Techno News

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Five years ago, the expression Russian electronic scene bore a tone of futurology and expectancies rather than a real state of affairs. It was possible to put together musicians of local and genre importance easily in general, but not of significance in national scale. With rise and further development of Gost Zvuk, Russian electronic music achieved power not only as cultural phenomenon within country s borders, but also fully proved to be a thing of international meaning. Starting operations in 2014, the label quickly defined its domains of authority and engagement and created full-bloody community of musicians, where everyone has a special view on his own work and unique sound. The projects presented on this compilation can be rightfully called the contemporary vanguard of Russian and global electronic music.

Each of resonant artists holds his own disparate creative field and impact. However, in this diversity the unity of creation of beauty and ingenuity is born, that distinguishes Russian independent electronica. All compiled tracks perfectly characterize the artists involved, sometimes from extremely striking sides; from HMOT s chaotic improvisations to kedr livansky s ethereal grooves, from unearthly landscapes of Gamayun to undistracted concisions by Ol or Buttechno. Both electric boffinry and club anthems merge into united vision, placed in graceful frame of Rashad Becker s mastering.

Maybe this compilation won t close the question What is the Russian Sound? , which has been arising for more than twenty years. Nevertheless, it is able to give an extensive view on the evolution of Russian electronica in the 2010s.

Given Jones' rather slack approach to track titles (both being consistent with and sometimes even just supplying them), it's a bit of a relief to realize that two tracks with the same name are indeed related. In the case of "Arab Jerusalem", which makes up nearly half of the newly-released Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade, that kinship is immediately apparent even though both tracks are clearly their own experiences. Released as the first track on the Minaret-Spearker picture disc 7" in 1996, "Arab Jeruzalem" (spelling also sometimes being fairly slack) is 5:42 of effectively shifting dark ambience, wordless female vocals drifting over the hand percussion, chimes, and static of the track, with eventual conversational loops discussing ... something underneath.

The end of that version is especially striking for the way the woman's wordless singing starts being sampled in such a way that it overlays the whole track (and, slightly, itself). The almost 24-minute "Arab Jerusalem" here might be called the Deer Hunter version of the same story, building with great patience and many more abstract detours towards what now seems like simultaneously an excerpt and, now, a climax.

As with many of Jones' more ambient tracks, the great length just lets it cast its spell more thoroughly and entrancingly. The other three tracks, meanwhile, suggest some of Jones' other work but never evoke them as directly as "Arab Jerusalem". "Jordan River" is nearly as long (a second shy of 20 minutes) but strips out the vocal elements in its predecessor, focusing instead on a more active percussive workout (analogue and digital both) and a river of hiss running down the center of the track. The title track of Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade might bring to mind the title of "Lalique Gadaffi Jar" from Libya Tour Guide (last reissued by Staalplaat in 2015), but if they're sonically related Jones must have practically melted the other track to get this one.

And the closing "Desert Gulag" (like the title track, a much more manageable length than the first two epic tracks here) bears a slight resemblance to "Negev Gulag" from 1996's Fatah Guerrilla, here what was a piercing, repetitive drone is softened and looped over more of Jones' percussion. The result is a well-rounded release that shows off many aspects of Jones' sound as Muslimgauze, while existing (like many of these DAT tapes do) in conversation with much of his previously released work.

If early humans heard today’s music would they shun it or relate it to the constant struggle, brute danger and terrifying, preterite beauty of their world? On his latest Where To Now release, ‘Lowlands’, grizzled sonic voyager U goes some way to approaching and exploring this notion.

Far more dancefloor-geared than his last release for Where To Now?, (the acclaimed ‘Vienna Orchestra’), the EP opens with ‘Arctic Eden’ where slamming breaks somehow obliterate any trace of evoked dance music nostalgia as they are chopped to a perpetually rolling false start. The effect is visceral yet stilted, like a dog jerking to begin the motion of running from an ambient threat such as fireworks. Snares are sometimes overshadowed by clanging hits like a child gleefully banging on pans. This and the following 2 tracks are cryptic and primordial acid flashbacks marking the A-Side as the proverbial ‘edge of the forest’ where we can gather in relative safety and semi-familiarity, aside from the looming and dense periphery of trees and ill defined peril that lies adjacent.

‘Don’t Fuck With The Dragon’ deceives with its heavy kicked four-to-the-floor introduction before diving into a low-hanging smokescreen of murky synths that obscure pounding percussion and vague and muttered voices. A sawing bass synth tears through amid pinging 808 cowbells and frequent flashes of sound like granite scraping across the EP’s sonic tiles. Sudden euphoria takes hold as the murk clears to the track’s ebullient conclusion. ‘Buildbase’ indeed has the driving pulse of construction to it but the base is nearly destroyed as explosive sideswipes render previous sequences to sludge and rubble and the percussive clicks no longer propel forward but tiptoe around the bass drum thuds and menace.

On the B-Side we are into the forest. Barely navigable and unfamiliar - in classic U style we are turned on our heads and forced to feel for the touchpoints on this side having been perhaps lulled into a false sense of security before. A strong Eastern vibe announces the side as dune-dwelling drums hammer behind a sandstorm of swishing sonic texture. This heralds a sombre and regal section that develops into a thanatoptic drone with a post-industrial lament of echoing metallic percussion rising from the track’s smouldering ashes.

High tide’s downbeat drums float behind a submerged classical motif and drowned piano melodies as we drift into the focal point of this strange collection. The title track opens like a Celtic ‘O Superman’ as heavily processed vocals weave a traditional tale over beautiful, doomy, looming synths and ambiguous high register melodies. It is raw emotion delicately balanced on the edge of the comical. Unsettling and familiar and uncomfortable. It is the perfect conclusion to an intriguing 30 minutes of music that seems to deliberately cater to nobody specific yet prods at myriad facets of the human spirit.

Back in 2015, two of Sweden's most coveted electronic music producers quietly collaborated.

The duos outcomes where complied and made available via a trifling 20 self release tapes,circulated by the two during an event in Lithuania.

Ever since copies have traded hands in second hand market for staggering prices and cassette tape rips of the release have been circulating the web - one of these caught the attention of Vaagner, a label dedicated to reissuing noteworthy cassette releases from around the globe.

What makes the release so special is its expressiveness, the duo originally used the tape medium to explore various facets of their sound, resulting in an explorative release that feels both invigorating and reflective.

Now 3 years later, Vaagner is proud to present it's 3rd release, a reissue of Acronym and Korridor's seminal untitled cassette, made available digitally and on vinyl for the first time, re-mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring bespoke artwork and including an unreleased bonus track from the duo which was conceived during the time of the original release.

The vinyl edition is limited to 300 copies world wide and each release comes with a download code. 100 of these copies are limited to the vaagner bandcamp and additionally come with a riso printed insert.

Following a string of releases via his own bbbbbb recors, along with bodies of work on трип Recordings, February 2019 saw Bjarki debut on !K7 Records with the ‘Happy Earthday’ album.

With the album considered to be the Icelandic producers first full debut LP, ‘Happy Earthday’ offered a conceptual collection of music which Bjarki thought he would never release. Influenced by his home country of Iceland as well as the planet’s environmental issues, the album received support across the board from the likes of The Quietus, DJ Mag, Pitchfork, XLR8R, FACT and CLASH Music, along with being crowned Mixmag’s ‘Album of The Month’.

As part of the limited edition 200 copy box set version of ‘Happy Earthday’, a secret album of original music was available to hear unbeknown to listeners. Now receiving a full release this December on double vinyl and digital platforms, Bjarki will release his second full album of the year via !K7 Records. ‘Psychotic_Window’ is a further extension of the experimental artists creative vision whilst continuing to address environmental themes and nature.

Combining influences from techno, breakbeat, IDM, electronica and more across all of his studio output, ‘Psychotic_Window’ is Bjarki’s final signoff for 2019. The new 14-track album follows in line with one of his most significant years to date, highlighted by performances at major events including Dekmantel and DGTL Festival, along with pioneering eclectic new sounds via his bbbbbb recors label.

“After ‘Happy Earthday’, people have been asking me about the secret tracks and it made me feel that they deserve a proper release. Each track means a lot to me as I made them during a depressing phase in my life; I was pretty broke, working many shit jobs and also just being super lazy, uninterested in leaving my apartment.

Before I started touring, I had these periods where I could write so much music without thinking, pouring my heart out to comfort my thoughts and feelings without trying. I doubt that this kind of window will come back to me anytime soon, my way of music making has changed a lot after going on tour. At that time, I was listening to a lot of Coil, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti. I think every struggling artist goes through these phases of being sleep deprived, staying up and making music all night. This was my psychotic window.” -
Bjarki

Clear Vinyl.

Raime explore exquisitely honed rhythmic instincts with scintillating results on the 2nd release on their RR label.

Where the London duo’s 2018 EP and RR debut ‘We Can’t Be That Far From The Beginning’ evoked a meditative mood from the info overload of their home city that left acres of space to the
imagination, the ‘Planted’ EP rejoins the dance with four tracks that icily acknowledge strong influence from Latin American and Chicago footwork styles in a classically skooled mutation of hardcore British dance music.

In four fleetingly ambiguous dancefloor workouts they carry on a conceptual theme exploring the digital subconscious with persistently invasive, alien ambient shrapnel - half-heard voices, aleatoric prangs, and tag-covered signposts - woven into and thru their tightly coiled and reflexive drum programming.

UPTOWN, ’Num’ flexes tendons and hips like a Leonce riddim that danced all the way from NOLA and ATL to the wintery dawn of a LDN warehouse, while the lip-biting tension of minimalist 160bpm jungle/ footwork patterns and jibber-jawed vocals in ‘Ripli’ suggests the Alien film’s protagonist lost in a mazy rave space, chased by H.R. Giger-designed face huggers (or gurning energy vampires).
DOWNTOWN, ‘Kella’ then catches them on a grimy dubtech bounce, cocked back and straining at the harness, before ‘Belly’ shuts down the dance with invasive, demonic motifs exploding over dark blue chords and palpitating jungle subs with impeccable darkside style.

2x12"

Karl O’Connor (Regis) rallies the Downwards troops for the odd family portrait of ‘Let Love Decide’, including the first new Concrete Fence collab between Regis and Haswell since that killer PAN hookup, plus all new and exclusive tracks by label staples Mick Harris, Nick Dunton, Simon Shreeve, DVA Damas and Karl Meier, plus Rachel Aiello’s Layne, and Khrone/Mjolsness (Male) and various appearances by Regis himself in different formations.
Cutting across the face of the label, ‘Let Love Decide Pt.1’ is the first part of Downwards’ contemporary portrait series aligning veteran hands with the new class of mutant industrial disciples. The nine tracks include a strong clutch of exclusive projects such as the EBM supergroup You Hung - a quartet of Nick Dunton (vocals), Jim Siegel (drums), Simon Shreeve (Live mix and Studio), and Karl O’Connor (synth) - and Karl & Ken Meier’s “ambient” alias Obelus, cued up beside previously unheard Fret gear by Mick Harris and a Cub collab between Karl O’Connor and Simon Shreeve, to highlight the label’s strength in diversity and shared purpose.
Naturally, the label kingpin Karl O’Connor is a constant throughout the compilation, a connective ligature that ties the slurred slow techno of Cub’s ‘Teenage Fists’ to the live band EBM praxis of You Hung, where O’Connor’s synth underlines Krishna Goineau-styled vox by Nick Dunton (65D Mavericks) and the gnashing drums of Jim Siegel (Raspberry Bulbs), as well as the welcome reappearance of his Concrete Fence duo with Russell Haswell in a sharp cut of pranging industrial funk that sounds like vintage Autechre, chopped and skewed.
Following his turn in Cub, Simon Shreeve also weighs in his powerful studio pressure on the soggy, gothic lurch of ‘The Space Between Cultures’, while Mick Harris ramps the distortion on a ravenous Fret cut ‘Helicopter Rig’. The rest is essentially a showcase of the label’s American ambassadors,
taking in the scuffed modular dub brawl of ’Scale Reference’ by Karl & Ken Meier’s Obelus beside Layne’s blank-eyed swagger, and a stark shot in the ambient unknown by Jonathan Khrone & Benjamin Mjolsness (aka Male), while L.A.’s DVA Damas stretch out across the D-side on a stripe of sexy darkwave-techno rolige.

Before another Vatican Shadow release appears on vinyl for the first time early next year, Hospital Productions reissue a killer 2011 tape release on a 2019 vinyl pressing after appearing on a long
sold-out LP edition for Type in 2012 Remastered and slightly edited from the original 4 x tape boxset, ‘Kneel Before Religious Icons’
reasserts its place in the pantheon of Vatican Shadow’s prized early releases which, with the benefit of hindsight, arguably amount to one of this past decade’s definitive projects.

Originally recorded in 2010, the album’s eight tracks revolve some of the first material recorded by Dominick Fernow in this mode, aside from his then better known work as Prurient. At the time, Fernow was still working under cover of anonymity and this release in particular only aided in heightening the intrigue and fascination surrounding this project and the way it eerily resonated with the both the redrawing of geopolitical borders and those between industrial, ambient, noise and techno styles.

The album contains one of the most valued VS outings in Worshippers At The Same Mosque’, with its pall of synth pads, needly harpsichord and stepping drums patently influenced by Muslimgauze,
while the parade ground trample of ‘Church Of All Images’ - which would form the basis for a now classic Regis remix issued by Blackest Ever Black - adds up to one of the project’s most militant
numbers along with the scudding, bombed-out terrain of ‘Gods Representative on Earth’ and ’Shooter In The Same Uniform as The Soldiers’.

As an historic document of the time and a gripping album in its own right, ‘Kneel Before Religious Icons’ holds tight among Vatican Shadow’s most crucial and convincing communiques.

Luc Kheradmand, under his “nom de plume” Voiski, has created a gem of a record for ara, named At e Speed Of Love His highly distinctive sound is distilled into 5 stunning tracks which feel both analog and futuristic. Diverse yet coherent, the record is a fantastic blend of positive energies, unfolding and revealing its different faces as it progresses ; ecstatic at times, and moving at others. is is music with enough depth to project your own meaning and emotions.

Limited 12” Vinyl : Numbered edition of 500 . Handmade with love in Berlin

Each vinyl sleeve is individually painted with highly-pigmented acrylic, using a single-movement brush technic, on grey cardboard sleeves, protected by a high grade transparent outer sleeve Since releasing physical records is increasingly becoming an irrational choice, each ARA record is irrationally produced as an hand-made work of art.

Editions are individually numbered, recognisable as a part of a whole, while being slightly different by nature.

'The story behind AF023 is pretty simple: the infamous Brainwaltzera has put me on the track of this guy from Brighton, whose stuff I felt fascinated with. The result is -Ubal EP, Mause's debut. Ball's on your roof now! I wouldn't miss it if i were you.' Pervert.

Tecture alias Paul Pankow is a Berlin based Producer and DJ.

On the production side he tries to reinterpret impressions from 90s-IDM, Old Detroit and Berlin Techno and forming sound textures combining both upfront and powerful music as well as ambient in assorted elements as an experimental approach on sound.

His approach on DJing is forming a tense and serried web of sound that does not leave any time to breathe rather than constantly floating into a deeper experience of music.

Plants Dub is an art project of the homonym collective based in Lecce - Italy formed by Maria Teresa Santoro, art historian and light designer, Francesco Andriani De Vito aka Dubin dj and producer, and Andrea Presicce aka NoFinger Nails, dub master and producer. They work in Plants Dub project in a mutual exchange of skills so as to be able to research in a way where art and science has no borders. Plants Dub connects electronic music and bio-acoustic researches. Through samplings and synthesizers Plants Dub produces an inter-species communication in order to form a complete human-plant audio exchange. The album was composed using melodies generated by plants thanks to a special sound device that allowed the translation of the plants' electrical impulses into sound. Plant sounds were recorded between March 2018 and July 2019 in Salento. The musical production has followed a double register: in Acanthus Mollis, Morus and in Phoenix Canariensis the vegetable melodies overlap to specially composed dub rhythms, in Laurus Nobilis, Olea Europaea and in Quercus, the tree melodies are translated into ambient sounds.

For those wondering what DJ Slyngshot 's been up to for the past one and a half years - well, let us enlighten you: New studio, new gear, new techniques and new approaches... Heaps of new tracks have been produced in 2018 and the first bunch of them is now to be released on Y-007. Contraire to his older bits Slyngshot aims for a trippier sound under his Deesigner moniker: Sweeping effects and spacey acid synth lines chewing through blocks of interweaved rhythms. Low frequencies permeating throughout. The three tracks on CY-39 are just a taste of more to come from Offenbach's breaks specialist.

For VENT’s 19th release, Tolga Baklacioglu has collaborated with Ezgi Irem Mutlu and received remix support from both Julia Govor and Anastasia Kristensen, which has resulted in a rich and diverse EP that is full of currents and counter currents - drawing on each contributor’s vision and interpretation of the themes created by Tolga and Ezgi. The two have previously collaborated, and it is perhaps this that has allowed both artists to stretch the limits of their own personal expressions whilst remaining in touch and correspondence with the other. Tolga’s vortexes and knots of rhythms and textures are as disorienting and entrancing, as Ezgi’s diverse and intuitive range of vocalistic expression is mysterious yet straightforward. Julia Govor’s remix masterfully opens up the original mix of “Repentless” into a dramatic vista propelled forward by pulses of momentum coming from the bassline, while Anastasia Kristensen’s “Bir Vars” remix focuses on the suggestive elements of Ezgi’s vocals and reconfigures the dreamy and paradoxical original track into a dark and intense new experience. As a digital bonus track, Tolga and Ezgi offer a third collaboration, “A Very Slow Goodbye”, which together with “Repentless” and “Bir Vars” forms a triad of quizzical and dreamy tracks. It sits nicely between the two tracks and functions as a key to understanding the other two as the respective explorations of the outermost ends of the creators’ joint spectrum of collaboration.

Radically shapeshifting and surrealist, as spinning sonic prisms taunting the ears, 'Cercle Vicieux' and 'Cercle Vertueux' channel Fluxus artistry, straying past jazz-licked drones, avalanching low end and blood red scatting. Scenes both condescending and anxious -- this release is carried by its interwoven conflicts, where strange attractors reveal knots at each listen. The fifth Plafond is a special joint project tying the synchronicity of two contemporary minds. Both Zoe Mc Pherson and Rupert Clervaux are known to actively transgress art forms, reconstituting production methods through respective audiovisual and literary pursuits. The listener is relocated in their musical interzone, bordered by avant-garde experimentalism on one side, and bass-heavy club mutations on the other. This ambiguation lays out a gateway, one through which modern producers can re-adopt the revolutionary energy of those who unraveled conventions on music and sound in the first place -- a 'Cercle Vertueux', indeed. Comes in a hand printed sleeve with multiple tints grey and silver, including an Obi-strip, by the BAKK Interzone Alcazar.

Strafe F.R. are from Dusseldorf, Germany and have been releasing albums through Touch on and off since 1986...

“Lugar Alto presents their very first release: the incredibly rare and absolutely stunning “Homenagem”, by Leonardo V. Boccia. This is a forgotten gem from the eighties that examines traditional Brazilian themes such as choro, northeastern folk, and capoeira with touches of eighties electronics and new age.

Leonardo Boccia is a musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer, researcher and university professor of Culture and Society at the Federal University of Bahia, whose interests include sound studies, manipulation of sound media, audiosphere and aesthetics, musical theatre, audio culture and neuromusic.

Born in Italy, this respected academic studied music in Berlin, moved to Rio de Janeiro and established himself in Salvador where he was invited to research the northeastern music of Bahia. There he created the experimental group Macchina Naturale, an eclectic combo that performed regularly during his stay. In November 1980, Boccia participated in the first Instrumental Music Festival of Bahia as a soloist where he performed works of his own.

But it was in 1983 that Professor Boccia composed, directed and produced the LP Homenagem. With photos by renowned photographer and artist Mario Cravo Neto for the front and back cover of the booklet, the album presents new and original compositions for instrumental ensembles, such as: Choro Fantasia – for guitar and berimbau -, Canção para Iracema, Homenagem and Lenda do Sertão. The LP was originally released on January 3rd, 1984, with a live performance in the main hall of the Castro Alves Theatre under the title Tribute to Brazilian Music, with the participation of vocalist Sueli Sodré, who contributes to the album, instrumentalists Zeno Millet and Onias Camardelli, accompanied by choreography and visuals.

Much of Homenagem examines the genre of Brazilian music known as Choro, or Chorinho, a genre which appeared in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century. Choro is regarded as the first typically Brazilian urban music and, over the years, it has come to be considered one of the most prestigious genres of national popular music. Stylistically, it originates from Lundu, a percussion-based rhythm of African inspiration but also influenced by European genres. The instrumental composition of choro was based on the trinca flute, guitar and cavaquinho. Over time, other wind and string instruments were incorporated.

Here, in Homenagem, Professor Boccia deliberately mixes the old and the new, the traditional and the innovative; the album is the environment of Chorinho reconsidered and recontextualized, and its melodies and harmonies still capable of surprises. Just listen to “Terra e Povo” – it has an almost proto-acid-house quality to it, while the synth washes on “Mãe Natureza” with the ethereal vocal stylings of Sueli Sodré ushering in the progressive quality of the album.

Too long out of print, new label Lugar Alto now offers you the chance to reappraise this fascinating reissue of yet another forgotten chapter in Brazilian music.”

Those who expect dreamy home-listening from Family Lounge, could fall victim to conceptual conflicts of association. Family Lounge is analog Minimal-Techno, defined by Germany's electro-figurehead Anthony Rother.

"Luis Marte", Is A Renowned Argentine Sound Artist.since The Beginning Of The 90's, He Is One Of The Fundamental Actors Of The Argentinean Independent Electronic Scene.he Is Founder Of The Label Fuga Discos. He Has Earned A Space As A Renowned Artist In The Ibero-american Experimental Electronic Scene. His Work Has Extended Beyond Musical Production. Luis Marte Has Called Electronic Artists Of All Styles And Countries To Perform At The "festivales Fuga". His Works Go From Experimental Noise ToThe Purest Techno.
He Has Presented Live And Made Conferences / Workshops In Argentina, Chile, Spain, Italy, Peru And Portugal.

Clear Vinyl

Regarded by Dominik Fernow as the “best US noise project in terms of texture and composition”, Skin Crime return to Hospital Productions with an immanent inversion of noise convention
exploring ideas of tense, slow-burn patience instead of aggressive intensity.
Brutally active between the early ‘90s and mid ‘00s, Skin Crime took a 12 year hiatus until 2016 and the bloodshed of their instantly sold-out, 20CD boxset of archival material. That same year they
also issued ‘Ghosts I Have Been’, a crushingly bleak album inspired by Japanese mythology and ghost stories which have paved the way for this new one, where the band’s Patrick O’Neil and Mark Jameson continue to refine their instincts into the dankest brand of organic ambient noise.
In key with their ghostly Japanese muse, specifically the “Bakaneko” or “Ghost Cat” movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s, as well as the writing of Lafcadio Hearn aka Koizumi Yakumo - author of ‘Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things’ - Skin Crime’s music in ‘Traveller on the Road’ is all about presence and the suggestibility of hypnagogic and half-awake states. Their cold-fingered sleight of hand is applied to exceedingly fine layers of textural enigma in long, unbroken tracts that hold the listener’s gaze with frightening power.
‘Avoid Large Places At Night’ takes hold with intravenal potency, very subtly drawing eyes to half-mast with its mechanical womb-like ambience, and stealthily introducing subharmonic rumbles
and peripheral rustles that suggest unseen spectres lurking in a thicket of ghosts. A lack of sudden movement only ratchets the threat levels to seat-edge. Likewise with its deeply soporific subs
and texturhythms, the B-side’s ‘Black Cat From The Grove’ continues to numb the senses in a noise style, but eviscerated of all open aggression, preferring a dense mode of suggestion that only emphasises the unheimlich nature of their music.
It’s a masterclass in saying it without saying it, and effectively amounts to a missing link between Kevin Drumm, Painjerk and Mika Vainio, or even Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement and Meitei, that should not be missed by any fans of the above.

Pär Grindvik & Peder Mannerfelt’s Aasthma twyst out a lush breakstep rave night flight starring Penelope Trappes on the 3rd volume of their black label rave series Proceeding the club-ready pressure of Aasthma’s ‘Only The Appraiser’ and ‘Los Angeles’ 12”s, Penelope Trappes (The Golden Filter) returns the favour of Aasthma’s remix for her ‘Connector’ cut with a dreamily detached vocal placed high in the mix over sweepingly dramatic strings and
swaggering breakbeat techno momentum destined for the warehouse.
Rerouting early ‘90s hardcore breaks via tempered late ‘90s trance melancholy and ’00s breakstep ruggedness, title tune ‘Army Of Love’ hits a classic mark somewhere between J Saul Kane, early
Vex’d and the tight Hard Drum rolige of DJ Plead, while the following, slower version ‘The Task’ sees the same elements devoid of vocals and dragged down to a creepy 110bpm crawl, revealing ghostly synth spectres haunting its hunched breaks.

special handstitched felt backed 7” sle

Consisting of homemade electronic and mechanical music heard exclusively via British TV speakers as an eerie backdrop for the Polish made stop-motion adaptation of the Finnish comic strip classic. Custom composed for radically reedited daily five-minute episodes (alongside reconstituted storylines and the narrations/impersonations of comedy actor Richard Murdoch), the short cues written and played by two Leeds based post punk avant- theatre composers helped exacerbate the programme’s bizarre spectral storylines and characters earning a firm fixture of fear, intrigue and infatuation in the hearts and memories of a slightly confused electro fed generation. Ticking all the boxes that attract freak folk enthusiasts and synthusiasts alike, the combined efforts of Steve Shill and Graeme Miller deployed thumb pianos, backwards tape effects, wooden pipes and a Wasp synthesiser (the almost affordable post punk synth of choice) to replace the original 70’s German jazz soundtrack, thus dramatically mutating the tonality of the one hundred episode long saga. Miller and Shill’s unique DIY approach follows characters like Moomintroll, Sniff, Snuffkin and the Snork Maiden as they encounter hobgoblins, sand lions and the mysterious Groke complete with their individual detuned electronic voices and thereminesque whimpers. Based on the original sprites invented by Tove Jansson the modified fuzzy felt figurines were designed by animator Lucjan Debinski at the legendary Se Ma For studios in Poland for German syndication resulting in what many regard as the definitive and most enigmatic version of the story succeeding further animated adaptations form Japan and Russia.

Sharing the same nostalgia and oblique exoticism as The Singing Ringing Tree, The Little Mole, The Magic Roundabout and other reconstituted imports seen on programmes like Granada TV’s Picturebox, The Moomins and its synonymous theme tune and sound effects render this limited 7” vinyl release an essential addition to the record shelves of soundtrack collectors, domestic electronic fans and absent bygone tele addicts as well as animation and design enthusiasts on account of its unique imagery and packaging. Housed in a very special custom-made felt backed 7” sleeve depicting original production stills this limited 45 single comprises an extended take of Woodland Band and a never before heard cue from the forthcoming Lost Tapes LP.

Like the running lengths of the original episodes these rare specimens won’t stick around for long so act fast, relax, regress and rejoice for the return of the Moomin trolls.

Planning the imminent arrival of the 50th release on Touchin’ Bass, label boss Andrea Parker was digging through the warehouse during a stock take and it became apparent that there was something missing. There was a gap in the catalogue numbers. Where was TB036? Searching the archives it transpired that, for one reason or another (not least Parker’s inability to count), there actually wasn’t one.

So what better way to backfill this now documented gap than to welcome the multitalented guitarist and drummer, mathematician and multidisciplinary improviser Maria Gamboa Perez into the Touchin’ Bass fold with an updated focus for 2019.

Perez combines elements of rage, chaos, tension and anguish to form a visceral style. Her musical terrain and talent is shaped by dissonance and NO art. Under the moniker NonZero!, Perez brings Matrix Equation to the fore; a heavy 8 track EP with electro aesthetics from none other than Carl Finlow Scarletron/Silicon Scally/Voice Stealer.

Beginning her artistic career as a teenager playing as a bassist and guitarist in groups with influences from Noise, Avant Garde and the No-Wave, Perez was introduced into several areas of electronic music during the club culture years in Madrid and opted for styles such as Electro or Industrial, at which point she began to be interested in the introduction of rhythm boxes together with traditional drums.

Her passion for sound synthesis and musical exploration led Perez to introduce electronics into a solo project under the pseudonym NonZero!. Under this name she aims to make electronic music her field of sound research and for years has been continuously searching for existing relationships between sound and mathematics, focusing on the perceptual limit between music and noise.

Matrix Equation indulges in an evidential brooding angst, shifting between abstraction and the kind of elevated introspection carefully harvested over the years. With dramatic frontage in parts, blasts of boisterous energy and machine mayhem, its deployment of surprise, shifting focus and spontaneity operate in an assured statement.

Splintered beats and a foreboding sense of tension give way to a more DJ friendly logic of instinctive introductions and codas of gradual builds and breakdowns as Finlow further reworks the results to great effect.

Volume 1 consists of daring ambient works, experimental compositions and adventurous sound design explorations. It showcases the Belgian producer's forward thinking approach to electronic music in all its aspects.

This split release unites two female underground acts, both of whom have recently become pivotal parts of the contemporary electronic musical landscape in Japan. Hot on the heels of the acclaimed PAREDO EP compilation (TAL12), which has been released in May 2019 (and also includes contributions from Lena Willikens and Miki Yui), the SUPER MILD split album is the second outing by KOPY and TENTENKO on TAL. Their newest works punctuate their highly individual approaches to contemporary experimental dance music.

TENTENKO is a Tokyo-based electronic music producer. Her career began in 2013 when she joined the mainstream idol group BIS. Immediately after her departure from BIS in 2014 she commenced work on her solo project under her artist name TENTENKO. Since then she has radically reinvented her music away from glossy J-POP towards weird and industrial rooted dancefloor. TENTENKO first made a name for herself on the alternative Japanese music scene with a steady flow of live performances as well as collaborations with members of the legendary Japanese noise band HIJOKAIDAN.

For a few years now KOPY has been an unpredictable and charismatic part of the vital electronic music scene of Osaka. She has quickly garnered a reputation for creating her live sets exclusively with borrowed electronic equipment. Her name KOPY very much originates from this "concept". Apart from a few performances at Düsseldorfs famous nightspot SALON DES AMATEURS, she has been invited by LENA WILLIKENS to her showcase at the MEAKUSMA FESTIVAL in 2018. Her sinister dancefloor mystique is heavily steeped in the free spirited noise and rhythm cultures of her hometown.

Nathan Micay (formerly Bwana) steps out under his own name for the first time with a pair of glistening panoramas well-primed for those exultant hours of the early morning. The 12' opens with 'First Casualty', aka *that* track played by Avalon in her Printworks set last year, before heading into deeper territories with 'Beginning Ballads' on the flip. In Nathan's words: "These are without a doubt the most personal tracks I have written to date. I made them as a sort of exercise in self-therapy during my first few months in Berlin. As time has gone on, more meanings have unfolded with each listen. For me, these tracks are a rebuttal to the endless churn of negativity in the news and online. They have become my battle cry in the club, something to mobilize while also offering a chance to escape it all, even briefly."

Sascha Borchardt (a.k.a Monoloc) will start a label, Unterland, with a new EP.

The label will serve as a vehicle through which the German producer takes a step away from the club environment by presenting new sonic interpretations, including experimental, minimalist, and atmospheric. Material will come from Monoloc himself and friends, and the focus will be on 'dramatic' sounds with drone and noise influences. Think movie soundtracks and film music, albeit with both feet planted in the electronic genre. Each release will aim to 'tell a story' through 8 to 10 productions.

Unterland will launch in end of march 2018 with a collaborative EP by Monoloc and Beauty of Inconsequenz, a unsearchable and unidentified project with no previous recording history. The eight tracks are all based heavily on field recordings; the sound is dark and deeply atmospheric with dubstep influences. While distanced somewhat from the 4/4 format, the tracks are cerebral and hypnotic.

From there on, there will be 3-4 releases per year, each of which will be accompanied by high quality artwork as curated by Borchardt, who will work closely with selected photographers and artists to provide imagery that aesthetically compliments the music.

RUMPELN
Pumping proto-rhythms disrupting a wall of distortion building up from unintelligible screams, broadcasts of gadgets on the brink of destruction, DIY instruments made of springs, shards of metal and trash, all hardly held together by a skinny, long-haired figure jumping in the flicker of glitched out AV loops – there’s a deep understanding to be found in Anton Kaun’s performances that we, as animals, will never really get along with our electronics.

DANIEL DOOR
With his latest setup, „wallwart scales“, Daniel Door explores the sonic depths of a bundle of wallwart power outlets. Disconnected from the machines (like smartphones, external hard drives and old Casio keyboards) they once fed with electricity, their distinctive inner wiring becomes the base of a microtonal scale made audible by an EMF microphone (the Elektrosluch made by LOM, Batrislava, Slovakia) and mangled in a constantly re-sampling arrangement by an Elektron Octatrack sampler.

Body-chewing abstract techno of the kind that really gets between your teeth - fresh from the machines of Germany’s by-now legendary Siegmar Fricke - a producer who has been active for 4
decades and still going strong, out now via Hamburg’s excellent V I S label.
Toiling under the Pharmakustik moniker that’s been his main hood since 2009, ‘Propulsion’ deftly dices with ideals of inexorable forward motion that have driven techno and electronic dance
music over the past three decades. He’s been at it since the late ‘80s at the least, so he surely knows a thing or two about this stuff, and more importantly has worked out how to really get within the
structure and f#ck with it from the inside-out.
Cannily following suit with the ‘Yield’ tape by Herron - another artist who’s recently got to grips with his style - and also compatible with the likes of L. Lund’s mutant moves on Youth, the five tracks of ‘Propulsion’ diffract the idea of forward motion in as many ways. From the gritty brownian slosh of the first, to the 2.1-step origami of the 2nd part, thru the Autechrian refusal/
acceptance of linearity in the 3rd, to the fine-tuned robotic mechanics of the 4th cut, and the persistently morphing algorithmic swagger of the 5th part, this one’s a must for all hard-to-satisfy ravers with three feet and extra hips.

DJ Nigga Fox’s most substantial release to date sets a new benchmark for Lisbon’s revered underground ghetto dance scene, pulling traces of jazz, acid house and cinematic sound design
into his deeply rugged and exceptional sound with effortless style. Highlighted as one to watch in Lisbon’s virulent club scenius since appearing on the ‘Bazzerk’ compilation which introduced many
ravers to Kuduro in 2011, DJ Nigga Fox’s productions have become acclaimed for a mix of abstract weirdness and proper dancefloor impact that’s hit ‘floors hard across the world. Following 2018’s
‘Crânio’ 12” and remix of How To Dress Well, he now returns to the Príncipe powerhouse, home of his first trio of 12”s, with a definitive statement that arguably ranks among this year’s strongest,
rhythm-driven LPs, bar none.
In a way that mirrors UK dance music’s transition in the ‘90s from hardcore jungle to garage and D&B, or in the ‘00s from grime and dubstep to more “sophisticated” styles of deep house,
broken beats and UK Funky, Nigga Fox’s longest release to date appears more layered, plusher and, ultimately “musical” when compared to his earlier work. Using sparing but knowing dabs
of noirish jazz keys, live-sounding double bass and expressively off-kilter synth tones, he binds rippling, colourful flesh to his flexing, bare bones drum torque in a way that boldly blazes a trail for his local scene without ever losing sight of what makes it so thrilling in the first place.
This inch-tight refinement of Nigga Fox’s already distinctive style is characterised by the twisting,
unpredictable arrangement of ’Sub Zero’, where stealthy waves of swingeing drums and vintage horror movie tropes are ramped with feral electro scuzz to killer effect, or equally in the freaky tension between lissom jazz chords, jaws-harp buzz and wild acid lines on ‘Faz A Minha’, and likewise the way he meshes roiling drums with complex, asymmetric electronics on ‘Vicio’, or simply forges his own, outstanding form of slow, psychedelic dance-pop replete with his own,
Quasimodo-Styled vocal in the shocking closer ‘5 Violinos.’
By any measure ‘Cartas Na Manga’ is a singular album-length EP that stands miles out from the crowd. Its only comparisons really lie within Lisbon’s club scene, with the likes of DJ Firmeza,
Marfox or Nervoso. As such it’s best taken as symptomatic of their collective scenius, and is keenly ready to be mixed with music from all corners of the Black Atlantic.

Tachyon Audio 004 is a solo release by Tachyon's own, Paradaux. Paradaux has been on a production tear of late and offers a four-track E.P. that takes Tachyon Audio to a new place in space-time. Intro (A1) sets the mood of the E.P. right from the off with a broken experimental beat that forces the listener to move rhythmically.


The second track, Bolder (A2), offers distorted rumbling and broken drum kit sounds and tweaks pounding down through ethereal fading pads. This muscular groove is sure to warm up anyone.


Side B of the E.P. starts off with Absence of Rain (B1), a mind-bending desert acid masterpiece.


The E.P. continues its trek through the mind of Paradaux, as Step Down (B2) brings back a strong distorted broken rhythm that flaunts the cohesiveness and foresight of the record as a whole and creates an emotional end to the journey.


Lastly, as with every Tachyon Audio release, a raw sound of space is pressed into a vinyl locked groove. This time an open-source National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sample -- the Galileo spacecraft making the first flyby of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, this audio track represents data from Galileo's Plasma Wave Experiment instrument.


IGC_for_life

Following the release of Tolga Baklacioglu & Dee Grinski’s album “Your Secret Face”, VENT presents a remix package featuring Samuel Kerridge, Svreca, Ryo Murakami, and Isabella, who are some of the artists who have most inspired and supported the duo’s music. These exceptional artists’ interpretations refract the industrial rhythms and harrowing vocalisations of the original tracks into caleidoscopic tunnel visions with each remixer's individualistic expression.

Bellringer by day, DJ by night, Philipp Gorbachev returns to his own PG TUNE label for his fascinating third LP, KOLOKOL (‘The Bell’). A singular blend of cutting-edge techno and industrial with the distinctive sound of Orthodox church bells, Philipp Gorbachev’s unique vision, also extended to an accompanying experimental documentary and a radical new live show, documents the life and spirit altering experience of becoming a bellringer himself in the time since his last full-length, 2016’s uncompromising ‘Unlock The Box’. Now, on KOLOKOL, Gorbachev utilises his masterful use of electronic music textures and his multi-instrumental to adapt and subvert some of the most inspiring sounds that have ever rung out.

Originally conceived as an Eastern ‘gospel’ inspired album in the vein of Robert Hood’s pulpit trips as Floorplan, the resulting record is an earthier, more brooding journey, arguably echoing the soothing and powerful tones of the bells themselves, which match the earth’s frequency of 8hz, rather than classic and increasingly digital club sounds. Those anticipating claps, snare rolls, hi-hats and melodies may find themselves surprised and moved in unexpected ways; in the sonic church of Gorbachev’s creation, the ever-unpredictable Gorbachev mines tension, ecstasy and catharsis in the sound of more than 40 belfries, played live by hand, sampled and then sequenced with compelling and inspiring results.

In an accompanying and beguiling short film, we glimpse Philipp Gorbachev at the mercy of both the bell and a higher power at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Berlin, and wandering across the vast, snow-dusted plains of his native Russia. Abstract and provocative visual sequences combine the experimental, industrial sound design of the record with distinctive imagery from Christian Orthodox heritage, to subtle and even quietly psychedelic effect.

Completing Philipp Gorbachev’s holistic vision for the project is a new live show, already premiered at Moscow’s legendary Mutabor club in May, which sees the producer meld the communal and healing atmosphere of the traditional belfry with the more radical surroundings of the rave culture he is best associated with. A bracing and unforgettable introduction to this new style of spiritual music, the performance will tour avant-garde festivals and club spaces over the next twelve months. An ambitious and highly personal statement, KOLOKOL is an independent and necessary call for new bridges between spirituality and rave culture, demonstrating how an unexpected blend of technology and faith can transform ancient dogmas into communicative code that can heal anger and separation in the modern age.

twisted, healing, dark, enlightening. space drum meditation is back with four airy slash pushing cuts driven by otherworldly riddims. expect that breathe-in-breathe-out kinda vibe for both spesh dancefloors and transcendental listening adventures.

Birmingham experimental dub terrorist Mick Harris inaugurates new Madrid imprint Trauma Collective here as Monrella, with four brand new executions of sheer naked aggression. It was under this moniker that Harris (aka Fret/Lull) released half a dozen EPs for Karl O'Connor's ZET label between 1996 - 2002 - a strong departure from his previous involvement in seminal grindcore outfit Naplalm Death, and the experimental Scorn project (with fellow band member Nik Bullen). Fierce, functional and direct impact grooves that lunge straight for the jugular, the cuts featured on the Build Time EP recapture the zeitgeist of legendary local club night House Of God - an institution responsible for unleashing fellow legends such as Regis and Surgeon back in the day. Although somewhat overlooked, Harris' sound under this alias has most definitely evolved, and follows through with enough dancefloor dynamics to blend with other modern techno sounds.

2x12" Purple Vinyl

Ascendant star of the new global underground, Slikback wraps up his first two digital-only EPs with three killer bonus cuts on a vinyl premiere for Hakuna Kulala, his prized sublabel of Nyege Nyege Tapes.
Hailing from Nairobi, Kenya via Kampala, Uganda, Slikback has rapidly attracted a wave of attention to his undulating mutations of current club styles, as found on the ‘Lasakaneka’ and ‘Tomo’ EPs between 2018-2019. Due to popular demand both those EPs now make their vinyl debut, packaged along with three previously unreleased zingers to weigh in the most significant showcase of Slikback’s acclaimed style and pattern in club circulation right now.
Distilling a range of inspirations from local East African hip hop to Congolese rhythms and Gqom’s cold percussion, plus influence from US trap and footwork, and the subbass common to JA and UK soundsystem cultures; Slikback’s music has arrived at a grippingly powerful sound which, while singular, is also entirely symptomatic of the thrilling styles emerging from Central Africa right now, and after many years of underrepresentation in the shadow of West and South African styles which have been popularised around the world.
On his debut ‘Lasakaneka’ EP Slikback swaggers from icy, robotic dancehall in ‘Acid’ to a gripping fusion of footwork and Gqom with a jungle bent in ‘Bantu Zen’, and dancehall techno drill on ‘Ascension’, along with the palpitating footwork pressure of ‘Venom’, and a nervy new ace in the itchy step of ’Shell.’ The follow-up of 2019’s ’Tomo’ meanwhile represents a mean progression of his sound; exerting a firmer control of his scudding bass rudeness in ‘Sonshitsu’, and the dissonant synth tone of ‘Gemini’, while the syncopated gabber styles of ‘Zuhura’ and ‘Rage’ give way to almighty exclusive joints in the hard seam of trap called ‘Kite’, and the Equiknoxx-gone-psycho styles of ‘Senshi.’
If you’re new to Slikback, trust this 2LP is the perfect place to get acquainted with his lucid, hi-tech madness, before checking for the full frontal futurism of his two new EPs in collaboration with Svbkvlt’s Hyph11e, Yen Tech, and Osheyack. But if you’ve already heard Slikback’s EPs, his Boiler Room at Nyege Nyege Festival, or witnessed his European tour dates, there’s surely no need to overstate the crucial nature of this “early years” 2LP comp.

Ghettoplanet Classics From Hellboii's Vault. As Heard At The Legendary Dystopia Parties And On The Hague's Pirate Radio. Some Of His Best And Most Personal Recordings Of The Past 15 Years.

Pregnant Void returns with another of their deeply involving and thought-provoking albums, this time from Berlin based sound designer and live-performer Francesco Devincenti.

Devincenti has been making music all of his life and quickly established himself back home in Northern Italy. To further his talents he headed to Berlin to study at the S.A.E. Institute and soon went on to a job at Analogcut mastering studio. As such he is a sound design wizard with an exceptional ear for detail and someone who can get real meaning and soul of out the machines he often solders together himself. He is part of a couple of live hardware duos - MORK and TDV - and always fuses ambient, techno, distorted grooves, jungle beats and dub moods into his immersive recordings.

This new album draws on ten years of life experiences and uses music as a way of telling his own autobiographical story. "With the album I try to explain what I have inside in a way I cannot using only simple verbal communication: those moments of Brutal Reality where you lose something very important and cannot fully express yourself." Though always obsessed with finding his own musical voice, Devincenti is also inspired by studio masters like King Tubby, Adrian Sherwood and Mark Ernestus. His experimental music follows no existing path and is made on modular systems that result in unpredictable and unconventional ambience and rhythms. A number of collaborations add more flavours to this most rich and rewarding album, including friend Hi.Mo, label boss Simone Gatto and vocalist Alice Lobo.

Brutal Reality is filled with truly freeform electronic music - sounds without borders, but with very real narrative and an absorbing sense of emotion that makes it a moving listen in more ways than one.

Unterton kicks off 2018 sideways with three tracks of high-octane electronics by Mark. 0-160 BPM in 15 minutes. Previous EPs for A Colourful Storm had a conceptual focus: the destructive effects of tech start-ups on Berlin's cultural landscape. Sound-wise, they paired frenetic, experimental d'n'b with musique concrète. On his Unterton debut, Mark continues further down a path of dark and psychedelic beat science. At times tranquil and hypnotic, other times charging forward between cracked whips and whiplash left-turns. 'Comedy is the dog that walks out of the room when you call its name."

Oleka aka Forest People is back on Mindcut with a full EP of heavy distorted drums and broken beats. The perfect selection for the peak time.
This EP contains 5 tunes incl. a remix from Berlin based producer Swarm Intelligence

Supported by
Sunil Sharpe, Dave Tarrida, Dj Ze MigL, Patrick DSP, Perc, Randomer, WIRE, Another Alias, Antonio De Angelis, ArchivOne, Datapimp, Deep Space Helsinki, Diarmaid O Meara, Droidpanik, Drumcell, Dubtek Leeds, Electric Indigo, Fear Effect, Ike Dusk, Jeff 23, Joseph Capriati, iFormat, L.A.W., Luigi Madonna, Mark EG, Matt TDK, Millhouse, MTD, NOMAD, Paco Osuna, RVDE, Unconscious Laws