It’s a first for Pinkman and Lux Rec. Yet the two labels have so much in common that it isn’t surprising they have been drawn towards each other. And The Rosa Luxembourg Files is the result of this collaboration. Rotterdam and Zurich, Ian Martin and Barbir & Nicola Kazimir, exploring different shades of the same black, wandering at the fringes, plunging into obscurity and machines talk. There’s no rest and no comfort, but manic fixation.
Norwell’s Death Of A Star E.P, released earlier this summer, mixed his usual kosmiche-inspired sounds with the distorted grittiness of ’80s industrial music. It was impressive, and now Pinkman has decided to offer up two remixes apiece of EP highlights “Nordic Nights” and “Death of A Star”. The former track is given the acid-flecked, 8-bit techno treatment by Antenna, before S Olbricht turns it into an unsettling, Motor City-influenced roller. Delta Funkitonen channels the spirit of EBM pioneers Nitzer Ebb on his throbbing interpretation of “Death Of A Star” – all psychedelic synthesizer arpeggios and restless kick drums – before DJ Overdose steals the show with an inspired electro remake of the same track.
Charlois presents the summer cult hit of 2016 by OTTO, a new project of Alexander Arpeggio and Cid Hohner. Weirdo German Organ tracks, specially made for the Disko.
Mannequin Records’ Alessandro Adriani is up next for Pinkman’s White Label series and the flavor is unapologetically wave. Melodies ghost, whisper and finally roar as the Italian pushes the parameters of darkened electronics. Croaking samples and brutish percussion coiling to a bitter end.
Burbling basslines. Hissing hi-hats. Snapping snares. Soulful synths. Streams of machine currents meander and merge in The Red Hour, Mark Du Mosch’s debut EP for Pinkman. Four cuts of compelling and complex electronics, each track offering a different side of Du Mosch’s sound. Textured techno from the margins.
Pinkman cast their net eastwards. The latest finding, Hungary’s Norwell, offers up four genre splicing cuts. Rhythms are from the golden age of electro, cold and prototypical. Around these sharp percussion patterns swirl a wealth of melting synthlines. Pads, deep basslines and a ghosting presence characterise the title track, that same spectral mood weaves its way through the sweetened strings and distorted judders of “Dissonant Division.” The frigid bars of “Nordic Nights” introduces the flip, arctic winds pierced by snapping snares. Emotional depth ebbs and flows as the rich and textured “Wasted Echoes” brings down the curtain on Norwell’s Pinkman debut.
Introducing Broken Dreams, a new series of white label releases on Rotterdam based Pinkman label. First up is Metropolis, who returns with four Wave, Electro and Body Music hybrids. A quartet of tracks that draw on Lapien’s diverse catalogue, this is undoubtedly some of his darkest music to date. Acid, New Beat and Post-Punk influences bubble and churn throughout. Crisp beats crash, strings lament, vocals sigh and synth stabs squirm for an EP that refuses to conform to norms. A hoarse and harsh cry to open a new Pinkman chapter.
The return of DJ Technician in company with his long time friend DJ Overdose. From The Hague to Rotterdam, a true westcoast electro affair.
Art Crime delivers a four tracker of meltingly good music on Pinkman Records. Chords cascade, blending and reforming, in the warming wonder of ‘Still Life’, ‘Dead Carnation’ is from a similar place. Keys skipping down scales, dancing down them as percussion lends a touch of weight.’Distant’ is the mood changer. Rain falls, smoke whirls and the night descends in this dark and intoxicating encounter. But those clouds part for the close. Lush pads and soaring notes break through for calming currents of the less than aptly titled ‘Hectic’. An artist rewriting stereotypes, an EP of true quality.
Toeing the line between divinity and profanity, blurring beauty and debasement, is Drvg Cvltvre. Following Offender Status and Gauwvuur is an eight track album: Into the Endless Night. From the guttural emotion of “Where Embers Die” to the bleak ferocity of “Brakes are Death”, a complex and hardened array is on display. Buried angst is never far away. “There Were Rumours” flexes with embittered bars before the unrefined purity of “Jericho Flats.” Respite from this whirring carnival is a rarity, relief from the seesawing serration of “Shock Corridor” or rollicking jeer of “Charge of the Haploids.” But there is reprieve, radiance breaks through. “Into the Endless Night” pulses with brightening hope, one which is reflected in the gritty finale of “Winnerden Flats.” Heartening warmth piercing the hail. Balancing on the precipice, an album of scared and soulful sounds from this darkeyed light in modern electronic music.
Alessandro Parisi is casting off for his debut on Charlois. The Italian is setting out his stall with a five tracker. Honeyed bars are cut by sharp percussion as the brooding “Meduna Waves” opens. Space soaked synthlines coil around a pulsing drum for the slow burning “Cosmica 1999.” The flip sees a wave edge enter. Cascading chords and a bolstered beats form the pain streaked beauty of “Fear and Money Never Had.” “Exhibition of Love” is brimming with meaty snares biting into thick strings combined in a power filled piece. Parisi illustrates his enviable talent throughout, a talent that comes to the fore with the arpeggiated intensity of “Virtualand.”
Dark machine music by Metropolis on the Pinkman offshoot label Charlois. The EP starts with the German vocalized protest song “Uberall Polizei, Nirgendwo gerechtigkeit”, an EBM inspired track which reminds us of the early 80s Belgium artists like The Neon Judgement and Nitzer Ebb. On the flip the riot continues with “Kriegdienstverweigerer”, a hypnotic neo-electronic jam with rattling synths, psychedelic baselines and a repetitive robotic vocoder on top. The EP ends with the title track “Unify”, a deep cold cinematic floor burner. Limited to 300 copies, with silkscreened sleeves.
Pinkman follows on his blooming imprint Charlois with another addition from label favourite Timothy J Fairplay. ‘My Etherealrealness’ kicks things off with tape saturated drums propelling interweaving sequences and nostalgic lead lines before ‘Phantom Trap’ sets springing kicks bounding under tense and sweeping melodies. Pressure builds behind a wall of coiling synth lines before ‘Flying Saucer Review’ lays a reverberated thud under playful percussive flashes and more adroit synthesis. Fluttering textures and gentle tape purrs persist throughout as the tracks dismantlement gives way eerily flickering tones that cap off another prime addition to the Charlois catalogue and another solid 12″ from artist going from strength to strength. Limited to 300 copies, with silkscreened sleeves.
Debut four tracker by Peeping Tom on the Pinkman imprint. Blistering techno and dramatic electro injected jams from this unknown Rotterdam based voyeur. Comes with an insert with pictures taken on the streets by the peeper himself.
The multitalented Roberto Auser returns to his Dutch West Coast dancefloor roots. Heavy three tracker on the Pinkman sublabel Charlois, with sounds varying from tripping intergalactic tribal electro to southern space disco.
Acid, no wave and experimental house producer Drvg Cvltvre with a four track EP on Pinkman Records. Up first, ‘My Houz’ is a swampy house track with heavy drums, whirring machines and white noise textures all adding up to an intense affair that sounds like little else. Then comes ‘Tyranny of the Gods’, a slow tempo but high impact track that builds and builds on a nerve lead synth line as frazzled bass props things up from below. Darkand weird, occult and rave, its another unique proposition. On the flip, ‘Sleepdealer’ is an unbalanced house track with taught, tight bass and is shot through with laser like synths. Serene and spaced out, it makes way for closer ‘Crack Spirit Guide’ which is a noisy, intense and brooding fusion of crisp percussion, big walls of synth and chattering drums that really have you on edge.
The Dutch Pinkman label is back with a new EP from Xosar, who debuts on the label and covers release number 10, with two new cuts of mystic techno. World Of Illusion goes first and marries reverb rich claps and cacophonous hi hats with a tough bassline. Spritelyand nimble and with thumping kicks down below, various bleeps, serene string sounds and glassy melodies colourthe groove and make for engaging listening. On the flip, Phasers of Eden is a kinetic fusion of ticking percussion,molten synths and withering chords that works you into an ethereal and otherworldly trance. Still with some allimportant drum funk powering things along down below, this is another idiosyncratic winner from Xosar.
“A free compilation from the Pinkman HQ to thank you ALL for the support over the last two years. And keep an eye out on Pinkman in 2015, lot’s of good things will come!”
Annanan follows up his strong debut on Forbidden Planet with another crunched up techno three tracker on Pinkman from Rotterdam.
The Hipodrome Of Music 