The Dutch techno producer, Jeroen Search, debuts on Token with Inner Call, a four track EP showcasing the veteran’s dynamic, puristic approach to the genre. A powerful, streamlined vision of contemporary techno, Inner Call highlights the producer’s time honoured ability to walk the line between pulsing, hypnotic workouts & outright peak time tools – stripping back the work to include nothing but the most vital components to deadly effect.
The 7th edition of Planet Rhythm’s 303 series compiles 4 highly functional acid cuts by 4 different anonymous artists.
‘Todo Avaricia’ by Reka and the duo Imperial Black Unit is the result of an immediate and natural connection forged between the three artists, through a jam session that swiftly and intuitively yielded three tracks of stylistically diverse yet demonstrably cohesive sounds. Featuring the sampled voices of Che Cuevara, Pablo Neruda and original vocals by Reka herself, the EP plays the role of an urgent call to action against political and environmental injustice, conveyed via the musical substrate of new beat, industrial and EBM, fused into a landscape of techno and undeniably constructed for the dancefloor. The EP is rounded off with a heavy-hitting remix of the title track by the prolific Umwelt, in his signature dramatic style.
Donato Dozzy collaborates with Retina.it on a new dark and sleazy electro project, Men With Secrets. After Dozzy’s first project with Retina.it (aka Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono), under the moniker Le Officine Di Efesto on Spazio Disponibile, fresh ideas would fast unfold. “They quickly discovered a shared love of classic post-punk, wave, and synthpop, and not long after, Men With Secrets was born.” Drawing influence from the likes of Richard Bone, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, New Order, and even Dopplereffekt, the trio stamp out their own sound with ‘neither imitation nor rehash.’ Their debut thirteen track album, titled Psycho Romance and Other Spooky Ballads, will land on none other than The Bunker NY.
Innershades returns to Time Passages. He hits the ground running with “It’s Time”, a warehouse-ready throb-job full of new beat riffs and creepy electronics, before offering up another funky Euro techno cut that sounds like it could have been played at an after-party in 1990 (“Forum”). Elsewhere, “Euphoria In Ginza” is a deliciously chiming and melodious breakbeat-house workout, while “No Romantic” is another retro-futurist romp full of squelchy synth bass and rushing, turn-of-the-90s style nostalgic riffs.
Parallax Records return with a nice 5 tracker from label heads TV.OUT, including a remix from Florian Kupfer.
Both noted for their powerful and inventive electro tunes, L.F.T. and Raymond D. Barre are two of the most interesting producers of the moment. On that new split EP, the punk sensitivity from Hamburg meets the braindance influence of the parisian : here are five fucked-up acid bombs for all the 303 trainspotters.
Blueprint main man James Ruskin is back on his own outlet with a fresh platter of searing techno. “Consumer Patterns” is built on drums that hammer so hard they could put a nail in your wall. The loopy synth lines that run through them add wonky brilliance, then “Social Acceptance” is pure anxiety inducing techno with unresolved loops sending you wild. “Weakness Of The System” is more through, with broken beat patterns and nagging chords suggesting a sense of loss and bring real melancholia to the dance floor.
When Utrecht based acid/techno outfit Random XS resumed activity after many years of hibernation, their archive turned out to be full of unreleased recordings. Now is Discos Atonicos who unearthed some more hidden gems.
Exhausted Modern joins the Artificial Horizon family and delivers a caustic mix of brutish and combustible electronix in keeping with the style that has seen his productions supported by the new wave of artists from Europe and beyond that seek to bring the future sounds of Acid, EBM and Techno to the present. From the contorted modulations of Dysphoric Experience to the emotional and melancholic closer ’Seagulls in a Harbour’, Exhausted Modern’s Datura EP twists and turns at every step, each track capable of sending any listener into certain frenzy.
With the ‘Lucy Reworks’ EP, label head Lucy, nom de techno of Luca Mortellaro, revisits four pivotal tracks from his label’s peerless catalogue. In their original form, these tracks from Donato Dozzy, Caterina Barbieri, Lucy & Klock and Xhin each represent significant and deeply personal moments for Mortellaro in Stroboscopic Artefacts’ history. And like the recent ‘Ten Years Of Artefacts’ album and the currently ongoing tour, this EP is a chance for Mortellaro to look back fondly at the label’s past while closely considering its present and its future.
Patrick Walker aka Forward Strategy Group returns as User Engine for his second EP for Stepback Records. 01383 EP once again draws heavily on oldskool influences, focusing directly on sounds and rhythms from Chicago and the US with Dance Mania, Robert Armani, Egyptian Lover and DJ Milton directly shaping the sound, feel and jacking nature of the EP.
Following his debut LP in June 2017, Trenton Chase returns with “Planar Array”, a 7 track LP on Artificial Dance. As half of Manie Sans Délire and the co-owner of June records, he’s known for his uncompromising sound that touches a wide range of genres. The release is heavy-hitting with distorted vocals, industrial textures and dagger-like synths, a satisfying array of wave, EBM and experimental music. From Transit Decay with the clunky bassline and depth at its core to the aggressive electronics in Narked. From the title track, Planar Array’s melodic high synths to the dreamy contracting offbeat of Doppler Shift. Trenton Chase brings the smoke out of the machine, progressively getting harder, faster and more destructive.
Scanning Backwards, Phase Fatale’s second full-length album is music about control. Using the connection between weaponized sound and psychological manipulation as a conceptual foundation, Hayden Payne explores the ways in which music – and sub frequencies in particular – are used to influence thinking and to synchronize emotions and behavior: from military technology to sound systems and the physicality and sexuality of queer techno culture. Known for his innovative post-punk takes of dance music, the Berghain resident draws on his background as both a guitarist and sound engineer to create a heady mix of broken rhythms, noise-, and shoegaze-inflected techno, often at slower tempos. The result is music with space and pace to expand, highlighting the intense rushes of frequencies found in both sonic warfare and functional dance music. Over eight tracks named after a combination of historical and fictional narratives from literature and science fiction, Payne’s rhythmic excursions explore different manifestations of sound as power – specifically within the context of seeing Berghain as an instrument itself. This is also reflected in the album artwork, taken from an early flyer for the SNAX party series and an obvious ode to the fetishization of power dynamics.
Continue reading “Phase Fatale – Scanning Backwards [OSTGUTCD48/LP34]”
The Hipodrome Of Music 