YE GODS returns to L.I.E.S. with a new fill length, “No Albion”. Seven tracks of haunting ritualistic electronics, coming from the darkest realm of your psyche. Chilling ambience, voices from your nitemares, wishing to escape this world.
Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost. It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary. After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed. There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is “We Love Your Ears”, which is in essence what it is all about to them.
‘Instrumental Dubs #2’ is a deep dive into the world of the Dub version and beyond. The A side has a distinct boogie feel, starting slow with a George Kerr produced cut from 1984 followed by a Brit Funk-esq instrumental from Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes originally released on the Philly World label (home to ‘Voice of Q’). The A side closes with the ‘Sweeter’ instrumental mix of Boogie bomb ‘Loving Sweet Devotion’ by Idiater Edwards. The B side opens with ‘H2S04’ from Mad Professor that defies categorisation, sitting somewhere between Electro, Disco and Dub. Last but by no means least there’s an uptempo Dub mix of Original Rockers ‘Push Push’ making its first appearance on Vinyl having only been on the CD single release first time around.
After passing through Ombra Festival (2022), the legendary 80’s band, Days of Sorrow, reemerged from its slumber to once again be at the head of the synth wave artists of the moment. It is for this reason and for its legendary legacy that Banshees Records has decided to give another twist to the songs of the German group with this double vinyl of remixes featuring internationally artists such as Alpha Sect, Black Merlin, Carlos GrabStein, Chris Shape, David Carretta, Israel Padilla, JG Outsider, Love The Machine, Parissior, Skelesys, Spammerheads and Synths Versus Me. “Days of Sorrow, The Remixes” is a double LP where the German band’s own sound is reinterpreted, giving it a more electronic touch, focused largely on the dance floor.
A collection of electronic anthems for the SOIL, following the tradition of the Soviet Gym, composed with strong and resolute strokes and delivered with straightforward, accessible, and honest language. Unyielding storylines, free from fear or inhibitions, featuring explicit themes (bordering on the provocative), intricate developments, and satisfying progressions, designed to confront clubbing and its fringes as a captivating, sensual, and cathartic journey. Dim the lights and crank up the volume. In this gym, we are adept at navigating emotions.
Greek poetry and electronic music are tied together with darkwave: kama muta present their debut album “The voices burned” on Dystatik Records. Based on a book that will be published at a later time, the songs talk about grief, love, suicide, isolation, equality and many more. The album is fluctuating from Synth Pop to Darkwave and from Minimal Synth to Synth Punk sounds, counting 8 times that the voices burned in an echo chamber full of buzz.
Ofelia Ortodoxa is one of the most interest and expressive producers of the Colombian electronic music scene. Ofelia Ortodoxa return’s to Athenian label Dystatik with “Basics For Sadness”, a cassette release inluding rescued tracks and ideas from old cassette recordings and new collaborations with Valanais (track 1&3) and Ferdinand Carclash (track 4). “Basics For Sadness” is a uses a powerful Minimal Synth and Dark Wave aesthetic with a certain nostalgic feel.
Giorgio Records teams up with Bordello A Parigi for the reissue of this beautiful italo disco tearjerker, originally released in 1984 in very limited quantities. Straight from the original master tapes provided by the maestro himself, Rodolfo Grieco.
Hysteric offers a free edit of a 1986 song by French singer-songwriter François Feldman.
(Emotional) Especial looks to the emergent producer that is Chez De Milo for a new EP that collides the energy of Glastonbury, historic echoes of the free party scene and the psychedelic electronics of Bristol and the West Country into four fresh new cuts here. ‘Et Al’ is a mystic late-night house cut with crisp hits and spooky synths keeping you on edge, while ‘Gieser’ is dark and paranoid as the churning beats and snaking leads tempt you into the shadows. ‘Kremer’ keeps you locked in a synth-heavy and transcendental suspense at the heart of the dancefloor with Egyptian folk samples and ethnic grooves and ‘Thus One’ is a razor-sharp electro closer.
After several releases focused on EBM and New Beat with variations adapted to the current sound, Aspeto Humano returns to Electro waves with a ‘Various’ entirely made by Spanish producers. The record is a 12″ with six tracks by six artists as Dark Vektor, Robert Cosmic, Gravedad Cinética, Mecanizados Colomer, Siarem and Florida Cancer.
Gladio Operations label presents its ninth release, with volume 2 of the Split Machine series, which this time features two new and recognised faces on the European and American electro scene, Greek artist Noamm and American producer Brice Kelly.
Hilltown Disco welcome’s the excellent Luxus Varta to the label for the effective and powerful ‘Retrofiction’ EP. A record with layers of intelligence and emotional synth work-outs. The sounds range from a melancholic A-side, touching on wave with more disturbed vocals on the B-side, all crafted with a woven spine of electro with serious pulsing basslines.
The Hacker and Italo Moderni join forces with a masterful electro EP. Infused with techno vibes and featuring a remix by the renowned Terence Fixmer, this EP is a testament to the cutting-edge fusion of styles. Drawing inspiration from Liaisons Dangereuses, The Hacker weaves intricate basslines and rhythms, exemplified in the track ‘No Señor.’ ‘Me and My Sequencer Part 1 and Part 2’ unveils a clandestine narrative, a hidden tale shared only between The Hacker and his synthesizers—revealing the magical connection cultivated over the years
Eivydas K, hailing from the underground scene of Vilnius, Lithuania, drops his debut EP on Sons Of Traders. Known for his gritty and unpolished sound, he’s a member of Digital Tsunami crew and a familiar voice on Radio Vilnius with his Eternal Sunshine show. This release is a raw, unfiltered foray into techno and electro, mirroring his no-frills approach to music and life.
Members Only – The Worst Edits Vol. 10, is material edited and deranged sonically in 2001, pulled from the vaults of baked cassette tapes and VHS.
Members Only – The Worst Edits Vol. 9, pulled from the archives of baked cassette & VHS tapes, sonically abused for demented intake.
The Hipodrome Of Music 