R-Zone is a new label launched by Global Darkness. Who is involved isn’t exactly a secret, those who feel so inclined can piece the information together quite easily. It is however irrelevant to the concept of R-Zone, which would like to shift the focus away from namedropping and perception based on hype around individual artists and bring it back where it belongs; in the lap of the music.
Stellar OM Source’s new album, Joy One Mile, marks a certain and spirited departure into worlds unknown. A faithful leap into the infinite beat, Joy One Mile is the most forward-reaching effort by Stellar OM Source yet. Stellar OM Source originated from Christelle Gualdi’s desire to unhinge from her academic musical upbringing. Gualdi completed her studies in electro-acoustic composition at the Conservatoire de Paris after earning an architecture degree. The process of Gualdi’s “unlearning” began in experimental ensemble settings, and it became more recognizable as she moved toward solo performance. Stellar OM Source’s name is fittingly inspired in part by the pathway to higher consciousness and cosmos via one’s own voice. Based By virtue of her many aspirations and the array of hardware that Gualdi brought to the table, Joy One Mile took form in chaos. Where this disorder might cripple others, Gualdi’s response was energetically and emotionally charged. While recording, each corner of Joy One Mile became draped in dramatic ornamentation, the mood rarely varying from frantic to frenetic. From the vantage point of the finish line, Joy One Mile bares no straight club tracks, but it depends upon a percussive propulsion nevertheless. The singularity of Gualdi’s compositions, when pulled back and recalibrated even slightly, resemble early era Warp Records, and, by that admission, the wayward electro of early-90s Detroit. The abstractions in Gualdi’s programming and mutant melodies is what keeps Joy One Mile perfectly relegated to outsider status, akin to the primitive techno of Esplendor Geometrico and Chris & Cosey.
“Sometimes you feel that you’re getting really close to what being alive means, be it learning about distant planets or being grounded by life’s occasionally heavy burden,” notes Gualdi. “Joy One Mile grew from the consciousness of such moments. When I listen to it, I see myself walking through a pouring rain at night with headphones on, embracing both the misery and ecstasy.”
For the fourth and final round of the Stallions compilation, Bosconi Records closes in style with Athena: muscular four tracks that run between Detroit and Chicago sounds, Dub and Ambient aiming at the discovery of new, unexplored horizons. The Oliverwho Factory with a rousing Mind Free, Nick Anthony Simoncino of an entrancing and picturesque Tramonto Techno, Nicholas with a soaring and disruptive From Somewhere Else and Ennio Colaci on beautifully nuanced Hinterland.
Teona will lead the third and penultimate Stallions gallop along with home Bosconi Records. Starting from Dry Scream by Alex Picone, a forest full of warm sounds and rough that only analogue instruments and a tape recording can give. Follows, always on side A, Quanto tempo ci rimane a track of the mysterious matrix Nightdrivers edited in terms of house by label boss Fabio Corcos. The vinyl rotates, thoroughbred gallop in the B side, where they find themselves in a syncopated bassline with Dirty Vibes of I.F.Ms, aka Marcello Napoletano and Fran Mela, and a broken rhythm and essential characterized by a hypnotic groove that aims at creating an atmosphere featuring in Dark Clouds, produced by young people from home Bosconi, Herva and Marco D’aquino aka Life’S Track.
Roundabout Sounds presents the Soul Desire EP from Japanese artist Rondenion. Two tracks to wet your appetite for Rondenions first full length LP to be released this summer on Roundabout Sounds. Remixes on the flipside by Rick (The Godson) Wilhite and Baaz.
”I’ve been trying to make a track like this for many years, fusing the sounds of 70s heavy jazz with melodic techno. This is the breakthrough. Fascination and resistance.’
Expansive, discordant, deep house from Greeces newest electronic imprint Nous. The labels name hints at what to expect from this stable, exploring its own cultural heritage (the word means Mind in Greek) whilst looking at a future in which commonality and harmony need to take center stage. This debut release from the label navigates a curiously melancholy space in which the Motor Citys dissonant influence melds with a robust club sensibility, to construct a late night, eyes down, dance floor narrative. As well as a quartet of original cuts from the EPs author, Chicagos Hakim Murphy contributes a subterraneous take on the lead track that will no doubt charm fans of Theos Sound Signature or Rick Wades Harmonie Park.
“Elite Excel” is the lead track from Joy One Mile, the new album by French visual artist and musician Stellar OM Source. Furthering her sound from the formless soundscapes of her earlier work by digging into the roots of Detroit electro and techno primitivism, Christelle Gualdi’s version of dance music is unpredictable and inventive. “Elite Excel” pits a puckish synthline against a morose 303 bassline and icey arpeggiation, sharing a similar frequency with LFO’s classic output. The b-side features a top-notch remix by techno recluse producer Kassem Mosse, who also arranged and mixed Joy One Mile.
A heavy lead rhythm provides the foundation from which spiralling elements project. They coruscate, pulse with light and collapse inwards, until just the echoes of Dub2 are left. Rising from these depths, the sharpness of Distribution Theorys crisp hi-hats and snapping claps provide forward momentum to a series of stabs. The house element. Beginning as a mystery but ending as a certainty, the ethereal theme that opens Untitled Document gives way as it increases velocity, shaking and rattling under the strain. The apex. Hands reach, seeking, The elusive moment has already passed, all left is pure. Bliss. Circumflex kicks hard, a final statement of intent. Powerful. Corrosive. This is late night techno, played over a system on which the squelching acid-lines converge within the mind. The body jacks.
Perpetual Rhythms is a new Chicago label run by Nick Marshall, AKA Taelue and Victor Aguinaga aka Chicagodeep. This debut EP from the imprint features tracks by Taelue, Chicagodeep and Specter, and also hits us with a Linkwood edit.
New and improved Bunker / Panzerkreuz Records! A4 inlay with artwork by Elec PT.1 himself + red Bunker stamp! Deutschland keeps on pushing it with some more macabre acidic industrial techno, dark and psychotic as the Lord has intended, ‘das beste Stahl’!
Four mindbending & spiritual acid sessions by mighty mr. Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being, reconnecting the children of earth once more with the ongoing bio rhythm of Dharma, the regulatory order of the universe and the ever & omnipresent sacred spirit of jack.
New and improved Bunker / Panzerkreuz Records! A 4 inlay with artwork by Perseus Traxx himself + red Bunker stamp! More drug-induced deep house for more deep penetration of that feeble mind, and as usual mr. Rogers delivers with the most authentic chicagoan ‘eighties’ jackin’ sound the year of the Lord 2013 may witness…
One Eyed Jacks with the 2nd EP from portuguese DJ, producer, rapper Violet The remx is by the anonymous and enigmatic portuguese producer from Cascais, Ursa’s Reef. Violet’s The Chain EP, powers through the space-time limits of your usual clubbing experience, overflowing with noospheric soul and surfing your naive raver brain while seeking to manifest itself outwards, in the form of empathy and air-fisting, ultimately revealing the great lie of separation and time-binding objective “reality”.
Following 12″s on The Trilogy Tapes and Kyle Hall’s Wild Oats imprint, the original dark soldier MGUN returns to Don’t Be Afraid for a second outing with this six tracker.
Minimal Wave present an LP of selections from the prolific Belgian synthpop band Polyphonic Size. Headed by Roger-Marc Vande Voorde, Polyphonic Size formed in 1979. The Earlier / Later LP are remastered selections, curated mainly from Polyphonic Size’s early output as a band, from when they formed in 1979 to when they began working with JJ Burnel in 1980. The tracks on side A represent their early period and were recorded between 1979-1980 and the side B tracks, recorded between 1980-1983, are representative of how their sound evolved whilst working with a producer.
XEX were an all-synthesizer band from South River, New Jersey in the late 1970s. The band formed when a trio of high school misfits with funny names (Waw Pierogi, Thumbalina Gugielmo and Alex Zander) teamed up with some friends from Rutgers College. They released their debut album “group: xex” in 1980 which Dark Entries reissued in 2010. “xex:change” takes a leap from where the band left off at the end of 1980. David Anderson left the group making xex a quartet. Recorded during the summer of 1981 and produced with Ziggy Rodberg, xex further developed the aesthetic of the first album. The seven songs here are more complex and hypnotic than the synthpunk outbursts of “group:xex.” Their new synthesizers, a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and a Minimoog, evoke the high-tech utopia of Patrick Cowley and proto-techno of Afrika Bambaataa. Thumbalina’s vocals have a detached, icy quality. Lyrics revolve around xex’ melange of oeuvres – pop, kitsch and New Jersey mall culture – offering commentary on species-specific adaptations for copulation, technophilia/phobia and the Jersey shore. “xex:change”, a multiple entendre that refers to the evolution of the group since its first album, group interaction in the creative process, and underlying sexual ambiguity. The group did not have the funds to release the album and it sat in obscurity for over 30 years.
Los Microwaves was a San Francisco-based synth-punk trio who formed in 1979. The main line-up included Meg Brazill (vocals, bass, synthesizers), David Javelosa (vocals, synthesizers), and Todd “Rosa” Rosencrans (drums, bass). Their recorded output consisted of a handful of 45′s and their lone LP, “Life After Breakfast,” released on the legendary Posh Boy records in 1981. Creating sound and music from the fusion of techno-punk, new wave pop, and electronic music, Los Microwaves featured a quirky audio theater that was best experienced live and from the dance floor. Sporting a combination of earlier portable synthesizers, bass and processed percussion, the music continues to deliver a unique groove. “Life After Breakfast” contains 13 songs full of teen angst, jerky rhythms, melodic chants, and punky shouts. Meg’s vocals are cheeky and peppy, recalling the anti-pop sound of The B-52′s, Devo and early XTC.
The Actor is a well known but simultaneously quite obscure minimal wave project that emerged from the Dutch home taping scene of the early 1980s. The duo was formed by Marcel Reimer (vocals, keyboards) and Sander Horsthuis (keyboards) in Breda, The Netherlands in late 1981. The track featured on this flexi-disc, ‘Unreal Personality’, is the opening track of ‘Exploded View’ and the archetypical The Actor song, with lyrics directly referring to the band’s name. The song was recorded during the summer of 1982. The equipment they used was the Korg MS-20, Crumar Performer, Casio VL-Tone, and Soundmaster SR-88 drum machine.
Adventurous electro project featuring a what might be regarded as a who’s-who in the current electro scene, reeling-in names such as DJ Stingray, DMX Krew, Ian Martin, Shemale, Elec Pt.1; with perhaps lesser known talents such as Linear Synthesis, Federico Leocata, Koova and Das Muster. A fine selection of tracks which successfully presents fresh sounds by tried-and-tested names, while simultaneously introducing upcoming and arguably lesser known, but by no means any less talented artists.
