Burbling basslines. Hissing hi-hats. Snapping snares. Soulful synths. Streams of machine currents meander and merge in The Red Hour, Mark Du Mosch’s debut EP for Pinkman. Four cuts of compelling and complex electronics, each track offering a different side of Du Mosch’s sound. Textured techno from the margins.
Following his acclaimed North Bend album of 2015, Chris Roman, known as 214, is back on Shipwrec with the third in their series of single sided odysseys. A haze of bass descends for “I See What You Did There”, a clipped drizzle of percussion falls before thick acid bars tremble into position. Echoes, reverb and decay merge, groan and bend as the preconceptions of ambient, electro and techno are pulled apart. In one breath dense and complex, the next grooving and future funk dipped. An epic example of 214’s talent. Single sided 12″ with a silkscreen printed B side.
Pinkman cast their net eastwards. The latest finding, Hungary’s Norwell, offers up four genre splicing cuts. Rhythms are from the golden age of electro, cold and prototypical. Around these sharp percussion patterns swirl a wealth of melting synthlines. Pads, deep basslines and a ghosting presence characterise the title track, that same spectral mood weaves its way through the sweetened strings and distorted judders of “Dissonant Division.” The frigid bars of “Nordic Nights” introduces the flip, arctic winds pierced by snapping snares. Emotional depth ebbs and flows as the rich and textured “Wasted Echoes” brings down the curtain on Norwell’s Pinkman debut.
The Finnish artist Boneless One returns on Ride The Gyroscope with a 4 tracker of unfashionable acid.
DimDj has no control over his life. Machines, records and noise boxes took over years ago. This is more than confirmed by this 5-track journey from acid techno to the old-school electro and further to Kuno’s dystopia, who delivers a complete acidic rework over PTN1.
Solo outings from Africans With Mainframes member Noleian Reusse are relatively rare. Here he dons a brand new alias, the Eddie Murphy-referencing Dexter St Jacques, and sets off on a techno trip into the ether. Opener “Laamb” [sic] is a curious but alluring beast, with undulating synthesizer and acid lines riding a fizzing, almost bubbly drum machine rhythm. It feels like electronic jazz with techno drums, yet it’s not overtly jazzy. There’s a similar feel about the more distorted “Temporal Understanding”, where rising and falling melodies lines and winding electronics compete for attention over a hissing drum machine groove.
Little is known about Konstantin Tschechow, the first and last time we met was around the turn of the millennium in the small city of Koenigsbrueck in the far east of Germany. It was during one of my regular night strolls through the countryside, when I ran into him accidentally. He was standing there in the middle of nowhere leaning on the fence of a train yard where he was, as he said “recording silence”. I found that very interesting and we got to talk to each other. After a long conversation about everybody and his dog we found out that we were both Grandsons of Afrika Bambaataa. We planned to hang out more often so we exchanged phone numbers and he gave me a CDR with some of his recordings before he disappeared. A couple of weeks later I called him up to ask if we could meet, but he told me that he had to leave the country because the local authorities found out that he illegally immigrated from Aldebaran. Before I could say “to hell with this fascist state!!!” the connection was interrupted. I tried to call again, but he must have dumped his phone to make sure nobody could track him down. That was the last time I ever heard from him. A few years ago, there were rumors of him being the sound man for reincarnated John Lennon on various tours around Galaxy Mt23, unfortunately I could never afford tickets to find out. One lucky day in 2015 I found the CDR that he gave me on our first and only meeting ever. I discovered 5 tracks and instructions to release them in the year 2016 during a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.
Founded 20 years ago, Blueprint Records has remained one of the true driving forces behind British techno. To celebrate this special anniversary label founder James Ruskin and Blueprint friends have created a compilation of brand new music to celebrate this landmark. These exclusive tracks are released here as the ‘20 Years Of Blueprint Compilation’ limited edition box-set, with a collection of four clear vinyl records as well as poster and sticker inserts.
Function & Inland’s Infrastructure introduces its next milestone – Facticity. A 4×12” vinyl box set, CD and digital compilation featuring 15 tracks by key artists, label colleagues and new faces. Function, Inland, Campbell Irvine, Post Scriptum, Cassegrain & Tin Man, Rrose, Efdemin, Vatican Shadow, Silent Servant, Blue Hour, Steve Bicknell and Cleric all feature, spinning a narrative ranging from lush, ambient electronics and post-club diversions, to contemporary club techno and back again. Carefully curated as an album, Facticity represents the foundations of what Infrastructure stands for – a manifesto for 2016 and beyond.
Module Werk kicks off proceedings with ‘On The Verge’, one of two tracks by the elusive Russian. Warm, yet brutal sound design underpins ascending chords, whilst percussion leaps in and out of the track to complement its narrative, before an acid-esque line, leads the way. A2 sees Drummond’s next outing on vinyl, with ‘Concentric Rinds’. Here the versatile producers track is centred around a bass line that has dynamic range from the playful to the wonderfully aggressive. Embedded underneath is a sonic remit that is as nostalgic sounding, as it is forward thinking. The second offering from Module Werk has more of a direct approach than his A1 track. A straight up acid line gets thrown around the track, while snares and kick drums dance directly with it. It’s tension never wavers. The B2 side is by Leeds and Mint Club resident Bobby O’Donnell. His track ‘Repartition’ is circled around a warm bass line while stabs, synths and hi pitched melodies happily jostle with each other throughout the track.
Second EP on Mathematics from Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being and Deviere ”Ghetto Sketches EP” is an experimental fusion of Jazz/Deep House/Black Noise Art Rebellion that will invoke mental incantations of fever.
Chicago veterans Justin Long and Ken Zawacki debut their Circling Vultures project on L.I.E.S. with three tracks of jackin’ mid-Western techno.
In Æternam Vale, long the best-kept secret of the french synth punk scene, has been revealed many times now. This is about writing a new chapter of that 33+ years story, that begun in Lyon in 1983 as a band, whose leader Laurent Prot – an electronics pioneer and maniac – took over as a solo act since 1985. This new album explores another side of ‘IAV’, that echoes how Laurent sounds now – a ferocious take on techno, post-punk rhythmic elements and drone soundscapes, planted with unrestrained improvisation, and getting closure with a song time after time. This record is not a compilation of tracks that would stick to a particular time period or subgenre. On the contrary ; there is a definite common thread, that had been found while losing oneself in the intensity of his spectacular live performances lately. Being carried away by his drone improvisations and smothering bass bins, and hearing him play his music, both old and new, there is a singular feeling of both freedom and transcendence that emanates from his music. Some of his lives have lead audiences to become completely silent, and taken away by hypnosis, some other have caused a riot, leading the audience to ultimate excitement. IAV stands for a whole-hearted involvement in the making of his music, and despite the cold and electronic textures, there is a sense of intimacy that we’ve tried to reflect through the choice of the closing song “La Pluie”.
