Wonderful, driving, Drexciya schooled Electro refreshment from CN aka Stian Gjevik on Sleepers.
Neud Photo – Dystopix [MSDN1204]
Dystopix comes 3 years after the last Neud Photo record and the wait was well worth it.T hings have gotten darker with this release. Elegant craftsmanship, subtle but effective vocals whisper throughout, and as always, it’s Cybotron influence is clear. The tracks flow with an eery cohesiveness, making it Neud Photo’s most well told story to date. The hard part is figuring out whether the story is fiction or (soon to be) reality. These 6 electro hits can easily be enjoyed either chapter by chapter (songs for the mix or dancefloor), or as a whole (for bedroom listening).
Legowelt – Dekmantel Podcast 078
Vakula – Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa [DKMNTL040]
Vakula has been a Dekmantel label member ever since the very early days. The Ukraine based producer now drops his album Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa on the label. ‘This album is about cycles, repetition and interaction’, says Vakula, whose Cyclicality between Procyon and Gomeisa is the third of a series of albums and reflects a dashing experimental record that evokes the endless and captivating potential of electronic music. It creates a mesmerizing journey through various music genres, exhibiting a singular sonic experience, whilst he works through a process of improvisation and refinement. Once again the mastermind proves to be capable of creating complex, yet diverse musical pieces beyond genres and trends. The result: an audio adaptation of his fascinating mind. ‘There are two parallel processes that come together in my work: me writing music and working on the sound I want to achieve, and the energy from outside that flows and transforms into thoughts, correlations, and actions.’ The track titles relate to the source of Vakula’s inspiration and connect the dots between his obsession for the vastness of our universe and electronic music. ”To wonder about the universe and to dig into mythology and scientific research discovering at least some of its secrets is what keeps me endlessly motivated as a producer.”
Fred P – Sound Destination [SPMBLP002]
Sound Destination is a project that crosses genre to find its own space. Soundscapes, downtempo, ambient, and house music all find a place in this aesthetically complete project. There’s a simmering, hovering quality about the whole album, as a pastoral ease settles over the listener. The record flows like a vague narrative, a non-specific sort-of journey album, a meditative jazz-house trip. Fred Peterkin shows yet another perspective of his expression. bursting out of the style-box, to draw you in to his own dimension.
B12 – Brokenunbroken [FS001]
FireScope Records, the new sub label of the legendary B12 Record, is here to exist with the same ethos, quality music, quality packaging, without compromise and a product that will stand the test of time. The first release is by B12, the EP entitled BrokenUnBroken. A moody down tempo risky start for a first release on a new label, however its enigmatic beauty, sounds, artwork and themes make it the only natural choice.
Afrikan Sciences – Means & Ways [DBRV006LP]
Bursting out of Oakland into the ionosphere, a hot pocket of free jazz, house, blues, African & Latin rhythms, a fully shuffled deck of everything that might expand your head, all fed into the MPC, and hot-wired right into your heart. Some five years after it was released digitally, Aybee’s Deepblak label revisit the wonderful Afrikan Sciences LP Means &Ways to grant it a double LP vinyl edition. For those unfamiliar with the album, the 11-track set showed Eric Porter refusing to stand still, variously touching on polyrhythmic IDM, dusty jazz-hop, dense post-techno wonkiness, hard-to-pigeonhole madness (see “Alpha Male Syndrum”), sparkling aural experiments (“Ways & Means”), and pleasingly off-kilter dancefloor fare. Amongst this category you’ll find deliberately out-of-time deepness, slipped broken beat, and dense drum workouts (“NanoRock Skank”). As usual, Porter’s tunes are bizarre but brilliant.
Nat Birchall – Guiding Spirit [JMANLP089]
Guiding Spirit was second album by Nat Birchall for the fledgling Manchester label Gondwana Records back in 2010. The follow-up to the remarkable debut of Akhenaten found him exploring different textures using percussion and instruments like the kora and the harp. It was also the first time Nat had recorded on the soprano saxophone, featured here on the songs Keep the Light Shining and Higher Regions. Nat reveals a concept on the instrument quite unlike most other contemporary players of the higher-pitched horn, his sound more akin to the keening tone of the Indian shenai master, Bismillah Khan, perfectly in keeping with the music’s more “Eastern” sounding leanings. The music here is firmly rooted in the modal jazz world of Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and others who sought to expand upon the avenues of expression originally forged by John Coltrane in the heady days of the early 1960s. As has often been pointed out by commentators however, this is no pastiche or “re-make”. This is the real thing, played absolutely in the now, but played from and in the spirit of then. Originally released only in CD format, Jazzman Records are proud to make this music available on vinyl for the first time.
Nat Birchall – Akhenaten [JMANLP088]
Akhenaten was the first album Nat Birchall released via the then brand-new Gondwana Records label in Manchester. Originally only released on CD this is the first time this classic recording has been made available on vinyl. The album on the whole features a quartet, and is expanded to a quintet on the title track where UK trumpet virtuoso Matthew Halsall joins in with a stunning solo. The album explores deep, hymn-like themes at length, finding much to say on the relatively simple melodies and arrangements. Nat and his fellow band members play here with the selfless motivation and focus that’s required to allow them to tap deep into the human psyche, producing music that is soulful and stately. Very different from most modern jazz styles played nowadays, the music has a timeless beauty that will stand the test of time.
listen
VA – Galaxy Vol.7 [GSC45007]
Galaxy Sound Co. know how to repackage lost and rare soul 7″s, and this new two-headed funk bullet from Thelonious Gillespie is just painfully on target. The first edit is of “Soul Food” by Frankie Seay & The Soul Riders, a moody, dusty percussion bomb brimming with breaks and a grainy guitar accompanied by fine brass waves. Lyn Christopher’s “Take Me With You” is pruned and reshaped into a glorious soul ballad with a hard edge, and a driving rhythm led by gliding electronic guitars and an inimitable bassline.
John Beltran – Israel [SR007]
John Beltran returns on Soul Research with his melodic tunes. Techno which emanates emotions and breathes Detroit in and out in rhythmical arches. Israel is a journey to faraway lands, with both hypnotic and melodic tunes while Achva resounds ambient and techno filled with pathos. The long awaited Israel remix by historical Brit Kirk Degiorgio is a full re-interpretation of rhythm and movement that only the great can create.
Voiski – I’ll Be Your Maple Pecan Tonight [DKMNTLUFO3]
Envisaging a trustworthy approach to sound, French DJ and producer Voiski has steadily built a name for himself in contemporary left-field dance music. He took a singular path in techno, oscillating between experimental projects and signature sound dance floor material. The Parisian brings his versatile skills together on the third installment of Dekmantel’s UFO series, serving up five completely different yet coherent sounding tracks. The beat lacking ambient synth jam ‘Go To A Mountain’ is a display of Voiski’s ear for mesmerizing soundscapes, while the pulsating, Nintendocore fuelled ‘Happy Piece’ and the dark, bass-heavy ‘Seriously No’ are two peak-time beasts. On the B-side, ‘Come Back’ gives you a glimpse of what the future of techno sounds like, whereas ‘Drama In the Futuristic Cabinet’ echoes Hi Tech Soul gone breakbeat.
Aubrey – The Reflection [THEMA045]
Thema is celebrating 10 years with a string of releases starting with this EP and going through to our 50th release with an all star line up ready for battle. UK mainstay Aubrey has been hitting this pinnacle for years through his releases. ‘The Reflection’ EP comes as no exception. Aubrey goes above and beyond to take the listener through a spectrum of moods that culminate in a rounded and complex experience. From the uplifting, fast paced pads in ‘Peligro 45’ to the disorienting rhythmic voodoo of ‘Roger Doger’ and peak energy drive of ‘Train To The Fire’ there is a sense of direction and otherworldly ambiance that will take any dance floor to the place it needs to be.
Savas Pascalidis – Full Dimension [RRR010]
Baz Reznik – Bordello Radio #12
Bijou – Bienvenue A Bord [BAP065]
Bijou is back in the Bordello and ready to bring some cool to these hot summer nights. Sun countered by sea. Soothing synthlines, airy analogue tones and gentle currents characterise the two openers, Bijou calling on calming waves and peaceful percussion to begin. The Belgian producer allows the temperature to rise for ‘Reine Des Plages’, broad basslines and funk laden bars dancing late into the night. But those fresh breezes are ever present, closing in the beach bronzed beauty of ‘La Marée’.
General Ludd – Homesick #5 [HMSK005]
Homesick #5 is the unplanned result of a tremendously funky DJ set by General Ludd in Hong Kong. Three tracks have been chosen by the Homesick team to reflect the intense disco inferno atmosphere we all felt on that unforgettable night.
Abstract Frequencies – Rarefied Air [AES020]
Fresh out of the Midwest Keith Worthy (Detroit), Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being (Chicago) and Steven Tang (Chicago) bringing some of that notorious Midwest D.N.A. on this deep acid banger.
Fantastic Man – Rhythm Algorithm [SCR006]
Melbourne’s Superconscious Records has become a source for straight-up, surefire club records. International nomad and the imprint’s co-founder Fantastic Man follows suit with the label’s sixth record Rhythm Algorithm. A hypnotic trio of mind bending explorations, all with a firm retrospective nod to the inner-city sounds that club music is built on.
Samo DJ – Kicked Out Of Everywhere [TTT044]
The forty -fourth release on Will Bankhead’s highly lauded The Trilogy Tapes comes from Born Free co-founder Samo DJ. Given the Swede’s eclectic approach, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Kicked Out of Everywhere is a pleasingly mixed-up affair. Opener “Bleeps” drags the fuzzy, sparse and bass-heavy sound of Early British techno kicking and screaming into the industrial techno age (admittedly via the broken beats of West London), while “LKF” is simultaneously dreamy, trippy and rhythmically intense. Some may hear the influence of early Belgian techno in the slippery throb of “Medellin”, while the weird, spaced-out “Downer” sounds like hazy jazz after several shoe boxes full of Ketamine.
The Hipodrome Of Music 