WHO’S THIS FACE!? After several strong and adventurous releases on Unknown Precept and Mannequin records, now it’s time to land on Knekelhuis for the next chapter. Meet Maoupa “Clown carrying butcher knife at Brussels” Mazzocchetti, known for his nervous, out of the box, thoughtful machine- driven electronics. You’ll love his powerful, distorted, gut-wrenching, yet danceable, black humour filled tunes! Would you please buckle up?
Garofano Rosso’s triumphant return to Giallo Disco comes in the form of his debut album ‘Titoli Di Coda’. A bloodied trip to the microcosm of a doomed city, a neon-noir at the corner of Gordon & Cole, where old cellar doors slam like gated snares and justice comes with a bullet. In between krautrock funk, straight up-crime solving disco and instrumental ballads almost gothic like in their epicness, the artist also known as Giorgio Luceri, whose releases on Mathematics have been turning heads for many years, births this daring and impressive debut that we’re immensely proud to release on Giallo Disco.
The debut release of Aspecto Humano, label based in Barcelona, is being presented as a sampler composed of five tracks, which clearly shows the label’s preferences and what to be found in the future. The first track is the new version of Das Ding’s classic ‘H.S.T.A.’, a jewel that has not been pressed on vinyl to date. Follows ‘Extraterrestrial Biological Entity’, a killer track made by master of horror Antoni Maiovvi, and finish the side Hyboid with his well known synthwave ‘Telepath or Psycopath’. On the other side the debut of part of Aspecto Humano founders, Anbau, with their kraftwerkian ‘Disco Z’. Ends the reference Synth Alien, one of the most reputated spanish artists at the moment, focused to burn the dancefloor with his ‘Bailarina Automatica’.
Another debut producer joins the ranks of Slow Motion with a distinctive take on some classic sounds. Armonics hails from Bari, deep in the Italian south and his first EP is at turns blissful, jacking and dare we say, playful. For a first EP, Armonics has certainly nailed his musical colours to the mast. Crossing with ease between disco, Balearic and an indefinable X-factor.
Italy-born, Dublin-based producer Leopoldo Rosa aka Lerosa returns with his second EP in 2016 and continues a string of excellent releases for Croatian label Barba. “Your Soul” comes as the 9th release of Barba, and is very much in the area of previous ones – heady, mental and diverse. Lerosa effortlessly manoeuvres between genres on this 4-tracker, while at the same time keeping the overall sound and vibe consistent. 303-reminiscent synth serves as an underlying leitmotif which appears in every track, but in a different manner. Blood is an obvious A1, direct and trippy techno with a misty mood. With Duelist Lerosa wears his electro suit, while maintaining the atmosphere sketched out by the first track. Ghost sits right in between the first two, with its 1/2 tempo serving justice to the track’s feeling of neither resting nor moving. B2, Your Soul, is a house track with an elegant Lerosa twist on the classic Chicago vibe.
Copenhagen based conceptual music act Design A Wave returns with ‘Snakeface’, a document of surprise within the composition process. Specifically, Design A Wave uses the computer to create several beats and then utilises the mutated results as building blocks for several new compositions. Interest in computer-synthetic snakes, beyond all networks of communication and agency art, centres on placing these formless serpents into existing genres, such as music. Snakeface is a timely exploration of the infectious qualities of music, and how it too, as a carrier, makes it’s way through neural networks, irreducible to bits and designed to infiltrate and replicate.
The 6th reference of Clasicos del Ruido is the result of a collaboration with Aitor Arch and Femur Club (club of reference in Madrid), and it is exclusively produced by artists who have performed at this well-known parties. The record opens with ‘Utopia’, a luminous, evocative and fascinating track by the German artist Hyboid, the undoubted leader of space and cosmic sounds. The British artist Kid Machine replicates on the same album side with the track ‘Fighting fears’, which includes echoes of disco and Den Haag sounds. On the other side of this 12inch, we will listen first to ‘Monologues’, a hypnotic-percussive track signed by the renowned French artist In Aeternam Vale. ‘Non auro, sed ferro’ by Hesperius Draco closes down the album, fizzing among their usual coordinates: horror disco, retro wave and soundtrack sounds. An album that brings together different artistic sensibilities in which both Clasicos del Ruido and Femur feel comfortable.
Anton Maiovvi with a new release on Schrödinger’s Box . This Bristol born soundtrack virtuoso, italo disco savant and all round electronic guru has travelled labels far and wide with his smorgasbord sound. And that variety is plain to hear on “Will to Powder”. From the epic opener of ”Clocks”, Maiovvi leads you through his labyrinthine hall of shapes and sounds. Expect warming melodies, cold beats, shimmering synthwork, brazen experimentation, a decent dollop of slasher scores and a pinch new wave romance in this.
2016 remastered re-release of this essential dutch westcoast electro-techno classic, aka Interr-Fered Communications HM1202.
FlexiWave returns with the follow up to the acclaimed 2012 cassette 290.625”. This new 60C cassette boasts 14 freshly vetted tracks of finest obscure electronica. From the shimmering, pearlesque sounds of Lisa & Kroffes’ “Rönnbär” to the dark and pensive Colouroids banger “Shove” and a new moniker from Silent Em & Portable Morla, Alta Dosis, 3375.1969” gathers a new clutch of artists set to earn FlexiWave another round of praise for their stellar compilations. Also on offer are Scottish/Icelandic duo Revigorators’ Joy Division-inspired Post-Punk/New-Wave excursion “Black Out City”, Black People’s one-of-a-kind textures and caterwauling rhythms on “White Man Is The Devil”, and nine other handpicked, finely crafted sonic gems.
Collins’ debut 12″ on Giallo Disco is dark as night and sharp as a knife. Twisted electro-nightdrive stormers for revenge fantasies and futurist cyberpunk sex dungeons, dreamlike replicant discotheques or if the Boccaccio Club existed in Liquid Sky. Remix duties come from Giallo Disco favourite Protector 101 who takes ‘Signature Ligature’ into heavy synth territory peaking into blown out electronic doom.
The elusive Vernon Felicity comes with a stark and stomping 4 tracker for the Basement series. Motorcity meets Harbourcity…
The dynamic duo Hiver return to the Belgium imprint, Curle Recordings, with their latest EP, entitled ‘Soundescence’. This excellent four-track offering is the Italian pairing’s third EP on Curle. Kicking off the release is the title-named track, ‘Soundescence’, displaying the melodic, psychedelic sound Hiver has been praised for previously. Delicate synth patterns perfectly bled with the understated drums and percussive elements. This ethereal approach to Techno continues on the following deep-groover, ‘One More Snooze’. The B-side opener, ‘Phonotis’, immediately breaks the silence with a steady 4/4 rhythm, seeing a squelchy synth bassline, warm pads and floating atmospheric textures scattered throughout the six-minute number. Closing the EP is ‘Floor Diving’, which once again showcase Hiver’s sleek and seductive style of dance music that is made for the dark, underground clubs of Europe and beyond.
Miami is a Geministic outpost of complimentary halves: subtropical rainforest and art deco cityscape; unmitigated wealth and staggering poverty; limitless sunshine and equally limitless thunderstorms. From this outpost, culturally and geographically isolated from a state teeming with hillbilly abjection, composer Ramiro Jean-Carlo entertains a unique decadence under the guise of Staccato Du Mal, a project perhaps something of an anomaly in Miami, but no less at home. At turns gauzy and drugged, energized and electric, SDM is analog electronics that would be best heard in a blacklit dance club or a mouldering mansion against the background of any given tropical depression. “El Mago en Ti” shows Jean-Carlo keeping things as sinister as ever, with classic SDM sawtooth baselines and rickety clattering rhythms (Spherical Aberration), “La Gran Evasion”), with the requisite amount of reverb (lots), but with a few surprises: opening track “Drowning Feathers” integrates Jean-Carlo’s affection for classical music into the project, with its complex and sullen chord structure reminiscent of a J.S. Bach organ piece, while the songs “El Mago en Ti” and “Fistful Questioning” showcase an industrial aggression unexplored in the context of SDM.
Seattle’s Chris Roman aka 214 joins ranks at Lunar Disko to present the ‘Talus Loop’ EP. 214 has developed into a true master of the atmospheric electro sound, and once again showcases this talent on the ‘Talus Loop’ EP. A fusion of intricately textured techno and electro, combined with lush ethereal soundscapes transport the listener to a far away and otherworldly dimension. Futuristic Hi-Tech electro and techno from a producer of the purist form.
Kondi Records gives you the first glimpse into the mind of the mysterious artist, Vessel in Distress. A full spectrum minialbum to suit robots and humanoids alike with it’s remarkable twist of classic electro vibes blending the dry and the evocative, going both backward and forward in time.
Gliptolito sees Frigio return to its beginnings whilst making a bold statement of future intent. This time in collaboration with Seti Recordings for a split release by the heads of both labels. Juanpablo shares the platter with ArD2, the team of Ekis and Penélope Martín (of NSRB-11 and Zwischenwelt.) Label boss Juanpablo opens with his ever evolving sound. Rasping beats and subtle key changes are warmed by basslines in the cerebral “Ica”. “There is a Silence” comes from a similarly esoteric place, gentle chords shimmering against glitchy undercurrents and clean drums. ArD2 follow up their 2010 appearance on Frigio with two tracks of complex machine funk. Sidelined is their trademark electro sound as the pair lean towards electronica and broken percussion for “Winter.” Colder tones arrive with “Utopia”, sublime string work warming them through to bring “Gliptolito” to a close.
Komarken Electronics makes his debut on Brokntoys with Expanded Consciousness. He serves up shimmering neo electro with Early Mornings following up with the fidgety Bubble Theory. On the flip, the title track runs deep into ether before Delta Funktionen steps up with a heavy remix of Early Mornings to close proceedings.
