The fifth part of the Wave Earplug series brigs minimal synth pop, electro, new beat, old school EBM, dark wave and more. Input by artists from USA, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, Germany and Hungary.
In 1986, the young Rickard Karlsson, Magnus Jönsson and Fredrik Bergman formed the all-synth band Etage Neun in Ystad, Sweden. Admittedly influenced by Depeche Mode and right in the middle of the Cold War, their lyrics were often dark, about human conflicts and the nuclear threat. In May 88 they self-released their first album “War And Emotions” in cassette format only. This album has been impossible to find for decades and has become a must have for synthpop fans all over the world. Time has proved that Etage Neun should have gained more recognition back then, but at least we have the opportunity now to listen to this synth masterpiece with far superior sound quality than ever before.
Stroom bring to our attention this naïve overlooked New Beat / New Age project from 1989. Sometimes in life, a certain incentive is needed to convert talent into productivity. As for the case of MKS, the enigmatic and musical disguise of Nicolas Aubard, it was a merely coincidental encounter at the end of the 80s that set the stone rolling.
Lorenzo Fortino continues his journey arriving at the fifth vinyl of his Futop Musica label. 4 tracks always between techno and ambient with different moods and bpm.
Jochem Peteri comes drifting back into earshot with some new NWAQ tackle in tow. He’s minting a new label with three pieces that embellish the NWAQ soundworld with a fresh slant. ‘Above II’ is a crystal clear beam of light strapped to a kick that trips over itself with grace and poise. It’s forthright and yet wholly untethered, a pre-echo for the anchorless expanse of ‘Above I’, which buries some heavy bass ruminations very far down in the mix. That leaves it to ‘Dume’ to come staggering out all bleary-eyed, caked in last night’s distortion and yet still exuding a cracked beauty that stands up to the first light of dawn. The artwork which adorns this record is by environment sculpting internet artist Jan-Robert Leegte. NWAQ has always stood for a kind of environmental immersion, and this new emission compounds that idea in three distinct, refreshing ways.
Kizen Records presents a 4-tracks EP written & produced by Tom Huthwohl aka BLNDR, inspired by the majestic landscape and the atmosphere of Santiago de Chile.
Ukrainian don Stanislav Tolkachev resurfaces with his debut solo four-tracker for Reclaim Your City. Not quite swerving from the sonic pathway his name has become synonymous with over the years, ever so alien and transporting, Tolkachev’s latest boasts the very exact qualities that have made his sound stand out from others, earning him a constantly growing crowd of heirs and imitators along the way. Breaking the trip in, ‘Up The Steel Stairway’ sets the tone for the EP without further ado. Sniping hails of steadily frantic, arpeggiated synth chords and puncturing kick drums that’ll have you dancing like one rolls with the punches, Tolkachev sails into the eye of the cyclone all guns blazing. Lacking no pounding heft either, ‘The Less You Know’ slits a way open into your head through a carefully dissonant symbiosis of corrosive synth lines and octave-shifting bass gone astray. On-the-edge techno at its rowdiest, most mentally challenging. Flip the coin and here comes the deranged, trouble-brewing ‘One More To Go’. Cranking the mind-bogglingness a notch further, this one bulldozers its way past all sanity thresholds without blinking. Final number ‘The Way To The After’ tops it off in more straightforward but equally immersive fashion. Plunging us in a submerged chamber of sorts, where heavily verbed-out synth flexions entangle along tranquilly ascending pads, progressively dissolving in inert pools of FX-charged bleach and slo-dripping dub venom.
Sizzling and rattling power beats by George Lanham under his The Sixteen Steps moniker. Credit 00 takes responsibility for the remix of the Trinxat track in his own remarkable style.
Gravitational Waves presents the third chapter of the Belligerents, feat Entire City, Hannibal lll, Facemelt, Anna Funk Damage, Chris Mitchell, Moken, Meshes, Midnight Climax, Religius Order, Diana Berti and Mchy i Porosty.
Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage – alias Superskin & Uj Bala – each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.
This September Nocta Numerica will release its twentieth record. In the meantime, to mark the occasion and look back on the past six years, they released the compilation “Twenty Moons – Nocta Numerica In 20 Tracks”, 20 tracks that represent the identity of the label: 19 of them are from past Nocta Numerica releases and one is exclusively taken from Zobol’s upcoming EP.
“Slip The Pick” is a Street Electro industrial ghetto eight tracken album from the Greek producer who is based in France, Boris Barksdale. “Slip The Pick” strongly remind of the now-iconic electro of the mid-late 1980s, confused with unconventional elements, industrial textures, featuring atonal noise, distorted drums and ghetto vocals.
Les Yeux Orange provides again some free edits through their bandcamp page. Enjoy and feel free to leave a tip if you liked the edits.
What better way to celebrate 100 releases than with a handmade box containing soul expanding music!? Höga Nord Rekords have reached an important goal and releases a rare box set containing all 12” from the HNRUK-series plus a new record from Birds, unique for this box. Except Birds, this compilation includes Dark Strands, High Boys, Vox Low, Timothy J. Fairplay, Fontän, Bird Of Paradise, Mythologen, Jamie Paton and Frak. This exclusive handmade box made in Norrmalms kartongfabrik in Stockholm, is a celebration to the Scandinavian Bronze age. You’ll find rock carvings like those on the artwork scattered over the land but mostly near Gothenburg, home of Höga Nord Rekords on the Swedish west coast. Archaeological evidence proves similarities in ornaments and pictures between the Nordic and European Bronze age, just like you find common features in the music released on our label. Though the acts in this compilation box come from all over Europe and beyond, they stem from an obscured and mysterious common source of escapism, purity and creativity.
Next up on Slow Motion, Rodion and Fabrizio Mammarella are back with another collaboration EP. All tracks are recorded in Mexico City, bringing in Mexican artist Mijo as a featuring on the track ‘’Cerro Gordo’’. Moreover, italo-belgian duo Front De Cadeaux join with a remix that grabs elements from both the original tracks, reworked in one timeless piece of music.
Jerome Hill returns to the label with a solid 4 tracker to mark his fourth EP on the label. Each track offers something different, the crispy and playful minimalism of ‘Mind Goes Blank’ pairs up with the wistful crunch of ‘Knock Knock’ on the Aside, while things take a decidedly more ACID approach on the flip beginning with the big boned banger of the EP ‘Bombing With Imase’ and culminating with weaving 303 lines sets against strangled otherworldly transmissions in ‘A Million Ways To Get ill’ .
The Hipodrome Of Music 