New brokntoys release coming from Made aka Mike Williamson.
Made – When Straight Lines Become Curves [BT59]
Blast Attack – Terrible Time [DR110]
Blast Attack “Terrible Time” is out now on cassette via Detriti Records. Sci-fi electro from a dystopian future.
Connective Zone – Qwerty EP [DSR/X22]
Long awaited reissue of Connective Zone’s Qwerty EP. Originally released in 2002 on Emoticon, the deep electronica sister label of Headspace Recordings. Connective Zone, aka Lincoln-based duo Graham Sims and Simon Button, have been making their unique brand of deep techno for many years. Warm strings, thick chords, multi-layered synth melodies and crisp beats are the order of the day, with influences coming from early Detroit techno and ‘artificial intelligence’ era UK electronics. All four tracks pack a soulful punch, drawing from the past but allowing their individual sound to shine through. Rhythmically they range from straight-up 4/4 beats to more syncopated patterns, and are sure to find favour with more adventurous DJs as well as home listeners.
Thomas Barnett presents Subterfuge – The Foundation Series Volume One [RMCE017]
Rawax welcomes Thomas Barnett to the family. with the “Foundation Series Volume One”. Originally released in 1997 on Visillusion Records (Detroit).
Obstructor – Cipher [CBR004]
Taken – Taken [TAKEN002]
Skudge and Nihad Tule are back as Taken with their second release on their own imprint. Highly effective techno explorations.
VA – Mellow Bangers [IMXX]
The sea breeze, the smell of sunscreen, the first kiss of summer, the sunrises of an island, meals with friends in the sun, fruit in your hands, sky of stars, reflection of the sun in the sea, the nights of summer. Closing the summer with the new compilation of Italo Moderni ”Mellow Bangers” as the name says, italo bangers but with a very club touch, a touch of eternal summer.
Radiators – I Am Sure EP [RAF002]
Following on from Mothball’s 2018 reissue of the Italo-oddity Fancy – “Null Null”, comes a follow-up collaboration with the maestro Raffaele Fiume. This time a long-overdue reissue of the sparkling Italo-disco duet by Radiators – “I Am Sure”, originally released in 1984. The original vocal and instrumental tracks are complemented here by an energetic remix from Mario Moretti. To finish off the record is a stripped-back “bonus beats” edit by Hysteric.
VA – Conference [BAREC014]
The new Blind Allies release will provoke your senses and create a rhythmic tunnel of the finest electro emotions. Tracks by Cyphon, Davide Piras, DVS NME, Obzerv, Olloy and Polytunnel.
VA – Machine Funk Is Our Game Volume 5 [KJ055]
The Kraftjerkz compilation series “Machine Funk Is Our Game” is back with another installment. Volume 5 features some long-time players like Alonzo and DJ Di’jital, while also introducing some new names to the Kraftjerkz roster like Konerytmi, Zarcon, Cybereign (remixed by Mr. Kraftjerkz himself, Kid Ginseng) and Bart Karlos. There’s really no filler on Machine Funk is Our Game, Vol 5. It might even be the best installment of the compilation series yet. In terms of quality, this is electro at its finest, and any of these six tracks would enhance any late-night set.
Iron Curtis – Weather Repost EP [CTX011]
The Jak – Sequential Sleaze / Hardy’s Haunted Box [DB002]
Interpretations created by The Jak. Made In Chicago. The Kid Jak strikes again with two infectious dance floor cuts. The A-side brings that oldskool Chicago and New York house music feel in it’s most direct form while the b-side has that psychedelic flavor over a simple beat track. “Experiencing music collectively is a critical part of absorbing it’s meaning and it’s unique ability to communicate abstract ideas that resonate differently with different individuals.”
Palmbomen II – Make A Film [WOP004]
Palmbomen II’s new album ‘Make A Film’ can be viewed as a faux crash course in film making plus the soundtrack to score your first movie. This beautiful double vinyl album comes with an extended step-by-step course on writing, directing and shooting your first film. To make it easy, Palmbomen II included twenty four tracks that set the right mood for different scenes, from “Medium Melancholy” to “Slightly Dark”. Everybody could ‘Make A Film’.
Blue – The Path Of Least Resistance Meets The Point Of No Return [SFIC002]
28 years ago Chris Mann and Paul Darking released their debut EP on Andrew Weatherall’s (RIP) Sabres Of Paradise. A year later another EP came out on the same imprint, followed by two albums on Weatherall’s label Emissions Audio Output and a bunch of EP’s on Emissions’ sub- labels. Two more albums saw the light of day on Iris Light Records, but the start of the new millennium brought a stop to the creative output of the production duo known as Blue.
Yagya – Always Maybe Tomorrow [2SPA]
Icelandic dub techno linchpin Yagya returns for a second release on his emergent label, Small Plastic Animals. The music Yagya crafts is spacious and atmospheric, using the techno tradition as a vessel for meditative as well as emotional exploration and experimenting with sound design according to a specific, patiently cultivated style. “Always Maybe Tomorrow” finds Yagya ruminating on the behavioral energy of environments as viewed from afar – the man-made electricity of urban expanses and the interconnected flora and fauna of ecosystems. Looking to his chosen tools as a means to express these ideas, he employed a non-linear approach to each of the four tracks on this EP, choosing to create musical systems in constant flux rather than composing each piece in a conventional left-to-right narrative. Yagya’s trademark voluminous chords and vast pads ebb and flow through filters controlled by LFOs and randomness, creating their own micro-incidents and macro evolution as though holding a mirror up to the environments the initial inspiration was drawn from.
Harmonious Thelonious – Instrumentals! A Collection Of Outernational Music Studies [BBLP385]
Outer-national dance discourses, that strive for no country and obey to no flag: when Düsseldorf based producer, Stefan Schwander creates music as Harmonious Thelonious, highly percussive rhythms, dissonances and melodic twists tango chatoyant virtuosic. All eight musical objects collected on “Instrumentals!” document a chapter in Harmonious Thelonious’s work, that left the noisy background drones behind in favor for a signature sound full of echoes of ancient rituals and ecstatic ceremonies. Eight growing outlaw music studies crammed with living, deeply haunting entities. They all came to life in different cities like Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, London or Paris, first published on labels like Asafa, Disk, The Trilogy Tapes, or Versatile. United under one roof, they unfold their magical groove symbolism, notable hypnotic harmony and agitating rhythm archetypes in a total overpowering coalition.
Krokakai – Poisoned Well [HIGH001]
Krokakai is an emergent Glaswegian producer with a penchant for hardware – largely using an MPC2000XL, SH09, MS20 Mini, TT-303, Roland Alpha Juno and other trusted tools. He’s already turned heads on labels such as Invisible Inc and PowerStation Records. Right here he lays down the label’s parameters with four unique, far-reaching escapades.
VA – RePhrase Collection: HARD FIST EDIT SERIES (Free Download)
A collection of name-your-price/free download tracks compiled by Hard Fist, featuring edits by Aaron Maple, Alexis le Tan, Anatolian Weapons, Curses, Daniel Monaco, Disco Morato, Facets, Fabrizio Mammarella, Hysteric, Jonny Rock, Perdu, Thomass Jackson, Younger Than Me, Zombies in Miami and many more.
VA – Electronic Emergencies Reconstructed By I-Robots [EEXIROB02]
Italian DJ and producer Gianluca Pandullo a.k.a. I-Robots has chosen six of his favourite Electronic Emergencies tracks to reconstruct. The second part of a collaboration after a digital-only compilation of EE tracks by the founder of Opilec Music in 2020, the six rigorous reconstructions on this double 12-inch are long, luscious, and full of energy. “Move Like Rays” by Machinegewehr was injected with a high-energy vibe, while Das Ding’s “Want Need” was transformed into an electro classic. Skeleton Head’s queer anthem “Beaten, Bloody, Bruised” was given the percussion treatment, “Danza Obscura” by Borgie got an Italo Wave twist, and New Wave legends Chris Davis and M/A/N/O/S had their tracks worked over by dubby electro and minimal techno. Electronic Emergencies reconstructed by I-Robots consolidates the label’s frontier electronic underground reputation.
4 M International – Space Operator [MD31818]
Here’s a brand new EP for the italo lovers. Released for the first time in 1982 on Full Time Production off-shoot Good Vibes, 4 M International’s “Space Operator” is repressed on hand-numbered limited edition vinyl on Mr Disc Organization. This special EP includes the Techno producer Donato Dozzy “Cadillac Rhythms Reshape” and the vocal and instrumental versions of the record. Spaced out disco electro. The mysteriously named 4M International was a side project of the production team behind the Italo group Trilogy (“Not Love”, “Black Devil” etc). “Space Operator” is the only record the outfit recorded and is an ultra spacey, pitched down, cosmic anthem with a wealth of killer sound FX, synth washes and sinister vocoded voices inviting us to join them in some intergalactic space travel.
The Hipodrome Of Music 