Author: hipodrome
Chino LIVE @ Ombra Festival 03.12.2023
Robot City LIVE @ Ombra Festival 03.12.2023
Teslasonic LIVE @ Ombra Festival 02.12.2023
Elmer Davy @ Ombra Festival 02.12.2023
VA – Electric Vandalism [SELF004]
Self Learning System starts 2024 with an international affair called “Electric Vandalism”. Includes tracks by Viikatory from Misk, Swedes Luke Eargoggle & F. Low, West Coast Dutchman Edo8, Olivia from Krakow, DJ Unisex and Electrodefender.
Larionov – Space Is The Place EP [EMCV014]
New Electro Music Coalition featuring 4 electro tracks written and produced by Dmitry Larionov and a collaboration with Jeremy Cottereau aka Djedjotronic.
Adult. – New Phonies EP [CWCS024]
2000 Detroit. 2023 Still Detroit… Remastered and reworked art reissue of Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller’s Adult. classic.
The Exaltics – Das Heise Experiment – The Remixes [SOM054R]
Big electro remix package featuring ADULT., Arpanet, Gesloten Cirkel and K1 on Solar One Music for the Exaltics. A nice divers package on colored vinyl with strong remix jobs by some established names. K1 aka Keith Tucker being one of the pioneers of Detroit Electro and Techno, followed by fellow Detroit artists Adult. & Arpanet, and a very solid remix by Gesloten Cirkel.
Larionov – Space Threat [CPU01111010]
Larionov debuts on Sheffield’s Central Processing Unit with the Space Threat EP. Larionov’s previous releases have shown off a musical sensibility which is both schooled in classic electro stylings and also able to reach for leftfield sonics in a way which sets the producer apart from the pack. It’s a vibe that continues into this record, a quartet of busy electro joints which are characterised by a brooding, neurotic energy.
Privacy – Mnemosyne [TRUST045]
Steeped deep in the waters of memory, Privacy dreams up visions of electro music’s past, present and future on his inaugural EP for TRUST. The revered Australian producer (of Klakson and Klasse Wrecks fame, half of Negroni Nails with Steffi) channels the energy of his genre-busting DJ sets into four tracks that straddle a set of influences as diverse as discoid techno, West Coast electro, and far fiction dubstep in deliriously asynchronous fashion.
Lake Haze – Ionosphere [THUNDER007]
Dive into the ethereal realms of electronic soundscapes with Lake Haze’s first release of the year, ‘Ionosphere’ EP. Comprising four tracks, this sonic journey begins with ‘First Contact,’ an enigmatic exploration into extraterrestrial communication. ‘Nibiru Ritual’ follows suit, blending hypnotic electro beats and acid basslines with ritualistic energy. The titular track, ‘Ionosphere,’ takes inspiration from Earth’s atmospheric layers, crafting a dynamic sonic environment into a more futuristic electro. Closing the EP is ‘No Escape,’ a high-energy finale propelling listeners through an intense sonic vortex. Get ready for an intergalactic adventure as ‘Ionosphere’ EP unfolds its mesmerizing narrative.
Dmx Krew – Whispers Of An Ancient World III [WAWIII]
Third episode of whispers of an ancient world. In these new interludes, the artist DMX Krew realizes his personal vision of the well-known story by Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel. Borges takes as a starting point to explain the universe two realities that are essential for the world of libraries: the library, as a physical space, as a continent, which also contains the greatest wealth that can be conceived as it is the compendium and sum of everything. human knowledge and understanding. But this place, this library is not a silent, uninhabited, inert space, but rather something alive, full of activity, guarded by librarians and used by all men, in turn librarians in search of giving meaning to their nature, to what that surrounds him, to the past, present and future of humanity. And here we have the other reality: librarians. Borges interprets that each man is a librarian, someone who inhabits and explores the infinite hexagons of the Library, in search of his particular interpretation of the world. Although it also establishes the figure of the librarian as custodian of books, of knowledge, as an interpreter who knows how to decipher all the mysteries that the Library contains inside, an official who has unraveled the content of the infinite Library that requires subjects who know how to keep it. and at the same time help men, all of them librarians, to find meaning in everything.
Body Habitat – Cala Lilly [LIES204]
New release from the mysterious Body Habitat project, allegedly associated with the equally elusive German Army project, this is a 15 track tape full of broken industrial rhythms and seething sonic soundscapes, unrelenting California desert music.
YE GODS – No Albion [LIES203]
YE GODS returns to L.I.E.S. with a new fill length, “No Albion”. Seven tracks of haunting ritualistic electronics, coming from the darkest realm of your psyche. Chilling ambience, voices from your nitemares, wishing to escape this world.
Fabrizio Mammarella @ HÖR 18.01.2024
VA – Optimo 25 [OPTIMO2501/OPTIMO2502]
Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost. It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary. After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed. There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is “We Love Your Ears”, which is in essence what it is all about to them.
VA – Instrumental Dubs #2 [ISLELP012]
‘Instrumental Dubs #2’ is a deep dive into the world of the Dub version and beyond. The A side has a distinct boogie feel, starting slow with a George Kerr produced cut from 1984 followed by a Brit Funk-esq instrumental from Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes originally released on the Philly World label (home to ‘Voice of Q’). The A side closes with the ‘Sweeter’ instrumental mix of Boogie bomb ‘Loving Sweet Devotion’ by Idiater Edwards. The B side opens with ‘H2S04’ from Mad Professor that defies categorisation, sitting somewhere between Electro, Disco and Dub. Last but by no means least there’s an uptempo Dub mix of Original Rockers ‘Push Push’ making its first appearance on Vinyl having only been on the CD single release first time around.
VA – Days Of Sorrow (The Remixes) [BNS014]
After passing through Ombra Festival (2022), the legendary 80’s band, Days of Sorrow, reemerged from its slumber to once again be at the head of the synth wave artists of the moment. It is for this reason and for its legendary legacy that Banshees Records has decided to give another twist to the songs of the German group with this double vinyl of remixes featuring internationally artists such as Alpha Sect, Black Merlin, Carlos GrabStein, Chris Shape, David Carretta, Israel Padilla, JG Outsider, Love The Machine, Parissior, Skelesys, Spammerheads and Synths Versus Me. “Days of Sorrow, The Remixes” is a double LP where the German band’s own sound is reinterpreted, giving it a more electronic touch, focused largely on the dance floor.
Soviet Gym – Workout [SOTA075]
A collection of electronic anthems for the SOIL, following the tradition of the Soviet Gym, composed with strong and resolute strokes and delivered with straightforward, accessible, and honest language. Unyielding storylines, free from fear or inhibitions, featuring explicit themes (bordering on the provocative), intricate developments, and satisfying progressions, designed to confront clubbing and its fringes as a captivating, sensual, and cathartic journey. Dim the lights and crank up the volume. In this gym, we are adept at navigating emotions.
The Hipodrome Of Music 