Electronic Body Movements under a New Wave in Chicago.
house
Romansoff – Halo [SOLAR06]
After a first EP of the year from STL, the Solar Phenomena label now welcomes Romania’s Romansoff. The Raw Tools label boss hails from Bucharest and has also released his gritty, stripped back house and techno on Creme Organization and Sportiv. Here he offers four new tracks, with one remix from Timedance man Ploy completing the package. ‘Halo’ epitomises Romansoff’s style with its slow, heavy drums and sparse, scattered perc sounds. A lo-fi melody adds colour, while ‘Coach Jacket’ ups the ante with busier claps and crashing hits laid over a turbulent, unsettled bassline. Increasing the pressure further, ‘Graded’ grows manic with punchy drums, layers of fuzzy synths and bass and distant cries that are dark and unsettling. Ploy flips this one into a prickly and atmospheric drum track that keeps you on edge and Romansoff’s digital exclusive ‘Michigan Lake Tapes’ is a slow motion workout with unsettling synths and tortured pads that grows ever more unhinged. It rounds out a leftfield house EP in style.
PNKMIX-08 | Daze – Louisiana Slowcast
VA – Dekmantel 10 Years 09 [DKMNTL-10YEARS09]
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dekmantel’s goings on in the world of events, festivals, and great music, the team behind the label have been releasing a record a month featuring some of their favourite artists, as part of a ten-year anniversary series collection. Featuring acts close to the label’s collective, debuts, and legacy talents the crew have always wanted to sign. This penultimate EP, sees Dekmantel debut releases by Lena Willikens, Space Dimension Controller, and Dutch lo-fi star Betonkust and Palmbomen, in addition to a special cut by Bufiman.
Serge @ Shelter Amsterdam 20.01.2018
Shedbug – Destination Love [LT047]
Lobster Theremin dig back down unda’ to bring another fresh salty Aussie experience to the table with well seasoned young talent Shedbug aka Geordie Elliot-Kerr at the helm for this one. As Shedbug he makes entrancing house, acid-tinted techno, cosmic electro and heavily stepped UK-influenced jams. On Destination Love, Shedbug harnesses the emotive, pad-heavy sound showcased on previous outings whilst mixing in blend of interstellar synths, jagged breaks and crusted-yet-cutting drum work – all mixed down with some serious studio finishing.
Quiet Dawn – Human Being: The Short Story Of A Reed [FW170]
First Word kicks off 2018 with the welcome return of Quiet Dawn, and a new EP, ‘Human Being: The Short Story of The Reed’. A suitably ice-thawing six-track opus to compliment the change of seasons, dedicated to the winter blooming plant’s desire to be human. Parisian Will Galland first appeared on the label in late 2014, releasing his debut album ‘The First Day’ the following year. Collaborations on that album and subsequent mixes since have included offerings from Oddisee, Miles Bonny, Eric Lau, Bastien Keb, Sauce81 (Eglo), Mayaka McCraven and Sarah Williams White. Evolving his music from a palette accumulated over the years of Hip Hop, Broken Beat and House, he has expanded his talents for arranging and composing, and now drafted in a wealth of musicians for this sublime new EP, his most ambitious yet. Strings glide effervescently atop of Quiet Dawn’s assorted analogue synths, and an array of percussive organics combine to build the tale of The Reed. In-places, the set transcends into the kind of grooves that saunter somewhere between the land of Bonobo and Quantic, and the cinematic library record craft of Alan Hawkshaw et al.
Legowelt – Groove Podcast 144
Karen Gwyer – Rembo The Remixes [DBALP003R]
Karen Gwyer’s indomitable Rembo LP receives remixes from four producers at the cutting edge of house and techno, Via App, Ron Morelli, E. Myers and M/R.
Primitive Trust – Little Love EP [AUS123]
Will Saul and Tee Mango continue the Primitive Trust EP series with their third release. ‘Little Love EP’ is a blissful 3 track package featuring a Floorplan remix. ‘Little Love’ builds warm harmonies driven by syncopated bass grooves whilst Tee Mango’s Dub of ‘Tejon’ heads for the sun with radiant, shuffling chords. For the remix, Floorplan delivers unrestrained rapture on a peak time roller full of cathartic vocal bursts.
Unknown Artist – H.A.N.D. 01 [HAND01]
Armonics – Look Alive EP [MMR003]
Dublin’s Modern Magic welcomes Bari’s Armonics for the label’s third release. A trained pianist and resident DJ/curator of the We Talk event series in his home city, Armonics draws influence from electronic music across the past 40 years: Chicago & acid house, italo- & electro-disco, new wave, synth-pop and vaporwave. His ‘Italowave’ style is a fusion of these retro-futuristic and cosmic styles, forged through Armonic’s production processes which include cassette recordings, vintage synths & modern Korg/Roland gear. Accompanying the EP’s three original tracks is an anthemic, piano-led remix of ‘Red Eye’ by International Feel act Black Spuma, aka Phillip Lauer and Fabrizio Mammarella.
Skyrager – Beat Girl / Wonderful [HITD001]
Skyrager presents the first in a series of dance floor edits designed for optimum peak set destruction.
Timothy J. Fairplay – The Way Is Opened And Closed EP [WFL002]
On his second release for Work For Love, Timothy J. Fairplay continues the journey into dark spaces with four more deep synth freakers from his Fish Island School of Synthesis Studio.
Decent International 02 – Rentboy / Plantain [DECENT02]
Early 80s. Christiane F and Tron meet over a brutalist landscape. Clock is ticking. Electronic pioneers bang up post punks. Dirty hits. Take more. Time is running out. Northern European sub-cultural appropriation to destroy the dance. Still, it sounds good. And it looks nice. Nice sleeve art. Move along. Move along.
Intergalactic Gary @ Rhythm Section, Corsica Studios (London) 02.12.2017
Aleks – Pool Daze [OA005]
Rising talent Aleks joins the Organic Analogue realm of spiritual sonic exploration. The Amsterdam-based producer has already made a name for himself in the past few years with his penchant for sci-fi imagery and impeccable hardware jams, hence he feels like a natural fit for OA. This double LP release provides the chance to hear some of the breadth in Aleks productions, from ambient submersions to Detroitian techno and sharp edged 303 resonance that skirts the divide between jacking club material and emotional content. HVL returns to OA with a frankly stunning remix of “Pool Daze” that steps up to the giants of early electronica. As an additional treat, the Georgian producer has also donned his Kiyadama guise for the eight-minute psych-out “Acid Expansion Remix” of “Void”. Capturing the foggy time-slip quality of the dancefloor with a sound that could just as easily come from the late morning, the Pool Daze LP is equally comfortable as another thread in the OA tapestry.
Serial Error – Drum Abuse [RAT13]
Rat Life Records presents Serial Error a Project by Credit 00, Jacob Korn & Sneaker. This outfit was brought to life in 2013 when Red D called for some New Beat style tracks for his “Our Beat Is Still New” Compilation. Flying a bit too low under the radar ever since Rat Life decided to reissue Drum Abuse on a Super Sound Maxi Single. The Track was made in Jacob Korn’s headquarter studio / synthesizer museum. The task distribution was hit quickly: Jacob squeezing the acid out of his huge Formant modular system, Credit 00 beating the drums on the Boss DR 660 and Sneaker throwing his unique vocals on top.
Scoro @ Gazette (Cluj-Napoca) 05.01.2018
Tracey – Testarossa [VD32]
Experienced Dutch producer Tom Ruijg rightly won praise for his first 12” as Tracey, Skyfall, which surfaced on Voyage Direct in early 2017. Combining elements seemingly inspired by vintage Detroit futurism, ‘90s ambient techno and his own love of colourful synthesizer melodies, the EP saw Tracey set out his stall in impressive fashion.
The Hipodrome Of Music 