Unconscious, Italian recognised EBM producer, surprises with a sound turn in his latest album “Il Punto di Non Ritorno”, where he ventures into New Beat incorporating touches of dark trance that clearly refer to some of his roots in electronic music. The album showcases the artist’s evolution capacity and highlights his versatility and ability to explore new sounds without losing the EBM and industrial essence that characterizes and defines his previous works.
Recall IV is the project created by Andre Fischer that reached a massive success in the German techno scene in 1990 with the release of the single “Contrast” on Techno Drome International / ZYX Records. This was shortly followed by two more releases in 1991 (“Contrast – Part 2” and the extended play “Aesthetic”) and contributions to various compilations. Andre has been a very active techno composer and producer since the late 80’s working with people like Lars Janzik, Carlos Perón, Giora Schein & Holger Wick (Konzept), Volker Then (Friends Of Carlotta) on countless projects including Scope, Scrot, Technoline, Trust in 6, ADSX, etc. “Interstate” compiles tracks from all Recall IV singles, some old compilations and a selection of unreleased cuts and remixes.
Re-release including all original tracks plus some bonus and remixes. The Overlords is a pioneer electronic project coming from Denmark. Rune Bendixen, Carsten Pedersen and Ian Ion started to work together in 1987 inspired by Front 242 and Adrian Sherwood’s electronic dub. The ever-cheaper samplers allowed the band to record their debut album ‘Midnight at the Grooveyard II’ (1988) and built their own studio The Grooveyard in Copenhagen. Next works started to get increasingly influenced by techno, new beat and innovative dance music. A new single ‘Moontrap’ (1990) appeared on Belgium’s Antler Subway Records and led The Overlords to collaborate with Kenneth Baker who remixed the next single and massive club hit ‘Sundown’ (1991). The full-length ‘Organic?’ (1991) came shortly after also on Antler Subway in Belgium, ZYX Records in Germany and reached America with Caroline Records.
Re-release of this timeless electronic anthem. A track that defies any classification. The perfect mix between Belgian techno, trance and EBM. ‘Sundown’ was released as single in 1991 and instantly became a techno classic in Germany and all over the globe selling over 200,000 copies worldwide.
An interesting insight into some of the diverse dancefloor oriented sounds going on in Canada during the 80s sitting somewhere between electro, italo disco and proto house. A-side starts off on a slow paced 80 bpm pop/rock italo-disco crossover track featuring lyrics in english with an unidentifiable accent, very much reminiscent of Italian local neighbourhood private press ventures featuring someone’s sister on the vocal. 3 versions later, on the B side, things step up a notch coming in at 130 bpm with “Heat In Africa’s” drum machine propelled rhythmic mayhem pulling out all the latest studio bells and whistles of the time. Big electric guitar solo build up on the “Dance Mix” and additional Bonus Beats mix by Castro.
MEGABREAKZ is the brainchild of the collaboration between Oráculo Records, M.U.S.A. and Ombra Festival. It’s born to be a tribute to the iconic Valencia sound of the late 80s, when the city was a global epicenter of dance music, avant-garde exploration and cutting-edge creativity. The third part presents a new project from Curses, Tutto Vetro – No Mercy.
MEGABREAKZ is the brainchild of the collaboration between Oráculo Records, M.U.S.A. and Ombra Festival. It’s born to be a tribute to the iconic Valencia sound of the late 80s, when the city was a global epicenter of dance music, avant-garde exploration and cutting-edge creativity. The second part is “War” a five tracks EP from Ortrotasce.
Sound Metaphors and Transmigration take another dig at the CATT Records catalogue with another EP comprised of two cuts that have been part of the secret weapon arsenals of many seasoned DJs and collectors. A side investigates what might come across as a British response to the Belgian New Beat contingent that had been brewing for a while at the time, serious bass lines and synthetic Gregorian chants echoed over solid four on the floor action. B side unfolds the rhythm in half beat with a breaky electro/freestyle indulgence with Led Zeppelin samples unexpectedly sprinkled about.
Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts from Belgium. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and of course Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi bought his first Roland SH-101 synthesizer and started in 1982 with Schicksal to experiment with synths and drum computers. He spent lot of hours programming and composing on his bedroom and recording everything on a tape recorder. A selection of these old tracks are included on this album. You can definitely feel the vibe of this period and the place where the songs were created: the old industrial town of Hoboken, the culmination of the cold war and the aim of a young musician to combine melody and harmony into minimal electronic music.
Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts coming from Hoboken, a small town near Antwerp. He started experimenting with synths and drum computers in 1982. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi spent lot of hours programming and composing at home with just some gear and a tape recorder. Some of these tracks appeared on local compilations but it was not until the hype of New Beat in Belgium that Schicksal gained a real attention. In 1988 Rudi persuaded Marc Grouls, the resident DJ of discotheque Prestige in Antwerp, to play the track “24 hours”. All the people on the dancefloor just got wild and the next day Schicksal signed a contract with Maurice Engelen for the release of a maxi-single on Subway Records.
Weaponize your DJ record bag again with fresh ammo from the Greek studio machine, Aggelos Baltas does it again with another volume of remixes to the Sound Metaphors re-issue catalogues, an invigorating contemporary club touch to a wide range of dance floor material that was originally produced in the early 90s and late 80s. A new patina layer formed by the aging acid baths and chemical reactions of the experienced studio magician. Aggelos’ signature atmospheric grandiosity and big room sound once again delivered with precision and high efficiency for the caring modern dancefloor.
Dark Vektor is a veteran DJ/producer from Terrassa (Spain). Here he make his debut release for the Spanish label from Toledo, Banshees Records. The EP drives through from electro, new beat, italo and EBM. Includes also a Ramon Moya remix.
Early 90’s UK Balearic infused deep semi-Acid House EP with two tracks from the mysterious CATT Records label, now reissued on Sound Migration.
Ricardo Laine debuts on Pinkman with 10 tracks of cinematic new beat that are captivatingly packed with tension and high drama. From the opening synths of breakbeat-laden chugger ‘The High Tide’, an unnerving sense of dystopian dread builds from track to track and doesn’t let off until the very end. ‘Asleep In Their Myst’ is another chapter in the evolution of the mysterious Toronto-based artist Andre E-R – also known under the techno moniker R-oderick – and an emotionally charged reflection on self-discovery and shame. Filled with industrial jack and twisted electronics, the album is a wall-to-wall collection of club-ready compositions that are all killer, no filler.
Seminal EBM-techno outfit Code Industry surfaces on Dark Entries with a reissue of their Structure EP. Detroit-based musicians Rob Myers, E.N. Sevy, Kyl Crys, and William Keith formed Code Industry in 1989 following their previous project, Code Assault. Among the few Black artists working in the idioms of EBM and industrial during their time, Code Industry tackle issues of racism, the media, and the hypocrisy of patriotism. The band’s frigid synths and menacingly whispered vocals display their affinity for European EBM acts like Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, but their adventurous production and high- tech grooves situate their work equally within the Detroit techno continuum. The Structure EP was originally released in 1991 via the legendary Antler-Subway label.
The Hipodrome Of Music 