“As a result of Russia’s cruel invasion of Ukraine, the lives of millions have turned from living in peace to instability and fear, facing attacks and occupation. In order to help the people of Ukraine, we release this compilation album to raise funds to United Help Ukraine – a charitable non-profit organization for medical aid and humanitarian relief for the front lines. All income we receive from sales of this V/A goes to support their work.
Last year I started this section for free/”name your price” music, that people or labels share on bandcamp or other platforms. Here is a selection of free music I came across this year.
The Dalmata Daniel Extra series is back with another limited 10″ lathe cut record by E-bony. With DDE03 he delivers 4 strong and dark tracks in his own style, something you can immediately recognize from the heavy, rumbling basslines, spooky synth melodies and unstoppable rhythms.
Maelstrom links up with newcomer CT Kidobó for a deep exploration of raw, violent analogue electro on the fifth instalment of the Dalmata Daniel Split series. The opening track sets the tone for what to expect in the next twenty minutes: 16T50 is like the soundtrack of a spaceship escaping from a cosmic imperial incident, trying to dodge the unknown anti-pleasures lurking in every corner of the dark nebula. RSZALCAXN then creates a strong gravitational field of confidence with its heavyweight instrumentation, sending the message that the desertion mission was successful but staying vigilant is still inevitable. CT Kidobó picks up where the Frenchman named after the wild vortex left off: the ever-tense Dark City wraps itself around a single powerful and metallic leitmotif, holding our attention while William Gibson nods appreciatively in the background, on the autumn streets drenched in tired neon lights. Finally, the Primer, which starts airy and gradually thickens, brings the calm and release we have been longing for all along, but which may not last long in this universe constantly shaped by gargantuan forces.
Pure energy shines through the latest Dalmata Daniel compilation, where all producers gathered together for a good cause. Lockdowns and social distancing practices are slowly easing up in the luckier half of the world, yet local producers and clubs are still facing a hard ongoing period of no live shows with a non-existing club culture. As a result, web-based platforms are more important than ever. The Lahmacun community radio is an integral part of our Budapest scene, as they provide a remarkable online platform not only to musicians and DJs, but to local broadcasters, hosts and music enthusiasts alike. Keeping up the spirit, Lahmacun radio is eager to promote and celebrate music from the local Hungarian scene and from passionate labels, collectives and communities, be it anywhere in the world. This 20-track fundraising compilation is therefore dedicated to Lahmacun radio. It is presented by 10 local and 10 international producers, hailing from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece and Israel. All of us worked and participated in this compilation to help the operation of this very important platform. All income we receive from sales of this V/A goes to support their work.
Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage – alias Superskin & Uj Bala – each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.
Dalmata Daniel presents the new album by Dutch West Coast mid-veteran Roberto Auser. Auser (born Derk Reneman) has been into cinematic (or b-videomatic) electro for more than a decade now, with releases on Viewlexx, Pinkman, Gooiland Electro/Enfant Terrible and more, ranging from atmospheric and hypnotic to tight and grim, but always loaded with a vision of a storyteller. In a Dutch way, for sure. Though “Second Sun” is, again, an audiovisual trip, that’s not the primary concept here – it’s probably the purest album-like experience of Robert Auser so far, presenting most of his characteristics and sounds, and also new elements, still, all are coherent and organic parts of Reneman’s projective language of electronics.
After a heavy year that shocked the music scene all over the world, three fellow labels, Dalmata Daniel, EXILES and Farbwechsel joined forces to kick off 2021 with a massive 43-track compilation album. Contributed by 12z, Adam Krasz, AGA2L, A I W A, Alley Catss, Alpár, Carla Under Water – Máté Tulipán, CT Kidobó, David Harleydson, Dj Faktor X, FOR., Grabosky, ICR, Imre Kiss, J. Mono, Jeremiah Soft, Kobanya3000, Kokum, LAU, MA’AM, Maks, Marcibagoly, Max Sinclair, Mike Nylons, Microbeat, n o a h s t a s, Nemerov, Normal Tamas, Norwell, obwigszyh, OOO, Palmovka, Panoramic Barrier, Prince Matt, qvirk, ritual abuse, Roh Yugen, S Olbricht, Saint Leidal The 2nd, Sematic4, SILF, Sipowicz, SVR101, Tsering, Új Bála, Új Látásmód Fúzió, Wedding Acid Group This bold selection of contemporary Hungarian electronic music producers represents the three labels’ roster, including their core members and latest signings, alongside with other crews’ members and independent artists. The compilation ranges from experimental and ambient compositions across industrial, electro and acid bangers through the current techno sound of Budapest.
The compilation is available for download as name-your-price on bandcamp.
J. Mono is back on Dalmata Daniel with the Redate II release, an emotionally filled journey of 12 songs, recorded between 2015-2018, all showing deep thoughtfulness of composition, mastering soundwaves and harmonies. There are no cuts or edits, all songs are live recordings from J. Mono’s home studio. The songs vary in tempo and genre, a unique mix of acid, idm and electro with pulsating bass and drums. – all of them filled with a range of emotions, melancholy and inwardness.
Third number in the DDS split series sees Budapest duo SILF (alias Farbwechsel chief-operators Alpar & S Olbricht) and Den Haag-based pair Intergalactic Gary and Pasiphae join forces on a quartet of elusive, unpigeonholeable power moves. I-G and Pasiphae are back at it with two left-of-centre hybrids of futuristic techno on a whirring electro-industrial tip. An off-kilter jam percolating fine hints of spiritual elation and post-apocalyptic anxiety, “Microwaves” gets the ball rolling on a dichotomous note. To slo-scudding flocks of loud, bouncy kicks supersede skeins of brittle chimes and rattling drums, all woven together by subtle tectonic shifts of moody pads. A further hi-intensity affair, “Indistinct Chatter” drives that essential heavenly/nightmarish duplicity to higher spheres of consciousness. Fusing lighthearted, daydreaming tonalities with brooding, cavernous onslaughts from the depths, the track has us navigating in a zone of its own, deftly oscillating betwixt moments of mystique-imbued euphoria and darkling introspection. A choice exponent of the Hague-based dyad’s capacity at busting antiquated patterns and limitations. Having slept in the label’s vaults for a few seasons, the two tracks composing the B-side emerge from their slumber in all their time-proof bravura. An in-your-face trampler, the ten-minute long “Mono Miner” takes no byway to get its point across, all set to smash basements and warehouses by the dozen with its electrifying compound of 909-emulated gut churn and spinning synth arpeggios circling like birds of prey over your sore, rhythm-enslaved carcass. Closing the journey on a much softer, hazier vibe, “Aces” steers us towards a realm of ambient wonder, where slo-drip cascades of tapping percussions and elegiac synth waters flow into warm, glimmering summer beds. A most contrasting, tranquillising finale to an EP defined by its propensity to change colours and intensity throughout.
The world is shocked by the current COVID-19 situation, especially our scene worldwide. We spent the past few months like this and who knows when it will be back to normal.
So we decided to join this struggle and release this 16-track fundraising compilation in collaboration with old and new producers, who belong to our label across Europe and Hungary. All of us worked and participated in order to support one of the last community spaces in Budapest, called Gólya. With purchasing the V/A, all income goes directly to this place. Gólya is really important in the Budapest scene with its several different community profiles. One of them is a venue, that they operate with a really open-minded attitude, fair deals and welcome various musical genres, like ours. They are still closed, so every kind of funds are a big help for them to survive these weird times.
Two years after the drop of his latest solo effort, ‘Strangers’, Budapest cross-dimensional vibes trader Imre Kiss clocks in on Dalmata Daniel with the eagerly awaited followup to his widescreen, sci-fi ready sonic adventures. Here again, the Hungarian producer – who’s made a name for himself through discerning blends of kosmische-infused nostalgia and uplifting emotional apexes, takes us off to a world of sense-awakening wonders and hidden alien treasures, well supported in his quest by Den Haag’s legend Intergalactic Gary, up on the flip with a heat-seeking belter of a remix.
The talented producer, Cardopusher joins the Dalmata Daniel roster. Venezuelan born and now Barcelona based Luis Garban has a career deeply rooted in the breakcore scene. Leaving his early sound behind he gravitated towards classic club genres like house and techno. His offering for Dalmata Daniel, the ”Flesh Impact” EP is a collection of his best Acid-EBM oriented jams backed by a stellar techno body remix from the German Schwefelgelb duo.
DJ Overdose is back on Hungarian label Dalmata Daniel, this time sharing a record with a local old-school legend, Sematic4. Both sides are full of great tunes of hard-hitting electro, but both are a bit different in mood and sounds.
The Hipodrome Of Music 