Clear Memory welcomes back En Direct. After their appearance on CLEAR001 and the two EP’s on the sister label Lunatic. With ‘The Illusion Of Control’, En Direct release their first Album. A long player diving deep into the realms of the human mind and its abyss. Exploring insecurities, uproar and mania with Industrial studies and EBM, rounding it off with bittersweet Minimal Wave and Electro for the sleepless.
Raymond D. Barre with his second album ‘Dans l’Œil Du Biset’ for Nocta Numerica.
Schrödinger’s Box welcome Catalonia’s Adrian Marth into the fold. The Iberian artist has been drawing crowds and turning heads with his analogue inspired productions and dancefloor inhibitions. This five tracker sees the Italo Moderni founder explore the glittering angles and brooding shadows of his machines. The punishing percussion and beaming laser lights of “Labyrinth Mind” give way to the tumbling drums and racing synthlines of the addictive “Sex Tonight.” The flip opens with the sleazy grandeur of “Beverly Hills”, looming melodies and retro flourishes combine in this operatic ode to the 1980s. Speaking of the 80s, the inspiration for the penultimate comes from a figure who symbolised the bombastic bravado of the era. “Divine on the Late Show 88” is a tribute to the Pink Flamingos legend, beats sparkle as her sequenced dresses and larger-than-life attitude screams into the present. Danny Wolfers takes the helm to close. Donning his familiar Legowelt moniker, the behemoth of all things electronic delivers a saturated and spiralling rework of “Divine on the Late Show 88” to the close.
Yarrow Ballet returns with a temperamental twelve track VA compilation traversing from moody experimental electronics to dark industrial sounds, post punk and gloomy synth wave.
The second album from Noda & Wolfers on Nightwind Records is here. With “Evil Fades In Echo” the Japanese dub melodica virtuoso Takafumi Noda aka Mystica Tribe meets up with Danny Wolfers aka Legowelt again for an unique concoction of digital dub acid hall with raw lo-fi synth wave. Buckets of echo, crumbled tapes, mind altering phasers, luring spring reverbs, sloppy hythm boxes, heavy intense bass and the ever mystifying melodica playing from Noda bring this project to a new level.
As is now a well-established tradition, when 7 appears in the catalogue number it is the turn of handyman Asymmetrical. The title takes its inspiration from a tag that appeared in the bathroom of the historical Knick Knack Yoda after one of the (in)usual nights, and is a leap in time, a project born from the layering of different sessions that took place between 2018 and 2020 and only sees the light of day today. 7 is also the number of inches of PVC on which this double is engraved, hosting on one side the track that gives the album its name, on whose rhythms the sound of Luigi Gargano’s saxophone echoes. On the other Estetica Della Notte, is a journey into the phenomenology of tumultuous nights in the shadow of Rome’s Dome.
Borusiade lands on Dark Entries with their triumphant third LP, THE FALL: A Series of Documented Experiences. The Romanian producer and DJ Miruna Boruzescu aka Borusiade has a track record of genre-bending releases on tastemaking outlets like Cómeme, Pinkman, Cititrax, and of course Dark Entries, who unleashed their stunning 2020 sophomore album Fortunate Isolation. THE FALL builds on Borusiade’s mythos with its 9 brooding and sophisticated tracks investigating the contours of memory and embodiment – the “fragile bridge between body and mind” in Borusiade’s words. Moody basslines and melancholy synths wrestle with muscular rhythms; this is electronic body music for the heart and head. This is their most diaristic work to date, as well, chronicling love and loss through the gauze of reflection. Tracks like “Save Me”, “Recovery and Redemption”, and “The Fall” sprung from painful breakups, periods which Borusiade identifies as some of their most creatively fruitful, finding themselves “making the best music when I was brokenhearted.” There are odes to musical titans we’ve lost: the minimal electro producer Porn Darsteller is comemorated on “Darsteller”, while industrial legends Genesis P-Orrige and Lady Jaye are honored on “Pandrogyne.” THE FALL comes housed in a sleeve using Gautier D’Agoty’s “Essai d’Anatomie,” an anatomical work from 1745, and also includes a lyric sheet. Trauma, from lost love to pandemic isolation, informs THE FALL, situating itself as a gap that can only be accessed through sound and the creation of art. “What can I add? When life gives you drama, make music.”
The long-awaited return of the techno trance wizard Asymetric80 is finally here. You can once again expect his unique vision of what a dancefloor banger should be: powerful low drums and mesmerizing melodies dancing around the perfect bass to energize any dancefloor.
Lab Personnel is an electro / EBM producer team from from Zagreb, Croatia, including Ivona Ivkovic, Marijan Katic, Nikola Kos, Luka Kurjan, Goran Lautar, Jasmin Mahmic, Dominik Sesek and Paul Genetik. Sons of Traders present “Break Apart”, an improvisation recorded live at “Synth Jam” improvisation session in Zagreb at Surogat Club, December 2023.
Unreleased themes from Kornelije Kovac for commissioned documentary short ‘Raport iz Sarajeva’, directed by Miodrag Zdravkovic in 1982. This music themes precede the official songs, idents and audio logos for the XIV Winter Olympic Games Sarajevo 1984 opening ceremony made by Kornelije Kovac in his Belgrade based studio from 1982 to 1984. Sourced from the original master tapes with full color artwork by Eric Adrian Lee. Includes insert with photographs from Kornelije Kovac private collection and liner notes by Zeljko Luketic.
After years of reluctance, finally a new album from Dada Pogrom. The Icelandic musician Kenneth Walter Balys has created a masterpiece of elaborated synth passages with wonderful pop melodies. His performances are few and far between, but in March 2024 he had already played some of the new songs in front of a full sold out house at the Kernkrach Festival. The audience was thrilled and demanded encores.
Black Dot lands on Italo Moderni with a cult futuristic gem on vocals by Le Chocolat Noir and hardware wizard Christian Kroupa, three obscure killers bangers ready for the dancefloor, last but not least with an epic remix by the king Marcel Dettmann.
L.F.T (Love, Fist, Tears), aka Johannes Haas, returns to Osàre! Editions for another scorching release. As ever, the German producer’s sonic palette is immediately recognisable as he manoeuvres through 1980s-inspired wave and raw, rugged electro. Equal parts dancefloor elixir and cerebral wonderment, Minecrawler showcases Haas’ flair for freewheeling, chemical artistry, and experimentation. Divided into heavy, vocal numbers on one side and potent, club-orientated material on the other, the EP is unified overall by the frigid crackle of drum machines, primal synths, and goth aesthetics.
Mannequin Records boss Alessandro Adriani returns on his own label with four tracks that were previously available exclusively as digital releases. Known for his unique blend of electro and synth wave sounds, Adriani has made a significant impact on the underground music landscape. With this new vinyl release, Adriani brings his distinctive musical vision to a vinyl audience, offering a tangible experience that digital formats cannot replicate. Each track is a testament to his ability to merge pulsating electronic beats with atmospheric synth melodies, creating a soundscape that is both nostalgic and innovative.
The seductive sounds of Portugal swing to Dark Entries on Rock Rendez Vous: Música Moderna Portuguesa 1985-1986, a compilation of vintage Iberian synth, wave, and postpunk gems. The legendary club Rock Rendez Vous (RRV) opened its doors in Lisbon in 1980, heralding a new era in the Portuguese underground. Although touring acts like Killing Joke, Danse Society, or Echo & the Bunnymen graced its stage, RRV more vitally served as ground zero for a new generation of Portuguese bands, one simultaneously in touch with broader international musical movements while being invested in establishing a national sonic identity. Rock Rendez Vous culls 9 tracks of prime Portuguese indie tunes from the Música Moderna Portuguesa compilations released in 1985 and 1986, documenting the heyday of this movement. Jangly and brooding postpunk gems like “Levante” from Jovem Guarda, Projecto Azul’s “New Sides,” and Essa Entente’s “Festa Final” are well-represented here. Meanwhile, quirky Balearic-laced synthpop gems like D. W. Art’s “Mate” or Zona Proibida’s “Musak” add a subtly regional flare. Rock Rendez Vous: Música Moderna Portuguesa comes housed in a sleeve designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a photo of the club RRV, and also includes a double-sided insert with lyrics, photos, and liner notes.
The Hipodrome Of Music 