Crossing Avenue – Malandra [SPAZIO007]

Next up on Spazio Disponibile is a pair of artists who played the party of the same name at Goa, Rome last year, Crossing Avenue. They present a four tracks EP. “Crucial” is first and is a big, warm open space filled with tiny little flecks of sound, delicate synth flashes and rolling rubber drums that truly hypnotise. “Malandra” is another bit of burrowing mind music that is hugely atmospheric yet notably sparse and economic in design. The drums roll below as watery droplets, ghostly pads and haunting organic hooks all roam and snake about in the mix. “Rimbalzo” is darker and more direct, with a supple techno groove forcing you to move as flashes of synth, alien life forms and subterranean ambiance all colour in the airwaves. Last of all, “No Coasts” traps you in another underground cave with only desolate drones and bulbous bass lines for company. It is eerie, but beautifully so, and rounds out another fascinatingly cinematic release.

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Crossing Avenue – Malandra [SPAZIO007]

Binny – Devil’s Orchestra EP [TORTURED006]

Making his Tortured debut is Liverpool based Techno DJ and producer, Binny with his ‘Devil’s Orchestra EP’. He delivers a refined EP from the striking and demonic strings of the aptly titled opener, ‘Devil’s Orchestra’ via the multihued tough groove of ‘Alternative Methods’, before the Tech-funk of ‘Roll With It’ and on to the Sci-Fi tones of ‘Untitled’ which closes the vinyl 12″.

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Binny – Devil’s Orchestra EP [TORTURED006]

Johannes Volk / Savas Pascalidis – Suburban Avenue 007 [SAV007]

Suburban Avenue welcomes two other great artists in its team. SAV007 is a splitted EP between the German-based djs and producers, Johannes Volk and Savas Pascalidis. Volk delivers two works: A1, “Dont Be Afraid, Theres No Hope” is a an elegant and minimalistic techno tune, that seems to reveal his dystopian vision of the future, A2, “Wrong Prophecy” is a proper Detroit banger track. Pascalidis gives his contribution to this release with other two amazing cuts: B1, “Night Force” is a perfect track, ready for the big floor: noisy, boomy with a straight groove. B2, “Strobe” is a classy and effective techno tool, lost in space.

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Johannes Volk / Savas Pascalidis – Suburban Avenue 007 [SAV007]

Privacy – Zero Value [KLAKSON026]

New school electro wunderkind Privacy makes his debut on Klakson with a dark four tracker that checks all the right boxes. The EP kicks off with “Four IO”, a haunting, spacey dubbed out acid roller with lush pads throughout. “U Can Tell” and “NCSC” are both specimens of the finest EBM tradition, re-interpreting the sound for 2017, while “Shove” on the B2 effortlessly transports us into deep, uptempo aquatic electro territory.

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Privacy – Zero Value [KLAKSON026]

Zeta Reticula – EP 6 [ELECTRIX010]

Umek continues his Zeta Reticula series for Billy Nasty’s Electrix with ‘EP 6’. The bass-quaking ‘Reticulum’ opens the EP and the release instantly sparkles and explodes into electrofunk action, followed by ‘Solar Analogs’, like a ticking time bomb. ‘Rotating Protostellar Cloud’ heads up the B-side with its more Moroder / Kraftwerk era sound that’s epic and melodious, before ‘Circumstellar Debris Disk’ completes the quartet, with a flurrying filmatic soundscape approach.

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Zeta Reticula – EP 6 [ELECTRIX010]

Berlin Weekend 2.0

Two weeks ago we were unlucky enough to miss our Berlin weekend due to airport strike in both Berlin airports.

We missed a monstrous line-up at Griessmühle with Bleak, Johannes Volk,  DJ Overdose and Hakim Murphy on Friday and June, Florian Kupfer, AN-i and Zadig on Saturday night.

We managed to reschedule our trip for this weekend and we hope that we will get to and from Berlin all safe.

This weekend offering is not that bad and we will have again a diverse music program.

Continue reading “Berlin Weekend 2.0” →

Berlin Weekend 2.0

System Olympia – Dusk & Dreamland [SLOMO030]

SYSTEM OLYMPIA - Dusk & Dreamland

New year, new start and a long overdue introduction of some female sensibilities into the Slow Motion stable. System Olympia hails from Calabria and was formerly part of London based Royalty. You know the drill by now, tear jerking synths, chest crushing bass and that indefinable slow-motion disco swagger that we have made all our own.

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System Olympia – Dusk & Dreamland [SLOMO030]

Helena Hauff – A Tape [DE149]

Dark Entries present ‘A Tape’, a double LP of early work by Helena Hauff. ‘A Tape’ is a compilation of Helena’s earliest recordings from 2011 and 2014, originally released on limited cassette by Handmade Birds in 2015. Clocking in at over 50 minutes, this collection spans Hauff’s musical universe, from jacking acid-techno to krautish zone-outs and scuzzy feedback interludes. It’s tempting to consider it Helena’s debut album, but she views these tracks as mostly forgotten sketches left on the cutting room floor. It a gripping collection of deep, sinister analog synth sequences, industrial dissonance, and heavy percussion. Her equipment set up was a Roland Alpha Juno 2, Juno 60, TB-303, TR-707 and TR-808. Both of the discs end with Hauff stepping outside of the intentionally stiff, robotic rhythms, instead showing her skill at crafting less conventional electronic sounds.

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Helena Hauff – A Tape [DE149]

Bookworms + Steve Summers – BNK007-2 [BNK007-2]

BOOKWORMS/STEVE SUMMERS - BNK 0072

BANK Records 7 series continues with a two tracker by Steve Summers and Bookworms. Side A features a track from long time collaborators Jason Letkiewicz and Nicholas Dawson who have showcased their signature free form sound on Letkiewicz Confused House imprint. Side B is a solo cut by Bookworms. The menacing sound of this recording is reminiscent of Dawson’s work you may have heard on his Nord release, Compact Visual Nature. Classic tracks from two of BK’s finest.

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Bookworms + Steve Summers – BNK007-2 [BNK007-2]

VA – Welcome To Paradise: Italian Dream House 89-93 Vol.1 [ST003-2]

Safe Trip releases Welcome To Paradise, an expansive retrospective of the Italian dream house sound co-compiled by label founder Young Marco. At the tail end of the 1980s, a new take on deep house began to emerge from Italian studios. ‘Dream house’ drew inspiration from key U.S deep house records of the period – the spacey melodiousness of Larry Heard’s productions, and the rich jazziness of tracks originating in New Jersey in particular – but sounded distinctly different. Its’ ‘head-in-the-clouds’ feel – all rich chords, tactile basslines, fluid piano lines and starry electronics – made ‘dream house’ a uniquely Italian proposition.

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VA – Welcome To Paradise: Italian Dream House 89-93 Vol.1 [ST003-2]

VA – Welcome To Paradise: Italian Dream House 89-93 Vol.1 [ST003-1]

Safe Trip releases Welcome To Paradise, an expansive retrospective of the Italian dream house sound co-compiled by label founder Young Marco. At the tail end of the 1980s, a new take on deep house began to emerge from Italian studios. ‘Dream house’ drew inspiration from key U.S deep house records of the period – the spacey melodiousness of Larry Heard’s productions, and the rich jazziness of tracks originating in New Jersey in particular – but sounded distinctly different. Its’ ‘head-in-the-clouds’ feel – all rich chords, tactile basslines, fluid piano lines and starry electronics – made ‘dream house’ a uniquely Italian proposition.

listen

VA – Welcome To Paradise: Italian Dream House 89-93 Vol.1 [ST003-1]

VA – From Chicago To Detroit V6 [DOFTD006]

Volume 6 of the sought-after series From Chicago To Detroit compiled by Jordan Fields. The A side kicks off with ‘Moonman’s Return’ and a full 12” version of ‘The Runner’ from Boo Williams. Side B features tracks from Steve Frisco, Morgan Alexander, Giles Dickerson.

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VA – From Chicago To Detroit V6 [DOFTD006]

Credit 00 – Game Over [UVLP005]

CREDIT 00 - Game Over

Credit 00 delivers his debut album “Game Over”. After four EPs for Uncanny Valley the Leipzig based musician is now ready to let loose his electronic visions on full length. As everybody can confirm who saw him playing live or DJing, the head behind Uncanny Valley’s sub label Rat Life is a slave to the rhythm on a full-time basis. Obsessed with sound, he can’t stop pushing the buttons of his synthesizers and drum machines like someone torturing the controls of an Arcade machine. “Game Over” is an electronic love letter to the romantic fantasy worlds of classic video games and their bleepy and clonky sounds which used to be common also in repetitive electronic dance music.

Collecting tracks from the last six years, “Game Over” is also a passion project that channels all his influences. You can get a glimpse of the ingredients that make up his record collection. Whether it is Hip Hop,Techno, Electro Boogie, New Beat, Italo, Jungle, Reggae, House or Chill Out. Though, all those different sounds and styles do not tear this album apart. It’s a bit of a miracle that it feels so flawless for what happens between the appetizing “Level One” and the final track “The Last March”. Those beats on “Game Over” can be brutally effective like the fatalities in Mortal Kombat while the overlying sounds can be smooth like the lemmings’ animations in the eponymous Amiga game. Just listen to the title track. Or the instant hip shaker “Breakers Revenge” that comes with a little help from friends like Sara Stammburg on vocals and Max Rademann on Rhodes.

Without losing sight on the dance floor Credit 00 creates an electronic wonderland that delights dancers and connoisseurs at the same time. To top things off the wonderful artwork was created by Alexander Dorn a.k.a. Credit 00 himself.

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Credit 00 – Game Over [UVLP005]