Ed DMX delivering some deeply rooted techno and acid tracks reminding of the heydays of Detroit Techno. The first EP features the lighter side, while the second the heavier gyro workout from Ed DMX on his duo release for this fresh label, Ride The Gyroscope.
Conforce alias Vernon Felicity with his first Delft EP, heavy with Detroit leanings and acid crackles.
Alessandro Parisi is casting off for his debut on Charlois. The Italian is setting out his stall with a five tracker. Honeyed bars are cut by sharp percussion as the brooding “Meduna Waves” opens. Space soaked synthlines coil around a pulsing drum for the slow burning “Cosmica 1999.” The flip sees a wave edge enter. Cascading chords and a bolstered beats form the pain streaked beauty of “Fear and Money Never Had.” “Exhibition of Love” is brimming with meaty snares biting into thick strings combined in a power filled piece. Parisi illustrates his enviable talent throughout, a talent that comes to the fore with the arpeggiated intensity of “Virtualand.”
First release on new Malmö based vinyl label Kess Kill, run by Rivet. Kess Kill was started with the will to continue the legacy 1979-1983by bands like Liasons Dangereuses, Tommi Stumpff, Xao Seffcheque, Geile Tiere and others, music that oozed techno, long before techno was a concept. Some of the music on Kess Kill will be brand new, some will be 30 years old, but it will all be unified by the naive frustration and punky rawness that has long been absent.
Mikron’s love of melody and pattern are very much at the forefront with every track full of great hooks and rhythms. The album takes you on a journey through various sub genres all delivered with careful execution and enviable studio mastery.
Delsin Records welcomes back Dennis van Gemert aka Area Forty_One for a second EP on the label. It is a second part to the Nocturnal Passions series started back in 2013, and come five years after his first ever release, which was on Ann Aimee in 2011, once again fusing ambient with techno, downtempo and electro. Nocturnal Passions Part 2 is seven minutes of slithering electro funk. Full of twinkling keys and spaced out chords, it has rugged bass and bumpy drums all making you want to move. Voyage is then a raw, beat driven yet still brilliantly serene affair with angelic chords, Consolation is a comforting, mid tempo tumble through the galaxy with soft focus, rippling melodies and gentle churning kicks and Orbiting is a suspensory, fully ambient track that sounds like a slow journey up to heaven. This is teary eyed, emotive stuff that comes from another world entirely.
Shad T. Scott under his Gosub alias releases this Sunday At Battle Ship Key titled EP for Barba Records, staying true to that initial principle. Its far away from just being good though, its beautiful and warm electronic music at its best, oozing chill and feel good moods. Original two tracks are accompanied with a remix by second time appearing on Barba – JTC aka Tadd Mullinix who this time nicely surprised us with his ol’ school NY style house beauty. Overall one fine classic record this, period.
”A dim light in the room. Dancing drapes of nylons and satin, the pungent smell of naphthalene in aunt’s old closets. She, powerful but still romantic, was sharpening the tools for the poor destitute. The distant sound of barking dogs, a lost farmhouse in Chianti. The beginning of a dance of sex and death, winged vicious presences, blood and flesh. In the passing she found her fulfilment”.
Creme Organization look to Portugal’s fast rising Lake Haze for a new three track EP. Solar Flames opens the release with a grand sense of sadness. Vast kicks pound below as eerie pads make for an unsettling atmosphere. When a slitting acid line comes in, the 909 pings really kick into action and the track takes off. Sinister Strike is just that, a driving and dark track with elastic bass and ravey stabs that make for physical listening. Lastly, Geisterbahnhofe is a broken beat affair that is rueful and zoned out. Full of sombre, reflective open spaces and distant electro stylings, it rounds out a varied and vital EP.
DJ Nomad and Dirk Leyers’ Africaine 808 project has been responsible for some of the most inventive and enjoyable music of the last few years. It’s little surprise, then, to find that the Berlin-based outfit’s debut album, Basar, is rather special. Built around their now famous polyrhythmic, Afro and Latin influenced drum machine programming, it begins with a touch of snaking jazz, and climaxes with a dense, rising, uplifting Afro-gospel workout that should leave listeners thrilled and breathless. In between, you’ll find 21st century broken beat, delicious downtempo torch songs about break-ups, Juke-influenced Cajun blies bangers, and hard-to-define – but thoroughly engaging – dancefloor wig-outs.
The frosts of Finland are blasted away by the radiate synthesizer sunlight of Surf Dancer. Rich analogue textures are supported by Surf Dancer’s love of the vocoder, computer-spoken lyrics twirling amidst addictive melodies and clean-cut beats. Sweet notes and even sweeter words swirl in this world of ray guns, unicorns and of course rainbows. Strings soar skyward in the elation of “Rainbow Man” before the sleek funk of “Rocket in my Pocket”. Joy pours from the needle drop, instant happiness and body moving music from start to finish, the end coming in the xylophonic goodness of Future in the Night”.
B12, one of the UK’s first wave of pure techno acts, are back again to take you above and beyond with their trademark deep space techno and electro soundscapes. After appearing on the ‘5 Years De:tuned’ album with the track ‘Let Me Free’, B12 return to De:tuned with more transient music for the mind.
Hypercolour announce the latest long player from UK stalwart, Ed DMX AKA DMX Krew, the visionary British electronic producer who has been responsible for a slew of excellent releases since the mid 1990s. ‘You Exist’ is DMX Krew’s debut appearance on Hypercolour, and as expected the record features nine tracks of beautifully crafted, melodic electronic sounds. From the opener ‘Spiritual Encounter’, DMX sets the tone perfectly with oodles of pitch perfect synth riffs and driving drums, working his way through snappy and bright pop moments like ‘Hard Copy’ to more melancholic, darker cuts like ‘Computational Paradigm Shift’. DMX breezes in and out of electro techno territory to more contemplative IDM vibes with ease, testimony to the guy’s talent (that’s also seen him wear the hat of over 10 aliases throughout his career to date). ‘You Exist’ captures a very true and genuine musical form, produced and delivered with love from one of the scene’s unsung heroes, and makes it a great companion piece to another Hypercolour released album from similar stock. A consistent and engaging album then from DMX Krew that will pleasure the ear buds of discerning listeners everywhere.
Having previously kept his pet project Bintus on the Power Vacuum homestead, Milo Smee aligns with UAE label Bedouin for the superbly named Reincarnated Savage EP. While there can often be a slightly scary amount of distortion shaping out the Bintus sound, the lead track on the record is finely honed, pummelling electro of the highest order, albeit with plenty of unhinged noises zipping around in the mix. Fear not red-line lovers, for there’s still ample room for overloaded madness on the flipside by way of balancing out the release.
Frak are Björn Isgren, Johan Sturesson and Jan Svensson, a trio of synthesizer lovers from Sweden. The band was formed when Svensson and Isgren’s older sisters were best friends and they introduced their little brothers to each other. Inspired by Severed Heads, DAF, Human League, Devo, Skinny Puppy, the boys began collecting analog equipment and started Studio Styrka. While the band were still in their early teens they released the first FRAK cassette album in 1987 on their own record label Börft. Almost 30 years later, FRAK continue to release their bizarre brand of Scandinavian techno with their debut release on Dark Entries.
Mono Junk’s DUM Records has been dictating trends in the world of minimalistic techno since the 1990s, and its 34th release is as special as any. This one comes from label boss Kimmo Rapatti aka Mono Junk vs Mesak, who is better known as fellow Finn, Tatu Metsätähti, aka one half of Mr Velcto Fastener. Together the pair serve up three mixes of their jam and an additional track
The Hipodrome Of Music 