Macadam Mambo presents a special collaboration with friend label ‘Simple Music Experience’ from Bordeaux/Marseille. Contains original Industrial, Synth-Pop, Jakbeat, Post-Punk, Experimental and Contemporary music by underground artists from France. Originally it released on tape (SM05) in 2016.
Lives of Angels was the brainchild of Gerald O’Connell from London, England. ‘Hole In The Sky’ is an 11-track compilation of material from the Lives of Angels archives. Including two tracks from the original ‘Elevator To Eden’ cassette omitted from our vinyl reissue, two tracks from Color Disc compilations and 7 previously unreleased tracks. This compilation features the very earliest Lives of Angels recordings “Call Moscow” and “Somebody Else” as well as the final composition from 1986 “The Infinite Corridor” plus original mixes of “After Dark” and “Look Out Kid” different than the versions on the ‘Color Supplement’ compilation. ‘Hole In The Sky’ is an impressive example of early ’80s home recording; a DIY interpretation of the elegance and ambition of the previous decade’s krautrock.
Fresh to Bird Scarer, fresh to us all; according to Weatherall all correspondence with this mystery new electroid sculptor has been done by letter (to a PO Box no less) and not even he knows who she is. Her music, however, speaks volumes: “Apple Knife” cuts with a crisp arpeggio before dropping into chunky, almost housey electro break. “Wisdom Of Rumi” softens the angularities a little with a break that’s not dissimilar to Tone Loc but awash with strange space-aged FX and numinous flourishes. According to Weatherall, he hopes there’s more to come from Zu…
For the latest volume in Tresor’s occasional Kern compilation series, the long standing German imprint has turned to balaclava-sporting Detroit legend DJ Stingray. The Drexciya associate has gathered together a typically forthright selection of techno and electro jams, presented here in unmixed form for pure DJ pleasure. Given that all the material is high quality, picking highlights is tough. Our favourites include the deep space electro brilliance of “Musik Politik” by Syncom Data, the trippy, acid-fired madness of vintage Aphex Twin wriggler “Serge Fenix Rendered 2”, the throbbing sub-bass and crusty drum machine hits of Herva’s “Slam The Laptop” and the bustling techno madness of Dynarec’s intergalactic workout “Moving Corridors”.
Debut release of Casa Voyager, first Moroccan label exploring hidden cultural spheres in Casablanca.5 liquid electro Detroit tracks produced, mixed and arranged by Driss Bennis aka OCB (A1, A2) Youssef Benjelloun aka Kosh (B1, B2)and Jonas Bengio aka Viewtiful Joe (B3).
Creme Organization returns in July with four searing electro cuts from Dutchman Ekman. Mixing up West Coast electro with tougher, more textured techno styles in recent releases for Berceuse Heroique and Bedouin Record, this artist is as much about the past as the future and proves that across this new and impressive set of tracks. Doomsday Argument is not as dark as you would expect form the name: its a lithe and slippery electro affair with crisp snares and gurgling bass all topped off by a freaky top line. The Great Filter mixes up distorted bass with rippling glass synths and sounds both spooky and cosmic, then Post Singularity Day picks up the pace with a quick and urgent Drexcyian style that is restless, dynamic and busy. Last of all Antifragile is a wild acid workout with rocking beats and ripping 303s that twitch every nerve in your body.
Dark Leader 003 featuring Riga’s Dmitry Distant and Portland’s own Natural Magic. Side A begins with “Tukšums” a driving acid jam by Dmitry Distant that brings the energy level up to 11. Natural Magic’s “Most High” polishes off side A with a triumphantly positive romp that puts the love icing right on the cake. Side B opens with “Artificial Joy” a breaky acid track by Dmitry Distant that will engross the dance floor with groovy sinister funk. This release concludes with Natural Magic’s “Dude Can Dance” a drummy piece of hypnotic dance music that dabbles in experimentalism.
Udacha just gets better and better with every release, branching out into ever more exciting shapes and styles beyond their house and techno foundations. On this album from Vyacheslav Shutov aka Indoor Plants, wild fourth world visions collide with hardware processes in a dazzling display of transcendental music for those who like their thought-provoking tunes to pack a punch. The likes of “Targitaus” deconstruct club music conventions in a quest for new rhythmic purpose, and yet the soundsystem pressure is expertly sculpted out of the daring shape of the music. Elsewhere there’s surrealism in abundance, as on the wonderfully weird “Hunch”, and that’s just scratching the surface of this truly essential LP.
DEMENT3D welcomes Valentino Mora on board, and share with us a part of his spiritual journey. Slow Hyper-controlled Motion has been inspired by Butoh moves, but also is a homage to early New York spiritual house. In creating this record he also took field recordings in the forests of Japan. The concept of Slow Hyper-controlled Motion is to recreate this 90’s spiritual house vibe, but in a more experimental way.
Now Analog Africa returns to put the record straight. Pop-Makossa shines a light on a glorious but largely overlooked period in the story of Cameroonian makossa, when local musicians began to replace funk and highlife influences with the rubbery bass of classic disco and the sparkling synth flourishes and drum machines of electrofunk. The resultant compilation, which apparently took eight years to produce, is packed full of brilliant cuts, from the heavily-electronic jauntiness of Pasteur Lappe’s “Sanaga Calypso” and horn-totin’ Highlife-disco of Emmaniel Kahe and Jeanette Kemogne’s “Ye Medjuie”, to the dense, organ-laden wig out that is Clement Djimogne’s “Africa”.
The Pop Makossa adventure started in 2009, when Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb first travelled to Cameroon to make an initial assessment of the country’s musical situation. He returned with enough tracks for an explosive compilation highlighting the period when funk and disco sounds began to infiltrate the Makossa style popular throughout Cameroon.
Correspondant’s annual compilation dispatches have become calendar essentials for all connoisseurs of the barbed, darker, leftfield side of the dancefloor. This summer they hit ‘Correspondent Compilation 5’ with another future-bound 15 track opus from their label family and friends. This inaugural vinyl samplers is turbo-charged by some of the label’s newest friends as Khidja, Marvin & Guy and Kempes all make their Correspondant compilation debuts alongside established affiliate Jonathan Kusuma. Each artist drawing out some deliciously mystic sci-fi aesthetics to the collection, it’s a remarkable introduction to what is arguably one of the Jennifer Cardini’s label’s most comprehensive and explorative various artist albums to date.
The 04AM A-side contains two South-African 80’s Bubblegum tracks, revamped by young DJ and producer Perdu. He provided the tracks with delicate intros and rearranged them with new percussion, synths and deeper basslines. On the flip Afrobot delivers two kind of New Beat cuts, making the originals more abstract by some heavy chopping, reducing the amount of samples used, and adding disco breaks to the track Jungle.
Emotional Rescue’s killer Bob Chance 7″ makes a welcome return sporting some new blue artwork. Two versions are included: the original 7″ version, driven along by a razor-sharp guitar riff and sweetly lamenting lyrics, topped off with weird cosmic synths and galloping rhythm. However, the real gem is the edit entitled “Wild It’s Broken” which sharpens the focus of the guitar and adds some serious kick to the drums to create a beefy counterpart to the new age original.
Philippe Krootchey was a musician, DJ, radio and television host born in Versailles, France in 1954. In 1984 Krootchey released his debut single Qu’est c’qu’il a (d’plus que moi ce négro là)’ on disco label Casablanca Records. Subsequently the single was re-released the same year but sung in English as Whatazzy’. For this release he teamed up with former Love International bandmate Fred Versailles, who shared his love for Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra as well as glam rock and 70’s black American soul music. Fred remembers, The idea was to send a message about racism against black people with a humorous tone. The French title translates to What has this nigger got, that I do not have’ Reversing the racial scales, Philippe (who is black) would get the girls and the fame, making white people jealous. It was Philippe’s tactful way to joke about racism he had experienced and overcame.’ The result is a slick synthetic funk and electro boogie reminiscent of Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambata. Philippe rap and subverting racism at the same time. On the B-side is Voodoo’ a slowed down instrumental dub version that stretches out the original to over 7-minutes. Sadly on September 2, 2004 Philippe Krootchey died of a cerebral aneurysm, just short of celebrating his 50th birthday.
Dead Wax Records presents “Distant Waves II”, a follow up of the well received 2014 compilation. This was compiled in three whole years (and a lot of research work) and is a collection of songs that share some common factors: they all were made in the 80s, they all feature synths and they all are extremely sought after, rare as hell or just previously unreleased. There are obvious style variations as each band here is unique but “Distant Waves II” is quite more homogeneous than its predecessor. We have the upbeat, danceable minimalism of Standing Ovation, Boris Dzaneck, Störung, Doppler Effect and Factoría Ribbentrop. The cold, moody melancholy of Broken Tables and La Valse. Virtually unknown acts like The Sixth Sense, Seeing Red and Almost Anyone, heavily underrated new wave giants like Grey Parade and Puppets Of Mankind. An unreleased synth pop masterpiece from Almost Alone here, an unheard 7” rendition of a worldwide dancefloor smasher by Nightmoves there. A total of 14 amazing tracks, all ‘instant classics’
Frigio Records is going back in time for its latest release, some 38 years into the past. Back then a young Newcastle man was experimenting with early electronic instruments and synths. Mick Clarke is his name and nearly forty years later he is still at it. Two tracks have been borrowed from Clarke’s seminal Games LP, each given a bit of modern boot polish from MinimalRome’s Heinrich Dressel and Frigio father Juanpablo. “Walls of the Night” is a blissed out work of ambient prog rock abstraction. Think rumbling horror score and soaring guitar strings. Heinrich Dressel offers a giallo dipped remix. The building bars of the original are maintained, beats added for ballast and darkened organ keys for a remake etched with murderous intent. The flip is introduced by the dreamy “Time Is Now.” Slender synthlines intertwine with gentle strings in a cerebral work. Juanpablo tweaks the 1979 material. Syrupy acid lines swim in meandering currents, a thick beat keeping time in murky waters of modulations and undulations.
Shoc Corridor was the London post-punk quartet of Paul O’Carroll (Voice, Synth), Andy Garnham (Synth, Drum), Chris Davis (Guitar, Bass, E-Bow) and Nogi Prass (Synth) named after the Sam Fuller film from 1963. The group recorded a 4-song demo during 1981 in a tiny flat Chris shared with Nogi in Notting Hill. As their collection of instruments grew they set up studio a few blocks away in Andy’s flat at 20 All Saints Road. There they re-recorded Sargasso Sea’ along with On Reflexion’ on a TEAC reel-to-reel 4-track machine. In the summer of ’82, the band was booked into Decibel Studios in Stoke Newington for two and a half days with Mark Easton of Shout Records, where they reworked the two songs. The group usually worked through studio experimentation rather than constructing their songs in a conventional way. Their equipment list included a Korg MS-20, Wasp, Pro-One, Roland TR-808, WEM Copicat, guitars, bass, e-bow and an assortment of effects pedals. On Reflexion’ began as a Blancmange backing track, since Stephen Luscombe would sometimes use Andy’s 4-track, Korg MS-20 and drum machine. Chris has memories of Paul disappearing from time to time to the neighboring graveyard for inspiration, where they had to procure him from to lay down vocals. Their debut 3-song 12′ single, A Blind Sign’, was released in October 1982 on Shout Records. For this re-issue we’ve included the original skeletal Sargasso Sea’ 4-track demo from 1981. Evocative and dreamy, the music escorts you on a tour of icy landscapes, with Paul’s rich vocals guiding the way.
The legendary Moscow club Propaganda celebrates its 20th Anniversary in April 2017 and launches a brand new record label. The label will cover different styles of intelligent electronic music, focusing on techno in the first year. At the beginning there will be released music by great artists who had performances at Propaganda club in past. More artists will be involved and more excellent music will be released over time.
The argentinian Alderaan makes his debut on Warm-Up Recordings. He offers three slices of modern techno, heavy percussive based but whit a lot of intelligent elements inside. Oscar Mulero remixes one track, getting rid of the textures and focusing in rhythm and repetition in a minimalistic remake.
The Hipodrome Of Music 