**All proceed of this record will go to AFRORACK, a Chicago audio arts organization dedicated to providing modular synthesis education for African American youth.** The enclosure of night promises freedom of another kind. Subterranean fantasies are consecrated in flesh. The voice calls and is answered by a beating pulse. They swell and break in rapturous cycles. On Sombras, Dosis operates from this intimate space, conjuring electroid visions rooted in techno, zynth-pop and nuova-beat.
COVID-19 pandemic infectiousness and the relative necessity to put hard distance between people has brought up a wide range of means to cope with it. For some it went by as nothing happened, some struggled with not being able to be social, some were overly social on social medias, some spent it in a total drugged-out haze. Some, like Leroy se Meurt, used it to actually create something. The 5 tracks presented in this EP are the result of that forced stay in, the push towards the outside and the realization that, in the end, there’s nowhere to go.
Tracing Xircles return to base after debuting ‘Gaia’s Requiem’ back in 2017. During that period the duo contributed to Air Texture VI curated by Steffi & Martyn and have been quietly readying their new record ‘Air Lock’. The 4 track EP develops their signature sound palette into new territory with references to timeless UK & Detroit flavours, sealing the record with a retro futuristic collage of ambient techno and timeless electronica.
18437 Records is a brand new label by focused on the outer fringes of house and techno. The first release from 18437 comes from Michel Baumann aka Soulphiction aka Jackmate, one of Germany’s most respected artists. Opening track ‘Modulate Nightdrive’ is a mind expanding, deep & Funk techno affair. Next up is ‘CubanLinx’, a percussive machine voodoo exercise. Last but not least, ‘Test Drive’ shows why Jackmate is still relevant as a producer and worthy of your record collection.
Heavyweight 12” just in time to soundtrack the demise of humanity. No internet-ready ‘deep’ home listening tracks but a continuation of the previous 12”s. Big nods to the past, but then again it somehow seems fitting that our demise is founded on the relics of the past. For those who like to get wild or die trying.
Moscow musician Alexander Lomakin performs his debut on Hypnotic Connection under his pseudonym Gegen Mann. Alexander presented in this release a dark and somewhat melancholic synthesizer sound, balancing between electro and EBM, smoothly plunging into a hypnotic trance and unpretentiously obliging to dance. The remixes were performed by the head of the label Muzikalist and a mindfriend from Moscow Unit-83 aka Sergey Timoshov.
First release of Malmø’s Electro Label. Stunning 5 track VA record with loads of stiff Electro from the Scandinavian parts of the mind. Eargoggle, Obergman, Dip Shim, SPH Alliance and Babylon Barseback delivers a mix between classic Electro sounds, club bangers and Breaks and neo-trance atmospheres.
”Principi d’incertesa” is the debut by 4Cantons, a Berlin based musician from Barcelona. The EP is filled with dark elektro tracks, spiced up with touches of techno, EBM and acid, making them perfect for some body work on the dance floor.
Legowelt’s new EP ‘System Shapeshift’ will be released on Lapsus sub label C.E.E., specializing in more club-oriented sounds. The label returns to action after a two-year hiatus, during which time its intrepid explorers failed twice to scale the dizzy heights of Nanga Parbat. Now back at sea level C.E.E.’s head honchos have confirmed the release of Legowelt’s new five-track EP, bursting at the seams with 30 minutes of unrelenting old-school techno, synth house and snaking electro bathed in pure acid. The EP is a genuine time bomb, ideal for the most discerning of electronic music lovers.
Chicago’s Hieroglyphic Being’s Black Hands Vol. 3 presents more incredibly original analog sonics & organic swings.
Steel City Dance Discs Volume 19 gets you 28+ minutes with the recordings of Lyon’s master of erotic electronixxx, LB aka LABAT. For those that haven’t heard of LB, this ve-play EP is the perfect place to start experimenting. Rude rhythms, spanking percussion, bang-for-your-buck bass and dirty talk vox; feel the wrath of LABAT’s French nesse in this kinetic MPC-driven House offering that explores the deep ‘n dark corners of the sound through late night and red light motifs.
Third number in the DDS split series sees Budapest duo SILF (alias Farbwechsel chief-operators Alpar & S Olbricht) and Den Haag-based pair Intergalactic Gary and Pasiphae join forces on a quartet of elusive, unpigeonholeable power moves. I-G and Pasiphae are back at it with two left-of-centre hybrids of futuristic techno on a whirring electro-industrial tip. An off-kilter jam percolating fine hints of spiritual elation and post-apocalyptic anxiety, “Microwaves” gets the ball rolling on a dichotomous note. To slo-scudding flocks of loud, bouncy kicks supersede skeins of brittle chimes and rattling drums, all woven together by subtle tectonic shifts of moody pads. A further hi-intensity affair, “Indistinct Chatter” drives that essential heavenly/nightmarish duplicity to higher spheres of consciousness. Fusing lighthearted, daydreaming tonalities with brooding, cavernous onslaughts from the depths, the track has us navigating in a zone of its own, deftly oscillating betwixt moments of mystique-imbued euphoria and darkling introspection. A choice exponent of the Hague-based dyad’s capacity at busting antiquated patterns and limitations. Having slept in the label’s vaults for a few seasons, the two tracks composing the B-side emerge from their slumber in all their time-proof bravura. An in-your-face trampler, the ten-minute long “Mono Miner” takes no byway to get its point across, all set to smash basements and warehouses by the dozen with its electrifying compound of 909-emulated gut churn and spinning synth arpeggios circling like birds of prey over your sore, rhythm-enslaved carcass. Closing the journey on a much softer, hazier vibe, “Aces” steers us towards a realm of ambient wonder, where slo-drip cascades of tapping percussions and elegiac synth waters flow into warm, glimmering summer beds. A most contrasting, tranquillising finale to an EP defined by its propensity to change colours and intensity throughout.
Following his debut contribution to the label’s catalogue this year via the Midnight Shift x Voitax ,”Mothership” compilation, (a contribution saw the artist paired with Veronica Maximova) the Brighton based producer L/F/D/M, also known as Richard Smith, is the latest to join the catalogue on Voitax. Having pushed the boundaries of his own music, Smith managed to release an impressive amount of records throughout the last years and has perpetuated his sound on cult labels such as Cititrax, Midnight Shift, Optimo Trax, Ecstatic and Clan Destine Records. The British producer now returns to Voitax with his “Mutual Autopsy” EP – a strong four-tracker that is characterised by Smith’s undenably grainy lo-fi signature. The whole package is armed with heavyweight kicks, bloating basslines and crunchy, percussive patterns, that he perfectly crowns with some memorable and catchy synth lines. The former art student, as well as one half of Bronze Teeth, shows once again his ability to modulate his way into the abstract, while keeping it groovy and warm and firmly secures himself in the ranks with the techno avant-garde.
Randstad is the production and DJ moniker of dutch multimedia artist Thomas van Linge, co-founder of the record labels BAKK and Rubber and freshly relocated to Berlin. Now he presents his second EP ‘These Serpents’ for Veyl. Randstad is pushing his idea across the spectrum of industrialized beat music for this outright roaring 6-tracker ideal to tear down clubs when they finally re-open in 2036.
Larionov & St. Theodore team up for their 3rd collaborative EP for Craigie Knowes. The ‘Thunderstrike EP’ spans their signature sounds with extensive use of the Roland SH-101, TR-808, thunderous claps and snares layered with melancholic synthesis. A robust EBM / Electro record built to electrify dancefloors.
From the mind of VernoN comes the first release of Eupasia, a label that tells the story of a mythic world built under the ground by some undead worms that have gained human characteristics. This first EP evokes gloomy and misty ambiences, followed by electro rhythms and rough basses, creating tension and resembling claustrophobia feelings.
Mixing Engineer, DJ and producer Yossi Amoyal is the man behind Sushitech Records. The label turned 15 years old in 2020 and to celebrate this milestone Yossi has compiled Fluere across four discs (plus an extended Part V – Fatum). The compilation shares some of his story through the records that inspired him and continue to do so.
The Hipodrome Of Music 