After a short break the London White, vinyl only, VA project returns. P.E.A.R.L ,Gareth Wild , Ben Gibson and Z.I.P.P.O. Tracks included have recently been tried and tested on dance floors in Berlin, London, Singapore and Australia with excellent crowd reaction all the way.
The Southern Italian now in Berlin comes some more fine selections for dark, late night warehouse parties on Alex.Do’s Dystopian imprint. Shady noisescapes and sublime melancholia.
Its been zehn years, ninety-two 12”; EPs, twenty albums, fourteen DJ mixes, seven Unterton releases, two compilations, one 7 single and one cassette. Within this time, Ostgut Ton has grown as a label not only in terms of catalogue numbers and musical variety, but also in terms of experience, professionality and as a musical haven for Berghains and Panorama Bars residents.
L.I.E.S. XMAS special number 4, coming with one track from Swere (AKA Florian Kupfer & NGLY) and two Marcos Cabral tracks.
Jose Rico launches the Le Disque Record Stores project: Ambiwa Records, a label dedicated to abstract House music. ”Declaration of Intent EP” is a collection of songs with a history, 4 pieces of his life talking about hypocrisy referred to poverty; the trivialisation of music as money source; the days in the studio with Ron Trent; and the night music-workers. Beyond any related stories, here you can find all the Jose Rico’s music standards: Impossible MPC percussion patterns, black keys, vocal textures, distorted kicks and tons of suspense and tension.
Anaxander, contributes two beautiful pieces and has one of them reworked by Amir Alexander. Lost My Soul (in Yours) is twisted little number, with dual synth riffs echoing off each other for maximum effect. A Question About You uses jazzy chords and flutes over its undeniable bassline to retain some soulful flavoring, but Amir strips all of that away on his interpretation, preffering instead to let the acid and the warehouse vibes have their way, taking things right into a 6am rave nightmare.
Red Laser conductor general Il Bosco once again turns his beam on 8 tracks of mind melding italo. Providing a double vinyl release of tracks that have been inspirational to Red Laser Records and the labels releases. This isn’t by any means your run of the mill italo selection. Il Bosco knowingly selects a set that shows the true girth of style and fashion in the genre. Face grillers are ramped up next to sleazy pop sensibilities. Goth-synth disco frottages with 8-bit machine gun bass lines. Chugger masterpieces salivate on crystalline new romantics. As the compiler says ‘Truth is loads of Italo is shite but when its good it’s up there with the best electronic disco music you will ever hear’ Check this album and you’ll agree. For maximum disco potential several Red Laser protagonists have suitably revamped and edited some of the selections with Kid Machine & Il Bosco uniting in the cut, Flemming Dalum sprinkling his magic dust over a bonafide classic & Parisian Romain Bezzina repairing an old banger. As always Red Laser pay close attention to detail with all tracks carefully restored & remastered whilst the vinyl comes in full colour heavy card inners with two riso print poster sleeves & a gatefold pvc cover.
One of the rarest gems of the italo disco genre starting the ‘La Discoteca’ sub label. Here we find disco, R&B, italo, and electro all inside one track. Everything is based on synths and bass lines with a stunning sexy female vocal from JO JO. Reissued thanks to the Help of Massimo Monti and ”Il Messia” Claudio Pisani D.J.
Work consisting of a version of the original track, released in Le Galassie di Seyfert, (recorded in 2011 for Synth Alien Live @ Elektro Sikness 3), a new track ”My Universe” and a brilliant remix of the original track signed by my Brother and the legendary Alek Stark.
As Benedikt Rugar’s superbly illustrated cover art for the recent CockTail D’Amore compilation Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing proved, the Berlin collective proudly celebrate their status as a forum for Berlin’s gay community to fully express themselves. With no releases on the label since that compilation arrived in January, Discodromo and DJ Boris have now unveiled a sister operation with a focus on edits under the wonderful name CockRing D’Amore. The debut release features contributions from label regular Massimiliano Pagliara, the unheralded Trent and founders Discodromo.
With the birth of this new Dublin based record label, Lime Street Music, we have the first debut EP from Marvis Dee the more house leaning alias of mysterious producer Jeremiah R. Marvis offers up six varied analogue house jams from the spacey sounds on Dreams of Another Planet through to the acidic vibes of Jungle Trip and Subconscious then rounded up with the reflective moods of Tapedeck Adventure, Cancun Seventies and Weeks.
There’s something particularly admirable about Lobster Theremin’s often-stated desire to eschew tried-and-tested producers in favour of newcomers and lesser-known studio buffs. Here, they offer a label debut to William ‘Royer’ Thurman. He escorts us on a trip into the deep depths of his musical imagination, where drifting chords, barely audible vocal samples and dusty melodic motifs rub shoulders with crackling drum machine grooves and blazed, locked-in rhythms. There’s much to enjoy throughout, from the horizontal textures and rolling grooves of “Facts”, to the minor key techno wonkiness of “Collectively”. TRP remixes that track, delivering a heavier, more raw sounding interpretation.
The return of the Windy City’s Ike Release to the tougher than solid Episodes label. Mr.Ike Velez makes his appearance heard quickly and loudly from the first bass drum of “Apollo3”, an all-out dancefloor winner with a distinctive US edge, sci-fi sonics and gorgeous hardware tweaks. “Guzzle” is more soulful and chord-heavy, while “Socialite” takes a dusty drum programme and chucks it over a deep house vibe, and title track “Watercolours” wins the beauty show thanks to its pounding beat and majestic waves of synths.
Stump Valley returns to Rush Hour’s ‘No Label’ offshoot with more attractive, ear-pleasing fare. There’s a slightly more sun-kissed feel to Magica Movida, with opener “Oceans Refuse No River” coming on like a dusty and tactile nu-disco take on the dreamy, new age influenced Mood Hut sound. There’s plenty more to enjoy across the EP, with the dawn-over-the-Adriatic feel of “Sunshine Hotel” standing out.
Wicked 3 part in the series… slightly dark EBM-tingled techno by Caltrop, Vault, Frak & Heinrich Dressel.
Nijmegen electro imprint Shipwrec shows us how its done yet again, with Roel Dijcks aka Ekman keeping the Dutch west coast spirit alive with 4 dramatic and haunting acid voodoo tracks certain to draw a new generation to the beauty of the dark side.. “Autapse” begins proceedings in haunting fashion; spooky church organs provide the backdrop for an epic, soaring acid lead while “Uncertainty Principle” is sub-aquatic, Drexciyan electro for freaks. On the flip is the title track; keeping on like before but with a four to the floor beat for added dancefloor dynamics. Finally “Antinomy” delves into deeper terrain; its razor sharp and morphing synth line leading you further into the darkness of the abyss.
DMX Krew makes his debut on the quality Last Known Trajectory. “RAM Expansion” is a heady electro tune with a sunken load of synths at its disposal, while ‘Experiment 5″ is classic DMX – mad modular-like patterns surrounded by menacing drums. You also got the weird and wonderful bleeps of “Quantum Computer” on the A-side, whereas the flip kicks off with a fiery techno punch in “Division By “Zero”, heads to more AFX territories via “Rubout”, and ends on high-tec electro stroll of “Bad Vibes”. This is no nonsense dance music at its finest.
Creme Organization label off shoot Jericho One serves the second release, this time from NOFACE. This is a moniker of Mella Dee. Here he offers three new pieces that show a passion for high energy, lo-fi tracks with inventive grooves. ‘Saturate’ is littered with old school signifiers but is essential a brutal, high power techno banger with immovable kick drums, slithering percussive patterns and fiery vocal ad libs that imbue the track with a sense of afro-futurism. ‘Polar’ is a similarly physical track with massive, monstrous kicks, reverberating synth lines and a barreling sense of groove that washes over you like a braking wave. Finally, ‘Warrior Charge’ is another physical and functional cut with robust drums, oversized hi hats and woodpecker like hook that demands you stomp and head bang from start to finish.
Africa Seven Records presents volume two of their Africa Airways compilation, featuring 9 pure african funk tracks.
Continue reading “VA – Africa Airways Two: Funk Departures 1973-1982 [ASVN010]”
The Hipodrome Of Music 