Charles Manier – Charles Manier [NAT013]

December 13, 2012June 24, 2019 hipodromealbum, charles manier, electro, experimental, industrial, jtc, nation records, tadd mullinixLeave a comment

Ill new Charles Manier album on Chicago’s, Nation. This self titled album takes that noise and cranks it right up over tipping point. Nation, a label designed to push the underground to a new level of electronic sound thru experimental styles of musical consciousness. In our recent releases the idea is to never go with the same formula twice. Jakbeat introduces a new concept of productions, music with a sense of novelty that can be accentuated in a certian setting a state of mind. This is a rare assemblage of recordings and live performances from the archives of the Ballard and Ridgewood-Cantullinix Studios in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Recorded 2001-2012, these are the solo visions of Charles Manier. He summons the spirit of early industrial music and breathes in it’s corpse again. Not unlike his previous releases on Ghostly International,here are virtigo endusing arpeggios that twist around a futuristic pulse, and occasionally sting. Here are ritual themesongs for the heathen cyberpunk and experimental landscapes, built from old metal and old plastic, that were designed for a lost future recommended for people who dance to Esplendor Geometrico, Severed Heads, Suicide Liaisons Dangereuses, DAF, Psyche, Executive Slacks & Das Ding.

Smersh – Cassette Pets [DE035]

December 13, 2012July 17, 2024 hipodromealbum, chris shepard, dark entries records, dark wave, industrial, mike mangino, post punk, smersh, synth waveLeave a comment

Dark Entries has dug deep in the New Jersey basement of Smersh to release the double LP compilation “Cassette Pets”. Smersh was the duo of Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard, who started writing music together in the late 1970s. They were uninterested in traditional notions of songwriting or live performance. Everything they needed was in Piscataway NJ: a basement full of musical toys and instruments, novelty space microphones, a TR-606 (the same “Roland” who was listed as a member of Big Black), a SH-09 (Cabaret Voltaire’s favorite synth), and — perhaps most importantly — a couple of tape recorders. By 1981, this dedication to spontaneous creativity had already produced countless recordings, and the duo began releasing cassettes as Smersh via their own Atlas King label. On “Cassette Pets” are 17 songs, featuring some of the many highlights from Smersh’s vast discography, spanning 1981-1994. Smersh’s sound is a lush hybrid of techno, industrial, dance, and experimental. Sometimes easy, sometime not. Most songs revolve around driving EBM style beats, intricate industrial noise manipulation and synth melodies. The Smersh sound has so many faces it doesn’t fall into any one category.

Profligate – Videotape [NNF265LP]

December 13, 2012October 19, 2015 hipodromeelectro, industrial, noah anthony, not not fun records, post punk, profligate, synth waveLeave a comment

The retirement of Noah Anthony’s Night Burger alias dovetails fluidly into his latest / greatest burned-mind industrial vehicle, Profligate. Anthonys new musical operational model retains the eerie bleakness and concrete atmospheres of his previous project but sculpts them into more maximal, dynamic constructions. Videotape is his vinyl debut, and lays out the agenda with stark, menacing clarity. The title track is a pummeling ascent of chugging drum machines, flatliner synth electricities and strobe light sequencer detailsa digital bloodrush to the head one can (almost) dance to. “Conditioning Trench” rides a buzzing, dystopian bass-pulse strafed with vintage Roland claps, while a paranoid synth melody runs through a dubbed-out void into an exquisite vanishing point. Shadows of Sandwell District-ish negative techno flash forth here and there, but it’s refracted through a rawer, more physical post-noise basement worldview.

Raime – Quarter Turns Over A Living Line [BLACKES001LP]

December 2, 2012December 5, 2019 hipodromealbum, blackest ever black, experimental, industrial, joe andrews, raime, tom halsteadLeave a comment

‘Quarter Turns Over A Living Line’ is the long awaited debut album by Raime. Moving away from the sample-based strategies that characterized their early work, Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead have looked increasingly to live instrumentation for their first full-length work, mounting intensive recording sessions for percussion, guitar and strings before painstakingly piecing the album together at their home studio. The gothic and industrial signifies in their music remain, but more submerged and oblique than ever – no less pronounced as influences than jungle’s rhythmic dynamism and doom metal’s oppressive weight or aspects of techno, modern composition and dub. ‘Quarter Turns Over A Living Line’ is the first original artist LP on Blackest Ever Black.

Vatican Shadow – Ornamented Wall [LOVE080]

December 2, 2012June 19, 2024 hipodromealbum, dominick fernow, experimental, industrial, leftfield, modern love, noise, vatican shadowLeave a comment

“Ornamented Walls” is the most intense, brutal and, in many senses, most substantial work from Dominick Fernow’s Vatican Shadow project yet. Released to coincide with his first tour of Europe, the album incorporates the live mix rehearsals of “Operation Neptune Spear” with tracks made in their aftermath, recorded straight to tape and mastered by Matt Colton at Air Studios. Anyone familiar with Fernow’s live set-up will recognize the distinct nature of this material — making use of stems and partial tracks separated into a cassette system which is then re-layered and mixed, effected with electronic processing. In short — Fernow uses his tape machines like turntables in a mix, weaving a hazy and intuitive narrative of sounds that never quite head in the direction you expect, all imbued with an almost feral attitude that’s exhilarating to witness, their limitations and their mechanical machine qualities used to devastating effect. Side A features all three parts of “Operation Neptune Spear,” originally made available in a measly edition of 17 cassettes and sold at the first-ever Vatican Shadow live show in L.A. back in May 2012. Side B features an additional 25 minutes of previously-unreleased work made in the aftermath of the show and using the same set-up, including an astonishing revision of “Cairo Is a Haunted City,” dis-assembled and re-wired, lending it a shortwave quality that’s nothing short of revelatory.

Vatican Shadow – Ghosts Of Chechnya [HOS361]

December 2, 2012November 7, 2018 hipodromealbum, dominick fernow, experimental, hospital productions, industrial, leftfield, vatican shadowLeave a comment

The heavily sought after “Ghosts Of Chechnya” cassette finally sees a digital release. Vatican Shadow is unstoppable at the moment, his alchemistic beats and military themes marking him out as a singular talent. This LP champions the sound of Vatican Shadow, with its dubbed-out, reverberant noises, that make him stand out among his peers. The aptly named “Voices Came Crackling Across A Motorola Hand-Held Radio” is another beast, where chugging kick drums meet ominous pads and crackling static. “Chechnya’s Ghosts Loom Large In Death Of Former Spy” is another fine example of his creative ability to mould techno into any shape he sees fit; but it’s the filling spaces made up of eerie melodies and stripped beats, like “Snipers As A Breed Tend To Be Superstitious” which make his recordings so enchanting. Highly recommended as usual.

Surgeon / Svreca & Skirt – Untitled [SEM050]

November 3, 2012October 8, 2019 hipodromeanthony child, drone, industrial, semantica records, skirt, surgeon, svreca, technoLeave a comment

Semantica celebrates release #50 with this double A-side by Surgeon and labelhead Svreca, teaming up with Skirt. Dark techno from the off.

Zsa Zsa Laboum / HNO3 ‎– Something Scary / Doughnut Dollies [DONT021]

September 29, 2012October 19, 2015 hipodromeacid, dont, hno3, industrial, new beat, synth wave, zsa zsa laboumLeave a comment

The new release from Don’t imprint features two sublime 1988 Belgian New Beat classics from Zsa Zsa Laboum and HN03. Laboum’s “Something Scary” is perhaps the archetypal New Beat track, commencing with a sample lifted from the dodgy 80s B Movie “The Entity” and displaying some excellent percussion and a powerful and obscure acid line – it still sounds excellent some twenty four years later. On the flip is the R&S classic “Doughnut Dollies” from New Beat icon Eric Beysens under his HN03 moniker features. It’s grubby industrial arpeggio sounding equally vibrant today – especially pitched way down to -8 like the New Beat guys used to do!

Sumerian Fleet – Sturm Bricht Los EP [CREC012]

September 20, 2012October 20, 2023 hipodromealden tyrell, creme eclipse, creme organization, dark wave, electro, industrial, ingmar pauli, jeroen warmenhoven, mr. pauli, post punk, sumerian fleetLeave a comment

New release from Sumerian Fleet on Creme Eclipse. Big Menacing Darkwave with an industrial tinge from this mysterious West Coast super group, like someone finally removed those damn sunglasses from the Sisters of Mercy dude and showed him the world was an even sadder place than he imagined. Little was heard of him since.

Violetshaped – Violetshaped (Remixes) Part 1 [VPN003]

September 20, 2012March 20, 2018 hipodromeindustrial, kanging ray, roly porter, techno, vatican shadow, violet poison, violetshapedLeave a comment

The third release from Violet Poison label, featuring three industrial remixes by Vatican Shadow, Roly Porter and Kanging Ray.

Factory Floor – Two Different Ways (Remixes) [DFA2341]

September 20, 2012September 16, 2024 hipodromedfa records, dominic butler, factory floor, gabe gurnsey, industrial, nikki colk, perc, richard h kirk, technoLeave a comment

Factory Floor offer up a substantial distraction while the band put the finishing touches on their debut album, due out on DFA Records in early 2013. Their last single “Two Different Ways” is remixed by two different electronic music leaders. Richard H Kirk, co-founder of both Cabaret Voltaire and Sweet Exorcist, puts his own warped spin on the single, while Perc aka Ali Wells, takes the original and piles on his signature throbbing bass for the main remix. Perc also offers up a ‘Noisy Mix’ taking avant waves of feedback and noise and shaping into something unexpectedly beautiful.

Silent Servant – Negative Fascination LP [HOS357]

September 10, 2012November 7, 2018 hipodromealbum, hospital productions, industrial, juan mendez, silent servant, technoLeave a comment

Silent Servant (aka Juan Mendez), a member of the now-defunct minimal/dub techno collective Sandwell District, makes his stunning album debut with the poised fusion of epic techno, primitive post punk, and industrial electronics on Hospital Productions. Now nine months since he stopped recording with Sandwell District, Mendez has explored his divergent yet compatible tastes to their fullest, recognising and reconciling their congruent rhythms, atmospheres and intentions with alchemical ability. If you’re familiar with his previous trajectories you’ll no doubt be seriously impressed with his balance and contrast of time-honoured elements, from the bellicose sci-fi romance of ‘Process (Introduction)’ to the full flight techno escapism of ‘Utopian Disaster (End)’, and if you’re new to his sound – whether you’re a noise freak wondering what the f*ck Hospital Productions are doing releasing a techno album, or a techno head who’s baffled by the raspy drums – you should be quickly realising that this stuff is the way forward. From the wave-scanning intro he spins a bleakly noirish narrative, slowly building tension with ‘Invocation Of Lust”s acid hypnosis and the stoic deployment of drones and agitated drum machine slaves on ‘Moral Divide (Endless)’ that resolves with gritted techno determination on ‘The Strange Attractor’. Yet perhaps our favourite moment is ‘Temptation & Desire’, sounding like the converged darkroom visions of Front 242 and Stephen Morris, but if any cut shocks us the most, it’s ‘A Path Eternal’, revealing SS at his most unreservedly sublime and vulnerable without his usual, armour-plated chassis of beats. It all surely adds up to one of the most impressive examples of modern industrial techno you’ll hear this year, one which doesn’t merely pay deference to its roots, but nourishes and augments them with the kind of vision that imparts the strong feeling that he’s really been biding his time, ’til now…

“Negative Fascination” is a 7-track affair said to couple Basic Channel vibes with post-punk and shadowy industrial cues.

Tanz Ohne Musik – Heartbeats EP

September 2, 2012December 13, 2016 hipodromedan serbanescu, electro, industrial, shoegaze, synth wave, tanz ohne muzikLeave a comment

heartbeats

The three songs included were at the origins recorded to be part of the previous material, “The Whip”. As the mood of these songs was rougher and more abrasive, they found themselves gathered in this new EP by the means of letting them to breathe and to reveal their own expressive states.

Markus Suckut / Marcelus – 10 inch01 [REPITCH1001]

August 16, 2012November 13, 2018 hipodromecedric bros, industrial, marcelus, markus suckut, repitch recordings, technoLeave a comment

Repitch presents the new 10inch series. For the first time Repitch is releasing original tracks from new artists so it won’t be stuff from D.Carbone, Ascion and Shapednoise. The artists featured on this new 10inch series are Marcelus and Markus Suckut. On the A side, Markus Suckut delivers an epic techno track in a full oldschool spirit. The stomping broken beat is marked by a dark melody and a groan which take us back to 1995’s R&S golden age. Marcelus, on the B side, mantains the oldschool spirit of the release with a raw and mechanical floorburner that sounds like a powerful studio-session between an Industrial band and a modern Techno producer.

Inigo Kennedy – Vignettes (Two) [SEMANTICA036]

August 16, 2012November 22, 2012 hipodromeindustrial, inigo kennedy, semantica records, technoLeave a comment

Cover art - Inigo Kennedy: Vignettes (Two)

A techno man for over 15 years, Inigo Kennedy was initially associated with labels like ZET and Missile in the second half of the 1990’s. Thereafter he took it easier until making a return to the studio some years ago. Formerly known as a backer of harsh 4/4 beats, Kennedy now explores new directions and follows up the first “Vignettes” experimental single released last year on Semantica. The second installment sees Kennedy moving closer to the floor again. Made for club charts is “Shapeshifter”, a mid-pace techno cut with abstract notes and occasional deep bass rave stabs, sending fluorescent sinusoids flashing through time and space. “Disquiet” bombs protons in thin air in an electrofied exercise. The B-side concludes with digital ballad “Ihana”, which feels like picking the summer’s first strawberries. Different from what I remember Kennedy doing, but contains a fair amount of excitement.

Vatican Shadow – September Cell [NAILS001]

August 16, 2012October 28, 2019 hipodromebed of nails, dominick fernow, electronics, industrial, techno, vatican shadowLeave a comment

New 12″from Vatican Shadow on Dominick Fernow’s own, newly minted Bed of Nails imprint. Operating from his recently consecrated L.A. compound – the label will focus on his reorientation towards industrial dancefloor rhythms and seductively isolated electronics. Fernow christens the label with ‘September Cell’, a four track 12″ loaded with some of his most direct dancefloor assaults to date. The A-side breaks down into two parts: ‘September Cell (The Storm)’ pistons a martial machine coda, all hollowed Industrial percussion and gloaming synths shot through with visceral traces of his power electronics; while ‘September Cell (The Punishment)’ realigns the rhythm with a rigid swing and insurgent, caustic swipes of noise timed with exacting accuracy. On the flip, ‘Cairo Is A Haunted City’ opens with a nightvision panorama of furtive pads before rapid-fire steppers’ rhythms find formation under cover of pitch blackness. ‘One Day He Heard The Call’ resolves the label’s first session with a bleakly evocative vision polluted by Vangelis-like synth-brass flares and toxic synths…

Oscar Mulero ‎– Black Propaganda [WU031]

August 2, 2012November 14, 2017 hipodromealbum, industrial, minimal techno, oscar mulero, warm up recordingsLeave a comment

Warm Up Recordings presents Oscar Mulero’s new album: Black Propaganda. Nine new tracks that reflect a new twist in his sound, going deep into dark territories; a black and white approach to dance electronics, where shades and echoes and drones are mixed with obscure rhythm treatments that go from slow tempos to more uplifting beats. Sonically speaking, his sound has become simpler, with less elements but better sound design. Less is more. All tracks have a common feeling, like a soundtrack for a sad European landscape: mental, industrial, repetitive and definitely non-melodic.

VA – Kommand EP [ETG003]

August 2, 2012March 28, 2019 hipodromeand, chris stanford, dax j, eartoground, gareth wild, industrial, samuli kemppi, technoLeave a comment

EarToGround Records 3rd release, once again features as a limited pressing on high quality black wax and is likely to be seen by techno purists as ready to go dj ammunition for a variety of dance floors, as each track & remix carries its own identity. Solid techno gems by Chris Stanford, Dax J and Gareth Wild. Features strong remixes from Samuli Kemppi & hard-hitters AnD.

Kontravoid – Native State [CITI006]

July 26, 2012August 25, 2021 hipodromecameron findlay, cititrax, industrial, kontravoid, minimal synth, minimal wave records, synth waveLeave a comment

KONTRAVOID - Native State

The name Kontravoid belongs on a limited run cassette circa 1980-something, the type of tape buried in lost upstate dustbins of pre-MIDI analog electronics, wedged between Cabaret Voltaire and Das Ding. The dark industrial and new wave influences are strong on ex-Crystal Castles drummer Cam Findlay’s new project—his voice is scary, like an echoing underwater growl—but the underlying pop melodies always afford a degree of breathing room.On his debut self-titled album, Kontravoid turns to analogue synths to create a dark, brooding pop masterpiece. His brilliant vocals emit a dystopic low-grown, often running through warped effects accompanied by exceptionally stirring arpeggiated synths and washes of sound. Modern touchstones could parallel the likes of John Maus or Trust, but Kontravoid’s vision is a much more twisted one, embracing goth influences and yielding a monstrous result that is harder to define. Despite its sonic vampiricism, Kontravoid’s music leaves plenty to dance and lose your mind to, but the imagination here goes way beyond these activities exclusively.The tracks Native State and Cut To Cleanse are exclusive 7” only versions.

Nancy Fortune – Dark & Lite EP [DBTH006]

July 26, 2012August 1, 2019 hipodromeelectro, house, industrial, nancy fortune, snuff crew, the orchard, thotLeave a comment

Nancy Fortune is back with a new EP Dark & Lite on The Orchard. The package includes three original tracks and two remixes by Snuff Crew and Thot.