In a very “fourth world” manner, Alek Lee brings together middle-eastern influences in his music with ease and without ever having it sounding cliché: on Harabait and Sfarot (and its dub version), his friends and him play the violin, the bass clarinet and the accordion in a way which reminds of Klezmer music, putting the three songs on the EP in line with both his musical education and his cultural background.
As Longitude is the illuminated brainchild of Eva Geist and Laura ODL. Together they explore sonic waves in an exiting world full of spatial drum machine rhythms and sequenced riffs. Some of those trips feel like earth bound rituals, while others seem to be nothing less than ceremonies of stratospheric magnitude.
Petre Inspirescu delivers ‘Vîntul Prin Salcii’ – another longplayer enlarged with seven, up to epic twelve minutes long arrangements. They all listen to the name ‘Miroslav’ and only differ numerically in their title. You can call them ambient. You can call them minimal music in the sense of classic compositions by Steve Reich or Terry Riley. They groove – sometimes more, sometimes less. and they spread the sounds of flutes or saxophones, delicate piano figures, organic jazz drumming, arpeggiated analogue synth-lines, mesmerizing strings, choral singing, alienated looped vocals and spaced out new aged spheres. What unites them all is the way, the melodies dance upon and in each single tune. Their beautiful tex-tures ensnare and they are continuously engaged with experimentation. A mystical album full of evolutionary music to which each listener is able to paint his very own emotional picture. Moody, dark and at the same time light-flooded shape-shifting compositions – made for those who love to surrender them-selves to a gentle dance between experimentation and attractiveness.
Dark Entries present ‘A Tape’, a double LP of early work by Helena Hauff. ‘A Tape’ is a compilation of Helena’s earliest recordings from 2011 and 2014, originally released on limited cassette by Handmade Birds in 2015. Clocking in at over 50 minutes, this collection spans Hauff’s musical universe, from jacking acid-techno to krautish zone-outs and scuzzy feedback interludes. It’s tempting to consider it Helena’s debut album, but she views these tracks as mostly forgotten sketches left on the cutting room floor. It a gripping collection of deep, sinister analog synth sequences, industrial dissonance, and heavy percussion. Her equipment set up was a Roland Alpha Juno 2, Juno 60, TB-303, TR-707 and TR-808. Both of the discs end with Hauff stepping outside of the intentionally stiff, robotic rhythms, instead showing her skill at crafting less conventional electronic sounds.
Far out trip as collaborative effort from Beatrice Dillon and Kassem Mosse. Dillon Wendel is a place for the two respected artists to explore soundscapes, aesthetics and synthesis in pastures aeons away from the dancefloors they’re most familiar with. Both compositions weighing in over 15 minutes, they’re experiences which challenge form and convention; “Pulse” ripples with its namesake, a texture that buzzes and drones in endless waves while “High” mutates a warmer, grainer tone with dizzying effect.
‘Programm 4′ is their fourth album. Mixed and auto-produced by Mark Eins near the Wall in West/Berlin in 1983, the album was rejected at the time by Innovative Communication, considered too much synth/punk/techno’, while the new label managers were looking more into new age stuff. In fact Schulze eventually sold the label in 1983, which started to release a plethora of acts loosely grouped around the NAM genre.
When Tresor founder Dimitri Hegemann stumbled into a former bank vault in East Berlin on March 13th 1991, he had little idea that the space he had unlocked would fast become one of Berlin’s most influential and enduring techno clubs. As Tresor celebrates its 25th anniversary with this work of artists from the US, Germany, China, France, Austria, Italy and the UK, it is worth dwelling on how the cultural conditions that birthed Detroit techno – economic neglect and broken industry – were mirrored by the disused bunkers and impromptu parties of post-unification East Berlin, where techno found new, vigorous expression. This record marks the spirit of those 25 years of creativity, a paean to the psychedelic music of Dimitri’s youth. From the signature magnetic soundscapes of Vainqueur to the dark textures of upcoming Beijing producer Shao; from Jon Hassell’s slow epicurean volutes, to the ritual auras of Marcelus and Claudia Anderson’s contributions; from the dub-infused pioneering programming of Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald, to Mønic’s enthralling cadences, it represents some of the old and new names that continually epitomise Tresor’s perennial spirit of ingenuity.
The material collated on this third release from Heavenly Music Corporation was composed specifically for St. Giga in Japan, a satellite broadcast radio station transmitting ethereal audio harmony 24 hours a day. What made this station otherworldly was its programming; motivated by tidal movements, the aquatic ebbs and flows of each day synchronised to the activity and intensity of the music broadcast.
Music from Le Chocolat Noir, Tryphème, Russell Alderton, Luke Eargoggle, BLΔCKMOON77 and Kimmo Rapatti for your emotional sorrows, choose for now,the energy transmission , take and congregate. The breakable experience of an unconventional trip, but not so modern as that.
Repetitive Strain Injury (R.S.I.): an injury caused by repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, or sustained or awkward positions. “RSI” is an umbrella term used to refer to several discrete conditions that can be both physical and psychological in nature. Also known as cumulative trauma disorders, repetitive stress injuries, repetitive motion injuries or disorders. The release consists of six tracks written, recorded and mixed by Josh Younggren from Minneapolis.
Italian producer Lamusa II is a master of atmospheric, synthesized concoctions that often sound like they’re being transmitted straight from a time machine out of the 1980s. The RBMA alumni’s latest release, ‘Club Mondo 2000’ on the Gravity Graffiti label runs the gamut from sleazy, break-infused house jams to hazy boogie and weightless flute meditations. “Agua Planet”, closes out the 5-track EP with a New Age feel.
Four deejay wmds beaming in from Osaka: weird, unsettling disco-funk, guaranteed to rock the house. Kanwaza crosses ethnic roots and disco; Cross Calf Dance jacks up the quirkiness; Stormy Weather and Water lock down the after-hours crew.
Emotional Response starts 2017 with a mini-album of ambient-equatorial enlightenment by Australia’s mysterious Tropical Hi-Fi. The final record from an artist appearing on the label’s first SchleiBen series, this also points to the future. Based somewhere in the far flung Northern Territories, the music of Hi-Fi’s pre-incarnation Electric Egypt was first discovered via the note-worthy airwaves of L.A’s outstanding Dublab radio station. As the wonderfully diverse internet shows and project’s dense, hip-hop inspired collages came to fruition with 2012’s Exotica release, a dual awareness and sporadic contact was maintained whenever a signal could be established with Hi-Fi base camp. As the SchleiBen series was formed, the studio-DJ-cut-up-mix of Oceanic Mythology was warmly received as an inspired counterpoint to the dense offering from Don’t DJ. These first real solo recordings from the Hi-Fi crew – whoever he/she/they maybe – moves on from the cut’n’paste of Electric Egypt to seek a meditative vision. Ambient, drone and field recordings are all part of a drifting tropical flavour that encompasses the listener. Music truly inspired by it’s surroundings, this is not some music journal, flying in to sample a life and it’s sounds, but the real, living entity and it can be heard deep across the 8 short pieces. None is more typified than Tahiti Blue, where fellow traveler Mike Cooper layers his ubiquitous steel blues over simple, lilting drums. Mixed by Leaving Record’s Matthewdavid (with whom more to come on the label in 2017), photography by Native Finger and the ever-present encouragement of friend and neighbour, Ariel Kalma, this is conceptual album to lay back, drift off on undulating swells and simply, let go to.
Welcome to a science fiction nightmare helmed by the legend that is DJ Overdose. Alien prey, DNA in test tubes. Who is being regrown? Will the town survive? Who has been replaced? In these present times of truth vs fiction it’s easy to become paranoid. We have the soundtrack HAEX-HRLL’s Further From The Truth: An abductee saga by replicons from beyond the moon. Chiming in between hot electro, Vangelis dream scapes, XTRO drone. This is one of OD’s most fascinating records to date. Art by a mysterious figure.
Experimental LP inspired on the streets of the big city, listening to the sounds from different angles and perspective of the city. Created just for listening, not for the dancefloor.
Fundamental Records present a vinyl edition of the previously digital only album Cosmos by Cygnus, composed out of eleven tracks (plus two bonus cuts on the 7″). Perfectly bridging the gap between street-smart electro DJ tools and more home-listening techno, Cygnus perfectly updates this sound.
Further unreleased jams from the great Tolouse Low Trax. The producer’s distinctive musical voice – wayward, dystopian, and fearlessly experimental – seems particularly fitting given recent political events. Opener “Calirough”, all sustained horror chords, distorted percussion and ghostly samples, is particularly potent, though the warped, metallic chug of “Hiroglyph” is not far behind. He returns to 4/4 pastures with the post-truth throb of “Wooden Words”, before imagining a bleak future on the intense hum of “Monia”, a typically dark and crunchy workout that’s as chilling as a Donald Trump presidency.
Seven years after his last release as Smackos, music making machine Legowelt surprises us all with ‘A Vampire Goes West,’ a brand new and ever-experimental ambient album. It comes on his own Nightwind label and was made in total isolation on the North Sea coast last Christmas. As for the music, it is smudgy and cosmic; an “all out amateur spacejazz spiritual ambient eruption on smudgey cassettetape” that will take you far away from reality across 14 absorbing and atmospheric cuts. It includes some extra fun treats too: a fridge magnet and microzine with a map in ASCII art that has a quest attached to it which, if decoded, reveals a password that unlocks some secret and special prizes.
The Hipodrome Of Music 