Juanpablo – Terror Clash Podcast 02
frigio records
VA – TechnoAcrazia [FRV043-2LP2]
The 1980s saw Spain become a new country. The former stranglehold on the arts loosened and experimentation flourished. This was plain to hear in the music of the time but history can be cruel and many of the artists and groups that were catalysts of change have faded with time. “Technoacrazia” rights this wrong with 16 unreleased tracks and 4 bonus tracks by Muzak, TodoTodo, Megadeath Extreme and V Generación as a compilation that brings the sounds of a pioneering outfit back to vinyl. Raw and young musical machinations, elegant and refined electronics, new and exciting sounds that cross the lines of electro, house, synth and wave to create something truly unique.
Scannoir – Through My Silence [FRV041]
After his appearance on Frigio Allstars Vol 3, Scannoir (also half member of the amazing GOTT project) delivers his first full length EP with “Through My Silence”. Emotive and raw, the style pursued blurs the lines between synth wave, EBM and techno.
Hesperius Draco – Directive V EP [FRV042]
Emerging from the shadows, Hesperius Draco returns to Frigio with a solo release for the first time since his 2016 album Actus Tragicus. “Directive V” conjures up the magic of giallo horror, silver screen slashers and smoky synthlines, while exploring something altogether new. Tempered percussion and low bass-lines “introduce the 12” with “Lexploitation”. Cinematic influences percolate in the steady percussion and lonesome elation of “Memories of Sex Desire.” The mood changes on the flip with “Leaders In Space.” Guitar strings and breathy samples blend to create a leering late lounge track spiked with acid notes and vocoder bitterness. The finale brings something totally different. The gurgling acid line is amplified as Hesperius Draco unveils “Cyber Bondage.” Floor centric and machine steeped, stabbing synth-lines, rusted rhythms and an inchoate energy course through this finale to display yet another side of Alessandro Parisi’s sound.
Human Figures – Tabula Rasa [DC012/FRV045]
In 2021 the album “Footsteps” introduced listeners to the individual style of Human Figures. Daniel Lewis aka Daniel Holt, The Recluse or Death Posture merged raw strings with primal percussion to forge a sound of his very own. He now returns to Frigio with “Tabula Rasa¨. Here we have instrumental machine freak outs and bitter dark-wave, guitar and bass riffs that try to sound more like they arise from listening to mystical 60’s eastern inspirations. Tabula Rasa is a deep and often wistful journey into the world of Daniel Holt’s project Human Figures. Transitive and ethereal, these eight tracks effortlessly fuse elements of cold wave, post-punk, and minimal electronics culminating in a pensive opus awash in faded dreams. Another classic from the visionary artist at his finest.
Simbolo – Ecdisis Vol. 4 (Mick Wills Edits) [FRV038]
Mick Wills is no stranger to Frigio Records, the German Dj and producer has turned his hand to edits and remixes on previous releases and now arrives with his own 12” of edits for the volumen 4th of the label’s Ecdisis series. The source material for the two pieces on offer comes from Brazil’s Simbolo, a band formed in 1988 and still active with a career spanning more than thirty years, was a central player in South America’s EBM and Synth scene. MIck Wills has selected two tracks from the Brazilian’s back catalogue, the first being “Mind.” Industrial influences come immediately to the fore, complex drum patterns give way to a juddering groove in which guttural vocals depict a scene of hurt and pain. “Synchrono” occupies the flip. Taken from the 1995 album, In the Danger Zone, the original two minute piece is extended into a seven plus minute epic. Following on from “Mind”, “Synchrono” melts stuttering bass-lines and textured percussion with indecipherable lyrics counter-balancing heady strings. Two cuts of emotive and impacting electronics.
Ombra 2021 – Day 3
Sunday morning we were eager to come back as early as possible to the Utopia 126 for the last day of the festival, so we managed to arrive by midday again. At the Ombra Stage, Vinilette was about to finish her vinyl set for the Frigio showcase.
Continue reading “Ombra 2021 – Day 3”VA – Frigio All Stars Vol. 4 [FRV037]
Summer 2021 sees the fourth in the Frigio All Stars series hitting all respectable shelves. Jack Carel opens the 12” with the acid burning grunge of “Fuck This Shit” followed by Sons of Traders with the chugging 4/4 nastiness of “A for All.” A trippy, dark industrial streak runs in the snares and swagger of Rambal Cochet’s “Doomsday Scenario Interface” and in the powerful introspection of Daniel Holt’s “The Recluse.” Neud Photo arrives on Frigio with a menacing debut, “The Split” which pierces a haze of smoke in this late-night floor-filler. Honored Matres who appeared on the first volume of these series, returns with the blackest of the compilation. Machine gun percussion close the 12” with Chris Mitchell offering the chopped and gnawed “Alsina”.
Human Figures – Footsteps LP [BFE64]
An album of intricate minimal wave/post punk from Daniel Holt’s new project Human Figures. Human Figures is a completely new and personal avenue of expression for Holt. “Footsteps” is liminal, lonely and misty with negative space between each instrument. Each note invokes a warm hypnagogic atmosphere, tinged with fluttering anxiety. Through these eight tracks, this multifaceted musician shows another side of his art with guitars, basslines and drum machines. The mournful “Lifted Burden”, with its cowbells and echoing vocals swaddled in warm strings, sets the tone. Haunting notes are supported by a staccato beat as Holt´s melancholic vocals sail in “40 Days” before the bare brilliance of “An Open Heart.” A spread of influences is drawn on for Human Figures: the post-punk rawness of “For My Angel”, the synth romance of “Footsteps” the cold reductions of “Passing Beyond Body.” Sombre, stirring and superb.
“Footsteps” was release also on cassette last year on Popnihil.
Juanpablo – Italo Moderni MIX #61
VA – All Stars Vol.3 [FRV034]
Frigio Allstars 3 comes from the murky underbelly of electronics, where the nights are long and the days are short. Ashen tones pricked with lighter shades, all smeared with attitude in this collection of underground tracks made for the underground. Daniel Holt dives deep into the darkness with the nine minute industrial throb of “Vaccuous Transient.” A stomping beat pierces sci-fi score synthlines in a track brimming with menace. Grey people debuts on Frigio with the grime smeared jack of “Bruxism.” The flip is all first timers to the Madrid label with Scannoir offering “De Panaesher.” Sitting somewhere between synth lament and uplifting wave, this track is a true modern classic from a member of the GOTT camp. Madrid’s very own Negocius Man follows with “101 Wars” a winding worming work of glazed electronics to kill any dance floor and the amazing finale, “The Smile Of The Body” coming care of Bari’s talent based in Berlin under the moniker of Sons Of Traders.
VA – Ecdisis Vol.3 [FRV033]
Ecdisis Vol 3 is fresh and ready to wreak some havoc. Up first is Vinilette’s rework of Flux of Pink Indians’ “Nothing Is Not Done.” A brood of beats, this rhythmic romp is inspired by the 1986 piece on Uncarved Block. Layers of kick drums, bongos and toms echo and judder as a cold line circles and closes ever tighter. Following we have the head honcho, Juanpablo with his extended edit of Mac Blackout’s “Do The Dance In Your Head”. The intro is given room, adopting a doom disco march, before the fearsome crash of strings. The lyrics, a lurid tale brimming with menace, are sweetened with twirling notes in this grisly stomper. The final attack sequence comes care of Mick Wills with his amazing cut of an unreleased track by Argentina’s great producer NGLY. Dark and looming this distortion streaked encounter will leave bodies and speaker cones raw.
VA – Ecdisis Vol 2 (Bartoszek Edits) [FRV032]
Frigio Records is consistently plumbing the depths to unearth exciting talent. Bartoszek has been corrupting and manipulating tracks to fit floors for years, editing and slicing past pieces to breath new life into them. The German artist has turned his hand, and scissors, to four tracks from a spread of musicians from far and wide for Frigio’s latest: Ecdisis Vol.2.
Juanpablo – Video Club Podcast 043
TodoTodo – Digital Dancer / Autogas [FRV030]
Almost forty years later, Frigio is bringing some of their music to a fresh audience, the pioneer proto-techno Spanish band TodoTodo and featuring original music plus killer edits by Juanpablo & Luis Costa. Juanpablo with his extended edit of “Digital Dancer.” A steady kick tethers a tripping mechanical melody, a melody that bubbles and simmers as toms, horns and daring funk collide for this seven minute odyssey into the world of Iberian underground synth. The original version from 81 closes the A, a brief and brilliant piece of proto-techno. The flip is introduced by Catalan Dj, journalist and author of ‘Bacalao’ Historia Oral de la Musica de Baile en Valencia, Luis Costa. Costa re-imagines “Autogas” with his Tool Edit, reshaping the off-kilter keys and future highways and byways of the original. The finale is a true treasure from the annals of time. A live version of “Autogas” from the legendary Rock’Ola club in Madrid, an unreleased work that is as audacious and bold as it was when it was first performed in 1981.
VA – Ecdisis Vol. 1 [FRV028]
The material for Ecdisis Vol.1? Lost tracks from the past, patted down, spruced up and given a couple of shots of whiskey by Juanpablo, Dunkeltier and, a new member of the family, Vinilette. From Barcelona, Vinilette is a Dj and producer who isn’t afraid to pull a musical punch or two and she is in fighting form with her two offerings. First up, the 1986 EBM stomper “God Save The King” by Son of Sam is revamped and reconstructed into a psychedelic rollercoaster of crashing cymbals, spiralling samples and bruising bars. The clock is being turned further back, this time Belgium’s new wave punk outfit Arbeid Adelt! are the source material with their 1987 track “Help (Me Ik Stik)” muscling up on a diet of raging rhythms and splintering guitar strings. The head honcho, Juanpablo, meets up with an old member of the family Dunkeltier (aka Dj Sneaker) to finish our journey. The pair travelling back to 1983 to Catalonia and the prog-jazz musings of Pegasus. “Perseguido por el Rayo” is tuned up and transformed into an electronic bomb. Addictive grooves and hooks are polished with beats getting a shot in the arm for a hauntingly sinister piece of disco deviance.
Juanpablo – Unmasked Discussion 21
Juanpablo – DW Podcast 36
Volta Cab – Johnny 320 EP [FRV027]
Frigio is hooking up with Russian electronic explorer Volta Cab for a four tracker of shadowy disco darkness. Thick drum patterns are shot through with strobe as “Johnny 320” enters the room. Swaggering onto the floor, this greased thug means business. Samples mutter intent as grooves grind and twist their way into the late hours. Juanpablo lowers the lights for his remake. Rhythms richochet and basslines loom in this lewd and dramatic track, a piece born in the grit and sweat of the floor under a haze smoke. The lights are kept low for the flip. “Immortal Fix” spikes and spins, laser beam synthlines cut through rumbling chords with snares that do more than just bear teeth. Italy’s Hesperius Draco closes Johnny 320 with giallo horror grandeur. Beats and words are shrouded in lilting strings for this sinister curtain fall.
Mick Clarke – Play Time [FRV025]
Frigio Records is going back in time for its latest release, some 38 years into the past. Back then a young Newcastle man was experimenting with early electronic instruments and synths. Mick Clarke is his name and nearly forty years later he is still at it. Two tracks have been borrowed from Clarke’s seminal Games LP, each given a bit of modern boot polish from MinimalRome’s Heinrich Dressel and Frigio father Juanpablo. “Walls of the Night” is a blissed out work of ambient prog rock abstraction. Think rumbling horror score and soaring guitar strings. Heinrich Dressel offers a giallo dipped remix. The building bars of the original are maintained, beats added for ballast and darkened organ keys for a remake etched with murderous intent. The flip is introduced by the dreamy “Time Is Now.” Slender synthlines intertwine with gentle strings in a cerebral work. Juanpablo tweaks the 1979 material. Syrupy acid lines swim in meandering currents, a thick beat keeping time in murky waters of modulations and undulations.
The Hipodrome Of Music 