This one is yet another debut single by a Belgian project called Querelle. Querelle is one half of :Codes and one half of Jeunesse Fantome. Two dark synth-pop bangers with super vocals reminding you of the Jenuess Fantome & :Codes classics.
001.Features
Legowelt – Institute Of The Overmind [UTTUFACT]
The Dutch artist releases music at a rate of knots – there’s been at least nine albums under the Legowelt name alone now, and he has over 30 different aliases, all of which interact in weird, wonderful ways. His music has appeared on labels as Creme, Clone and Bunker bringing that original Dutch West Coast Flavour. Here Institute Of The Overmind, which was made live in a session filmed for FACT TV,gets the vinyl treatment backed with a monster 90s trance re-work from Photonz.
Fred P – Rawax Aira Series Vol.3 [AIRA003]
Fred P aka Black Jazz Consortium’s musical set phrase isn’t following new trends. Fred is often simply melting shuffling percussions with elementary melodies. but he does it in a sense that the heavy used and abused phrase ”deepness” finally gets a fresh truthfully new meaning.
Paul Deepnlow Moore – From Alpha To Gemini [12R014]
A gentleman from the UK with roots in classic house and deep house. Superb 1990s Detroit school leaning Retro-House EP.
VA – Knives Replace Air Vol.1 [COMMONTHREAD005]
For the fifth installment in the Common Thread series we are launching our series of Various Artists EPs called *Knives Replace Air*. For the first effort in this series we have the likes of Chinaski, MangulicaFM, 33.10.3402 and Gitchell Moore cooking up stuff. Expect an odd mixture of genres all sharing a common thread in terms of feel. Maybe not the most dancefloor friendly record but definitely some kind of miniature soundtrack in its own right.
VA – Legacy [SFRLP001]
Great techno/electro compilation on Science Fiction Recordings featuring Spoiled Drama, Chris Mitchell, Dj Nephil, Hinode, Moonknight, Jaymond, Arcarsenal, Rawmance, Jared Wilson & Dj Richard.
LA-4A – Triad [DELFT011]
An Ultimate DJ – An Ultimate DJ? [PRR002]
A fusion between Maoupa Mazzocchetti, DJ Coquelin and PD Cloarec.Dark, guttural, noxious analogue filth and noise experiments here loosely held together with some kind of nod to the dancefloor.
Kobosil – 91 [OTON091]
Berlin’s Kobosil made his debut on the Ostgut Ton off-shoot, Unterton, back in 2013 and the 12″ was received with mighty praise both within our headquarters, and from the techno community as a whole. He has now earned a spot on Ostgut’s main catalogue with the 91 EP – surely named after his year of birth. On the A-side, “Avernian” grumbles and punches its way through heavy kick drums and a sea of distortion, but “Athtar” ditches the beats and heads down the inevitable ambient-drone wormhole. Flip onto the B-side and you’ll find the alien-like sounds of “Konvergent”, alongside the more straight-laced slice-and-dice techno of “Per”.
John Heckle – Trema EP [MATH086]
John Heckle is back on Mathematics with this 4 track EP. Bringing back some serious textures and sequence in sonic mentalism. “It’s a Chicago thang don’t be confused or afraid.”
Mystic Bill – U Wont C Me [STX013]
Proper oldskool jacking house tracks by Mistic Bill on Snuff Trax, including a remix by Jake Reif.
Steve Poindexter presents Kareem Smith – N B Battle Track [S3004]
Co produced by Steve Poindexter this EP presented Kareem Smith to the world. All superb deep cuts here from 1991 full of soul and attitude. Re-released in conjunction with Trax 2015.
Laurent X – Machines [TX163]
Made by Mark Imperial & Vinnie Devine as Laurent X, ‘Machines’ was conceived in a 16 track studio with an unquestionable Roland TB-303, but also a TR-808, TR-909, a Juno 106, some FX and a bucket of rib tips. According to Mark Imperial, he and his friends (specially Vinnie Devine) had a mad fun playing with gear.
Bryce Hackford – Behind [MEA017]
Artist, producer and DJ Bryce Hackford presents the nine-track album Behind, his second full length since 2013’s Fair, and his first for Meakusma. Behind is an expansive collection for Hackford, who draws from experimental, process-oriented composition techniques to create sensorially engaging dance music. An ethos of presence, enrichment and dissociation pervades Behind – by stripping away the constructed-ness of so much dance music, Hackford allows himself to produce music that is as much a joy to create as it is to share. An ambassador of “ecstatic states” as he calls them, Hackford’s music suggests heightened temporal zones may be ubiquitous if you allow them to be. Behind is a proposition of such ecstatic states, its music pulsing vitally at opposite ends of the BPM spectrum. Distinctly unmotivated by polemic dialogues around dance music, Behind seeks a more soluble musical space for unmitigated engagement. It is music inspired by transitions, no less vital before sunset as it is after the curtain call.
Silent Harbour – Hinterland [DSCLP001]
Once again the dutchman from the north Boris Bunnik (who actually resides in Rotterdam now, but that aside) is showcasing his magic fingers, this time on Shipwrec’s deep techno offshoot Deep Sound Channel. ‘Hinterland’ is a topnotch ice-cold but heartwarming submarine electro/techno album with distant hints of IDM, in other words the perfect soundtrack for the long midwinter nights to come.
Recondite – Placid [ATLP006]
Recondite aka Lorenz Brunner is back, this time partaking in some wild experiments with acid, on behalf of California’s Acid Test imprint. Beginning with the ultra-deep and reductionist “Compel” which is reminiscent of early Plastikman, he then launches into the funky R&B tempo of “Pass Up” and the sombre and emotional tones of “Undulate” which gets the first four to the floor beat going. Life & Death label mates Tale Of Us join Brunner on the stunningly soulful “Sequenze” while “Subdue” presents his darkest side on the album. Later on “Ley” gets a peak time level stomp on, in fine acidic style. While Brunner has most definitely found his stride, leading to current mass appeal, he certainly proves he still has underground credentials on this fine effort.
Șerb – Transient Recs 1 [L2M003]
Șerb steps up and delivers four heady, scrunched up house excursions. Moody pads and electrified fx stretch and bang over squelching drums and a booming low end. An eclectic EP spanning thick and thin, crunching club music.
VA – From Chicago To Detroit Vol.1 [DOFTD1-9]
Descendents of The Deep launches the From Chicago To Detroit series, bringing together a quartet of deep house tracks from Michigan and Illinois-based producers. Jordan Fields kicks things off with the electric piano-laden strut of the surprisingly trippy “Excitement”, before Vincent Floyd offers up a masterclass in deep, New Jersey-influenced analogue deepness in the shape of “2gether”. Flip for the wonderful blissfulness of Leandre’s “Images of Spring” – think starry melodies from Detroit, coupled with the rolling swing of Chicago – and “Detroit Dubz”, a killer exercise in spooky beatdown from Norm Talley and Mike Huckaby. With its’ heavy, compressed bassline, creepy chords and reverb-laden textures, it sounds like it was tailor-made for Halloween.
Hiver / Stephen Lopkin – Pillowhead [BK013]
Bokhari enlists Hiver and Stephen Lopkin for four impeccable cuts of deep dancefloor delight. Kicking the package off with aplomb, Hardware fanatics Hiver illustrate the power of simplicity on “Pillowhead”, submerging us in deepest tech-house joy through globular bass, hypnotic stabs and immersive textures. “Whatsoever” ups the pace a little and loses a touch of the rubbery bottom end, flying free with celestial pads, sweeping synths and emotive chords. Over on the flipside, Lopkin’s “Theme from SAPL” sounds like a missing cut from Autechre’s classic “Incunabula”, pairing Miami drum patterns and beefy bass with moody vocoder and chirping synths for a healthy dose of machine funk. Lopkin closes the set with the Garnier approved “Speedbird Heavy”, a perfectly realised excursion into deep and moody techno that’s just waiting to bounce of those warhouse walls.
Mihai Popoviciu – The Swindle [PFR169]
A decade on from his debut release, one of Romania’s finest cultural exports returns to his favourite stomping ground with a trans- mission that showcases variety, technical skill and an intimate understanding of the dynamics of the floor. The stripped-down, moody menace of ‘The Swindle’ kicks things off, dancing semi- quavers panning left and right, a mysterious male voice incanting. A bass synth motif carries the tune to a climax before its buoyant, trancey conclusion. At all times, elements unfold organically, carrying the listener away. ‘Rotate’ casts a busier, jacking vibe, its analogue synth cycles pinging against each other. Glimmering layers of sound create an endlessly immersive, deadly deep groove. ‘Feed Me’ is slower, slinkier and rougher in equal measure. The sustained synths create a gliding sensation, the male vocal first mellifluous and sung then husky and spoken. ‘Chance’ is a shuffling, fizzing deep house groove, precision-tooled for the dance- floor. “Let it take control” urges a male voice. Sound advice for this deliciously hypnotic groove.
The Hipodrome Of Music 