Project X – Project X [BLACKLP006]

A non-partisan group primarily operational in the late 20th Century. Their only confirmed action was creating and compiling previously unreleased music to highlight various events of the time. Although there continue to be persistent rumors of technological inventions and other creative diversions, no evidence exists to support these ideas. The plans outlined in the half completed and frankly garbled manifesto was to distribute the music and text to several sources simultaneously in the hope of sharing the stories of the various situations that best needed attention. Most contacted media outlets initially postponed the release saying the information could interfere with ongoing operations and that disclosure might have minor effects on their prime narrative. Whilst the music survives, the text has been scrambled beyond recognition. The names of the situations, locations and characters have been changed but the story remains the same.

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Project X – Project X [BLACKLP006]

Ratsnake – ПЛЕДЖЕ [FREE DOWNLOAD]

New Gesloten Cirkel release on his bandcamp via his Ratsnake alias. On ПЛЕДЖЕ, the enigmatic producer compiles six tracks fresh our the studio and a bonus live version. Oozing in raw synthesis, fiery acid lines and classic hardware drum sounds they both embody a sound that is the elixir of life for the true analog freaks. Released as a pay-what-you-want download through the Gesloten Cirkel Bandcamp.

Ratsnake – ПЛЕДЖЕ [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Exhausted Modern ‎– Failing State EP [OMO1]

The first release on the OMO Recordings is coming from the Czech master Exhausted Modern. “Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.” M. Foucault.

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Exhausted Modern ‎– Failing State EP [OMO1]

Zandvoort & Uilenbal – Folk Triumfator [NW024] FREE DOWNLOAD

“Folk Triumfator”is the second album by Zandvoort & Uilenbal, a ‘paramusical academic’ project of medieval music expert Jimi Hellinga and electronic musician Danny Wolfers. As Zandvoort & Uilenbal they appropriate historical instruments such as a 19th century Victorian harmonium, a medieval hurdy gurdy, an electro acoustic thumb harp and an mid 20th century German Mixtur Trautonium. These are cross bred with the usual arsenal of contemporary electronic instruments and seasoned with some sinister poetry in their North Sea coast temple of sensory sonic delights. We can write how conceptual and arty this all is but let’s just say this is hardcore dark ambient with lots of medieval drone space jazz influences to trip your mind out into a region where time and your opinions cease to exist.

Zandvoort & Uilenbal – Folk Triumfator [NW024] FREE DOWNLOAD

Muslimgauze – Return Of Black September [ARCHIVEFIFTYONE]

The excellent Black September, a continuous, five-part, 68-minute epic, is as formidably competent as ever, although more for the brooding, surreal nature of its soundworld than for its grooves, which here sound almost subsidiary. The soul samples and restlessly evolving minor-chord kaleidoscopes that unfold throughout the work is prima facie evidence of a musician on a roll. Boldly named after one of the most notorious Palestinian terrorist organizations, the group which carried out the Israeli Olympic athlete massacre in 1972, September matches it’s dark black artwork and design with equally doom-laden music (mastered as one track, despite the five separate song titles listed on the back).

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Muslimgauze – Return Of Black September [ARCHIVEFIFTYONE]

VA – Phormix – Mass Disorder [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Free download compilation from Athenian outfit Phormix; including tracks by Anatolian Weapons, Baz Reznik, Celldod, DJ Loser, Fragedis, Morah, Outermost, Penelope’s Fiance, Unhuman and many more.

VA – Phormix – Mass Disorder [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Cio D’Or – Fluidum III [SEM120]

Cio D’Or returns to Semantica with a new brand conceptual mini-LP. Self-styled “sound architect” and “music creator” Cio D’Or has been strangely quiet since releasing a ‘special edition’ of her “All In All” album back in 2016. Comeback EP “Fluidum III” is a fine collection of alien electronic workouts that sound like they were created via modular synthesis. What we get is six tracks built around watery sounds, swelling electronic motifs, spaced-out noises and occasional quirky rhythms. While some of the tracks – particularly “Climate” and “Celestial II” – boast deep but weighty kick-drum tracks in the techno tradition, for the most part the tracks are sparse, alien and devoid of dancefloor intent. The results are consistently alluring, albeit in a strange and spaced-out way.

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Cio D’Or – Fluidum III [SEM120]

Cucina Povera – Tyyni [LSSN067]

Tyyni is the third album by Finnish-born sound artist and musician Cucina Povera aka Maria Rossi. The second album recorded using a more studio-based scenario – as opposed to last year’s Zoom, a collection of in-situ, spontaneous recordings – Tyyni feels like a slowly unfurling mediation on the clash between nature and mechanical living, a rumination on the complexities of modern life that begin to unveil more about the inner landscape of the artist as it progresses. A Finnish word referring to still, serene weather, the title belies a new note of turmoil in Cucina Povera’s soundworld. Tyyni represents a more detailed focus on the sculpting of sounds that curl around Rossi’s hymnal vocal performances. It’s a more adventurous work than Rossi’s previous output that goes further into noise elements and vocal abstraction while maintaining the balance and ecclesiastical ecstasy of her debut Hilja.

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Cucina Povera – Tyyni [LSSN067]

Noah Gibson – Press On [NE72]

Noah Gibson marks his first appearance on Northern Electronics with an EP of plaintive meditations on his innermost causes and conflicts. Acidic enthusiasm spirals out of control in innumerable ways across ‘Press On,’ routing us through the reflective atmosphere that hangs heavy in the background of the thrilling adrenal spikes.

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Noah Gibson – Press On [NE72]

D.K. – The Goddess Is Dancing [GMV05]

Pivotal Parisian producer Dang-Khoa Chau aka D.K. pays sublime tribute to ancient Vietnamese spirit possession ritual, Hau Dong, on a fresh first vinyl edition of his 2019 cassette for Good Morning Tapes. ‘Goddess Is Dancing’ is a 40 minute trip that revolves around a handful of pieces of lilting, thmelodic percussion and aqueous atmosphere expressing D.K.’s imaginary interpretation of music used in Vietnamese ritual music. It unfolds as a ceremony in five parts honouring the mystical goddesses of Forest, Water and Heaven, with music both relaxing and energising in a way that’s intended to aid dancers’ transmogrification from human vessels into spirited beings.

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D.K. – The Goddess Is Dancing [GMV05]

Raviv Gazit – Ze [FTNLP008]

Fortuna Records return with an exceptional reissue of a mid-80s early electronica LP by keyboardist Raviv Gazit. The album was composed entirely on the Synclavier synthesizer in the basement of the Tel-Aviv University in 1985. Gazit was ahead of his time composing cold yet blissful electronic music for film and theatre which he later released as an album. An unexpected yet extremely welcome addition to Fortuna’s killer catalog.

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Raviv Gazit – Ze [FTNLP008]

The Chi Factory – Travel in Peace [AI-18]

Following the death of his one-time Chi Factory partner J. Derwort in February 2019, Hanyo van Oosterom went back to Patmos, the magical island where they once recorded their most famous works, armed with some of the artefacts and hand-built instruments they’d collected together. While there, he made the field recordings and musical sketches that form the backbone of “Travel In Peace”, Oosterorm’s emotional final album as Chi Factory. Poignant, atmospheric, melancholic, dreamy and otherworldly with a genuine sense of time and place (you can almost smell the surrounding flora and fauna), the album’s two lengthy tracks – collages of interlinked sketches and recurring musical motifs – are fittingly fantastic. As curtain calls go, we can think of few better.

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The Chi Factory – Travel in Peace [AI-18]

Organisation – Tone Float [ISPLP2201]

Pre Kraftwerk, Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter formed Organisation in 1968. Their music was a mixture of sounds, feedback and rhythm, with the line up being Fred Monicks on drums, Butch Hauf on bass, Basil Hammoudi on percussion, Florian Schneider on flute and violin and Ralf Hütter on organ. The original sales were poor but nowadays it is highly sought after, also because Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider later continued as Kraftwerk, and became one of the most important electronic music formations ever.

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Organisation – Tone Float [ISPLP2201]

Annechoic – rw nw prt m hrw [BT37]

The 37th installment on brokntoys sees the return after a long hiatus of audiofugitive Annechoic. Having carved her sound over the years, rw nw prt m hrw sees the DJ and producer inhabiting a crossover land between electro and electronica. Taking inspiration from The Egyptian Book of the Dead, the EP alternates dreamlike atmospheres with adroit club numbers. Through 5 tracks Annechoic deftly manoeuvres between the introspective and stargazing, offering a glimpse into the tapestry of a unique player

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Annechoic – rw nw prt m hrw [BT37]

VA – Air Texture Vol.7 [AIR007LP]

Since launching in 2011, James Healy’s Air Texture label and compilation series has become something of an institution within the ambient scene. As with its predecessors, the seventh volume in the series has been jointly compiled by two artists with an existing musical relationship, in this case Rrose and Silent Servant. Their selections are on point, drowsily drifting between academic ambient compositions (see Rrose and James Fei’s “For Bass Clarinet 8.97 (Rrose Version)”, uncomfortable electronic explorations (Ron Morelli, Anthony Child), modular movements (Not Waving), jazz-flecked deep space soundscapes (Luke Slater), horror-influenced throb-jobs (Phase Fatale, June & An-i) and 1990s style ambient electronica (Octa Octa, Function).

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VA – Air Texture Vol.7 [AIR007LP]