Artefakt – Icarus [143DSR]
After launching their own De Stijl label last year, Artefakt are back on Delsin with Icarus, a sparkling new four track outing. Known for their intricate sound design and deep yet hard hitting grooves. Always serving up atmospheric music that is artful and filled with rich detail, they continued on their own path once again here. Starting with the smooth and hypnotic, stripped back grooves from Icarus. Followed by the cavernous and immersive ambient trip Ganzfeld Effect. The darker Vapour is still heady and meticulously crafted with deft little details, a rich sound field and supple techno drums getting you in the zone. Delphic then offers crisp breakbeats, dubby drums and electrically charged synths that are physical but emotional. It’s another perfect fusion of light and dark, thoughtful and physical techno from this ever impressive pair.
Nexus 21 – Made In Detroit [NEXUS21-2]
Of all the Network treasured relics set to be released this year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the label there’s nothing as appropriate as the Nexus 21 “Made In Detroit” EP – it was recorded in the 1990 starter year and has been stuck In the vaults gathering dust ever since.
Versalife – Manifold [VIS320]
Following two well received releases on 20/20 Vision – ‘Machine Life’ & ‘Asimov’s Code’ Versalife returns to the label with his latest album ‘Manifold’ serving up futuristic electro with signature emotive synth work to trigger the imagination. The Dutch producer Boris Bunnik aka Conforce continues his dystopian journey with auditory echoes of a cosmic abyss. Peppered with moody tones, deep bass lines and robotic funk, ‘Manifold’ navigates the future landscape in true Versalife fashion.
VA – Exit Planet Earth: Carbon [EPE01]
Exit Planet Earth by 20/20 Vision is a new series of various artist vinyl releases, selected and compiled by Ralph Lawson. The first edition ‘Carbon’ leads with contributions from two of the most influential electro producers of all time The Hacker and 214, who both deliver unforgiving hard hitting excursions to future worlds. On the other side Reedale Rise sheds some light with ‘Lux’ before the record is beautifully closed with an uplifting composition for space travel – ‘The Gap’ by Derek Carr.
E.R.P. – Evoked Potentials 3/3 [SEM016(2020)]
Second time around for the third and final part of electro hero Gerard ‘ERP’ Hanson’s “Evoked Potentials” series, which first hit stores way back in 2011. A-side “Repose” is (quite literally) classic ERP, with Hanson peppering Egyptian Lover style drums and funky synth-bass with chiming lead lines, starburst chords and deep space chords. It’s tuneful and picturesque, but will also have you on your feet and throwing shapes in no time at all. Over on the flip, Plant43 (London electro veteran Emile Facey) turns in a very Drexciyan take on “Sensory Process”, in the process wrapping Hanson’s bittersweet strings and 33rd century electronic motifs around a suitably deep sea electro rhythm.
Cardopusher @ Gate III Festival (Moscow) 24.08.2019
Raw Ambassador – You Can’t Stop A Tornado [OTF003]
Out The Flat welcomes the Ambassador of Raw, burning onto wax like rubber on asphalt. Running roughshod over six one-take tracks, ‘You Can’t Stop A Tornado’ is one for the speed freaks, delivering a top gear mix of highway stomp and knuckle-funk – hardware music for running the red light.
Years of Denial – Suicide Disco Remixes [VEYL015]
Years of Denial and Veyl enlist Silent Servant, Broken English Club, Orphx and Alexey Volkov to remix their 2019 album ‘Suicide Disco.’
Savage Grounds – Body Weight Compressor EP [ILG004]
Comes with a patch Savage Grounds return to the never ending warpath with their new EP “Body Weight Compressor”. After a one-year break, which was used to collect ideas, machines and material, they are releasing six titles with brooding melodies, sounds from the factory, diystopian texts and authoritative marches. An unnaturally restrained chaos. Being released by Infoline Global it provides a reflection of the city they live in. We live in the dark. We have nothing to say. We are the void inside you that devours everything.
Raviv Gazit – Ze [FTNLP008]
Fortuna Records return with an exceptional reissue of a mid-80s early electronica LP by keyboardist Raviv Gazit. The album was composed entirely on the Synclavier synthesizer in the basement of the Tel-Aviv University in 1985. Gazit was ahead of his time composing cold yet blissful electronic music for film and theatre which he later released as an album. An unexpected yet extremely welcome addition to Fortuna’s killer catalog.
The Chi Factory – Travel in Peace [AI-18]
Following the death of his one-time Chi Factory partner J. Derwort in February 2019, Hanyo van Oosterom went back to Patmos, the magical island where they once recorded their most famous works, armed with some of the artefacts and hand-built instruments they’d collected together. While there, he made the field recordings and musical sketches that form the backbone of “Travel In Peace”, Oosterorm’s emotional final album as Chi Factory. Poignant, atmospheric, melancholic, dreamy and otherworldly with a genuine sense of time and place (you can almost smell the surrounding flora and fauna), the album’s two lengthy tracks – collages of interlinked sketches and recurring musical motifs – are fittingly fantastic. As curtain calls go, we can think of few better.
Organisation – Tone Float [ISPLP2201]
Pre Kraftwerk, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter formed Organisation in 1968. Their music was a mixture of sounds, feedback and rhythm, with the line up being Fred Monicks on drums, Butch Hauf on bass, Basil Hammoudi on percussion, Florian Schneider on flute and violin and Ralf Hütter on organ. The original sales were poor but nowadays it is highly sought after, also because Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider later continued as Kraftwerk, and became one of the most important electronic music formations ever.
NiKiT – Radar [EE030RTM]
‘Radar’ by Parisian DJ and producer NiKiT is Electronic Emergencies’ first release in 2020. Two years after his debut, NiKiT has once again delivered a stunning mini-album. His idiosyncratic and particular style within the realm of techno flirts with electro, and sometimes even has a dubby touch. Compared to his debut ‘Arcanes’, NiKiT’s sound has expanded and is more spacey, while staying powerful and very danceable.
Annechoic – rw nw prt m hrw [BT37]
The 37th installment on brokntoys sees the return after a long hiatus of audiofugitive Annechoic. Having carved her sound over the years, rw nw prt m hrw sees the DJ and producer inhabiting a crossover land between electro and electronica. Taking inspiration from The Egyptian Book of the Dead, the EP alternates dreamlike atmospheres with adroit club numbers. Through 5 tracks Annechoic deftly manoeuvres between the introspective and stargazing, offering a glimpse into the tapestry of a unique player
Marco Shuttle @ The Bunker (NYC) 07.02.2020
Wang Inc. – Mediterraneo [RN015]
Starting from the assumption that polyrhythmic music is a political statement, Wang inc. developed this 12” focusing on the stories of the past years taking place in the central Mediterranean Sea. Stories of hope and despair, often tragic by the will of powerful and egoistic people. Each track describes a fase of the crossing of the Sicilian channel: Fuga is the escape from the Libyan prisons, Gommone is the crossing on an inflatable raft that often finds a tragic epilogue, Approdo is the battle between humanitarian aids and governments to find a place of safe, Abbraccio is the tragic history of mother and son found at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea still hugging each other. It’s harsh techno, slow, with vivid images, lot’s of tension and bleak atmospheres. All titles are in Italian because this story is part of the history of Italy.
Marco Passarani – Les Yeux Orange #157
Caroil – Vega [JUNE19]
June Records presents the debut release of Lithuanian artist Caroil who has been active in the local scene with his involvement with DOS Club and STRCAMP. Recorded between 2015 and 2018 in Vilnius, Lithuania using hardware digital and analog synthesizers. Sound sources include: Boss DR-660, Formanta Polivoks, Kawai SX-210, Kawai K1, KORG MS-20, KORG KR-55B, Roland SH-101, Roland JX3P, SIEL Cruise, YAMAHA TG-33.
Marc Ash – Mirror Glaze Lavish [F//017]
“Mirror Glaze Lavish” is Marc’s latest effort in trying to depict his cynical and disillusioned view of the present-day music scene, seen through a sonic magnifier that emphasizes its greatest controversies, by juxtaposing different electronic languages as a challenge to the current levelling artistic trends. The artist personality is nullified, standardized to a state of placid non-critical thinking. Everyday’s emptiness emerges as the structure of reality and only the cracks in it still lead to life. “Great souls suffer in silence”, once said Friedrich Schiller, but what if silence becomes an audible, danceable image? As if all these electro cuts, differently permeated with a balanced mix of playful darkness, were populated by eerie animals that cannot find peace with their habitat and keep dancing relentlessly until the very end of their miserable existence. Seen in this context, each of Marc’s tracks must be interpreted as an irreverent and poignant act of self-assertion vis-à-vis his contemporaries. Morah’s reinterpretation of “Celexxa” adds value to the original track, taking us for a dirty ride on a psycho-electro-charged rollercoaster.
The Hipodrome Of Music 