Perseus Traxx – Spacecast #18
chicago
Ike Release – Noir [MOSLP003]
Debut solo full length from Chicagos Ike Release. Ike is an accomplished solo producer as well as being one half of acclaimed duo Innerspace Halflife with Hakim Murphy, and has a long and fruitful relationship with MOS Recordings. For the last five years or so, Ike has been releasing a mind-expanding brand of analogue rich music that continues in his native Chicago’s fine traditions without resting on the usual tired tropes. Labels like MOS, Machining Dreams and his own Episodes have released it to date and now this full length, Noir, comes as a fully formed artistic statement that lays out his sound in all its glory.
Hieroglyphic Being – The Four Dimensions Of A Nubian Mystic [TCLR009]
Deep and tripping acid backed with some jazzed out drumworks on the flip. Producer and boss of Mathematics records, Chicago’s Jamal Moss a.k.a Hieroglyphic Being is a one-off musical explorer. Jamal’s music takes cues from the EBM and House that played a huge part in the city’s musical underground in the late eighties and early nineties, notably Ron Hardy and Adonis, but also Industrial, Avant-Jazz and Noise. His releases, much like his music, have straddled House labels and the more leftfield avant garde electronic imprints with ease. However his deeply held Afrofuturist intent and the discipline of his radical designs set him apart from the pack. Always moving forward, his music is an ever-evolving transmission from his mind to our bodies, or as he sees it, a form of meditation that the supple, tuned listener will enjoy immensely.
Dar Embarks – Fleer [STILOVE4MUSIC043]
Hailing from Chicago’s South Side, the duo Dar Embarks lives in a world of underground techno and machines. Their debut album ‘Fleer’, was recorded live on hardwares, no keys were played, just the pressing of buttons and turning of knobs. Gathering its inspiration from records on the shelf, sci fi and comics, Dar Embarks remains steadfast in technotic efforts to interpret the future…our future.
Hieroglyphic Being & The Configurative Or Modular Me Trio – The Seer Of Cosmic Visions [ZIQ349]
Crazy etherial collection of some previously released and some unreleased tracks presented in album form. The album is hugely varied within it’s basic drum machine and synths template; from the psychedelic blowout ‘The Seer Of Cosmic Visions’ and the distorted, ruptured crunch of ‘How Wet Is Ur Box’, to more delicate meditations like ‘Space Is The Place’ or ‘Letters From The Edge’. From the the shimmering rhythmic noise of ‘A Genre Sonique’ to the the woozy tribal funk of ‘134340 Pluto’ or the rough darting strings of the off-kilter ‘Calling Planet Earth’ and finishing on the relaxing gaseous drones of ‘Strange Signs In The Sky’, the album never fails to transport the listener to another state of mind.
Mick Wills – Juno Plus Podcast 96
Traxx @ Dekmantel Festival 02.08.2014
Africans With Mainframes – Nubian Rainbows [RHYTHM012]
Some say history has come to an end… we say the future is about to start… Two brand new nu-jack sessions by Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being and Noleian Reusse.
Antoni Maiovvi – Psychoplasmics EP [COTF004]
Antoni Maiovvi joins the Crimes Of The Future family in a perfect match of Italo horror running out of the disco, leaving behind the gentle thud of dark techno in a dark Roman Alleyway. Junior Fairplay’s inaguaral remix takes us out of the darkness to a happy ending in sunnier climbs on a beach somehere in Portofino.
TrAxx – EkstrAkt
MZKBX @ Café Moka (Paris) 17.05.2014
RA.415 Ron Hardy
Larry Heard – Alien [ML9009]
One of Larry Heard’s most under-rated albums finally remastered and available as full vinyl release for the first time! Known for his classic early house releases Larry Heard’s productions always hinted at deepest outer space, but his 1996 Alien album was his first actual science-fiction record. It’s almost as polished as the most mainstream dance production, but just as sublime as any Detroit producer. Heard’s house roots often show themselves, while the chords and shimmering production make this an album almost on par with Heard’s mid-’80s peak. The project was a recording & sound-development experiment that was mostly constructed around a Korg O1/W workstation keyboard that was left at Larry’s studio to check out by Victor melodious myles Houston along with some of the staples of his studio, including the Roland d550 and Oberheim Matrix 1000. Mr Fingers magic touch can be heard all over the album, and this showcases the incredible musical talents of the man, who’s name by now cant be left out from any hall of fame when you’re talking music innovators from the last century.
D’Marc Cantu – Physical State EP [ANSATZ1002]
D’Marc Cantu has long been a standard bearer for hardware revivalism, having first released his drum machine-heavy blends of vintage jack and starlight rave revivalism on Creme Organization back in 2007. Here, he pops up on Ansatz with a superbly varied trip into warehouse-friendly territory. There are a couple of rush-inducing doses of strobelight-enhanced rave revivalism territory (the frankly nasty “Heater” and brilliantly wide-eyed “Surface Dweller”, which sounds like it’s been ripped from pirate radio sometime around 1992), a Larry Heard-ish foray into tactile analogue deep house (the brilliant “Grey”) and a thrillingly industrial-sounding fusion of jackin’ beats and clanking bleep melodies (“Box Sound Scape”).
Traxx @ Knekelhuis, Doka (Amsterdam) 04.04.2014
D’Marc Cantu – Long Weekend [MOSDEEP019]
This new EP from D’Marc Cantu, Long Weekend, features three new tracks of fully formed house and techno with more than a touch of acid along the way. The title track opens the EP with a lively house jam that has proud kick drums, plenty of muffled and deeply buried chords and a busy bassline that darts about like a kangaroo on hot rocks. It’s propulsive and emotive as it surges along, taking you with it every step of the way. Next up, ‘1Lb Of Flesh’ is a much more jagged and serrated track, mainly because of the manic acid squiggle that runs right through the heart of the slapping snares and icy cold hi hats. Full throttle and as ever delightfully frayed and analogue sounding, it’s a real face melter. Last but by no means least, ‘Acid Test’ is the quickest of the lot, coming over like a slick, powerful fusion of electro and techno that whips and snaps as Dance Mania style snares flap about above a grilling bassline and acid wiggles in and out. It’s a busy, fulsome track but never feels cluttered and rounds out another exceptional EP from both MOS and main man D’Marc Cantu.
G. Marcell – The Coming (Future) [SYNAPSIS011]
Hieroglyphic Being – Acid Rain Under The Stars [TRAJECTORY1009]
An explosive caustic acid concoction awaits from within the grooves of this gargantuan twelve inch from Chicago heavyweight, Hieroglyphic Being. ‘Free the Energy (No Vocal Energy)’ is highly volatile, with severely unforgiving and distorted drum programming, this violently radioactive adventure is nothing short of brutal and certainly not for the squeamish. Title cut, ‘Acid Rain Under the Stars’ paints a dreamy landscape, while the acidic protons and neutrons busily rebound in the background on this elongated, hypnosis-inducing and beautifully mind-distorting headtrip.
Innerspace Halflife – Orbital Maneuvers [MDREAMS012]
Spaced out 4 track project from duo of Hakim Murphy & Ike Release. Emotional & cosmic tunes that focus on outer space themes & share common thread of infinite possibilities. Neo-acid house to straight deep house.
Punknown – Heartbeat [LOD002]
Punknown is Orazio Bongiovanni, dj and producer from Italy. His tracks appeared on Jam Traxx Records. Since his childhood Orazio’s felt in love with Chicago and Detroit sound. Roland TR 606, 707, 808, 909, Roland TB 303, Juno 106 and Korg M1 are the ”weapons” which he uses to create his music. All the vocals are his own recordings, using vocoder and fx. He loves melodies, often introspective and never granted, he loves powerful rhythmics, he loves to transmit his mind and feelings through the music… He loves…. The EP is named as ”Heartbeat”…. His heart beats for the music.
The Hipodrome Of Music 