Following the release of Barbie Bertisch’s debut album Prelude in June 2022, Love Injection announce Prelude Remixes, kicking off with a two-track 12” single featuring remixes by Gene Tellem and Tama Sumo & Lakuti, followed by a full digital release including also remixes by Dazzle Drums ft. Eric Kupper, Gavilán Rayna Russom, Olive T and UMFANG.
Always hot on the hard-as-steel plates and murky subterranean atmospheres, Public System turns in a haunted double package from the crypt. Spanning hi-octane indus bullets, half-baked mutant salvos and shadow-clad juicers from a host of reputed names and rabid underdogs, this new comp collates ruff’n’tuff joints from gritty techno don Container, genre-unbound explorer E-Saggila, Berlin’s electro arsonist Privacy, acid-spitting hydra DJ Loser x Penelopes Fiance, basement guerilla Yabboq Penuel alias Le Syndicat Electronique, neo-punk beat thrasher Crave, Yves Tumor collaborator and sine-wave crusher Anthem, expert circuit dissector Beau Wanzer, Liquid G as remixed by Mick Wills, Night Gaunt’s Lower Tar, occult machine funk preacher Maenad Veyl, DJ Chupacabras under new guise 110, soundwaves cross-pollinator DJ Richard, vibrant mood-scapist Gavilán Rayna Russom, as well as label boss Myn going ubiquitous with studio fellows Kluentah as Myntha, and NYC’s R Gamble under their Fade Accompli moniker. A much desirable feast of raw, unhinged, all-round spine-tingling jams for both inside and outside the club.
Voluminous Arts happily announces its third official release, a 12 track album entitled “Disco” by Gavilán Rayna Russom’s elusive alias Black Meteoric Star. This is not a Disco record. The title deliberately troubles the music biz’s incessant tendency to hierarchize genre classification over the experience of listening. If you must categorize these mutant sounds think of them as a proposed alternate score for those long, caffeinated sessions in Abby Sciuto’s forensics lab, the soundtrack to a heavy workout in the Westchester Danger Room or perhaps the musical accompaniment to deep body investigations of your own ancestral memories. What this record really is, and why it’s called “Disco” has to do with the layering of time and life energy present in the spaces where we have traditionally danced to music which are sometimes called Discos. From the pounding urgency of “Muscle Machine” through the unbridled night vision romp that is “Fluid Feline Forms” and the shimmering investigations of “Whispers Between Worlds” to the extended lazer pointer focus of “I’m Unmelting” this record lays out a broad slab of practice-based research into the ghosts we connect with on the dance floor. Whether it be through partying in former industrial buildings, contested spaces of labor built on lands violently appropriated from indigenous people, uncomfortably inhabiting vacuums in queerness left by the AIDS epidemic, lifting lineages through sampling, or the relentless cycle of whitening that accompanies dance music’s march into the market, our experiences in the Disco have been permeated by the spectral and the haunted. Through rhythm and frequency, organized over time, this music blurs the veil between the living and the dead inviting those who move to it to connect with experiences beyond that false binary. What you have here is another fantastic Black Meteoric Star record, as always made without multitracking or overdubbing, recorded directly from single live takes. It is is utterly consistent with all that name has come to mean, but on “Disco” Black Meteoric Star’s vision has been allowed to expand into an almost mythologically epic space. Ancestral time works differently. Settle in and absorb the frequencies. As the closing track suggests, the virtual Disco these sounds evoke is for “Freaks Only”.
New York’s Bound presents the second compilation, Auricular Discipline II. All proceeds from the album go towards the Sex Workers Project, which provides resources and legal aid to sex workers. “We believe sex work is inherently intersectional, at the core of human rights, as well as one of the most limited, overlooked and vulnerable communities,” promoter and label Bound says in a statement. The compilation features new tracks from the likes of Black Meteoric Star, Dax J, Gavilán Rayna Russom, P.E.A.R.L., Terence Fixmer, Bound resident Katie Rex and more.
Transdisciplinary NYC artist Gavilán Rayna Russom beautifully comes into her own with a distinguished solo debut album statement including the voice of Cosey Fanni Tutti and brass arrangements by downtown legend Peter Zummo. After decades exploring her sonic personality in various projects inspired by her deep immersion in NYC’s club and avant-garde scenes, Rayna uses ‘The Envoy’ as a vessel to firm up and convey her personal conclusions on intersections of gender and electronic music.
Black Meteoric Star returns with the Ghost Frequency EP, and this 12-minute hardware techno jam captures the haunted synthesizer sound that the title implies.
A split release on Nation’s sublabel, Kode. Two exclusive tracks from Black Meteoric Star and D’Marc Cantu. D’Marc Cantu’s RDDS is an abstract production where Hip Hop Meets electronix. A rare, unique document of class and sickness. Black Meteoric Star closes the release with an homage to a legendary NYC neo film… recorded live at the Capriccio x Nation EE9 party on 25 March 2016.
Gavin Rayna Russom palms out a loose and wiry jag for Barcelona’s Modern Obscure Music, leaning heavily on a knackered acid bent (and seemingly many of the buttons in her keyboard at once) for the soundtrack to a self-made film about transition in a broader context of capitalism and death.
Soma500 is a very special release that sees label heads Slam visit two memorable tracks for them over this past anniversary year. The duo of Stuart McMillan & Orde Meikle rework Robert Hoods, The Bond We Formed – taken exclusively from the Soma25 compilation and a track that has featured highly in countless sets, a unique Slam rework of Carl Craig’s interpretation of Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom’s Relevee.
The Xecond Xoming of Black Meteoric Star at †HRILLER
Black Meteoric Star LIVE
The transcendental and occult energies emitted by Black Meteoric Star first reached our ears via transmissions on DFA with the Xecond Xoming of Black Meteoric Star on Nation in LP form. this LIVE performance was his 1-TIME EXCLUSIVE in Europe to showcase heretofore unheard material from the album….respect the unexpected.
Gavin Russom delivers four clairvoyant tracks for those who are willing to unravel them, don’t expect a happy end though. The first release of Lux Rec this year comes from the infamous enfant terrible, synthesizers maker, known for his obscure statements, Gavin Russom. The man needs no further introduction, he’s quite a presence, although a ghostly one. As in those urban myths his music reflects all that is haunting, secretive, unspoken.
NYC synth maestro Gavin Russom continues on with his recent streak of killer techno releases, this time, surprisingly, for peak time specialists Curle. Punisher” is dark, tunnelling and hypnotic business, perfect for the 6AM comfort zone. “All Souls (NYC Mix)” uses sinister droning atmospherics and infectious syncopations, but just wait ’til that warbling melody comes in. Finally we’ve got “Thrashing Truth” which doesn’t leave much to the imagination; with its no nonsense EBM bassline and harsh industrial rhythms.
Epic, tense, and driving Russom goes for the throat crafting beautifully produced functional club tracks that teeter on the edge of the deepest psychedelic realm. With hints of many different electronic strains creeping into his productions, we get the full specturm and see this talented producer doing some of his best work in recent times, the hidden gem being the b-side’s closing track, The Telstar File.
On his new release, Gavin Russom explores the possibilities of layering his homemade analog processors, trying to create an evolving and changing repetition. Pulsing and deep, this limited edition 12” will hypnotize you into a cosmic lull. Although not founded in religious beliefs, still excellent for starting off your Friday afternoon prayer.
The Hipodrome Of Music 