Karl Lukas Pettersson has searched through his vaults of DAT tapes to create a personal album of lost projects, ideas and forgotten gems. The album includes a remastered version of Professor Laphroaigh originally included on his Dr Lindh – Sounds Interesting EP for SCSI-AV.
Miron Ghiu, once in his youth a winner at international philosophy competitions and a journalist specialized in music and new media, has been experimenting for almost 10 years in the field of sound art, both on his own and as a member of the ambient /drone/noise Nava Spațială duo. He finds his inspiration in Dada and deconstructivist techniques and he likes to play with chance and improvisation. He feels best in art galleries, where the audience actually listens to the surrounding ambient music without looking for beats to dance on, but also in music venues. He has created the sound design for a few theatre plays, peformed in various independent spaces as well as on the stage of a major Romanian theatre. He is also a DJ. Most of the music he composes, either ambient or noise, is available on several Soundcloud accounts and on several discs released in various parts of the world.
Last year, Jeff Mills provided the soundtrack for a curious Japanese film by Tatsushi Omori called And Then There Was Light. The movie was based on a novel called Hikari, which focuses on a teenager who kills his girlfriend’s other lover while mistaking their affair for sexual assault. The dark tone of both novel and film naturally shines through in Mills’ refreshingly electronic score, which flits between moments of quietly spacey ambience, creepy intensity, Reichian minimalism (see “Danger From Abroad”), icy soundscapes, industrial strength intensity (the panicked “The Players of Consequence” and “Lost Winners”) and, on the “Hikari Mix” of “The Hypnotists”, full-throttle Detroit techno with Giallo overtones.
Timespan is a carefully curated journey through almost 20 years of Shawn Rudiman’s music productions. The tracks collected here (the majority of which have not been heard outside of Shawn’s studio) showcase a producer with seldom matched knowledge of studio techniques, while also hinting at his world renowned live performances.
This 6 tracks LP travel through again into the unique sound of the early 80’s Italo Disco built with spacey analog sounds, some cheesy atmospheres and a touch of primitive Trance chords. Marcello’s taste is very clear and specific when we speak about Electronic Disco and this LP is totally inspired by artists like Farina/Rago, Sangy, Alexander Robotnick, Alessandro Novaga, Doris Norton and also from his experience collecting and playing this shit during the last 20 years.
IMA (Intense Molecular Activity) is the duo of Don Hunerberg (synthesizers) and Andy Blinx (drums and percussion). Based in New York City and active between 1979 and 1982. Don, a studio Sound / music engineer and musician, Andy an electronic clothing designer, drummer and sound reinforcement engineer at downtown clubs like Max’s Kansas City, Mudd Club and CBGB. In between doing sessions at Radio City Music Hall Studios for groups such as Ramones, Richard Hell, Sonic Youth, Liquid Liquid, John Zorn, Glenn Branca and many others, IMA took advantage of off hours to create their own music. As far as influences go, Don’s background was in electronic music and Andy’s in prog rock. To produce the songs, Don used his own method of creating patterns from 2-track tape loops and then edited them together on to a 24-track recorder adding more tracks of overdubs, In a very similar way that sequencers are used today. By 1980 the duo honed their own unique sound and version of Post Punk and No-Wave with the tools of the trade of the early 80s. Situated above the proscenium of the Radio City Music Hall stage, the studio was outfitted with a variety of orchestral instruments (timpani, bells, xylophone, etc). They self-released a 4-song EP titled “IMA” on an 8” flexi-disc which was distributed by Ed Bahlman of 99 Records. The music bridges the wild psychedelic-rock of the 60s, the synth-punk of the late-70s and the elaborate constructions of progressive-rock. There are nods to the freak-outs of Chrome and the super neurosis of Suicide, but IMA takes a more clinical approach which also takes notice of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd’s interstellar overdrive.
Nowa Aleksandria was Siekiera’s debut album, which crept its way into the back-end of the post-punk scene back in 1986 – an important year which seems to have marked the step-change which later led to the early dawns of rave culture. Out originally on the fledgling Tonpress, it has been repackaged here from the excellent Mannequin, an imprint which is fast becoming the hype beast of post-punk reissuing. As expected, the sound here is moody and direct, verging on the EBM end of the scale; harsh beats weave their way through distorted guitar bass, analogue fuzz, and a crestfallen sort of aesthetic that has taken much knowledge from the likes of Joy Division et al.
“Primus Motor” sees Ekman return to many of the sounds that gained him a reputation as an artist on labels like Bunker and Berceuse Heroique. Although harsh bucking acid lines, pockmarked notes, brutal beats and eerie echo are all present, a new tone has been added to the caustic palette. A psychological nuance, an undercurrent of the inchoate has been investigated and exploited to chilling effect. Crippling psychoses. Debilitating neuroses. Physical pain. Suffering stalks this first full vinyl album. Sinister sounds encircle the eight offerings, hovering like vultures over inhospitable plains of ashen grey, jagged peaks and dark sweeping swamps. Hope is all but drawn away in this bleached audio landscape, drained by sheer synthlines and reduced renderings. Amidst the sorrow and strain there are pin pricks of joy, albeit bleak and pallid ones. An album that unnerves as it engages, a collection of icy radiance and industrial indifference from a dutch master.
Rising talent Aleks joins the Organic Analogue realm of spiritual sonic exploration. The Amsterdam-based producer has already made a name for himself in the past few years with his penchant for sci-fi imagery and impeccable hardware jams, hence he feels like a natural fit for OA. This double LP release provides the chance to hear some of the breadth in Aleks productions, from ambient submersions to Detroitian techno and sharp edged 303 resonance that skirts the divide between jacking club material and emotional content. HVL returns to OA with a frankly stunning remix of “Pool Daze” that steps up to the giants of early electronica. As an additional treat, the Georgian producer has also donned his Kiyadama guise for the eight-minute psych-out “Acid Expansion Remix” of “Void”. Capturing the foggy time-slip quality of the dancefloor with a sound that could just as easily come from the late morning, the Pool Daze LP is equally comfortable as another thread in the OA tapestry.
Siegmar Fricke describes his music as ‘dynamic dancable collage-pop with a 90s technoid tendency’. The music on this release is made by Yamaha sampling- keyboards, Yamaha multieffects, synthesizers and 60s magnetic tape recorder, recorded on a four-track Tascam tape-machine. From 1987 – 1993 he produced twenty four cassette releases, some on his former label ‘Bestattungsinstitut’ and some on other tape-labels all around the globe. This vinyl is a fine selection of various tapes from 1988 – 1993 slightly edited for club use and remastered by Berlin’s masterchef Kitaro from Schnittstelle. Heavy underground dancematerial for the first time on vinyl. Comes with a strong extended dancefloor remix by Manfredas.
Typically outstanding, cultured, listenable techno by the co-founder of this excellent Finnish label, adroitly traversing dub and ambient. Nothing lunky or domineering, dystopian or Gothic, this debut LP generates senses of immediate, natural being out of field recordings (Waiting Halls, Winners, Temple) and the foibles and hiccups of the music-making process itself (New to the System, Sloth, A Small Flood).
Conceived along the space of a few years and part of a big collection of unfinished experiments stored on cassette tapes, this eight tracks selection well represents Fred Ventura’s late 80s and early 90s infatuation with Chicago House, Detroit Techno, early Warp records and even a secret passion for EBM. Using a basic set up made of Roland Juno 106, Roland JX-8p, Oberheim DX, Roland TR909 and an Akai sampler, these tracks were never officially mixed and meant to be released until today. Minimal and hypnotic, dry and direct, both sides of the record show an instinctive approach to rhythms and basslines, typical of those days where computer didn’t have a predominant role in the creative process.
Following the extremely well received re-press of Pasteur Lappe’s second album “Na Man Pass Man”, Africa Seven are heading back to the beginning with Pasteur. It is a another fine repress. The debut album “We, The People”. The story begins in the 60’s with a charming 19 year old Nicolas “Pasteur” Lappe becoming a sensation on Radio Adele in Douala, Cameroun. He goes on to become the editor of the Douala Gazette newspaper and become friends with other African music stars such as Tala AM, J Moboule and Fela Kuti. He also works tirelessly promoting new and upcoming local Cameroonian talent. After moving to Paris, a stint in journalism school and publishing a book of poems “Chansons Negres” he finally settles into a new life of music in Paris. Pasteur’s first album was recorded in 1979 with the backing band and production collective called the Zulu Gang, which include Douglas Mbida (who went on to release several top flight albums himself) and Jacob Desvariaux (who went on to form Kassav). The album is full of diverse sounds, from driving funk, sweeping disco grooves, syrupy ballads, reggae, Jackson-five-esque pop to finger-lickin’ soul. At its core though is the custom “Sekele” groove… a movement to encompass the dance, grooves and vibes from his native Douala. The nostalgic poet, with Africa at his essence Pasteur Lappe.
Amsterdam’s worst kept secret makes it back to Unknown Precept with his long-awaited album and first solo output since the acclaimed ‘Divine Bovine’ tape mini-album. Inspired by an evening spent in a restaurant next to a car demolition site, Eindkrak’s long player debut echoes the distant sound of steel being crushed and cars pressed into cubes. All this noise, in combination with the taste of good Italian food, lead to the eleven tracks making up for the aptly titled ‘Brullend Staal’ — loosely translated to weeping steel. A leisurely stroll on crumpled metal sheets, the acidic hints of oxidized metal and the smell of gasoline. Inaudible and distorted vocals as if smothered by the clatter and smokestacks of steel factories. Eindkrak’s first full-length is all about this disquietude made of melted and straightened scrap metal. A resounding and tumultuous din. Try to eat some nice gnocchis while listening to this album, and you’ll see what it is all about.
“Japonaiserie was the term the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh used to express the influence of Japanese art. Artists including Manet, Degas and Monet, followed by Van Gogh, began to collect the cheap colour wood-block prints called ukiyo-e prints” A mini LP by Benoit B, the boss of Banlieue Records , on which he creates a futuristic environment influenced by the Japanese electronics of the ’80s. A musical “Japanaiserie” that can melt your cold cold heart.
Gothenburg-based Tentakel is a dystopian and John Carpenter-influenced solar project signed by Pontus Torstensson that presents scary and fantastic images.
It’s been a long time between drinks for John Maus. “Screen Memories” is the producer’s first new album since 2011, and glistens from start to finish. After opening with the grandiose synthesizer soundscapes of ”Combine”, Maus delivers a range of atmospheric instrumental and vocal synth-pop gems dripping with Italo-disco style arpeggio lines, John Carpenter flourishes and decidedly cheap, lo-fi drum machine rhythms. “Screen Memories” was written, recorded, and engineered by Maus over the last few years in his home in Minnesota. It’s a solitary place situated in the sub-zero winter temperatures creep into the songs as do the buzzing wasps of summer.
This 2XLP album, Europa, is dedicated to and inspired by events in 2015 & 2016, which saw the spectre of global crisis come knocking at Europe’s doorstep. During this time, more than a million migrants and refugees fled their homes in the Middle East, Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and other conflict ravaged areas in search of a better life. For many, hopes of a future for themselves and their families lay in continental Europe. One of the most well- trodden paths on this journey was the Balkan route, a trail leading through Turkey, Greece, and the former Yugoslavia. This route was not without its dangers, and the dreams of thousands upon thousands were dashed by impassible security fences and discordant EU politics, as one by one they were turned away at borders, or worse, forcibly returned to their countries of origin. Europa was recorded during long jam sessions in Belgrade as the media spotlight started to dim. The city became the purgatorial destination for a large number of migrants, whose journeys had been cut short. This double LP reflects the atmosphere of disillusionment and uncertainty about the future, which descended on the Serbian capital. Dark and melancholic saxophone playing on top of heavy kicks and Mediterranean percussions dominate the epic 17 minutes title track. The collaboration with Jerusalem in My heart continues the melancholic atmosphere, adding to it JIMH signature delayed baglama sounds, to create a 12 minute emotional journey, tearing away abstract concepts of ‘longing’ and ‘home’ with ever growing tension and magnitude. Genre-less, illusive and not easy to categorize, Tapan’s debut album on Malka Tuti is an original soundtrack of a fragment in time and space, capturing a moment and transcending it musically for the rest of the world to experience.
Along with Moggi, Rovi or Tusco, M Zalla was one of Piero Umiliani’s most revered monikers from his early period. Starting off in the early 70s, the legendary Italian electronic wizard began to release weird and wonderful shapes of kinetic electronics, often inspired by the anthropology of Africa, the Mother continent. Africa itself is one of his works from ’72, released just before the iconic Problemi D’Oggi, and it has clearly inspired whole generations of different sorts of musicians. It’s polyrhythmic waves of euphoria rarely tire of cease to provoke wonder, and this whole piece of work is a treasure chest that will simply not stop giving. For some, it’s a source for samples and inspiration, while for others it’s the perfect tool to add life to DJ sets, whether at the beginning, in between tracks, or at the end.
For those not schooled in Drexciyan history, Lab Rat XL was a short-lived alternative alias of the legendary Motor City electro duo. Mice or Cyborg, the project’s only release, originally appeared on Clone in 2003, just months after member James Stinson passed away. It remains a superb example of timeless, otherworldly electro and techno fusion, with Stinson’s penchant for ethereal melodies, atmospheric chords and fizzing drum machine rhythms – such a regular feature of his work with both Drexciya and the Other People Place – rightfully coming to the fore. Naturally, the inherent positivity of some of the tracks is counter-balanced by clandestine creepiness in others, making Mice or Cyborg a brilliantly balanced and hugely entertaining collection of cuts.
The Hipodrome Of Music 