Kris Wadsworth – Life & Death [GPMCD059]

December 11, 2012November 9, 2017 hipodromealbum, detroit house, get physical music, jimmy edgar, kris wadsworthLeave a comment

Get Physical presents Kris Wadsworth and his debut album – ‘Life and Death’. Opening with the dark monologue of “Alienated American”, the stage is set for a look into what Kris is capable of when he turns his thoughts to sound. “It’s the present state of the music I make.” explains Kris, “It is a look into the future of my music, what I am capable of, but also limited to by label aesthetics.” While tracks like “Definition Of” are pretty straightforward in their own right, pieces like ‘Famous Anus’ are full of irony. “Music is my career, so it is ‘Life and Death’ to a certain extent. But also, there are too many uptight people in this industry that take themselves too seriously. It’s me: Serious music which also makes fun of the world around me.” On the other end of the scale is “Girl Talk”, a deep and gripping track, bringing a perfect late night vibe together through various pads and the organic percussion. The present vocal lines provide a rhythm and weave a thread throughout not only this track, but the general spirit of the album. The album operates on a very natural level, providing deep dancefloor gems along with timeless tracks for every occasion. It’s not your typical dance album, it pushes boundaries and challenges your expectations because that’s where it plays at it’s best – on the edge of your comfort zone, expanding your horizons and tastes while consistently delivering on all fronts.

Madteo – Noi No [SAHKO027]

December 2, 2012March 23, 2022 hipodromealbum, ambient, experimental, leftfield, madteo, sahko recordingsLeave a comment

Madteo serves up his debut album on the Finnish imprint Sahko. With a deep love of hip-hop, boogie and beatdown running through his veins, the NYC-based Italian has never been a conventional house producer, and sure enough, he’s made a thoroughly unconventional album. But Noi No doesn’t jump from one style to another so much as suavely weave a path between styles, creating its own eccentric sonic language the process; what’s more, it’s brilliantly cold and dissolute, as if Madteo has really absorbed the rarefied Scandinavian chill of his new label.

Raime – Quarter Turns Over A Living Line [BLACKES001LP]

December 2, 2012December 5, 2019 hipodromealbum, blackest ever black, experimental, industrial, joe andrews, raime, tom halsteadLeave a comment

‘Quarter Turns Over A Living Line’ is the long awaited debut album by Raime. Moving away from the sample-based strategies that characterized their early work, Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead have looked increasingly to live instrumentation for their first full-length work, mounting intensive recording sessions for percussion, guitar and strings before painstakingly piecing the album together at their home studio. The gothic and industrial signifies in their music remain, but more submerged and oblique than ever – no less pronounced as influences than jungle’s rhythmic dynamism and doom metal’s oppressive weight or aspects of techno, modern composition and dub. ‘Quarter Turns Over A Living Line’ is the first original artist LP on Blackest Ever Black.

Vatican Shadow – Ornamented Wall [LOVE080]

December 2, 2012June 19, 2024 hipodromealbum, dominick fernow, experimental, industrial, leftfield, modern love, noise, vatican shadowLeave a comment

“Ornamented Walls” is the most intense, brutal and, in many senses, most substantial work from Dominick Fernow’s Vatican Shadow project yet. Released to coincide with his first tour of Europe, the album incorporates the live mix rehearsals of “Operation Neptune Spear” with tracks made in their aftermath, recorded straight to tape and mastered by Matt Colton at Air Studios. Anyone familiar with Fernow’s live set-up will recognize the distinct nature of this material — making use of stems and partial tracks separated into a cassette system which is then re-layered and mixed, effected with electronic processing. In short — Fernow uses his tape machines like turntables in a mix, weaving a hazy and intuitive narrative of sounds that never quite head in the direction you expect, all imbued with an almost feral attitude that’s exhilarating to witness, their limitations and their mechanical machine qualities used to devastating effect. Side A features all three parts of “Operation Neptune Spear,” originally made available in a measly edition of 17 cassettes and sold at the first-ever Vatican Shadow live show in L.A. back in May 2012. Side B features an additional 25 minutes of previously-unreleased work made in the aftermath of the show and using the same set-up, including an astonishing revision of “Cairo Is a Haunted City,” dis-assembled and re-wired, lending it a shortwave quality that’s nothing short of revelatory.

Vatican Shadow – Ghosts Of Chechnya [HOS361]

December 2, 2012November 7, 2018 hipodromealbum, dominick fernow, experimental, hospital productions, industrial, leftfield, vatican shadowLeave a comment

The heavily sought after “Ghosts Of Chechnya” cassette finally sees a digital release. Vatican Shadow is unstoppable at the moment, his alchemistic beats and military themes marking him out as a singular talent. This LP champions the sound of Vatican Shadow, with its dubbed-out, reverberant noises, that make him stand out among his peers. The aptly named “Voices Came Crackling Across A Motorola Hand-Held Radio” is another beast, where chugging kick drums meet ominous pads and crackling static. “Chechnya’s Ghosts Loom Large In Death Of Former Spy” is another fine example of his creative ability to mould techno into any shape he sees fit; but it’s the filling spaces made up of eerie melodies and stripped beats, like “Snipers As A Breed Tend To Be Superstitious” which make his recordings so enchanting. Highly recommended as usual.

Lausward – I’m A Microchip [ELH001] FREE DOWNLOAD

November 26, 2012June 11, 2019 hipodromeacid, album, andreas gehm, elec pt.1, electro, free download, house, lauswardLeave a comment

This is a free release by Andreas Gehm under the moniker Lausward, offered on his bandcamp page in 2011. The release includes 12 tracks featuring an original mixture of acid electro jack house.

listen / download

Sigha – Living With Ghosts [HFLP009]

November 23, 2012January 26, 2024 hipodromealbum, ambient, drone, hotflush recordings, james shaw, sigha, technoLeave a comment

Cover art - Sigha: Scene Couple

Sigha a.k.a James Shaw confidently returns to Hotflush with his heavily anticipated debut LP, ‘Living WIth Ghosts’. For this offering he presents twelve impressive techno and ambient productions and fuses his love of classic UK techno with the contemporary sound that currently pulses through Berlin’s Berghain. Since his 2009 debut on the label, Sigha has organically shifted further and further into the straight 4/4 realm of techno, embracing the subterranean, darker soundscapes of his new production homebase, Berlin. However, hiding under all that bass, one can still hear the whisper of many long forgotten shoegaze numbers. Years of playing guitar in London bands defined Sigha’s musical start and gave him an ear for the emotive. He was able to merge both worlds after quite literally stumbling across techno by chance, igniting his love of electronic music.

Eraas – Eraas [FELTE002]

November 19, 2012January 21, 2015 hipodromealbum, austin stawiarz, eraas, felte records, post punk, robert toherLeave a comment

New Brooklyn label Felte will be opening for business with the debut LP from doom-mongers ERAAS. ERAAS, aka Robert Toher and Austin Stawiarz, emerged last year from the remains of Noughties post-rockers Apse. The pair’s aim is purportedly to explore more occult territory than their previous gig allowed them. Fittingly, their self-titled debut – recorded in a “rambling, atmospheric mansion” in Massachusetts – is a gloomy affair, setting murky harmonies over the sort of percussion death-rattle you’d expect from a Vatican Shadow record.

Seawash – Pantomime EP [DSR-E1]

November 18, 2012July 19, 2019 hipodromealbum, ambient, delsin records, electronics, leftfield, seawashLeave a comment

Following on from the success of Delsin’s new house series, the Dutch label are branching out again with a new sideline in electronica. The first release comes from Venetian producer Seawash and comprises 6 tracks of dense and fuggy, otherworldly sounds. ‘Pantomime’ opens the EP awash with ethereal yet underwater sounding synths, light and dark contrast with rough and smooth and the effect is one of pure electronic escapism. ‘Revolution’ shows a lighter side to Seawash and comes over like a mature adult lullaby with harmonic bells dangle above scraping, skeletal percussion. ‘Free Alternatives’ closes out the first side with a stripped and downbeat air: lazy snares cut out a rhythm as more blissful harmonics drift by like feathery clouds. On the flip ‘Close (Vox)’ shimmers like reflections on a lake as an r&b vocal drifts between sun-kissed guitar licks. Slow and sexy without being overly saccharine, it’s more than lush. ‘Emeralds’ is initially more industrial and sounds like machines in torment before Seawash’s surely trademark watery smears dissipate the tension and transport you to a deep sea world once again. Closer ‘Little John’ stutters and skips along with only the slightest hint of a ticking hi hat immersed in oceans of aqueous echo and delay. Traces of garage lurk within, but like the EP overall, it’s a truly unique listening experience.

Andy Stott – Luxury Problems [LOVE079]

November 18, 2012June 19, 2024 hipodromealbum, ambient techno, andy stott, deep techno, experimental, modern loveLeave a comment

On Luxury Problems, Mancunian producer Andy Stott builds on the knackered house and techno sound showcased in last year’s brace of brilliance, Passed Me By and We Stay Together. The album will contain eight tracks recorded in the last 12 months, with five of the songs featuring vocals from his old piano teacher who Stott hadn’t seen since he was a teenager in 1996, with the opening track “Numb” seeing her looped and layered vocals exuding a cinematic quality. The paranoid, dense, slow-moving qualities that Stott has made his signature remain, but they’ve been toyed with and manipulated, and the vocal elements feel like a calculated gamble – one that has truly paid off. Modern Love go all out on presentation too, with Luxury Problems arriving in a superb gatefold sleeve.

Mala – Mala In Cuba [BWOOD090CD]

November 11, 2012August 30, 2023 hipodromealbum, brownswood, caribbean, danay suarez, downbeat, dreiser, dubstep, jazz, mala, outernational, sexto sentidoLeave a comment

Cover art - Mala: Mala In Cuba

Vinyl Boxset includes 4 x 180g vinyl, including free download code with bonus tracks. Album sampler BWOOD089 also fits in to complete the boxset. The results of a true culture clash, ‘Mala in Cuba’ marries the intricate rhythms and deep, spiritual roots of Cuba with Mala’s own roots in South London and his dedication to bass culture.

Dare & Haste – Extraction EP [PRTP004]

November 2, 2012December 8, 2019 hipodromeadverse event, album, chris finke, dare & haste, detroit techno, george lanham, jake conlon, minimal techno, mutant, pareto parkLeave a comment

Dare & Haste delivers a tough peak-time package on Pareto Park, a razor sharp techno transmission from Birmingham via Barcelona. This huge 11 track release of dark and detuned, fist-pumping techno is manifestly modern but nods to Birmingham’s techno history. The remixes represent the city’s current techno events, the release includes Atomic Jam’s Chris Finke, plus artists who co-founded AUM with Dare&Haste, as well as the Resonance crew which includes previous Pareto Park contributor Jake Conlon. This is uncompromising and unpretentious warehouse techno.

Christopher Rau – Two [SMALLVILLELP006]

October 30, 2012March 27, 2024 hipodromealbum, christopher rau, deep house, smallville recordsLeave a comment

Hamburg’s Smallville who now are about to release Christopher Rau’s second album “Two”. Well known for his minimalistic choice of ingredients Christoper Rau somehow frees himself of any straight format. Songs full of sweetness, a glimpse of soul here, a detroit electro influence there, broken beats, breaks that are no breaks, sexyness and funk and fun. The City of Christopher Rau’s music turns into a Universe. A world that believes in that particular moment when a minute turns into life. Where you will dive through the surface of beat, bass and sample – something underneath grows to the unreachable. As you reach that overwhelming feeling, the night could last forever. After the essentials of House Music have been invented some 25 years ago, Christopher Rau proves again how far we still can go searching for the perfectly wonderful track.

Alan Hurst – Nzambi LP [ERS001]

October 29, 2012March 30, 2023 hipodromealan hurst, album, electronics, emotional response, emotional response recordings, jason letkiewicz, soundtrack, synth waveLeave a comment

The debut release on Emotional Response comes from Alan Hurst – aka Brooklyn based producer Jason Letkiewicz – with a deeper exploration in to the experimental, ambient electronics first seen on his debut work ‘Processed World’. The results are a darker mixture of hypnotic rhythms and uncertain soundscapes, hinting at soundtrack and library forms. Known for his productions under a series of alias’, including Steve Summers and Innergaze, this is Jason’s sophomore album under his Alan Hurst moniker and is the perfect way to launch the label.

L.A.S.’s Crime – Disphoria 1985-1989 LP [MNQ025]

October 29, 2012June 26, 2019 hipodromealbum, cold wave, electro, l.a.s.’s crime, mannequin records, maria elena brogi, minimal synth, sandro marchettiLeave a comment

L.A.S.’s Crime (the initials stand for “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”, a famous short novel by Oscar Wilde) is an electronic band from Siena founded in 1984 by Sandro Marchetti (vocals, synthesizer, programming) and Maria Elena Brogi (vocals, synthesizers). With a music sometimes soft, sometimes melancholic, but always fully electronic the duo from 85 to 89 L.A.S.’s Crime produced 5 demo tapes (Five Lies ’85, Anomaly ’87, Inanitas ’87, Electa ’88, Korobi ’89) and a studio album (Abyss 43) registered at Sound City studio of Florence, but remained unreleased for label close. Today, thank to the italian label “Mannequin”, 13 selected songs can have finally a new life on vinyl, giving to the listener a small piece of 80’s remained intact.

Sympathy Nervous – Plastic Love [MW039]

October 29, 2012July 19, 2023 hipodromealbum, electro, minimal synth, minimal wave records, sympathy nervous, yosihumi niinumaLeave a comment

Sympathy Nervous is the project of Japanese artist Yosihumi Niinuma. Influenced by both classical and Krautrock, he began recording in 1979, and released several records on the highly coveted Vanity label. He continued to record and self-release much of his work throughout the 80s and 90s. His sound is intelligent and probably the most unique minimal synth to come out of Japan. Exploring dystopian themes, his music is well balanced and beautifully recorded. The Plastic Love album features songs Yosihumi Niinuma recorded between 1979-1980. These were originally recorded as studio demos and have never been released until now. Stylistically, these particular songs range from proto-techno tracks like “Anatawa Suguni” (1980) to post-punk ones like “Untitled 1” (1979) to a pure synthpop masterpiece from 1980 called “Butoubyou No Syounen” featuring his wife on vocals.

Terrence Dixon – From The Far Future Pt.2 [TRESOR256LP]

October 24, 2012March 17, 2026 hipodromealbum, detroit techno, terrence dixon, tresor recordsLeave a comment

Twelve years ago Tresor Records released Terrence Dixon’s debut album ‘From The Far Future’ – a personal homage to the art and ancestry of techno, culminating in a discursive and dream-like course through the genre’s many tomes, complete with subtle nods to key protagonists such as Kraftwerk, Derrick May and Juan Atkins. After a string of stylistically rich releases, the Detroit native returns to Tresor Records with ”From The Far Future Pt.2” – an ambitious, scopey and deeply personal sequel. A masterful and extensive techno album that alludes to Dixon’s Detroit heritage and affinities, deploying recognizable tropes of techno past, spun into a unique and inherently modern Dixon vernacular.

Redshape – Square [RBLP05]

October 23, 2012June 24, 2019 hipodromealbum, detroit, house, redshape, running back, sebastian kramer, space ape, technoLeave a comment

“Square” is the follow up to Redshape’s album debut “The Dance Paradox” (Delsin, 2009) – that is if you don’t want to count the double impact 12-inch “Red Pack” as a long player. And indeed, it is a long player in the truest sense of the term. Pamphlets, theories and opinions about the dubious role of “the album” in techno are dime a dozen, i.e. squaring the circle, but the man with the mask makes an effort to prove all of them wrong. “Square” doesn’t care for styles, genres or expectations, it can hold its own. Spread across twelve tracks you are as likely to meet vintage Redshape on tracks like “It’s In The Rain” or “The Playground (Square Version)” as you will encounter new facets of him with the Hyperdub affiliated Space Ape featuring “Until We Burn” and “Moods And Mice” or with a cluster of ambience pieces (“Orange Clouds”, “Landing”, Departing”). Working its way through all these states and moments on and off the dance floor, through melancholy and industrial romanticism alike, “Square” leaves you with the feeling of having experienced an electronic music album with identity that trusts in itself and wants you to trust in it. No matter if your perspective comes from a classic album like Kenny Larkin’s “Metaphor” (R&S, 1995) or is informed by the recent retro futuristic developments in the United Kingdom, if techno means more than a desperately compressed kick drum to you, Redshape with all his idiosyncrasy finds his way into your heart.

Matt Tolfrey – Word of Mouth [LEFTCD004]

October 21, 2012November 7, 2023 hipodromealbum, deep house, james teej, jem cooke, kevin knapp, leftroom records, marshall jefferson, matt tolfrey, ya kid kLeave a comment

‘Word of Mouth’ is the debut album from the tireless Leftroom Records boss and producer/DJ, Matt Tolfrey. Featuring a rich selection of talent, from the relatively new such as James Teej, Jem Cooke and Kevin Knapp, to legends like Marshall Jefferson and Ya Kid K, ‘Word Of Mouth’ is a return to the feel of classic house albums of old where collaborations with vocalists, engineers and mix engineers were worn as a badge of honour. Matt Tolfrey is a fixture of modern house music that can feel a definite sense of pride over his achievements. Tolfrey’s touch in the studio is undoubted but with ‘Word of Mouth’ we’re treated to a unique insight into his influences, working methods and what makes him tick.

Louis Haiman – Soul Purpose [AERA006]

October 17, 2012November 6, 2019 hipodromealbum, detroit, house, indigo aera, louis haiman, technoLeave a comment

Indigo Aera’s 6th release by Louis Haiman called ‘Soul Purpose’ is a real journey trough time. Having released two of this tracks on early Transmat compilation CD’s, the other six unreleased tracks are carefully mined from Louis’ archive of 15 to 20 years old. Louis Haiman’s music is a balance of gentle synth arrangements swimming atop a sea of low-end frequencies. Ambient soundscapes drift among layer after layer of meandering melodies while deep, syncopated rhythms and bass keep listeners grounded. A study in contrasts, his compositions are both tranquil and urgent brought on by some of his earliest influences.