Heavy dark techno tracks by Rotterdam based Damcase debut on Tavares’ Bunker Records.
Jared Wilson – Communing With Ghosts EP [DABJ1221]
The Detroit producer. Jared Wilson drops an absolutely killer 4-track EP of amazing acid tracks, on Dixon Avenue.
Afik Naim – Songs For Tova [DOLLY025]
With ‘Songs For Tova’ Dolly introduces a brand new producer called Afik Naim. This rough diamond was pulled out of a cave near Jerusalem. He has a cinematic experimental take on what you would call Techno but he is rather hard to classify to be honest. Exactly what we like, somebody who stands out with his typical sound pallet. Another perfect player on this ‘Songs For Tova’ team is the never disappointing Kassem Mosse with a killer remix to wrap up this high class 4 tracker.
Randomer Interview
Credit 00 – STAY Mix 17
Carl Finlow – Electricology 4 [ELECTRIX007]
Electrix Records launches its 2016 schedule by welcoming back after almost 3 years the always impressive, Carl Finlow. His ‘Electricology 4 EP’ once again shows why he’s a master of the genre. From the tough and funked-up ‘Lateral Thoughts’, speckled and melodic ‘Hyperloop’, squelching, bassy ‘Suspect Reanimation’ and sinister, beat-driven ‘Latext’, right through to the playful ‘Atomic Level’ (a bonus track for the digital release), the EP shines, with a stamp of high quality running though its core.
Jensen Interceptor – M EP [CPU00011101]
Previously half of pseudo-kitsch acid-electro force Light Year, and now gone solo, Mikey Melas aka Jensen Interceptor joins the binary cataloging CPU with a perfectly formed electro cut. Any artist who samples Ghost in the Shell, arguably one of the greatest anime films of all time, are all right by us. Mikey does so to great effect on the big beat / trip hop tempo ‘Model 2029’, which sits alongside three unrelenting electro bass bin destroyers. Mactavis being the toughest cut, utilising a fierce driving 808 with a robotic bassline interjecting throughout. Electro is often overlooked for the club but it’s obvious this E.P. was designed from the ground up to smash a big room.
VA – Killekill Megahits II [KILLEKILL025]
Killekill catalogue number 025 is a jubilee release and it’s also a milestone and turning point in the Killekill history, because with this release Killekill closes one chapter, and opens up another. So far, there is this compilation, which has been carefully compiled for your pleasure. Label regulars such as Cassegrain & Tin Man, Furfriend, Alex Cortex or Eomac have delivered high quality stuff of all kinds, but we are also introducing a lot of artists who will feature on the coming labels: Umwelt with his epic and dramatic electro, Dez Williams with his genre-crossing sound which works on every dance floor plus Power Vacuum’s Bintus who delivers his portion of electro/acid madness on Record 1. Record 2 features the legendary Detroit Grand Pubahs, who present their electro outfit Techmarine Bottom Feeders, The Fool’s Stone, which is a new project by Hard Ton, electro legend Adriano Canzian and italian queer artist Brigida plus London’s underground hero Jerome Hill, who lets it jack and roll with his Memory Machine. On Record 3 Kamikaze Space Programme surprises with some bell-driven percussive techno and what can we say It is with great pride that we include the acid techno epos by none other than the legendary ‘Prince of Techno’ Blake Baxter.
Deviere – Beyond The Celestial Gate [RHYTHM018]
Deep space techno tracks from beyond by Boston’s Deviere, approaching us like a time capsule from an alien past, reconnecting us with the ancient intergalactic spirits from beyond the celestial gate.
Art Crime – Still Life [PNKMN015]
Art Crime delivers a four tracker of meltingly good music on Pinkman Records. Chords cascade, blending and reforming, in the warming wonder of ‘Still Life’, ‘Dead Carnation’ is from a similar place. Keys skipping down scales, dancing down them as percussion lends a touch of weight.’Distant’ is the mood changer. Rain falls, smoke whirls and the night descends in this dark and intoxicating encounter. But those clouds part for the close. Lush pads and soaring notes break through for calming currents of the less than aptly titled ‘Hectic’. An artist rewriting stereotypes, an EP of true quality.
Benedikt Frey – Out Of The Fog EP [LPSR004]
The mysterious Lopasura imprint is back with another release by Frankfurt hero Benedikt Frey who serves up the Out Of The Fog EP. This EP features some pretty functional and restrained techno, like on the mental title track. “Wolves” is equally hypnotic and cyclical with its grinding arpeggiations drawing you down into the void. On the flip “Lights” is definitely the most uplifting track with its rich layers of lush pads and glistening melodics made for some proper transcendental therapy on the dancefloor.
Mattia Trani – The Hi-tech Mission [PM015]
Pushmaster Discs presents the debut LP by Mattia Trani. ‘The Hi-Tech Mission’ is not just the usual techno album, it also represents a space travel around the futuristic techno vision of the Italian producer, that continues to push Detroit sounds, as well as venturing into some jungle rhythms. The shuttle reaches a mysterious planet, it seems that the mission is not finished yet.
To be continued…
Continue reading “Mattia Trani – The Hi-tech Mission [PM015]”
A Sagittariun – Oxidize [NT007]
After his exciting album ‘Elasticity’ on his own imprint Elastic Dreams, A Sagittariun delivers the equally fascinating three track Oxidize EP’ for german label Couldn’t Care More. While ‘Heights’ is a stripped-down basic-channelish techno ride, rough, edgy and with a hint of hypnotic melodies, the title track heads in a quite different direction: still it’s raw expressionistic techno, but the flow is ever-changing, mesmerizingly shifting and twisting between hissing beats and enlightened synths. For the remix of ‘Oxidize’ Golden Pudel Club resident and odd-house virtuoso RVDS fires up the acid machine and does it Detroit style, warm and cold, uplifting and melancholic.
Dj Surgeles – Wubbo Ockels EP [NTR011]
Nasty Temper welcomes back Kole Leijen aka DJ Surgeles for his second release on the label, brings you into a space travel with a deep and hypnotic techno. Also featuring on the release is Spanish producer Tadeo who is a long standing figure head of Spain’s vibrant Techno scene.
DJ Deep – Cuts Volume 2 [DRH051]
Volume 2 on DJ Deep’s “Cuts” serie on Deeply Rooted comes with 4 tracks. “Steps” intends to bring a Funky beat into a darker and abstract territory. “Stressed” is a Raw beat with an old school flavor in today’s world. “Stressing” is a straight forward beat driven Techno jam. “Surge” presents a deeper maybe a bit dubbier vibe with a pumpin’ beat.
Occult Orientated Crime – Just A Clown On Crack [DKMNTL036]
Dekmantel presents Danny Wolfers a.k.a. Legowelt’s ambient project Occult Orientated Crime. It’s for the first time ever that this moniker of the prolific Dutchman will have a physical release. Wolfers: “The OOC sound is an accumulation of twenty years of musical training and research and what effect it has on the brain. Simply put it’s electronic ambient music, which is more advanced compared to the music I’m creating with my Smackos alias. OOC is deeper and more melodic, less loose and vague but perhaps more intense. It can bring the listener into a completely different state of mind, you can almost call it ritualistic neuroscience music.” The six tracks are recorded around the same time, using coherent recording techniques. “Let’s say I was in a flow, or something like that. But I rather think it’s the music itself that gives it a distinctive sound: the way the music was composed, the notes and the sound palette. I haven’t used any sharp sounds for example, but everything is very round so your brains will soak it up as something smooth.” Apart from the track ‘Just a Clown On Crack’, the release lacks kick drums. “Most or nearly all music from PC doesn’t have a beat because it is often unnecessary, it distracts from the melody or what should be processed in the mind of the listener. The melodies, sounds and structure itself are enough to bring the listener into a certain mindset: a beat there would almost sound cheap, tacky. ‘Just a Clown On Crack’ has a trip-/hip-hop feel to it and was craving for a beat. It’s also the last track of the album and, in a rather fluent way, brings the listener back to the misery and tragedy of the normal, everyday world. It’s like returning from the OCC dimension with a soft landing.”
TM404 – Acidub [KM044]
Andreas Tilliander returns to Kontra-Musik in a grand style with his second TM404 album. Titled ‘Acidub’, this highly anticipated release is much more of an evolution than a repetition of the first superbly self-restricted album, where Tilliander even decided to use only one of the two Roland TB-303 waveforms. Acidub is a more playful and open listening experience, no doubt inspired by his extensive live touring with the TM404 concept. In fact, you can almost hear Tilliander’s flock of acid machines breaking free from the restrained modus operandi. Every sound is like a migratory bird with a heart yearning for high altitude and favourable winds. The opening track Alinge paints a lucid picture of these acid birds leaving a cold industrial landscape behind; the flickering black shadows from their wings against the white smoke rising from a forest of chimneys below. The very last seconds of Alinge even echo of the place the silver birds are longing for, but that will remain a secret between Kontra-Musik and the avid listener. Sufficient to say, we can follow these birds of passage as they’re heading south towards a warmer climate, fleeing the cold discipline of the North. Mutron Mantra, for instance, brings us to a rainforest full of serpentine lianas, giant leaves dripping with moist and green pools of water bubbling with organic life. Don’t Defend Mascot guides us through a steaming savannah at dusk with hundreds of yellow eyes following our every step while Pade vividly describes the perils of the flight and the pace and courage needed to press on. In all, Acidub is a surprisingly exuberant follow-up to the more introspective TM404 album. But while the musical journey of this second album is quite different, the experience of sheer aural eminence remains the same. Andreas Tilliander has done it again, and Kontra-Musik couldn’t be prouder.
Solar – Dekmantel Selectors Podcast 003
Innershades @ Mushi-Shi Radio (Montreal) 03.05.2016
Ngly – Ngly [LIES078]
NGLY makes a return to L.I.E.S. following his highly lauded “Speechless Tape” ep from 2014. Since then we have seen Argentinian producer taking his live act around the world to much acclaim. Luckily he’s also been in the studio recording and finally delivering this new three track ep. Here we get his signature dusty low slung sound full of basslines, creeper strings and driving drum programming. These are subtle yet effective funk-ridden club tools that are sure to move the floor and a precusor to even more from the in demand producer.
The Hipodrome Of Music 