In the summer of 1989, when Trevor Miller’s ”Trip City” was first released with a five-track cassette EP by A Guy Called Gerald, there had been no other British novel like it. This was the down and dirty side of London nightclubs, dance music and the kind of hallucinogenic drug sub-culture that hadn’t really been explored since Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Maybe this is why Trip City is still known as “the acid house novel” and an underground literary landmark. For 2021, Trip City is back and the original soundtrack by A Guy Called Gerald is also being reissued and all five tracks are available on vinyl for the first time.
Residentes Balearicos is a musical project founded and carried by Luca Averna and Ale Doretto, both Italian residents in Ibiza since many years. When they met in Ibiza, they decided to try to make something together, and it was easy to see that these two different approaches to Music were complementing perfectly in the studio. As wide and vague the term Balearic can be sometimes, their vision is to create the different soundtracks whether for a restaurant, a beach or for the dance floor. “Break the Cookies” is def for the dance floor. On remix duty are Munich’s Permanent Vacation mastermind Benjamin Fröhlich and Sirsounds own SIRS.
Futureboogie Recordings is calling time after ten years with a 20-track compilation that sums up the sound of the lovingly curated Bristol label. From throbbing arps and noirish guitar twangs to errant analogue blips and ceaseless, rolling grooves, it’s a different sound to what you might have heard five years back on the Summer Riot IV compilation, and certainly a long way from the early days. Consider Futureboogie 10² an ode to evolution as much as a toast to all the great tracks and the family of artists that have passed through the wide-reaching Futureboogie sphere since before the label was even a sparkle in the disco ball.
Lerosa adds to his esteemed discography with an EP composed entirely during the summer of 2020. Several of his musical influences – I.M.S., Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, James Stinson – can be heard across these four diverse tracks, as he jumps nimbly from italo to dub to house to electro. As always with Lerosa, though, the sound that emerges is distinctively his own, the result of daily cat-assisted studio time at his home in Dublin. Lerosa has a flexibility in his sound which can reach from immersive techno pastures (as on his album for Acid Test) via exquisite deep house on to true-school electro and Italo.
Ten years ago, Acid Test began with a simple concept – each track the label released would make use of the Roland TB-303. Like a producer purposefully paring down their studio setup, or the continuous imperative within underground electronic music to reduce, this concept engendered creativity with the introduction of what seemed to be an aesthetic limit. However, the decade that followed, which now culminates in the triple-LP compilation Ten Years Of Acid Test, proves acid is limitless. That the Berlin-via-LA label would expand upon the classical conception of acid house and techno is no surprise considering the cast of characters that have come in fold over the past decade. Ten Years Of Acid Test gathers key material from the label’s extended family of acid acolytes. There’s that Vienna-via-LA maestro of sad, elegant acid Tin Man (Johannes Auvinen), whose “Afters Acid” is both a highlight within his prolific catalogue and a distillation of his symphonic approach to the 303. Detroit giants Erika and Marcellus Pittman, both of whom have released remixes on Acid Test, present their respective and singular Bass Line visions. Erika, the Interdimensional Transmissions lynchpin, crafts a dark, delicate take on broken techno on “Violet Fungus” while Pittman continues his cubist house explorations on “Unknown Species,” both tracks straying from typical acid lines in favor of the intricate textures achievable on the 303. This variation in approach applies to tempo as well. Irish-based master Lerosa, as well as Delsin affiliate VC-118A, delve into downtempo atmospherics. Meanwhile, Japanese deep techno virtuoso Wata Igarashi, SUED co-founder SW. (a regular on Acid Test’s leftfield sub-label Avenue 66) and Patricia (one-half of Acid Test act Ociya) use acid as a creative jumping-off point for complex melodic concepts. Wata layers an orchestra of synth-bliss drone overtop a squelchy bassline on “Ephemeral.” SW.’s “ChaIAnJAzzz” cycles through an array of dusted chords eventually landing in skewed, fuzzy rave nostalgia, anthemic chords held aloft by a wicked UK-flavour bass line. Patricia’s “Higher Still” explores dreamy, IDM-flavoured acid, cinematic synthlines counterbalanced by propulsive, squelching acid. Acid Test devotees will be thrilled at the return of various luminaries from the catalogue, including Achterbahn D’Amour, Skudge, AAAA, John Tejada and Donato Dozzy, whose memorable remix of Tin Man’s “Nonneo” from Acid Test 01 served as a kind of proof of concept for the label. There’s new blood too. San Francisco up-and-comer Sepehr makes his label debut with the excellent “Persian Acid Prince,” as does Andreas Tilliander’s beloved hardware techno project, TM404. Ten Years Of Acid Test is a valuable portrait of a group of artists linked by a dedication to innovation within acid, in line with the genre’s storied roots. Over ten years, Acid Test has gracefully made a case for the 303’s past, present and future, the story of acid continuing to unfurl in unpredictable, addictive patterns.
Bicep continue to bolster their Feel My Bicep imprint with another reimagined classic. With this – the seventh addition to the catalogue, the Irish duo pay homage to another equally seminal recording as they rework ‘In Yer Face’ by 808 State.
Moods & Grooves welcomes the return of one of Detroit’s best multi-talented producers, Andrés. “Back In The Open” chops up a classic hit along with a few unknowns that will keep the floors moving throughout the night.
Heavy South African cut, unearthed by Dene from La Casa Tropical. The origins of Amajika is a tale of two worlds colliding at the perfect moment and begin in KwaMushu Township outside Durban. Here would be where a young Tu Nokwe would set up a school to help teach other aspiring youngsters like herself in music, dance and acting. This would become known as the Amajika Youth and Children’s Art Project and would be run from the Nokwe home, a common hangout for artists at the time. Some boast 2000+ pupils going through this program while others claim it wasn’t more than a backyard dance group, but for the lucky group of kids that were members in the mid 80s it would be their chance at stardom. Fast forward 30 years from the original release to a smokey club where ESA hears Got My Magic Working played by Rush Hours Store’s own Bonnefooi. Instantly he inquires about the track from his homeland and feels it a perfect addition the repertoire of the Afro Synth band he is quietly cooking up. Here you have compiled the two title tracks from original Amajika singles along with the instrumental version by ESA’s Afro Synth Band.
Pavel Fedoseev is KIKOK. As one of the few remaining members of the Komi tribe, he used the Komi words Ki (= arm) and Kok (= leg) as his brandname. Born in Kudymkar (capital of the Komi-Permyak nation) , now lives in Perm, no less than a 22-hour train journey east of Moscow, placing Fedoseev in what, he says, feels like cultural and social isolation. This 10 track album acts as a means to escape the monotonous cycle of his hometown. KIKOK works on this album with Loua (Luciana Russo) an electronic music producer based in Amsterdam. She’s taking care of vocals and voice snippets. The end result is a record that sounds both propulsive and hypnotic, an album that sounds like moving forward and in circles at the same time. Rich lashings of synthesisers pulse over beats that switch between techno thump and restrained ambience, with tracks seamlessly moving from dance floor stomp to woozy comedown let-up. Russian Rave Pop at it’s best. Perm is a disgusting city,” says KIKOK of his hometown. “It’s dirty, boring and rough. I’m afraid of walking outside; that’s why I sit at home and watch movies and make music.”
It’s a little unclear of the intentions behind London-based Japanese duo Afrobuddha’s name, but on their first release they were certainly working in collaboration with African musicians. Afrobuddha’s two previous 12”s came out in the first half of the last decade, and have since become highly sought after. Mysticisms now gathers the tracks together on this 12”, leading in with ‘Obame’, which was originally recorded with the Kakatsitsi Drummers in Accra, Ghana. Both the original and the dub mix channel a powerful Afrobeat flavour, with the source material from the Ghanaian singers and players front and centre of the mix. ‘Zone’ takes things back into a more club-oriented sphere, with plenty of synth layers and some nimble hand drumming from Davide Salvietti, which of course comes to the fore on the purely percussive ‘Drum Mix’.
American label Peoples Potential Unlimited has cared out its own superb niche in the world of heart aching, lo-fi funk. But here a new catalogue number seems to suggest a new series. It kicks off with French collective Spaced Out Krew and their timeless, boogie driven disco funk. The music was written during 2020 by Spleen3000 and Marius Cyrilou of Cee-O-Funk. There are starry-eyed melodies, rasping basslines and curious vocals that all add up to a nice cosmic disco sound.
5 tracks of pure heat of various styles from members of The Black Lodge global family. A1 is entitled “Atmospheres” from the ever-talented Michigan producer JTC aka Tadd Mullinix [Bopside/Nation/Ghostly]. A2, entitled “Arreskni” comes from newer Chilean artists MU-GA, a track we released in digital format last year from their debut EP. Finishing off the A-side is Italian super-duo Sons Of Traders [SOT/Frigio/Black Lodge] aka Tans X Mike Tansella Jr. with the acidic cut “Indianapolis” also released last year by BL on tape and digitally from their first full length album entitled “Crollo Nervoso”. Side B blasts off with the early Chicago house inspired track “Passion” by prolific Dresden producer Sneaker [Uncanny Valley/Rat Life/Frigio]. Closing off the comp is a dirty warehouse banger/burner by e-spirit, a new alias from LA producer Delivery [LA Club Resource/Valcrond Video.
The question ‘Who is DJ Steve?’ gets closer to being answered with the exciting release of his second EP on Klasse Wrecks. WRECKS036 brings more of the heat that DJ Steve is becoming known for. Direct lines are traced to back the formative years of UK Rave and Bleep music, production techniques are kept stripped back and faithful to the classic combinations of those numbers 808, 909, 303 and 101. ‘Secret Touch’ is a melting pot of acid lines, perfectly placed chord stabs and atmospherics that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Sheffield warehouse in 1992. The three original tracks are backed up with a hypnotic and perfectly grooved-out remix from Klasse Wrecks boss Luca Lozano.
Here we have the 3rd & final installment of Windy City (Feat. Moot Booxle) “Acid Funk” series. Once again, Moot lends his amazing keyboard skills to Windy City’s space disco excursions.
Gensi AKA András Genser deploys a trio of smooth and inspiriting cuts on the ‘Primavera 707’ EP. The title track gets the remix rub from British brothers Decius. ‘Primavera 707’ is tinged with a gloss and sheen, and a pop edge, that stays on the right side of classy. Heavenly melodies skit around an effervescent vocal, as Gensi distributes bubbly acid lines and expansive synths that elegantly crescendo.
Krokakai is an emergent Glaswegian producer with a penchant for hardware – largely using an MPC2000XL, SH09, MS20 Mini, TT-303, Roland Alpha Juno and other trusted tools. He’s already turned heads on labels such as Invisible Inc and PowerStation Records. Right here he lays down the label’s parameters with four unique, far-reaching escapades.
The Hipodrome Of Music 