“Given the positive reception that led Maoupa Mazzocchetti’s debut EP for Unknown Precept, we have decided to put on tape some of the tracks that were not released on his vinyl. Call it what you will, this vicious industrial terror for when the dance-floor turns ugly sees Maoupa going a little further in the experimentation, giving sex-appeal to discomfort through these four oxidized cuts.”
“So what would the week be without one or two new Legowelt releases eh? But before you start your usual consumerist whining, consider this: this here selection was made by a team of experts after truly careful consideration and sonically enhanced with a plethora of experimental prototypes. It was chosen for its coherence, depth, otherwordly qualities and general PIZZAZZ. To call it a gripping, compelling, sweeping tour de force would be beyond lame right? You and me, we know better. But see how we weaseled it in here anyway with some advanced reverse psychology marketing techniques? It really is true, we know you better than you know yourselves. So if you make it a point to pick up, say, just one release per month off the top of the hipster pile, it better be this one. Just so you can tell your grandchildren you were there in the Satierian Moonrise, contemplating the Silent Sea while you vaporize the ounce of sherm you just copped from some Norwegian Crack Dealer that flew in with XYZ dig? See? that was easy.”
Happy Skull’s first release of 2015 comes from UK based artist Creta Kano. He showcases his highly melodious and deeply textured sound across three tracks for the Bristol imprint. ‘Skyway Motel’ is an emotive, Detroit inspired amalgamation of warm chords and rolling drum machine rhythms. The track’s romantic qualities are emphasised on ‘Skyway 81’, a screwed, pitched-down version that re-casts the original as a serotonin fuelled slow jam. ‘False Water’ completes the package. A sprawling trip in to broken techno territory, reminiscent of 90’s era Rephlex.’
Route 8 returns to Lobster Theremin with a very special four-track white label of emotive dreamscape house and heady techno. Expanding on the ideas and themes he explored on last years’ Dry Thoughts EP, Route 8 slides fresh out of his New Age synth shell for 2015, adding crystalline electro and tool-room clattering house to his emotionally charged sound palette.
The merciless Tabernacle imprint returns with another new artist and another collection of fine, thrilling house-techno hybrids in the label’s trademark style. In all honesty, VC-118A is actually Holland’s Samuel Van Dijk, an artist whose been quietly releasing music under a number of different aliases including Mohlao and Multicast Dynamics. This latest project is a little grittier and more lo-fi than compared to his other ones, where tracks like “Propulse” and “Central Zone” possess a glitchy, minimal tone in a slow-tempo electro coating. On the flipside, “Virile Frame” is a hypnotic and a whole load housier, while Lost Trax remixes “Propulse” into a raging, pseudo-acid monster.
One Electronica returns with a blinding 12” from Samaan, featuring knock-out remixes from The Exaltics & Phantom Planet Outlaws (feat. John Heckle & Mark Forshaw).
Synthesizer and drum machine obsessive Xosar (AKA producer Sheela Rahman) has enjoyed a productive few years, building a formidable reputation via releases on Rush Hour, L.I.E.S and Creme Organization. Here she delivers her first full-length for Opal Tapes’ occasional vinyl offshoot, Black Opal. It’s perhaps a little less colourful and synthesizer-heavy than previous excursions, instead focusing on dark, fuzzy, heavily percussive takes on acid house and techno. Of course, there are curious interludes – see the wonky industrial IDM of “Prophylaxis” and the beatless synth madness of “Gnome Circle” – but it’s the more floor-friendly excursions (and most profoundly the bleak and intense “Hades Gates”) that really stand out.
A collaboration between Elias Landberg and Nihad Tule. They started this conceptual project in November 2014 with the goal of record and master a complete EP in one day. The resulting analog jams are pretty different from each other. The A-side ”Terrorfish” is reminiscent of simplistic acid rave tunes from the 90’s while the B-side ”Halcyon” is a dreamy ambient trip.
Here is Volume Five in the Vanguard Sound Crews vinyl series! This time DJ Spider, Dakini9, Amir Alexander and Hakim Murphy step up to deliver pure mental techno and acid laced jack.
The Hungarian Farbwechsel’s first vinyl release has arrived, and it’s a real international effort featuring five artists from four countries on four tracks. Gazing through the Venetian blinds, it’s the label’s promising talent, Route 8 kicking it off with a vibing, 90s inspired house cut. Next up, Lumigraph and Patricia reset with a slow-churning, acid-flavoured techno. It’s the sort of track you would expect to be played on an endless loop in all coal mines 500m below ground level. On the back side, Farbwechsel’s founding father, S Olbricht gets in motion with the weirdly melodic. To close it off, it’s another label head, Basic House of Opal Tapes fame testing your stamina with the EP’s most direct, uptempo track.
Some new Planetary Assault Systems material from Mr Luke Slater is always a welcome sight and The Eyes Themselves finds the techno pioneer on suitably mind bending form. Issued naturally by his own Mote Evolver, this three track 12″ bristles with the sort of intense, physical energy that makes the music feel alive and somewhat alien with the title track a perfect embodiment. Across the six minutes, “The Eyes Themselves” develops from a dark throb into full blown techno psychedelia that possesses the ability to draw the more open minds into another dimension. Similar things could be said about “Strange Attractor” so we will draw your attention to the B side cut “Arc” where intensity is the predominant characteristic across the eight thrilling minutes.
The Will & Ink label now hits release number 5 with an EP from Amsterdam and Paris based producer Malin Genie, that features two new cuts and a remix from Yaleesa Hall. With a keen sense of heritage but one eye on the future, here he serves up two more intense and floor focussed cuts. The first is ‘Deorbital Descent’, a turbo charged and hard hitting techno track with overdriven kicks, big daubs of synthy hook and a real sense of urgency. The claps are hard as you like, and the drums are no less menacing, so think peak time warehouse tackle and you’ll not be far wrong. Next up, ‘Agaric Fly’ is a much more stripped back and down low techno roller with hubby chords, groaning bass and rubbery kicks that seduce and hypnotise. The remix comes from Yaleesa Hall, who has released a solo EP on the label before now. The resulting track is a fulsome, scurrying techno affair with edgy stabs, hurried drums and a real sense of foreboding.
Regal is fully welcomed to Figure with his first EP. Showing off his ear for a twisted Acid line or two, Regal provides three tracks.The rising tension of ‘Monomyth’ is classic 90s acid, accented by the ear of a young man who is very much living in the present. Refined and tracky, Regal draws out every last drop of energy from a mere handful of well tuned ingredients, peaking his acid line sky high. The snaking, heads-down ‘Symbol’ fits very much with Figure’s 2014 manifesto – driving, precise modern techno, with clever arrangements that simple beg repeat listening and club play. The tweaking, after-hours vibes of ‘Pointillism’ continue this with a totally playable, bubbling minimalist killer.
Berlin-based artist Gaja runs Ophism, a label oriented to raw industrial inspired techno. Modern urban and suburban views are composed by monotonous, repetitive sequences and simple elements, focused on the mechanical landscape of factories, warehouses and assembly lines. Concept behind could be the translation of the urban sprawl in music. Gaja provides full improvisation and finally the new protagonists are the machines: their cold steady rhythms, their screeching metallic noises, their symphony of inarticulate patterns.
Drvg Cvltvre is now back with a full EP of his own on Dutch label COS_MOS. Since 2009, Vincent Koreman a.k.a. Drvg Cvltvre has been churning out his own acid, no wave and experimental house and now kicks off the new year in style with three more inventive offerings. ‘New Earth Army’ is a slow, heavyweight and coarse track with rattling chords, angry percussion and elastic drums that manages to be physical and tough yet groovy and playful at the same time. ‘We Have Become The Filth of the Universe’ is a big, fat, heavy wedge of slow motion techno with monstrous drums and wild acid lines all spraying about wildly for the duration. It’s a warehouse sized track that will reduce the ‘floor to a writhing mess and finally ‘Possessed’ is a sci-fi riddled track with lots of spacey synths, filtered analogue lines and paranoid sirens all making for a turbulent brew of dark and otherworldly energy.
The Hipodrome Of Music 