Heavy Detroit infected electro anthems from Die Gestalten.
Bandcamp To Waive Its Fees on 1st of May
“A few Fridays ago, we waived our revenue share to help artists and labels impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bandcamp community went above and beyond, spending $4.3 million on music and merch in just 24 hours. It was an inspiring day, and we heard many requests to do it again, so we’re going to do exactly that (and a bit more).
We’ll announce the details of this initiative to everyone next Monday, but we wanted to give our artists and labels a heads up that the first step is coming soon: on Friday, May 1st, we’re going to waive our revenue share again. Stay tuned for more information next week, and be sure to check out our new Bandcamp Artist Guide for recommendations that will help you maximize your sales on May 1st and beyond.”
In addition to this Bandcamp announced they will waive their revenue share also an June 5 and July 3. So, in the first Friday from the next three months.
Go and support your favorite music!
L.F.T. – Suburban Mix 171
VA – Phormix – Mass Disorder [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Free download compilation from Athenian outfit Phormix; including tracks by Anatolian Weapons, Baz Reznik, Celldod, DJ Loser, Fragedis, Morah, Outermost, Penelope’s Fiance, Unhuman and many more.
No Moon – Set Phases To Stun [XK020]
No Moon is back on X-Kalay. A lot has changed in the three years since his debut on the label but Fred’s ability to turn in forward thinking and original electro definitely has not. This latest effort is the work of an exciting producer on the rise. Opening the A side “CPU Limit 99” is full of jungley skittish breaks, acid bass and off kilter rhythms. By the time we hear the voice of Agent Smith creeping out in the first break we could be forgiven for casting our minds back to Metalheadz circa 2002. Next up, “Aoe_Rushin” is the pick of the bunch for us and continues The Matrix theme, albeit less explicitly, via a full on bonkers trip of searing acid, razor sharp drums and smashed up vocals. On the flip Adam Pits switches up “Aoe_Rushin” into a pacey 4×4 club joint utilising some expansive arrangement and lovely speed garage-esque bass. Closing things out, title track “Set Phasers to Stun” winds things back and rounds up with a deep and meditative cut of melodic electro.
Obergman – Pyroclastic Flo [STILLEBEN057]
Ola Bergman returns on Luke Eargoggle’s excellent Stilleben label. The four tracks he’s delivered are as strong as you’d expect, with the veteran Swedish producer choosing to flit between cuts built around druggy, Italo-disco style arpeggio basslines, and more electro-framed workouts. Such is the quality of material on show that picking highlights is tough, though we’re particularly enjoying the gently intergalactic positivity of basement chugger “Fibonacci Horizon”, the Drexciya-influenced outer-space electro weightiness of “Olympus Mons” and the hazy “Pyroclastic Flow”, where lilting, “Selected Ambient Works” style chords and melodies ride a muscular, all-action dark Italo groove.
Luke Slater – Berghain Fünfzehn [OSTGUT127]
Berghain Fünfzehn sees Luke Slater creating new compositions from the Ostgut Ton back catalogue, chopping, looping tweaking and deploying sounds into a mix that is both a playful retrospective of the label and future-facing vision for mixing and dance music. On April 17, seven exclusive tracks from the Berghain Fünfzehn DJ mix will be released on two 12”s and for streaming/digital download. De- and reconstructing the Ostgut Ton discography, Slater’s vision encompasses not only sampling but live electronics and improvisation, resulting in a broad spectrum of heady and liminal dance music: from ultra stripped-back mindfuck techno, vocals and blasts of distortion to breakbeat excursions, minimalistic acid, and rave polyrhythms. In other words: the arc of the label through Slater’s singular hallucinatory prism.
Cio D’Or – Fluidum III [SEM120]
Cio D’Or returns to Semantica with a new brand conceptual mini-LP. Self-styled “sound architect” and “music creator” Cio D’Or has been strangely quiet since releasing a ‘special edition’ of her “All In All” album back in 2016. Comeback EP “Fluidum III” is a fine collection of alien electronic workouts that sound like they were created via modular synthesis. What we get is six tracks built around watery sounds, swelling electronic motifs, spaced-out noises and occasional quirky rhythms. While some of the tracks – particularly “Climate” and “Celestial II” – boast deep but weighty kick-drum tracks in the techno tradition, for the most part the tracks are sparse, alien and devoid of dancefloor intent. The results are consistently alluring, albeit in a strange and spaced-out way.
Nina Simmons – Madera Negra EP [MA003]
Jake Schrock – Omnibus [MR-085]
Seven unreleased tracks meticulously chosen from the Schrock archive crossing and blending multiple genres from electro, wave, kosmiche and new age by Dallas analog synthesist Jake Schrock. With a literal arsenal of vintage equipment, Jake forges a wonderful, almost 80s soundtrack vibe with deep emotive washes and playful and gentle classic drum machine patterns and beats.
Nite Fields – A Voyeur Makes No Mark [LRR010]
Culminating in four years of recording sessions in Russia, Australia and Northern Ireland, ‘A Voyeur Makes No Mark’ is Nite Fields’ second LP. It’s the follow up to 2015’s ‘Depersonalisation’. If ‘Depersonalisation’ was an album of loss and self-destruction, ‘A Voyeur Makes No Mark’ embodies a self-possessed, buoyant, confrontational figure – though no less anguished with self and the world at large. More outward looking than the Nite Fields debut, and with a redefined aesthetic, themes of rebirth and redefinition carry throughout the album immortalised in principal songwriter and protagonist Danny Venzin’s delicate web of sound. Found within the 8-track LP are sounds rarely heard and even lesser played by the Western hemisphere. Utilising a sonic palette inspired by Venzin’s new surrounds whilst living in Moscow, a purposeful decision was made to incorporate local recording equipment and instrumentation. The results are stark yet richly atmospheric.
VA – Artificial Dancers: Waves of Synth [RHMC005]
Birthed at the turn of the ‘80s, synth and wave music has remained a constant force over the last four decades, with a recent spike in interest in the sound offering further proof of its’ timeless, out-of-this-world quality. It’s against this backdrop that Dutch DJ Interstellar Funk presents his celebration of the style, “Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth”. A bumper compilation bristling with obscure and hard-to-find gems, the set sees the Artificial Dance label founder joining the dots between synthesizer and drum machine-driven tracks in a variety of subtly different styles. It’s the result of hundreds of hours spent digging through dusty old records, tapes, and the Bandcamp accounts of DIY musicians who have been active since the sound’s first boom in the early 1980s. The 11-track set draws on tracks made and released at different times over the last 40 years, with the earliest cut committed to tape in 1978 and the most recent in 2018. While the tracks date from the ‘80s, ‘90s, noughties and 2010s, the showcased cuts are united by a primitive but futuristic quality that makes dating them difficult. In many cases, it’s hard to tell which tracks were made in the early 1980s and which were conjured up in 21st century studios.
Alessandro Parisi – Ascensione Progressiva [MR-086]
Medical supports the frequencies and thoughts of Italian producer Alessandro Parisi as we embark on an exploratory voyage into the realms of (un)consciousness. Leave your burdens behind as he guides you through a visionary tour. Eight tracks of cerebral and dancefloor stimulation expanded over a deluxe double LP guaranteed to take you “there” and “back”. Emotive and propulsive storms amidst delicate symphonies await you. Lovers of unique and unclassifiable vibes of dark disco/soundtrack/trance/electrosynth should dive in. Beautiful full color gatefold double LP.
Patricia Kokett – Bizarr [KH028]
On this long-awaited debut album Patricia Kokett continues his transcendent explorations. Built around a trip to the annual Nine Emperor Gods festival on the island of Phuket, Thailand, Bizarr is the sonic end result of an immersion into Thai ritual culture. The festivities and rituals of this so-called Vegetarian festival, which aim to give health and wisdom back to the community, inspired this beautiful, ecstatic collage of music, self-illuminating Kokett in the process. In this narrative of 6 long, stretched out songs, he conjures up an electrifying sense of catharsis and transcendence. An insert gathering in-depth liner notes about the artistic vision, the travels and the concept behind Bizarr will accompany this release.
Jordan Zawideh – Ce Es Music [RHD037CS5]
DJ durable double-pack that dances down the line between the old style Chi-town House sound and slamming Jakbeat.
FIT Siegel – Formula EP [FIT-025]
After five years of on-off collaborations and side projects, Aaron ‘FIT’ Siegel has finally got round to making a new solo record. The A-side “Exist On” delivers a brilliant blend of breakbeat-driven turn of the ’90s grooves, chunky bass, ultra-dreamy chords and the kind of bleeping top-end melodies. Title track “Formula” moves even further towards bleep techno territory via deep space chords, thumping techno beats, Kraftwerkian lead lines and the kind of distorted analogue bass found on LIES releases, while “Wayne County Stomp” sounds like a mutated, mind-altering cover of Steve Poindexter’s “Computer Madness”. Dedicated to those who find transcendence through music.
FILIPP – Miletus EP [GEODESIC002]
FILIPP (co-founder of kosmogonik) appers on the Geodesic series with his epic EP “Miletus”. Miletus, the ancient city of Ionia, was FILIPP’s source of inspiration for this musical épos. Having been the place of birth for 3 great thinkers of the Presocratic era (Thales, Anaximenes & Anaximander), Miletus symbolizes both the origin of thought & the birth of the universe. The Milesians placed great importance on natural elements like water, fire or air in their cosmogonies, elements that were depicted very well in FILIPP’s choice of sounds on this release.
Sepehr – Shaytoon [DE-277]
Dark Entries welcomes back San Francisco based DJ and producer Sepehr Alimagham for his debut album ‘Shaytoon’. Drenched in nostalgia from his upbringing, ‘Shaytoon’ pays homage to 1970s Iranian albums that were on rotation throughout his youth. Eight tracks of twisted acid, left-of center electro, sludgy psychedelia, and things-you-can-maybe-call-techno are a few of the sonic elements found within. Regular listeners will find Sepehr’s signature perspiratory dance-floor vibe, but some songs also showcase a low-slung, cerebral approach. Sepehr’s unique sonic palette carves an interesting space in the dance music world by harnessing the spirit of his cultural ancestors. The artwork pays tribute to ‘70s Iranian pop and funk albums with bold Farsi calligraphy and portraits by Sahra Jajarmikhayat. In relation to the music, the album cover creates a dichotomy much like Throbbing Gristle’s ’20 Funk Jazz Greats’.
Robert Bergman – S/T [LIES149]
The Brewmaster General (Brew Records, War Games) makes his long awaited debut on L.I.E.S. Currently, Amsterdam’s bearer of the underground torch, Robert Bergman follows suit in the tradition of his BREW label delivering his signature brand of chaotic jacking house madness over four tracks. Expanding on forefathers Sleezy D, the experiments of DJ Rush, or the Muzique clique, Bergman runs his tracks through the meat grinder serving up some of the most psychedelic house out there in this day and age.
Mejle @ LAUT (Barcelona) 08.02.2020
The Hipodrome Of Music 