Techno News

Hull-based producer, Webstarr with the technoid hydraulics of 'Aegrus' backed with a new Chevel remix. Last spotted in Beneath's RA. 407 mix, the title tune strikes a mid-ground between tribalised, bass- heavy rufige and insectoid minimal techno - all bashy kicks and depth charge subs crawling with itchy crack bugs

Crack is the new album from Shampoo Boy on Blackest Ever Black. The Vienna-based trio's second LP to date, following 2013's crushing BEB debut Licht, Crack finds Peter Rehberg (Editions Mego), Christina Nemec (comfortzone) and Christian Schachinger leaving behind the post-everything in search of their very own neo-something: a powerful alloy of extreme electroacoustic music, luminous ambience and the mineral fundaments of rock and black metal. As before, they're staring down the void, but this time they're looking beyond it, too, for the fissures and faultlines that might let some light in.Opener 'Spalt' immediately signals a departure from the monolithic doom of Licht, conveying instead a sense of adrenalised movement, of acceleration towards an ever-receding horizon. There is no percussion, yet Nemec's chasmic bass and Rehberg's protean electronics eddy and modulate to give rise to an unstoppable momentum. 'Spalt' becomes a peculiarly wracked Autobahn chase, one where you're uncertain if you're the pursuer or the pursued. There seems to be some promise of escape in Schachinger's highly lyrical, spiralling guitar improvisations, which nod to Fripp and Goettsching, but Shampoo Boy's vision of the cosmos is more hard-boiled and unforgiving than that of their forefathers. There are some furies that can't be outrun. If 'Spalt' dramatises a failed getaway then 'Riss' considers what happens if you do get away, only to find your hiding-place isn't quite as safe or secure as you had presumed it would be. Slow, ceremonial downstrokes suggest a return to the vast and uncanny woodland landscape in which the events of Licht unfolded. This time, though, the city intrudes upon the scene of pastoral unease: Rehberg seems to be scanning the airwaves, picking up unintelligible snatches of conversation and machine noise. These mingle with nameless natural currents to create pernicious hybrid forms, which curl and ricochet about the stereo field. Subterranean bass tones, meanwhile, seem to reverberate from an ancient and appalling source. The accumulation of noise and energy across 12 minutes becomes unbearably suspenseful; a reckoning seems inevitable. It is typical of Crack's unorthodox Weltanschauung, however, that just when we think the game is up, we are faced not with oblivion but with potential absolution: 'Riss''s closing section is a gravely serene tone-painting that clearly suggests the possibility, if not certainty, of rebirth and renewal. Perhaps you can start again after all. But of course the game isn't up, and all roads lead to Side B: given in its entirety to the three-part 'Bruch', the most potent and pugilistic manifestation of Shampoo Boy's brute psychedelia to date. Part 1 is a near-gothic assemblage of tortured computer processing, abyssal drones and stray industrial noise. This gives way to the calm but agonised concrète of Part 2; sparse, minimalist and dub-damaged, it's the sound of Part 1's traumas remembered through a fog of painkillers. Before long, however, the medication falters and those traumas come back in to focus: so much so, that the broiling digital synthesis and annihilating slow-motion riffage of Part 3 come as a relief. For a while the thuggish monochord attack here feels almost Stooge-ian - grungy, swaggering, sewer-savvy - but it doubles back into abstraction, subsuming itself into the Shampoo Boy's larger, gravity-defying architectures of feedback. By this point it has become impossible to distinguish individual instruments, processes or contributions; the group mind has taken over, the third eye is on fire, and the album climaxes in a black flash of negative ecstasy. Epic in scale, complex in mood and dazzling in technique, Crack is a momentous achievement from three improvising musicians at the height of their powers. A lived-in and emotionally-charged work, harrowing but energising, it digs deep, deep into the underworld to open up new lines of space-time enquiry. It is also a sustained achievement of arrangement and post-production remarkable even in light of its makers' pedigree: the harshest and heaviest passages are rendered with a sense of space and richness of detail that is truly otherworldly. Russell Haswell's astute mastering amplifies this, resulting in one of the most exhilarating and rewarding entries in the Blackest Ever Black catalogue. Click here for high res cover JPG, Click here to listen to 'Spalt'

Though known as a touring and recording musician associated with Nine Inch Nails, Alessandro Cortini has really come into his own via his Forse trilogy, and his 2014 Hospital Productions debut, Sonno.

For his Hospital follow-up, he maintains the grittiness and intimacy introduced on his
debut, but expands on it, offering a wider spectrum of emotion and depth.

Like Sonno, Risveglio was written and recorded while on tour. The drive to create intimate works during late-night downtime reveal Cortini to be committed to personal vision beyond the call of duty. While Sonno was created using only a 202 and delay, Risveglio adds a TB303, synced to the 202. In his own words, The 303 can be such a haunting instrument used in a certain way, and I felt it completely fit the mood of the previous work I have done on the 202, especially when given a specific location in space....it's such a living instrument.'

The addition of TR606 gives one of the pieces a rhythmic pulse that separates it from the preceding synthscapes and renders Risveglio altogether a more dynamic affair than Sonno.

With Risveglio Cortini emphasizes the imperfections and visceral textures of electronics absent from so much contemporary solo synthesizer music. He carves out a similar space to that formed by Kevin Drumm's releases for the same label in the worlds of Drone and Noise by finding the emotional and, ultimately, human voice within synthesis.
1. Stambecco
2. La sveglia
3. Rispetto
4. Dormiveglia
5. Lotta
6. La meta
7. La via

Alongside fellow members of Berlin's Janus collective, recently behind nights at
Berghain and Corsica Studios, M.E.S.H. is known for his futurist approach to club
dynamics and production.

On Piteous Gate, tightly gridded and sculpted sound juts up against loose-wristed
improvisation, automated processes, and collage. Standard club syncopation is twisted by sliding tempos, cut and paste time signatures, and indeterminate pacing. Its sound design and compositions are ornate, even courtly, with neo- feudal moods offset by the recurrence of hydraulic hiss and flanger.

A synthetic fuel injector revs opener 'Piteous Gate' to life. Drawing from action- scifi film trailers and the sound design of festival trance, its hardcore synthlines shatter into 'Optimate'—stately, spatial, and whiplash-luxurious, with meandering cybernetic drumming. 'Thorium' sends a slow-motion camera through a melting test reactor: all burnt VSTs and synthetic theorbo and loose drums.

'The Black Pill' smears high-end renaissance sample libraries through arcs of static. In 'Epithet,' temple sewer atmospheres are ruptured by 'Scythians'-style cut-up drums. 'Jester's Visage' indulges a minute-long baroque guitar improv, and territorial youths air their beef in 'Kritikal & X.' Closing out the album, 'Methy Imbiß' is a machinic rhythm track, and 'Azov Seepage' mingles birdlike granular noises with rusted steel clanging.

The LP was recorded in Berlin in winter 2015, mastered and cut by Rashad Becker
at D&M, and pressed on 140g LP and CD.

Sunil Sharpe is Ireland's chief ambassador for the nastier side of techno, sonically on a sharp upward (downward) trajectory since the actual '90s and frequently mentioned in the same sentences, promotional material, and internet blog postings as words like "surgeon", "truss", "karenn" plus other assorted terms that mean a great deal to those in the know.

But we're not here to make comparisions or hang on coat tails, let's deal with what we've got - in this case it is four great slabs of bastard-heavy marching equipment.

Opening shot 'Jamm 1' has that unfortunate slash awesome quality that only the most paranoid and unhinged 4/4 machine music can possess. "Where am I Can they hear this too Have I gone too far" If you answer "I don't know" to all three questions, chances are you are listening to this track at 4am in some lawless dystopian bunker and some serious life-choice reappraisal will have to be made when/if you wake up the following day. Truly wild atonal pulsing-turns-to-screaming over a frankly sadistic 6 minutes plus change that remains at various peak levels of intensity for the duration.

Next up 'Eyebrow' stubbornly ignores the incessant warning signal buzzing away from the console throughout. Though as the smoke rises and sparks start to fly it would be best practise to get the hell out of there and leave the machines to themselves - the hot swelling improv of melting circuits, knobs, and LEDs is worth sticking around for, whatever the risk. At about the 4:30 mark it finally starts to deteriorate irreversibly; the studio is a bubbling, malfunctioning mess - the warning signal gurgles to a halt and the rhythm box shorts out.

Needless to say, B opener 'Stitches' will not have you in stitches of the jolly sort - think instead along surgical lines. Razor sharp hats cut to the bone of an already strangled acid line, while just below the slashing some nameless aquatic monstrosity babbles orders at you in an unrecognisable tongue. Bit of a 'mare really.

For a closer, thankfully in 'Late Drift' we get the nearest thing to a breather you're going to get on this EP. The fear is constant but no jump scares, just a sinister wavering signal bobbing up to the surface every so often while almost imperceptible raspy biomechanical breathing is kept at bay behind the barbed top end percussion.

Not addressed in any of the above but worth mentioning before signing off - each of the above abominations contain enough deep kicking electrified thumps to successfully defibrillate the 2 day old carcass of a beached whale.

DJ support from: Ben Sims, Blawan, Truss, Norman Nodge, AnD, Lakker, Rebekah, Clouds, Randomer, Bas Mooy, J. Tijn, Svreca, Manni Dee, Mr Jones, Marcel Heese, Ontal, Minimum Syndicat, Dave Tarrida, Lag, Tomohiko Sagae, Bleaching Agent, Martyn Hare, ANFS, Mike Darkfloor

Continuity is the past and the past is only a memory, where the time is no more than a word. Dubit's new album tells his story and your story. This is the world in which we live
Capture experiences of sound and mark milestones in time for the sole purpose of saving them again.This idea is born from the necessity of silence and the study of its interaction with noise. It takes shape in the city of Berlin and continues to evolve in various locations around Europe, both in conception and composition. Through the organic unity of field recordings it was made possible to encapsulate actual sounds in a timeless bubble and therefore documenting the experience on physical medium.Amongst the detunes and the distorted memories, sounds play, communicate & coexist.This album tells my story and your story. This is the world in which we live

On 'Cosmic Microwave Background' AnD put their full scope to work. The result was a record that fidgeted restlessly between a bleeding dancefloor and more airy machinist musings. But even suspended somewhere deep in the voids of space, the duo's industrial insignia was never too far away. To remix the record, then, it made sense to honour it's foundations with a carefully curated cast gathered from techno's outer rim.

Released as a two-part EP, the album's eerie, soothing closer gets picked up by Speedy J and Lucy as Zeitgeber and Black Rain who turn in polar re-workings of 'The Surface Of Last Scattering'. The monstrous
'Galactic Motion' also gets treated to a Black Rain overhaul, true to the group's seminal post industrial and punk lineage.

Sleeparchive and O/H—the union of David Foster of Huren and Teste, and Orphx's Richard Oddie—both plump for 'Power Spectrum', one of AnD's typical sledgehammer works. The original near pales in comparison to what the pair deliver here. Finally the multifaceted Justin Broadrick of Godflesh, Techno Animal, Pale Sketcher and more turns his heavyweight JK Flesh alias on 'Non Sky Signal Noise' with ruinous effect. If you thought AnD could't get any harder, think again.

Mark Broom :

A truly prolific artist, Mark has a myriad of production credits to his name having worked with world renowned labels and artists for decades. It all started in the Summer of 89 when Mark landed in Tenerife on vacation and stumbled across the delights of the emerging sounds of Chicago and Acid House. Returning to the UK, he immediately went in search of this new found music - a pair of turntables bought, and with them a musical career was born.

James Ruskin :

Has been working in music for more than 20 years now and is considered as one of the main artists for British electronic techno music, as both producer and DJ. James comes from a background that first put him in touch with hip hop and electro in the 80's and later with the emerging Detroit techno scenes which inspired him to become a DJ in 1991 and then venture into production in 1994. James remains a vital element in the British techno scene today.
Written and produced by Mark Broom & James Ruskin

A fast paced aggressive A1 made of fast 1/8 note kick drums spliced with distorted pad sounds and distinctive snare. The A2 is a broken beat affair with evolving percussion and a rave line that will cut through in any mix. B1 is Papers' signature acid jam, simple but effective. B2 is a unique beast, with locked rhythms and distinctive arp synth line...

Perc (aka London based Ali Wells) returns with his second album following 2011's 'Wicker & Steel' the release of which pushed his sound to a wider audience than ever before. From making #5 on the Quietus' best of 2011 list to The Guardian describing it as 'a soundtrack for our times' the album crossed into areas rarely reached by techno long-­players.

'The Power & The Glory' takes the Perc sound and expands it outwards in every direction. The rhythmic tracks pulse with more energy and bite than ever before, whilst the freeform tracks add a melodic and occasionally political edge to Perc's already expansive repertoire.

The album features collaborations with two vocalists. 'Speek' includes a contribution from Nik Colk Void of Factory Floor (DFA/Optimo) whilst opener 'Rotting Sound' and lead single 'Take Your Body Off' feature Dan Chandler of London noise rock outfit Dethscalator. The last of these in particular is the kind of track that differentiates Perc from many of his peers. The piercing, guttural vocals, more akin to the short sharp shock of a metal performance
provide the kind of sonic jolt techno used to trade in, yet which is rarely heard these days.

The album will be supported by a tour taking in dates in Europe, North and South America, including launch parties in London, Berlin, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires. Album performances will range from DJ sets to a brand new hardware based live show and all will feature album-­based visuals. The album artwork has been designed by regular Perc Trax / Submit collaborator Jonny Costello and this will be the first Perc Trax album to be released on
vinyl, with a 2 x 12" release as well as CD

Ren Schofield's Container took the world of underground electronic music by storm with the debut "LP" in 2011. Following massive amounts of touring and the powerful follow up LP, "LP", in 2012, the project became a must-experience staple everywhere from U.S. basement gigs to Berghain. "LP" manages to simultaneously be the most palatable and most damaged contribution yet. Patchwork polyrhythm motifs, melodic (albeit fully blasted) hook sensibilities, and ballistic synthesized sounds are melted down together and shaped into some of the most rewarding, enjoyable works yet heard on any of the "LP" offerings

Welcome to the 3rd vinyl release of Local Sound Network. Label owner, Ryuji Takeuchi, is on duty to drop this superb EP. Ryuji represents 2 off beat techno tracks with spectacular atmosphere, whereas, 2 remixes emphasize straight 4/4 rhythm patterns with even wider feeling. 'Veil' emphasizes strength and funk, on the other hand, Obscene Mannequin adds deepness and darkness to already-existing funky aspects in order to make it real brutal. 'Silhouette' comes with Asian alike horn sound with powerful offbeat rhythm sequence, whilst, Deepbass reconstructs it in his deep-bass manner, which makes the original sound even deeper, as if you're swimming in far deep somewhere. This is a well-balanced EP with 2 offbeat original tracks and 2 4/4 techno remixes, with deepness, darkness and funk inside throughout the whole EP. Make sure to keep your mind open for the upcoming releases on this Local Sound Network imprint.

*Remastered and Reworked 2LP Edition of the limited edition Cassette released in 2014 on Demdike Stare's DDS Imprint. Initial copies on Green and White Vinyl, mastered and cut by Matt Colton, includes an instant download of the album dropped into your account* Mica Levi more or less owned 2014 with the release of that astonishing soundtrack to Jonathan Glazer's 'Under the Skin', followed by this hour long album-cum-mixtape for Demdike Stare's DDS imprint which was released at the end of the year and sold out in a flash. It has now been reworked for this vinyl edition, and then given a full remaster by Matt Colton. Mica is an artist who basically seems to channel attention deficit into exploring and re-shaping a myriad musical ideas and directions without bound - sometimes all at once. She's an artist who has by her mid-20's merged the disciplines of codeine-laced cough syrup-drankin' early '90s Houston HipHop legend DJ Screw, with the rarified sound of London Sinfonietta on her incredible 'Chopped & Screwed' album, got Matthew Herbert to produce her brilliant debut 'Jewellery' and acquire Bjork as a fan in the process. She's produced a bunch of killer, off-beat pop tracks for up- and-comer Tirzah and supplied an impromptu 30 minute Boiler Room set that's still for our money one of the best they've ever put up. And yeah, that's before that 'Under The Skin' soundtrack that showcased another side to her production altogether - all discordant, intense, Ligeti-influenced strings, muffled percussion and frozen drones that came off like a feverishly dreamt collaboration between David Lynch and Nate Young. When asked about the score and working with someone as high profile as Jonathan Glazer she told Pitchfork 'He's a nice bloke—I certainly didn't think he was a wanker.' - which basically tells you that you ain't dealing with the ordinary or conventional when it comes to anything Micachu is involved with. And this hour-long session is perhaps the best thing we've heard from her yet. More or less split into three seamless segments referenced in the title, it journeys out from tense, concrete-fuelled strings to brilliantly ramshackle tape beats and odd pop edits - all brand new work from Mica herself, spooled through her singular, totally inimitable box of tricks. Honestly, we can't think of any contemporary artists who have as broad and limitless an ability to continuously re-contextualise the familiar into something we've really never heard before. We'd have to go as far back as Prince or Arthur Russell to reference anyone who has really managed to tap into as many diverse musical disciplines with this much originality. And if you think that's a bit far fetched - give this a listen and knock yourself out.

London label Diagonal continue their swerve into caustic dancefloor territory with the debut pair of 12' releases from Bronze Teeth. Their extended technoid grooves perfectly match the project's name — they're tough, hard-edged and intricately sculpted for tensile strength and visceral impact.Traces of the sounds that feed into Bronze Teeth can be heard in the duo's individual projects. Dominic Butler is one-third of Factory Floor, the London-based trio renowned for their wiry, dynamic live shows; his modular electronics are an integral component in that band's devastating cocktails of Morse code electronic blips, drum and guitar. Richard Smith meanwhile, records as L/F/D/M, and debuted with a scintillating clutch of acid tracks on Optimo Music in 2013. Bronze Teeth offers them free rein to explore their own interests in sound, and in particular the potential for chaotic interaction between metallic programmed rhythms and the fleshy pulses of the human body. On 'O. Unilateralis' sprawling opener 'Tapeworm' and the glassy club noise of 'Acetone' and 'Glass Tooth', they appear to be skirting along the edge of control, with their machines wrestling dominance back from their users and sending sparks ricocheting through the mix. For all its monochrome battery, this isn't lo-fi music, nor is it retrogressive. The ghosts of acid house and skull-shredding free party techno lurk in this machine, but they're refracted through a modernist sensibility and a keen ear for sound sculpture: edifices honed from diamond-hard tones and reinforced glass, all wrung from a sprawl of patched-together gear.

Prodigious Hungarian minimalist, Gábor Lázár, twysts out six cuts of super-forward avant-techno on his debut vinyl, 'EP16', for The Death Of Rave. Combining viscerally affective electronic timbre
and hyperkinetic patterns, they're real-time recordings of Gábor extracting maximum funk from a single note rendered as sheer gradients pitched and punctuated with unique, algorithmic meters. In a sense the process is drily academic, but the results are seriously funked-up. Gábor seemingly intersects myriad minimal dancefloor patterns - hardcore, footwork, electro, digital dancehall - with uncompromising electronic tones to create some kinda new rhythmelodic syntax and grammar of his own. Cannily nudging every scything, whirring, strobing hit off-the-grid, he's
practically re-programming and skewing our sense of rhythmic proprioception and temporal awareness in real time, throwing down the gauntlet to body and brain with stoic rigour and
reckless effect.'EP16' follows Gábor's split tape with Russell Haswell for his Budapest-based Last Foundation, plus debut album, 'ILS' (2014) for Lorenzo Senni's Presto! label, and precedes an upcoming 2LP collaboration with Mark Fell, due on The Death Of Rave.

The new series of 030, come out with its first release seeing as the protagonist the label owner, Micol Danieli, along with a collaboration with ANB, and a contribution by Lakker.

Dark sounds expressing an experimental concept in the first part, while employing soft melodies on the other side, so as to balance against a trip in a kind of labyrinth. creating a symmetry between them.

The A - side of " XP001 " contains two songs of hypnotic rhythms and experimental dub who kidnap the listener . Illusion in reality that can not help but let go of your mind merge into one with the music . A continuous cycle , where you can appreciate the ' spell, defined by a sound deeper and darker with a cyclical rhythm and layered .

The EP continues with a more peaceful and sharp progression. From the beginning , you can not escape from this long journey driven by strong currents generated by the vocal on the uneven bassline. The contribution of the remix by the Irish producers Lakker , embellishes the debut of the work of the brand with a percussion plot, aimed to capture your mind .

Faith Coloccia and Alex Barnett return to Blackest Ever Black with their second duo album, Weld, working with synthesizers, affected vocals, raw electrical noise, field recordings, EVP techniques, tape manipulation and drum machines to create a music at once lucid and mystic. Its songs embody various experiential philosophies and objectives: searching for the sacred in the forgotten and supposedly useless, exploring the meaning of natural', listening for the pulse of the ancient, using technology both to materialise memory and to dream a folklore for a future age. Coloccia and Barnett's ambition is apparent early on in the stately, medievalist keyboard/choral poetics of 'Truth Teller', moving through the agitated wormhole techno of 'Dreamsnake', to the white light-emitting, near-symphonic plainchant of 'Healer'. 'Blight''s zero-hour synth pulsations are first interrupted, then engulfed, by an extra-terrestrial broadcast of piercing bell and glass-tones, 'AM Horizon' is pitched bewitchingly between Prophet-5 pulp futurism and earthbound, atavistic dread, 'Agate Cross''s baroque harmonic sequence disintegrates at its very climax, cooling and dissipating into a deep starfield of pure tone. 'Ash Grove' and 'Rose Eye' are exhilarating exercises in contemporary musique concrète: complex timbral constructs in which Coloccia's disembodied glossolalia, swooping strings and other nameless sonic spectra conspire to evoke extra-dimensional space and the highest spiritual drama. Weld speaks its own distinctive dream-language, but we would certainly recommend it to anyone enamoured of the brittle sci-fi synth-scapes in Caroline K's Now Wait For Last Year, the amorphous electronics of Beatriz Ferreyra's recent work, Conrad Schnitzler's more gothic moments, and even the gravest metaphysical reckonings of a Stockhausen or a Rozmann.

Trans red wax with fold-over two-sided print in clear poly sleeve - edition of 300 copies with download included** 'Abstraction' continues The Boats' industrial cycle with a remorseless instalment. Quite possibly the most potent of all their releases so far, it finds the usually gentle souls of Andrew Hargreaves and Craig Tattersall revealing what they get up to when no-one is listening -- you'd think they're out bothering fields and folding paper until the candles run out but, oh no, they're actually cranking out thunderous industrial beat-offs and dry stone walls of noise. This one is a meaty beast, piling the kicks and distortion higher than a VIP plate at Toby's carvery but, not without glimpses of their vulnerable selves, chore jackets on and faces fixed on the machinery. From the glancing bass drum blows and grunting noise of opener 'P Versus NP' they sustain a stoic resolution thru the blitzed pounding of 'Section Conjecture' and acidic bog monster roil of 'Parabolic Type' on the A-side, before allowing the machines to cool off on the B-side; 'Inverse Galois Problem' flushes the system with a swill of industrial fluids precipitating a proper piece of death-techno necrophilia, and 'Lonely Runner Problem' arches up from clammy fuzz to an excoriating expanse of noise techno that would put the sh*ts up Huren on a good day. RIYL Nick Klein, Ancient Methods, Zhark Records.

»Sleepstep« ist die erste Zusammenarbeit zwischen raster-noton und Dasha Rush. Der Untertitel des Albums, »Sonar Poems For My Sleepless Friends«, beschreibt dabei das zugrundeliegende Konzept - »Sleepstep« ist eine Reise durch elektronisch verfremdete Loops und Soundcollagen verwoben mit Textpassagen, die versuchen, eine Traumatmosphäre entstehen zu lassen. Die entworfenen Stationen dieser Reise streben eine Zeitvergessenheit an, ein Eintauchen, ein Schweben in universellen Zuständen - Tod, Leben, Geburt, Trauer, Sehnsucht. Die Musiktitel wirken dabei oft wie angerissene Skizzen, surreale Kurzgeschichten, die mehr eröffnen als vollstrecken wollen.

Das musikalische Arrangement ist zurückhaltend, filigran und obwohl elektronisch manipuliert, drängt sich musikalisch nie ein Produktionsschema in den Vordergrund. Klischees werden nicht gefürchtet und doch bleibt »Sleepstep« als Resultat dem Klischee fern. Die Klanggedichte für Dasha Rushs schlaflose Freunde sind feminine, subtile und persönliche Berichte, eine musikalische Traumreise in Form eines klassischen Konzeptalbums - ein Album, das ebenso in der Tradition der Ambient-Musik steht.

Osiris Music UK number thirty nine sees label owner Simon Shreeve finally come to the fore with the first full solo release under his Mønic alias after a pair of successful outings on the Open Water and Habits EPs earlier this year.

From the breathless opening charge of Bloodhound to the tense recesses of the title track which closes the EP, Human Pattern sees Mønic confidently steer both his personal sound and the overall aesthetic of the Osiris label deeper into the realm of experimental electronic music.
Human Pattern comes housed in high quality 300 gram outer and inner sleeves, fully printed and adorned with artwork making this a special piece even by Osiris' usual standards. Early support: Surgeon, Regis, Clouds, Laurent Garnier, Amit, Paul Mac & Lakker...

Almost a year after they unveiled their collaboration with the wall of sound that was the 'Spiker' 12' Perc & Truss return to their home on the Perc Trax Ltd label to serve up a fresh four track EP of live analogue jams. Once again the tracks were recorded in one take. All mistakes, happy accidents and bizarre unexplainable audio artifacts have been kept in place, with no post-production or further editing done once the first take was recorded. These tracks cover more ground than the three on Spiker, but the Perc & Truss collaboration is no experimental vanity project, with all four new tracks aiming straight at the dancefloor.

Title track and opener 'Two Hundred' leads the way with caustic acid providing the foundation for a classic London cabbie-rant vocal, whilst 'Judd' layers all manner of malfunctioning effect pedal sounds over a triplet rhythm track. On the B-side 'Forever Your Girl', a mainstay of Perc's sets for months now, leads the charge, as rave interludes provide a breather from the kind of kick drum volley tailor-made for Awakening's Gashouder home. Finally 'Van Der Valk' mixes hardcore stabs over an icy electro-tinged groove and crowd samples, stretching the Perc & Truss sound further than ever before.

Solar One Music is proud to present a very special project. Arne Weinberg (Valanx) and Robert Witschakowski (The Exaltics) join forces as "Val_Ex" and present their first album. Dark and deep tracks are featured on both sides of this album, the intention and atmosphere is undeniably pure darkness. The common goal of achieving this is audible each second of this record. The music ranges from ambient to electro, industrial and electronica. The album features full printed cover artwork.

Lucky #7 - the best Testpressing yet from Demdike Stare and the final instalment for the time being for a series that began almost two years ago.
Landing 6 months since their last raid, it's a dichotomy of dancefloor devilment, going hard for it on one side, and running ragged emotions on the other.
A-side 'Rathe' opens the doors of perception to a show-stopping bloom of heavenly voices and halfstep jungle, ratcheting the levels to heart-in-mouth effect with panoramic harmonies and ricochet drums that sound like a 2015 update of Windowlicker, all owing as much to Source Direct as Alice Coltrane.
B-side, 'Patchwork' is a whole other madness. Shocking in a different style, it consolidates swirling, norish samples nodding to Italian concrète with the kind of 2-step swerve heard on Artwork's 'Red' EP - proper feral, swinging business.
We seen and heard it go off in the dance and can safely confirm that it's one of the baddest joints in their now extensive catalogue...

O/H is a new collaboration between Dave Foster (Huren, Teste, etc.) and Rich Oddie (Orphx, Oureboros, etc.). Future Ready is a four track EP which conflates their histories in noise and power electronics, industrial techno and rhythmic noise and marries all methods together into a ritual assault. There are lots of adjectives to describe this music and you've heard them all before so just skip the bullshit and listen. Each record ships with a vial of bull hormones*.

Adam X's industrial-tinged experimental project ADMX-71 sounds pretty much exactly like you'd expect. Foreboding, dark and hopeless. Every time you hear something like a piano reach out of the murk, it's quickly joined by something gnarled beyond recognition. Indeed, if you didn't know that X likes to carefully delineate his projects (he's the man behind the hypnotic techno of Traversable Wormhole as well), you'd be forgiven for wondering why this came under a different name at all. It could have just as easily been the sort of "downtempo and experiments"-style album that many techno producers offer up when it comes time to make the leap into the world of albums.

Like many of those full-lengths, Second System is based on a concept. X was a graffiti artist in the '80s, bombing the New York City subway system along with Joey Beltram and many others. In exploring the underground tunnel network that connected the lines, he eventually discovered unfinished stations and dead-end tunnels. Naturally curious, he learned that they were part of a huge undertaking in the '20s and '30s to serve emerging neighborhoods in the city that got scrapped before it could be completed. (World War II and the city's shift in focus toward automobiles being the main reasons.) Second System is the sound of X remembering what it was like to find such a ghostly labyrinth.

As a result, most of the material on Second Systems tends to work exceptionally well on first listen. There's a sense of the unknowable throughout—and a dread that must've accompanied X when he couldn't find an explanation as to why these tunnels existed. "Shell Stations" bangs along with an increasing ferocity that suggests the queasiness that comes with an unsolvable mystery. "The Winfield Spur" has that aforementioned piano, accompanied by what sounds like a distorted cloud of guitar lurking behind it.

There are brief moments of respite. The synth line on "Elevated Dreams" evokes the second word in its title instead of, say, nightmares. It's also one of the album's least successful songs, though it's unclear whether that's simply because X doesn't handle lightness well or because it sounds incredibly dated. Industrial, as a general rule, hasn't done as well as other genres in that latter regard. Which is why when he veers toward more abstract climes—like "Subway Inertia" or "Nine Decades Later"—you get the sense that you could quite easily come back to them in 2025.

As for 2012, Second Systems showcases a side of Adam X that many haven't heard before. The immaculate sound design on those Traversable Wormhole 12-inches was no accident, and when employed to less floor-specific ends, X proves capable of inspiring the same sort of atmosphere.

the penultimate issue of raster-noton's unun series features »gomila park«, a new project by the two swedish musicians martin rössel and carl michael von hausswolff that started in spring 2013 in palma de mallorca.on their first ep released as a duo, they present three rather unconventional and diverse tracks. »leibniz«, for example, is characterized by a heavy rock attitude with
lots of distortion and screaming guitar riffs. the b-side on the other hand, including the tracks »calculus« and »ramon llull«, is the more experimental part.considering only the track titles, »gomila park« is a homage to two of the first mathematicians and philosophers that helped developing the binary system and, generally speaking, the digital world.but despite all that, »gomila park« is also a matured piece of work that was held in trust for at least two years. it's once more an inspection of a fundamental possibility of music, a reference to the past. similar to mika vainio's »vandal« ep, »gomila park« echoes the tradition of rock (music) and is thus the counterpart of a younger, historically unburdened generation of producers like ueno masaaki or kyoka.

Nick Klein delivers a roaring and deafening debut EP for Unknown Precept consisting of five whirring pieces of slowed and throwed techno and heavy analog rhythms. Its powerful approach marked by sooted synthesizers, watered down melodies and grinding grooves shows Klein at his finest; whether it brings soiled theatrics or rusty progressions, overall resulting in the live recording of Failed Devotee from his lair in Brooklyn.

Recored while reading Stanley Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' the feelings of claustrophobia and brutality are slowly revealed across the album. The set opens with 'Agentic State' - an exercise in atmosphere and rhythm before moving into the more confined 'Obedience Experiment'. On side closer 'Antecedent Conditions' distant percussion interacts with analogue synths lying on a bed of industrial atmospheres. The second side is where things take on a darker and more oppressive turn. 'Situational Obligations' ramps up the distortion levels alongside a hypnotic, overridden bassdrum, propelling the incessant keys to create a suffocating listening experience. 'Remote Feedback' keeps up the driving momentum before 'Touch Proximity' brings the album to a close by taking a steps back without offering any comfort. Those who have noted the changes to the sound of The Boats of late will not doubt draw parallels to this latest solo transmission from one half of the duo.

Dark Pool is the new studio album from Black Rain, the project's first in 18 years. Produced in New York City by Stuart Argabright, Black Rain's founder and figurehead, Dark Pool is a work of hard-edged sonic fiction rooted in cyberpunk's quintessential neo-noir cityscape/dataspace but projecting into a farther future of biotechnological advancement and alienation. Partly inspired by the writings of Philip K. Dick protégé K.W. Jeter (particularly 1996'sEdge Of Human, which picked up where Ridley Scott's Blade Runner left off), and Paolo Bacigalupi's 2009 novel The Windup Girl, a vision of 23rd century Thailand plagued by genetic and economic terrorism, Dark Pool's humid dystopia is also acutely Ballardian in its vision of manmade and natural worlds encroaching upon each other: a vivid psychogeography of half-submerged high-rises and hidden jungle laboratories. Stuart Argabright first landed in New York in 1978. By day, he worked as a landscape gardener for the upscale likes of Rock Hudson and Bob Dylan, while at night involving himself in all manner of subcultural activity - the reverberations of which are still being felt today. He co-founded seminal no wave minimalists Ike Yard (whose early 1980s work has been cited as an influence by the likes of Kode9, Young Echo and Silent Servant), collaborated with the late Rammellzee in futurist hip-hop outfit Death Comet Crew (recently reactivated for an LP on Powell's Diagonal label) and as Dominatrix scored a bona fide club hit with the downtown electro classic 'The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight' (1984). Black Rain was revived in the wake of 2011's Now I'm Just A Number's release and Argabright has toured extensively under the name and last year released an EP of live recordings, Protoplasm, on BEB. Three of the EP's four tracks appear here on Dark Pool in radically revised and expanded form: the stuttering ribofunk of 'Endourban' is now anchored by ominous string pads faintly redolent of Argabright's labelmates Raime, while 'Data River' revisits the accelerated beat-stream of Black Rain's 1996 album Nanarchy, and the low-slung 'Protoplasm' has evolved into a sprawling, syncopated techno epic - the sound of red dawn rising on an illegal replicant rave. A further seven new productions feature. 'Burst', its title perhaps a nod to Sogo Ishii's 1982 biker gang saga Burst City, harks back to the scrap-metal-banging brutalism of Black Rain mk.1; 'Xibalba Road Metamorph', the album's angry, anguished centrepiece, externalises the sadness and self-loathing of Jeter's oppressed post-human workforce. 'Night In New Chiang Saen' reimagines dub as the viral product of one of AgriGen's morally suspect scientific initiatives in The Windup Girl, before 'Who Will Save The Tiger' calls upon spidery, Metalheadz-esque breakbeats and wailing guitar drones to summon a 23rd century Ark. Vocals (on 'Profusion' and 'Profusion II') from Zoe Zanias (Keluar), and a brief spoken intervention from Sean Young (who of course played Rachel in Blade Runner) are simply the most audible manifestations of a dejected feminine presence that haunts the entire album. For all its textual references, Dark Pool is a visceral and straight-talking affair: its bodyhammer rhythms and brooding sound design require no explanation for their impact to be felt.

20 minute E.P. featuring two re-recorded  tracks taken from last years N' album. Since taking the material on their highly successful touring throughout 2014 the material mutated from kraut-rock to a more neo-techno feel. Nisennenmondai is the world's best-kept secret among noise rock enthusiasts. The vinyl of "N" consists of two tracks

after a break of 5 years, alva noto continues his xerrox series with »xerrox vol. 3«, entitled towards
space', a journey that started with »xerrox vol. 1«, referring to the old world', and »xerrox vol. 2«,
heading to the new world'.
using the process of copying as a basis, the xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by
means of endless reproduction. due to the inherent vice of the procedure that becomes especially
visible when copies are made from copies, everyday sounds are so much altered that they can be
hardly associated with the source material anymore. as a result, entirely new sounds are created that,
being copies of originals, become originals themselves.
on »xerrox vol. 3«, a new aspect enters the scene. inspired by childhood film memories from the
1970s including tarkovsky's adaption of solaris' and la isla misteriosa y el capitán nemo' based on
jules verne's the mysterious island', the record shows alva noto's private side. with its very intimate
atmosphere, it is a personal reflection of dreams, an imaginary journey through emotional landscapes
or, as he himself puts it, a cinematographic emotion of a soundtrack to a film that actually does not
exist in reality.'
alvo noto himself further states, I see »xerrox vol. 3« as my most personal album so far. I have
to admit that this emotional output is a surprise even for myself. it remains exciting how the last two
albums of this series will sound like.'

Uncto's seminal 2013 release Pain was an uncompromising exercise in rhythmical brutality amidst a conflux of themes of suffering, industry, man, and machine.
The record now sees itself reinterpreted and reimagined under the auspices of some of the scene's most eminent and accomplished forerunners in what is perhaps, as it arrives on an opulent red double-vinyl format, the label's most ambitious addition to its catalog to date.

Long-time trailblazers Exium first take on 'Dirty Minds' as they apply their unequalled peak-time treatment. While retaining the driving force of the original, the Spanish duo transmute its somber sense of narrative into a singular and infective pattern that unrelentingly maintains its intensity throughout. In contrast, Frenchman Mondkopf's reconstruction is a radical departure from its progenitor, almost as if the merciless titular oppressor ('Schinder') has been injected with an empathogenic truth serum and made to face the toll of his deeds. Serving as his final penance, the resultant insuppressible melodic radiance gushes to the fore as powerfully as his remorse and tears.
Continuing on the second record, Canadians Orphx draw upon the immense and unwieldy cyclicality of 'Judas Cradle' as they deconstruct the torture device into a prolonged yet unfaltering dirge. Harnessing the raw power of the original, they adroitly fuel and layer the modular solemn synths of the drawn-out nine minute epic. Finally, the unequivocal master of industrial cannonry, Ancient Methods (DE), takes on and reins in the unyielding beast of 'It,' leaving the monster not only tamed but fully subjugated to his will. Now capable of executing the most inscrutable order, itsees itself violently degenerated to the barest of elements and recombined anew, with the cadence of its frame shifted and staggered to the striding rhythm of a being more machine than flesh. Providing solace and closure are Uncto themselves, as they complement the compositions with two droning interludes.

Mastered by CGB at Berlin's Dubplates & Mastering, Pain Remixes will be available at fine vinyl retailers

CNTRT001 marks the beginning of Samuel & Hayley Kerridge's record label Contort. Much like their renowned Berlin event series of the same name, the label will provide a platform for new & old talent, supporting artists to stand alone and to be individual. The first release comes from Kerridge, already establishing himself with critically acclaimed releases on labels Downwards, Blueprint, and Horizontal Ground. 'Always Offended Never Ashamed' is Samuel's most personal recording to date, spanning 7 tracks, his own vocals are prevalent throughout the LP. Thrashes of guitar sit alongside steely percussion, showing restraint and elegance in the process. Electric pulses wreak havoc on the senses, with earth shuddering bass & kicks providing the raw physicality which has become synonymous with his work

**Mastered by Matt "The Alchemist" Colton and sleeved in Diagonal disco 'jak-it'** Japanese techno tearaway Kouhei Matsunaga aka NHK gets lively on a killer, 5-track, 26 minute debut for Diagonal. Viewing classic dance tropes askance, 'Hallucinogenic Doom Steppy Verbs' follows his trio of 'Dance Classics' volumes for PAN thanks to a keener, almost aggressive thrust/lust for the 'floor, chucking up buckled variants of tech-step, acid, and garage-techno in the process. Making up for lost time since his last releases in 2013, he warms up with a spot of fractured tech-step before going hard with a febrile, 12-minute 2-step techno roller coming off like Grain and Lory D chewed-up by Haswell. Flipside, London-based ne'er-do-well and mutual maniac, XenoglossiX aka XiX vocals the strapping, squawking acid lash of '932' and a severely twysted, Gescom-like body-scrambler, '953', beside the scratchy wreckage of a dank rhythmic noise trip. They're all exactly the kind of mutant bombs Powell tends to lob in his celebrated DJ sets, requiring your attention quicksharp.

Since 18 years now electronic duo Klangwart occupy self-confidently their very own niche between Avantgarde and Pop. Markus Detmer and Timo Reuber, the two 'elder statesmen' of neo-Krautrock, are since regarded as the most authentic heirs to the psychedelic sound gurus of the '70s. Nine tracks of otherworldly beauty - energetic, organic, unpredictable

Albanese's compositions are airy and cinematic, blending classical music, electronics and psychedelia. Federico started studying piano and clarinet as a child before becoming fascinated by rock music. As a teenager he studied bass and became a self-taught guitarist and soon became one of the leading figures of Milan's underground scene, performing in several bands. Influenced by black music, folk, electronic, modern and contemporary classical music his skills as a composer soon emerged. In February 2014, Federico Albanese released his debut album entitled ""THE HOUSEBOAT AND THE MOON"" on Denovali Records. He recorded all of the piano parts with a 1969 German tape recorder, the Uher Royal Deluxe, which allowed him to catch all of the tiny hidden shades, the imperfections, the noises of the piano and its surrounding space. Federico melted this rarefied sound with electronics, live recordings, strings, and homemade instruments. The result was a combination of contrasts and colors with a variety of atmospheres that wonderfully represented Federico's musical universe. The idea to release an EP with reworks of songs from ""The Houseboat and the Moon"" took shape in Federico's mind already while he was recording the album. He was fascinated by the idea of re-exploring the pieces, to put them in a different context, to give them to artists he loves and to see what would emerge from this. The result is a striking compilation of four reworks by Albanese's fellow labelmates JOHN LEMKE, FRANZ KIRMANN of PIANO INTERRUPTED, SAFFRONKEIRA as well as by subliminal techno masterminds CASSEGRAIN, exploring a wide range of the spectrum of electronic music. ""Through Denovali I had the chance to discover lots of very good artists and producers, with whom I thought it would have been great to collaborate." It's been an honor to collaborate with all these great artists." Vinyl: thick sleeves + thick printed inner sleeves, 180g vinyl, different vinyl colours, free download.

Format: Black Vinyl LP 33rpm. Edition: 250. "Object Subject To Change" (iDEAL109) is Henrik Rylander's fourth album for iDEAL but the first since 2009. Rylander is king of hypnotizing, focused feedback drone with razorsharp noise and monotonous pulse. Music that feels as comfortable in academic worlds as in filthy basements. Henrik Rylander was the drummer of the provocative, sweaty and chaotic garage rock band Union Carbide Productions (1987-1993). After a few years focusing on his visual art (photography) he started experimenting in sound and especially with feedback and static rhythms. In 1998 his first solo album was released but it was not until 2003 with the massive 'Formation' album for Leif Elggren's Firework label he had found the recepy of intensity that he is known for today. In 2004 the 'Traditional Arrengements of Feedback' CD was released on iDEAL which led to a worldwide focus on Rylander's work. In 2005 he formed the monotonous avant rock group The Skull Defekts together with Joachim Nordwall. Henrik Rylander is also active exhibiting his sound- and visual art. He is no doubt one of the sharpest, heaviest and most conceptual Swedish artists around today.

Maoupa Mazzocchetti's industrial-esque debut for Unknown Precept questions the primary inconstancy of music through five slices of proto-techno experiments; ranging from pile-driving kicks to rumbling bass, Maoupa's boiling mental activity vibrating and twitching in a very specific manner resulted in the live recording of 'A-Tranquility', which we could define as an EBM-styled extended-play browsing random directions while exploring muscular deconstructed grooves as well as metallic stodgy rhytms and noisy-atmospheric synth lines.

Coming as transparent vinyl in a screenprinted limited edition of 200 pieces. This release contains 7 tracks by grmmsk from helsinki / finland. stretched in time haunted voices from the caribbian diaspora tumbling through misty and wet streets of baltic shores. drones of wire spring reverbs meet halftimed doom dub. beside unreleased tracks there are some versions of tracks released before on grmmsk own imprint totes format on cassette. Pressed on transparent vinyl in a hand printed translucent cover, it conceptualizes the album's title 'ONE WORLD - nowhere to hide'. When the idea of UNITY has failed with the result of a world that is increasingly ruled by a hegemony of fear and control, escape into something J.G. Ballard has been calling INNER SPACE, seems imminent. But what happens there Here's what: DOOMDUB! Dystopian versions of a sound, that has been associated with glaring sunshine of the caribbean before, is now dragged through the dirty snow flanking the ring-highway circling hellsinki.