By the late 1960s, drummer Roy Porter had already worked with some of jazz’s true greats (Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie included), spent time in prison and weened himself off heavy drugs. It was at this point that he founded Roy Porter Sound Machine, a heavyweight jazz-funk combo with a penchant for raw rhythm and blues. The band’s 1971 debut LP, Jessica, is one of the most magnificent sets in his vast discography. Featuring sweaty, floor-ready rhythms from Porter, beefy bass, wild electric piano licks, fuzzy guitars and some fine brass arrangements, the album is as good a collection of jazz-funk/funk fusion tracks as you’re ever likely to hear.
A new 6-track mini album from a musician with a long list of credits including South African trumpet legend Hugh Masekela, afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen and Ethiopian jazz originator Mulatu Astatke as well as many Brit-jazz and other international roots artists. “It’s Time” blends Afro-jazz groove, free improv, spoken poetry and other-worldly atmosphere, with lyrics and titles hinting at unorthodox takes on reality and the times we live in.
Italo Moderni brings Modernation Vol. 3 it’s third digital compilation. “We have edits from the likes of Marcello Giordani. Hysteric, Les Yeux Orange , Flemming Dalum, Adrian Marth etc. All tracks have been carefully edited without overdubs, in order to bring the spirit of classic disco to today’s dancefloors! in this bad situation we will adapt the edits to Name your price so everyone can buy music for free in this difficult times.”
Finally available again as a 12 “maxi single! From the legendary film music of John Carpenter’s box office hit “Assault On Precinct 13” from 1976, including the “John Anthony Scratch Mix” and the “Remix” of The End.
Credit 00 returns to Pinkman with his trademark odd-beat electro chants. While each track tells a different story, what persists throughout the EP is the streetpunk attitude and nonconformity of the king of rats. His ‘Protest Love Songs’ bows to no shiny idol, and sweeping the ashes of utopia tames the apocalypse with no fear.
Party starting Berlin trio ItaloJohson have only ever aimed to serve up music to jack the floor. Their own self-titled outlet for this weaponry is now up to a 14th instalment and still it sounds fresh and inventive. These are three more robust tracks with ‘track 2’ particularly getting us going – the bleeping synth riffs, glitchy hi hats and vast, booming kicks are pure basement dynamite. The same can be said of the rock slid ‘Track 3’ which also has some slippery acid lines weaving in and out of the rugged drums. This is form and functioning coming together in perfect harmony.
British Electro veteran Bass Junkie returns for his second vinyl outing on Bass Agenda Recordings, this time with a full-length album. As his last release, ”Low Frequency Fugitive” indicated, he has been working hard on developing his trademark sound and taking things forward; no mean feat for someone who has been ahead of his time since he began releasing Electro in the mid-nineties. He has succeeded though and everything he is loved and respected for is here, plus some advanced structures and elements – Bass Junkie evolved – a true Sub Sonic Survivor.
The fourth transmission from the Altered States label, which is a Furthur Electronix off shoot label dealing in limited hand stamped pressings. This one is coming from Boris Bunnik featuring two of his production aliases Hexagon & Versalife.
Vertical67 aka Thomas Pahl joins eudemonia with his EP ‘The Early Hours’. During the past years the versatile producer and co-owner of Vortex Tracks has released a great amount of records on well-respected labels like 100% Silk, Lunar Disko Records and Mechatronica. On this record he again shows his talent to produce versatile and masterly crafted tracks which can be played either in the early hours of a clubnight or during an extended home listening session.
Dalmata Daniel presents the new album by Dutch West Coast mid-veteran Roberto Auser. Auser (born Derk Reneman) has been into cinematic (or b-videomatic) electro for more than a decade now, with releases on Viewlexx, Pinkman, Gooiland Electro/Enfant Terrible and more, ranging from atmospheric and hypnotic to tight and grim, but always loaded with a vision of a storyteller. In a Dutch way, for sure. Though “Second Sun” is, again, an audiovisual trip, that’s not the primary concept here – it’s probably the purest album-like experience of Robert Auser so far, presenting most of his characteristics and sounds, and also new elements, still, all are coherent and organic parts of Reneman’s projective language of electronics.
TPPM and AtB aka Mr fLooDs are turning on the research machine taking the listener on a extraordinary tripped out ecstatic journey through timespace where spirits of Liaisons Dangereuses Radio and the legendary Boccaccio are summoned with inspiration in order to find a New Beat Soul for the 21st Century. What was born and initially exploded in 1987, went supernova (in Belgium) in 1988, declared dead in 1989, was slow and initially all about atmosphere with industrial strength beats – the main form of rhythmic propulsion being the pounding kick and heavy snare. The sound was mainly instrumental and when there was lyrical content, it often became more about slogans and giving commands. On „Decadent Skies“ An Anomaly bring back the atmosphere, beats, the essence off the beaten commercial track, and combine it with the knowledge of tomorrow.
Inspired from Romanian cultural heritage, be it film, dance or musical instruments, Folclor Abstract is a glance back to the roots in search of a meaningful future. The first track is inspired from the soundtrack composed by Cornelia Tăutu for the Romanian historical adventure film “Buzduganul cu trei peceți” (1977). The film presents a politicized version of the events that led in 1600 to the unification of the three Romanian countries, in the aftermath of a victorious battle against the Ottoman invasion (Călugăreni, 1595). Dance your way through as the story unfolds. Dans cu balans is the result of a personal fascination for the cimbalom, an instrument of high versatility, frequently used in the Romanian fiddle music. In contrast to orchestral performances, which adhere to the composer’s notes to reproduce a work faithfully, fiddling is also open to improvisation and tends to produce rhythms that focus on dancing, with associated quick note changes. Searching for inspiration within Romanian folklore, I found Ivan Braga who was on his own pursuit of cultural heritage, experimenting with a variety of traditional instruments and rhythms from different regions of the country. Doba lu’ Braga is Ivan’s modern take on Romanian drum patterns performed on a traditional Moldavian drum (dobă) with an uplifting twist and arrangement for the dancefloor experience. Reverie is an expression of the creator’s state of mind. Lost in thought, stolen by imagination, haunted by memories, liberated by dreams
Cardinal & Nun returns to L.I.E.S. now with his debut LP, 8 songs of full on rotten stripped back, fuzzed out, synth punk mayhem. Straight to the head beautifully thrashing anthems, Cardinal & Nun goes in with catchy basslines, dissonant guitar chop ups, and vocals that creep from the shadows throughout the affair. Don’t gas out though, there are some somber cuts on the b-side’s ”Whats Goin On Tonite?”, ”Pandemonium” and ”Day After Day”. A true gem in the French scene, now get in the pit and slamjack.
MOM017 is here. It is the first non-electronic release on Modern Obscure Music and it comes from Catalan Pop-Rock band Univers. The EP contains two unreleased tracks from their former LP session and three strong electronic remixes on the B Side. The first comes from the Portugese native based in The Hague, Lake Haze, the second comes from MOM label boss Pedro Vian and the final remix is by the mysterious M.T. Formula.
There’s a mystical place in the heart of Rotterdam, oddly tucked in between the corporate buildings. Bright light boards and red velvet carpets, it’s a small cinema that still breaths its old-school grandeur. That’s where the Cinerama Adventures project was born, lead by its staff supervisor DJ Overdose. The result are two tracks that go from modern flavored freestyle to sleazy darkroom experiments, both accompanied by the instrumental versions.
The Moscow’s dancefloor burners are back with the new single “Tanzare ”. Offering again their usual modular sonic artillery and their lovely blend of electro, dark techno and body music with 2 new tracks that are insured/guaranteed floor-fillers.
E-MAN was the first project of Norwegian musician Geir Jenssen (electronics, well-known from being in Bel Canto and especially Biosphere) with guest vocalists Ragnar “Spiss” Larsen and Frank Jensen, and Per Martinsen on additional electronics. They only released one cassette on Likvider in 1984 (LIKV 4025) with tracks recorded in 1983/84.
Berlin studio nut CV Vision washes ashore, surfing on sine waves with his second offering of 2021 and the fifth Patience release, “Elemente”. Following on from his recently released debut LP Tropical (South Of North), CV Vision takes his library chops, psych rock skills and analogue artillery and spreads them over two quarter hour sides, to brain melting effect. “Elemente” soars from cosmic to kosmiche. A dizzying homage to the natural world, the two pieces pay tribute to those animals that glide (Gleiten) and those that float (Treiben). The A side Gleiten tears off on a gnarly, loping odyssey, embarking from the sand to faraway lands, stopping in at Beppe Loda’s Typhoon, Conny Plank’s studio, Bob Chance’s garage via the Transfer Station Blue. The B side Treiben is a more sublime animal, steadily cruising at 20,000 leagues, traversing a mostly calm sea of bubbling arpeggiated synthesis before beaching somewhere on the Med in the late 70s. CV Vision is Dennis Schulze, a DIY boffin originally from Bayreuth who enjoys tinkering with electronics and cold water plunges. He has several more projects on the way in 2021. Patience is an outlet for exploring further beyond the break than usual. Inspired by the music perpetually on rotation at HQ – with E2-E4 representing the format’s high tide mark – each release will be one artist’s deep dive down one inspirational wormhole spread across two sides of vinyl, or two side-long sojourns making full use of a round 12” piece of plastic.
The Hipodrome Of Music 