Third full-length album of veteran Swedish producer Ola Obergman. A heavy collection of 808 based electro-techno fusion tracks in classic Pariter style.
Obergman – Mirror Counterpart [PRTR22]
album
Jeff Mills – Mind Power Mind Control [AX106]
Detroit legend Jeff Mills’ returns with an exciting new LP, and as always, there’s a deep concept behind it. Mind Power Mind Control explores various techniques used for mind control, the deceptive techniques devised for such purposes and its power over people. Similarly, the music on offer here is incredibly hypnotic – this is a Mills album after all – with each track’s complex sonic tapestry sure to entrance you. All of The Wizard’s idiosyncrasies are on offer: immaculately programmed 909 rhythms underpin majestic strings and sublime tones, all delivered with his trademark style of futurist minimalism. While less dancefloor oriented than some of this revered DJ’s previous releases, it’s awe-inspiring nonetheless. Essential listening.
¥Øu$Uk€ ¥Uk1Mat$U with friends – Midnight is Comin’ [MNSXLP003]
Versatility does not even come close to describing how the humble Japanese ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U is considered to be one of the best DJs in the world by many of his peers. In this special mix album, Yukimatsu gathers round his producer friends to build vessels of the story structure. Threading the pages together, interweaved by friendship and sine waves, he has crafted a masterful presentation from their individual messages. Pulling and stretching all sonic shapes and shades while exploring the farthest reaches of sound, the result is a frequency soup of twelve outstanding tracks that when sequenced together, become part of a greater, grander story: Midnight is Comin’.
Influenza Prods. – Mémoire [LER1029]
Bruno De Angelis and Giovanna Gulinello unwittingly met in London in the late 70’s, after being introduced by a mutual friend. It wasn’t until Bruno rescued Giovanna from an awkward date that the pair became a couple. At the time, music was just something they did for fun. In 1981 the pair moved back to Italy and found an apartment in Rome. It’s here that they began to focus on their music and where they started ‘recording’ their tracks. As with many artists during the early 80’s, the Influenza Prods’ sound was the direct result of the accessibility of emerging electronic instruments and the recording equipment available to them. Influenza Prods managed to ‘release’ three tapes which comprised of the Greatest Tits (1983), Cheek-A-Bomba (1984) and Quasi Solo (1985).
Flock – Flock LP [STRUT269LP]
Flock is a brand new collaboration between five leading musicians from London’s open-minded jazz and experimental scenes: Bex Burch (Vula Viel), Sarathy Korwar, Dan “Danalogue” Leavers (Soccer96, The Comet Is Coming), Al MacSween (Maisha) and Tamar Osborn (Collocutor).
Kenny Larkin – Keys, Strings, Tambourines LP [ART20221]
From 2008 comes ‘Keys, Strings, Tambourines’ – Kenny Larkin’s fourth full length LP. Yet another advanced, singular and funked out techno milestone that bears all of Larkin’s idiosyncratic stylings and melodic touches. Once more he shows us how it’s done, sounding like nothing you’ve heard from him previously, ‘Keys, Strings, Tambourines’ is a truly adventurous record that defies categorisation today. Quietly influencing producers and DJs since its release, it points to where techno can go and what it can be and is a truly and criminally overlooked modern Detroit techno classic.
Miss Kittin & The Hacker – Third Album [NBLP003]
As one of the iconic partnerships from the electroclash era, Miss Kittin & The Hacker helped define seedy synth tackle at the turn of the century. Given the prevalence of minimal wave in this day and age, it feels like the perfect time for them to come back with a new album. Teetering between pop nous and the darkest of deviant nighttime dreams, this is everything you would want from a return of the Grenoble greats. Listening to ‘Purist’ and they could easily be taking on the charts, while a trip into ‘La Cave’ is like donning your finest leathers and sliding into the dungeon.
Local Suicide – Eros Anikate LP [IDI006LP]
Local Suicide announce their long awaited debut album ‘Eros Anikate’ which will be released May 13th, 2022 via their own label Iptamenos Discos. The title translates to ‘love invincible’ and draws influence from a play written by Sophocles titled ‘Antigone’. The album holds true to the duo’s ‘technodisco’ sound that the couple has become so well known for and showcases their signature style of blending a retro feeling with a modern twist. In usual Local Suicide fashion, the duo’s debut album showcases tongue in cheek modern-day circumstances, mystical adventures, and moody baselines; all tied up with the promises of happy endings. You can instantly hear that this album comes from the duo’s hearts. Inspired by the travels and experiences they encountered throughout the pandemic, it’s also a love letter to the friends they met during their career – some of which are also featured on the album: Lee Stevens, Curses, The Hidden Cameras, Sissi Rada, Skelesys, Theus Mago, Hard Ton, Kalipo & Greek new wave legend Lena Platonos.
Vumani – Isiqedakoma [CASALP02]
Not much is known about the mysterious pop sensation Vumani or his short musical career. Originally from KwaZulu Natal he made his way to Johannesburg in the mid 80’s to follow his dream of becoming a recording artist. He was able to make that dream come true when talent scouts from Decibel Music came across the charismatic youngster. At the time Decibel was still a small fish trying to make waves and the label believed in Vumani they had found the star they were looking for. Being a label with mostly groups signed to the catalog they needed a Front Man to push into the growing demand for Solo Artists that were dominating the airwaves and catching the hearts of youngsters. In 1896, they released two singles by Vumani, Black Mampatile and Guy Fawkes. Both singles were received well and a few more tracks were later recorded to create the full album Isiqedakoma.
Oneness Of Juju – Bush Brothers & Space Rangers LP [STRUTLP255]
Strut continue their deep dive into the archives of Black Fire Records with a new reissue of Oneness Of Juju’s Bush Brothers & Space Rangers, showcasing the band at the peak of their powers in 1977. Primarily recorded at Arrest Studios in Washington DC, the album ispacked with landmark Oneness tracks including ‘Be About TheFuture’ (“possibly the first ecology-themed song that I know of”) the George Clinton-influenced ‘Plastic’, an acoustic alternative version of ‘African Rhythms’ and strong covers of Caiphus Semenya’s ‘West Wind’ and Bobby Womack’s ‘Breezin”. Plunky continues, “The album is composed of several different sessions featuring different personnel and only first came out as an album in its own right when Black Fire MD Jimmy Gray started working with P-Vine Records in Japan during the ’90s. For me, it’s one of the hottest periods for the band.”
Minoru Fushimi – Thanatos Of Funk LP [180GRELP02]
Thanatos Of Funk is a milestone in Japan’s underground music and electro funk/early hip hop history. Entirely self-produced, designed and distributed in 1985 by Fushimi, a high-school teacher by day and music experimenter by night, Thanatos Of Funk is a love-letter to counter-culture, DIY, drum machines and synthesizers blent with some killer shamisen and guitar playing. Comes with a 4 pages insert including the original hand-written insert/comic by Minoru Fushimi, with English translations. Minoru “Hoodoo” Fushimi’s most wanted and impossible to find first album Thanatos Of Funk is finally reissued for the first time ever, in collaboration with Fushimi himself.
EM1V – Hidden Mutation [SOTA059]
Martin Steinebach active producer since 1994 with their different akas (Conscientia Peccati, Monoid, StillStand, Compest) presents his new project EM1V, with the album called “Hidden Mutation” a mix between e.b.m, electro and synthpop.
Venom Vampires – Luxury In Deceit [DR-037]
Venom Vampires is a dark beat band from Texas, US. Front-man Tohm Thicken started as a Darkwave DJ in 1999. The line-up also includes Russell Dove and Adrian Ortega. “Luxury In Deceit” is their debut album on Detriti Records.
-=UHU=- – Ezzential Electro 004 – Kosmic Kasino [ERZZ004-36]
Known for his work on Transient Force, Gigolo, and of course as a contributor for Fundamental’s Time Capsule a.k.a. 808 Box project, -=UHU=-‘s album is a selection of his best unreleased tracks. Compiled from an old folder full of tracks that have that twenty years old spirit in each of them, that futurist funk that -=UHU=- can deliver so well. ”Ezzential Electro” is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement.
/DL/MS/ – Calanhi [TRUST040]
“Every 4,044 years comet Calanhi enters the inner solar system, returning from its long and silent voyage through the Oort cloud. As it approaches perihelion, billions on Earth gaze into the night sky, transfixed by the celestial spectacle of their lifetime. While solar winds tear at the comet’s surface, deep inside the glowing ball of ice, ancient machinery springs to life…” Over the past five years Daniel Lodig and Martin Sovinz aka /DL/MS/ have been continually commuting through the electro singularity, constructing their unique brand of fragile bass music from extradimensional sound salvage, and spreading their frequency patterns via the subspace channels of Frustrated Funk, Pomelo, and TRUST. ‘Calanhi’ is the Viennese duo’s debut album – 12 tracks that combine the eternally fresh aesthetics of Detroit-style electro with a relentless curiosity for rhythmic and harmonic experimentation. Seismic club thumpers like ‘Invisible Bits’, ‘Mountains’, and ‘Trusted Funk’ alternate with moody ambient interludes, boldly constructed beat inventions, and blissfully melodic acid breaks. Two collaborations further switch up the flow: Nigerian artist G.Rizo (Hezekina Pollutina, Deejay Gigolo) drops her cryptic rhymes on ‘Divide & Conquer’, and Spanish singer Xx Isis xX provides vocals for ‘Accelerated Frequency’.
Filmmaker – Fictional Portrayals LP [VEYL028]
Emerging as one of the most vital producers from South America to Europe, Filmmaker is back on Veyl with the new album, Fictional Portrayals. Recorded in his home country in Envigado, Colombia, the release delivers 8 tracks of raw, body pursuits proving yet again that he remains at the forefront of EBM, industrial, wave and beyond. While always carrying the producer’s soundtrack influenced sound, the LP kicks off with the haunting ‘All About That Pyramid’ moving next to the title track’s driving energy while then shifting to the more cerebral programming of ‘Possession’ ft. Bad Faith Actor. Things are just picking up with club decimators like ‘Splitter’ and ‘Immune to Propaganda’ while also switching moods with the more sinister ‘Orphic Eggs’ and the mesmerizing ‘Continuity’. Rounding out the release is the cold, emotional ride of ‘Far From Prospect’, leaving us with a sense of dread while simultaneously questioning just what is fact and what is fiction – something we never quite know in today’s multi-dimensional existence.
Mark Broom – 100% Juice LP [REKIDS201]
UK techno legend Mark Broom returns to Radio Slave’s imprint Rekids for his latest full length, ‘100% Juice’. Title track ‘100% Juice’ leads the charge, barreling forward with phased hats and trippy bleeps, before ‘Slush’ carries the rest of the A-side with dense synths and stereo trickery. ‘Rainbow’ bridge sees muted chords drifting in and out of focus alongside rattling drum programming before ‘Reverse’ mutates dub techno inspired elements with swathes of spacious FX and pitch-perfect processing. Opening the second disc is the aptly titled ‘Wonky Workout’, which sees hard-hitting kicks meeting freaked out leads, followed by the fast-paced ‘I Want’, which brings crunchy, shuffling percussion and effected vocal samples together to devastating effect. The final side of vinyl is the one-two punch of ‘Boxed In’ and ‘Wiggle Me This’, with the former bringing sharp keys, rumbling low end and glistening pads, while the latter closes out the LP with warped acid lines and crisp drums.
Dim Garden – A Dauntless Sprite Descends [ITALO MODERNI]
Italo Moderni presents “A Dauntless Sprite Descends” the new album of The Hague’s electronic music producer Dim Garden aka Sara Vollmond. This is a musical jewel and each tracks is a part of the astral journey in the enchanted forest of Dim Garden in The Hague. Giant mushrooms and animals running alongside us while they wink at us, so that we can continue to enter the forest while some magicians with giant long beards are playing synthesizers in the treetops in the light of the Moon. When we believe that we have completed the entire forest, a giant light appears from the bottom of the forest and all the animals go towards it, to pay their respect. One of the Forest Gods of Dim Garden appeared… the white wizzard named ”Legowelt” with a super magic remix and his fast paced take on the track ”Visions of Love” and all his synths around him. The housekeeper of the Forest is Jentlemen with her Remix of ”Na Mata”. Without realizing it, you have already been absorbed by the essence and atmosphere of Dim Garden… Open your eyes… or was it just a dream?
Transpac – Ezzential Electro 002 – Telecommunication [ERZZ002-36]
Transpac’s new album could be his best work to date. All sounds, sequences and beats are created with heavy analog machinery, including the classic EMS AKS. Highly addictive album! ”Ezzential Electro” is the biggest project Electro Records has done so far. It consists of 36 vinyl records produced by artists they consider essential for the current underground electro movement. The first six parts of the series come in beautiful white silkscreen printed sleeves on recycled cardboard and include a real puzzle piece on the front cover, indicating which part of the series you have in your hands.
Interlect 3000 – The Return Of Intelligence [CHILDFIFTEEN]
Childhood Intelligence 15th release presents ‘The Return Of Intelligence’ by UK duo ‘Interlect 3000’. Far ahead of its time, the two artists composed these futuristic timeless pieces, unknowingly, for generations to come. The album pays homage to the early days, fusing aspects of Techno, Trance, House, Electro, Ambient. Truly a hypnotic journey from beginning till end, live recorded & dedicated to the journey itself. Traxx which were written and recorded at Spare Room Studios, Essex and Phantasm Studios, London, between 1992 -1996 have now been rediscovered and released in 2022. Interlect 3000 as the architects of their own world are driven by passion and dedication for electronic music. A testament of skill and imagination only known to masters of their art.
The Hipodrome Of Music 