Soldiers march through the rain and enter the war zone to the sound of Lokier’s dystopian, electrifying body music and acid. Her sound aesthetic perfectly complements that of Pinkman Records, so it was only a matter of time until the Mexico-born, Berlin-based producer joined the label’s roster of artists.
‘We Attack Before Dawn’ is the 3rd instalment in the ‘Sonar Base Transmissions’ series on Deeptrax created by the long standing Dutch Electro pioneer Frank De Groodt under his Sonar Base alias. This chapter is yet another collection of savage, clever and spooky electro tracks.
The Hard Fist label notches up release number five from Mr TC, with remixes from Lokier and Khidja. At the forefront of the Glaswegian music scene, Mr TC moves through genres from new wave to post punk, industrial, disco and tropical oddities. He plays mesmeric live shows with synths, drum machines and guitars. This EP takes you to the void of space, seeking freedom from moral prohibitions and standards, refuge from sexual and gender prejudice, exile from oppression, and aims to rupture aesthetic boundaries.
Russian label Hypnotic Connection presents it’s second releasee, with tracks from artists from Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Holland and Russia. In the compilation you will hear elegant synth motifs and a banger acid house, electro and raw EBM stuff.
Gavin Guthrie (this time as TX Connect) delivers three of his most ambitious cuts for our listening pleasure. Conceptualized as a document to a very special night in Texas during the early winter of 2018, TX Connect raises the temperature utilizing acid heat in these three otherworldly cuts that fully illustrate the analog brilliance and multifocal dance floor dazzling that his reputation always delivers. For the ones who missed out on that awe-inspiring Mutant Wave party, here is your chance to teleport to a place that won’t soon be forgotten. Mutated sound waves and dance floor intensity are in full effect.
It took a while before it was this. It was a place to find clothes made by people lost in a minefield of ideas who liked to party. It was a place for temporary visions that turned out to happen and were then forgotten. It was always a place to find a new circle of friends. A place for expression where the throttle had been loosened and we all careered into the next day and the day after that. We all need to meet in the flesh away from the pixels and connect our first thoughts. Somewhere to ruffle our own feathers and take off on a phantom flight. It has been all this and it still is. Only now there is a record label to try and actually document a little of all of that. Welcome to Sameheads. This record is a morsel from the community. Novo Line, Twoonky, Kruton, Kris Baha and Antoni Maovvi and Balance Crew aka Dane Close & L. Zylberberg. Six acts whose sweat is in the carpet and who all owe more than seven euros to the place for one reason or another. Six songs that electrify a new way to no wave. Don’t forget, this a mince based dish.
The third release in the Anopolis trilogy coincides with the founding of Anopolis Records. Like the previous two EPs, Dimadou takes reference points from the sound of the 90s and avoids getting bogged down with track titles. The first track, A19 is noticeably influenced by the Sheffield scene and Rising High records. The EP continues with the heavy bass line and the TR-707 drums of A18, a strong nod to the Chicago sound. On the B side, drum machines dominate in A21 and A20 with their piercing sound hinting towards the style of Ron Hardy. Rounding off the EP is the atmospheric A17 and its warm, hazy pads. This final part of the trilogy is simultaneously the beginning for further releases through the project s new imprint Anopolis Records.
Mikron return to CPU with their second album ‘Severance’. The Corcoran brothers refine their critically acclaimed sound which has evolved to be more haunting than the last release. This album is a nostalgic affair with synthetic landscapes washing over you, before propelling you into the distant future. The ambient moments draw parallels with Boards of Canada, Burial and Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2.
Sydney label Doe Dee continues it’s exploration of Australia’s outer limits with Tred’s ‘Planet Perth’ EP delving into the realm of fast paced electro over 4 cuts. Tred’s 2 original tracks explore the mature sonic range of the young Perth born Berlin based producer with ‘(To)Night’ bringing deep driving melodic euphoria and ‘S2003’s shimmering pads building into a moody mysterious crescendo. Fellow Perth export Privacy provides the S2003 remix where a steppy half time intro leads the way into a surprise half mark arpeggio rinse-out and Sydney’s Jensen Interceptor rounds things out with a full throttle acid mindmelting version of (To)Night.
Delsin turns to this classic from 1992 EP by Random XS. Originally released by Saskia Sleger’s legendary Djax-Up Beats-label. This re-release features the original a-side – a hypnotic vocal acid anthem that has become an absolute classic of the genre – remastered and re-cut, meaning that the infamous gap in the original is no longer there. The b-side has two new remixes from Lost Trax and Delta Funktionen resulting in futuristic, electro tinged, twisted versions with crashing hits and famously busy basslines bringing real warehouse energy.
New-ish Hamburg talent alert.! After releasing a track on the second RTTD compilation, L.F.T. returns with a full EP featuring his idiosyncratic synth-pop-electro-dirge.
Lectromagnetique is back with renewed forces and his well recognizable electro-acid sound forms. Sonic waves of ‘Artificial Sources’ will take you to ionized radiation areas of Chernobyl where radiation dosimeters and heat strain monitors will be hobbling by unknown reason. Be careful, discovering this dystopian soundscape of radioactive area, where nature poisoned by humanity – still looks alive and dangerous acid flows may cause side effects.
FRAK are back on track with this dreamy album with deep dark hypnotic slow rhythmic tracks. This is experimental analog and haunting dancemusic at slow BPMs which gives you a glimpse of Swedish smalltown dystopia in all its glory. The A1 track might give the impression that this is a romantic record and the A side in general will make big city people feel the urge to move to small towns again, but on the B-side it just gets darker and weirder (the smalltown kinda reveals its ugly underbelly) and it all ends with a track that would make the taped nipples fake fetishists in techno city shiver. I could say you need a mask to play this out, but lets not take it that far.
“Klirrfaktor” is Berlin-based producer Hanno Leichtmann’s second release as Gesetz Der Oktaven, once again on Third Ear. Gesetz Dr Oktavn is strongly influenced by ’80s bands Liaisons Dangereuses, CH BB, and sporadically DAF but goes more in the direction of Techno and Electro. As before, the musical instruments and equipment define the project and the sound. Hanno used a drum machine, a MiniMoog sequenced by a TB 303, a vintage Drum Synth and six effect combinations for the delay / reverb tracks, all though a large Soundtracs desk from the 1980s with 16 channels and 6 Aux Sends for effects. Once again, all the track titles are old or obsolete studio/audio terms.
The Hipodrome Of Music 