Part 2 of Bio Rhythm’s Pleasure Box. Enter the second circle – the realm of lust & perversity. This time the pleasure is brought by MB, Joe Lentini & Shitcluster, delivering some sh*t hot contemporary jacking blackmagic braindance jams for all you carnal sinners.
Baby Whale doses a cross between classic Chicago house and E2-E4 with a no-prisoners boogie bassline and piano chords glistering in from Rimini. JV’s signature spaced-out production assures a head-turning dancefloor banger for the 4am crew. Adam & Eve is an intriguing mix of exotica and Arthur Russell. ‘The sound of Matisse,’ says the label.
It’s a first for Pinkman and Lux Rec. Yet the two labels have so much in common that it isn’t surprising they have been drawn towards each other. And The Rosa Luxembourg Files is the result of this collaboration. Rotterdam and Zurich, Ian Martin and Barbir & Nicola Kazimir, exploring different shades of the same black, wandering at the fringes, plunging into obscurity and machines talk. There’s no rest and no comfort, but manic fixation.
Synths Versus Me is a prolific duo formed by Vanessa Asbert and Nico Cabañas. This 12” EP includes two brand new tracks and two exclusive remixes. The original version of 1987” is an atomic bomb of pure vintage EBM in the vein of Signal Aout 42 and Front 242. The remix done by Dirk Da Davo from The Neon Judgement keeps the feeling of the track but adding some drums, guitar samplers and sequences trademarked by this Belgian legend. On the b-side there is the original mix of Aimless Device”, an electro-pop tune with catchy melodies, analogic bass lines and female voices. The remix prepared for this track by the new american sensation Boy Harsher is a surefire dancefloor full of hypnotic beats and dark atmospheres.
Berlin’s Nat Fowler renders his meticulous Novoline project to Not Waving’s Ecstatic with an inimitable marriage of automated electronic process and live improvisation on his 2nd album, Movements, continuing a lifelong quest for esoteric knowledge and a love of archaic computer hardware. Modelled with mis-used software, run on two separate Atari ST’s using only era-consistent hardware Yamaha FM synthesis via MIDI, pitch tuned to a pure 3:2 ratio Pythagorean scale centred on 432hz, Movements is the compelling, awkward result of obtuse production techniques and painstaking trial and error; basically experimentation at the service of discovering a sound he is genuinely warranted to call his own.
When the flowers bloom at the awakening of the season. With translucence shining like liquid stars decked out in glorious hues of pink, purple and blue. When the trees grow and the birds fly out. When they gently beat their wings, gliding upon the blue canvas of the sky. You get touched by the sounds and the beauty of it all. It lights that fire deep within you… Reedale Rise shows us the way of things,.. as it was then, and still is now.
DJ Stingray, Detroit’s masked man of mystery, returned to us at Dekmantel for yet more vintage electro mixed at rapid pace.
Randomly few times a year Rutherford and Eargoggle team up for some monkey business in the studio. As often the result is “Monkeyshop” a journey into the deepest, darkest forrests and landscapes of the north. Scandinavia is not known for the monkeys but they exist there especially arround Gothenburg in the mountains.. The music is a mix between electro and disco, might call it electrodisco and its all programmed and recorded in with the most easy and understandable equipment so its possible for monekys to use.
Composite Profuse, aka Valerio Lombardozzi aka Heinrich Dressel, breaks radio silence after seven years in the shadows. Cold winds curl and otherworldly atmospheres abound for Unalaska Ice Files. Arctic tundra and ice are the inspiration, frozen vistas dappled with warming light, subtle shifts and sinister shades. Teslasonic take on the title track, injecting electrical pulses and an underhanded edge. Shipwrec stalwart, Robert Witschakowski aka The Exaltics, gives his own icicle encrusted interpretation, one of stark percussion and expansive horizons.
“Chord Memory” the hymn for the widely used feature in 80s hardware synthesizers got some individual rewiring done. If ten fingers ain’t enough Hyboid uses his Galactic Memory for punchy disco purposes while Robyrt Hecht reaches for a swinging Pivot Memory to sweep and swipe your electro habits. On the other hand Milium likes the exposed wires of his Mutiny Memory to revolt whereas CCO simulates his natural Echoic Memory with floating acid sparks. Completing the mechanical rewiring the duo Nachtzug added delicate software to Execute the algorithms and installed a Memory Loss button, if you are in need of a reset.
The Argentinian based NGLY had seemingly appeared out of thin air landing on the Brooklyn based L.I.E.S. label in 2014 with an untitled four track white label ep. On this ep, the unsuspecting track “Speechless Tape” ended up becoming a cult hit with select djs in the scene (I-F, Mick Wills, Intergalactic Gary…) eventually leading to it being voted as Intergalactic FM’s #1 track of the year in 2014. On the heels of his successful debut Rudolfo could have stayed the path and produced an easily digestable follow up dance record or two, instead he chose to take his time and reflect. Sitting back in the studio tweaking his live act, recording endlessly, transforming and refining his sound. In the end we get his debut eight track lp, Cities of Illusion, a record that walks a fine line between many of the original strains of the electronic realm. The elements are all there to be picked apart, to be used, to be abused, thrown against the wall smashed to bits…played in the club or on the late night mix shows, it’s magic you heard in the past and crave in the present. To say the music on the lp is one thing or another is an injustice…it pays reverence while at the same time turns a corner; held together by a loose yet cohesive thread. It is a full presentation that is unafraid to challenge or confuse, with no concern for genre imposed limitations.
Beau Wanzer returns with another LP of archival material plucked from the mutant mounds of shitty coughs and smelly feet. Wanzer digs deep and delivers twelve tracks in his inimitable style, with some dating as far back as 1999. The brutal electronic punk productions like ‘Something Stinks’ are balanced with moldy movements such as ‘Staring at at Fish’. This LP takes a more vocal heavy and menacing approach, but it’s not without moments of respite. Undoubtedly another oozing outing from the Chicago deviant.
Red Laser presents a unique double gatefold LP from Red Laser original Kid Machine. He delivers a 5 star upgrade to the signature sound that people worldwide have fallen in love with. 808 kicks and DX 7 licks bubble under the atmospheric chord changes creating a soundtrack which is just as comfortable on the dance floor as it is on a midnight drive. Alien Dance darts around to irregular delight. The dramatic score of Asteroids builds until it soars high above the grid. The bassline on Beast drills a blackened dance floor in preparation to be replaced with 80’s discotheque neon squares. Beyond Cygnus takes flight and drifts across a Martian plane. The 808 kicks and orchestral synth stabs of Conquest crush all known reality into a space the size of a photon and the weight of its gravity is unbeatable. Standing out amongst the pack is the apply titled ‘Forever Machine’. A proper Manctalo synth anthem guaranteed to deliver speaker destruction.The LP closes with classic Machine style bangers ‘Flight Manoeuvres’ and ‘Seconds From Oblivion’. They bring this galactic odyssey to a confident end. This is a cracking journey through the outer rim and back.
No More Pop returns after the summer with a surprising New Wave release by Obscure by Degrees. The extremely rare original from 1981 has been remastered and geniously remixed by swedish artist Zener Color.
Superconscious Records offshoot ”Suco” returns with two bizarre club edits from Bjorn This Way aka Francis Inferno Orchestra.
Die Form is a French post-industrial and electronic band formed in 1977-1978. The name ‘Die Form’ means ‘(the) form/shape’ in German and is a play on the English homonym ‘deformed’ and on the French homonym ‘difforme’ (deformed). Die Form is the primary project of electronic musician and multimedia artist Philippe Fichot. He began by recording a number of experimental cassette releases in the late 1970s and formed the Bain Total label to release these early cassettes, as well as various side projects such as Krylon Hertz, Camera Obscura, Eva-Johanna Reichstag, Hurt and Fine Automatic. In 1982 Die Form released their debut vinyl album, “Die Puppe” in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. “Zoo” is a compilation of 10 tracks recorded during the “Die Puppe” sessions from 1980-82. These were the first esoteric electronic experiments, often improvised. Underlying themes of eroticism, death, and other ‘taboo’ subjects become apparent in both the music and the album artwork, which Philippe also produced. The album was recorded with entirely analog equipment, including a Roland MC4 Micro-Composer, TR-808 Rhythm Composer, ARP 2600, and Kawai 60F recorded to a Revox B77 reel to reel tape machine. Songs range from hypnotic, minimalistic proto-IDM to daring experimental sound manipulation. 4 of these songs were featured as a bonus 7” to accompany the 1989 vinyl reissue of “Die Puppe” but remixed for the project. The remaining 6 songs were also remixed and released on CD in 2001.
Release number two on Pleasure Wave comes from Jonny 5. Here the edit meister delivers four tracks of cosmic goodness, adding synths and drums to the cut n paste..
Heavy EBM stompers by Celldöd, aka Anders Karlsson, has been releasing dirty electronic music since the late ’80s, both small-run cassette tapes inspired by the DIY ethos of his post-punk background, and pristine vinyl editions.
Legowelt, as Nacho Patrol, is back on MinimalRome with the single Panter 777, already included in the limited edition tape of his LP The Maze of Violence, produced in 2008. The track is an explosion of wahwah funk riffs and juicy analog synthesizers and it comes on the B side with a powerful acid remix by Jared Wilson from Motor City. Don’t miss it, it’s on MRX – Patiendum Est limited series.
The Hipodrome Of Music 