Elektrotechnik – Impulse EP is functional, dark, built for the dance floor. Machine-tight sequencing stands in contrast to an emotional atmosphere across four original tracks. A tense, precisely constructed record that explores control, repetition and feelings. Dutch legend Rude 66 delivers a slowed-down mutation of “Impulse” with his signature vocoder work, while Teslasonic recharges “Das Fundament” with a tight acid bassline.
Here are our favorite albums from 2023 compiled in chronological order.
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For more than thirty years, Ruud Lekx has been corrupting hearts and minds with his unmistakable brand of synthesizer music. Under his Rude 66 mask, this titan of electronics returns to Bordello A Parigi with twelve darkened tracks for ‘Conditioning Consciousness’. Tempos glide low in the opening incantations. From the breathy murmurings of “Magick Angels’ Invocations”, the listener is brought into Rude’s world. Shauna Lekx’s signature vocoder lyrics and blackened subject matter are central tenets, as are hauntingly delicate melodies. “The Riddler In Me” is a deep psychological journey through cable and circuit, an unsettling monologue accompanied by liquid analogue lines. BPMs are allowed to rise for the shimmering warmth of “In Exile” and in the reverb soaked “The Chariot”. But these are the outliers. Across the collection, percussion drives without ever being a central force. Instead, the focus is the bewitching and brooding compositions. Take the drugged low slung groove of “The Talisman of Algol” or the loose modulations of “Le Sagittaire”, here the listener is brought into the heart of the machines and the musician. The curtain close, “The Five Swords Of Venus In Aquarius” gathers a spread of influences, bringing them together into one piece. Synth. Soundtrack. Strings. All culminate in this superb climax, a climax to an album that broaches the boundaries between terrifying and terrific.
Rude 66 dusted off some of his vintage digital samplers and came up with this release on Pinkman. In these tracks you can hear influences of early 90s Meat Beat Manifesto and Coil weaving with the typical West-coast vocoder and synths, making “Fragmented Living” sound like it could have been produced anytime from the early days of industrial music to a few decades ahead from now. Special edition on red vinyl + bonus 7″ with two vinyl only tracks.
As a part of Soil Records’ 5th anniversary we have a special 7 inch edition of Sololust “Too much Days on a Row”, originally released in 2020, with an additional rework of this emotive song by the master Rude 66.
LDI Records serves up a celebration of The Hague’s famous electro sound with native Cliff Dalton aka Sander Evers behind four originals and fellow West Coast legends Legowelt and Rude66 both remixing.
These tracks where included on a CD-R at the first 100 S.M. Nurse EPs “30th Anniversary 1980-1983” (Domestica, 2013) – now remastered on vinyl & including an extra remix version by Rude 66.
Ruud Lekx, with his wife Shaunna on vocals, returns to “Bordello A Parigi”. Following The Kill and From Ritual to Reason, Rude 66 delivers Resurrection; a four tracker brimming with his trademark touch. The title piece is a devilish vocoder incantation. Beats bite as Shaunna’s thickly modulated voice rasps through bending distortion that bears the unmistakable 66 mark. Lyrics are sidelined for “The Curse”. Drum and dreamscape combine in this synthesizer spell, blackened shades blending with light tones in this heady brew. This balance is something Lekx achieves time and again in his productions. He once more finds this sense of equilibrium with the stained disco darkness of “The Sleepers”. Lurking, stalking, the track counters an innocent playful melody with undercurrents that throb with menace. That menace comes to the fore with “The Luciferians”. A bare anthem of anti pop, a celebration of prowling, murderous intent plays to steady pulse and stripped melody. Brooding brilliance from a master of dutch electronics…
Electronic Emergencies celebrates its fifth anniversary with ‘After The Fall’, by Croatian dark electro queen and style icon Popsimonova. Cult classic ‘Drive’ was remastered especially for the clubs by Rude 66, who also made a DJ edit of ‘Dark Star Crashes’, the collaboration of La Popsimonova with Italian queer heroes Hard Ton. Bosnian producer Borgie remixed ‘Break and Enter’ and ‘Delete Yourself’ into energizing, pounding dance floor killers.
New release by Chris Davis who is one of the founding members of 80s cold wave legends Shoc Corridor. On Travelling Light, his first solo release on vinyl, Chris Davis moves within the space between minimal wave and dark ambient. The three original tracks on side A are emotionally rich, melodically strong and leave you with a sense of nostalgia. On side B, the tracks are remixed by Electronic Emergencies’ finest in various styles: dark electro by Rude 66, disco noir by Machinegewehr and industrial ambient by Yabibo Hazurfa.
Crimes Of The Future continues to demonstrate its expertise in the field of modern day electro and wave based music with this incredible one off missive from an unlikely super group. N.O.I.A, Rubicon and Rude 66 join forces for the bright and bold “Morning Bells,” which stirs up a generous dose of Italo, techno and electro in a cauldron and serves it through a massive wall of synth-powered sound. Who else to remix such a concoction but Timothy J. Fairplay then? The multi-faceted London producer stays true to the original’s dazzling colour and simply beefs up the beats for a cracking alternative mix to the original.
Early 20th century. Barbarism on an industrial scale. After the final shots had rung out Europe was left a husk, a shell to be rebuilt. And she did rebuild. Slowly, but surely, normality returned. Different zones. Different ideologies. One Europe. Yet not everyone was happy. Within this struggling continent there were those who saw the hand of authoritarianism at the wheel, past criminals ruling and lands being led back to dictatorship. The solution: the sub machine gun. From Reason to Ritual is Rude 66´s most ambitious album to date. Amsterdam´s premier electronic musician maps the rise and fall of terrorism over two slabs of wax. Gruesome naivety, one that led to countless deaths, is given an electro beat on the first record, “Reason.” Warbling wave vocals from Ruud’s wife Shaunna tell a bitter tale of paranoia and looming violence. That violence is truly realised on the second record “Ritual.” Beats rain like shards of broken glass, constricted acid and echo as the enemy closes in for the final hollow defeat. An album that takes you from manifesto to death march.
Flight Recorderl – home to modern interpretations of other European genres of dance music – Italo, New Beat, and EBM, in conjunction with Radio Oscillations, brings together a collection of music by those producers inspired by these ‘krautrock’ pioneers of the early to mid 1970s on Obliged to Space – a heartfelt and beautifully written love letter to those cosmic sounds of the 1970s. Tracks from Rude 66, Phantom Love, Antoni Maiovvi, Alessandro Parisi, Ian Martin and others.
Rude 66 does not need an introduction… This Dutch acid and electro veteran has been around for a long time. Being part of the old school acid scene from The Hague with releases on legendary label Acid Planet and he is one of the originals (again) when it comes to the new wave of electro in the late 1990’s. Two vocals tracks on the A-side with Beta Evers and Sololust appearing as partners in crime, and on the B-side two instrumental almost trance like tracks. This is were electro, acid and a touch of old school gothic come together!
It’s exactly 20 years ago since Rude 66 dropped his first record. Time to celebrate with this monster release on Bordello A Parigi. Killer vocoders, crushing beats and heavy dark arps.
The Hipodrome Of Music 