Astro:Dynamics start off 2015 with a collaborative LP from Berlin-based Ben Thomas aka BNJMN and Portland, Oregon-dwelling Kevin Palmer aka Best Available Technology. This collaborative album is a document of a musical dialogue between the two artists that has been ongoing for a number of years. The passing back and forth of ideas and snippets in the pursuit of feedback gradually grew into a body of work that eloquently moulds each artist’s sonic palettes and approaches – harking back to Thomas’ previous cross-atlantic collaborative work with Brainfeeder’s Teebs under his earlier Jackhigh handle.
Proper selection again including The Persuader, A&S, Stefan Vincent and Par Grindvik. A side gives three ambient pieces while the flip side comes with some straight up techno tracks.
Delsin kicks off 2015 with Micronism’s Steps to Recovery EP. Originally released on Nurture records in 1999, the EP, which comes in black and limited coloured vinyl, is a bonafide deep house classic from the short live career of New Zealander Denver McCarthy. ‘Engaging Causeless Mercy’ is a contemplative, atmospheric affair with soft drums and celestial pads that could roll and roll forever and you’d never get tired. ‘The Quiet Mind’ is just as deep, but the spiralling pads and rippling melodies here are more colourful and charming. Both tracks are hugely spacious, luxurious affairs whilst ‘Constructing Space’ on the flip is a more stripped back and humid number that is more enclosed and oppressive for cosy back room spaces. Finally, the title track is a playful, elastic house track with heartwarming hooks and pinging drums.
“We are very happy to present our first album on Ilian Tape. At the beginning of 2014 we moved our two seperate bedroom studios into one and soon after started working on the album. All the tracks were made in about 6 months in our new Ilian Tape Space Studio in Munich. The time felt right to focus on this adventure, but without any pressure. Therefore the process became very natural and we felt free to go wherever the vibe led us. Our intention was to create a very personal and honest sound without any limitations or guidelines. It’s a reflection of all the years we’ve been growing up, working, traveling and playing together and it means a lot to us. But enough said music is not supposed to be described with words, so sit back, close your eyes, light one up and turn up the speakers!”
Stepping up for the second release on his own Transcendent label, the unstoppable Conforce offers up four more tracks of studiously deep and moving music that is as filmic as it is atmospheric. His Travelogue EP features four cuts that continue ion the Dutchman’s fine tradition of fusing moods and grooves in submerged and aqueous ways. Up first is ‘Phase7’, with little sounds scurrying across dollops of thick bass synth. Eventually a deep and subliminal rhythm emerges to float you through the deep abyss and little rays of light shine though to light the way. ‘Informatica’ is laced up with nervy, edgy pads and distant siren sounds as well as hunched percussion and ambient soundscaping. It’s heady and physical at the same time and really comes from another sound world entirely. On the flip, ‘Coast to Coast’ has more human charm and melody to it but still wallows in the deepest oceans, with supple and subtle rhythms and tons of detail all fizzing about and firing your every synapse. Finally, Zero Eight Five toys with spangled synth lines, feint percussive impressions and lots of gloopy bass to transfix you in a hypnotic headspace.
Afrikan Sciences aka Eric Douglas Porter is back on PAN with more outer-space wares built to make you question everything you thought you knew about cosmic electronic music. Circuitous has some moments of tender beauty and some moments of fiery experimentalism, but it never stops being thrilling, shocking and captivating. With the spirit of free jazz, the convention-less beats of the Brainfeeder posse and an irrepressible delivery that is all his own, Afrikan Sciences has excelled even his high standards on Circuitous.
Northern Electronics artist Varg returns to Glasgow label Clan Destine Records for a second release this year. Dedicated to the various stops on Line 19 of the Stockholm metro, Linje 19 finds Varg working with a new partner in Hypnobirds. As you’d expect, the prevailing mood over the four tracks here is deep and atmospheric, see the discordant, delay-laden dub techno of opening track “Bandhagen”. From here Varg and Hypnobirds burrow deeper into the subterranean crawl space between ambient and techno with closing track “Hagsatra” a particular highlight. Here they take the listener on an icy but strangely warming voyage into otherworldly sonics.
Legwork’s 2nd single comes from Brett Johnson. The Mission harks back to some of our favourite dub-techno moments, but keeps it’s own flare with Brett’s signature robo-rhythms and chopped and screwed vocal cuts. On the remix tip, it’s label head Lance DeSardi & Convextion bringing their own flavour to the table respectively, with Lance stepping to the chord memory, deep bass, and over sampled drums, and Convextion going all the way out into hyper space with his usual sub-aquatic space funk.
The Aula Magna Records team is proud to present Cinética, Seph‘s new album. This is a project that takes his characteristic IDM-driven techno sound to the next step: just as it explicitly reveals Seph‘s intimate relationship with a fresh noise-textured sound palette it also makes evident that the artist‘s rhythmic engagement has pushed him to more complex beat programming than on his previous music.
Dave Huismans (A Made Up Sound) returns under his 2562 codename with the oneiric ambient/concrète dancefloor states of ‘The New Today’, his 4th solo album in this guise. Where its predecessor, ‘Air Jordan’, also for his When In Doubt label, took inspiration from the arid landscapes of the Middle East, ‘The New Today’ draws upon ideas sketched out whilst 2562 was in New York, late summer 2013, and was later finished at his home studio in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Rather than disco samples, as with his last LP ‘Fever’, he sources from and splices together an enviable library of European synth experiments, new age tapes, avant-garde, post punk, pop and long forgotten aces, offering an entirely different palette of textures and tones. Ambient is a keyword here, taking inspiration from the feeling of drift of utopian/dystopian novels, as much as the sublimation of electro-acoustic processes. Between the humid concrète drone sphere of ‘Arrival’ and the sweeping celestial space of closer ‘New Life’, there’s a keen sense of momentum through dreamy time and space, taking in the airborne melodies and syncopation of ‘Vibedoctor’ and ‘Utopia’ along with killer Afro-centric gyrations in ‘Terraforming’. Inarguably, it’s the the most diffuse yet cohesive and involving album in his celebrated cache.
Scenery label boss ASOK steps up with the next release, and that it comes with a remix from Dutchman Boris Bunnik in his Versalife guise is the icing on the cake. This is heady and original dance music from Scenery that continues the motion that has been set with the first few releases.
Nice moody deep melodic techno tracks on Detroits Moods & Grooves records. Ploiesti Romania area childhood friends Andu Simion, Dan Gheorghe and Bogdan Ardeleanu are inspired by Detroit’s house sound and Berlin’s techno. Their resulting collaboration is best described as “deep techno” and their first release is appropriately on Moods & Grooves known for pushing both envelopes. ‘Les sons de la Lisière’ is a reflection of the beauty and silence of nature found in the suburbs of Ploiesti.
The latest Sound Transmission from Stephan Laubner under his STL project alias comes in shape of a 12 inch vinyl for likeminded people who are interested in the d-i-y sound research of the Something records audio sense facility.
