Continue reading “Vatican Shadow @ Boiler Room (San Francisco) 14.06.2014”
industrial
Mick Wills – FPR Episode # 43
Inigo Kennedy – Vaudeville [TOKEN043]
This fourth album from British techno veteran Inigo Kennedy – his first since 2010’s decidedly ambient September Pieces – has something of a “catch-all” feel. You see, Vaudeville refuses to stick to one sound, style or groove, instead referencing the many styles of techno and experimental electronic music that have inspired the popular producer over the course of his 18-year career. So, there are murky, IDM-inspired techno floorfillers (the melodious but faintly foreboding “Requiem”), early British psychedelic techno (“Plaintive”), dense, darkroom grooves (“Vallecula”), classic Yorkshire bleep and bass (“Petrichor”), Kompakt-ish organic techno (“Winter”), and spooky, droning ambience (“Narrative”).
Unknown Artist – Wargames #2 [WAR002]
Part2… Mysterious, dark & distorted heavy hitters on 7”. Definitely not for everyone. ”Shout out to Matilda & the Paris regiment.”
RedRedRed – Pattern Completition [DE069]
Dark Entries introduce the debut album by RedRedRed, a contemporary artist from San Francisco, Michael Wood. “Pattern Completion” was originally planned as a 4 song cassette EP that was only released digitally. The A side features remixed and remastered versions of the tracks from the EP. The B side consists of four unreleased tracks, two of which are instrumental. The material on “Pattern Completion” is strongly influenced by Michael’s former live/work studio space in the Bayview District of San Francisco, an area surrounded by recycling facilities and water treatment plants. The songs reflect this industrial atmosphere, stacking treated rhythm box patterns, quivering synthesizers, and mechanical vocals. “Pattern Completion” develops the strain of futuristic, mutant industrial pioneered by San Francisco groups like Tuxedomoon and Factrix, with RedRedRedadding his own brand of damaged angular rhythms.
VA – Rat Life 2 [RAT002]
Imagine the early 80ies, cold war is on its peak, you are a young lad in american occupied Germany and don’t feel like joining the army. What you gonna do? There is not much choice. you could crash your dads car into the next bridge and get invalided out or you just move to the island of west berlin and buy a drum machine. ”Neue Wohnkultur” is one of those bands started by renegades hiding from military service in the american sector of the german capital. Writing songs about what its like to be a soldier is definitely more fun than taking extended field trips with the comrades to the country side. “Wir sind Soldaten, Wir sind Soldaten!” M.o.m.O. Cut it! So here we are, decades later, the wall came down, east and west germans are shopping peacefully together, you are reading the press text of some record label called Rat Life. Does all this make any sense? Well you are the customer, it’s your choice, you could click your mouse now and skip to the next item before i tell you about the flip side of this record which is nothing but a repetitive loop goin on for 9 minutes. You might say “Enfant Terrible (M.W. Cut)” is not a big pleasure for home listening but its on you to make it interesting, you could mix it with your dads old records or crab a mic and rap over it (please don’t rap over it.
Abdulla Rashim – Unanimity [NE010]
Defeating apathy by creating his own world, Abdulla Rashims music thinks before it speaks. Untangled energy and drive breathes life into the rigid rhythmic structures, where the wild, almost primal, core illuminates the heartfelt and soulful layers within in his music. This musical contradiction between thought and letting go, acts as the base foundation in Abdulla Rashim’s music. As a celebration and as a aural development, Abdulla Rashim releases his ‘Unanimity’ LP on Northern Electronics.
Covered In Sand – Crescent Shapes Scars [MIRA008]
The release features three abrasive noise workouts. Thud of drums and ritualistic rhythms define the opener Luarica on the A-side alongside a near-melodic whine that stays present throughout the tracks. Orapa (An Interview) on the flip swallows and evokes scuffed voices of a conversation, striving into isolation, while Venetia resumes the haunting rhythm and layers of distortion.
Beau Wanzer – Power Outage [NATION015]
Four sedated tunes from Beau Wanzer coming on Nation. Subtle and not so subtle frequencies drag aside gloomed out rhythms and beat less malfunctions.
Unknown Artist – Wargames #1 [WAR001]
Mysterious, dark & distorted heavy hitters on 7”. Definitely not for everyone. Limited press which won’t last. ”Shout out to Matilda & the Paris regiment.”
Ron Morelli – Periscope Blues [HOS405]
The LIES bossman delivers the third chapter in his ongoing series of electronic concoctions for Vatican Shadow’s ever-brooding Hospital Productions. Whereas Spit was an LP which wasn’t sure whether it stood in the techno realm or the noise pool, Periscope Blues is firmly grounded in Morelli’s most experimental frame of mind. It feels like a continuation of one concept over 30 minutes, a testament to his obvious passion for beatless, chest-pounding hardware experimentation. Comprised of eight tracks, Periscope Blues is the culmination of a mission gone wrong. Music for the stranded, the lost, those backed into a corner with nowhere to go, or maybe a reflection of sad individuals panicking on a tropical vacation gone awry. Somber yet very tense drifting off radar machine electronics that feel like a blistering sun beating down on decaying beach remains as time crawls on. That or the equivalent to working the grill summers at Jones Beach and stealing from the register just to get a little more.
Further Reductions – Woodwork [CITI013]
Cititrax presents the full length LP by Brooklyn duo Further Reductions. Shawn OSullivan (Vapauteen) and Katie Rose formed Further Reductions in 2008 as an outlet for their shared passion of electronic dance music. O’Sullivan, known for his recent techno releases as Vapauteen on L.I.E.S., 400PPM on Avian and Civil Duty (with Beau Wanzer of Streetwalker) on The Corner has been quite active lately blurring the lines between techno and noise music. With Further Reductions, O’Sullivans rhythmic sensibility is fused with Roses pop leanings to create super lush and atmospheric tracks that work both on and off the dance floor. Informed by the sounds of classic techno and early house, they subtly substitute the structure of functional club music with a more primal absorption based in their unique collaboration. Seductive vocals coupled with organically evolving sequences create a complex narrative that penetrates the subconscious in a way that conventional club music rarely threatens to.
Xosar – TRAX.102
Jorge Velez – Territories [LIES046]
Jorge Velez returns to L.I.E.S. with his first effort since 2012’s Hassan LP. Through this six track LP we see the ultra versatile Velez weave seamlessly through numerous strains of electronics. From menacing drones to EBM influenced floor tracks to Sakamoto-esque melodic experiments, he creates an atmosphere equally suitable for home listening or adventurous club play. All of this very much reminding us of the days when Mute, Factory, Cherry Red, or Fetish Records were at their best.
Syncom Data – Sweet Sadness [SD034]
Raw, analogue-drenched album by Syncom Data. Ranging from deep and dubby to detroit-inspired electro and industrial-influenced bass music.
Musumeci – Untitled (Traxx edit) [MNQ050]
Musumeci tapes reissue, with their brutal body music plus, similar to DAF, CHBB and Liaisons Dangereuses, was one of the most acclaimed in the Mannequin Records 2013 productions. Traxx, the Chicago-based head of Nation Records, redesigned a raw live version of ‘Tag Fur Tag’ with what he described as a ‘hugly-tape Kode’
Vril – Torus [FORUMII]
Vril debut LP on Giegling sublabel Forum. After appearances on other labels like Semantica and Delsin, Vril has now returned home to Giegling to release Torus, a surprise eleven-track LP with track titles that seemingly combine HTML-speak with Roman numerals. Vril’s productions combine elements of booming dub techno with murky reflections of rave with his own patented and progressive synth sound. Torus sees Vril deliver more of this, but he’s also extended the remit on this album to include other elements of dance music, with what sounds like Clone-inspired (west coast) electro, Chicago house and flashes of Adam X-industrialisms.
Asss – Halt Sex Mi [HAR001]
Florian Kupfer – This Society [LIES045]
Florian Kupfer is back with a new ep diverging from his previous efforts and delving interesting results. Nasty one from this very talented young upstart. This Society turns out to be a massive floor board ripping cut in a similar to old Acid Planet or Bunker tracks, no bells and whistles just bare bones warehouse mayhem. Resistors teases in start/stop fashion throughout pushing to the point of no return and never getting there leaving the listener in limbo. Finally, taking up the entire b-side, Reach Another System is an autistic 909 driven piano track in the most unconventional sense which implodes upon contact.
Helena Hauff – 1028 [PANZER1028]
Hamburg’s saviour of the Reeperbahn darkness, ‘la belle dame sans merci’ from the notorious ‘Golden Pudel’ club, her menacing and ruthless sound strongly reminiscent of ‘Beverly Hills 808303/Interr-Ference’ from The Hague’s sinister ’90’s
