Byron The Aquarius makes his Eglo Records debut. The Alabama producer once again delivers something truly special, journeying through disco, jazz, acid, house and crashing 808’s. ‘Leaving This Planet’ is an EP of two halves. The A-Side bumps, with two bubbling house jams. whilst the B-Side sees Byron get loose over two freestyle jazz odysseys. Music for the mind, body and soul.
Cold Tonic presents the debut EP from the New Zealand wonderboys, Sandboards. Four sun drenched bangers merging the elements of Larry Heard-esc sounds with Shep Pettibone style basslines.
The founders of Future Nuggets are delivering their debut full LP as Delusion Men, marking the peak of almost a decade long conspiracy. Ion D (Utopus) and Camil Dumitrescu (aka The Holy Fix) have amassed on this album tracks and bits spreading over many years, raw gems and shiny nuggets resulted from intensive electronica fusions. After the smash EP of Delusion Men in collaboration with Khidja (on P-Balans sub-label), this LP comes as another irrefutable proof of Bucharest’s already mature -partially under the radar- scene of electronic psychedelic hybrids, fittingly represented by Future Nuggets and P-Balans.
Since 2009, New York three-piece Lemonade has released a string of fine records, between woozy Balearic synth-pop and leisurely downtempo grooves. “Dancer on the Shore”, their first release for three years, inhabits similar sonic territory, offering a fusion of Peaking Lights style dubbed-out synth-pop grooves, glassy-eyed vocals, tumbling acoustic guitar flourishes and humid steel drum melodies. Fellow NYC resident Jex Opolis provides two stellar remixes: a chunky, rolling, acid-flecked nu-disco dub and a drowsier vocal interpretation that’s as ear pleasing as they come. The other interpretation comes from Justin Strauss and Bryan Mette under the Whatever/Whatever alias and strays further towards acid-driven Italo-disco/deep house fusion territory.
From Poland to the UK via the USA, Jeals delivers a full journeyman debut EP for Lobster Theremin spanning ambient, racheting break-y house, lucid techno and heartbreaking electro. Five slices of thought-provoking electronic music, rich with emotion and sincerity, each one a crucial momentum in time, sonically cemented once and for all.
Cliff Lothar debuts on UTTU with 2 insane hyper-club tracks, E-String is “classic Lothar’ in peak time territory and on the flip Tool Tyme is the perfect club tool – No Messin’ with this one! Added bonus: Comes with a remix from House Crimes’ DJ Boneyard.
The Black Bones boys have more than one trick up their sleeves, as another back-breaking digging session has unearthed some sacred remains, ready for modern scientific re-animation. ‘Sonny’ retools a Highlife classic into a splendidly sun-soaked Summer beauty. On the flip ‘XTC’ takes a more Cosmic route to dancefloor abandon, while ‘Roller’ is a barn-storming Discoid jam that wraps up another damn fine EP.
Gian and Massimiliano Pagliara team up to serve you a sizzling hot Diavolo extra crispy. Hard Swabian Electro gets the delicate Lecce touch with parmigiano sprinkled all over to reach the highest level of piacere.
Miltiadis Merentitis is one of the greatest exponents of the underground greek scene. After several releases on Nous, Echovolt and Synapsis he joins Freebeat with the Epitome Of Things EP. Miltiades explores the driest of territories through his characteristic chords, kicks and percussion. Transporting you to another world. Take the first cut on the A side for instance: a deep hypnotic techno cut that creates perfect trance induction by relying on the most basic of analogue elements. On the flip, the second track is a gothic lo-fi house jam reminiscent of New York City’s Patricia while the final offering channels the spirit of early ’90’s Detroit on this fine serving of hi-tech soul.
The 2nd release from I Walked by Night comes firing out of the southside of Glasgow. A young man by the name of The Burrell Connection has been flying under the radar for a few years now. A Perth native / Glasgow immigrant has been making music since he was 15. ‘Southside’ was made with a Juno 6, Yamaha Dx21, Roland TR8, Korg MiniLogue and twisting samples and recording most tracks in one take with little post editing. This EP oozes raw energy and shows off a delicate deft touch.
Karen Gwyer returns to cement her reputation as one of the most individual and daring voices in dance music with ‘Rembo’, her first full LP for Don’t Be Afraid. Reflecting the sheer energy of Gwyer’s improvised, undulating and unpredictable live shows, ‘Rembo’ captures Gwyer in her element as a techno producer not afraid to smudge both the physical and emotional edges of what we may have come to expect in the club.
Terrific 12inch purple vinyl and as Waste Editions crew are really into emotive and personal sounds ,on this occasion this new release ‘Inside us’ by Old Coroner can’t be otherwise. We can’t talk about a trend since the producer from Barcelona Victor Safont ,who is the man behind this project ,started producing synthwave music in 2003. Yes siree! Powerful beats ,dark textures and touching melodies which are perfect for a diabolic dance floor or a meeting at a lodge.
Optimo Trax 30 celebrates a double 30 year anniversary: the original release date of Rejekto’ and 30 years since Twitch started dj’ing. In 1987, Twitch, who wasn’t known as Twitch yet, picked up a copy of Rejekto’ at Glasgow’s then numero uno import shop, 23rd Precinct. Shortly after that he got his first ever dj gig and played Rejekto’ in his first ever dj set. Nobody danced to it. He kept playing it and still nobody danced to it. Eventually he gave up playing it, but never stopped loving it. A few years ago he felt the time was right to try playing it again, and this time, people danced to it. In fact, people loved it and would ask about it and shriek in delight when they heard it. From Germany, written and produced by Ra-Hen and Talla 2XLC, Robotiko Reject’s Rejekto’ was the inaugural release on the Techno Drome International label. With a powerful and seductive vocal sung in Romanian it has latterly been categorised as EBM/Techno but at the time didn’t really fit into any convenient genre. Twitch called it electrobeat.
The Hipodrome Of Music 