance With Me” to the frenzied snare-hits of “Read Me”, to the post-industrial stomp of “We Are War”; “Fractal ID” unfolds like a map of hypnagogic states. By the time we reach “The Well” and “Idea of Home” a trapdoor in the dance floor has opened to an otherworldly abyss, where pulsating analog beats materialize, and glimmering arpeggiations illuminate the icy well of our shared technological isolation. Stacian’s “Fractal ID” is a propulsive and perilous journey to the depths, of dynamic rhythmic modulations and expansive sonic textures; a lone ray of light that bounces and refracts along the cavernous sub-levels of the club floor.
Mike Tansella Jr. @ Cukr __ Kolonie (Prague) 16.07.2021
VA – Frigio All Stars Vol. 4 [FRV037]
Summer 2021 sees the fourth in the Frigio All Stars series hitting all respectable shelves. Jack Carel opens the 12” with the acid burning grunge of “Fuck This Shit” followed by Sons of Traders with the chugging 4/4 nastiness of “A for All.” A trippy, dark industrial streak runs in the snares and swagger of Rambal Cochet’s “Doomsday Scenario Interface” and in the powerful introspection of Daniel Holt’s “The Recluse.” Neud Photo arrives on Frigio with a menacing debut, “The Split” which pierces a haze of smoke in this late-night floor-filler. Honored Matres who appeared on the first volume of these series, returns with the blackest of the compilation. Machine gun percussion close the 12” with Chris Mitchell offering the chopped and gnawed “Alsina”.
Passarani – Dead and Alive [LIB18]
Libertine Records welcomes Marco Passarani for its 18th release, the Italian legend delivers 5 dope cuts between techno and electro, not to be missed.
TV.OUT @ HÖR x Bau Mich Auf (Schloss Broock) 03.09.2021
Daniele Cosmo – Braid Recordings // 013
Zürich’s Lux Rec co-founder Daniele Cosmo delivers a delightful hour of brooding cold synth recorded during the Summer Camp at Rote Fabrik.
Low Standard Deviation – Bunker 4018 [B4018]
This very one Lost Boy from Brazil washed ashore the Lowlands’ ‘Finis Terrae’, a produce of first-generation ‘Shock Doctrine’ and a real ‘carioca’ borne on the New World’s ‘Bossa Nova’ and ‘Esplendor Geometrico’ of old ‘Ancien Regime’ para-military junta that delivers quite some maximally dark and manic minimal wave of late, at times even slightly reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees and of Joy Division, and all sung through old and charming, slightly dissonant ‘Samba’ melody lines vaguely hailing from certain sinister up-hill ‘Cidade de Deus’ margins of a distinctly distant ‘Vagamundo’ Purgatory past in either the Portuguese, the English or the Spanish tongues, rendering the paranoia ‘facsimile in Limbo’ of the coming Futurist Global Orderly State, this deep-state ‘Novo Estado Novo’ within the current ‘Nova Bossa Nova’, this ‘Guerra Nova Prometheida por uma Terra Nova Prometida’, the World’s Electronic New Wave ‘Fado’ of Digital Panopticon and similar forms of purely A.I.-bot-generated (nothing personal!) Totalitarian Torture ‘Technique du coup d’Etat’ in genuine random numbers as already foreseen and shown to all some long time before in the Magic Green on that ‘Funky Dollar Bill’, ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum’.
Black Light Odyssey – The Beat [OR95]
Oráculo Records presents Black Light Odyssey, new beats recorded in L.A. by Anton Floriano and Craig Degraff.
VA – Cameroon Garage Funk [AALP092]
Analog Africa presents their 32nd compilation, “Cameroon Garage Funk”, highlighting Yaounde’s 1970’s underground music scene. The quest to assemble the puzzle-pieces of what seemed to be a long lost underground scene took us to Camroon, Benin and further on to Togo and it was in the cities of Cotonou, Lome and Sotouboua that we managed to lay our hands on most of the songs presented in this compilation. Since there were no local labels, no producers, and almost nothing in way of infrastructure in Cameroon at that time, the artists had to be everything: musician, producer, executive producer, arranger, financier, promoter and sometimes even distributor. The sixteen tracks on Cameroon Garage Funk pulse with raw inspiration and sweat DYI mood uniting the featured diverse musicians around their willingness to do everything themselves in order to take a chance in the music scene.
Sabotage 2021
Music producers, DJs, soundsystems & visual artists across Europe and Japan join forces this fall at SABOTAGE 2021. Only to showcase some of the best live performances, dj sets, new media art installations and to share knowledge through talks, documentaries & workshops, in a reconverted tram storage called MultipleXity.
Karpov not Kasparov – Memory [DH027]
Romanian two-piece Karpov not Kasparov have dropped their new EP ‘Memory’ on Disco Halal. A five-track release opens with the sunkissed, synth-driven vibes of ‘Except For Bears’, ensuring the EP commences with some cosmic disco energy. Next up is the hypnotic, computerised sounds of ‘Fool’s Mate’ and otherworldly synth oddity ‘Les Pions Sont l’Âme du Jeu’, before the title track and recent single ‘Memory’ sees the Bucharest duo delve into psychedelia-laced outsider pop territories. Things are then closed out with an instrumental of the same track.
Valeriu Borcoș and Eduard Gabia aka Karpov not Kasparov describe what they do as ‘a musical game of chess between synthesizer and drums’. The Romanian duo also incorporate an analogue visual artist and contemporary dancers into their live performances, resulting in a theatrical show and a kind of real-time soundtrack to the action around them.
Oshana – Disciples of Dystopia [PSI004LP]
Channeling her innermost depths, Oshana reveals her widest body of work to date, “Disciples of Dystopia;” a multi-faceted expression of the emotions, influences, and sounds that have guided her on her musical journey. The album aptly marks the fourth release on her very own, Psionic label, and is the first double 12” in the catalogue.
Leonid – Namurian Phase EP [LDR_25]
LDR returns with another addition to their roster at Lunar Disko. Waterford native Leonid delivers a rare EP, crafted as always with methodical depth and warmth. A 5 track journey of emotive electronics and machine soul, evolving into another timeless masterpiece from Leonid.
VA – EPM20 EP2 [EPM22V]
EPM continue their 20th birthday celebrations with an ep dedicated to electro featuring The Advent, Carl Finlow, Detroits Filthiest and Freddy Fresh. As all good electro-heads will know, The Advent (Cisco Ferreira) is as renowned for electro as he is for techno. On ‘Strangeform’ he works alongside his son and rising talent, Zein to turn in pure electro-funk that’s blistering to the last beat. Another absolute master of the scene is Carl Finlow who brings deep bass notes, carefully crafted melody and his meticulous production skills to ‘Optogenetic’. Detroit’s Filthiest has been wowing listeners with his work for labels like Casa Voyager, Bass Agenda, Philthtrax and his own MCEC. His track ‘Werewolf’ is the electro monster the title suggests – dark and tough Detroit-electro book-ended with a playful vocal. The EP closes with the legendary, Freddie Fresh who after three decades is a genuine virtuoso. Under his Modulator guise he layers beautiful retro synth stylings and sci-fi atmospherics on ‘ProMars’. The third EP featuring four house tracks will follow in July, with the ‘EPM20’ compilation after the summer.
Planar Traits – Portal Vision EP [RIDE04]
A smokey hookah lounge lies nestled amongst Saturn’s outer rings – for those who know where to look. Its sole occupant for a thousand years, the being known as Planar Traits. Lick the cosmic toad and strap yourself in for a fourth ride on the Magic Carpet. Propulsive breaks and mystical atmospheres send us crashing through the waterfall, deep into the velvet jungle beyond.
DJ Overdose – Libertine X02 [LIBX02]
Libertine welcomes Dj Overdose for the second release of ”X” series, featuring 6 sick cuts between experimental electro and wave sounds.
Armec – Caged [VIS324]
20/20 Vision present the debut release from Manchester based artists Armec. The Caged EP hits the ground running – with a record that spans heavy club-ready electro and futuristic soundscapes. Complete with a remix from German acid connoisseurs Hardfloor.
The Hipodrome Of Music 