Super Rhythm Trax welcomes back Cardopusher for his second appearance on the label. This EP showcases a range of styles including his trademark jackin’ acid trax but also widens the net to include the New York Freestyle of ‘Never Fade Away’ and the Nu Groove-esque ‘Mental Jobs’ .
To celebrate New Flesh Records 20th release to date, French veteran DJ Umwelt returns to his own label with a new LP. Built like the soundtrack of a dystopian movie where main characters evolve in a hopeless future, Sci-Fi ‘Abandon In Place’ delivers no less than height cinematic masterpieces half-way between electro and ambient registers. From the menacing sirens of opener ‘Void Of Nothingness’ to the melancholic synths of closing ‘Galactic Wreck’, passing through the Blade Runnerish vision of ‘Celestial Matter’, this soulful album depicts nothing but the extinction of mankind in a ending world. Besides its terrific message, ‘Abandon In Place’ showcases the unlimited talent and incredible versatility of Umwelt, a mighty producer able to split from the most cutting edge music on New Flesh Records to a more radical, straight to the dancefloor approach on Rave Or Die. A gloomy journey through apocalyptic tones, slow yet deep basslines, industrial touches, cold and un- compromising emotions. Umwelt’s most forward thinking opus to date sum up in once sentence: “By the end of the day, all is dust”.
Lowlandish transmissions from the land of a thousand lakes. It’s been 18 months since Samuel Van Dijk last donned the VC-118 alias. Back then, he was releasing sophomore album Shift Register on Tabernacle. Here, he resurfaces on Frustrated Funk with a five-track EP that tends towards the introspective and melancholy. Of course, there are still notable dancefloor moments – see the locked-in analogue house beats, dubbed-out electronics and held-note bass of “Permutation” and the mid-tempo electro swing of “Verdictia” – but for the most part the EP is a laidback and poignant affair. It’s a side of Van Dijk that we don’t see that often, but one that he really should explore more. Certainly, the ghostly “Enter” and sorrowful “Sequence” are among the most memorable tracks in his already impressive catalogue.
Klasse co-boss Mr. Ho steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the park with a new EP of brand new and original material. Inspired by listening to various library music and funk records found whilst digging in Asia, the Hong Kong based artist lays down three tracks of boogie-disco and funk inspired House music. Funky walking basslines, eerie 1980’s synthetics and spacey snares make for a total tip.
The new release on Les Disques De La Mort is coming from DJ Oil aka Lionel Corsini. ‘Telephunk’ is nothing else than a monster breakbeat funk. If ‘Paresseis’ its twin dark sister, locking electro in its black music roots whilst remaining strangely ‘European’, then ‘Fall’ is its downer baggy brother.
Phase Fatale (Hayden Payne) and Silent Servant (Juan Mendez) started their collaboration in 2016 performing together live at several Jealous God showcases across Europe, such as Berlin Atonal, and then working together on Payne’s Redeemer Extended Mix 12′ from his album on Hospital Productions last year. The Confess EP on BITE is a studio documentation of those aforementioned live performances and harnesses the cathartic energy of the stage into a physical medium.
Over the last decade the work of Cosmin Nicolae has been a cresting force of forward thinking electronic music. His TRG alias formed the inaugurate release on the peerless Hessle Audio. In essence he forms an important part of the story of the cross pollination of UK bass’ music with techno and his hard work and craft has seen him maintain his fixture as a sought after talent, both producing and as a DJ. One element which always amplified his work beyond that of many other peers is Cosmin’s dedication to crafting interesting sound from scratch, a process which precedes his production and has it roots in home-brewed experimentation with instruments, electro-acoustic process and improvisation. With this debut release under his actual name, Opal Tapes has provided a space for Cosmin to have free reign to display another, looser and more experimental side of his repertoire. In many ways, an impossible album to classify, it feels as if it’s creating itself a points. The ideas therein are the genesis of so many fully functional’ songs but hearing them like this brings us so much closer to someone else’s mind and fingertips.
Vakulism – here’s Vakula in the continuation of his metaphorical ideas embodied in a new alter ego and unifying combination of different genres which makes Vakula as always unique.
Camelot Arcade is the new triple LP from Ceephax Acid Crew on WeMe Records. 13 tracks of Camelot goodness with all the feeling and melodies we’ve come to expect from Ceephax and his collection of classic electronic hardware. The tracks range from the easy listening sound of Phraxby to the baroque dancefloor pump of Camelot Escalator, to the trap-esque cyber feel of Yodecahedron and the Detroit moodiness of The Green Night. Creon Happy and Trusthouse Forte have an upbeat classical feel (backed up of course by Ceephax’s favourite Roland drum machines.) While Path to the None and Shadowphax Part I&II are more dark in spirit. A lot of the tracks such as Life Started Tomorrow and The Great Greatsby were born randomly of quick jams with live keyboard playing and the album has an organic feel to it which a lot of the more formulaic electronic music lacks. All in all Camelot Arcade is a wonderful breath of fresh air and is sure to go down in history as one of Ceephax’s best.
For the first release on SAFTX , Lerosa hands out a taster of the labels new series ambitions. Vivrant house music is most definitely the back bone of Playa De La Guancha as a whole. The opening is packed with a strapping rhythm section and a vocal cut that is reminiscent of the Trax Records classic House Nation. Julius Steinhoff (of Smallpeople fame) gives Soul Tracing a modern sounding treatment that completely shifts the feel of the original and turns it into an adventurous piece of contemporary electronics.
Simoncino returns to UTTU with 4 synth led electronix cuts – super deep introspective techno & house.
LA’s Private Selection imprint returns, this time to shed light for the first time on a producer from Argentina who goes under the guise of ‘Crash ID’. All 6 tracks are primed for the dance floor, touching on a kind of ritualistic, electro industrial body music that feels right at home with the labels current catalogue and event series.
This release is a collaboration between Needs label and the nonprofit UN Women in support of #HeForShe arts week; a solidarity campaign which explores the power of the creative arts as a means to shatter stereotypes and allow all genders to reach their full potential. Featuring the beautiful sonic soundscapes of the super talented Peggy Gou and Juju & Jordash, the release is housed in fully printed sleeves with bespoke cover artwork courtesy of The Line Girl.
The remix EP for Deep88. Luis CL gives the deserved treatment to “Harmony”, doing a mellow balearic deep house trip. RNR transforms the collaboration between Deep88 and Robert Owens into a massive floor killer, with the perfect match of soul and electronic. Rhythm 2 Soul takes back the old “La Beija” and adds a 92ish Italian classic flavour with a version perfect for after hours. MHCrew brings “Rotation” to the next level adding lysergic synths and dreamy melody in an early Nugroove classic vibe. Jimini instead with his elegance and pureness add a mellow melancholic vibe to The Vibe.
EDO8 and Wavemechanic are coming together as BinarySystem01 to bring you this slice of analogue electro. This 4-tracker consists of chopped up grooves blended with deep melodies and basslines reminiscing of old school electro era. Wavemechanic’s skills on the Moog and E8’s attention to detail carefully crafted this varied ep that will work in many different situations.
Two miscreants of UK electronics have been drafted in by Shipwrec for a 12″ of techno debauchery. Richard Bevan and Joshu Doherty, aka Posthuman, have been addicted to acid from their first contact with the caustic and cruel chords of the TB303. Since then the two cousins have gone on to curate 10 years of I Love Acid as well as doling out some toxic classics of their own. The duo deliver the soured goods once again, starting the audio anarchy with the ominously titled “Netflix and Kill”. Drum patterns are gnarled and nasty in this slow burning jacker where basslines boil over into a thick syrup of late night revelry. The flip is taken over by the bullying sounds of “The Damocles Syndicate.” The track rumbles with venomous menace. Coils of 303 spite bulge and contract under the strict resolve of a stern beat in this ready made floor filler.
Amsterdam figures Jasper Wolff & Maarten Mittendorff step up onto Delsin with a four track debut EP which includes a remix from the legendary Sterac. Jasper Wolff & Maarten Mittendorff are long time players on the Amsterdam scene as residents at De School, esteemed label bosses at Indigo Aera, and as producers with a richly atmospheric dub techno sound. Steve Rachmad aka Sterac joined the studio for the mix down of all tracks, and also provided a dub version of Tesseract. It completes a package of deep and artful techno that is laced with beautiful ambience.
For the first time Iron Curtis enters the ring over the full EP length for Uncanny Valley. There hasn’t been much of a discussion whether or not this is something for Uncanny Valley when Iron Curtis approached the four label heads with this new pile of dance floor material. These tunes are too good. Iron Curtis must have been particularly inspired by the muse while producing these four outstanding House tracks. You’ll feel a comprehensive knowledge about Dance music’s history when listening. No doubt, the Franconian who is now based in Berlin has spent a good time of analysing House music’s techniques. “Sweet Romancer” is the best example for his studio eloquence. Modulated synths, a classic bass line and a whole batch of drum ideas are combined into a wonderful track. The interplay between subtlety and vitality characterizes “Nixdorf Danse”. Plus, you won’t forget those strings. On “Triroom” he proves that he has a knack for melodies as well. Finally, “Take Me Home” should provide a lot of emotional moments on the dance floor with its dramatic piano and crescendo-like synth line.
The full range of frequencies have been lovingly captured and set for eternity into nice and solid, hand pressed plastic before being bound in gorgeously minimal white paper ”inners”. Adding individual nuance to each and every record, is a stylised image of the visionary York philanthropist, Joseph Rowntree. Details of which tracks are which are lovingly incorporated into this image using a black ink to stand against Mr Rowntree’s brilliance. The hand screened label, uses the latest in dual pizza/kitchen table printing technology™ with a tried and tested lounge floor drying system to ensure any moisture is gone before the vinyl is shipped, so that transport weight can be kept to a minimum and savings passed on to you.
