Beranek – Sound Of Danger [DE147]

March 2, 2017July 17, 2024 hipodromealbum, beranek, dark entries records, electro, espen beranek holm, minimal synthLeave a comment

Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single Dra te’ hælvete’ was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts. Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June – September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, Sound of Danger’, was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single’s fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music.

Timothy J. Fairplay – Where Is The Champion? [CHAR-LP01]

February 27, 2017November 24, 2023 hipodromealbum, charlois records, disco, electro, house, pinkman records, techno, timothy j fairplayLeave a comment

Charlois present “Where is the Champion?”, Timothy J. Fairplay’s first full length solo album. Twelve shifting, shuffling and shimmering tracks make up this debut. Cruising the highways and byways between proto-techno, horror disco and forlorn wave, Fairplay conjures up his creations from metal and smoke. Saturated snares, clipped claps and warbling chords are dusted with distortion. And this idea of distortion, manipulation and the blurred line is omnipresent. Innocent and sinister, cruel and playful, accepted boundaries are brazenly ignored as engines growl and synthlines soar.

Ian Martin – Sea Of Visions [RHYTHM019]

February 21, 2017May 10, 2023 hipodromealbum, bio rhythm recordings, electro, house, ian martin, technoLeave a comment

Black magic emo-electro by the dark lord. Follow the path of the left-hand. Limited to 200 copies, silk-screened sleeve.

Artefakt – Kinship [122DSR]

February 7, 2017October 12, 2023 hipodromeacid, album, artefakt, deep techno, delsin records, nick lapien, robin koek, technoLeave a comment

Dutch live-act and DJ duo Artefakt release their atmospheric debut album on renowned techno imprint Delsin. Known separately as Robin Koek and Nick Lapien, the pair first appeared on Field Records before follow up releases on Prologue, Delsin and Konstrukt. Kinship portrays a compelling narrative in a body of work that will undoubtedly keep listeners engaged from start to finish.

Aquarian Motion – Beyond The Pillars Of Hercules [VG002]

February 1, 2017September 20, 2017 hipodromealbum, aquarian motion, detroit, electro, jeremiah r., voodoo gold recordsLeave a comment

Next up on Voodoo Gold is the debut release by Aquarian Motion. ‘Beyond the Pillars of Hercules’ is a 9 track mixture of classic aquatic electro and deep mellow machine funk.

Jay Bliss – Vrăjitorul din Orz LP [SG004]

January 31, 2017September 16, 2021 hipodromealbum, deep house, deep techno, jay bliss, minimal house, romanian, stomping groundsLeave a comment

BLISS, Jay - Vrajitorul Din Orz

Debut longplayer by Romanian DJ and producer Jay Bliss. After a few years of releasing quite a bunch of EPs on various labels, Jay Bliss has pulled down the throttle for a while. This doesn’t mean that he took time off from the studio, on the contrary, he perfected his signature sounds. Spending time to bake his own imprints aswell, its only natural that his first LP will see the light of day on Stomping Grounds. Lush and organic pads, playful textures and attention to details are the building blocks of this introspective work, divided into 6 pieces.

DJ Jus-Ed – Transition [UQ067]

January 31, 2017May 8, 2023 hipodromealbum, deep house, deep techno, jus ed, underground qualityLeave a comment

Underground Quality boss Jus Ed is beginning 2017 in fine fettle, with Transition – his first album since 2014 – heading up a spate of vinyl releases. The triple-vinyl set is full of evocative, immaculately produced deep house treats, from the Alton Miller style intricacy of “The Loop 222 Bodin Strasse” and shuffling, yearning “The Day Prince Died”, to the rich bass and dancing drum machine hits of “Medellin My New Grooveland” (inspired, apparently, by a recent trip to Colombia), and the low-slung, Motor City grooves of “Sci-Fi Connection”. Best of all, though, is the rushing positivity of “Spring is Near”, where intertwining synth lines bubble away over a fizzing, techno-influenced rhythm track.

Aybee – The Odyssey [DBRV030]

January 30, 2017March 28, 2024 hipodromealbum, aybee, deep house, deepblak recordings, detroit technoLeave a comment

Deepblak’s Chief Alchemist Aybee come with his fourth full-length studio album, ‘The Odyssey’. As befitting its grand title, this newest long-player finds him concerned with personal journeys: both the personal one that has brought him to this point – living in Berlin, 15 years since founding Deepblak in his native Oakland – and the one that beckons for him personally and creatively in future: Aybee sees himself as being halfway up a mountain, looking back on where he has come from, and to where he will be headed next – both concepts play a profound role in the emotional textures of the album, which in true Deepblak fashion draws from jazz, deep house, techno, hip hop, blues, experimentation, cinema, space, time and infinity. ‘The Odyssey’ represents a change-up for AYBEE in several ways, forged from a desire to keep expectations at bay and throw something of a curveball for those who felt they had him pegged: “a good pitcher always keeps you off balance”. This newest work saw him deliberately limit his sound palette in a creative exercise that challenged him to create a full body of work from a small pre-selected library of sonic elements. While this was restricting in some aspects, the approach to – as he puts it – “throw the ingredients in a basket and cook with it later” gave him more freedom to focus on atmosphere and groove instead of putting hours into trying out different options – “otherwise I’d still be in the studio now trying to work out which hi-hat to use on the third track!”

Tropical Hi-Fi – Oceania [ERS028]

January 29, 2017March 30, 2023 hipodromealbum, ambient, drone, electro, emotional response, emotional response recordings, experimental, tropical hi-fiLeave a comment

Emotional Response starts 2017 with a mini-album of ambient-equatorial enlightenment by Australia’s mysterious Tropical Hi-Fi. The final record from an artist appearing on the label’s first SchleiBen series, this also points to the future. Based somewhere in the far flung Northern Territories, the music of Hi-Fi’s pre-incarnation Electric Egypt was first discovered via the note-worthy airwaves of L.A’s outstanding Dublab radio station. As the wonderfully diverse internet shows and project’s dense, hip-hop inspired collages came to fruition with 2012’s Exotica release, a dual awareness and sporadic contact was maintained whenever a signal could be established with Hi-Fi base camp. As the SchleiBen series was formed, the studio-DJ-cut-up-mix of Oceanic Mythology was warmly received as an inspired counterpoint to the dense offering from Don’t DJ. These first real solo recordings from the Hi-Fi crew – whoever he/she/they maybe – moves on from the cut’n’paste of Electric Egypt to seek a meditative vision. Ambient, drone and field recordings are all part of a drifting tropical flavour that encompasses the listener. Music truly inspired by it’s surroundings, this is not some music journal, flying in to sample a life and it’s sounds, but the real, living entity and it can be heard deep across the 8 short pieces. None is more typified than Tahiti Blue, where fellow traveler Mike Cooper layers his ubiquitous steel blues over simple, lilting drums. Mixed by Leaving Record’s Matthewdavid (with whom more to come on the label in 2017), photography by Native Finger and the ever-present encouragement of friend and neighbour, Ariel Kalma, this is conceptual album to lay back, drift off on undulating swells and simply, let go to.

HAEX-HRLL – Further From The Truth LP [GDLP007]

January 29, 2017November 6, 2017 hipodromealbum, ambient, dj overdose, electro, experimental, giallo disco records, haex-hrllLeave a comment

Welcome to a science fiction nightmare helmed by the legend that is DJ Overdose. Alien prey, DNA in test tubes. Who is being regrown? Will the town survive? Who has been replaced? In these present times of truth vs fiction it’s easy to become paranoid. We have the soundtrack HAEX-HRLL’s Further From The Truth: An abductee saga by replicons from beyond the moon. Chiming in between hot electro, Vangelis dream scapes, XTRO drone. This is one of OD’s most fascinating records to date. Art by a mysterious figure.

Architectural – Metropolitan Opera [ARCH009]

January 29, 2017September 20, 2017 hipodromealbum, ambient techno, architectural, drone, experimental, juan ricoLeave a comment

Experimental LP inspired on the streets of the big city, listening to the sounds from different angles and perspective of the city. Created just for listening, not for the dancefloor.

Cygnus – Cosmos [FR014]

January 26, 2017February 14, 2023 hipodromealbum, cygnus, electro, experimental, fundamental records, phillip washingtonLeave a comment

Fundamental Records present a vinyl edition of the previously digital only album Cosmos by Cygnus, composed out of eleven tracks (plus two bonus cuts on the 7″). Perfectly bridging the gap between street-smart electro DJ tools and more home-listening techno, Cygnus perfectly updates this sound.

Smackos – A Vampire Goes West [NW011]

January 22, 2017September 26, 2017 hipodromealbum, ambient, danny wolfers, experimental, legowelt, nightwind records, smackosLeave a comment

Seven years after his last release as Smackos, music making machine Legowelt surprises us all with ‘A Vampire Goes West,’ a brand new and ever-experimental ambient album. It comes on his own Nightwind label and was made in total isolation on the North Sea coast last Christmas. As for the music, it is smudgy and cosmic; an “all out amateur spacejazz spiritual ambient eruption on smudgey cassettetape” that will take you far away from reality across 14 absorbing and atmospheric cuts. It includes some extra fun treats too: a fridge magnet and microzine with a map in ASCII art that has a quest attached to it which, if decoded, reveals a password that unlocks some secret and special prizes.

Jeff Mills – A Trip To The Moon [AXCD049]

January 22, 2017January 3, 2018 hipodromealbum, ambient techno, axis records, detroit techno, experimental, georges melies, jeff mills, minimal technoLeave a comment

The album is newly recorded sound track of the “A Trip To The Moon” film by Georges Melies in 1902. The Lobster Films in France has released a DVD of the same film with Jeff Mills’ sound tracks in November 2016. The famous silent film is only for 16 minutes or so but Mills has finished the entire tracks for this sound track album.

‘When Georges Méliès created Trip To The Moon in 1902, the world was just beginning to feel the tightening, yet exciting effects of another giant leap in modern civilization with the Industrial Age. It was a place in time that was transformable and in all dimensions of an evolutionary process: social, economic and political revolutions were buzzing. As man worked hard under the Sun, exposing his efforts and determination, it was the Moon that hatched his dreams. It was a time of realization and a time of romance’. – Jeff Mills

Marcello Giombini – Computer Disco [MGLP101]

January 21, 2017February 21, 2022 hipodromealbum, cinedelic records, disco, electro, italo-disco, marcello giombini, mondo groove, re-release, reissueLeave a comment

GIOMBINI, Marcello - Computer Disco

One of the greatest euro synthi-disco album of early 80’s finally reprint by Mondo Groove Records. Original released in 1982, “Computer Disco” is the most Kraftwerk-ian italian production. Marcello Giombini was a pioneer of early sequencers and in this cult LP produced cheesey cosmic synth pop a little bit italo disco oriented. Every fan of 70/80’s synthesizer music and electronic djs should put in his collection if they not already possess the extremely rare original edition.

East Wall – Silence [DE145]

January 20, 2017July 17, 2024 hipodromealbum, angelo bergamini, dark entries records, east wall, fabrizio chiari, italo-disco, minimal synth, synth pop, tiziana wells, wilma notariLeave a comment

East Wall was an Italian electronic dark wave band started by Fabrizio Chiari (ex keyboardist of Kirlian Camera) and Wilma Notari in 1982. After a series of demos and live performances, the duo recruited Angelo Bergamini of Kirlian Camera to help with arrangement and synthesizers. They released their debut single ‘Eyes Of Glass’ in 1985 which had huge success in Germany, leading to a deal with ZYX. By 1991 the band consisted of Fabrizio Chiari (Synthesizer, Electronics, Keyboards), Tiziana Wells (Vocals, Synthesizer) and Angelo Bergamini (Synthesizer, Piano, Arrangement). At the beginning of the year, they recorded their next batch of songs at Prominence Studio in Cremona and A Love Sound Studio in Piacenza. “Silence” was self released by the band in 1991. The lead track ‘Silence’ was a left-over song by Kirlian Camera recorded in 1985 with vocals by Simona Buja under the alias Lorenza Larini. It was recorded largely using a variety of now-classic Roland, Yamaha, and Oberheim synthesizers. The album displays East Wall’s maturity and unique aesthetics, with instrumental pieces reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’ Twin Peaks score. Tiziana Wells sings with pure emotion, hypnotic at times, upbeat and carefree at others. Frankie Teardrop (of the Wierd party and the Systems of Romance blog) describes this album as “possibly the closest thing to darkwave freestyle that exists.’ We decided to expand the album, releasing it as a deluxe double LP cut louder at 45 RPM. We have also included an unreleased extended version of ‘Ice Of Fire’ and the bonus track ‘Intro’, found on the DAT tapes Fabrizio Chiari sent us.

College – Old Tapes LP [AMI001]

January 16, 2017January 15, 2017 hipodromealbum, college, dan bell, disco, electro, synth wave, valerie collective, valerie recordsLeave a comment

College – Old Tapes celebrates ten years of composition from 2006 and 2016. Most of these tracks are unreleased demo versions. To illustrate the music video of the track “Auto Pilot”, College team up with the director Dan Bell. This collaboration, born out of the same generational anchoring, reflects the strange dream of a paradise of the consumption which collapses silently.

www.valeriecollective.com

Suspensivos Inflamables – Nube Psico Dub LP [COS003LP]

January 14, 2017November 23, 2023 hipodromealbum, cosmica records, dub, psychedelic, suspensivos inflamablesLeave a comment

Hailing from Buenos Aires, like a massive tentacular burst of lightning, electrifying everything and everybody along their way, Suspensivos Inflamables since 2001, have been blasting stages and danceoors across south america with unprecedented sonic and ultra sonic power. Flowing unobstructed between lavish dubs and feverish psych punk rock, this 8 member ensemble performs live submerged on a visual lysergic orgy of self designed animations and video footage projected onto themselves. In the same fashion, this LP was recorded live in studio at Odisea Records, Buenos Aires, on several memorable sessions.

A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service [88985377872]

January 14, 2017May 10, 2023 hipodromea tribe called quest, album, epic, hip-hopLeave a comment

The general consensus is that “We Got It From Here, Thank You 4 Your Service”, A Tribe Called Quest’s sixth and final album, is something of a triumph, with many critics hailing it as the best full-length of 2016. It’s certainly a fine set, full of their trademark musically rich backing tracks (enhanced, this time round, with a greater reliance on live instrumentation), conscious lyrics and distinctive, on-point vocal delivery. Given their legendary status within hip-hop, it’s unsurprising to see a string of similarly high profile guests dotted throughout, with Busta Rhymes, Andre 3000, Kayne West, Consequence, Jack White and Elton John (presumably in sampled form) all lending a hand. Even if you’re only mildly interested in hip-hop, this should be essential listening.

L/F/D/M – Under The Eyes Of Augustus [CDRTP041]

January 4, 2017March 22, 2023 hipodromeacid, album, cassette, clan destine records, electro, industrial, l/f/d/m, richard smith, technoLeave a comment

L/F/D/M aka Richard Smith returns on Clan Destine for another release, an epic journey thru Techno, Electro, Noise, Acid and even Disco. 60 minutes ov madness, hold tight.