Dutch label Shipwrec present their next release – a special one-sided pressing – by revered electro specialist Anthony Rother. A pure dancefloor fire that is part techno, part electro. ‘Balkonien’ is a broody affair from the off, with a supple, rubbery bed of kicks down low and a molten synth line up top. As things unfold, a nebulous network of celestial pads spiral about, the drums bounce more and lots of sinewy machine lines dance about and have you doing the same.
Umwelt with a release on Shipwrec. This new EP deals mainly in moody electro that is tinged with nice acid lines, which slowly becomes a trait of this great label. ‘Somatogravic Illusion’ goes first and is a synapse-twitching bit of bulky electro with tough kicks, groaning synths and starry melodies. ‘Subterranean Bases’ is a little more stripped back, with sheet metal snares blowing in the wind and background pads adding a sense of drama. ‘A Tale Of Disruptive Science’ gets all liquid and frenzied like a prime era Drexciyan cut, with lashings of acid flashing about in the deep chambers of the track, ‘Realm Of Chaos’ explores slow, dragging ambiance that is pregnant with sense of end of the world doom and finally ‘Terraformation’ picks up the ante with pixelated melodies, urgent drums and lots of slapping percussion and gurgling acid 303s that really make you want to move.
Plant43 is releasing his next album, Scars Of Intransigence, on Shipwrec. He has a strong artistic vision and that plays out in this carefully crafted album, which has been written as a coherent story that unfolds from start-to-finish. Rather than being purely a collection of DJ tools, Scars Of Intransigence has also been made with the home listening experience in mind so that the album works in both contexts equally well.
Shipwrec serve up a second instalment of the American Psychosis project by pioneering Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre. He is known for his experimental and boundary pushing sounds and it’s no different here, on either track. The first, ‘March into Nothingness’ is a truly bleak and foreboding affair with serrated synths and thick, dense fog hanging in the air above slow and purposeful drums. Like a post apocalyptic industrial estate it is a raw and arresting place to be. ‘Drown Into The Eternal Twilight’ is then an even harder edge techno stomper with angry synth lines, tough drums and tons of white noise darkening the foreboding airwaves.
German producer and acid head The Exaltics is back with a new EP on Shipwrec that comes with a remix by Unit Moebius Anonymous and terrific artwork by Jaco Putker. Real name Robert Witschakowski, The Exaltics is co founder of the Solar One Music label and has turned out a steady stream of EPs and LPs on labels like Trust, Creme Organization and Clone West Coast Series until now, always coming on strong with a dense techno style. Opener ‘The New Beginning’ continues in that tradition where electro drums are run through with racing acid and more serene and tender synths colour in the backdrop. ‘Coroded’ is a much more bulky and brutal techno affair with tough drums that roll up and down, even angrier acid lines and plenty of industrial percussion. Final original ‘Downwards’ is even quicker and more abrasive and barely allows you to catch your breath with its hurried kick drums, ripping 303 and frankly manic, metallic hi hats. The Unit Moebius Anonymous remix is suitably tough and teeth clenching with paranoid sirens, gun like percussion and a true sense of unstoppable force. Serious techno for serious heads, this is an arresting EP that it is impossible to ignore.
For its first album project, Shipwrec is to release a new full-length album from pioneering electronic producer DMX Krew entitled “Shape Shifting Shaman” with colourful artwork by Doppeldenk. Ed DMX is best known for releasing six albums on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex Records and for spanning styles from breakbeat to techno to electro. He has already released two EPs on the four-year-old Dutch label Shipwrec and now returns with a full-length opus that proves, more than twenty years after first emerging, that few people are as sonically inventive as him. Of the album, DMX Krew says “I feel like these tracks are more original and have a stronger feeling of my personality in them. When I finished each of these tracks I had a happy feeling that I had done something true to myself and something that represents my best”. Reporting that he is always making and releasing music but tends to save back his best tracks for a full length project, Shape Shifting Shaman is just that – a collection of all killer material with great cover design and excellent mastering.
Shipwrec proudly present one of the pioneers of Dutch electronics, Vincent Koreman. Under the mask of Drvg Cvltvre brutish 303 soaked anger is being doled out. An Acid washed Industrial wrath comes in the form of American Psychosis [Part one]. “Acid Flash” sees a new collaboration with Bournmouth’s Chris Moss Acid for a burning piece of aggression. Violent knob squawk is further punished by bullying beats, cruel claps and some late night horror. “I’ll Wear Your Face On A Chain” has the same red mist behind the eyes. Shrill 303 chords run into abrasive drums with darkened vocals prophesising pain.
The mysterious Ekman, aka Roel Dijcks, has been gaining some deserved attention with his terse brand of Electro. With releases on the likes of Panzerkreuz, Solar One Music and Berceuse Heroique, Dijcks has rattled souls with his bare mechanics and cold-hearted sounds. Arctic blasts descend from the outset with his latest for Shipwrec. Frosted coils ensnaring clipped beats, roaming bass lines kept in check by tight drum patterns. Emotion is masked, feelings enveloped and embedded beneath those arrangements of aluminium and steel. Distress is never far from Ekman’s work. The flipside jangles with fear and retribution, respites elevating that initial unease into something outright sinister. Anxiety is effect. A brooding boil of ghosting reverb and sharpened percussion from the hooked hands of Ekman.
Alien Rain is a tainted Techno project of Milton Bradley. Under this alias the Berlin based artist has served up disgruntled Electronics and downright deranged Acid. Panel beaten 90s tracks that pervert and pummel. Floor a-bombs that leave behind nothing but a 303 wasteland. Mr Bradley has caught the attention of Deep Sound Channel and been called upon to deliver his style of hypnotic fallout Techno. Two sealed vials of audio venom are the result. ”Acid Reign 1” is a looming beast, a corrosive creature dripping famine and pestilence from every pore. The flip is a steady builder. Slowly Alien Rain constructs an analogue scape. Bulging bass and tempered Acid annihilation threatens throughout but is kept in check. Beelzebub brutality from the warehouse warped mind of Milton Bradley.
Split release of the two Dutch labels Shipwrec and Fremdtunes, casting off for uncharted waters, setting sail to proudly introduce a fresh new name to their ever expanding roster. Julian Edwardes is a Dutch artist that bends the limitations of Hip Hop and Bass Music, his first outing on vinyl takes elements of these sounds and twists them into a new form. The title track judders and shakes into life with a controlled tempo adding gravity to the mix. Sombre notes drop to create a melancholic muscular beast. The flip sees E.R.P. aka Gerard Hanson aka Convextion flying in from Texas on remix duty. Hanson weaves his magic, a lush melody of IDM depth descends to elevate this remix into something sublime.
Maarten van der Vleuten, one of the godfathers of Dutch Techno and a true electronic music pioneer, on Shipwrec serves up his own recipe for Electro in the form of the ‘Internaut EP’. The title piece takes the rhythmic mould of the 808 but shifts the floorboards with industrial soundscapes and UK Techno sidesteps framing. A morphing and melting piece of otherworldly Electronics, over ten minutes of shifting synthsizer sands. “Holographic Inserts” lands with terse clips and pulsing basslines before a rumbling analogue chord breaks the surface. Warbling bulwarks of space meet clinical lines in an immense track of expansive proportions. An epic of atmospheric, sinister and sharp sounds; a style pushing the boundaries of Electro.
Neil Landstrumm & Mat Consume with their Shit & Cheap deliver some totally unexpected raw & raving electro banger for the Dutch Shipwrec label. Inspired by 60’s surf & garage and later punk & wave, the drum machines are set to give us the essential kick’s, clap’s and hihat’s we need for that oldschool electro vibe. The Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird gets a remake dipped in acid and with Shadowlands pre-dubstep skills take control, but nevertheless, all tracks have those wobly basslines typical to Landstrumm’s music combined with unique vocals that make this release something special and definitely standing out.
UK electro pioneer & Breakin’ labelboss Ed DMX participates in the Shipwrec adventure by delivering 6 killer tracks on this “Cosmic Awakening EP”. From Drexciyan electro to cosmic downtempo synth-driven funkyness to faster acidic driven basslines & uptempo braindance food!
The Hipodrome Of Music 