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Hipodrome Podcast 020 – Roxxete
The 20th podcast from the Hipodrome Series makes a premiere, is actually the first female dj that has a podcast on our site. Roxxete aka Roxana Zangar is a young dj from Cluj, but she is making a name for herself for quite some years already. Her style is very melodic, strongly rhythmic, with great attention to detail. With a strong curiosity for the spiritual side of music, she believes in sharing her feelings, moods and beliefs through sound.
Johannes Volk – Fanzine Podcast 041
Deniro – Painting [TAPE011]
Orlando Voorn – Collected Ep #2 [MPD003]
Second Ep (of four) announcing the forthcoming Orlando Voorn Collected double CD that will showcase the best from the Dutch producer in his early days. This EP focuses on the early ’91 rave side of Orlando Voorn and gather on one slice of wax 4 sureshot thrilling techno classic and moving warehouse tracks for the most hardcore djs.
Orson Wells – Missin U EP [SM005]
Orson Wells returns to his own Sound Mirror imprint with another superb 3-tracker. A slightly electro tinged dreamy and melodic beauty called G.I.T.S.’ is followed by the distorted, heavy breakbeat enhanced pounding title track Missn’ U’ on side A, while the futuristic deep journey Red Planet’ on the flip makes this EP another versatile and quality packed release you shouldn’t miss.
Arnold Steiner – Mood Sequence [M043]
Arnold Steiner delivers a no nonsense classic electro EP with Mood Sequence offering 3 on point original tracks and a remix offered by Juan Atkins + Kimyon Huggins.
VA – Genesis Tracks Vol.2 [SIS027]
Sistrum welcomes the second installment in the Genesis Tracks series, bringing together four special cuts from Patrice Scott, Reggie Dokes, Eric Cloutier and Kai Alce. Label head, Patrice Scott opens the EP right – setting the tone with a smooth excursion into lush chord stabs and deep, low end vibrations. Vintage strings ride high, while tinkling jazz keys dance amongst the waveforms, making for yet another future classic in the Sistrum lineage. Mr. Reggie Dokes offers up nothing less than a baptism by sound for his contribution, going deep with reverberant rhythms and crisp synth work, crafting an interstellar afro journey of the highest order. Keeping the quality at its highest, Eric Cloutier’s entry is a deep, techy mover – designed to lock the dancefloor into a hypnotic state. Drifting strings provide the foundation for highly modulated, gritty chord stabs to lead the way through the darkest of dancefloors. Kai Alce rounds out the EP in fine form – stripping things back to the essentials. ‘Jelly’ is raw, bouncy goodness, simply put. The filtered down acid-esque bassline is nothing short of a call to movement for all believers in the authentic sounds of house music.
Brian Harden – Chicago To Detroit (Remixes Part 1) [D3E002X]
This EP features 3 remixes, one By Brian himself and the others by Detroit’s Patrice Scott and Atlanta’s Byron The Aquarius. First up is man of the moment, Byron The Aquarius with his ethereal take on the original. With it’s cosmic sounds weaving in and out, Byron manages to infuse his soulful sound on the track to take it to a otherworldly territory. Brian is up next with his “Chicago Sur Seine Mix”, introducing a steel drum and some beautiful pads that are reminiscent of 808 State’s, Pacific 202. While still keeping with the original’s pace, this remix has more of a down tempo feel, and would fit perfectly in those late night/early morning sets. Finally Patrice Scott delivers a more beat driven Detroit take on the original, with an emphasis on the hi hats and clap that really gives the track that driven feel. While still paying respect to the original, half way through Patrice takes it to another level with his atmospheric keys that round off a great remix EP.
Smallpeople – Crystal Fandango [SMALLVILLE048]
Smallpeople doing the Crystal Fandango. After a little while, Just and Julius are back on wax with a fresh three-tracker, that was well tested on the road by some close friends for quite a while- and it was about time to put out this groover right in time for the summer.
Frank & Tony – Under The Jaguar Sun [SAT027]
The boys in black, Frank & Tony, are skating back onto the scene with another four track summer stomper, ‘Under the Jaguar Sun’. The A-side starts things off with the titular track, a rollicking deep house number primed for sunset raves. A bouncing and lush bass line is the back bone of the track, as crisp hi-hats, distant, yearning pads, and shimmering bells propel dancers forward into eyes closed euphoria. Things ramp up quickly into peak-time ecstasy on the Breakaway edit of Solo Andata’s A Ballet of Hands.’ A whirling dervish of delicate music boxes, bowed guitars, delicate music boxes, and distant horns swirl around and weave in and out between a skipping drum pattern, pushing and pulling alongside a gruff and stuttering bass, perfect for those late night rooftop ventures. The B-side takes listeners into early morning after hours territory, starting with the groovy Difficult Loves.’ An airy and luscious double bass keeps things bouyed as introspective pads shimmer alongside pillars of aquatic synths. Backed by a classic, shuffling NY House drum groove, this one is best served late into the evening. The boys wrap things up on a high note with the latin vibes of Sargasso.’ Crisp tambourines keep things light as dense kicks and a bass line deeper than the deepest canyon pull dancers deep into the floor with a warm embrace. The star of the show is the bouncing and earnest synth line, which is partnered up with a pair of playful toms in a game of cat and mouse, making this track a weapon anywhere you place it in a set.
Baldo – W [LPHWHT011]
Strong melodic house vibes by Spanish producer Baldo Gallego on Let’s Play House White. Nice mellow mid 90’s balearic vibes mixed with a bit of Classic New York house.
Baltra – Distant Signal Radio 005
Head Technician – Zones [E022LP]
Ecstatic label catch Martin Jenkins (Pye Corner Audio) in Head Technician garb for a slippery set of slow, plasmic acid workouts that were originally issued on a super-limited tape, and now sit heavy on wax. Over the years Jenkins has used the Head Technician alter ego as a sort of evil engineer Hyde analogous to his day-to-day Jekyll, a sort of hyperstitious studio partner in a time-honoured tradition of sleeve credits ghost chasing. Where Pye Corner Audio’s pieces may tend to be lustrous, optimistic, the Head Technician’s Zones LP hems to the shadows of the ‘floor with a furtive, noirish quality that works a treat in the right situations, whether soundtracking gaslamp-lit raves or midnight street patrols seeking out ne’erdowells and laudanum dealers.
Fired on a classic trinity of Roland TR-606 drum machine with an MC-202 (a beast to program, he admits) and TB-303 to sequence his baselines, it clearly makes explicit reference to the early days of Detroit techno and UK bleep ’n bass, but the vibe is more anachronistic, out-of-time, possibly thanks to his patented, lagging basslines and slowly unfolding arrangements, bridging that imaginary, dilated gap between fuzzy dancefloor head melt and curtains-drawn next day gouch out.
VA – #3 White LP [US012]
3 Year Compilation LP. There’s something undeniably old-fashioned about this latest missive from hyped imprint Nous Disques. By gathering together seven unheard tracks on one slab of wax, they recall thoughts of classic compilations from early techno labels. Musically, it’s undeniably forward thinking, gathering together a range of dancefloor-friendly cuts from label artists old and new. Highlights are plentiful, from the flexible disco bass and new age chords of Mutual Attraction’s “Track 2”, to the stripped-back, drum machine thump of Moodcut’s “Sleep In 808”, via the cybernetic techno fizz of “Azoui” by Fetnat. Elsewhere, you’ll also find some fine Larry Heard style deep house revivalism from Breakin Moves, and a mid-tempo blast of colourful synthesizer love by Cofaxx.
Echo 106 – Shifting Multiverse EP [AF004]
Analogical Force is introducing Echo 106 to the family. The Swiss duo serves up more hard-wired fare for those who like their dance music intense and rugged. Opener “Frontal DN-2” sets the tone, layering ragged acid lines, psychedelic electronics and creepy chords atop a crispy TR-808 rhythm. There’s more 303 abuse to be found on the more electro flavoured “Shifting Multiverse” and “Myrtle Acid”, with the latter arguably being the pick of the bunch. Naturally, the most banging contribution to the EP comes from remixer Ceephax Acid Crew, who turns “Myrtle Acid” into a trippy stomper.
Palermo Disco Squad – Island Life [BAP064]
The undisputed one man army returns to Bordello A Parigi with the ultimate Sicilian holiday kit: an adventurous tour around his beloved island during the endless hot summer days. Palermo Disco Squad is Innershades aka the Belgian artist Thomas Blanckaert.
Daniele Cosmo @ FemurClub, Specka (Madrid) 01.07.2016
214 – Fuel Cells [CPU00100000]
Seattle-based electro artist 214 (Two Fourteen) aka Chris Roman has made a welcome, if not inevitable debut on CPU, with 4 tracks of icy beats, bass and bleeps. He begins with the panicked electronics, bubbling synths and snappy rhythms of “Overbridge”, before diving deep into purist electro pastures on the funk-laden brilliance of “Fuel Cells”. Flip for the similarly funky 303 lines, intergalactic melodies and hissing electro beats of “Keep Right”, and the darker, spacier and punchier “Greenbelt”. If you’re on the hunt for some “proper electro”, look no further.
Lok44 – Bous [TRUST025]
Lost spaceship Lok44 returns to its home planet, and it has been mightily upgraded with alien bass technology since dropping ‘Ghetto of the Mind’ and ‘Derailed’ on TRUST over 10 years ago. ‘Bous’ is a vigorous comeback, touching on lean and mean electro funk, broken house, and hypnotic outer-orbit bleeps across its four tracks. Lucky owners of ‘Bous’s two highly sought-after precursors will recognise common stylistic threads spanning the decades, but just as before, Lok44 prefers to veer off on tangents, sketchily exploring unknown bass music quadrants. Second release in the ‘Covert Systems’ series, limited quantity.
The Hipodrome Of Music 