Anthony Rother links up with Detroit heavyweights Keith Tucker and DJ Di’jital for a deep exploration of psionic robot engineering and extrasensory electro styles. Truly extending the work of Kraftwerk and others, Anthony, Keith and Lamont came to define electro in the late 90s and tirelessly continue to develop their sound to this day, culminating in the Psi Robotics EP – a cold scan of the minds of future machines and their hypnotic influence.
Classic Detroit-influenced electro tune featuring special guest vocal by Blak Tony of Alien FM / Aux 88. Plus two bonus bass bangers on the flip.
Binary Operator aka Matt Star is back with his 2nd EP for Central Electronics. Again he delivered a mixture of electro and broken beats for dancers and digital dreamers.
DC Salas is thirtysomething year old Diego Cortez Salas, a skilled talent with peruvian origins hailing from Brussels. After his last year’s debut EP on Live At Robert Johnson called The Complicated Art of Dreaming, this fresh four tracker is a proof to his creative continuity.
Split #1 marks the debut of a new vinyl series, to be hosted on the Various Artists catalogue of Pi Electronics. The split series will be bringing two artists on the same vinyl, with this very first release presenting music by Greek producers Fragedis and Nemmett. Coming from different backgrounds of electronic music, prolific figure of the Cretan islands’ dance scene, Fragedis and one of the Athenian founding members of the π crew, Nemmett, contribute their sharpest weapons to this release.
Three is the magic number and continues the Connection Lost series by Massimiliano Pagliara on Uncanny Valley. The series is a highly emotional project for the masterful Italian DJ and producer with music that is deeply inspired by thoughts on how to cope, once the connection with loved ones is cut. As wide as the feelings and emotions in those situations are, as varied is the sound palette with tracks between Acid, House, Disco and Downbeat.
The fifth release on Tempo Dischi comes from one of the true pioneers of Italian disco: Maurizio Dami aka Alexander Robotnick.
ZYX Music presents a re-issue of this italo classic from 1983. On Side-A there are the rare original versions and as a highlight on Side-B two new and exclusive remixes by Flemming Dalum and Victor Ark.
Originally released in 2010 on their own label, Brooklyn nu-disco group Escort’s ‘Cocaine Blues’ is now lovingly revisited by Glitterbox Recordings, re-introducing the dancefloor essential to a new generation of disco fans. A loose remake of disco-reggae classic ‘Cocaine in My Brain’ by Jamaican DJ Dillinger, Escort’s ‘Cocaine Blues’ with its relaxed, disco approach and catchy vocal soon became a hit, with this special 12” package featuring Escort’s original and their instrumental, as well as Greg Wilson’s remix, where he takes the stripped-back approach with minimal vocals and enhanced drums. It may have been over a decade since it was first released, but this package still sounds just as good as it did when it first graced dancefloors.
An infrequent but invigorating contributor to Phantasy, U returns with a beguiling new single entitled ‘Ecstasy’. The first side of the artefact portrays ‘Ecstasy’, a wide-eyed and spectral incantation rich in intimacy, whispering voices and earthy psychedelia. Somewhere between machine funk and folk canticle, a sonic gift perhaps for a field in England bathed in moonlight, else a dire basement dripping in energy, ‘Ecstasy’ leaves the system almost spiritually. On the contrary, ‘Morpheus’ presents a tougher meditation, a creeping jam with an analogue consciousness, ghostly rave echoes and a conundrum at its heart. The dream seems so real, but what if you can’t wake from it after all?
Nick Lapien and Robin Koek’s latest collaborative album, Days Bygone, helps launch Delsin’s Interstellar series as they continue to explore beyond the dancefloor trappings of conventional techno to create a body of work steeped in mystery. Although not totally devoid of percussion, Artefakt shift their focus away from dominant drums and lean on the keys and pads to map out the landscape each track traverses. Sometimes furtive and suggestive, elsewhere pearlescent and diffused across great expanses, it’s these striking, sublime formations which define the atmosphere Lapien and Koek have created – a textured, dynamic exercise in techno as internalized listening music.
Newly launched Dutch electro label LDI Records follows up their first release from T/Error with a deep and dark four track EP by French producer Franck Kartell. In a homage to masterful science fiction writer Philip K Dick – Side A of Electric Sheep EP evokes scenes from future mechanized worlds. Electric Sheep kicks the 12″ off with a melancholic and contemplative moment followed by a steel cold and brooding venture in Voigt-Kampff. On the B side of this release, there is a live mix of Kartell’s track Electro Music, a futuristic electro work out with kicks for the dancefloor. The EP completes with Victoria – an ode to the electronic musician Victoria Lukas who passed away in 2020 – with a beautifully poised and contemplative track steeped in synths. Franck Kartell is a French producer who has releases on Between Places, Transient Force, Ukonx Recordings, New Flesh, Bass Agenda and others. Since 2005 he has been producing well thought-out Electro music filled with dark atmospheres and driving rhythms. Specializing in moody, atmospheric electro, LDI Records (Lloyd’s Dark Imperium) are an essential label to watch.
Chemise’s 1982 boogie classic ‘She Can’t Love You’ is back on repress as part of Unidisc’s 40th anniversary series of releases. Backed with an exclusive new Purple Disco Machine re-edit as well as the original dub and the killer 1986 Marc Hartman remix. An essential release for all disco / boogie heads, officially reissued and remixed by the Unidisc / Emergency records family, fresh for 2021.
Highly influenced by early 1980’s electronic music and classic 90’s trance, Emilio Van Rijsel from Lille, France, debuts on Italo Moderni with energetic Moroder-esque propelling bass lines next to epic synth patterns and hypnotic sounds. With “Tendre Furie EP”, Emilio van Rijsel offers a glimpse of the wide array of his influences, embarking us on a synthful romantic & melancholic journey, depicting the nostalgia of missed blissful raving nights.
Remixes duties fall to Raw Union man St. Theodore, who replaces those italo trance flourishes with the strobe-lit pulse of Giallo and master producer Daniel Monaco the layers of well-informed 80s synth wave sends us into another dimension with high energy vibes.
Originally released towards the end of 2019, Armonics synthetic dream album ’Nuovi Orizzonti’’ (translated: New Horizons) is now getting a refresh by Slow Motion’s most established artists. Slow Motion presents these six sophisticated remixes as: “Nuovi Orizzonti Reworks”. Remixes by Alessandro Parisi, Altieri, Daniel Monaco, Sauvage World and label heads Franz Scala and Fabrizio Mammarella.
The first edition of the Psihodrom Festival will take place between 14 and 16 May 2021, online on the YouTube channel Psihodrom Records.
Continue reading “Psihodrom Online Festival 2021”
The Swiss New Wave heroes Karl Kave & Durian collaborate for the album”Untergang und Finsternis” on Detriti Records. Dreamy synths, dreamy lyrics, dreamy people.
Wladyslaw Trejo comes with a 7″ single dedicated to Warsaw. “Nuestra Voz” is a poem wrapped in sharp synthesizers about the silent threat of totalitarianism. The accompanying video clip amplifies its meaning and serves as a metaphor. “Tranzyt W” is an instrumental that portrays the walk of an inveterate observer, Wladyslaw himself, through the streets of modern Warsaw.
The Hipodrome Of Music 