A Call Too Close is a digital compilation released by brokntoys to raise funds for Tottenham food banks. Music from Aldrich, Alex Jann, Barking, Constructive nature, Das Muster, Dez Williams, Eduardo, Isolated Material, Jauzas the Shining, Marco Bernardi, Poperttelli, Rings Around Saturn, Rugon, Sam Lowry, The Jaffa Kid, Timothy J. Fairplay and XY0815. All profit from the release will be donated in equal parts to the Selby Food Hub and Tottenham Food Bank.
2020 was a tough year for almost everyone and definitely a year to forget for our scene. Events and gigs canceled, venues closed, artists lacking a way to earn a decent living and club culture facing a threat like never before.
In the midst of these events were several people / organizations who tried to ease the pain, offering out some comfort by releasing music to people for free or by pay as you want download. This was always done, but this year I noticed that more and more artists are doing this.
Here is a selection of albums and compilations I came across this year and that I think is worth mentioning again.
“The international electro and techno producer community has come together to raise money for two charities doing vital health work during the Covid-19 crisis – NHS Charities Together and Médecins Sans Frontières. The project began in April this year. The resulting release is an essential compendium of techno and electro featuring some of the most respected creators working in the genre including The Hacker, Radioactive Man, Anthony Rother, Delta Funktionen, John Selway, Carl Finlow, Kronos Device, and more than 120 more!”
“Here’s a free compilation to celebrate our 20th birthday, which fittingly falls right in the middle of the biggest crises the world has faced this century. This is not a retrospective, in times like these it important to look to the future. It features exclusive tracks by label mainstays and some up and coming artists from the West Coast and beyond. Up to you to figure out which is which.”
BT33 drags back Marco Bernardi for his 3rd solo EP on brokntoys. Plat + Form P.F. finds Marco run ragged through time, revisiting his sleeper-project Octogen’s lost 3rd album alongside his latest productions. Cruising the dystopia, the EP moves through unnerving melodies hung against stuttering rhythms. Handstamped and with screenprinted sleeve.
BT25 brings together label regulars Marco Bernardi, Vertical67 and Exhausted Modern alongside debutante Robert Valera.
A tribute to Andreas Gehm (1972 – 2016), German producer, king of acid and inspiration to many including the artists in this compilation. All proceeds will go towards funding Andreas Gehm’s post-mortem affairs, managed by his best friend, Joe Kurta. Long live the king. Tracks by Basic Soul Unit, KiNK, L/F/D/M, Marco Bernardi, Mark Forshaw, Rivet, Tzusing and Umwelt.
Includes a free download on bandcamp.
Electro maestro Luke Eargoggle collaborates with some of his favorite producers creating an EP that delves into the many sides of Eargoggle. Eargoggle & The Hacker open the EP with a sleazy take on New Beat with Body. Eargoggle & Marco Bernardi are up next with trademark nagging basslines complete with fragmented weirdo speech and demented melodies for Rat Wire Chomp. On the flip Eargoggle joins forces with long term collaborator Rutherford for the driving emo Stalkers Behave. Closing the EP Das Muster goes in the for the kill with the metallic Starke.
The 030303 crew come with a brand new various artist package in a beautifully designed sleeve to celebrate their 10th anniversary. While not all featured artist are new to 030303, the label mainly sticks to what it does best: digging up exciting new names from the raving underground. The smooth electronic tracks on the comp hold the middle ground between acid, IDM, braindance, early 1990s 808 State-esque UK acid house and Detroit techno. Among the highlights are Echo 106’s eerie after hour acid jam ‘Phosphor’, ‘Damp Patch’ by Marco Bernardi which reminds us of classic Surgeon-style UK techno, Forma’s ‘Sailor” (reminiscent of Charanjit Singh’s ‘Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat’). Look no further if a versatile, subtle and beautiful acid compilation is what you’re after.
The forever under-rated Marco Bernardi steps out on Berceuse Heroique with this fifteen-minute epic, evoking the glory days of Carl Craig. On the flip, Specter from Sound Signature draws the dancefloor in deep.
Marco Bernardi returns to brokntoys for yet another rollercoaster of emotions. Switching between jittery house, lo-fi nagging electro and blissed out techno with nods to Detroit.
Given the prolific nature of his output and close links to Jamal Moss, it’s something of a surprise to find that Motionless is Marco Bernadi’s first outing on Mathematics. It sees the Bristol-based Glaswegian in suitably nostalgic mode, dropping a quartet of tracks that pop and crackle with vintage analogue rhythms, raw electronics, and intoxicated acid lines. The A-side boasts two chunks of electro/techno fusion, with the vintage rave stabs, relentless drum hits and barely audible vocal samples of “Shiny Windows” most impressing. Flip for the skittering rave breakbeats, foreboding chords and undulating acid lines of “Finite Space”, and “Hater of Love”, a sparkling fusion of sharp electronics, bubbling acid bass and foreboding, anti-fun vocals.
MB’s debut for Bio Rhythm… ‘The Miracle Sign’ hit us by surprise… Title track is a beautiful and epic journey in techno soul quite rare to hear these days, reminding a bit of early nineties Detroit/UK techno and even some of the early Speedy J works, all with nowadays production skills. Stunning contemporary techno the classic way. Then from heaven to hell with ‘60606’, an evil distorted 606 drum track guaranteed to damage kids brains worldwide… But no time to think long anyway cause there’s ‘We Only Have’, an autistic out-of-the-box jack track providing a sneaky tool for the more adventurous dj. This will separate the gurners from the dancers. Top-notch showcase by the unstoppable man-machine that is Marco Bernardi..!
Part 2 of the Laffer EP Marco Bernardi on Barba is going head down, straight ahead and striving for energy. Attack of the Dessert Stormers is an overload of dark electro power, six minutes of squirming bassline-driven movement with surges of intensity from analogue bleeps and subtle drum pattern shifts. There’s no let up on the flip side where Two Sliders brings equal force but in a more techno style. Right from the start you’ll be grabbed by the bassline, but this one rewards extended listening as the track develops progressively with new melodies and metallic touches taking you deeper and deeper. There’s a moment of sweetness to end our journey with “There’s always tomorrow”, a chiming melodic ramble through tinfoil meadows that will fit beautifully into a warmup set.
Signal Code label boss Costelloe digs deep and chows down on techno’s deepest tendrils: electro. Razor-sharp, reflective and icier than a January skinny dip in the North Sea, it pays respect to the roots with true authenticity. Marco Bernardi heartily invests with two disparate twists – one abstract, warehouse-shaking techno version and a gritty, paranoid angular electro reboot. “First Light” closes the show on a deep, house flavoured number that’s not dissimilar to Sabres Of Paradise
Archetypal Detroit electro techno taken to the next level by Mr. Bernardi on Burek sub label Barba. Bernardi delivers a double album worth of ideas, spread among 2 releases. The first half of the release is very much in the robots-having-an-argument rather than the peaceful-cosmic-journey vein. The tracks feature abrupt changes, stabbing asymmetrical rhythms, multiple layers of sound and a darker moodier feel.
The mastermind of dark and demented Electro returns to Abstract Forms, Marco Bernardi delivers four cuts of awesome Purist Electro.
VernoN switches to Romansoff’s Raw Tools imprint. As you might expect, the Bud XXL EP is jam-packed with intense machine rhythms, body-shaking electronics and twisted acid lines. As a result, each of the three original tracks tiptoes that fine line between jacking analogue house and raw techno. There’s a vintage Chicago feel to “It Ain’t You”, while “Keep On Dancing” layers a flurry of cowbells atop a jaunty bassline and delay-laden machine grooves. The real killer, though, is “Bud XXL”, a spiraling, in-your-face concoction that sounds like a signifier of a coming apocalypse. Glaswegian-in-Bristol Marco Bernadi reworks “It Ain’t You”, turning it into a freaky chunk of alien funk complete with mutant Detroit synths and chugging drum machine rhythms.
Klasse Wrecks welcomes Marco Bernardi to it’s ranks with the Spacejam EP. Spacejam is an EP of demented drums, fiddling electronics and refreshing originality, all tracks contained within feature the signature sound of a studio obsessive and capture the many inspirations and influences of the Scottish born DJ and Producer.
Cultivated Electronics round off the World Electronix series with a remixes EP featuring tracks from each of the 4 volumes. Morphology’s Darkstar is remixed by The Hacker, The Exatics Ten Days is given a dark twist by Sync 24, J.T.C’s In Transit is refunked by DMX Krew and the EP is finished off with Marco Benardi’s Morbider mix of Sync 24 & Deixis Ah Ah Ah.
The Hipodrome Of Music 