Following the warm reception afforded to their 2020 compilation album ‘Crossed Wires’, which exhumed unreleased music from the depths of an archive belonging to an unnamed producer, Light Sounds Dark presents ‘Crossed Wires II’. Responsible for clueing us up to more oddities than you can name, LSD are on their classic game here, cueing up 15 top shelf obscurities from the intersection of industrial, electro and no wave mutant disco. Another rewarding grab-bag of strange, experimental productions.
For his debut album on Dekmantel, Interstellar Funk has crafted a raw, yet simultaneously hauntingly beautiful and endlessly intricate record. Layers of blended harmonies and melodies form the basis for jettisons into leftfield experimentation, heavily processed drums and oscillating frequencies. The result is as infectious as it is pensive; a transcendental journey into a synth-laden landscape. “Into the Echo” is daringly eclectic, combining sung-spoken iterations with hypnotic samples and machinic industrial.
Operating System is a time capsule straight through Robotron’s hard-disc archives. Mission Millennium was planned to be his very first outcome as Interfunk containing productions recorded between 1999 and 2000 with a major focus on Detroit electro & technobass.
“These tracks were recorded in my Queens studio in 2019 after several live performances. Most notably the Microtones party in Ithaca, NY where I had the honor of playing the Forest City Lounge, which is the historic home of the Black Elks, a Black non-profit, fraternal order. I wanted to challenge myself with these performances by limiting the amount of effects I used as well as the amount of equipment, thus these tracks have a lot of space to breathe. These are also my most intricate tracks to date. Instead of tripping tracks out with fancy effects and modules, I instead focused on song structure, with each track telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end.”
The live set also tells an overarching story as well. The main storyline is about a fictitious satanic death cult that worships through sound (“The Frequency”). As they are preparing for their final ascent (/descent?), one of the members starts questioning everything (“Heaven and Hell”). It is seen by the group as a “Regression” and the cult is not happy about it (“I’ll Beat Your Ass / Til The Day That We Die”). The member is confronted and asked “Who Is your God?”
Umwelt and Serge Geyzel are teaming up to chase the moon, taking you out for a dance till way past noon. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to get Electro- and Acidified.
Boris Bunnik/Versalife here with a new album from his Hexagon alias. Information Paradox is a fine dark and timeless IDM/Electro sounding album into Science Fiction territory.
Sci-Fi leaning library music on this new album from Modula on Tartelet. Tapping into the seductive unease of the unexplained, Modula lands on Tartelet Archives with “Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition”, a nine-track album that evokes alien synth- electro and New Age soundscapes. During a trip to Iceland in February 2020, Naples native Filippo Colonna Romano (Modula) experienced the raw power of the island’s otherworldly natural forces. Inspired by his field recordings and a rekindled interest in sci-fi, Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition was born. Steeped in haunting LA synthesis and cinematic tension, the album is an imagined soundtrack to a supernatural thriller, cast in the icy tones of the Roland JD-800.
Collaborations is a new series curated by Artefakt on their own imprint De Stijl. Inviting friends and likeminded artists for extended studio improvisations crafting an EP based on live sessions. First guest is Claudio PRC, a close friend and familiar face in the deep techno scene. Both artists reside in Berlin and share a dedicated passion for atmospheric and immersive ambient and techno. Collaborations I features four jams combining the unmistakable strengths of both artists, resulting in a well varied pack of emotive techno with room for experiment.
Dasha Rush resurfaces on Sonic Groove with her fourth EP for the label. The Russian born, Berlin based producer drops four fierce tracks decidedly for dancefloor use and abuse. Starting with some enticing meticulous and exciting EBM flavored hard beats “El Kinky” seems poised to be a summer Berlin classic, with Dasha’s haunting vox riding the groove. “Psycho Runner” simply said, is an olympic, punishing piece of acid TB303 techno that will be one of the darkest things recorded this year. Her B-sides take it a little deeper, with the hypnotic, industrial and marching in-your-face flavored sounds on “Gallic Message” and finally ‘Darkness Digital” which presents an , EBM- esque groove, with wild broken hard beats patterned underneath another ear- worm sequence.
It’s not every day we see a new release from John Beltran’s alias Indio. With releases previously only on Transmat and Rhytmic Tech some 10 and 20 years ago, Detroit Dancer presents his new EP called Phoenix. Phoenix is a full on Detroit dance floor belter with warm strings and comes with strong remixes from E.R.P. and Stryke.
Through darkness diamonds spread their richest light. Part four of Diamonds In The Night is here with Zakmina from Lithuania, Elfenberg from Sweden and Some Chemistry and Pete Beluga & Du Chatinier from Amsterdam, The Netherlands!
The North of England is known for its musical prowess. Middlesbrough born Rees taps into that musical history while diving deep into lost disco, obscure wave and even the Middle East for his debut for Bordello. Three Eyes is a melting pot. Setting sail on bold beats and rumbling synthlines, Rees steers the listener through cascading chords, shimmering key shifts and serenading sirens to produce a truly unique dancefloor experience.
A Leftfield journey of rockin’ sleezy disco edits. It feels like something weird and sinister is going to happen from the moment you drop the needle and keeps that energy throughout.
Gazing at the stars is looking at the past. The galaxies send you messages from thousands of light years away. That overwhelming feeling is present on Free Andromeda by Timothy J. Fairplay. An album grounded on earth while floating through eternity with a loose connection to the Milky way. This nine-track record is, as always with TJF a delicately balanced mix between dark and light, analogue and digital, vast space and tight basements. With an impressing collection of premium synthesizers and drum machines, TJF showcases some of the most exquisite electronically generated soundscapes heard on this side of 1984. His sound on Free Andromeda can be described as leftfield inspired by various John Carpenter- and Italian horror movie soundtracks together with some West German Kosmische Musik.
Basic and straight forward approach on old school House spread out between four tracks, all with a familiar pallett of traditional Rolandesque sounds. When the acid lurks the tracks presents themselfs at its best. Produced by NBI aka Nasty Boy Italy aka Nicola Penna.
Best known for their participation in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, Belgian synth pop band Pas De Deux present their complete collection. These songs were made in 1982 and 1983, including the cult hits ‘Cardiocleptomanie’, ‘Mani Meme’ and various versions of ‘Rendez-Vous’. These songs were never together on one album. Some of them were only released as a single or on some special compilations made in Spain and Germany after their much discussed participation to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in 1983.
Swiss label Proxima presents the reissue of italo-disco classic ”Love Me Too / The Dream” by Italian circus performer, singer and tv presenter Ambra Orfei. Originally released in 1986 on a 7inch, those two tracks are brought back to life for the first time on a 12inch record.
