Container – LP [SP040]

Ren Schofield, otherwise known as Container, has already released two LPs for the label, both called LP, but each one has seen a constant rebirth of his distorted and utterly screwed up view of techno. There’s seven tracks on here, seven devilish pieces of brain dynamite masquerading themselves as jams made by a human and not by an extra-terrestrial. The LP starts with a shock, “Eject”, and doesn’t get any more sweet or easy on the ears. From “Remover” to “Calibrate”, Container unleashes a filthy collection of clusterbombs which will render any dancefloor a living, walking hell…and we love that idea! A must, as per usual.

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Container – LP [SP040]

Hunee – Hunch Music [RHM016]

Hunee aka Hun Choi presents his debut album “Hunch Music”. “Hunch Music” is the striking assembly of the artist’s versatile inspirations and productional talent. It is a rich musical journey that latches onto you and doesn’t let go easily. “Hunch Music” is rather special: it is a cinematic journey from the beginning to the end, with scenes we haven’t encountered before. It starts with “Woods” as the perfect introduction – a moody, mystic night haze that quickly changes into a warm and soothing whole. Following with “Crossroads”, the mystery transcends into something that moves us to the dance floor, and we’re not sure whether we want to keep moving or we just want to listen. “Hunch Music” has a nocturnal aura, an organic groove, and moments of glorious acid. It takes us up and throws us down, gently, while subjecting us to many cinematic and musical elements. For an artist who is also an avid vinyl collector, it might be difficult to ensure that his numerous inspirations do not distract from his artistic signature. Hunee’s production work is as colorful as his character, displaying a broad spectrum of his inspirations that manifest themselves in a surprising and seductive artistic entity.

rushhour / juno

Hunee – Hunch Music [RHM016]

The True Underground Sound of Rome – The Bermuda Triangle (1992 – 2005) [VIBR001]

TRUE UNDERGROUND SOUND OF ROME, The - The Bermuda Triangle (1992-2015)

Despite only a few releases, the Electronic deep house sound of Vibraphone Records and the production team behind it had a major impact on the international 1990’s dance scene. The original 90’s vinyl are now considered precious collectors items. Revitalized by an increasingly new young audience interest this label has reached a cult status and it is now been re-launched via Juno Records. Produced by The True Underground Sound of Rome team all the tracks included in this re-released are characterized by a heavenly atmosphere and a cinematic sound. This 2 X 12″ EP contains the analog re-mastered version of the original 6 tracks first released in 1992 plus 2 new bonus tracks.

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The True Underground Sound of Rome – The Bermuda Triangle (1992 – 2005) [VIBR001]

Dego – The More Things Stay The Same [BLACKLP004]

The More Things Stay the Same is Dego’s sophomore solo LP – a collection of soulful, mid-tempo melodies laced with warm synths, impeccable beats and masterful musicianship rooted in Jazz Fusion, classic Funk and Electro. In making the album, dego digs deep into his life experiences. From the first track to the last, his sonic signature inscribes his impressions on the duality of life. Dego says: The More Things Stay the Same is about the state of play – truth can bring despair as well as hope. The two sit side by side. Like history often repeating mistakes, but also bringing learning and progress. For the LP, dego leads a team of stellar musicians and trusted co-conspirators: multi-instrumentalists Kaidi Tatham, Mr Mensah and Matt Lord, as well as vocalist Sharlene Hector of Basement Jaxx fame. Hip-hop artist TY also makes an appearance on The Middle Ground. With The More Things Stay the Same, dego carries out the vision of his influential 2000BLACK label and collective, formed in 1998 to continue the legacy of black music and to contribute to what makes soul, boogie and dance music great.

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Dego – The More Things Stay The Same [BLACKLP004]

The Greg Foat Group – The Dancers at the Edge of Time [JMANLP083]

”This major new release from the Greg Foat Group sees celebrated jazz quintet making the most of the acoustics of an ancient church, accompanied by a full ensemble of supporting musicians. The fourth album from the celebrated jazz combo will further delight Foat fans who have been consistently enthralled by the taste and finesse with which they execute their beguiling arrangements and instrumentation. Last year, during the long, hot summer of 2014, a couple of tons of vintage studio gear were bundled into an ancient church on the charming and picturesque village of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. There the centuries-old church organ was the centerpiece and the Group was accompanied a string quartet and woodwinds to create a musical style like no other. The resulting hauntingly sublime sounds need not only fill vaulted chapel ceilings, but our hearts and ears as well. Recorded across three of the hottest days in summer, direct onto 1” tape and with all the rich, live analogue sound and the hallowed magnificence that church acoustics can bring, The Dancers at the End of Time features the classic Foat group with guesting local musicians and friends, and celebrates the summertime and beach ambience of living on the island.”

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The Greg Foat Group – The Dancers at the Edge of Time [JMANLP083]

King Sporty & The Root Rockers – Fire Keep On Burning [K100003]

Pure badness all over this 1979 Jamaican Disco-Funk odyssey. King Sporty should be no stranger to those of you with a keen ear for esoteric underground Disco sounds, his tracks have been getting serious play by top shelf, discerning jocks since the 1970’s & his Konduko label has dropped many a left-field bomb on unsuspecting dance floors. “Fire Keep On Burning” is one such bomb, an LP crammed full of unstoppable stripped back island sounds, too many killer cuts to mention but just check out the OG version of “get on down” for starters. An essential & extremely rare record & one that deserves a spot in any self respecting Disco lovers collection. %100 heat on here, party jams from start to finish.

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King Sporty & The Root Rockers – Fire Keep On Burning [K100003]

Max Vincent – The Future Has Designed Us [DCM001]

A lifework compilation of 10 never released songs from 1984-2002 by one of the most innovative synth pioneers in Eastern Europe, Max Vincent, mainly known as Max & Intro. His music will take you deep through the horizonts of unexplored analog synth sounds, human voice and sound effects, providing you with liring recapitulation of various electronic styles. Those who love early Yello, wave, EBM or 80’s synth pop will find this material very seductive, wondering how it happened that they haven’t heard for this music before! A bleak, prophetic and very convincing synthetic dream of future that has designed us.

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Max Vincent – The Future Has Designed Us [DCM001]

Smersh – Super Heavy Solid Waste [DE090]

Dark Entries returns to the New Jersey basement studio to unearth another compilation cassette recordings by Smersh titled Super Heavy Solid Waste. Smersh was the duo of Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard, who began making music together in the late 70s. They were uninterested in traditional notions of songwriting or live performance. Smershs sound is a lush hybrid of techno, industrial, dance, and experimental. Sometimes easy, sometime not. Most songs revolve around driving EBM style beats, intricate industrial noise manipulation and synth melodies. The Smersh sound has so many faces it doesn’t fall into any one category. For Super Heavy Solid Waste we have selected 8 songs, focusing on the harder, harsher, rhythmic side of Smersh’s vast discography.

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Smersh – Super Heavy Solid Waste [DE090]

Scarpa – Wilderness [FBLP003]

It was a remorseless hatred that enslaved a people many millennia ago in the captivity of those who worshiped the sun and the moon and the gods in the stars and of the earth and beneath the earth. In toil and despair the people were flogged and cursed by the searing whip, scorched by the flaming desert sun above and burned by the abrasive sand below their feet. In agony, they cried out for rescue from the malice-bred bondage of the kingdom. “How long?” While ridden with anguish, their captors became plagued with disease and death, and so the enslaved fled. Within a day, they reached the edge of a vast sea from which mountains grew blocking them in on both sides, and as they looked back in terror they witnessed their captor’s army quickly approaching. A watery death spread out before them while a spear-pierced death raced in from behind.

Yet their cries for help were not unheard… billowing clouds rolled in and a tower of fiery blaze appeared as manifestations of the theophanic Glory-Spirit protecting and separating the people from the approaching wrath. With no where to go, the great sea split apart, and before them a narrow path was unveiled through the voided waters for the people to pass through to their deliverance. The army rushed in after them only to be swallowed by the raging sea that had just brought life for those who had been enslaved, but now brought death to the death that had held them captive.

Life for the people of God is a pilgrim journey through an alien wilderness under the shadow of death. So it was in days long ago. So it is in ours.

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Scarpa – Wilderness [FBLP003]

Conforce – Presentism [111DSRLP]

Boris Bunnik is back with a brand new album under his Conforce guise. Entitled Presentism, is his fourth under this alias and proves once that this most prolific talent is still very much an evolving producer. Presentism is more organic and less dystopian and mechanical than before, with a light hearted sense of joy and vivid musical patterns lingering long in the airwaves, and as such harks back to earlier full lengths like Machine Conspiracy, which leaned more on Detroit rooted techno. It is a collection of diverse musical compositions that leans more on musical structures than technical obsessions, and where his last effort Kinetic Image was a tightly programmed conceptual thing, this LP is a much warmer, more organic and aquatic bit of floating modern techno. As such, you get the sense Conforce is back and having fun with his music making once more, free from any rules and instead just crafting what he feels inside.

The expertly designed sounds of this album float and drift in subtly uplifting ways, right from the off. It is a diverse collection sounds with a fine sense of mood through, and that is what ensures it makes sense as a greater whole. At the same time it retains that signature Conforce sense of rhythm, underwater atmosphere and vivid seascaping that really takes you away from the world in which you live. Some tracks like ‘Realtime’ are slow and moody, others like ‘Erased Connections With The Past’ are more propulsive and physical and those such as ‘Monomorphic’ are heady, hypnotic affairs that make for beautiful electronic soundtracks

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Conforce – Presentism [111DSRLP]

Acronym – June [NE021]

Since his emergence onto the scene in 2012, Acronym has carved a bold name for himself within the burgeoning sphere of techno championed by his Northern Electronics compatriots, with releases on Semantica as well as his own Dimensional Explorations imprint. ‘June’ continues to affirm the young producer’s reputation as a skilled craftsman of densely woven, atmospheric electronic music, whilst serving as a substantial contribution to the Northern Electronics catalogue.

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Acronym – June [NE021]

Amir Alexander – Love & Fear! [AC007]

“A recontextualized hybridization of that which is familiar to create the foreign….
Using classic Chicago, Detroit and New York as a reference, I sought to explore new sonic possibilities while limiting myself to the classic machines and sounds of the era that inspired me to dedicate my life to this art-form.
Revivalism was not my intent. Perhaps neo-futurism if any ism’s must be assigned. That, and a strict code of minimalism. I aspire to use time, space, and absence, as well rhythm and sound, all in equal measure to create suggestive music (pun intended). Defined as much by what is not there as by what is. Music for travel. For Dance. For Contemplation. In a club among hundreds, or at home in bed.
An album. Along player. A fantastical voyage through the soul and mind via abstract, minimalist etudes exploring the range of emotions that are joined to a particular year in my life. Using as few elements as possible to create the most emotive material I could, these studies are recorded documentation of one student’s pursuits to master the craft of creating raw, yet elegant. Rich and sonorous, yet stripped down modern electronic music. For the club, at home, and everywhere between. Modern music for modern living.
I hope to contribute to the progression of the form and create excitement in the next generation so that some of them will also be inspired to expressively create and add on to the culture. Peace”

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Amir Alexander – Love & Fear! [AC007]

Piero Piccioni – Colpo Rovente [BEAT067]

‘Colpo Rovente’ is one of the rarest soundtrack albums in the Italian film music history. This soundtrack stands out from the traditional period into the psychedelic era. Soft-spoken and suave cool jazz, along with hallucinogenic go-go sounds appears throughout the film and soundtrack. Dynamic big band tunes are stunningly matched with impossibly beautiful jazz funk scores infused with a touch of bossa nova.

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Piero Piccioni – Colpo Rovente [BEAT067]

Ma Spaventi – Viaggi [PN043]

SPAVENTI, Ma - Viaggi

Released by Pizzico for the first time in 2009 with the moniker “Erre”, Marco Antonio Spaventi was one of the most pleasant surprises about what an excellent techno producer can do with his beloved background: Italo disco. Influenced by soundtrack masters as Vangelis, John Carpenter and most of all Italian maestro’s like Nico Fidenco, Pino Donaggio, Francesco De Masi, and appearing in the sky like a laser beam in a post-atomic Bronx filmed by Enzo G. Castellari, the positive first album of MA Spaventi called “Viaggi” is landing. A real journey into obscure worlds, dirty streets, atomic sunsets, broken hearts and analog feelings, a blessing for your most romantic and cinematic essence. Could this folding full length fit the modern dance floors? Maybe It could be better for the outcast clubs of a near future: synths atmosphere are sweet and pressing at the same time, the melodies and beats fit together in a succession of deep emotions, the “tape” sounds old school and totally irresistible. Pizzico is proud to present MA Spaventi’s VIAGGI: nine exclusive tracks for a brand new album, invoking and evoking dusty Italo vibes, analog synths and written soundtracks for unwritten movies.

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Ma Spaventi – Viaggi [PN043]

Tala A.M. – Arabica [ARTREC002]

Andre-Marie Tala is one of the father figures of African music. Born in the western Provence of Bandjoun, Cameroon, his early years were plagued with tragedy. He lost his mother at 4, his father at 12 and then when on to lose his sight 15. Thankfully, the love of music stayed with him throughout his career and with the help of Manu Dibango he made his first recordings in 1972 and had two hits in Cameroon with Sikati and Potaksima. He created a group, the Rock Boys, later the Black Tigers, with Sam Fan Thomas as guitarist. At this time, Africa was immersed in music from overseas and many American acts toured all over Africa. Whilst touring Cameroon, Tala handed James Brown a demo of his song ”Hot Koki”. Seemingly, the Godfather liked it a lot, he actually re-recorded it and released it as his own song, entitled ‘Hustle’. In doing so, he took all credit for composing, which meant Tala had to sue Brown and luckily he won the case! We had so many great LP’s to choose from Tala but we decided to start with ‘Arabica’ where we find Tala in experimental mode. We hit the ground running with the lead track ‘Arabica’, disco drums, phased guitar licks and sweet soulful backing vocals, what’s not to like? ‘Black Gold’ takes the same path as laid out on ‘Arabica’ but we see the introduction of the Moog Synthesizer and the funky Rhodes Piano. ‘Sugar Lump’ is once again up-tempo and has bassline to get your body moving in the right direction. ‘I know what you want’ has a more traditional song approach Tala simply asks his love interest ‘not to let him down’. ‘Soweto’ is a Balearic DJ classic! Beautiful layers of guitar and flute ease you through this one. Soweto was a troubled place and high on the thoughts on African people around this time, this song reflects that. We end with ’20 ans’ a more tradition song with some Hammond organ and super sweet guitar playing from Tala once again. This record demands a high fee for obvious reasons so don’t miss your chance to own this official reissue which has been made with love.

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Tala A.M. – Arabica [ARTREC002]

Octave One – Burn It Down [4WCLLP2-600]

”This new album comes at a time when the pair are still evolving and searching out new forms. As live performers they are reaching an ever larger audience around the world and plenty of the energy they exude there is bottled up in this new LP. Made using a fine collection of hardware including bits by Roland, Moog, Dave Smith Instruments and much more besides, it follows 2008s Summer on Jupiter and proves that as individuals and as musicians we have grown with time and through our travels. Our music reflects that. Our work this time around has taken a lot longer to produce, but we feel it represents, more than anything else we have done to this point, our complete idea as an album project. Kicking off with the rooted kicks and sci-fi, slo mo techno of Eighth Wonder the album unfolds through elastic and triumphant diva house on Jazzo/Lose Myself [featuring Ann Saunderson], cosmic soundscaping on Afterglow and melodically enriched grooves and funky guitar licks on A Better Tomorrow (O1 Remake) [featuring Random Noise Generation]. Elsewhere there is breezy and anthemic fair with Believer, soul kissed sounds and lush pads on Whatever She Wants and then shapeshifting, industrial tinged beats and twisted techno in the later half. Things unfold on Burn It Down with a real sense of narrative, though, and despite being a techno album never do things grow to stern or serious. Instead the mood and tempo switches up knowingly, just like an Octave One live set, and really transports you to another place entirely in the process.”

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Octave One – Burn It Down [4WCLLP2-600]

The KVB – Mirror Being [INV147]

Now Berlin-based duo The KVB land on Geoff Barrow’s Invada label for the first in a series of releases. Mirror Being differs from most releases from The KVB as the pair’s deep set vocals, a key component of their sound, are largely absent from the 10 tracks but their reverb soaked mastery of guitars and analogue gear is still very much evident throughout.

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Continue reading “The KVB – Mirror Being [INV147]”

The KVB – Mirror Being [INV147]

Cio D’or – All In All [SEMANTICA073]

While music in its definitive nature fills both space and time, creating environments in which we live and breathe, these miniature dramaturgies string together to become the screenplay to ones existence. Sometimes chosen, and often times forced, these sounds influence the subconscious and designate emotions. Purposely flowing fluently through a spectrum ranging from theatrical to rapturous tensions that mingle through the night. Cio D’Or’s cinematic compilation for Semantica explores another side of techno, a niche home to Cio where each intricate sound takes a risk for the sake of progression.

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Cio D’or – All In All [SEMANTICA073]

No More – A Rose Is A Rose [DE084]

NO MORE - A Rose Is A Rose

No More are a band from Kiel, Germany, founded in the summer of 1979. Their music is rooted in early Post Punk / No Wave. No More began as a quartet with Andy A. Schwarz (vocals, guitar, bass), Tina Sanudakura (synthesizers), Christian Darc (drums, vocals) and Thomas Welz (bass, vocals). In 1982 No More released the mini­-album “A Rose Is A Rose’ on 10′. Songs on this mini­-LP convey the desolate and bleak attitude of German youth in the early 1980s. This reissue compiles all 8 tracks from the mini­-LP, both tracks from the Suicide Commando’ 7′ plus 3 demos from 1982.

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No More – A Rose Is A Rose [DE084]