Petar Dundov is back with a new 2-tracker on Music Man. Deep melodic techno, from the past to the future and back again onto today’s dance floors.
Author: hipodrome
Regen – Spring Toy / Lindberg / Shudder [HKR007]
“Spring Toy” is an elegant A-side crafted with classic house influences in mind. Meandering casually before beginning its ascent into deepspace territory, Detroit styled synth lines and intricate melodies hang above a funky undertone which hooks from the off. Continuing its cosmic trajectory, the EP’s B-sides set their coordinates into dub techno regions. “Lindberg”s quirky astral synths and futuristic soundscape trigger a dream-like state…think sci-fi beams and interplanetary navigation and you’re half way there. “Shudder” is a more up-tempo sonic excursion, propelled by its galloping techno rhythms. The ebb and flow of trippy pads and crystalline waves play to the senses.
Transilvanian Galaxi – You Have Always Been The Caretaker [ACIDO010]
Atmospheric House/Techni from Transilvanian Galaxi. “You Have Always Been The Caretaker” on the A-side is over 9 minutes of subterrainian atmospheres and mournful strings, one for the instrospective moments in the early hours. On the flip “Sequence 2” and “God DR-55” head even futher away from the dancefloor (though in the right heads they’d sound fantasic, especially on a big system) and towards the contemplative and esoteric.
Silent Servant – Negative Fascination LP [HOS357]
Silent Servant (aka Juan Mendez), a member of the now-defunct minimal/dub techno collective Sandwell District, makes his stunning album debut with the poised fusion of epic techno, primitive post punk, and industrial electronics on Hospital Productions. Now nine months since he stopped recording with Sandwell District, Mendez has explored his divergent yet compatible tastes to their fullest, recognising and reconciling their congruent rhythms, atmospheres and intentions with alchemical ability. If you’re familiar with his previous trajectories you’ll no doubt be seriously impressed with his balance and contrast of time-honoured elements, from the bellicose sci-fi romance of ‘Process (Introduction)’ to the full flight techno escapism of ‘Utopian Disaster (End)’, and if you’re new to his sound – whether you’re a noise freak wondering what the f*ck Hospital Productions are doing releasing a techno album, or a techno head who’s baffled by the raspy drums – you should be quickly realising that this stuff is the way forward. From the wave-scanning intro he spins a bleakly noirish narrative, slowly building tension with ‘Invocation Of Lust”s acid hypnosis and the stoic deployment of drones and agitated drum machine slaves on ‘Moral Divide (Endless)’ that resolves with gritted techno determination on ‘The Strange Attractor’. Yet perhaps our favourite moment is ‘Temptation & Desire’, sounding like the converged darkroom visions of Front 242 and Stephen Morris, but if any cut shocks us the most, it’s ‘A Path Eternal’, revealing SS at his most unreservedly sublime and vulnerable without his usual, armour-plated chassis of beats. It all surely adds up to one of the most impressive examples of modern industrial techno you’ll hear this year, one which doesn’t merely pay deference to its roots, but nourishes and augments them with the kind of vision that imparts the strong feeling that he’s really been biding his time, ’til now…
“Negative Fascination” is a 7-track affair said to couple Basic Channel vibes with post-punk and shadowy industrial cues.
Max_M & Obtane – 8 Years Down [MRECLTD013]
This new EP on M_Rec Ltd., which sees label owner Max_M collaborate with Zooloft co-owner Obtane, certainly fits the musical profile people have come to associate with Italian underground productions. ’28 August 1972′ is a tribute to hard edged sounds and the loops of archetypical techno: eight minutes of pure darkness, a perfect techno tool. On the flip side, ’3 June 1980′ is pure techno hypnosis. A journey wrapped around a simple and obsessive bell sound, where an ever-changing drumscape slowly welcomes a crepuscular melody set to reveal an unexpected maximal dancefloor gem.
Psyk – Distane EP [MOTE031]
The legendary Mote Evolver is back with another ferocious slab of UK techno. Manuel Años aka Psyk gives a blow to the head as soon as the needle touches down on title track, “Distane”. Repetitive keys swing back and forth with mighty force; followed by “Isolate”, another triumphant techno bomb filled with muffled static and a feverishly hissed percussion. For the B Side, Psyk takes us further down the bouncing rabbit hole on “Rdmn”, and completes his rave injection with “Main”, an almighty, stripped number worthy only of a gigantic dark room filled with bass bins.
Yuka / Stanislav Tolkachev – Little Chemistry [FULLPANDA019]
A new Full Panda release has landed. This collaboration between Yuka and Stanislav Tolkachev starts off with “Element X”, a perplexing frenzy of melting bass lines and squawking melodies which mould to create a strange journey into outer space. “Chlorum” gives the impression of a chemical substance both in name and in tone, where filtered, tinny sounds are moved forwards by a hefty bass drum. There’s no mercy over on the flip, with “Self-Renewal” and its militant use of reverbs, delays and growls; but things turn truly bizarre on “Hexapoda”, another medley of phantasmal melodies and disjointed beats. Impeccable arrangements from this otherworldly label.
CUB – C U 2 [CUB002]
Dusting off his CUB alias for his first solo release since last year’s In A Syrian Tongue on Blackest Ever Black, Karl O’Connor returns with a typically relentless pair of techno missives. Leading with 2010’s “C U 1”, O’Connor utilises dry, stripped back syncopation with a tribal menace and tumultuous industrial abrasion to create one of his typically simple but heavy hitting productions. On the flip, he provides a “Funk Mix” of the previously unreleased “C U 2” which is credited to O’ Connor’s Ugandan Speed Trials alias, maintaining the same sense of rhythmic power, but going more explicitly heavy on the abstract outburst of raw analogue voltage. This probably goes without saying, but this is a must for anyone who is even remotely serious about techno.
Martyn interview
Peter Van Hoesen – XLR8R Podcast 263
Inigo Kennedy – Token Podcast 2012
Tevo Howard live @ Boiler Room, Stattbad Wedding (Berlin) 29.08.2012
Gerd @ Panorama Bar (Berlin) 02.09.2012
Paul du Lac – The Sweat Electric: Bio Rhythm Podcast #01
D’Marc Cantu – Sequencias Embrace Chapter 4
Recorded live using: Samples (808,505), ER-1, Poly 800, FX, MicroKorg, and several Horror movies playing through fx pedal running through a mixer to the ER-1 as additional samples.
Mike Servito – BIS Radio Show #641
Marcellus Pittman – Pieces [UNICD001]
The long overdue 10 track debut album from Marcellus Pittman on his own label Unirhythm. Includes some tracks that were vinyl only previously, as well as about 5 new tracks, including a Jamie 326 edit. Pittman is one of Detroit’s hidden gems of production. A talent with an unmistakeable sound that is undeniably his own.
MarcMan – In Trecere EP [BCR026]
Romanian new talent MarcMan is now set to join the Bass Culture family as he presents his debut release for the label the “In Trecere” ep. MarcMan’s 4 tracker sees him sandwiching the deep dubby sounds of Rutina and the percussive guitar licked Dansand, with the Chicagoesque numbers Levier and In Trecere.
Portable – A Process [PLAYRJC021]
Alan Abrahams is capable of evoking the spirits of traditional deep house songs without getting lost in nostalgia, manufacturing boring carbon copies or a longing for a past that never was. The first release for Live at Robert Johnson is all that: haunting, melancholic yet optimistic, as deep as it is driving and most of all mesmerising. “A Process” features all his great sound signature moves, comes with an acappella for brave DJs and a serious Flutramental on top of it all for the faint at heart.
NCW – Pharoah And The Goose [APT003]
NCW returns to the fold for Apartment’s 4th release. Pharoah And The Goose is a tale of 2 sides; 10 minute-plus tranced out jazz and techno explorations meeting somewhere in deepest space, most likely a little lost. Go forth and discover…
