New label Meteors Recordings presenting their first release. From that indescribable connection between Science and Electronic Music, France’s Mascarpone oriented this EP towards all the imagery that these themes can generate in our minds. Themes that already catched the attention of techno and electro founders many years ago, showing that this link has been present since the beginning. Unklevon remix included.
‘Rule The Streets’ is Timothy “J” Fairplay’s latest album on his label Dungeon Module. After 2021’s ‘A Snowstorm In The Tropics’, 2023 has been a busy year for the label. In February Timothy released ‘Dungeon Module Volume 1’ followed by ‘I Lay Awake At Night Scheming’ in August. This album was recorded in Timothy’s current studio, with his Casio RZ-1 central to the set up. 8 raw jack tracks inspired by the early days of house music, and catches Timothy at his most minimal. The early days of the Chicago and Detroit and how they drew influence from Europe in their stripped back sound is an endless influence on Timothy’s work. The bumpy opener ‘Rule The Streets’ has a vocal refrain which sounds like something from a 70’s gang movie. ‘Insufficient Funds’ is a playful jam based around a junk shop delay unit. ‘Pleasure Beach’ an 8 bit house/funk beat track. ‘Back To The Stone Age’ with its flanger heavy percussion and a booming Adonis style vocal. Side B starts with ‘Instant Replay’ with its rolling 808 toms and white noise intro. ‘Safety Patrol’ has a deeper Mr Fingers feel, followed by the stalker-ish ‘Gang Bass’ with its sampled live bass and strings. Last of all is ‘Livin’ It Up’ made entirely with the sampler on the RZ-1 sounding like a Lil Louie demo.
The Sound Migration label takes another trip back in to the CATT articles to explore the proto-trance and early bleep techno sound they were pushing from 1988-1991. Another five essential gems from the modestly sized catalogue get an airing here, kicking off with Confidential’s haunting ‘Amphibious Carbine’ followed by the boxy pressure of Exocet’s ‘Nitrogen’. This is astounding stuff throughout, not least the freak-zone trip of Holy Ghost’s ‘Walking On Air’, which sounds like the common denominator between Ibiza and Goa in their nascent days as party destinations. Don’t sleep on the clattering funk of Exocet’s ‘Overdose’ either, a seriously snappy groover with all kinds of oddball sampling going on.
Electro heavyweight Marco Bernardi is back on Harbour City Sorrow with his first release in four years. Given his considerable history exploring the outer limits of machine funk, you’ll be pleased to know this new single offers another two excursions into parts unknown that shirk the formulaic tendencies of so much contemporary electro.
Exarde clocks up its 15th outing here with another bit of brilliantly direct to dancefloor techno tackle from Zuul.
New Scene was a project created in the late 80’s by Arno Müller and Markus Barth. They were part of the roaster of the German label BOY Records together with acts like Time Modem, Cybex Factor and “O”. New Scene released in 1989/90 two singles/mega-mixes under the title of “Out of Control”, becoming both classics in the German Techno scene. Their third single “Tonight” also turned to a big success in the clubs and pushed New Scene to release their debut and only full-length album “Waves” in 1992.
Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant is a figure in techno history that needs little introduction. As a member of the Sandwell District collective and the label’s art director he collaborated on works that were responsible for a global focal shift in the genre as their label adapted and challenged the paradigm of minimal techno, taking influence from other sources such as dub, post-punk, and even classical minimalism. With ‘In Memoriam’, Silent Servant’s latest release on Tresor Records, Mendez writes a deeply personal memoir of a 30-plus year career spent exploring and absorbing the shadowy side of music; a carefully crafted elegy to people, places, and times past and the lasting effect they have on the present.
Jerome Hill returns with his 5th full EP on the label to warm you up for winter and it’s maybe stylistically, his widest offering yet. A joyous mash of influences collide and Hill spits them out of the blender with some typically unexpected curveballs. From the strikingly moody break beat acid of The Warning, to the 8 minute long extended Disco workout of ‘Harlseden Shuffle’. Then on the flip side, a reliably gnarly wedge of Technoey Acid House in ‘Combustion Zone’ and the EP culminates with a tip of the hat to mid nineties House with the rumbling bass and catchy percussion of ‘House Thing’.
Dance Mécanique EP: Unleashing the Pulse of the Mechanized Symphony. Embark on a sonic journey through the labyrinthine landscapes of machinery with Alpha Sect’s upcoming EP, “Dance Mécanique.” This vinyl release, destined to echo through the underground, serves as a pulsating manifesto against the encroaching takeover of our world by cold, relentless machines. In Meredith, Alpha Sect crafts a sonic portrait of a world on the verge of mechanization. His haunting voice, draped in delay and reverb effects, weaves seamlessly with the beats of EBM and the cold melodies of Post-Punk. This sonic tapestry creates a hypnotic soundscape that mirrors the evolving relationship between man and machine. Dance Mécanique, the titular track, unravels the dance of humanity entrapped in the mechanized rhythm of everyday life. Here, the gritty beats of EBM and ethereal echoes of Coldwave serve as a mirror reflecting how, at times, we move mechanically, lost in the repetitive motions of a world dominated by cold efficiency.
Dreamy and old-school ravey moments that resonate perfectly with each other on this versatile EP by Böhm. Böhm is no stranger to the electronic music scene as he has made quite a splash with his latest releases on Dolly, Partout, M>O>S and Undersound Recordings and this outing on Eudemonia acts as an ideal successor.
Dalmata Daniel welcomes Filmmaker and Petros Spatharos for the eighth part of their split series. This obscure 3-3 track vinyl is the debut of the Columbian music maker on the label. However, for the Athens-based producer it’s a return after his participation on “Dalmata Daniel eats Lahmacun” compilation. But this project isn’t their first collaboration, because Petros released his first album on Body Musick, Filmmaker’s own imprint.
Happy707 have their vinyl debut, and it is well worth the wait. For years the Buenos Aires pair have been electrifying dancefloors far and wide, now their brand of electronics is set to infect even more speaker cones. With a unique style that meshes ebm, industrial, techno and wave, ‘Escupir Un Burgues’ is an addictive furore for the senses. From the energy packed “Cyber Chase”, the listener is pulled through the fog and the strobe of “El Extranjero” and into the headfirst thump of “Las Bolas.” Distant vocals and stuttering percussion are pivotal in the stripped bare title piece. Stammering synthlines and shattering snares rail and rage in the bold body music of “Magic Wave.” The curtain fall comes care of “Ultraman Theme.” Beats are emboldened, tempos race in this tongue in cheek slalom of laser beam melodies and videogames memories.
The Hipodrome Of Music 