Boris Divider – Generative Operations 2 [DCOM017]

DIVIDER, Boris - Generative Operations 2

Following the first episode, Drivecom presents the second part of the Generative Operations series. It continues with the dark, technical and minimal concept of music mixed together with contemporary, cinematic elements and experimental sounds and textures. The vision and workflow keeps up the same vibe as with the first ep and you will find more synth lines involved into a generative structure from complex and massive modular patches. The sequencing is always different each time every track is being played back giving us a unique listening. About the sound design all the tracks have a cinematic vibe as in the first 12”. Always looking for a situation where cinema meets electronic music as being planned as a film sound track.

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Boris Divider – Generative Operations 2 [DCOM017]

Chicco – I Need Some Money [AFS048]

CHICCO - I Need Some Money

Soweto-born Sello Twala emerged as a key figure in South Africa’s bubblegum scene, initially cutting his teeth in the early 80s as part of groups Umoja, Harari and Image, who in 1985 released the track that would give him his nickname: ‘Chicco’. Teaming up with co-producer Attie van Wyk, later that year he released his first single as a solo artist, ‘We Can Dance’. It was followed in 1986 by ‘I Need Some Money’. Both tracks add accessible English lyrics and catchy call-and-response vocals to infectious Shangaan-rooted dance rhythms, appealing to a wide audience that defied apartheid categories and established Chicco as a charismatic solo star, as well as a talented producer, both in SA and across the continent. Based on the success of these breakthrough singles, Chicco would go on to release politically charged pop albums We Miss You Manelow (1987), Thina Sizwe Esimnyama (1989), Soldier (1989) and Papa Stop the War (1990) and Nomari (1991).

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Chicco – I Need Some Money [AFS048]

Silvanna & Maquina do Tempo – Hotaru Edits [HSR007]

SILVANNA & A MAQUINA DO TEMPO - Hotaru Edits

Hello Sailor Recordings is back with its first (and last) release of 2020, this time with another excellent addition to the beloved 7” series. The chaotic sounds and lyrics of ‘Sera que eu to Pirada’ originally released in 1995 by short lived band Silvanna & A Maquina do Tempo, feels current amidst the challenging times we face and it’s accompanied by ‘Vem Viver Pra Mim’ on the flip side. Both songs were elegantly edited by Sao Paulo mystery producer Hotaru for this Brazilian holy grail of early electro and proto-house.

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Silvanna & Maquina do Tempo – Hotaru Edits [HSR007]

Don Carlos – Thunder [UCT001]

CARLOS, Don - Tuono (Thunder)

After blessing a special intimate Utopia Records dance in a North London loft with his iconic romantic and deep Italian House sound, pioneer Carlo Troja aka Don Carlos returned to Milan and sent the music to launch Alex Bradley’s new ‘Utopia Club Tracks’ dance music sub-label.

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Don Carlos – Thunder [UCT001]

DJ Slyngshot – Workshop 29 [WORKSHOP29]

DJ SLYNGSHOT - WORKSHOP 29

The mysterious DJ Slyngshot has stayed rather low key since debuting in 2014, but his music has an alluring and unique charm that has made him a real underground favourite. He now debuts on the cult Workshop label with four dreamy, drifting breakbeat tunes for those in the know. The raw and rugged opener is simple but effective, A2 has thumping kicks and old school pads and B1 is a dreamy, acid laced groove full of physicality. B2 closes out with jungle samples and warped synths that cry to be played loud on a huge system. These cuts all sound at once retro but also as if beamed back from the future.

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DJ Slyngshot – Workshop 29 [WORKSHOP29]

VA – House Of Trouble [SYNT003]

VARIOUS - House Of Trouble

For the third Syntetyk release the Warsaw crew has compiled the work of 13 modern artists, from Poland and the world, in attempt to present the variety of contemporary wave. Artists in order of appearance: Mala Herba, Exhausted Modern, Pluto Junkies, NGLY, Fade Accompli, Bianco Negativo, Radiation30376, Mchy i Porosty, Fallbeil, Dyktando, Retrograde Youth, Joshua Cordova ft. Zoya Zerkalski, Astma.

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VA – House Of Trouble [SYNT003]

A Civil Terror – S/T [BC09]

What beats an arpeggiated bass line over a teutonic 90 bpm kick and snare with eerie distorted vocals? I’ve been looking for years and I still don’t know if anything hits that sweet spot quite as well. John Carpenter esque Horror soundtrack synths creep along reverb drenched industrial drums, splattered with existential dread and spectral chants. Ryan is known for various monikers such as PC World / To Live & Die in Rayleigh (some of which are lined up for future Beat Concern drops) and his Club Mutante night which brings together the world of live techno, Industrial, EBM and noise. Punk ethics standing alongside dance floor machine funk. A Civil Terror.

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A Civil Terror – S/T [BC09]

Bourbonese Qualk – Preparing For Power [PLA033/MNQ113]

BOURBONESE QUALK - Preparing For Power

Mannequin and Platform 23 Records reissue what is considered to many the most complete album by perennial anarcho-outsiders Bourbonese Qualk. The last recorded album at their South London squat, The Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road, and again released on their own Recloose Organisation, saw the band develop further beyond the limits of the post-punk / industrial scene where genres increasingly became redundant. Ethno, jazz, funk and EBM are all buried deep in the album as it seeks independence. The title, a critique of the Labour movements ineffective and limited call to arms against the prevailing Thatcherism of the mid-80s, encapsulates this wider oeuvre. From opening Return To Order, the acoustic gloom is offset by tight musicianship and countering melody. The switch of Outcry precedes psychedelic anthem, Boggy Creek, with its VU remembrance. Blighted pulses Confrontation, Xenophobia, Backlash and closer, Insurrection, sense the darkness, but the ground has shifted forwards with the legendary 1.51 minutes of man’n’ machine that is Lies, the enwrapping symphonic dub vocal of Born Left Hearted and incongruously pretty, Is It As It Was?

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Bourbonese Qualk – Preparing For Power [PLA033/MNQ113]