Syncrophone presents Carl Finlow, an artist whose craft demands the utmost acclaim. Renowned for pushing the boundaries of electro, Finlow’s musical ingenuity takes the spotlight once more. The upcoming EP, featuring tracks like ‘Heed,’ ‘Overlord,’ and ‘Expansion,’ perfectly encapsulates his signature style – a harmonious blend of pulsating beats and forward-thinking electronic exploration.
The next We’re Going Deep solo series edition brings on a true pioneer of Electro. Carl Finlow is renown for seamlessly blending the rhythmic intricacies of Electro with the hypnotic allure of Techno: creating a unique sonic identity that resonates deep down to this day.
There is some serious electro talent on this new EP from Fanzine, starting with Carl Finlow. His machines are in fine fettle once more as crisp, kicking electro rhythms are overlaid with bright, silvery, pixelated melodic fireworks on the sublime ‘Organoiods’. Hoax Believers get more gritty with the sheet metal snares and in-your-face arps of ‘Short Circuit’ while Sound Synthesis offers something moody and unsettling on their ‘Vertex43’. Univac will make your eyes water with the abrasive textures of ‘H Beat.’
Belgium techno mainstay Elypsia Records from Brussels welcomes Carl Finlow with a six tracks mini album. Fierce electro tracks in the wellkown signature sound of Carl Finlow. He starts off with some fizzing and snappy action in the form of ‘Fractionality’ which has bounce and bite in equal measure. There’s a more zoned-out deep space feel to ‘Anomaly’ and a downtempo bliss to ‘Dust To Dust’. The flipside kicks off with some turbo-charged and ghetto-fried Motor Citry electro in ‘Visceral’ before two more electro gems get a little more atmospheric and deep.
Here are our favorite albums from 2023 compiled in chronological order.
Continue reading “2023 Best Albums”
“Soft Robotics”, the new EP from Carl Finlow’s Silicon Scally project, is the fifth Silicon Scally release in five years to boast one of CPU’s instantly-recognisable black-and-white covers.
Silicon Scally, the alias of electronic music producer Carl Finlow, released his critically acclaimed album ‘Mr Machine’ in 2002 on SCSI-AV. The album was a masterful blend of electro and sci-fi soundscapes, showcasing Finlow’s unique style and production prowess, which took the listener on a journey through a futuristic world of machines and technology. It ranks as one of the finest electro records of the early noughties. Fast-forward to 2023 and Sync 24’s Cultivated Electronics label is proud to present ‘Mr Machine PT 2’. Like its predecessor, the new album is filled with intricate synth melodies, driving rhythms, and pulsating basslines, all perfectly balanced to create an immersive listening experience. ‘Mr Machine PT 2’ once again showcases Finlow’s ability to not only create relentless beats for the dancefloor but also dynamic soundscapes that transport the listener to another world. Created using a mixture of both old analog gear and very modern plugins, both albums were written with a very strong emphasis on the machine aesthetic, reflecting the cutting edge of what was available at their respective times. Futuristic and timeless. The album will be released on triple-pack vinyl and digitally.
Legendary electro producer Carl Finlow makes his return to Science Cult with a 2×12 LP on white vinyl. From start to finish “Plasmoids” delivers with expertly crafted electro. Mr Finlow’s production skills are present across a variety of styles from the cyber funk inspired “Trimonogogo” to the retro-styled “Relic”. This is an album not just for fans of Carl Finlow’s work, but a showcase of electro at its finest.
For the penultimate volume in Science Cult’s space exploration-inspired Astra Spectra series, label boss Syrte has served up an EP from arguably Britain’s most decorated electro producer, Carl Finlow. The veteran studio buff delivers a quartet of stargazing excursions, where deep space electronics and sci-fi bleeps ride black hole chords, supernova bass and crunchy electro drums. Including a remix by label co-founder Syrte.
Carl Finlow remains a prolific producer more than a quarter of a century on from his emergence. Still averaging several records a year across a variety of aliases, recent times have seen Finlow forge particularly strong links with the Central Processing Unit label. Now, after a run of EPs for the Sheffield imprint which began with 2018’s ‘Projections’, Finlow’s Silicon Scally project offers up CPU’s first drop of 2022 in the form of the ‘Field Lines’ LP. Silicon Scally productions have long been marked out by how they combine piston-precise beat programming with more textured synth play. ‘Field Lines’ runs with this formula to deliver some of Finlow’s most atmospheric material to date. At once shadowy and expansive, listening to ‘Field Lines’ is the aural equivalent of taking a night-time drive around some futuristic metropolis.
Cinema’ is a brilliant snapshot of both artists working together in unison, with Fabrice Lig providing his trademark ‘high tech funk & soul’ sound alongside Wolfgang Flür’s keen, tried and tested ability to fuse clever pop inspirations and catchy vocals through the use of robotic mechanics. Perfect music which balances the headphones and dancefloors on the horizon. Five versions are on hand with the EP, including the original version of ‘Cinema,’ a French version of the original, as well as a remixes from Detroit’s Ectomorph, UK Electro kingpin Carl Finlow, and Dutch synthesis maestro Versalife aka Conforce.
EPM continue their 20th birthday celebrations with an ep dedicated to electro featuring The Advent, Carl Finlow, Detroits Filthiest and Freddy Fresh. As all good electro-heads will know, The Advent (Cisco Ferreira) is as renowned for electro as he is for techno. On ‘Strangeform’ he works alongside his son and rising talent, Zein to turn in pure electro-funk that’s blistering to the last beat. Another absolute master of the scene is Carl Finlow who brings deep bass notes, carefully crafted melody and his meticulous production skills to ‘Optogenetic’. Detroit’s Filthiest has been wowing listeners with his work for labels like Casa Voyager, Bass Agenda, Philthtrax and his own MCEC. His track ‘Werewolf’ is the electro monster the title suggests – dark and tough Detroit-electro book-ended with a playful vocal. The EP closes with the legendary, Freddie Fresh who after three decades is a genuine virtuoso. Under his Modulator guise he layers beautiful retro synth stylings and sci-fi atmospherics on ‘ProMars’. The third EP featuring four house tracks will follow in July, with the ‘EPM20’ compilation after the summer.
Carl Finlow makes his full debut on Avoidant Records with the clinical Engines Of Creation EP. Easily one of the most highly respected producers to come out of the UK, Carl has a discography going back over 20 years and spanning multiple genres. After his first outing the label as part of the ”Defend Your Planet” compilation, Carl drops 4 classic, superbly produced cuts of hi techno electro funk. Title track “Engines Of Creation” opens in true Finlow style with robotic beats and flexing, otherworldly synths. “Dead Centre” bangs hard with it’s disruptive, fast paced percussion but leads down darker paths with ominous, spacial FX and atmospheres. The frenetic sounds of “Sonic Six” continue Finlow’s innovative and funked up trajectory before closing out with the interstellar trip of “Reckless”, that bounds through the the cosmos, radiating it’s high energy output.
Roi returns with his second EP for Fanzine Records, featuring two original tracks and two remixes from Carl Finlow and The Exaltics.
The Exit Planet Earth vinyl series continues onto it’s 5th edition with a finely balanced release of electro, techno and breakbeat cuts. Carl Finlow – ‘The Oberth Effect’ kicks off the record with a mind bending trip to the dark side of electro, delivering a masterclass in multi-layered synth sound design, rolling bass lines and Finlow’s expert production. A fellow electro master, Plant43 delivers his debut release for 20/20 Vision – ‘Forcefield Deactivation’. The flip side features a collaboration between Hong Kong based producers Mr. Ho & Xiaolin (Klasse Wrecks). ‘No Change To How I Feel’ is a unique sign of the times. A deep techno track served with a heavy 4/4 kick, perpetually evolving arpeggios, quick fire hats and a haunting vocal. Leeds based producer Alfred completes the release with a sound forged from intricate drum sequencing and strong chords and melodies. Alfred is an exciting new talent that manages to connect the dots between breakbeat and electro.
With part 4 of the Astra Spectra series, Science Cult invites BinaryFunction showcasing three intense and dark electro cuts. The iconic Carl Finlow delivers a remix of “We Will Destroy”.
Silicon Scally is the most prolific of Finlow’s alias projects, and on Dormant, the third Silicon Scally release for Sheffield’s Central Processing Unit, Finlow constructs four pieces of thrillingly futuristic broken-beat electro. These tracks never stand still, their little cells of synth and percussion always evolving. When combined with some stomping drum programming, the final result is an EP which has that rare balance of endless danceability and genuinely innovative production. It’s the sound of a master creator letting loose while also managing to keep everything in the pocket, a marvel of moving parts.
The second release in the Exit Planet Earth compilation vinyl series features four exclusive tracks designed for space travel, including the first ever collaboration between Keith Tucker of Aux 88 and Carl Finlow. The resulting track ‘Coder’ is an electro masterpiece. The more established electro pairing of Jensen Interceptor and Assembler Code hit heavy with ‘Red Cell’ while Voigtmann brings the bass to space with ‘Subtopia’. The record is rounded off beautifully by Cignol with Detroit infused string sections and harmonies on his ’51D’ track.
“The international electro and techno producer community has come together to raise money for two charities doing vital health work during the Covid-19 crisis – NHS Charities Together and Médecins Sans Frontières. The project began in April this year. The resulting release is an essential compendium of techno and electro featuring some of the most respected creators working in the genre including The Hacker, Radioactive Man, Anthony Rother, Delta Funktionen, John Selway, Carl Finlow, Kronos Device, and more than 120 more!”
Carl Finlow returns with a double vinyl 8 track album on 20/20 Vision. ‘Apparatus’ is a forward thinking album that reflects Finlow’s return to live touring with many tracks hitting harder and darker, pushing his electro sound into new directions and soundscapes. The album means business from the start, kicking off with the title track, ‘Apparatus’, a no-nonsense assault on the system with fast tight drum programming, heavily vocoded vocals and powerful synths. The pace continues on the record with ‘Bind’ and ‘Carbon Deposits’, Structure’ but there are also pure electro cuts like ‘Differential’ and moody grooves in ‘Ampere’ and ‘Viroids’.
The Hipodrome Of Music 