techno
December – 64 Ways To Rob A Friend [RTTD009]
Austere factory techno with a distinct Gallic swagger on Helena Hauff’s Return To Disorder label.
Yan Cook – Dialogue [INERTIA007]
Delsin Records’ Inertia series is back with a powerful four tracker from Yan Cook. The producer from Ukraine has also released Delsin’s main label and associated Ann Aimee. He makes straight up techno that arrests your attention and does just that again here. ‘Toucan’ is first and is a spangled, underwater techno track with gurgling lines wrapping round shuffling percussion and insistent drums. It’s one to get into your head, while ‘Puffin’ is more physical, with more warped synths and paddy drums woven together into a fluid, rippling groove that never lets up. The drums on ‘Dialogue’ are deep and land with real resonance while dubby chords rattling out to the horizon. Last of all ‘Flamingo’ is the most manic of the lot, with hi speed synths and booming drums all coming together to make for powerful, sub shaking and room filling techno madness.
VA – 001 [XK010]
Number ten for X-Kalay is kicking off a series of Various Artist EPs. Whilst taking in 3 continents brings a certain geographical diversity, the aim of this record was to create a cohesive release bound by the common themes of electronic music they love at the label. On the A side Zurich based Douala lights it up with a perfectly crafted dubbed out house jam; awash with tape delays and spacey reverbs ‘The Mysteries of Life’ is an excellently understated piece of work. Next up Chilean Mucho Sueno utilisies some big drum workouts and tense atmospherics to turn in a tough 4×4 house track. Baked in the concrete streets of Santiago, the rough percussive interplay and strong bass grooves of ‘Yungelita’ quickly becoming a signature of this promising South American producer. On the flip it’s an all Australian affair with E.Davd contributing a deliciously lazy, boogied out electro number full of iced out pad work and a truly hypnotic groove. Finally, fellow Australian Escape Artist closes things off with a massive stripped back cut aimed squarely at the floor; the jagged electro bass and moody pad work of Archipelago upping the ante perfectly.
Andreas Gehm – WOD001 [WOD001]
Two tracks from the late Andreas Gehm (more to come in later releases). Pressed on a one-sided, hand stamped and numbered standard weight black vinyl release. Accompanied by a printed info sheet insert.
Smersh – Sideways [DE187]
Dark Entries returns to the New Jersey basement studio of Smersh to unearth an 18-minute jam session from 1989, backed with two contemporary remixes. “Sideways” was taken from a cassette titled ‘100’, which refers to a 100-minute jam session the band recorded to tape on June 12, 1989 in Piscataway. A frenetic hybrid of techno and acid with driving EBM style beats, “Sideways” weaves intricate industrial noises with synth melodies that drift in and out of phase. On the flip are two fresh remixes by different aliases of prolific Ann Arbor producer Tadd Mullinix. As JTC, he expands the sound palette, adding organ stabs and lush pads, drawing on Detroit deep house and UK garage. The Charles Manier remix features chanted vocals on top of an array of pulsating synths, stark percussion, and post-punky guitar effects.
Mor Elian – Miracle Mind Program [DELFT016]
Deep cerebral electro from Mor Elian. Challenging and advanced forward thinking tracks topped with some little acid flavour on the always reliable Delft label.
Drvg Cvltvre – Presents H-World: Recolonization [SHIP0521]
1997. ‘Drexciya don’t have no phone. They’re too busy to do your remix’. Mad Mike’s response was short and to the point, enough to put off some; but not Vincent Koreman. Addicted from an early age, the dutch producer dug deeper and deeper into the mythology and mystery of James Stinson and Gerald Donald. The sounds, images and ideas conjured up by the Detroit electro duo pulled Koreman in, his “fascination” growing ever more “intense” as the underwater dwellers sonically prospered. Fast forward twenty years and that fascination has not diluted one drop, in fact the aquatic dream of the wavejumpers is the inspiration for “Recolonization”. These tracks “would have never had existed,” says Koreman, “if it wasn’t for Stinson and Donald creating that great, energetic, abstract electronic music and coupled it with an original vision on the African diaspora, art and culture.” This music is an homage to the enigma of Drexciya, a tribute to the machine marine men who pioneered electro and a vision. Drvg Cvltvre continues that vision, one of “an underwater race” that has reconquered Earth, overcoming “big business, corporate greed and water pollution” to reclaim the surface from man. Forget mankind. Our time is over, ‘Recolonization’ is here.
Garçon Taupe – The White Spider [ET055/GOOILAND030]
Garçon Taupe has been around for quite some time but released only a few tracks. This 4 track EP is all about acid.
Seph – Aces [DU069]
Hailing from Buenos Aires, Sebastian Galante a.k.a. Seph is one of Argentina’s main electronic music artists. With nearly 10 years of activity in the techno scene, he has established himself as a multi-fac- eted artist, dividing his time between roles such as an energetic, prolific producer, heavily requested remixer, Aula Magna Records label manager, and a live act which has driven him to perform all across the globe. A sound experimentalist at heart, he devotes himself into expanding the sonic experience on the dance-floor and in the mind.
SCB – Below The Line [HF044]
Scuba refocuses his SCB project with ‘Below the Line’, coming on Hotflush Recordings. ‘Below The Line’ inaugurates a fictional timeline of events set in a hypothetical future. A climate-related disaster acts as a catalyst for a complete overturn in society, the repercussions of which will be explored subsequently.
VA – Warriors [777-14]
Double trouble compilation featuring tracks by DJ Normal 4, Qnete, Xan, Seixlack, Rixdorfer Grau, Lutto Lento and Futers.
S. English – Eris [LIES102]
Following up his self titled 12 inch earlier this year Austin, Texas based Shane English continues in his path exploring the deep and bizarre edges of the American DIY electronic world. Over these eight tracks we get English’s wide spanning take on the music touching upon elements of industrial on “Invasion Threat” darker ambient with opening track “Sanctuary” and even hints of Stinson on “Bilocation Drift”. English’s signature sparse and melancholic tone is present throughout again using minimal percussion and voice to glue it all together in a haunting fashion. Another engaging listen direct from the depths of the American underbelly.
Ernestas Sadau – Gonzo On Tour [PBD009]
Pinkman’s Broken Dreams welcome a new midnight malcontent into the fold, Ernestas Sadau debuts with his first 12”: Gonzo on Tour. Sirens blare, samples hiss in a haze of static before a grizzled snare introduces “Riots in Jail Near Kaunas.” Grubby basslines curl into shards of acid, full figured thump sweetened by fragile bars. “Crackheads from Lyon” is steeped in the traditions of garage bands and D.I.Y. punk. Strings snarl and sneer at crashing drum beats, lonesome notes floating in the surge. The foul tempered “Hiroshima (Acid Breaks Your Body Mix)” demands the flip. Beats break and buckle under the leer of lewd 303 lines, a finale bubbling over with violent intent.
Seer – MJZ002 [MJZ002]
Machine Jazz brings you the dystopian sci-fi duo Seer (alter ego and collaboration of M. Parent and Maroje T.). After their incredible debut release on Detour the duo keeps breaking the rules combining broken 808 beats with Hip-hop breaks, gnarly trippy vocals swelling over dissonant synth notes and sprinkles of dark IDM/EBM that brings pure raw energy to the dance-floor making time-space-mind become irrelevant.
Head Front Panel @ Tresor (Berlin) 22.07.2017
VA – ACT III [PROPAGANDAM003]
The legendary Moscow club Propaganda celebrates its 20th Anniversary in April 2017 and launches a brand new record label. The label will cover different styles of intelligent electronic music, focusing on techno in the first year.
TWR72 – Lucid Remixes [FLOAT022]
The complete TWR72 – Lucid release wasn t enough so it gets a remix treatment by Psyk, Henning Baer, ROD, Neznan and TWR72 itself.
Regis – Live In NYC [CITI023]
The don of Birmingham techno Karl O’Connor serves up some live rarities courtesy of retroverts Cititrax. Features recently uncovered recordings of a Regis performance in NYC on January 4th, 1997 at the famed Film Academy. His unmistakeable sound and influence is integral to the DNA of the techno sound, blatantly copied but never matched. Some classics from the Downwards catalogue are contained on this EP in all their austere fashion. “We Said No” “Translation” and “Careless Pedestrian” from his seminal 1996 LP Gymnastics being highlights.
Borusiade – Silent [COMEME042]
Silent is the new single by Miruna Boruzescu aka Borusiade from Bucharest. Silent is a suffocated cry. Silent as in silence that is hard to take. Sitting and waiting in silence, while exploding on the inside. Silent as in silence before the storm. An intense track that recalls industrial spaces, hedonism, sweat, sex and disconnection from the outside world. The rattling sound of ghost train passing by, or big reverberated factory machines unleashed. Body music 2017. The B side features a remix by the project Khidja , also hailing from Bucharest, and is driven by the track’s bass synth, a neurotic now school electro rapture take on the original.
