Passarani debuts on Aus with his sixth studio album, “The Wildlife Of The Quieter Ones”. Marco’s discography boasts releases on Libertine, Running Back, Peacefrog and Numbers, the diversity between each label show his versatility as as a producer, he’s seamlessly moved with the times and glides through each era with a zesty take on a timeless sound, his credentials speak for themselves and here you see a well seasoned producer at the top of his game.
DJ Stingray 313’s highly-praised F.T.N.W.O. LP returns to heed its sonic warnings and powerful messages on his own label, Micron Audio. Originally released on WeMe Records in 2012, F.T.N.W.O. displays the high-tempo, ever forward production DJ Stingray 313 is known world around for. DJ Stingray 313 says “FTNWO was conceptually centered on conspiracy theory, science, prepper doomsday preparation / survivalism and social commentary,” and the foreboding introduction of “Evil Agenda” sonically explains just what lies ahead for the listener. The stark warning leads into DJ Stingray 313’s stomping “Dark Arts”, beginning the FTNWO experience. “Room Clearance” gets straight to business with raw, gritty and true-to-the-art Detroit electro sounds, along with a heavy, quivering lead to piece the track together.
‘Other Dimensions LP’, Terrence Dixon’s latest work and the new adventure in 30D’s ExoPlanets sublabel, comes for the very first time released in full length format, split in two sides, showing Terrence’s two faces. As everyone knows, words can not describe the music of this Detroit visionary, but we’ll try. Futuristic, avant-garde-esque, mesmerizing, trippy and minimalistic / reduced techno funk as expected in A side, but highly emotional and evocative, as only he can do. On the flip side, Terrence redefines and takes to another level the concept of dark, experimental, abstract, atmospheric, alienated and dystopian music, a true musical trip (perhaps a nightmare) to dive into. An extremely personal and intimate album.
“I drive without emotion. I calculate each curve. I know that I will soon be the hero in the Grand Prix.” With Albert One’s lyrics ringing in their ears, steeling their nerves, a new generation of high-octane fuelled drivers fix their headphones and helmets. Formula One, the partnership of DJ Rocca and Aimes, rev their synth engines with the glinting ‘Digits’ and Racing 3000 is underway. The duo has some welcome surprises on-board, the spirited vocals of Fred Ventura for ‘Into My Life’ and the emotion-injected words of Hard Ton for ‘Step By Step’. Exhaust pipes flare and we’re cruising into the chicane of the title piece. Daring synthwork and lush notes are propelled forward by clean percussion as cheering faces flash by. An extended pit-stop is called. ‘Cocktail Time’. Caribbean cool and Latin rhythms are the tone set. Glasses clink and the barroom baritone gives voice to a world of electronic disco lounge. The tempo changes as darkness falls and Francesca Bono sings us a late-night love lament streaked in neon hope. No time for regret. Back behind the wheel and arpeggios rumble as ‘Turbo Slam’ glides from the city and back to the track. The chequered flag is in sight. Formula Uno are set for ‘Home’ as they shift into vocoders for a bright and free finish.
Following the warm reception afforded to their 2020 compilation album ‘Crossed Wires’, which exhumed unreleased music from the depths of an archive belonging to an unnamed producer, Light Sounds Dark presents ‘Crossed Wires II’. Responsible for clueing us up to more oddities than you can name, LSD are on their classic game here, cueing up 15 top shelf obscurities from the intersection of industrial, electro and no wave mutant disco. Another rewarding grab-bag of strange, experimental productions.
For his debut album on Dekmantel, Interstellar Funk has crafted a raw, yet simultaneously hauntingly beautiful and endlessly intricate record. Layers of blended harmonies and melodies form the basis for jettisons into leftfield experimentation, heavily processed drums and oscillating frequencies. The result is as infectious as it is pensive; a transcendental journey into a synth-laden landscape. “Into the Echo” is daringly eclectic, combining sung-spoken iterations with hypnotic samples and machinic industrial.
“These tracks were recorded in my Queens studio in 2019 after several live performances. Most notably the Microtones party in Ithaca, NY where I had the honor of playing the Forest City Lounge, which is the historic home of the Black Elks, a Black non-profit, fraternal order. I wanted to challenge myself with these performances by limiting the amount of effects I used as well as the amount of equipment, thus these tracks have a lot of space to breathe. These are also my most intricate tracks to date. Instead of tripping tracks out with fancy effects and modules, I instead focused on song structure, with each track telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end.”
The live set also tells an overarching story as well. The main storyline is about a fictitious satanic death cult that worships through sound (“The Frequency”). As they are preparing for their final ascent (/descent?), one of the members starts questioning everything (“Heaven and Hell”). It is seen by the group as a “Regression” and the cult is not happy about it (“I’ll Beat Your Ass / Til The Day That We Die”). The member is confronted and asked “Who Is your God?”
Boris Bunnik/Versalife here with a new album from his Hexagon alias. Information Paradox is a fine dark and timeless IDM/Electro sounding album into Science Fiction territory.
Sci-Fi leaning library music on this new album from Modula on Tartelet. Tapping into the seductive unease of the unexplained, Modula lands on Tartelet Archives with “Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition”, a nine-track album that evokes alien synth- electro and New Age soundscapes. During a trip to Iceland in February 2020, Naples native Filippo Colonna Romano (Modula) experienced the raw power of the island’s otherworldly natural forces. Inspired by his field recordings and a rekindled interest in sci-fi, Paranormal Phenomena – The Icelandic Expedition was born. Steeped in haunting LA synthesis and cinematic tension, the album is an imagined soundtrack to a supernatural thriller, cast in the icy tones of the Roland JD-800.
Gazing at the stars is looking at the past. The galaxies send you messages from thousands of light years away. That overwhelming feeling is present on Free Andromeda by Timothy J. Fairplay. An album grounded on earth while floating through eternity with a loose connection to the Milky way. This nine-track record is, as always with TJF a delicately balanced mix between dark and light, analogue and digital, vast space and tight basements. With an impressing collection of premium synthesizers and drum machines, TJF showcases some of the most exquisite electronically generated soundscapes heard on this side of 1984. His sound on Free Andromeda can be described as leftfield inspired by various John Carpenter- and Italian horror movie soundtracks together with some West German Kosmische Musik.
Best known for their participation in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, Belgian synth pop band Pas De Deux present their complete collection. These songs were made in 1982 and 1983, including the cult hits ‘Cardiocleptomanie’, ‘Mani Meme’ and various versions of ‘Rendez-Vous’. These songs were never together on one album. Some of them were only released as a single or on some special compilations made in Spain and Germany after their much discussed participation to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in 1983.
Libertine Industries 06 features the first long-player from the UK rising artist Phase O’Matic. Expect EBM, Acid, and Ravey dance floor bombs, plus some more experimental and complex beats.
Astonishingly, almost 14 years have passed since “hard, grooving” techno and house fusionist Olivier Ducreux released his debut album as Shonky, Time Zero. Now he is releasing his second album “On The Run” on Third Ear Recordings. Shonky has a signature hypnotic, hard grooving sound, characterised by punishing beats laced with detailed polyrhythms and elusive motifs.
The triad of Mutant Beat Dance brings an entirely different approach with numerous vocal appearances and raw funkiness. The kind of sound that brings images of dark and dirty city streets to mind that would not feel out of place as the soundtrack for an cult 80s film about about street gangs i.e. the Duke from Escape From New York…or Style Wars. The Wave and House sounds are present but then there’s distorted walking bass guitars and snapping drums give it this more swampy sound, and also the more punk rock sound of The Stooges or The Cramps. This release is the feeling of listening to a band and not just some guys who are making electronic music. This is an excellent juxtaposition of styles that is effective in both manners.
Continue reading “Mutant Beat Dance – No Comfort For Control [NAT020]”
“The album is a dialogue between the inner self and outer, and romance of eternal and immortal existence. Hence the first single, ‘Miriam’ being a ballad to the Vampiress main character in The Hunger book and film from the 80s. How do we make an emotion timeless?“
Russian producers Namesis and Sunko, show us their origins with this album. Where we can find a very marked roots between synthwave, Ebm and coldwave. Voices that make you shudder from the depths of your being. It also has three remixes that perfectly capture the matrix to take it to the next level, each remixer in the field that feels more comfortable. “On the Knees” is an album full of power, strength and grit.
It’s been more than 2 weeks since Putin called for Russian troops to invade Ukraine, causing pain and suffering to innocent people. As a response to this aggressive action, Pinkman offers a new album by Russian artist LVRIN to raise funds to help those affected by the war.
All proceeds of this release will go to the Humanitarian Aid For Ukraine fund by the National Bank of Ukraine: bank.gov.ua/en/about/humanitarian-aid-to-ukraine
Sdban Records will reissue several installments of the legendary library series ‘A Special Radio ~ TV Record’ on vinyl. These were originally released on Belgian imprint ‘Selection Records’ between 1975 and 1981. N°15 in the series was the Belgian milestone jazz album ‘Solis Lacus’ released in 1975. Solis Lacus is the cult group around renowned Belgian pianist Michel Herr, a pioneer of electric jazz in the 70’s in Europe. Michel Herr rose to international prominence after winning the first prize at the jazz festival in Loosdrecht, The Netherlands, in 1971. He accompanied many European and American jazz stars on foreign tours and ran the group Jazztrack with saxophone player Wolfgang Engstfeld in Germany. At the same time, he set up his own band Solis Lacus, which consisted of Belgian musicians who had all made a name for themselves on the national jazz scene of the 1960s including Richard Rousselet and Bruno Castelluci both from Placebo. Inspired by the reigning jazz-rock sound of the day, Herr expanded his musical vocabulary and started to play electronic keyboards. Solis Lacus recorded its only album in the course of 1974 and 1975, before the members of the group headed in their own direction.
On a balmy Brazilian night in February, 1981, a crowd gathered in Rio de Janeiro’s Gávea neighbourhood under the iconic dome of the city’s Planetário (Planetarium). Alongside musicians like Helio Delmiro and Milton Nascimento (who were in the audience that night), they were there to see the great ”Bruxo” (sorcerer) Hermeto Pascoal live in concert, with his new band formation which would become known simply as ”O Grupo” (The Group). Most of the compositions performed that night at the Planetário had never been recorded before, and many are unique to this album, including the wild ‘Homônimo Sintróvio’, the exaltant ‘Samba Do Belaqua’, ‘Vou Pra Lá e Pra Cá’ and ‘Bombardino’, which features Hermeto’s wonderfully absurd call and response mouthpiece soliloquy. Then there’s the stunning 7/4 Samba ‘Jegue’ which builds with inventive dissonance, before releasing yet another celestially colourful, celebratory refrain. The show also features the first recorded performances of ‘Era Pra Ser e Não Foi’ and ‘Ilza na Feijoada’ (inspired by Hermetos’ wife Ilza’s famed black bean and meat stew), which Hermeto later recorded on his 1984 studio album ”Lagoa Da Canoa Município De Arapiraca”. Across the recording of the Planetário concert, wild improvisation meets groovy, virtuosic vamping on progressive, extended psychedelic jams. The tracks are generally built around a beautiful, transcendent melody; instantly recognisable as being Hermeto’s, and for the most part, the musicians then solo over extended two chord vamps. There’s a plethora of powerfully delivered rhythms, wild solos and the performances are punctuated by Hermeto’s unpredictable, at times comical sonic antics.
