Triple 12″ retrospective compilation of Tzusing’s first three now out of print EPs on L.I.E.S. spanning 2014-2016. These were the precursor to his celebrated debut LP – they’ve now re-cut and pressed in the United States. Available in limited quantities featuring classics 4 Floors of Whores, 1976, and Face of Electric, among others. Modern “World Industrial” music for the clubs.
Greg Schappert returns to Subapical for another EP as SC-164. Best known for his Donor alias, his SC-164 project is making waves by skewing the boundaries of electro and veering into techno and industrial. For his 2nd release on Subapical the New York-based artist offers up 5 tracks of precise, gnarly electro that follows a trail through many curves and turns.
Delsin turns to this classic from 1992 EP by Random XS. Originally released by Saskia Sleger’s legendary Djax-Up Beats-label. This re-release features the original a-side – a hypnotic vocal acid anthem that has become an absolute classic of the genre – remastered and re-cut, meaning that the infamous gap in the original is no longer there. The b-side has two new remixes from Lost Trax and Delta Funktionen resulting in futuristic, electro tinged, twisted versions with crashing hits and famously busy basslines bringing real warehouse energy.
Tikita return with more of their deep and groovy techno, this time from Lapien, who is one half of Artefakt and a master of deep voodoo sounds. His ‘Brumal’ EP includes a remix from label mainstays natural/electronic.system. that completes a deep and powerful three track disc. Lapien s ‘Brumal’ kicks off with deep, swirling pads and punchy drums. It s soft and atmospheric techno with a dubby bottom end and cosmic moods that is soothing and warm. The natural/electronic.system. remix of ‘Moonset’ is simmered down into an absorbing ambient soundscape with rolling, rubbery drums deep down below. It s thoughtful mind music to get utterly lost in. Last of all, the original ‘Moonset’ is another richly layered and spacious techno groove, with gentle percussion over underlapping drums and synths smearing out in all directions. It s brilliantly expansive music for intimate dance floors.
Dan Curtin lands on Fabio Della Torre’s Tuscan label Bosconi with 2 previously unreleased gems from his 90’s DAT archive. The previously unreleased Population III which moves forward into the outer realms of space and time. The live version goes a bit more into electroid landscapes but still maintains a straight groove for electro and techno purists most playful moments. The third cut is the epic acid banger and previously unreleased Redshift, showing already at those times that Dan Curtin was defying conventions and pushing boundaries and pioneering what we can now consider modern dance music while displaying melting innovation and deeply felt emotional content at the same time.
Mathematics staple Giorgio Luceri comes with another positive emotive filled release with long time industry vocalist and musical innovator Greg Fore (Dream 2 Science) on the ”All That We See Or Seem” EP.
Tom Ruij aka Tracey’s palette of influences is wide and far-reaching, from the far-sighted futurism of Detroit and the deep space pulse of electro, to left-of-centre electronic experimentalism and the alien world of British and European IDM all of which are showcased on his Metamorphosis EP.
Jamie Paton makes music that could be described as ‘Leftfield techno’ or ‘Slowmotion house’. ‘Disk Memories’, his second release on Hoga Nord Rekords, is barren electronic music for the Brexit generation. Paton has established a dystopic electronic sound that aims straight at your frontal lobe, burns in your bones, and projects a lost Europe’s anxiety on the grey London skies. The music breathes of the cold 1980’s, a time of crisis in England’s history and a vibe to be recognize in today’s society: right-wing winds once again blows hard over the British Isles and Jamie Paton’s music catches the insecurity the wind carries with it.
Martina Lussi’s second album fuses together disparate sound sources with a disorienting quality that reflects the modern climate of dispersion and distraction. The Lucerne, Switzerland- based sound artist released her debut album ‘Selected Ambient’ on Hallow Ground in 2017, and now comes to Latency with a bold new set of themes and processes. The range of tools at her disposal spans field recordings, processed instrumentation, synthesised elements and snatches of human expression. The guitar is a recurring figure, subjected to a variety of treatments from heavy, sustained distortion to clean, pealing notes. Elsewhere the sound of sports crowds and choral singing merge, and patient beds of drones and noise melt into the sounds of industry and mechanics. The track titles manifest as a compositional game of deception complete with innuendos, empty phrases and claims – flirtations with perfume names and ironic assertions. From the volatile geopolitical climate to the changing nature of music consumption in the face of streaming and digital access, ‘Diffusion is a Force’ is a reflection on fractured times where familiar modes and models change their meaning with the ever-quickening pace of communication.
Given that the Axel Libeert-helmed Pablo’s Eye project has been running continuously since the late 1980s, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Stroom has found it hard to put out just one retrospective of the Belgian collective’s work. In fact, “Dark Matter” is the third (and final) part of a retrospective trilogy that has brilliantly shed new light on Libeert and company’s work. Experimental, atmospheric and largely creepy, the showcased material variously touches on high-minded percussion music, slowly shifting ambient, Berlin school soundscapes, neo-classical-tinged global fusion, smoky downtempo grooves, the kind of intensely paranoid fare we’d expect from Dominick Fernow, and scattergun electronic dub. More than anything, Pablo’s Eye is a temporary atmosphere, like a taste or a dream.
It’s a Swedish house thing. Börft boss Jan Zwarre Svensson a.k.a Frak returns to his early project, Villa Åbo, for six deep and rude acid rub downs. Villa Åbo is more than a band name. It is a former bank buliding in Johannishus in South East Sweden which was where Börft Records was founded and where the boss Jan Zwarre Svensson grew up. It was where the original location of Studio Styrka was and where the first important years of recordings by FRAK and Alvars Orkester was done. It was a creative volcano, and also a social meeting point for likeminded, teenage weirdos into electronic music. Villa Abo is the foundation for a lot of stuff still resonating today. FRAK has been active for a long time now releasing tons of records, Alvars Orkester is asleep but about to be awaken, and Villa Abo is the output for his addiction to deeper electronic dance stuff.
Offen Music presents ‘W.O.W’, Marco Passarani’s first solo album in 14 years. Passarani is one of the most influential artists from the Italian underground. Active since the ‘90s he was responsible for bringing rave sounds from Detroit and the UK in and out of Italy. The album puts together influences from proto-house, dystopic electronica and classic Detroit Techno, as Passarani says “I was trying to bring order to my creativity, going through the pieces of the puzzle that I’ve been lost in. Before, I could concentrate on some areas of the puzzle, while now I can see the final picture when I look at all those pieces”. Masterclass business from the Roman machine wizard – another special one for Dusseldorf’s OFFEN.
Moving on from their time holed up in a leisure resort relic, the Dutch retrogressive, analogue synth machine obsessives and tape fanatics Betonkust & Palmbomen II have teamed up together once more for a new EP. An immediate follow up to their debut LP Center Parcs, the new EP pays fictional homage to a now deceased famous TV star, who instead on working on the screen, took up a new direction in making music. Once more replete with esoteric experimentalism, analogue jams, drums machines, synths, and a healthy dose of acid basslines, the production duo advance upon their aesthetic with a new extended EP of nostalgic, melancholic electro.
Contributing to the Directors Cut series are core label members, friends, and artists who have supported VOITAX over the years. Each contributor is selected for their unique sound and bold vision. This series is not bound to any genre. The label encourages contributors to step outside the ordinary – anything goes! The first edition will feature tracks from VOITAX veterans Swarm Intelligence and Rory St. John alongside new contributors, who need little introduction, Rave Or Die boss, Umwelt and Downwards affiliates, Talker.
New-ish Hamburg talent alert.! After releasing a track on the second RTTD compilation, L.F.T. returns with a full EP featuring his idiosyncratic synth-pop-electro-dirge.
French producer Maelstrom lands on Private Persons to christen their tenth release with some hard-hitting, gnarly electro workouts.
First opus of the new series is La Batterie, by the UK’s Richard Podolor and Sandy Nelson in 1983 in the hypnotic shimmering disco of ‘Let There Be Drums.’ The music of Polodor and Nelson is being given new life by Kalahari Oyster Cult. Alongside the entrancing original are two remixes. First up is Australia via Amsterdam’s very own Max Abysmal with his ‘Spooky Remix.’ Adopting and adapting the raw energy of the ’83 version, Abysmal layers ghostly notes and spectral snares into his mechanical remake. The flip takes on a different slant with ‘Shotgun’ taken from the EP of twenty fives years ago. A super slick work of understated funk shot through with bold keys and powerful chants to show another side of the UK pair. The fiercely talented Benedikt Frey closes, turning his daringly able hand to ‘Let There Be Drums.’ He keeps the vocal line, the rest of his rework is dipped in a thick heart of darkness threat. Pulsing thumps, menacing notes and danger lurk in this jungle of Frey’s own making.
For their sixth release London based record label and clubnight Snap, Crackle & Pop return with another slice of the post punk and kraut influenced electro/techno sounds that are coming to define the label. The latest release comes from Niv Ast and it serves as a follow up to his appearance on this summers Relish compilation. The EP leads with an ice cold slab of post punk swagger in the form of Quebec / Makolet which gets the remix treatment from previous collaborators Khidja, the Romanian duo strip the percussion back for the dancefloor and tease out the track’s darker side with more than a hint of acidic malevolence. For the B-Side Disco Monroe offers a nostalgic slice of pitched down French Electro undoubtedly influence by the Djs recent residencies in Paris. Optimo Music’s Mr TC rounds off the EP with his unmistakably left field vision to give the track a dark tropical re-imagining.
Stratis is an electronic duo from Cologne, Germany, formed by Antonios Stratis and Albert Klein in 1981. They took inspiration from the progressive electronic synthscapes of Tangerine Dream & Vangelis and the proto-techno of Chris & Cosey and Yello, as well as jazz and funk. The duo recorded 5 cassette-only albums between 1982 and 1986 – Exotic, New Face, Musica da Ballo, Film Musik, and Raging Beauty – which were released on their own label Creative Tapes (later called Temporary Music), and which were also licensed to Colin Potter’s Integrated Circuit Records (ICR) label. We are pleased to announce the first ever standalone vinyl reissue of their sophomore album “New Face’, which was recorded and released in 1983. It consists of eight future-fixated tracks that could have been composed for movies like Blade Runner or Tron. A wide range of minimal electronics are presented, from robotic synth pop to melancholic cold wave to Neue Deutsche Welle electro.
The Hipodrome Of Music 