Sean Dixon, known from previous releases on Clone and Rawax, is back on his own label Final Chapter. On this colorful four track record called Generations EP, he’s joined by Sheffield´s John Shima.
Sean Dixon – Generations EP [FINALCHAPTER008]
001.Features
Recut – Disco Chicago [RECUTMUSIC004]
Relative newcomer Recut Music wasted no time generating sample heavy Chicago influenced dance tracks.
Mark Grusane – Dance Intensity [RHSTOREJAMS017]
Thirteen years after his whopping ‘Time and Space’ EP, Chicago ‘O.G.’ Mark Grusane returns to the Rush Hour imprint with his ‘Dance Intensity’ EP. Combining trademark electro, wave, synth-pop and disco elements into three modern dancefloor cuts.
Charlie – Cold Inside b/w Melodies Bring Memories EP [FLR01]
Focusing exclusively on 7″s, Ferry Lane Records launches its first release with the debut of Leona Jacewska AKA Charlie. Having garnered a following with her DJ and live performances, the record sees the Polish producer merging seamlessly Italo, synthpop and wave.
Time Modem – The Time Of The Gathering [BOY8818-12-22]
Joachim Wilhelm and Ulrich Wilhelm recorded as a variety of aliases in the early 90s, from Deep Thought and Intact through to Time Modem. Their sound was typical of the Central European vibe, with a pronounced Belgian new beat slant to the music in those dark but playful synth lines and arch film samples. Originally released on BOY in 1990, The Time Of The Gathering is everything you want from a release in this era, teasing a kind of proto trance vibe without any of the fluff, just trippy synth lines and an unrelenting, throbbing pulse. It’s all about the Highlander-sampling title track, but every tune on this much-needed reissue is gold, sounding beautifully buffed up for 21st Century mixing. This is the first re-issue after 32 years!
Morphology – Destroit [AS015]
Finnish twosome Morphology has released some incredible records over the years – mostly of the intergalactic electro time – but we’d wager few are as sonically sparkling, life-affirming or pleasingly melodious as their latest two-tracker. ‘Destroit’, the A-side cut, is simply sublime: a far-sighted, futuristic fusion of crunchy, Chicago-influenced machine drums – all snappy snares, tough kicks and fizzing cymbals arranged into a delicious post-electro rhythm – intergalactic chords and bright, breezy electronic melodies that tap into the sci-fi sounds of purist Motor City techno. The duo opts for a warmer and woozier, acid-flecked sound on flipside ‘Distance’, a classic-sounding chunk of deep ambient techno tailor-made for late nights and early mornings.
Roi – Pasture EP [FANZINE]
Roi’s newest EP is titled ‘Pasture’, a play on words combining both past & future. The project draws influence from old school Detroit techno but with a ‘modern’ & ‘futuristic’ approach applied to it. The project is filled with bouncing & groovy tunes that are ready to shake the dance-floor.
Oneness Of Juju – Bush Brothers & Space Rangers LP [STRUTLP255]
Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977. Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album ispacked with landmark Oneness tracks including ‘Be About TheFuture’ (“possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of”) the George Clinton-influenced ‘Plastic’, an acoustic alternative version of ‘African Rhythms’ and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya’s ‘West Wind’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Breezin”. Plunky continues, “The album is composed of several different sessions featuring different personnel and only first came out as an album in its own right when Black Fire MD Jimmy Gray started working with P-Vine Records in Japan during the ’90s. For me, it’s one of the hottest periods for the band.”
Minoru Fushimi – Thanatos Of Funk LP [180GRELP02]
Thanatos Of Funk is a milestone in Japan’s underground music and electro funk/early hip hop history. Entirely self-produced, designed and distributed in 1985 by Fushimi, a high-school teacher by day and music experimenter by night, Thanatos Of Funk is a love-letter to counter-culture, DIY, drum machines and synthesizers blent with some killer shamisen and guitar playing. Comes with a 4 pages insert including the original hand-written insert/comic by Minoru Fushimi, with English translations. Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi’s most wanted and impossible to find first album Thanatos Of Funk is finally reissued for the first time ever, in collaboration with Fushimi himself.
EM1V – Hidden Mutation [SOTA059]
Martin Steinebach active producer since 1994 with their different akas (Conscientia Peccati, Monoid, StillStand, Compest) presents his new project EM1V, with the album called “Hidden Mutation” a mix between e.b.m, electro and synthpop.
Venom Vampires – Luxury In Deceit [DR-037]
Venom Vampires is a dark beat band from Texas, US. Front-man Tohm Thicken started as a Darkwave DJ in 1999. The line-up also includes Russell Dove and Adrian Ortega. “Luxury In Deceit” is their debut album on Detriti Records.
Her Absence Fill the World – Neon Arabesque [DR123]
Berlin-based Post-Punk duo Her Absence Fill the World with the second release “Neon Arabesque” on Detriti Records. Her Absence Fill The World makes music that sounds simultaneously lost and chased. Inspired by their individual backgrounds in classical violin and techno, spanning Ankara to Berlin, their style blends together with a dark, melodic sound defined by a strongly reduced harmonic structure, a hovering voice, and synth leads. post-punk.com
Gamadon – Archaic Podcast 403
-=UHU=- – Ezzential Electro 004 – Kosmic Kasino [ERZZ004-36]
Known for his work on Transient Force, Gigolo, and of course as a contributor for Fundamental’s Time Capsule a.k.a. 808 Box project, -=UHU=-‘s album is a selection of his best unreleased tracks. Compiled from an old folder full of tracks that have that twenty years old spirit in each of them, that futurist funk that -=UHU=- can deliver so well. ”Ezzential Electro” is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement.
Mokotron – Ezzential Electro 003 – Tatau O Te Po [ERZZ003-36]
Electro Records welcomes Mokotron por la puerta grande to the Ezzential Electro project, who is a great example of what the project stands for. In his own words: ”Mokotron is an exploration of what it means to be an Indigenous Maori person in urban spaces, combining elements of Electro and Bass music with my Indigenous language Te Reo Maori and traditional instruments and pre-European chants.” ”Ezzential Electro” is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement.
VA – Deviate VA004 [DEV004]
The fourth release for this Brussels-based organization (Label Deviate records and Deviate parties) run by False Identity, featuring 4 cuts from Meshes, Magnus Opus, St. Theodore and Machino.
DMX Krew – Unhooked EP [UTR001]
Over the years, Ed Upton has released an insanely large volume of records as DMX Krew, though his quality level as rarely dipped below “brilliant”. While many of these EPs and albums explore his love of electro, he’s not averse to exploring sci-fi techno, jacking house and throbbing Italo-disco. ‘Unhooked’, the track that opens his first 12″ of 2022, is deliciously dark and creepy, sitting somewhere between the lo-fi techno of L.I.E.S, the acid-fired rave-era insanity of Aphex Twin and bittersweet dancefloor melancholia. Elsewhere, he peppers a crispy breakbeat with ghostly chords and bubbly lead lines on ‘Orange Cat Print’, summons the spirit of the apocalypse on doom-laden acid-electro number ‘Didgerididnt’ and delivers sturdy, mind-mangling electro thrills on ‘Dust Devil’.
/DL/MS/ – Calanhi [TRUST040]
“Every 4,044 years comet Calanhi enters the inner solar system, returning from its long and silent voyage through the Oort cloud. As it approaches perihelion, billions on Earth gaze into the night sky, transfixed by the celestial spectacle of their lifetime. While solar winds tear at the comet’s surface, deep inside the glowing ball of ice, ancient machinery springs to life…” Over the past five years Daniel Lodig and Martin Sovinz aka /DL/MS/ have been continually commuting through the electro singularity, constructing their unique brand of fragile bass music from extradimensional sound salvage, and spreading their frequency patterns via the subspace channels of Frustrated Funk, Pomelo, and TRUST. ‘Calanhi’ is the Viennese duo’s debut album – 12 tracks that combine the eternally fresh aesthetics of Detroit-style electro with a relentless curiosity for rhythmic and harmonic experimentation. Seismic club thumpers like ‘Invisible Bits’, ‘Mountains’, and ‘Trusted Funk’ alternate with moody ambient interludes, boldly constructed beat inventions, and blissfully melodic acid breaks. Two collaborations further switch up the flow: Nigerian artist G.Rizo (Hezekina Pollutina, Deejay Gigolo) drops her cryptic rhymes on ‘Divide & Conquer’, and Spanish singer Xx Isis xX provides vocals for ‘Accelerated Frequency’.
Martin Matiske – Circle of Enlightenment EP [LDI007]
Martin Matiske’s superb new six-track EP Circle Of Enlightenment on LDI Records is based around the concept of one-mindedness and togetherness. The EP aims to describe the direct connection between human beings and the universe. Martin says: “Human beings are aliens always looking for answers to questions like why are we here and what life is about? We know the answer but won’t accept it. We are made up of the elements of space and are directly connected to the universe. Each person contains the energy of the universe and is connected with everything that surrounds it. We are one! We are here because we are here! Our mission is to be!” Circle Of Enlightenment is a brilliantly adventurous and storytelling new EP from the ever-excellent Martin Matiske.
Transparent Sound – Freaks Frequency EP [TRANS009]
Orson Bramley and Martin Brown’s Transparent Sound project reaches way back to the mid 90s, and they’re still going strong rolling out the most on-point electro in the business. There’s a reason they’ve been picked up in the minimal scene as much as in purist machine funk circles, but their co-signs go back to the legendary Colin Dale, who signed Freaks Frequency to his Abstrakt Dance label back in 1998. The title track has been remixed plenty over the years, and it sounds as alien and nasty as it did when it first landed. ‘What Goes On’ is another mind-melter of dexterous synth lines and freaked out vocoder which quite frankly lays waste to the competition in the overstuffed electro scene. Diverting from the original EP, we also get a remix of ‘Freaks Frequency’ from the mighty Ectomorph and a previously unreleased cut called ‘Mistakes Happen’
The Hipodrome Of Music 