Private Selection Records founder and curator Dreams comes crashing in with a 6-tracker falling between thick body music and gnarly, frenzied electro. With ragged rhythms, reverberating synths and heart-wrenching vocal elements these tracks tie together a dystopian journey beginning with sheer rampage, leading to devastation and ending in hopeless ruin.
The fifth release of the label returns us to the first compilation universe. This time in orbit you can hear (as in the first release) the French producer Umwelt with the apocalyptic doom core track ‘Fallen Empire’. Also a collaboration of the Mosaique label owner Moralez and the legendary American EBM/ Hard Core artist The Horrorist. They were joined by a hypnotic composition from the Mannequin label owner Alessandro Adriani and accidentally surviving track (after the death of the artist’s music storage) from Greek artist Morah, who’s was released on Helena Hauf’s label Return To Disorder.
Kris Baha is back on Pinkman Records following up his ‘Can’t Keep The Fact’ EP last year with another great release rich in energy, rhythm and under the influence of his Master. In ‘My Master’ Kris expertly fuses the past and present amidst sonic aesthetics of 80s new-wave, minimal synth and post-punk – all this in amongst fierce percussion, wired sequenced baselines and his vocals up front, revealed and out of the dubby shadows. The result is 6 tracks dribbling with nostalgia in a 2019 context and in classic Kris fashion, can be played on the dance floors of your mind right through to dance floors of reality. In this release Kris submits himself, wholly to his master, which is himself. Who is your master?’
Having collaborated over the years in several projects, Endless Illusion and brokntoys join forces for a trilogy of EPs to showcase unique talent across the globe. Meeting somewhere across both label’s middle grounds, the first volume of Human Abstracts captures an array of international players operating at the fringes of the ‘floor’. Colombian duo Vltra Delta Drive kick off the EP with the tense, body-propelled El Complot. Santoine builds up the drama with the uneasy, percussive Transmission. Closing the Aside, Outermost brings his trademark ominous sounds in Mystic River. On the flip, cult favourite Konsistent weaves narcotic grooves on Paranoid Humanoid. After his knockout contribution for Move’s launch EP, Black Propaganda brings the EP to a close with the utopian Instrument Of Liberation.
Kluentah recrutes for the next number on Zement the underground prodigy L.F.T. straight out the sewer. All four tracks are neckbracking belter on its own class. Murderous acidlines and floorshaking basslines plus dirty drums that will blast your pants off.
Killer 13th EP release as Head Front Panel aka John Heckle with some relentless techno tracks in the best tradition.
Cosmin TRG with a new release on his label Sportiv. “Romanian Deadlift” celebrates the spirit of acclaimed Olympians with resolute, floor-shattering kickdrums and a superset of corrosive arps and leads. The tempo picks up with “Exuberant Gambit”, a jungle-tekkno hybrid that flexes a rugged, mutant “Think” break under porous beats and an eerie aerobic melody. “Mae Geri” delivers the final forward thrust with abrasive percussion underlining a paranoid sequence reminiscent of ’90s era NYC warehouse material. Packed with olympic energy, Sportiv 005 is a high-intensity, dance floor-optimised escapade.
John Daly resurfaces with an outstanding 4 track house record on Craigie Knowes. Daly has reached an almost mythical status within the house music community; his tracks have been adored by record collectors, DJs and dance floor enthusiasts since the mid-2000s. This record is the embodiment of everything we love about John Daly’s sound, and a bit more.
“It’s with a pride filled, yet heavy, heart that Schrödinger’s Box bid a welcoming return to the uncrowned King of Acid, Andreas Gehm. After Cosmic Interrail come four tracks of acid scorn, corrosive jack and twisted spite. Under his own name, and the time honoured mantle of Elec Pt 1, Cologne’s 303 contortionist serves three works dripping in bitter bars and skewered by claps and snares. “Captain Future” sits outside of the quartet, a carnival outake of whirling lights and crashing cymbals. Pure quality from the Acid King.”
Acid techno experiments from the Italo disco master with Alessandro Adriani extended rework of Technologies.
Posthuman are London based cousins Josh Doherty and Rich Bevan. The pair have been pivotal in the recent resurgence of UK acid house via a steady stream of their own output, notorious I Love Acid club nights and their own imprint; Balkan Vinyl. It’s X-Kalay next and the duo have served up a pair of typically stripped back acid work outs. On the flip X-Kalay artist and up and coming acid wunderkid Lou Karsh reworks Airwave Uranium into a real 303 masterclass.
If heavy industry is a thing of the past, no-one told Identified Patient. For the past few years, he has been a one-man factory: by day, assembling component parts of acid, techno and all varieties of wave (dark, cold, minimal) on the production line; by night, a DJ dynamo pulsing with so much energy he could power a small city. His style is the kind of churning, lithe, fractured machine funk that could make Trent Reznor weep with envy – mean but clean, sinister and stomping but crucially, never overconfident or overblown. After two show-stopping performances at the parent festival last year, Signals In Snakes marks Identified Patient’s first Dekmantel release, for the technoid UFO sub-label.
ROD is a new artist for Afterlife Recordings and ‘Brighten Up Bunny’ is another high-quality entry in Benny Rodrigues’ acclaimed discography. The EP’s title track opens the record with bright, uplifting synth notes and a weighty kick drum – Rodrigues’ fresh take on the Afterlife sound. Getting deeper and darker with ‘Welcome Back Mama’, ROD fuses razor-sharp claps and a punchy bassline to dazzling effect. ‘Melodi’ takes an eerie turn, burying the drums under metallic shimmers and disorientating reverberations. On the remix, FJAAK treat ‘Welcome Back Mama’ with a warehouse-ready pulse and sharpen its edges.
SSTROM is back on Rosten with ‘Drenched’, 12 tracks for the floor, divided on 3 EPs, each to be released three weeks apart. SSTROM is the project of Hannes Stenstrom, once part of Swedish band Slagsmalsklubben, and one half of enigmatic techno duo SHXCXCHCXSH (SHX).
The Hipodrome Of Music 