This album was compiled in 2020 during dark, dystopian times. As we searched for answers inside ourselves, Dan Piu’s artificial mind bubble manifested into a thick mass of confusion. Today in humanity’s journey, a science fiction foresight has become reality. The dawn of this new era has been essential for the frame of mind of this album: “Inside Universe”.
The first Avidya release. Starting with The Proposal by A Strange Wedding, this Lyon based producer, builds on their “modern style” slow trance to create a label anthem, a template. Stretched Arp, hypnotic bass and searing melody, underpinned by ocean wide kick. Datasal are next, as this Gothenburg’s trio’s debut arrives. Acoustics (Miyazawa flute / Fender bass) and electronics (Roland RS-09 / Korg Mono) collide; prog rock meets post punk meets dance; outside organised compositions to improvise to the beat. Side two leads back to the origin. 84PC, the dormant Tel Aviv collective (featuring Katzele, Naduve, Asaf and Yovav), return with a previously unreleased remix from Khidja. Their “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” moment is peak time perfection. To close Barcelona’s Iro Aka arrive with another debut. Their bubbling 303 is a tender dreamtime finale that points ahead.
Duca Bianco brings the disco goodness once more here with Tom Bolas serving up four fresh cuts. ‘Tanz Ohne Planeten’ is a go slow chugger with ling legend drums and glistening chords. ‘Guestlist Of Love’ soars on a slick electro beat with robotic vocals adding some cyborg funk. ‘Fick Mich’ steps it up with withering chords and libidinous vocal cries over stark and steely drums. Last of all, things get seductive and blissed out on ‘Shinjuku Strut,’ a retro future vocal disco gem designed for good times. This is a hugely varied EP that nails four very different but equally brilliant styles.
Move D has seen a massive career over the years, starting with his early days as a German pioneer of House Music. In 1993 this was one of his first 12“ records on Time Unlimited which was mostly known for Trance and Hard Trance. This surely is a cult record and has become highly sought after over the last ten years. Its unique style of sampling comined with an uplifting, basement style production is still mindbending and timeless. This reissue was remastered by David’s long-term friend Lopazz for a full range sound experience.
N-Gynn returns to Pleasure Club for his third outing on the label, this time with four electronic compositions designed for interplanetary exploration. Expect mind-warping house, psychonautic techno and otherworldly electro sounds, referencing the past whilst offering a new vision of the future.
Innershades and Do or Die are joining forces together blending their powerful and distinctive styles to deliver a genre-bending record which ranges between Techno, Rave, Acid and Trance.
LA’s Benedek delivers a killer old school house LP influenced by 78th Street era Beltram, Latin freestyle dubs and WBMX drum tracks. This is street beat at it’s finest and Benedek executes with precision. Classy and catchy, with a knack for melody yet still grimey as hell and full of beats you can mix. Primetime ”86 mix show material brought to life in the present tense, carrying on with tradition while flipping it upside down.
Danny Wolfers dons his Dickie Smabers alias on his return to UTTU for his 7th release on the label – low-slung-house grooves rub shoulders with robotronik-jakbeat over 2 slabs of electronxxx straight outta The Hague.
Timothy J Fairplay is back on the label with a 7” single containing two tracks cut from a rock of uranium. “Pathfinder Theme” and “UFO’s Over China” might differ in sound and tempo but are connected by a radiant feeling. The two tracks bathes in a greenish/yellow bright toxic aura.
Jonny Rock is a familiar face on the London house and disco scenes and the dude playing the guitar in the ”Freaks” project. Rock skill-fully joins the dots between the old school house, underground disco and boogie vibes in a party setting.
If Scan 7 rhymes with both Techno and House music, it’s on the deep and groovy side of this second genre that the artists decided to express themselves on House Of Underground. As It Should Be EP is composed of 4 tracks in a solar mood, which will undoubtedly move the dancefloor this summer.
Cold Blow has once again dipped into Jason Adkins’ archives – this time to deliver a compilation of his turn-of-the-‘90s UK techno works as part of cult Bedford-based trio Liquid Son. Released in collaboration with fellow archival electronic music specialists Musique Pour La Danse, “Garden of Eden” gathers together tracks made and released by Liquid Son in 1991 and ’92, as well as a previously unheard demo version of the trio’s best-known track, ‘Tone Float’, which Adkins made in his bedroom way back in 1985. The compilation contains a string of sought-after gems that frequently blur the boundaries between Detroit techno, early UK bleep & bass, electro, EBM and the industrial funk of Cabaret Voltaire, while also boasting the kind of slick technical polish and musical depth so often missing from British club tracks of the period.
Jovonn’s Body N’Deep label sets the bar high for 2021 with a heavy hitting various artists release featuring the talents of Kai Alce, Javonntte, Alex Arnout and Alfonzo Bottone.
Self-styled ‘house husband, record producer’, DMX Krew, continues his effortless stretch of releases that date back to the early 90s, with a new album for Hypercolour. His deft melodies and mechanical, electro-tinged beats have made for some classic albums in his repertoire, from his incredible run of albums for Rephlex Records, up to 2020’s ’Ghost Bubbles’ long player for Terrestrial Funk. And so ‘Loose Gears’ marks DMX Krew’s fourth album for British stalwarts, Hypercolour, and fans will not be disappointed. Armed with an arsenal of hardware, and a head full of futuristic visions, ‘Loose Gears’ collects eleven tracks of the customary quality we have come to expect from DMX Krew. From the funk laden ‘Solar Transit’ to bleepy chugger ‘Dejected Ambient Twerp’, the vibrant synths and spongy rhythms of ‘Torpedo Tube’ to the beatless wiggle of ‘Xpansion 2’, there’s much in store to be savoured on ‘Loose Gears’, as DMX Krew serves up another fine selection of electronic goodies.
Another quality release on Hotmix Records, featuring tracks from Fabio Monesi, KMTR, NLXLP, Ricardo Baez.
The Hipodrome Of Music 