Bergen is the next, and natural step in the expanding career of Dutch producer Tom Trago. The acclaimed producer behind Voyage Direct will release his fourth LP, with the label and crew he’s built a close relationship with over the past ten years – Dekmantel. With a new studio and approach to music, Bergen is Trago sounding at his very finest, returning to his roots with a focussed, and dedicated production ethos.
Here is Another’s second release, a 3 tracks EP from Chicago’s iconic house producer Rick Wade, who has reinvented himself in the recent years. This is quite obvious on this record which oscillates between old school and modernity, especially with the track Be The One on B2, a futuristic deep house anthem.
The second offering from the Fruit Merchant label is the official re-issue of Earth Boys – Destination Heaven. The highly sort after musical collaborative of Roy Davis Jr & Jay Juniel.
Midnight Tenderness serves up a dreamy first solo offering with a fire-cracker of a four-tracker for Sydney’s Ken Oath Records. As heard on the title track and the emotive nu-jazz of “Terme” (reminiscent of early Atjazz) rounding up the A side. On the flip, we have the slo-mo, neon-lit boogie down jam that is “Hydra” brining this fine EP to a close.
Continually innovative French artist The Hacker has linked with Australia Jensen Interceptor to release on the latter’s new label, International Chrome. The three tracks fuse serene electro and rugged EBM, sleek Kraftwerk rhythms and synths, and plenty of futuristic and cinematic Drexcyian influences into truly cinematic soundscapes.
Privacy returns to Klasse Wrecks after a 3 year hiatus and the wait has most certainly been worth the while. Four original tracks make up the ‘New Product’ EP, with the artist exploring new styles and tempos. Ranging from electro-speed to stomp-wave, each track is a masterclass in the style of Privacy’s ever expanding body of work.
Killer stuf on Klasse Wrecks Sub label Zodiac! Frozen Russian plains rich with moondust and cybo-fog lie still, a faint rumble is heard from behind the horizon and Buttechno checks his Pulsemeter 5000, deciding to head on whilst he still can. Sonic lighting strikes the dead earth, leaving echoes that reverberate for miles around as digital feedback waves sore through the airless landscape. Buttechno steadies his exxo-bike, firing the back up atomic engine before taking a deep breath and heading into the lost and forgotten city. ZCAPRI is the seventh of 12 releases from Z O D I A C 4 4.
Robert Johnson resident Chinaski makes his Omnidisc debut with 4 power cuts on the Polyester Series sub-label. Including a remix by Shokh.
Arising from the outskirts of Brussel is Noord Halle, a young and promising source of hard to beat fast paced electro tracks. Jefre EP might be his debut, but the support is steady already with the B side delivering two truly unique remixes by BAKK regulars Antenna and Haron.
A project 18 months in the making, Marcel Fengler presents a IMF10, a three part compilation series detailing the past, present and future of his label Index Marcel Fengler. Each volume consists of six tracks and encapsulates a different tone. Part one explores deeper and more hypnotic territory, as the legendary Alva Noto makes his debut for IMF re-working the Fengler classic ‘Sphinx’ into a spaced-out industrial beast. DIN, the collaborative project between Fengler and Efdemin reaps an atmosphere-heavy new production titled ‘Akustikkoppler’. Scuba also contributes courtesy of his SCB project, crafting a tripped-out interpretation of Somewhen’s ‘Dain’ from IMF05. Elsewhere close friends Matrixxman (in collaboration with rising producer Riccardo Limiti) and Lucy, also join the project crafting powerful and timeless originals. Always with an eye on the future, Fengler drafts in emerging Slovenian talent Blaukoma, who impresses with the pulsing, tension-packed ‘Iris Pattern’.
The original minimal techno master wastes no time with ‘Clocks’. There’s a sense of urgency as the track builds, looping into its crescendo with waves of staccato hi-hats. Tick tock, tick tock. Over on the flip side there’s a familiarity in the opening chords of ‘Low Life’ that will resonate with fans of Hood’s work. Instantly recognisable, it’s stamped with his ability to bring funk and groove to the colder stomp of techno. Final opus, ‘Go’ brings a spiralling samba tempo to the dancefloor. The punchy drumbeat is interwoven with sweeping cymbals for a highly effective infectiousness, like a call to arms, or better still, the Brazilian call to carnival.
Stojche with some uplifting, classy, mid 1990s Detroit school trained Techno EP for A.r.t.less.
Wata Igarashi with his second release on The Bunker New York. Igarashi is a lifelong musician and a professional sound designer by trade. Through decades of experience composing music he has developed a sophisticated and nuanced approach to production that allows him to evoke powerful moods and emotions. In recent years he has been applying his production skills to great effect, developing a distinctive brand of psychedelic techno.
After leaving his noise-soaked techno signature on Details Sound with the uncompromising ‘Informations’ 12”, A Hand is returning to the label with a healthy dose of enigmatically crafted sounds, made to stick in your head and body intensely. On ‘Breakline’, a hunting dark bassline is backed by relentless drum patterns cut with machine gun precision. ‘For A Better End’ takes off into a swirling atmosphere propelled by anti-gravity beats. ‘Slow Injection’ expands further into dense and obscure realms of electrified experiments. The wandering ‘Your Lost Dreams’ carries us to a breathtaking conclusion filled with abstract suspension.
Raw Ambassador steps in again for Mannequin Records series ”Death Of The Machines ” with a veritable feast of 80`s industrial and primitive EBM bangers. Four trax of Mutant Industrial music designed for spreading disease and bringing disorder in every dance floor around the globe.
The new shtum comes from Planet Underground, a veteran Dresden resident who already contributed to the fact that the city was called “Little Detroit from the East” back then in the middle of the nineties. Since then, he has constantly been producing stripped to the bones tracks mainly for his own Elektrokuehlung label in his legendary place of retreat in Dresden-Striesen. Recorded between 1996 and 2010, the four tracks oscillate between raw Acid, classic Basement House and artful distortion. Bouncing and scrappy stuff at the same time. “Elektromat” was previously released on an obscure Dresden techno compilation and it took a while to find the master tape in the dust of the past.
2018 is going to see the bond between Khidja & Malka Tuti strengthen, with the Romanian duo bringing forward their eclectic, cross-genre approach to electronic music. ‘Plot’ and ‘Am I Really Here’ are two dance-floor bangers, not hiding behind fashions and hype, the duo is pushing forward on both tracks, each with its own idea and story to tell.
The third release on So Low is a 5-track EP from Ian Hicks, formerly one half of Soft Metals. Ian also appeared on our “Now & Then” compilation EP. Here he commands his own release and sets the synths to stun with 5 tracks of analogue waves ranging from the XTC bliss out of “Character Collapse” and “Depths Of Psyche” to the shockwave klang of “Chemical Environments” and “Specter”, perhaps leaving the very best to last with the ultimate hypno, sex slug groove of “Continuous”. Subliminal vocals. Wrecked drum boxes. Synths spiralling.
Hunee presents a collection of his favorite dance floor cuts from the 70ties till modern times. Going from afro to disco to techno, ”Hunchin’ All Night” holds a wide spectrum of songs, tracks by the wonderful Boncana Maïga, Pat Thomas, Black Beat Niks, Kenny Larkin, Larry Heard, Mappa Mundi and many more. Hunee, aka Hun Choi, is a Korean Berliner who has been drawn in music since a very young age. After working in record stores and studying musicology he resided in Amsterdam, where he released his debut album Hunch Music. As a DJ he has always followed ‘a hunch’, which gave him wings to communicate the music he loves with crowds all over the world. With Hunchin’ All Night, Hunee expresses his relationship with the dance floor.
The Colorful World of Arp Frique is the exotic and super funky debut album of Niels Nieuborg. After his surprising, very well received debut release on Rush Hour, Arp Frique continues collaborating with Orlando Julius, Ed Motta, Americo Brito, Ronald Snijders and more. On this surprise debut album, he continues the same approach, delivering a scintillating set of tracks that gleefully join the dots between Afro-disco, jazz-funk, boogie, Caribbean reggae-disco, bossa-soul and the kind of up-tempo, synth-laden madness that defies easy categorization. Throughout, the presence of live drums, vocals and instrumentation gives the album a loose and fluid feel, as if what we’re listening to is not a fresh album, but rather a long lost African rarity from the turn of the ’80s.
