Jeff Mills continues the Every Dog Has Its Day series under his Millsart moniker with his second edition of 2020. Vol. 6 is a double LP set with nine tracks. Every track has a story behind. This collection of Electronic Music by Jeff Mills is uniquely crafted to ease restlessness, soothe impatience and at the same time build high life expectations while opening the passages to a better understanding of what you are searching for.
If Galaxy Lane’s first EP didn’t send the portals of time and space upside down, then the second EP will throw you down a vortex of hypnotic grooves juxtaposed with eerily erratic rhythms built in outer space. The first of two EP’s to be trusted in the hands of Lone Romantic, ‘Night’ and ‘Later That Night’ will explore the concept of capturing moments in time. Side 2 sets off on an exploration of wild eyed boundary flexing in the shape of ‘Enter The Light’. Pushing the machines to near breaking point whilst just hanging on, it’s a track that shows what can be done when the spaceship is left to drive itself, you can do nothing more than go with it and and see what happens. ‘Snow Day’ is perhaps the perfect way to round us back in. A more calmer, smoother ride, it’s unmistakable polyrhythms soothing the soul and setting us up for the next chapter…
If Galaxy Lane’s first EP didn’t send the portals of time and space upside down, then the second EP will throw you down a vortex of hypnotic grooves juxtaposed with eerily erratic rhythms built in outer space. The first of two EP’s to be trusted in the hands of Lone Romantic, ‘Night’ and ‘Later That Night’ will explore the concept of capturing moments in time. ‘The Night’ will propel the listener into ethereal textures layered over rough and raw beats, as outlined on opening track ‘Deep Space Nine’. If that sets you up for thinking this will be a dreamy ride, ‘Communication’ hits hard at the rear of the spaceship, coming at you with intergalactic bleeps, zaps and back cracking rhythms made for getting down.
The fourth volume of Kraftjerkz’s quintessential compilation series Machine Funk is Our Game is a master class in unapologetic electro. This cohesive comp offers a range of material, from minimal, expressive electro to hard-hitting cuts ideal for peak time floors. “Volume 4″ showcases a vibrant range of artists both fresh and seasoned, including the prolific Serotonin Records labelhead BPMF and Brooklyn-based, Miami-raised Alonzo, who consistently brings his roots and the soul of electro to the foreground. From the sultry, deep, melancholic electro of AFQ and Martial Canterel to the raw, slapping cuts of BPMF, Alonzo and Succisa, this comp delivers on multiple fronts. If you’re a fan of body-oriented machine funk, this one’s a no-brainer.”
Four tracks of jacking outsider electro have escaped Lok44’s petri dish and make up ’44problems’, the artist’s fourth EP for TRUST. Known for his inventive style ever since his sought-after 2003 debut ‘Ghetto Of The Mind’, Lok44 continues to defy conventions – from infectiously twitching opener ‘Spandex’, across acid-tinged electric funk bangers ‘Volta’ and ‘Dexta’, to the contemplative bass manoeuvres of ‘She’s In’.
Strings of Fear is a glance into a damaged, yet ubiquitous beauty fetishism, when succumbing to the collective consciousness means walking a thin line between vanity, sanity and self-loathing. The four-tracker ties into a journey through fear, confusion, anger, desire and loathing, all fitted into one shot of adrenaline in a form of an EP.
Delsin’s Mantis series expands its remit with the arrival of Italian duo natural/electronic.system. Already well-established as connoisseurs of deep techno via releases on Tikita and years of DJing at places like Labyrinth festival, Antonio Giova and Valerio Gomez de Ayala present four luxurious sound baths that occupy a space between techno and ambient – always propulsive and rhythmical, but with a huge emphasis on space and harmony.
Nuron, the seminal and elusive producer in the realm of melodic and emotive techno, is back! Almost 25 years after his output on Likemind Records, Nuron finally re-appears on the Belgian De:tuned label with long-awaited new work that sounds every bit unique and fresh as back in the day. “La Source” opens with Nuron’s take on lush Detroit fused techno, a masterclass of mixing belly-fluttering synth arrangements with outstanding drum programming. Turn the record over for two exclusive Nuron remixes of As One (Kirk Degiorgio) tracks from the recent “Communion” album on De:tuned, resembling Artificial Intelligence vibes of the highest order.
‘Objet Melodie’ is a combination of real instruments, synthesizers, drum machines and samples, involving genres from different countries of the world. It’s like being on a surreal oasis, where music is eclectic but also meditative or just for a dance. Interconnecting with the whole planet, imagining or living in different countries and trying to relate with diverse cultures and experimentation. Lorenzo-Giulio Morresi combined real instruments like Roland TR-707, Roland JUNO-60, a Gibson Memphis guitar, marimbas and steel drums with percussions samples taken from his personal record collection. The other musicians involved are Stefano Ubaldini who plays the intro in ‘Rituel’ with an amazing hand-made guitar called ‘Slitar’, inspired from an Indian Sitar made with a broken metal window he picked up in a London backyard. Fabio Mina is playing flutes on several tracks, like the Hulusi from China and the Nose Flute from Hawaiian islands. Giuseppe Diamanti plays tenor sax outros. ‘Objet melodie’ is inspired by sounds, technologies and traditions from planet earth, with the hope of staying interconnected as much as we can.
Joao Pais Filipe (drums) and Burnt Friedman (electronics) ultimately hypnotize their audience by activating cosmic mechanics. Both refer to it as ‘automatic music’, yet their focus is on playing and exploring rare rhythmic modes; in Friedman’s terms: ”We organize pressure mediation according to mother nature.” Friedman & Pais left behind the consensus–artificial–paradise of cultural musical idioms, developing an immersive, archaic next level–dance music, deeply rooted in natural laws of motion. Yet informed by the works of Jaki Liebezeit – one of the most influential drummers of all time – Friedman & Pais pursue a different path. On side two the listener is confronted with two more recent, unreleased ”Secret Rhythms”– contributions.
On this 12″ (the first of 4 surrounding The Revenge of Soft Rocks remix album) we’re treated with a serious disco belted version of Talking Jungle as reworked by Justin Vandervolgen and an insanely serene take on Obo by ESP favorite Tiago.
The debut full length album from the enigma himself. Outer space elektro phonk from the mind of an escaped MK-Ultra patient. Dedicated to Erik Travis, who approved the usage of his samples in “Liquid Programming” and “My Mind”.
Berlin’s infamous rave outlet Warning returns with the third edition of their 7” vinyl series. Another mini mega pack loaded with two quality tunes by friends of the project. Two young producers on the top of their game provide state of the art electro with a laid back attitude.
The Advent (Cisco Ferreira) delivers his first full-length Electro album in 17 years. Released on Sync 24’s burgeoning Cultivated Electronics label, ‘Life Cycles’ finds the past meeting the future. Because, to get a truer feel for this new long-player, we should head back even further to a 1995 classic – The Advent’s debut album, ‘Elements Of Life’. In fact, fans will recognise a nod to the original artwork of that seminal release, as ‘Life Cycles’ takes us full circle, containing unreleased Electro gems from the ’90s, available for the first time. “I have been making electro music for nearly 3 decades now and excited to see that it is in demand with this new wave of talented producers out there. ‘Life Cycles’ is an album where I explore my older past and connect with the future, 2020 and this new electro generation,” says Cisco.
FM Label reconnects genres and builds new bridges between music, fashion and design. Established in 2019 by Milan Fatrla, the label enters Prague’s flourishing scene with a vision of music, in which the new revisits the old. A vision where strongly-rooted love for hip-hop merges with passion for everything electronic and danceable, to offer records where these two genres meet and intertwine. With its modular attitude, FM Label plays with norms of record sleeve design and fashion. In its first phase the label will put out three trilogies, each trilogy in a different package developed with local designers and artists. The first release sees an exciting mix of German’s Rat Life Records head honcho Credit 00, and LA’s Eight-Oh-Motherfucking-Eight don Egyptian Lover. Credit 00 is known to be inspired by American 80s Ghetto music, so this mix of artists is not so distant as one might think – see it as a study and application of this strain of music in two different parts of the world. Super Scratch 12″ is held in a special cardboard sleeve which can be reshaped into a vinyl display holder.
The Hipodrome Of Music 