Soil Records’ Valley of Tears is back on his third edition more powerful than even, with 4 tracks from Arnaud Rebotini, David Carretta, Kovyazin D and Terence Fixmer.
VA – Valley Of Tears Vol. 3 [SOIL12]
electro
Boris Barksdale – Eternal Remorse [EFAE005]
From the rampaging start of the EP, ”Eternal Remorse”, not a single note, guttural vocal, or fierce drum hit is out of place. The emerging greek artist Boris Barksdale, portraits the overall feeling of militaristic order encompasses music and vocal samples. The musical equivalent of that image, industrial society’s restless march to oblivion rendered as an infinite dance track, as aggressively vibrant as it is alienated.
Chupacabras – ZMNT 005 [ZMNT005]
For Number 5 on his Label Kluentah recrutes the Luchador Chupacabras with. 4 nasty and dirty Machine Jams straight out the gutter.
Chloe Lula – Errant Bodies [AWLXI]
Charlie – Spacer Woman (Reworked) [ATM003]
Reworked versions of a classic track, “Spacer Woman”, by Valentino Kanzyani featuring Iury Lech and Dana Ruh.
The Ne-21 – In the Realm Of Electricity [SLK015]
The NE-21 return to She Lost Kontrol after their first pitch-perfect 80s dark wave release in 2016. After releasing a collaboration with Donato Dozzy with the project ‘Men with Secrets’ at the beginning of the year, the duo lands on the label with their new work “In The Realm of Electricity”. The album is a collection of 8 tracks composed and recorded between 2012 and 2020 at the Sy6 studio in Boscoreale. The outcome is a perfect blend of synth pop and minimal wave, filled with icy synths, shuddering bass, and anthemic vocals, ranging from mumbled vocoder to arch talk-singing. While diverse in atmospheric scope, swells of ghostly synths circle the driving beat throughout, producing a haunting totality drenched in an ethereal midnight trance; the submerge of cold, spectral vocals sing within the darkest depths of a starry soundscape – the gloomy romanticism of low, distant vocals bursting with post-punk melancholia. The album in essence sounds unashamedly distinctive, unique and charming. Whether you fall in love with the whole act or you’re just stunned by the bizarreness of it all, one thing’s for sure – you’ll be compelled and gripped right to the infectiously smutty end.
PC World – ORDER [SLK014]
Under exhausted lights of civil discontent the count has just began. What you parodied, what you scrutinized rears its pure gaze when punctured beyond performance. We cried for justice but instead found order, and now we face the chain. PC World comes through with a haunting EP on She Lost Kontrol to distort the view and warp the vision of industrial addicts and mutant punks with their second release “Order”, a discursive counterattack on four distinct forms of command. The South London duo disfigures the unconscious reduction of pleasure and fetish, the connective tissue between privatization and violence, the seduction of societal norms, and the neurotic tendencies of self-defeat. Like the surrender to a future shock, these four interwoven tracks are produced for the recognition of restraint and the demand for wanting more. B-side remixes of the title track “Order” come from Physical Wash (former member of High-Functioning Flesh) and Aktion Mutante (featuring members of Violent Poison and Unhuman), two additional perversions of protocol from synth-punk veterans on both sides of the Atlantic.
Le Syndicat Électronique – Rebuts: Forgotten Tracks 1999-2019 LP [MNQ139]
Mannequin Records is welcoming back Le Syndicat Électronique with a collection of lost tracks raised up from the deepest vaults of the French synth-electro pioneer. Over a period spanning almost twenty years, ”Rebuts” (the French word for ”thrown away”, ”forgotten”) is bringing back to life 8 titles that have been put aside during the different moments of creation of Le Syndicat Électronique. Founder of the seminal Invasion Planète Recordings, the first French minimal electro/wave/experimental label founded in late 1998, and heavily influenced by the work of masters like Kraftwerk/John Carpenter/Front 242, AA// is responsible for many others dark electronic / industrial / neofolk projects – to name a few: Bruta Non Calculant, Swesor Brother, La Séduction Des Innocents, It & My Computer.
Sed Blava – Nit Sublim EP [WE09]
Sed Blava is the Barcelona-based solo project of Daniel Boix, well known as Dj.Simplexia or also Ciutat Solitud, his ambient-industrial project. “Nit Sublim” is his first album as producer and may evoke the dark sounds from Valencia in the 80’s. But if you dive deeper, you will uncover a trove of intricate details elaborated with Sed’s touch. Ranging from catchy tunes and emotive passages to powerful dance-floor tracks, his vast music background and his long-time membership to the underground music scene should be highlighted. Both of these elements give rise to a broad spectrum of genres and influences in his music, bringing together a timeless mixture of old-school Electronic Body Music, New-Beat, Electro, Synth-Wave and even Ambient.
No Honey From These – Over The Hill [TT023]
These tracks where included on a CD-R at the first 100 S.M. Nurse EPs “30th Anniversary 1980-1983” (Domestica, 2013) – now remastered on vinyl & including an extra remix version by Rude 66.
VA – Tears for Fears Vol. 3 [SOTA042]
Soil Records presents the third volume of Tears For Fears cassette compilation. The release includes 22 tracks from the likes of Adrian Marth, Anatolian Weapons, Chino, Crossover Network, Fragedis, Le Chocolat Noir, Ober Dada & Lera Foer, Sons Of Traders, Violet Poison and many more.
Rapha – Visionia [SBOX012]
Schrödinger’s Box found a true audio delinquent when they discovered Rapha. Resident at Alphabet Club in Tel Aviv, this is a musician who creates tracks with a punk attitude and a painted acid smile. The co-founder of Chateau Royal arrives with four blistering numbers for our box. After the pounding percussion and 303 smears of “Ivanka”, this sidewinder synthesist unfurls the brooding darkness that is “Transform.” Lighter tones pierce the gloom in the carefully crafted “Visionia” before The Exaltics lands for some deep and dreamy electro with an incredible remake of “Voyager101.” Rapha’s original of “Voyager101” closes the 12”. Rasping rhythm patterns cut a path for rich dauby analogue bars in this stripped-back, late-night close.
Interviews – S/T [BT57]
BT57 sees Markus Gebauer AKA Interviews making his debut on Brokntoys. Having left a lasting impression with his previous efforts on labels Ortloff and Bitterfeld, here the Berlin-based producer showcases his throbbing blend of Italo, EBM and electro on a 4 track EP designed for primetime club action.
Itako – Ligotage EP [LR021]
Producer and DJ from Strasbourg, France – Itako’s anachronistic influences combine a wide range of sounds from the 80’s to the early 00′, from industrial to disco & trance to new beat. Itako presents a 5 tracks EP of raw and unadulterated electro for his debut on Lone Romantic titled ‘Ligotage EP’.
K1 feat. Dopplereffekt – Star Gazing EP [PBX-32]
Keith Tucker and Gerald Donald of Dopplereffekt finally got together. The combination of these two musicians has created a bombardment of funk as only Keith Tucker and Dopplereffekt can bring. That unearthly eerie funk and strings from other worlds. That snappy intelligent funk that Detroit so heavily influenced and unleashed to the universe.
Sound Synthesis – Dream Factor EP [ER-ET010]
Keith Farrugia aka Sound Synthesis returns to his home and he has done it again. After his now deleted work on Electric Eclectics, you will have a second chance with this new EP. Very limited units on colored vinyl, packed in a really nice way as we have come to know by the Fundamental crew.
Exzakt / BFX – Nasty Girl [MON021]
Exzakt teams up with fellow Electro Breaks legend, BFX and the output is very strong. Originally produced for submission to an Egyptian Lover compilation, Nasty girl is laced with vocoder vocals as well as a female voice over hard hitting bass beats and deep baselines. This is a tune tailored for the club however retains its depth like many Exzakt & BFX tunes usually do. With Nasty Beats is the instrumental. As if Side A comes just as strong. Starting with BFX, Jelly offers his signature melodic sound along with low end frequencies all culminating into a solid Electro tune. Finally a deep cut from Exzakt, Taking Over The System is a perfect end to this future classic vinyl.
Egyptian Lover – Freak-A-Holic [DMSR80802]
It’s been 25 years since the anthem ‘Freak O Holic’ by Los Angeles electro legend Egyptian Lover was first released. His label Egyptian Empire Records serves up a repress for all the fans out there, featuring an extended version of the track, presented here as the super sleazy Alternate Universe mix on the first side, followed up on the flip with ‘2 The Extreme’ (long version) taken from the seminal album of the same year – the 1986 LP. A true pioneer, Egyptian Lover’s (real name Greg Broussard) earliest material is name checked by producers such as as Autechre and I-F as influential.
L.F.T. – Galactic Funk Podcast 31
VA – MRG010 [MRG010]
Marguerite Records announced its first release scheduled for 2021: ‘MRG010’, a Various Artist compilation celebrating the label’s tenth output. A side opens up with ‘My unknown friend’ by the charming Diana Berti, a blue starry-eyed minimal synth jam, followed up by Mayo’s slo-mo acid affair ‘SloMos’. A3 is ‘Miss your stupid face’, a crunchy, metallic downbeat cut by SYNTETYK boss Dzuma, and what a better way to follow such delight than a snake charming rollercoaster by Exhausted Modern? Closing up the first side is ‘Same shit fail (shame)’, a mesmerizing slow tempo deep track by Lyon’s Big Science head honcho Warzou. Flip side is unwrapped by ‘Weaklink’ a Lliasons Dangerousesque floorfiller from Lost Soul Enterprises boss R Gamble, while ‘Alpha’ on B2 marks the return of Bianco Negativo on their label with a dreamy minimal synth // ambient techno hybrid. Sitting on B3 is the high tension cinematic EBM roller ‘Duty-bound majority’ by Colombian artist Filmmaker; B4 switches the vibe and turns full speed with a mutant electro excursion by LIES affiliated Chupacabras. Madmoizel’s ‘Culture 19’, a powerful yet playful raw post punk gem, brings the compilation to its final chapter.
The Hipodrome Of Music 