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.
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Jay Bliss – Vrăjitorul din Orz LP [SG004]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
Suspensivos Inflamables – Nube Psico Dub LP [COS003LP]
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]
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]
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.
Dusty Baron – A Little Comedy, A Little Drama [LELEKA008]
The album ‘A Little Comedy, A Little Drama’ by Dusty Baron is the result of collaboration of Moldavian fellows Eugen Kara, Ivan Slivka and Dima Scripnic. Inspired by French and Italian psychedelic electronic music of 60s and 70s, cartoons and the comedian genre of absurd, the trio tried to incarnate their vision of the Space into a LP comprising 13 tracks. Vintage synthesiser lines and classic drum machines create a hugely entertaining blend intoxicated with universal love. Now and then you trace the combinations of techno rhythms rushing into the futuristic vertical, and sometimes the sound transforms into a blend of absolute and exotically influenced reverie.
The Valley And The Mountain – Gentle Waters Keep Moving [PF013CD]
Only a few nuggets of information exist on The Valley and The Mountain. ‘Gentle Waters Keep Moving’ is the first full length outing from TVTM and their/his/her most absorbing work to date. Sharpened edges are rounded, 303 squawk softened and rhythms mellowed as ten tracks of melting music is served. The Detroit denizen calls on the sounds of the hometown. Techno is at the album’s heart but frosted touches of electro are present, warming acid twangs, house grooves with all being dipped in a refreshing undercurrent of electronica.
Modula – Autostrada Galattica LP [BAP085]
2183. After crash landing on an alien planet, intrepid explorer Modula valiantly crawls from the wreckage of his interplanetary cruiser clinging to his life (and antique synthesizers.) Taken captive, this neo-Naples born space traveller is soon drafted into the services of the court of this other world’s ruler. His music boxes save his life and change the very face of this distant kingdom. The results have just been beamed back in time to earth and intercepted by the Bordello receiver dish. Modula’s voice crackles through and utters two words: Autostrada Galattica . Cosmic boogie, futuristic funk and deep space disco are human terms to describe these sounds sent half way across the universe to be enjoyed by we humans of the 21st century. Love, sacrifice and musical riches from a synthesizer super nova.
Phochos – The Beach [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Composed and recorded in 2014.
The Hipodrome Of Music 