An ode to the corals from the French producer Amandra.
ambient techno
Amandra x Mattheis – Lettre Ouverte [NOUSLP005]
Two artists who have carved out their own niche in todays techno universe join forces for their first collaborative full length. Ten tracks across two vinyls demonstrate the unique synergy between these two friends. In their collaboration they each focus on their own expertise, combining best of both worlds. Amandra on drums and Mattheis on synths – creating overlapping, constantly shifting patterns, like an endlessly captivating moire effect as result.
Steven Rutter – Riddle Me Sane [FS027]
B12 was originally a duo before Steven Rutter took over the alias as a solo artist, but after a string of, he decided to start producing under his own name. Steven Rutter kept his sound the same, but shed the skin of B12 to mark a new point in his musical career. Battling with personal demons, the B12 sound had become dark and introverted, and the Steven Rutter style keeps that same moody atmosphere, while adding upbeat rhythms and more jovial chord progressions without losing focus of the core sound that’s made his music so influential. “Riddle Me Sane” is the third album Steven Rutter has done under his own name. Cosmic melodies and sci-fi influenced textures with dystopian sound design, the thought provoking album paints pictures of alien landscapes, while its down tempo grooves also have the key elements needed for the dance floor.
Mohlao – Cut [SERUM4]
For the fourth edition of the Serum series Hypnus Records shares three pieces of deep dubbed out techno by Mohlao (aka Multicast Dynamics, VC-118A). The record is then completed by an atmospheric tribal interpretation by Dorisburg.
Vril – Alte Seele [145DSR]
Vril returns to Delsin with a cinematic ambient score. Backed with a remix pack of close friends featuring Voiski’s driving dub-techno, rattling breaks by His Master’s Voice and a thumping 808 electro take in collaboration with Marcel Dettmann.
Pedro Vian – The Dance Of The Trees [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Pedro Vian just shared a new five tracks EP on his Modern Obscure Music’s bandcamp. You can download the tracks for free or name your price.
Cosimo Damiano – Hypnos [H951]
Immersive audio experience for both the dj and the collector, ranging across tribal voodoo rhythms, Coilish esoterism and musique concrete atmospheres.
VA – NDVAX01 [NDVAX01]
Launch of a new series of Various Artists 12inches to be released on Night Defined Recordings, which will serve as a platform for the existing NDR label family as well as for new faces. NDVAX01 gathers four tracks by Șerb, SW., Roger 23 and Eduardo De La Calle, which find common ground when it comes to depth and space as well as to walk away from established song structures in favor of establishing a forward-thinking type of club music.
Terrence Dixon – From The Far Future Pt. 3 [TRESOR321LP]
A master in letting shapes find their form, Dixon allows the listener to wallow in recurring scenes. Lost Communication Procedure, Found In Space and Remarkable Wanderer etch a sound world of choral vibrations and cinematic dirge. Where gaseous clouds scrape the natural sonic pastures of such environments, the hypnotized listener staggers a drunken step, moving sideways by 0 or 1 or -1 into new scenes. Not least an expert in industrial abstraction, a human silhouette permeates Dixon’s sound. His ethereal storytelling portrays the heart-rending romance of Unconditional Love and unearths in I’m Away In Detroit monologuing moodscapes recalling our GPS voice assistants. Out of Darkness initial recalls Kraftwerk’s Geiger counter, as from pure signal data and feedback spells an unceasing locomotive wormhole. Hazy, dense grooves drive across bleak city scenes in We Can Rebuild Him, into the raw vibe of Framework and the rude stabs of Spectrum of Light. The varying presence of Dixon’s work is one of his textural signatures, at arm’s length, brushing right within, and far out. The bumping mood of Earth Station is one such moment, close enough to isolate the diving bass somewhere within, simultaneously from afar it becomes positively gravitational.
Terrence Dixon @ NTS Radio 22.10.2020
Feral – Woodland [HYPNUS028]
Hypnus shares another vinyl relic by adept veteran Feral. ‘Woodland’ takes us on a trip through his immaculate craftsmanship and inimitable sound, lacing contemporary minimalist deep dub techno with tribal psychedelia. Feral consistently carries a thread of spirituality throughout his work. Embodying the sound of deep techno through his passion for audio engineering, hardware experimentation and fascination for percussive instruments, as well as an affinity for the shamanic becomes apparent when we swirl in tribal timbres and rhythms.
Johannes Volk – The Lost Capsule [ASD008]
In a distant future a spaceship crew passing the gate to an unknown civilization. The first contact takes place via telepathy, but fails due to a mental breakdown of the spaceship crew. The telepathic conversation left irreparable damage to the swarm intelligence of the unknown civilization as well and it is classified as a hostile attack. Thereupon they flee and fight their way through the unknown surroundings of the alien planet. With their remote control they are able to get their spaceship back and leave the planet. A technical defect on the spaceship causes them to drift away into infinity, but after a few weeks they reach a time journey sector and manage to activate a time portal back home. After 7000 years they return home and they have to find out that their home planet no longer exists. The only thing they can find is a lost capsule… the new album of Johannes Volk on Axis Records.
Zenker Brothers – Cosmic Transmission [ITLP07]
The Zenker Brothers present their second album “Cosmic Transmission”. In their own words: “In another time it felt like, only an unpredictable extreme event could change the way we choose to live together. Now it feels so crazy, it can be overwhelming, but always remember we are just a tiny micro spaceship traveling through a gigantic universe. When nothing is safe, all is possible. We are one – one love. M&D”
Vril & Rødhåd – Out Of Place Artefacs [WSNWG005]
Strange anomalies are scattered throughout the world. Things that could not possibly belong to the time period or place in which they were found. These so called out of place artifacts baffle historians & archaeologists up until today and have inspired producers Vril & Rødhåd to write a collaborative concept album. As a result the two producers got together in the studio with the idea to subvert the expectations of their previous work. They experimented over two sessions in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a record showcasing a different palette of sounds and tempo. The album is suited for deep listening and exploring aforementioned concepts or introspection in general. A mystic tone is set from the start, and grips the listener throughout the whole run time. Each track encapsulates this notion in its own unique form, blending sonic ambience and complex beats that reaches spectral heights. Both producer’s styles shine individually, but the collaboration achieves something greater than the sum of its parts.
VC-118A – Crunch / Plonk [144DSR]
Samuel van Dijk aka VC-118A returns to Delsin and gives us a taste of what’s cooking in his futuristic electro lab. On this fierce two-tracker ‘Crunch / Plonk’ the Dutch producer presents two rough cuts of his trademark machine sound. Three smoke-filled endless loops add up to the a-side for a taste of his forthcoming album early next year.
Varuna – Mantis 04 [DSR/MTS04]
The latest installment in Delsin’s deep-diving Mantis series comes from Varuna. As a core fixture in the Basel, Switzerland-based amenthia crew, this secretive production collective have quietly issued compelling excursions into dense, immersion-chamber techno. Varuna gift Mantis three subtly sublime, long-form pulsations that evolve slowly but purposefully, drawing the ear and mind further into a place of intense meditation.
Konduku – Mantis 03 [DSR/MTS03]
The third installment in the Delsin Mantis series comes from Dutch producer Konduku. The three tracks on this 12” are a masterclass in subtle soundsystem music, matching his intricate drum programming and enlightening ambient textures with the primal energy of early bleep and bass.
CRAY76 – 1111 [CRWDSPCR020]
When Joakim aka Cray76 moved back from NYC to Paris in 2019, he knew he wouldn’t have access to a studio for a little while. And although he welcomed that forced pause in making music, he felt the need to take at least one piece of gear with him in his suitcase. It was the legendary Roland TB303, one of the simplest and quirkest synth ever made and maybe the one that had the most important influence on electronic music since the mid 80s. Having recorded a few beats on his Roland TR808 before he packed his studio in Brooklyn to be shipped back to France, Joakim decided to make a record only using those 2 machines, an « exercice de style » that is a tribute to 30 years+ of acid house and techno and a way to make tools that he could use in his DJ sets. It goes deep, it goes hypnotic, it goes rough, many flavors of acid are packed in this 808+303=1111 12inch.
Terrence Dixon & Jordan GCZ – Outnumbered [RHM033]
Detroit’s Terrence Dixon and Amsterdam based Jordan GCZ (of Juju & Jordash fame) team up for a unique combination of talents. Last September 2019 the two spent a week together in the studio and ”Outnumbered” is the first harvested from the sessions. Here we are treated to two stretched-out electronic soundscapes.
Vague Imaginaires – L’ile Sous l’Eau [ISLE-009]
The Underwater Island is a collection of four tracks from Grenoble based producer Denis Morin. Philosopher, gardener, father and sonic explorer. For ISLE009, Vague Imaginaires gifts us with autobiographical field recordings, FM synthesis and skilled sound design inspired by the ocean and the Drac river which flows through the mountains of his city. Harmonising natural sound sources with digital realms, he navigates through minimalism, ambient techno and flashes of dub inspiration. Morin combines these musical ideas with Roland TR-8, 303 emulations, hydrophone recordings and vocal fragments from Tunisia, Morocco and Vercors Massif.
