DECA – Alkaidb [DECA002]

June 20, 2017October 31, 2017 hipodromealbum, ambient, bordello a parigi, deca, disco, electro, italo-disco, mothball record, re-release, reissue, synth pop, videoradioLeave a comment

Originally released in 1986, “Alkaid” was the first solo release of DECA following his debut appearance on the cult various artists compilation “Angelo Segreti”. The original edition was published in a tiny edition on the independent Italian label Videoradio and to this day remains a rare and sought after album. Following Mothball and Bordello’s continued work with DECA, they make this diverse and fascinating collection of music available to a wider audience. On this instrumental LP we can hear elements of modern classical, synth-pop, dark ambient and even some middle eastern influence.

Joao Donato & Seu Trio – Muito A Vontade [GB002LP]

June 18, 2017September 26, 2017 hipodromealbum, go! bop!, jazz, joao donato, re-release, reissue, seu trioLeave a comment

Go! Bop! present a reissue of Joao Donato & Seu Trio’s Muito À Vontade, originally released in 1962. Joao Donato is a legend of Brazilian jazz and Latin music and this is his legendary debut album. The well-skilled performance speaks of a great routine each musician has, but there is so much fire and hunger to be found within the compositions. The listener will experience rather relaxed slow jazz tunes with an obvious bossa nova groove and a leading piano that takes off from the backing rhythm of drums and standing bass. On the other hand, there are tunes with wicked piano staccato lines and a powerful rhythmic drive that is rooted in Latin music, but shoots forward on a ray of energy. The tunes are well composed and have a memorable structure that distinguishes them from the beginning free jazz hype back in the day. Joao Donato and his mates in the trio were jazzy boys, but they were also songwriters. Catchy melodies were as important as a great and skillful performance. The combination of both sides of jazz, and the crossover with Latin sounds, makes Muito À Vontade a special album, with other greats to follow. Muito À Vontade stands out as a landmark. If you feel that it is time for an equally relaxed, but exciting jazz record to enchant you, here you go. A sweet reissue of a classic from the early ’60s. Joao Donato and his trio play it rather smoothly but their passion hits you automatically after a short while listening. Even the slower tunes offer twists and turns that leave you feeling amazed.

Marvis Dee – Midnight Dreams [VG003]

June 17, 2017July 25, 2022 hipodromealbum, deep house, house, jeremiah r., marvis dee, voodoo gold recordsLeave a comment

Although best known for producing alien electro, Jeremiah R also makes evocative deep house under the lesser-known Marvis Dee alias. Here he pops up on Voodoo Gold with a mini album’s worth of woozy goodness. The Rotterdam based producer brings us again a record full of warm, tape driven tracks. Highly recommended for lovers of a mixture of lo-fi 80’s cassette machine funk and groovy synth boogie.

Philipp Gorbachev & The Naked Man – I Don’t Give A Snare LP [ARMA016]

June 14, 2017October 10, 2017 hipodromealbum, arma records, experimental, philipp gorbachev, rock, the naked manLeave a comment

Arma presents the debut Philipp Gorbachev & The Naked Man album. Philipp Gorbachev, the Russian musician and DJ, has been throwing killer parties and making some of the most innovative and exciting electronic music to come out of Moscow in years. In 2014 he released his debut album Silver Album but when invited to perform a live Boiler Room he had something else in mind: a band scenario. The resulting concoction was not something locked into a 4/4 beat but rather a much more organic, groove-based sound with funk-strutting bass lines and live drums that rolled and flurried around the beats that jumped around leading the charge of the songs along with Gorbachev’s Damo Suzuki-like vocals. Taking that experiment into the studio, ‘I Don’t Give A Snare’ is a wild ride that jumps genres, switches paces and alters tones frequently. The opening ‘Goodman’ exploding in intense rhythms and heavy, spiralling riffs that at times recall Sabbath but the ever-shifting drums and gargling electronics give a wonky freshness that feels impossible to place into genre. Whilst Gorbachev cites a range of influences from Beck to Blind Willie Johnson as being core to him, the primary motivation is the live nature of the project itself. ‘The main influence is the constant live experience we have as music players and performers. I want to get the most out of every party, every jam, and every dancefloor.’

Delta Funktionen – Junior High School Excursion To The Parallel World [RAM-X-10]

June 13, 2017November 9, 2023 hipodromealbum, delta funktionen, electro, niels luinenburg, radio matrix, technoLeave a comment

Following a near two-year hiatus, Delta Funktionen resurfaces in order to invite us on his Junior High School Excursion To The Parallel World. While the title evokes images of bad 1980s teen movies, musically the Dutch producer has delivered a double-pack full of what we would describe as “proper” techno and electro. That means thrusting rhythms, bold and restless basslines, intergalactic electronics and melodies that sound like they’ve been beamed down from, well, a parallel world. There’s naturally plenty of subtle variation – compare and contrast, for example, the booming rhythmic intensity and creepy melodies of “Torpedo” and the winding late night acid trip that is “Stingoperation” – but Delta Funktionen keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the dancefloor throughout.

Staffan Linzatti – The Dynamic Dispatch [FIELD025]

June 12, 2017May 26, 2023 hipodromealbum, field records, minimal techno, staffan linzattiLeave a comment

Staffan Linzatti is back with a well balanced spaced-out techno triple pack on the ever evolving Field Records. Ever since ‘The Event’ we knew that our reality was becoming more hostile towards our presence in it. The very fabric of it was changing, and we would either have to change with it, or change our reality. A program called ‘The Dispatch’ was created as a means to preserve human existence through an infinite number of simulated universes. A simulation in which each universe would serve as a world for future humans. A world indistinguishable from the ‘real thing’. As we write this, ‘The Dispatch’ – your future as humans – is being coded and compiled. During execution, our existence will end – and your new world will replace ours. Our story, our memories will live on in your reality. Our creation, embedded deep within the ‘The Dispatch’, will be a brave tale of perhaps our greatest achievement – if not our very last.

Nick Höppner – Work [OSTGUTLP026]

June 7, 2017October 23, 2024 hipodromealbum, house, nick höppner, ostgut tonLeave a comment

Panorama Bar resident Nick Höppner gets to “Work” on his second solo album on Ostgut Ton, connecting the territories of House music with the ease of Alt-Pop. Work as in labor. An axiom that fuels the capitalist system just as the Techno/House scene economy says that one needs to keep oneself busy to make a living. As a musician, things are complicated of course. It’s a long way from the romantic idea of creating music simply for the sake of art to becoming a full time musician. Those who have accomplished this feat often find themselves in a professional loop of writing the music, producing it, promoting it (with an info text like this), releasing it and then hopefully selling it. After leaving his full time job as Ostgut Ton’s label manager in 2012, Nick Ho¨ppner went fully freelance, focusing on his musically diverse, deep and dynamic DJing in and outside Berghain’s Panorama Bar, but more importantly spending more time in the studio. The result was his critically acclaimed debut album Folk (Ostgut Ton, 2015), various 12′ releases and remixes, and now his sophomore LP, Work, which, more than ever, lays out his refined production skills and his talent to work the machines until they reveal their inner ghosts: nine new songs that now dodge the dance floor, then fully embrace it.

Gunnar Haslam – Kalaatsakia [BK025]

June 5, 2017February 11, 2020 hipodromealbum, experimental, gunnar haslam, techno, the bunkerLeave a comment

The latest transmission from the world of Gunnar Haslam, Kalaatsakia wildly sprawls across the intersections of techno and more abstract sounds to take us on a wideranging journey from the subterranean to the coastal, from blown-out dub tones through fractured rhythms. An incredible work that is not easy to pigeonhole, Kalaatsakia is a full length album that navigates and sketches landscapes where new languages are created from old, dead ones to emerge as the lingua franca of interconnected immersive zones. Haslam is an avid home listener of dub, dancehall and calypso, and that influence is quickly felt as Kalaatsakia launches with a tight electro snap and dubwise crash. Kalaatsakia advances and retreats seasonally, tightening up for the floor with the chrome-plated ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Kjolle’ while splintering apart on ‘Kalapuyan’ and ‘nxbound’. Its constituent parts are often left to collapse in on themselves, smearing themes into residual trails. As the narrative of the album disintegrates and unfolds into more deconstructed territory, it stretches out even further with a striking skittering mental tease, settling into burbling sub-audible vocals and resonant spaces that all form a part of Haslam’s self-created subconscious language.

Riz Ortolani – Si Puo’ Essere Piu’ Bastardi Dell’ispettore Cliff? [FLIES023]

June 4, 2017January 13, 2022 hipodromealbum, four flies records, funk, jazz, riz ortolani, soundtrackLeave a comment

ORTOLANI, Riz - Si Puo Essere Piu Bastardi Dell'ispettore Cliff? (Soundtrack)

Previously unreleased full edition for this explosive jazz-funk score by Italian Maestro Riz Ortolani, created in 1973 for the crime-movie Si può essere più bastardi dell’ispettore Cliff’ (also known as Mafia Junction’). Only two tracks from this OST were published at the time in a now extremely rare C.A.M. 7-inch, but that was enough to create the legend. Four Flies had access to the original C.A.M. master tapes, so to present here the complete session for the first time. Just expect one of the funkiest piece of the whole Ortolani’s career: car chases, sex scenes, vicious kills are served here by amazing drum breaks, fat bass lines, captivating horn section and wonderful guitar effects. Totally outstanding session, and a real new classic for all crime-funk lovers.

Fontän – Fontän [HNRLP010]

June 4, 2017July 12, 2021 hipodromealbum, electronics, experimental, fontan, funk, hoga nord rekords, jazz, jesper jarold, johan melin, psychedelicLeave a comment

FONTAN - Fontan

There are many ways for a band or an artist to compile an album: some make it in a week and some let the process go on longer. The latter approach does often mean that that the record will not be better than had it been recorded and mixed within a short amount of time, rather the contrary. However, there are those albums that just could not be made within in a week or a month, those compilation of songs that needed the time to melt together to form an album. Fontän’s third album titled ‘Fontän’, released on Hoga Nord Rekords is that kind of an album. Put the opening track ‘Mangsebung’ on, then stay with the record until the closer ‘Shadows’ rings out and you will go clear, sharp, and mildly messed up by the listening experience because this is an extremely well directed trip in mind-altering music! This album needed time to reach such heights. With Johan Melin’s and Jesper Jarold’s love for music and non-sentimental creative approach, this album proves that the band never gets hung up on trying to sound like the past masters, but to develop what they once started.

400PPM – Fit For Purpose [AVNLP004]

June 1, 2017July 9, 2020 hipodrome400ppm, album, avian music, industrial, shawn o'sullivan, technoLeave a comment

New York native Shawn O’Sullivan returns to Avian as 400PPM with debut LP, ‘Fit for Purpose’. As an artist, O’Sullivan has long since explored the juncture between hard-hitting, functional dance floor material and more lofty, conceptual work. From a purely structural standpoint, the artist’s return to Avian bears all the hallmarks of previous output under the alias, utilising the same palette found on early EP’s for Guy Brewer’s label. Stripped back and driven, the music marries caustic drum-machine polyrhythms with warping, pitch bent leads and characteristically atmospheric use of reverb. It’s a decidedly dance floor offering, but the music comes refracted through O’Sullivan’s own lens, with plenty of elegant references to a career spent exploring much of the Techno genre’s periphery, from Noise to New Wave. Crushed vox bubble up from beneath wrought-iron percussion and the artist takes time to step away from high energy 4×4 workouts to explore more complex rhythmic structures and harsh, low tempo grooves. While O’Sullivan’s music as 400PPM might eschew the colour and vibrance of some of the unabashed hedonists that made up the Club Kids scene – who reinvented the DIY spirit of punk rock and incorporated Sci-Fi and the circus, there is on the one hand an undeniable sense of both the rising hysteria that comes with the pervasive and unbridled drug use for which the group were as infamous as their outfits and rejection of then societal norms, and on the other, a further anxiety regarding the notion of machine-made music in a contemporary society swiftly approaching a new and daunting technological age.

The Mulholland Free Clinic – The Mulholland Free Clinic [AWAYLP001]

May 29, 2017May 26, 2023 hipodrome://about blank, album, ambient, away music, david moufang, deep house, experimental, jonah sharp, juju & jordash, move d, mulholland free clinicLeave a comment

Even though they’ve only played together on three occasions since 2013, The Mulholland Free Clinic has already been praised as one of the ultimate collaborations when it comes to underground and improvised electronic live music. Move D, Jonah Sharp, and Juju & Jordash build this so-called super-supergroup by combining their individual and mutual projects rEAGENZ and Magic Mountain High. Using an armada of analog hardware, The Mulholland Free Clinic’s self-titled debut album is the product of a live set recorded at Berlin’s emerging party series AWAY at ://about blank in August 2016. Their three-hour long, totally improvised jam session was edited down to a little over 80 minutes with seven tracks internalizing the motto that you won’t benefit from diverse perspectives if you aren’t open to utilizing differences. Like a well-coordinated ensemble, The Mulholland Free Clinic develops a common language by acknowledging their multi-variant range of influences and dynamics while constantly shifting, rearranging, and finally communicating ideas without being beholden to any genre. Whether it’s the rich and beat-less ambiance or the synth-dominated excursions, the cosmic futurism or the overall melodic playfulness: the quartet knows its crafts, mastering the off-the-cuff approach to illuminate all corners on and off the dance floor.

Baltra – No Regrets [OP003]

May 29, 2017August 28, 2018 hipodrome96 and forever records, album, baltra, deep house, margaux lonnberg, of paradiseLeave a comment

Of Paradise welcome Baltra into the inner circle for number three; a 2XLP reissue of his “No Regrets” album. Originally released in February 2016 as a limited edition cassette on the artists own 96 And Forever label, this is the first time any of these tracks have been made available on vinyl. “No Regrets” captures the deep, raw emotion of the big city, taking the preconceived ideas of underground electronic music and lovingly twisting them into something new.

Robert Hood – Paradygm Shift [DKMNTL050]

May 28, 2017September 28, 2023 hipodromealbum, dekmantel records, detroit techno, minimal techno, robert hoodLeave a comment

Paradygm Shift is the first Robert Hood album to be released since 2012. A staggering record of techno dynamite sees the Detroit legend excelling at what he does best. Paradygm Shift is return to the distinguished style that defined Robert Hood’s music in the early 90s. It is the older, and more mature brother to Hood’s classic Minimal Nation, highlighting his more evolved, technical craftsmanship, It is an album of crisp, smooth and delicately orchestrated techno that is quintessentially minimal in focus, and grandiose in sound, juxtaposed with electronic funk, wrapped up in blisteringly urgent, and honest, pulsating techno.

Marco Shuttle – Systhema [SPAZIO009]

May 21, 2017June 16, 2023 hipodromealbum, ambient, ambient techno, experimental, marco shuttle, spazio disponibileLeave a comment

For its ninth release, Italian label Spazio Disponible looks to countryman Marco Shuttle for a first full length. ‘Systhema’ comes three years after his last album on his own Eerie label and finds him again focussing on an absorbing ambient techno style across eight enthralling cuts. Shuttle layers sound in subtle ways and has a meticulous attention to detail that results in a cinematic techno style that is cavernous and hypnotizing. Always operating in a region where ambient, techno and heady soundtracks become one, with this album Marco Shuttle once again confirms he is one of the finest sonic sculptors out there.

Biosphere – The Petrified Forest [BIO30LP]

May 21, 2017March 29, 2021 hipodromealbum, ambient, biophon records, biosphere, electro, experimental, geir jenssenLeave a comment

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. The Petrified Forest mini-album is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 1936 and directed by Archie Mayo.

Credit 00 – Recordings From Schonbrunn Strasse 2009 – 2012 [NYH081]

May 18, 2017October 18, 2017 hipodromealbum, alexander dorn, cassette, credit 00, electro, experimental, new york hauntedLeave a comment

Having established himself through a consistent stream of quality releases for Uncanny Valley and the immaculate collection of stomping dj tools for Rat Life, Credit 00 – real name Alexander Dorn – brings the heat on cassette for NYH81. These are recordings taken from his old apartment, and feature a heavy dose of reference to classic Gertronica. From Can to Kraftwerk to Neu! to (now) Munich’s Dopplereffect, this is some really nifty classic electro. From the 20 minute opening joint to the perfect pop song length closer ‘No Future Sound Of London’, these joint combine experimentation with spot on electro bangers. Audio perfection on cassette tape.

Jonas Kopp – Photon Belt LP [TRESOR293]

May 15, 2017March 17, 2026 hipodromealbum, jonas kopp, techno, tresor recordsLeave a comment

Jonas Kopp and Tresor have shared a bright and prosperous musical relationship for some years and now the Argentinian artist delivers a new full-length to the Berlin’s legendary. The “Photon Belt” is dedicated to a cosmic phenomenon our solar system experiences every 11,000 years. The photon belt is a band of intense light energy into which our star and its planets moves into for a duration of about 2,000 years. Expect a thoughtful and mature labor from Jonas Kopp’s mesmerizing 10-track journey, on which the Argentine’s contemporary methods in production meet traditional techno constituents. Throughout the album, different sidereal interludes arch over to his Telluric Lines side project, which he presented at the 2016 edition of the Berlin Atonal festival. Crucial titles such as “Galactic Core”, “Aile”, the eponymous “Photon Belt” and “5D World” are set to leave a large footprint in the continuous sequence of electronic music.

Pasteur Lappe – Na Man Pass Man [ASVN015]

May 7, 2017August 30, 2023 hipodromeafrica seven records, african, album, disco, funk, outernational, pasteur lappe, re-release, reissueLeave a comment

Following on from the Pasteur Lappe compilation ”African Funk Experimentals” LP, we are really pleased to be re-visiting Pasteur with a repress of his second album from 1979, ”Na Man Pass Man”. The story begins in the 60s 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. His second album ”Na Man Pass Man” is made 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.

Led Er Est – Dust On Common [MNQ099]

May 4, 2017June 21, 2024 hipodromealbum, electro, led er est, mannequin records, owen hutchinson, post punk, sam de la rosa, shawn o'sullivan, synth pop, synth wave, wierd recordsLeave a comment

Dust On Common’ from Led Er Est (Sam De La osa, Shawn O’Sullivan and Owen Hutchinson) was originally released in 2009 by the seminal Brooklyn based record label Wierd Records. The band’s first full-length release showed the three piece clearly breaking out of the minimal synth underground they have been a vitally integral part of since its inception in Brooklyn to create an undeniably contemporary set of highly crafted and restrained, icily psychedelic pop songs.