Croatia’s Le Chocolat Noir debuts on Charlois with four cuts of embittered, EBM inspired, electronics. An EP of contrasts. Wrenching vocals are scored by brash synthlines. slicing snares, countered by a cold and bright hope. Frigid warmth from the heart of Zagreb.
TWINS is Matt Weiner who is also known for his Featureless Ghost project and of course as the head of the DKA Records label. His project TWINS is not limited to one specific style but the dominant characteristic is the synth driven sound… other influences in the mix are various styles of dance music and a healthy dose of arty post-punk. This new mini album “Rather Not” is the perfect blending of all of this, due to this it is on the one hand a classic minimal elektro record but at the same time a rather modern piece of electronic music, catchy tunes and surprising twists go hand in hand and make up for an authentic and original record.
Fifth 12″ on the 10 years series featuring tracks by Silent Servant, Varg, Nuel and Giorgio Gigli.
Prolific Dutch artist Conforce is back on his most regular label, Delsin, with a fresh new four track EP. It is the second part to his North to South series that started on the label earlier in the year. Typically deep offerings that marry driving drums with wide open spaces full of smooth and serene atmospherics. Where bubbling underwater baselines and coarse claps making the more techno leaning grooves.
German Techno veteran Savas Pascalidis makes his debut on Be As One. With “Fading Lights EP” Savas explores shades of modern Techno while retaining his trademark classic sound throughout the 4 tracks, delivering a perfect fit between the German talented producer and the label’s exciting catalogue.
Keeping up their fine schedule, the Spazio Disponibile label is back with a fifth excellent EP, this time from Modes. Modes is an artist who is making his debut here, and he is one of a few guys Spazio is creating a platform for in the coming months. Modes fits right in with the deeply subliminal, transcendental style of the label and its associated party in Rome. Opener ‘M52’ is a supple and sci-fi mix of smooth rubber kicks and Millsian melodies that are trippy and hypnotic. ‘M51’ is darker and moodier, with smeared pads and grainy ambience making for a big and shadowy chamber of end-of-days techno that is full of foreboding, and finally ‘M44’ is more forceful and brutal, with reverb and electricity static adding texture to the cavernous airwaves.
Under the surface of the sea, immersed into the deep, where light is just utopic… waiting till the end of tempest. Tensal comes back with his second EP to the Berlin based imprint ”Ownlife”. Subaquatic Saga is the confirmation of the cyclical sound, the exahustive development from one of the producers who synthesized this genre in a better way in the last years. This time, he decomposes his usual formula showing new directions of his particular vision of the future sound of techno.
For the labels second release District 66 teams up with Swedens Mattias Fridell. Fridell delivers two energetic and jacking tracks in his well known signature. The B-side features a straight up-tempo remix prom Progression UK.
The fourth LAQ is proudly made by Attic’s owner Fabrizio Lapiana. His melodic techno taste is employed into each track moving from hypnotic hard strings of the ”Cold In Summer” to the sour and acidic groove of ”Acid Smiles” (both on the first side). In the b-side Fabrizio goes into more hypnotic and obsessive sound. A sort of progressive-techno vibes served to people who never-stop dancing.
Non Series will reach its fifth anniversary and to celebrate the Spanish label will be releasing a compilation series. Tadeo successfully opens the third and closing part of the compilation with a very strong cut, followed by Eduardo De La Calle’s sophisticated sound, the mesmerising groove of the UK producer Mark Broom and at last, the haunting jams from Aiken.
Black Merlin continues to push his retro-aggressive style forward to now- his new EP ‘Control’ for Boysnoize Records. Power, discipline, CONTROL- the word itself is inseparable from the aesthetic mythos of industrial music, channeled so adeptly by Black Merlin across the 4 track release. The first two cuts, ‘Control’ and ‘Secondo,’ capture the neurotic, mechanical energy of a fantasy after-hours in a weapons factory- the kind of sci-fi meets political unrest wet dream that was Amiga-tracked through every undercut, black booted teenager’s imagination in the late 80’s. Production evoking the most dancefloor forward moments of Front 242, a sound both retro and contemporary but firmly planted in dark and aggressive EBM… Sound familiar for a BNR release these days We hope so.
Black Merlin makes his debut on Omnidisc Records, with a two tracker of hard hitting distortion.
World of Rubber 3 is compiled to make you cry, love, stomp and vomit. Rebellious heavyhitter and lovely melodic excursion provided by Japanese Wave-duo Group A, acid smash and catchy synthpopper by Interstellar Funk, basement 808 TECH-NO-SHIT by DJ Overdose and Dutch ”Pop not Pop” by Leuk & Ko. Brought to you from Den Haag on a white immaculate platter with fresh inlay design.
Matt Whitehead makes his debut on Super Rhythm Trax, giving us ‘Crosstalk’, ‘Seeing Red’ and ‘Birdland’ channeling classic Detroit and Chicago House/Techno that’s heavy on the analogue and all recorded down to tape for extra warmth.Make sure you don’t miss Matt’s Electro opus; ‘We’re Bombing’, a love letter to the 80’s Street Sounds that have influenced much of his catalogue to date. Then as a special treat for ‘A is For Acid’ lovers, we have the raw 303 workout in all it’s solo glory so you can ‘make your own’.
Over the last decade, Bantam Lions (AKA Liverpool producer Mike Carney) has devoted much of his spare time to “playful experimentation,” channeling 30 years of musical inspirations and adventures to create electronic music that sits somewhere between hazy nostalgia and far-sighted futurism. Now, he’s gathered together some of his favourite moments to create Short Stories, a debut album – and Scenery’s first long-form release – simply overflowing with page-turning musical narratives.
SAFT announces a release by the one and only funketeer and Pasadena based connoisseur of the true underground funk-music ”DaM Funk”. The trans atlantic collaboration between the Canary Islands based label and DaM FunK resulted in ”Architecture”. A 3 track limited slice of otherworldly synths, drum machines and percussive grooves that showcase the true west coast sound of modern funk.
Theo Parrish has teamed up with Rotating Assembly member Duminie DePorres and Dirt Tech Reck head Waajeed. The EP, Gentrified Love Part 2, is the first new work Parrish has released since his 2014 album American Intelligence.
Originally released on Yore in 2008 after a hiatus in Brussels. Afro, jazz, funk and house all contribute to this 4-on-the-floor 4-piece. Heavy on the chords, basslines and percussion. Classic Alton Miller with a whole lot of deepness.
The Hipodrome Of Music 