Stunning tracks by Monty Luke on his own Black Catalogue label. Beautiful emotive tracks about the streets of Detroit. Beauty and unexpected danger.
001.Features
Kuba Soijka – Future Mind [SUIT004]
For this 4th release, we decided to bring you guys one of the best producer right now : Kuba Soijka. The analog man, his continued music production has focused on collaboration with the Chicago Mathematics Recordings label, which presents his more jazzy and soulful face, but not only through the ”Bright shadow of a star” EP, but from a bigger thanks to the album ”Mysterious Intrigue” released on 2×12. That release boldly displayed how Kuba can combine a bit of the artistic world in jazz and underground club sound of Detroit techno and Chicago house. This alone didn’t confirm the listeners of his music. It was also due to the fact that he presents a real and sincere vibe and is open to new and developing sounds World-Wide.
VA – Electroconvulsive Therapy Volume 1 [MR028]
Medical Records is proud to release it’s first compilation LP. Medical has carefully curated a collection of extremely rare and sought after singles and rare tracks. This compilation includes 5 complete A + B sides as well as 2 other tracks that only appeared on obscure compilations in the early 80s. The first 2 tracks are by UK’s The Electronic Circus. Featuring Chris Payne (who also performed synth work on the iconic “Pleasure Principle” by none other than Gary Numan), the track “Direct Lines” is pure synthpop perfection. The second featured artist is Boston’s Psychic Youth who released one lone 7″ in 1982. One of the members, Perry Geyer, was also a founding member of the industrial outfit Manufacture. “Step in Time” and “The Future Is Now” are both dense minimal synth hits. Another excruciatingly rare 7″ is the self-titled single by UK’s Aaah…! “Slip Away” and “Duty Calls” further fit the bill for moody minimal synthpop greatness. Possibly even more rare is the Shazam single released in 1983 in the UK. The 2 “wild card” tracks if you will on the record are “Panic In Your Mind” by N.A. Pop 2000 (UK) and “Maske” by Berliner Strasse (Yugoslavia). Both tracks were plucked from rare wave compilations from the early 80s. The final single featured is the solo outing by Claude Arto from Mathematiques Modernes. Released in 1981 on Celluloid (France), the 2 tracks drip synthetic bloops and blips while being propelled by rhythmic electro sequences.
Max & Mara – Less Ness [DE054]
Dark Entires is excited to introduce the debut album “Less Ness” from contemporary Bay Area duo, Max and Mara. Their collaboration began in 2012. Max is based in Oakland and has been a part of various projects most notably Brotman and Short and his current solo work as Business Etiquette. Mara is based in San Francisco and is known for her solo work as Group Rhoda. On “Less Ness” they worked with a hardware set up: 808 and Elektron drum machine, Moog, MAM, and Sequential Circuits synth with splashes of Mono/Poly and collage elements, vocoder lines and dubbed out vocals. They step away from the the computer as much as possible and prefer that their ideas can be traced back to the tools so that a sense of physicality remains. They find inspiration from all kinds of far out sounds, most notably dub, industrial, and various drug culture tangents. Lyrically the songs revolve around topics such as escapism, looking though cultural windows, and character role development. Some songs are a bit more surrealist in content with elements of hard realism and critical commentary.
Figure Study – Figure Study [DE053]
Dark Entries is proud to present the debut album by Figure Study, a contemporary band from New York. Figure Study is the Manhattan-based duo of Nathan Antolik and April Chalpara. For their debut self-titled album, Figure Study utilizes a carefully tailored set up of vintage analog synthesizers and drum machines. Figure Study creates a lush sound where haunting vocals echo over dark melodies that reflect an isolated and disintegrating world. Songs flux between dissonant dance numbers and more sparse, somber compositions, each carrying a sense of urgency and modernism. Figure Study’s sound includes influences from such early underground artists as Kirlian Camera, Nine Circles, and The Actor.
Silent Servant – Lust Abandon [JL003]
Juan Mendez goes solo for the third release on the Jealous God label. Classy Techno trip w/ dubbed out vintage synth feel.
Alessandro Parisi – La Porta Ermetica [GD004]
Giallo Disco Records are proud to present our first release from a non-in-house artist and our first 100% Genuine Italian. Alessandro Parisi, who had previously released through Lux and Minimal Rome. Alessandro’s unique retro-futurist soundtrack re-imaginings are Italian through and through. Armed only with a TR707, Roland JX3P and an old Teac 244 Tape Recorder his music is organic, magickal and scary as hell… Special guest remixer for this release is Brassica (Dissident / Cyberdance / Nocturnes) which sees his cosmified rework of ”Hesperius Draco” as a soundtrack to Timberland attending a voodoo ritual in an abandoned Detroit warehouse.
LA-4A – Levelled [DELFT00X]
Raw analog acid-heavy tracks on this new label called DELFT. The city known for its Delfts Blauw (and the little known fact, the city where I-F recorded many of his classic acid and electro tracks). First release is the 00x release by LA-4A
House Of Doors / Kinetic Electronix – Bicameral Mind / Astral Kin [FT019]
Future Times is proud to present Vancouver’s Mood Hut crew. House Of Doors delivers ”Bicameral Mind,” an evocative excursion between nightclub shade and inner-visions, featured here in a collaborative style with Maxmillion Dunbar on the mixdown. Drums jack metallic like hammers and bump like pillows around the lush keys. The B-side belongs to Kinetic Electronix, and their cut ”Astral Kin” which works up a sweat right away with full disco classico production before storming off in a puff of steamy Murk’d-out groove.
Headless Ghost – 77 EP [TMQ006]
Analogue rawness on the new Headless ghost. Jacking trippy house tracks! House music all night long.
Neville Watson – Hot & Heavy [DBASE002]
Neville Watson ends 2013 with a club-focussed 12” and the second in the DBA Special Editions series. Since remixing DBA003, and thereby providing one of the most requested tracks in the label’s history, it has only been a matter of time before the legendary UK producer joined the DBA camp for a full 12” release. In keeping with the remit of the Special Editions sub-label, all three tracks are …
Ron Morelli – Spit [HOS407LP]
Given his stated role as curator at the head of the ‘non-stop’ LIES, it makes perfect sense that Ron Morelli would look elsewhere to issue his debut album. Gravitating towards the Hospital Productions label run by Dominick ‘Vatican Shadow’ Fernow makes equal sense given their shared appreciation of noise, ambient and industrial music. Apparently the first of three planned releases on Hospital from Morelli, it’s no little surprise that Spit arrives with much expectation. Spend some time with the eight tracks that make up the LP and you’ll begin to understand why Morelli has used such words as pressure, monotony and stress to describe the motivating emotions behind Spit. The corrugated growl of “Modern Paranoia” and the broken metallic rhythms of “Crack Microbes” are considered highlights!
Kerridge – A Fallen Empire [DNKLP001]
First surfacing with an impressive debut EP for the Horizontal Ground label, it makes perfect sense that Berlin-based Samuel Kerridge should then gravitate towards Downwards to further expand on his own brand of industrial techno. You get feeling that the knowing sense of humour apparent in many of the titles to Kerridge productions appeals to someone like Downwards label boss Karl O’Connor. After several EPs for Downwards, Kerridge unveils his debut album A Fallen Empire which comes brandishing “7 pieces of sonic warfare” that lodge the producer ever deeper into the crawlspace between jagged industrial techno and white noise laden experimental sounds. B side behemoth “Death Is Upon Us” is a morbid highlight.
Emptyset – Demiurge [SUB010]
James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas are getting crustier and more experimental with every passing year. Recur, their fourth full-length excursion, is decidedly fuzzy and discordant. Seemingly intent on pushing experimental electronics to its limits, the formerly Bristol-based duo serve up a challenging but rewarding set based almost entirely around half-rhythms, white noises, drones, feedback and hissing atmospherics. It’s spooky, intense stuff, all told, occasionally enlivened by sparse, pared-down concoctions that sound like a smacked out take on Autechre. But for all the bleak, out-there sounds, Recur is strangely involving, due in no small part to its immersive nature.
Esplendor Geometrico – Ultraphoon [GR2130CD]
Recorded in Madrid and Rome during 2013, this is the new album by the influential electronic duo ranked as industrial music pioneers. Ultraphoon is a leap ahead as for production and sound quality, with a stunning and brutal outcome, richly detailed nonetheless. Rhythms, noises and processed voices from different sources come together in hypnotic –bordering on trance– soundscapes along the lines of previous releases such as Pulsión (2009) and Desarrollos Geométricos (2011). Most of the meticulous mastering process has been carried out by Francisco López, internationally renowned as one of the top sound art and experimental music personalities, giving a new twist to the usual Esplendor Geometrico sound.
AnD – Ard Core Krew [ANNAND]
Mancunians AnD have lead the way when it comes to the industrial techno revolution of recent times and now serve up three such tracks on the small but perfectly formed Ann Aimee label after plenty of great work on their own eponymous imprint. The titular track ‘Ard Core Krew’ kicks things off with squealing machines, huge dump piston sounds, metallic synths and brutalist kick drums. It’s a hostile world of sound in which it is easy to get disorientated, and ‘Changed My View’ is much the same, with every single element sounding raw, frazzled and under plenty of strain. It’s a fuzzy, dirty track with lots of detailed activity as well as huge stomping kick drums, which pin it all together. ‘Free At Last’ is the most propulsive and forward moving; surging as it does on a grimy brew of splintered hi hats, incessant kick drums and low fizzing frequencies.
Mark du Mosch – Bay 25 [DKMNTL014]
Mark du Mosch is a Rotterdam based producer and DJ who has earned the highest amount of respect in the Dutch alternative music scene in the past couple of years. The reason is simple: he dares to go beyond the obvious, his raw yet emotional signature sound being distinctive, versatile and stunningly creative. Expect perfectly executed analogue bliss from a craftsman who is slowly yet steadily making his way into the records bags of global house and techno connoisseurs. From Russia with love; Moscow based cult producer Gesloten Cirkel kicks it up a notch with his rough-and-ready take on ‘Living Up’. Wailing synths, piston hi-hats and an everything but straight-to-the-point bassline make for an epic esoteric house jam.
DJ Stingray / Vin Sol – Assassin / Edges Of A Vortex [UTTUBONUS003]
DJ Stingray drops one of his most intense electro bangers to date, ‘Assassin’. No holds barred minimal, industrial-tinted and ghetto-ready electro for the dance floor! On the flip Vin Sol’s San Fran ‘Homo-House’ anthem ‘Edges of a Vortex’ receives a vinyl pressing after setting the underground alight, having since been picked up by Defected records and reworks of Sade and SooWavey 12″s selling out in minutes.
Innershades – That Girl [WICKEDBASS011]
That Girl, produced by Innershades, opens with a repeated voice sample and a nostalgic pad, just to drop one minute later into one of the rawest hard hitting house tracks you’ll see around in a while. Hotflush’s Locked Groove gives the original track an acidic twist halved with his signature top-class deep house production skills. As if that isn’t enough, the B-side is followed by a simple-yet-effective remix from Ukraine’s very own Vakula who provides what seems a purely energetic techno cut right up to the point when the killer snare comes in.
Romansoff – Raw Tools 3 [RWT003]
More heavy hitting analog club tracks by the man from Bucharest! Proper house tools that will bring joy worldwide.
