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.

listen

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.

listen

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

listen

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).

listen

VA – Air Texture Vol.7 [AIR007LP]

VA – FAKE1​-​THE ABSENCE [FAKE#1]

The first release on FAKE imprint is a nice VA compilation of 10 wave, electronix and ambient tracks.

listen

VA – FAKE1​-​THE ABSENCE [FAKE#1]

Victor Cavini – Japan [BEWITH076LP]

The first Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is the super in-demand Japan from Victor Cavini, originally released in 1983. Rare and sought-after for many years now, this is one of those cult library LPs that never turn up. With Daibutsu the giant Buddha of Kamakura’s presence gracing the hefty front cover, this is a record bursting with dope samples for adventurous producers: it’s koto-funk madness. Victor Cavini was the library music pseudonym of prolific German composer and musician Gerhard Trede. He was known for exploring instruments and styles from around the world (he played over 50 different instruments himself) and Japan is his collection of 14 musical sketches painted with traditional Japanese wind and string instruments. These are the sounds of traditional Japanese folk music re-interpreted through Western ears, with the occasional contemporary twist. Contemporary for 1983, of course.

listen

Victor Cavini – Japan [BEWITH076LP]

Legowelt – Secrets After Dreams [SW001]

The ever prolific Legowelt AKA Dutch electronic musician Danny Wolfers is back with another album, “Secrets After Dreams”. The enchanting LP is released by  his long time acquaintance Mystic & Quantum records, the first one of a new series called SpellWeaver. 7 ethereal compositions gleaming with poetic synthesis. Artwork by Danny Wolfers himself.

listen

Legowelt – Secrets After Dreams [SW001]

Roberto Auser – Love and Saucers [AUS004]

Soothing synthesizer music and fantastic audiographic collage for fans and lovers of obscure ambient and jazzy minimal electronics. Original soundtrack to the feature documentary Love and Saucers (2017) […] Don’t sleep on this! Just 25 units made!

listen

Roberto Auser – Love and Saucers [AUS004]

Solitary Dancer – Postlude [PP01]

‘Postlude’ is the second release on Solitary Dancer’s new imprint, Private Possessions. Private Possessions was borne out of a desire to control all aspects of output pertaining to the development, creation, and dissemination of their music, video, and other media. Following their debut LP ‘Rites Of Passage’, ‘Postlude’ is a three-track affair which juxtaposes two of the album’s floor-focussed cuts with an extended version of ‘Test Dream’. The latter has been processed into a 15-minute “Devisualization” using degradation techniques that slowly destroys the piece over time, harkening the ever-changing lucidity and memories of our own dreams.

listen

Solitary Dancer – Postlude [PP01]

Multicast Dynamics – Ancient Circuits [AI-17]

Multicast Dynamics returns with a sixth studio album that marks something of a new chapter. Ancient Circuits is an advancement from previous works on Denovali and one that stands the project aside as a powerful electronic act that tells stories while also serving up heavy hitting soundscapes that are persuasive, unexpected and disturbing. Each of the four 25-minute pieces of Ancient Circuits are clearly demarcated yet sequential sci-fi stories that introduce new characters and are drawn out of long and complex studio experiments. They are collages of sound that glimmer, disturb, shine, dive deep and explore new realms and make for ambient so arresting that it pulls you deep inside. Once again here, Multicast Dynamics draws together cinematic sound design and conceptual intergalactic fiction to come up with a work that is a multi-sensory exploration that puts you as the central character in an expressive musical world.

listen

Multicast Dynamics – Ancient Circuits [AI-17]

Move D & Benjamin Brunn – Let’s Call It A Day [SMALLVILLELP13]

Smallville Records reissues Move D (David Moufang) and Benjamin Brunn’s 2006 collaborative album, “Let’s Call It A Day” released on BineMusic. This is a complete piece built from seven sections, each one is a microcosm of unique textures, depth, ambience, emotions, programming, looping and melodic rules; Together they are a homogenous creation, a symphony that culminate in dance music experiencing elevation. The way Moufang and Brunn fuse different genres together without committing to any musical doctrine, makes them appear prophetic. However, it is in no sense a retrospect feeling; even at the time it was clear that the perceptions, experience, vision, and delicacy of this album were outstanding.

listen

Move D & Benjamin Brunn – Let’s Call It A Day [SMALLVILLELP13]

Men With Secrets – Psycho Romance and Other Spooky Ballads [BK041]

Donato Dozzy collaborates with Retina.it on a new dark and sleazy electro project, Men With Secrets. After Dozzy’s first project with Retina.it (aka Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono), under the moniker Le Officine Di Efesto on Spazio Disponibile, fresh ideas would fast unfold. “They quickly discovered a shared love of classic post-punk, wave, and synthpop, and not long after, Men With Secrets was born.” Drawing influence from the likes of Richard Bone, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, New Order, and even Dopplereffekt, the trio stamp out their own sound with ‘neither imitation nor rehash.’ Their debut thirteen track album, titled Psycho Romance and Other Spooky Ballads, will land on none other than The Bunker NY.

listen

Men With Secrets – Psycho Romance and Other Spooky Ballads [BK041]

VA – Uniformity of Nature EP [DET002]

Uniformity of Nature, the second release on Prague based Detach Recordings, marks an exciting collaboration between Romanian producer DYL, Senking from Raster/Noton and DB1 from Hidden Hawaii. DYL pushes the bounderies of his sound beyond his 170 roots, with the powerful electronics of ‘Phrases’ and the electrifying team-up with Senking on ‘Destroyed City Lights’. Two tracks see DYL in the more familiar peripheries of D&B. The percussive ‘Words’, with its curious background atmospherics, and the driving, hypnotic collaboration with DB1 on the title track ‘Uniformity of Nature’. ‘Launch’ sees Senking slow the tempo down and delve into a more murky space, yet still highly-charged with razor-sharp sound design. DYL closes the EP with the abstract ‘Semantics’, a further excursion into experimental electronics.

listen

VA – Uniformity of Nature EP [DET002]

Borusiade – Fortunate Isolation [DE266]

Dark Entries Records presents ‘Fortunate Isolation’ the sophomore album from Borusiade. Born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, Borusiade aka Miruna Boruzescu started dj-ing in 2002 as one of the very few female DJs in the city’s emerging alternative clubbing scene. Influenced by a classical musical education, a bachelor in film direction and fascinated by raw electronic sounds, Borusiade first combined these universes in the construction of her DJ sets and starting 2005 also in her music production. A sound of her own has slowly crystallized, often dark with poignant bass lines, obsessive themes and by all means melodic. ‘Fortunate Isolation’ is perhaps Borusiade’s most personal release to date. Eight songs that capture a bystander witnessing the world as it undergoes drastic changes. We have disconnected ourselves from ecology, humanity, preservation, care for what surrounds us, for what is still alive. Borusiade adds, “| know that this place, our home has went through so many other extinctions, but | believe things will find their own way on this planet only once we are gone. Entropy creates a time-line but also a transformation – a new beginning.” The album’s sound is gloomy and powerful mixing sonic film sequences, rhythmic excursions and soothing yet obsessive vocals that touch one’s deepest senses. Lyrically the songs tackle themes of forgotten memories, spirituality, mortality, and destruction.

listen

Borusiade – Fortunate Isolation [DE266]

La Luna Sotto Il Ponte – L’alchimia Dell Svanimento 1983-1988 [ILG003]

For its 3rd release Infoline showcases never heard compositions of Marco Repetto (former Grauzone). La Luna Sotto Il Ponte is a 2×12” compilation and a never used alias of Marco Repetto. The compilation features tracks written between 1983 – 1989. Some years after his break up with Grauzone (1981), Marco went on a darker and more industrial path, which was a common route for experimental composers at that time. Expect a solid mixture of unreleased Industrial/EBM cuts. The bonus EP replaces La Luna Sotto Il Pontes grim and dark compositions for a much more utopian mind-set and movement in its heyday. It’s 1988/1989 – Acid House is everywhere.

listen

La Luna Sotto Il Ponte – L’alchimia Dell Svanimento 1983-1988 [ILG003]