Raw Ambassador steps in again for Mannequin Records series ”Death Of The Machines ” with a veritable feast of 80`s industrial and primitive EBM bangers. Four trax of Mutant Industrial music designed for spreading disease and bringing disorder in every dance floor around the globe.
The third release on So Low is a 5-track EP from Ian Hicks, formerly one half of Soft Metals. Ian also appeared on our “Now & Then” compilation EP. Here he commands his own release and sets the synths to stun with 5 tracks of analogue waves ranging from the XTC bliss out of “Character Collapse” and “Depths Of Psyche” to the shockwave klang of “Chemical Environments” and “Specter”, perhaps leaving the very best to last with the ultimate hypno, sex slug groove of “Continuous”. Subliminal vocals. Wrecked drum boxes. Synths spiralling.
Mannequin Records present a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, ”Norton Computer For Peace” (1983), ”Personal Computer” (1984), ”Artificial Intellingence” (1985). Apple’s first music ”endorsement” and Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music.
Mannequin Records present a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, ”Norton Computer For Peace” (1983), ”Personal Computer” (1984), ”Artificial Intellingence” (1985). Apple’s first music ”endorsement” and Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music.
‘Flowers From The Ashes’ is the latest multi-artist project to bear the acclaimed Stroboscopic Artefacts imprimatur. There is a sensibility of decadence and corroded grandeur etched within its four album sides, reminding us that historically ‘decadent’ times have nonetheless resulted in some of the boldest acts of individual and collective creativity. Like the ‘floral’ theme that has remained a consistent feature of S.A.’s graphic presentation, the music here equally presents fragility and intensity in a way that really drives home this visual metaphor for good, while still holding out the promise that similar creations will be seeded in the near future. Though many of the artists involved have set of residence outside of their native Italy, all contribute here to make a captivating portrait of a shared spirit and cultural memory. Tracks from Silvia Kastel, Andrea Belfi, Marco Shuttle, Ninos Du Brasil, Alessandro Adriani, Chevel, Lucy, Lory D, Caterina Barbieri and Neel.
Loch Ness was originally composed as a soundtrack for a – never finished – 2012 Commodore 64 Loch Ness ‘Spotter Simulator’ videogame. An adventure / simulator / RPG in which the player takes the role of a cryptozoologist trying to proof the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. The sounds on this soundtrack come from the mighty Commodore 64 itself. This computer, released in 1982, came with a state of the art soundchip – the MOS technologies SID. Far ahead of its competition it sported advanced functions like waveforms with Pulse Width Modulation, envelope generators and a filter. With this chip the commodore 64 had a real 3 voice synthesizer build in – lightyears removed from the spartan primitive unmusical blips and beeps of the Ataris or Apple II’s. The cassette version of the Loch Ness videogame remastered soundtrack comes with new artwork and extra unreleased tracks.
Digital re-issue coinciding with the tape release of this 2007 Strange Life CDR DX7 drenched cult spywave album. Very much influenced by real locations in the vicinity of the The Hague dune studio where this was recorded – this imaginary soundtrack scores a hypothetical story of a Cold War animal parapsychologist living in an abandoned zoo.
Lena Willikens is the kind of artist who’s only capable of following one path – her own. In many ways, she’s the archetypal selector, an unpredictable DJ who often eschews all notions of genre in favor of what she describes as “different temperatures, different time zones, different moods and a healthy portion of chaos.” Although her methods have certainly proven effective on the dancefloor, Willikens also refuses to be bound by its traditional limitations.
XOR Gate is the brainchild of Heinrich Mueller, one half of Drexciya and Dopplereffekt. In linguistic or electronic logic, the XOR Gate designates a device, digital or grammatical, which outputs a value only when two di ering inputs are fed into it. This can be summed up with the formula ‘one or the other but not neither, nor both.’ A conic section is a shape created as a plane intersects a cone. This can result in di erent figures such as a circle, an ellipse, a parabola or a hyperbola. Conic Sections is here composed of eight themes, or shapes, over which waveform and synthesis entirely merge with human emotions. The line is blurred. These eight themes are intertwined, forming one long musical string. The line is forever blurred.
Zeta Reticula a.k.a. UMEK drops a dose of razor sharp electro, built in collaboration with mysterious co-producer Helga Neuer. Having released records under the electro-driven moniker for the past 18 years, Zeta Reticula continues to develop his unique soundscapes of harmonic electro bliss, cinematic chords and powerful, dynamic bass. From the A-side’s anthemic title track and moodier journey of Luminsferatu, to the trippy realms of Mimic To Appear and Cromat, I Am Mensch truly encapsulates the sound of Zeta Reticula, and carefully blends inspiration from past, present and future electro domains.
Kenneth Scott finally making his debut on Vakant. Remixes by The Exaltics, co-owner of acclaimed electro imprint Solar One Music, and Evigt Mörker of Northern Electronics fame.
Chinaski on Bordello. Beats parry and pound with the intensity of an EBM hammer, yet, strolling through those meaty kick drums stride shimmering melodies that sport elements of new beat, italo and techno. The rakish grooves of ‘Surfin’ Dead’ occupies the A-Side. Bold rhythms fly in the face of burbling bass and cascading chords as Chinaski takes control. A body pumping work out follows. ‘Unschuld Der Sinne’ throws beat shaped fists from the needle drop as a brawl breaks out. Born in the smoke machines of Belgium, this bruiser balances its rough edged rhythms with beaming bars. There’s to be no relenting as the closer screams like a nitro-fuelled missle. ‘Ab In Die Ewigkeit’ soars is a muscle-bound sky rocket set to keep any floor rumbling to the break of dawn.
From Conrad Schnitzler in the 1960s to the pioneers of Detroit techno in the 1980s, experimental sonic artists were often inspired by the metallic noises of industrial factories. Schnitzler wanted to recreate the sounds he heard in his apprenticeship as a locksmith with musical instruments, and the sons and daughters of the midwestern automobile-industry generation programmed the motown soul into Japanese electronic music equipment. With his new piece The Metal Beat EP, Credit 00 wants to get in line with this tradition of transforming factory sounds into music. Each of the three tracks reflects on the role of the human being in an industrial environment. The never-ending movement of the machine becomes the rhythm, while the melody embodies our forlorn voices in the vastness of the factory site. The blues played by machines–modern work songs for a post-industrial society.
Neubau brings up some experimental bits & pieces by Gil.Barte from Lyon, operator of the newly founded Kump label.
Streng Geheim EP is Alexander Arpeggio’s first ever solo 12″. Coming out on Vienna’s admirable Neubau label, the EP is druggy, trippy and strangely alluring, featuring impressive use of psychedelic electronics and exotic, Middle Eastern melodies. Check, for example, the foreboding chords, gently pulsing drum machine beats and distortion-drenched Middle Eastern motifs of “Streng Geheim”, which is also given a weirder and even more hallucinogenic flavour on the acid-flecked Geier Aus Stahl Remix. Bonus cut “Du Hast Kein Gesicht”, an unusual but superb combination of muscular EBM grooves, whistling melodies and glassy-eyed house riffs, is also well worth a listen.
Machines redefined and shaped the way we make music and gave access to new sounds. Enabling the availability of music instruments to a wider spectrum of artists gave birth to many genres and sound aesthetics. The sound of Roland machines from the 80’s have had a huge influence on underground music and is outstandingly beautiful. Therefore this very first Talking Machines v.a. is dedicated to the synthesizer Roland SH-101.
uke Eargoggle’s Stilleben records is release the Australian producer “Jensen Interceptor” with his EP Nocturnal Fabric. The style is as always the purest electro/nix you only can fantasize about. Jensen Interceptor proves that it is really More Fun To Compute.
We are going deep below the sea level for this release on Pulse Drift. Down there, musical treasures of rare quality can be encountered and brought to you through this excellent 5-track EP! Greek artist kon001 delivers an aquatic storm of underwater Electro and Techno in best Detroit tradition. Yet he puts his very own ingredients to the essence, mixing up submerged soul and marine funk, sci-fi concepts and greek mythology.
