Mannequin announce the second volume of the much acclaimed italian New Wave Italian compilation. “Danza Meccanica” is the latest, unmissable chapter in the story of Italian post punk – the less traditionally rock branch. It outlines the approach taken by ten more or less unknown groups who all deserve rediscovery and to be remembered alongside luckier outfits. Ten tracks that spell out the manifesto of a scene fascinated by electronic innovation.
The Black Dog uncover a hidden corner of Sheffield’s DIY history with five tracks from Xerox Girls issued on their Dust Science imprint. The Xerox Girls formed in 1979 after witnessing other Steel City bands such as Cabaret Voltaire, They Must Be Russians and The Stunt Kites but to this day their tracks have been the preserve of obscure compilations and Sheffielders in the know. With an array of Acetone drum machines, Revox tape deck and suitably cheap synths they build strange and spiky tracks with one eye on the dancefloor and another wandering to more experimental sounds, ranging from the water-logged Coldwave of signature tune ‘Xerox Girls (We Are)’ to the tunnelling pulses of ‘Erase Me’ and trippier jaunts like ‘Level Five Car Park Dreams’ or the spitting circuitry of ‘Rammle’.
“Svensk Bonnasynth” basically says it all… this is Swedish Electronic Hillbilly Music! The musicians involved in Adolf Filter, Kord and Monster Apparat have a long tradition in producing electronic music and have been active in the Swedish music world for years. With this record they serve us roots music coming from analogue synths… traditional and conservative electro and synth music…!
Number 4 from World Unknown. Side W is a big vocal banger from San Francisco synth duo Inhalt. O side U, Jam Factory creates a throbbing club style track, slower, steadier and more strung out than their usual deep house grooves.
Pure electro pop inspired tracks that go further then just doing retro 80′ electro cuts. Pulsing synth lines with a touch of the NY disco punk, mixed with some housier bits and stirred up..
Composing an entire electronic album around the notorious 15th Century Cult Of Assassins, New Jersey based producer Jorge Velez, better known as Professor Genius, has created a unique and ambitious piece of work, under the guise of “Hassan”. Largely based around layered atmospheric Arabic-styled synth work and sparse percussion throughout, Hassan employs an entirely electronic palette to bring listeners into a secret world filled with darkness, drama, triumph and chaotic dissonance. The release includes also remixes by Steve Moore, Marcos Cabral and Steve Summers.
Totebagz is the collaboration between two of Melbourne’s most daring minds, Jerky Perky aka Misha Hallenbach (Perks and Mini, Bamboo Musik) and DJ Biscuit (Moonrocks). On this limited edition disc, the Totebagz pile blankets of synth upon deep-fried circuitry upon drum machines that have a mind of their own.
100% Silk return with another exceedingly alluring drop, this time from Aurora Halal and Jason Letkiewicz aka Innergaze. Lithe, sexy post-punk disco is the vibe, NYC in 1981/2011 is the setting for ‘Shadow Disco’, strutting to languid dub bassline and preening synth flashes, before ‘Way Of Life’ retires to the balcony to ahem, powder one’s nose and gaze out at glittering harbour lights dancing off glass-curtained high rises. Soon enough the seductive, panther-purring bassline, cooing big-haired women and rippling rototoms of ‘Hypnogogisco’ beckons us back to the middle of the floor and the chick with the biggest hair asks ‘What’s Your Body Doing Tonight’, only it comes out all syrupy slow and you realise you shouldn’t have necked that pint of GHB.
Domestica produce a selection which gathers up and represents part of the original work during the most experimental era of Gary Ramon’s music career. The songs that Gary Ramon edited during the Modern Art era (from approximately 1982 to 1989) were basically from cassettes; most of his music didn’t take off outside of the English ‘Underground’ scene in the 80’s.
First single to be lifted off Xeno & Oaklander’s forthcoming new album ‘Sets and Lights’. Baroque electronic arpeggios and fast celebratory beats drive the surrealist scenario of ‘The Staircase’ in which a staircase continually leads to dead ends. The delicate ghostly female vocals mirror this eternal motion forwards and backwards and up and down. This dark tale takes flight into warm noise ornaments and glistening synth flourishes and comes right back to its core: minimal electronics. ‘Not Afraid’ is a more haunted and dark waltz which takes you to a private enchanted universe of silk, flowers, leather and lace, sheltered away from turbulence and doom.
This is the one and only ever release on Welovetoemerge. Six serious electro-techno grooves to capture your soul – check the aura of moody melodies of Hyboid’s ‘Jenseitsflugmaschine’, Telebot’s electronic love ballad, ‘Robot Messiah’ and the infectious lil’ groove that is Redcone’s ‘The Head’. Top drawer stuff and Interstellar’s album of the month!
Downwards uproot a fine clod of propulsive drone noise from one Collin Gorman Weiland. He follows in the freshly trodden footsteps of Six Six Seconds to release a brilliant debut on the Regis-curated label. A-side ‘Price Of Leather’ attains a pummeling attack velocity of industrial rhythms and sludgy, crooked kosmische spirals and the flipside ‘Despair And Confession’ zones out to gunkjack machine throbs and walls of welting distortion.
The Hipodrome Of Music 