More fresh new talent from The Hague (Baz Reznik) vs more fresh new talent from Hamburg (F#X in cooperation with Helena Hauff), acid house ghetto tech jam retardedness vs heavy-pounding and brain-crushing acidic darkcore techno insanity.
Author: hipodrome
Erol Alkan – Illumination Remixes Pt.1 [PH032RMX1]
If you’ve been amongst the sweaty throngs worshipping at the altar of Alkan of a Friday or Saturday night over the past few months, you will no doubt have heard Erol laying down the oddball house stylings of “Balls Of Steel” by Beau Wanzer. So it’s little surprise to see the Nation and LIES artist one of the names called on to rework tracks from Alkan’s overdue debut EP Illumination. It’s even less of a surprise that Wanzer’s ‘adjustment’ of “Bang!” stands out, removing all the sharp edges and turning it into an effective techno bludgeoning tool that will shake sweaty basements apart. Don’t sleep on the A Side either however, as U’s version of “Check Out Your Mind” is even more twisted than the chopped up original.
Steve Cook – Tusk Wax Thirteen [TW013]
Be it Tusk Wax, Horn Wax or Porn Wax, the collective of labels continues to develop into one you willingly place your trust in safe in the knowledge the standard of music will be optimum regardless of genre or contributor. Tusk Wax Thirteen sees the label debut of Clouded Vision co-founder Steve Cook who is perhaps the lesser celebrated producer than his Clouded Vision cohort and part time hair model Matt Walsh. However the four tracks here demonstrate perfectly Cook’s capacity to craft thick, analogue house music of various shades and tempos yet all primed for the dancefloor. “Self Control” and “Still Hardcore” are the sort of languid, spacious acid cuts Weatherall would open a set with, whilst “Juno How I Feel” is wonderfully ascendant in its execution. The effervescent “Hacid” is the B Side most selectors will pull for, with a restrained acid line that complements the heavenly chords to a tee.
Rokolectiv Festival 2014 (Bucharest) 24-27.04.2014
Sigha B2B Shifted @ Boiler Room (Berlin) 12.03.2014
Edit Select – Phlox [PRGLP006]
Scottish producer Tony Scott graces Prologue for the first time with a debut album under the Edit Select guise – now as established a name as his old Percy X work was. The Munich label is cultivating quite the reputation for techno album projects, with excellent longplayers from Mike Parker, Echologist, Dino Sabatini and of course Voices From The Lake in recent times and we can add Phlox to that pile. The Scotsman’s collection of mesmerising and sometimes big-room techno productions is a perfect match for the Prologue aesthetic, pitched perfectly between moments of emotional ambience and “hypnotic monsters for the dance floor”. Look out for a new rendition of “Bauer”, which appeared on the Berghain 03 Mix CD and the Dino Sabatini collaboration “Survivors Of The Pulse”.
Garnier – AF 4302 EP [50W034]
You have to admire Laurent Garnier’s continued desire to push boundaries and confound critics. His plan to devote 2014 to releasing five EPs on five different labels, whilst mixing up the styles, is undoubtedly bold. This three-tracker for the ever-intriguing 50Weapons imprint is particularly impressive. “MILF” bristles with stuttering analogue rhythms, foreboding chords and attractive bleep melodies, coming on like an unlikely jam session between Sweet Exorcist and Orbital. “DSK” sees the French veteran moving further towards his techno roots, while “He” sounds like an homage to darkwave with techno overtones and more than a hint of stripped-back early Chicago acid.
VA – Super MT [SUPPLY008]
The first Supply showcase: four label-newcomers range with veteran authority from deep house to driving techno. The opener is a grooving house burner: an infectious loop and low-slung drums build triumphantly. Anders Hellberg drops in some acid, with a strident 909 beat stalking an open, melodic soundscape. Kicking off the flip, label co-owner JB teams up with Bostonian Paul Morse in an icy, tantalizing variation of elastic, swinging deep-house; before Stojche’s Outward opens up an ending, its pounding beat laced with bitter-sweet Detroit strings.
Skudge – Skudge Remixes Part 7 [SKUDGE007R]
Lewis Fautzi – The Gare Album [SOMALP107]
Soma welcome the debut album from the ever-growing roster of youthful talent as Lewis Fautzi drops The Gare Album, named in homage to The Gare Club, Porto, where Lewis made his discovery of Techno. A bold 4 track single debut gave rise to the album process midway through 2013 and under the careful supervision of Soma, Lewis has provided a definitive peak in his sound cultivated on the back of years of studio work. A collection of deep, dark and twisted techno awaits.A definite maturity in production shines through on this fantastic LP from Fautzi as he creates a cold and calculating output, clearly focused on the future. The Gare Album has allowed Fautzi to express himself fully through electronic music, a task that he has taken to whole-heartedly.The Gare Album will be released on limited double LP.
Echoplex – The Soft Reaction [IMF002]
Index Marcel Fengler continues with its second installment, introducing an expertly produced EP from respected long-running artist Echoplex. Since 2000 Echoplex, the Polish born Peter Sliwinski, has released truly pioneering, atmospheric and soulful techno, appearing on his own Soleil label, or Synewave amongst many others. This triumphant return to the limelight comes in the form of three stand out tracks.
Charlton – An End To good Manners [KRL007]
Appearances from Charlton Ravenberg are few and far between, with just seven releases since 2006 including a few shared spots alongside the likes of Regis and Djorvin Clain. This turn for ever-growing Argentinean techno imprint Krill Music showcases a sturdy approach to the techno blueprint, keeping things dynamic and fluid while making sure it smacks where it ought to. “Beyond Misery” is something of a smoke screen with its housey groove and minimal bleep demeanor, but “The Aggression Scale” soon puts paid to this with abrasive acidic swirls of atonal melody and a mean-tempered rhythmic thud. “Know Yourself” takes things deeper with some intricate percussive detail in a cyclical arrangement, while “If They Don’t Realize” lets the drum machines fit and start around a dubbier kind of techno throwdown.
Yan Cook – Essential Wave EP [SILENTSTEPS008]
Yan Cook has started a close collaboration with Silent Steps 2 years ago since he released his first full lenght album.
For this new EP, Yan made new synthesis and sampling experimentations and went even further in his own music development. Mixing raw fat kicks and basslines with exciting rythmics and mind blowing synth loops, every track is unique and brings its own energy but a similar color of sound hook up the whole package. Yan’s EP features a quality remix from the well known and highly respected artist, Mike Parker, which is the perfect reflection of his very own hypnotic and linear Techno, obviously recognizable.
Francesco Clemente & Heinrich Dressel – Il Faro [MR026]
Francesco Clemente and Heinrich Dressel cross the sea of sounds where everything is permitted. The outcome is an album that’s rich in fascinations, and divided in two parts: in the first one the Canadian composer plays some suspended and gentle sounds, while in the second one Dressel brings the listener to an eternal struggle between darkness and light, comfort and despair.
The Midnight Episode – The Midnight Episode [OMLP008]
Over the course of its intermittent output, Gunnar Wendel’s Ominira label has cultivated a reputation as a platform for intriguing cross format output that sits in the fuzzy nether regions between house and techno, complementing the Leipzig-based producer’s own work as Kassem Mosse. Typically for the label, Ominira’s first full length album release comes right out of left field with a long player from The Midnight Episode. With just a handful of prior releases to their name, there’s definitely an element of mystery and intrigue to the project from Nicola Cunningham and Karl ‘Kaneda’ Skagius, with the self titled eleven track set fully living up to its billing as a “selection of dark and glittering late night tunes drawing on the legacy of British horror”. Fans of Demdike Stare’s Tryptych series will definitely enjoy this.
Anom Vitruv – Nihil [TABR025]
Anom Vitruv continues to go against the tide with his second Mini LP on Tabernacle Records. It’s been almost two years since anonymous producer Anom Vitruv first appeared on Tabernacle, with a self-titled debut 12″ that effortlessly joined the dots between a myriad of crusty, hardware-heavy house and techno styles. This second outing for the label – like the first, a kind of mini-album of untitled tracks – continues in a similar vein, variously exploring bleep-heavy dream techno (“Track 1”), distorted experimental textures (“Track 6”), intoxicating Arabic techno (“Track 5”), spooky but melodic futurism (“Track 4”) and distorted post-electro (the standout “Track 3”, which sees cascading, 8-bit melodies riding a hissing wave of fuzzy drum machine percussion).
Stellar OM Source – Heartlands Suite [ZORN012]
Christelle Gualdi’s second vinyl release as Stellar Om Source from 2011. The LP compiles little masterpieces from the same time period when her acclaimed “Trilogy Tapes” collection was released. With influences ranging from new age to experimental electronic music Christelle creates a wonderful and carefully layered album.
VA – Obliged To Space [FLR008]
Flight Recorderl – home to modern interpretations of other European genres of dance music – Italo, New Beat, and EBM, in conjunction with Radio Oscillations, brings together a collection of music by those producers inspired by these ‘krautrock’ pioneers of the early to mid 1970s on Obliged to Space – a heartfelt and beautifully written love letter to those cosmic sounds of the 1970s. Tracks from Rude 66, Phantom Love, Antoni Maiovvi, Alessandro Parisi, Ian Martin and others.
