Vienna’s finest electro/techno label celebrates turning 20 with three exclusive trax by Tin Man, Elektro Guzzi, and Digilog. On the front, Tin Man does his best to distill the essence of ‘Detroit’ in a pounding, acidic night-flight. Flipside, techno mann-band Elektro Guzzi go thru the tight, driving drill of ‘Radicale’, and Digilog deals the lustrous minimal techno of ‘Mind Gap’.
Pomelo’s newest outing is delivered by the NYC based producer extraordinaire Brendon Moeller, a real master in the field of techno and dub. The EP’s title track promises a subtle fusion of house and techno through a loosly swinging techno groove, and duly delivers with echoing chord cascades and spluttering sound effects. Machiavellian impulse picks up the intensity with a more direct, pounding beat, to which stuttering, spacious stabs add an element of deepness and dub. Loudness Sustain Decay finally has a whole side to itself, starting out as a lofty house mover, with a pulsing wild pitch synths slowly adding tension until the track’s wild finale.
The Underdog series, produced last winter in New York, emphasizes on deep killer techno – This new release – the Underdog EP Part 2 – features three floor shaking techno cuts in different shapes. On the A Side the aptly titled “Swarm” features an epic minimal acid tune building over 10 minutes driven by twirling soundscapes resembling a swarm of killerbees on attack. Flipping over there is “Hack”, which bows towards Soundhack with its dirty funked up sample chords and cut up groove. The EP finishes off with “Rocky”, a masterpiece in reduction – hypnotic and deep techno.
After delivering Absurd Recordings with its first Acid Test in 2011, Tin Man lines up some more acid for Pomelo. For DJs in search of drum track acid techno, “UR”, is a good start. Taking a break from acid, but remaining on the drum trax tip, “Stay Down”, is a brooding and synthy production that keeps itself from straying to close to the red – a perfect DJ tool for more reasons than just functionality.
Bad Cop Bad Cop are underground veteran Alex Cortex (XX Badcop) and glam-tech-hero Lopazz (ZZ Badcop). So different they are in their respective solo-projects, so indistinguishably they melt their unique visions into one flow of effervescent creativity when they hit the studio or stage together. Bad Cop Bad Cop’s music is deeply rooted in early to mid-nineties techno, house, and electronica but at the same time peeps through wormholes into the future. Driving, roaring, epic, and cosmic are all apt descriptions of their sound, but so would be jacking, funny, surreal and -above all- alien. A typical trip to Bad-Cop-Land is a full on crash through a psychedelic wall of sound that has to be experienced rather than understood. Now, Pomelo label brings Bad Cop Bad Cop’s debut album “Wings of Techno”. It’s a trippy puzzle of styles and moods that blends the most absurdly divergent tracks effortlessly into one coherent piece of intriguing musicality.
LD Nero returns with another 3-tracker, rooted in1990s house, with that unique hypnotic and playful vibe we’ve come to know and love. ‘Warehouse Dew 1-3′ are three tracks made for the dancefloor – constantly moving, constantly changing, this is serious house music with a techno edge.
Pomelo presents Alex Cortex’ third album. ‘Kihon’ is a very personal effort, as suggested by the self-portrait on the cover. The carefully elaborated design of this gatefold double LP speaks as a whole and in true minimalist fashion about the passing of time, without ever declaring nostalgia to be a means for itself. In 11 nameless tracks, ‘Kihon’ takes us on a journey through organic worlds of sound that invites us to flow with the music and connect with the feelings contained in it. Concentrating on the bare essentials, the music begins to speak, turning the album into a harmonic whole. ‘Kihon’ therefore is also a return to listening, away from a utilitarian perception of music as a background sound.
L.D. Nero graces Pomelo with profound house rhythms. ‘Be the Light’ features a very catchy hook over deep strings and sparse but effective rhythmic programing, achieving an ethereal summer tune, floating and hypnotic, but grounded in the low end. The flip features two extremely stripped down house grooves, applying subtle changes and transitions for maximum effectiveness on the dancefloor.
New release on Pomelo, “Unshell” featuring 4 modern dancefloor tracks in best Alex Cortex style, characterized by tight rhythmic structures and a unique and irrestistible hypnotic power. From deep stumbling house grooves with piano stabs and a male vocal admiring´Your sexy moves´ and a Chicago Jacker with a repetitive voice on the A Side, to athmospheric dark techno with warped sound effects and breakbeat house layered with modulating 8-bit sounds on the flip, this record shows once more Alex Cortex´ skills to move off the beaten tracks in his very own style.
Expert techno producer Alex Cortex returns with a four tracker, which includes some of his best work to date. Alex Cortex is best known for his versatile output, from melodic downbeat electronica for labels like Ann Aimee to kicking techno or Drexciya-style electro.
The Hipodrome Of Music 