Techno News

Luke Younger returns to PAN with an eight-track album of his most direct work to date.
Composed alone at NO studio in the Essex countryside, to start an album with a piece called
‘Capital Crisis (New City Loop)’ seems an intentional misnomer. Long, sustained periods in the
rural studio setting see Younger working with an array of fragmented, disassociated sound
sourcesto build upon 2015’s ‘Olympic Mess’. It shares a similarly inclined vision of the urban
environment, but here ‘Chemical Flowers’ makes reference to paradoxical notions of authenticity
and creative practice by way of questioning the structures around us.
Collages are assembled and dismantled, temporal and spatial boundaries fluctuate and movement
is an overarching theme. Surrealist drowned world atmospheres sculpted far enough away from
the source of inspiration leave plenty of room for ambiguity. The nocturnal nature of the recording
process is self-evident, and pieces like ‘Leave Them All Behind’ tap into a deep psychedelic
undercurrent. Confused narratives, emotions and aleatory hallucinations ebb and flow throughout.
‘I Knew You Would Respond’ evokes murky soundtrack terrain with eerie repetitive strings and
ambient respite, disrupted periodically by brief bursts of granular noise. It’s one of the records
most unnerving moments, possibly as it’s one of the most recognisably human.
The album navigates dense passages with recurring signifiers. Hollow percussion, modulating
delay and curious field recordings come and go, maintaining a perpetual state of flux where
nnothing stays the same for long. The drowned world theatricals return on the swamp-like
‘Lizard in Fear’ whilst string rhythms creep in on the penultimate track to incite momentary
electroacoustic harmony. Floating synthesis slowly washes over and the title track unfolds - five
minutes of reverb-laced portamento, visions of decay and Editions EG influenced world-building.
‘Movement is key’..

Electronic music has been quite obsessed with its past canon for a while. Ongoing trends such as the reissue frenzy or the obsession with vintage equipment make it harder than it should be to find music that feels absolutely contemporary. But Cleveland's 'nDSi' is a prime example of it. His new double EP showcases an evolution of his sound into more minimalist and forward-looking grounds. The crystal-like textures and playfulness are still there, but displayed with a much more ambitious approach. The seven tracks of the double EP are an exploration of futuristic soundscapes delineated with swirling tones, understated rhythms and ever-evolving patterns. Often drawing inspiration from "happy accidents with half broken synthesizers", Andrea Mancini works with the frictions of apparently contradictory ideas to come across a sound that defies the conventions of modern club-ready music without loosing its primary appeal. The textures might be cold but the vibes are warm, the sounds might be technological but the spirit is lively, the structures might be volatile but the impact is immediate. 'nDSi' not only creates a world of its own but also an impressively balanced one. As with any novelty, it might feel awkward at first, but its weirdness manifests itself in a refreshingly na?ve way, dodging any kind of excessive pretentiousness or overproduction. Truly one of the most stimulating works we've heard in a while. The double 12" comes housed in a sleeve by Barcelona based designer Guillermo Lucena.

Peder Mannerfelt & Pär Grindvik push the Aasthma envelope looser, faster, and stranger on a
second limited edition 12”, featuring one cut of blistered power ambient, plus a sidewinding
cybernetic techno twyster - properly f*cked & deadly dancefloor gear highly recommended if yr
into T++, Ugandan Methods!!!
A strong new addition to both artists’ oeuvres, the 2nd Aasthma 12” follows the same formula as
the first, and again finding a smart balance of immediate rawness and classy sound design, but
this time slightly altering the parameters to more reckless and experimental appeal.
The smoky ambient blush of ’Rotating Blue Device’ unfurls a fine mesh of gauzy mid-ground and
prickly surface disturbances to bend the mind’s eye and presumably sound steeply psychedelic
in altered states, which finely sets the tone for ‘Los Angeles’, where they spar with thorny techno
drums and surges of bass voltage in a roving, undulating, crisp but distorted mass that will swill
the club out something rotten.
No brainer.

Each vinyl sleeve is individually painted with highly-pigmented acrylic, using a single-movement brush technic. (Limited edition of 500)

ara is a new record label curated by David Letellier, a.k.a Kangding Ray. ara is a platform for recording artists with unique sonic identities that seeks to induce deep emotion through sound ; focusing on singular artistic endeavours, created with patience and dedication. While rooted in electronic club music, ara will not follow any prescribed sonic path : it will explore a palette of diverse sound worlds who evolve through parallel series of curated releases. Each series will represent either a concept or a particular musical direction, which will be mirrored by its own design approach. Since releasing physical records is increasingly becoming an irrational choice, each record will be irrationally produced as an hand-made work of art, involving procedures and techniques such as manually-applied ink, brushed acrylic paint or tape. Each edition will be individually numbered, recognisable as a part of a whole, while being slightly different by nature. The first release, by label curator Kangding Ray, will be the first step of this journey : organic, emotional club music, for the body and mind.

Past, present, future. For those who know.

Sixth release by Japanese artist Kosei Fukuda from his own platform.
Remastered version of the digital bonus track “Sky Clair” from REITEN 0.003.
B side contains remixes by Claudio PRC and Uch

Semantica returns with Blazej Malinowski

The beginning of this 2nd chapter in the 7 part series, has taken the soul of monster producers ‘Jam & Lewis’ and sent it down an electronic rabbit-hole... old-school and future-school come together, in what is to be Karapapak’s signature sound.

In total contrast, the flip side dives directly into 90’s rave - unrelenting and ideal for those hard and fast sets.

Limited to 200 copies, pressed on white vinyl + maxi picture

Nexx grime mutant Logos checks the electric blue pulse of UK Hardcore Musicks on ‘Imperial
Flood’, the stunning follow-up to his pivotal underground grime/electronica classic, ‘Cold Mission’
[2013]
Setting a new high-water mark for UK dance-related albums, ‘Imperial Flood’ stakes a claim for
Logos as a key dramaturgist of all things darkside, techy and skooled in the hardcore ‘nuum.
Where his debut album highlighted links between ‘90s Metalheadz D&B, Wiley’s Devil mixes, and
contemporary sci-fi cinema on its deliciously noirish soundstage, with ‘Imperial Flood’ he expands
that aesthetic in widescreen plasma HD. Pulling in broader influence from acid and dub techno,
experimental computer music, D&B minimalism and the speculative literature of Jeff VanderMeer,
Christopher Priest, Lando and JG Ballard, the results vividly speak to the idea of a UK sound as a
product of its brutalist, paranoid environment.
Arriving 10 years since his debut 12”, and five after his seminal debut album, ‘Imperial Flood comes
after a significant period of creativity for Logos. Over the latter half of this decade he’s been
instrumental in new grime movements, co-running London’s acclaimed club night, Boxed, whilst
also diversifying his bonds with Mumdance and Shapednoise as part of improvising noise trio,
The Sprawl, and most importantly with Different Circles; a label/clubnight catalyst responsible for
boundary-pushing dances and a number of cult releases from Airhead, Rabit, Szare and Raime, not
to mention his own, standout EPs with Mumdance such as ‘2015’s ‘Proto’.
It’s not difficult to hear how this activity has fed deep forward in ‘Imperial Flood’. From the bullet-
time Matrix-style into of ‘Arrival (T2 Mix)’ thru the hair-kissing weightless rave sensation of
‘Weather System Over Plaistow’, he sucks listeners into an utterly convincing soundworld made
all the more visceral, “real” thru his exacting production, morphing from the sentinel-bot growls
of ‘Marsh Lantern’ to lush viscous/arid acid ambience in ‘Flash Forward (Ambi Mix)’, and Dynamo-
style dub on ‘Lighthouse Dub’, before tagging in Mumdance on the Stingray-meets-Autechre styles
of ‘Zoned In’, and freezing the dance with commanding force on ‘Stentorian’.
Ultimately there’s no shortage of imitators for this style, but Logos’ combination of dedication to
his craft, a classically forward stylistic nous, and unique grasp of narrative places ‘Imperial Flood’
in a rare echelon of UK music really shared only by the likes of Burial and Raime.

6 YEARS // ANNIVERSARY // 24 HOURS // FRIDAY - SATURDAY // TECHNO // STAUB

6 RECORDS // 6 UNKNOWN ARTISTS // 6 UNTITLED TRACKS no actually it's only one record and five tracks. Unknown artist might not be that much into numerology, but it is still incredible to celebrate 6 years of this project. We really want to thank everyone that has supported us, visited our parties, and played our records... Unknown artist starts this fourth instalment with a murky ambient track on A1 before delving into trippy xylophonic techno on A2 and finally going full out mental on A3.

B1 starts with a more restrained cut - but that's just a ruse, you are in the eye of the storm - because B2 with its frantic pace picks it up for a fitting brutal final of a well rounded, versatile techno record.
A bit like a STAUB.

Berlin techno collective STAUB is about to celebrate six years of existence. STAUB runs monthly daytime events at Berlin's ://about blank club. Line-up stays secret, and main focus is on the music. During these years, STAUB travelled to Detroit, Bogota, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Milan and more.

Fourth release of STAUB will be out on Irakli's new label Intergalactic Research Institute for Sound, and will be available at the event STAUB 6 Years Anniversary on February 22-23.

The sound of sheet metal, ripping slowly, suspended in low gravity. Screaming in slow motion, claustrophobic and encapsulated. This is the result of Nino Pedone's reworking of Mumdance & Logos' dancefloor deep heaters 'Chaos Engine' and 'Cold', taken from the 2015 LP 'Proto', also released on Tectonic.

No beats, pure drama. Each of Shapednoise's versions pull the original tracks deep into a chasm of crushing reverbs and grinding atmospherics, stretching the originals to their limit - and well beyond. Prepare yourself for a journey that will take you deeper into the darkside.

IVVVO mounts an ambitious debut album for Rabit's Halcyon Veil with 'doG', a 2LP of
synth-driven panoramas painted in neon, riddled with rave tropes and rendered in
hyperrealist, cinematic sound design
The follow-up to 'Good, Bad, Baby, Horny' 2017 sees him unpackage and build upon
that EP in all directions at once in a viscerally corporeal and sorely emotional salvo
intended to be taken as his definitive opus to date. Across its 15 songs the London-based,
Portuguese producer spells out a narrative as vividly hypermodern as a Nicolas Winding
Refn flick but set in the fashionista underbelly of London, with crucial assistance on two
of the album's highlights coming from soundtrack composer and 'Hollywood Medieval'
producer Maxwell Sterling.
Like a magpie with fancy taste, IVVVO picks the shiniest and most affective elements of
contemporary dance/rock/pop and electronica - from deconstructed trance synths to
blockbuster sound design and choral arrangements - and then weaves them into searing,
reactive expressions of modernity. The results are skizzy, veering from anxious to
ecstatic and often in the space of one song.
Kicking off with convulsive samples of Korn's Jonathan Davis wedged into the nerve-
jangling opener 'This is Dog', the LP bleeds with emotion at each step, from the heart-
bursting Lorenzo Senni-esque style of 'Life' to the clenched and knotted grunge reflux of
'Forever Your Mouth' to the visceral, Arca-like incision of 'Blade', while two pieces with
Maxwell Sterling, the Coil-like arabesque 'Untitled' and the vertiginous flight of 'Last Days',
seal the deal with decadent flourishes.

* Samuel 'S S S S' Savenberg is one of the earliest members of the Haunter crew, presenting his project through 2014's Administration Of Fear, bombing the horizon with a barrage of darkened, industrialized techno. Since 2015's Just Dead Stars For Dead Eyes though, Haunter has become the home for his most experimental releases. Absence ventures even further into those same lands: traversed by telluric bass phenomena, over-scaled waves of sound and kinetically charged breakbeats (ripe with processed 808 drums) or crumble into digitzed bits. Fellow Swiss producer Gil provides with a remix, combining a slowed-down dembow beat with the doomy electronics of the original.

2019 marks the return of Austrian electro duo Microthol with the project's first EP since 2011. Don't be fooled by its unassuming title: 'Transmissions' is the culmination of years of sonic research. From techno-esque opener 'Hostile Invasion' to 'Transmission 0608's soundtrack of a burning space ship spiralling out of control - 'Transmissions' is much the sonic equivalent of a wormhole linking the aural orbits of Ultradyne and Autechre.

Liam Blackburn's Ancestral Voices project is a nomadic journey of self discovery, exploring expansion of consciousness through sound. Since it's inception in 2016 the project has traversed from transcendent ambient to jagged 170 bpm beat experiments over the course of 2 full length LP's and 3 EP's. In 2018 Liam launched his own label 'The Fifth Kingdom' with the entirely beat-less release - Mycelia.

Liam returns to Horo to follow up his second LP 'Divination' for the label in 2017 with the next step in his musical evolution - Navagraha.

Navagraha means "nine celestial bodies" in Sanskrit. Each 'Graha' is a specific vibration and relates to the nine planets of our solar system, as well as the different parts of our body.

In 1978 Hans Cousto, a Swiss mathematician and musicologist discovered the natural law of the cosmic octave as the link between different kinds of periodically occurring natural phenomena, such as the orbit of the planets, the weather, colours, rhythms and tones.

For the Navagraha project Ancestral Voices has taken Hans Cousto's 'frequency' of each planet and created a unique tuning system which he uses for each track.

The result is a mixture of Ptolemaic, Pythagorean and other 'Alternate' Harmonic scales that can create a profound effect on the consciousness of the listener. Steering away from equal temperament opens up an infinite amount of possibilities and more 'colours' to paint the picture with.

Welcome to the richly rhythmic and deeply esoteric world of Zaliva-D. Based in the Chinese capital of Beijing, they've been circling the country's borders for more than a decade due to the extreme difficulty of streaming music there. Zaliva-D consists of musician Li Chao and Aisin-Gioro Yuanjin, who's responsible for their stunning live visuals. We're very proud to present Forsaken, their 4th album, but first ever vinyl release. Wrapped around a core of gut wrenchingly ferocious kicks and haunting vocals, these tracks possess a mantra-like quality and drown the listener into a world of Chinese and South East Asian textures. Forsaken, mastered by Wouter Brandenburg, is their most well-written, organic and esoteric record to date, showing a more fragile, sensitive side. Soon Zaliva-D will perform on European soil, accompanied by this Knekelhuis debut.

- Limited vinyl only release - Including postcard with download code for another new album from Jacek Sienkiewicz.

IMOW, or 'In My Own Wave' - Atmospheric, cinematic, stirring and utterly engaging, this is surely Sienkiewicz's most personal work to date and very possibly his best!

IMOW, or 'In My Own Wave' is a moody record. Although overtly experimental in form, it's quite different to Sienkiewicz's abstract, improvisational albums recorded with Max Loderbauer or AtomTM. Clocking in only 35 minutes and comprising of eight tracks, 'IMOW' is several years of work distilled into a dense, concise whole. Atmospheric, cinematic, stirring and utterly engaging, this is surely Sienkiewicz's most personal work to date and very possibly his best: his constant struggle to find a perfect balance of flesh and machine, or to translate human emotions to sound by means of a modern studio is manifested here in its purest, most consistent and, surprisingly, very accessible form. From subtle drones, through chants and rhythms echoing in mountainous chambers, to innumerable insect-like sounds and tiny details, it's an encephalogram recorded to tape (or disk). With all its complexity, it's not overwhelming: the meticulously constructed compositions leave both space for the sounds to breathe, and for the listener to fully experience it, without being bored, tired, wishing for less or being hungry for more. And there's beauty in this record, and hope - in the world of overpowering darkness and constant noise 'IMOW' feels like a peaceful trip into the untouched nature with all its wonders - offering in equal parts rest, strength and inspiration.

Slovenian artist EB King provides GLYK with three magnificent jams. One shines like a juicy nightshade berry on a silver plate. The other is the soundtrack for moody werewolves on full moon and the last invites you to an afterhour on Steve Zissous submarine.

After seven years of label making, Dorfjungs says goodbye with a final collection. GroupWorks mixes improvised vocal jazz and tropical ambient with sweet pop music, bad-tampered hip-hop and pitched down techno tracks. Thanks to all friends, fans and collaborators. Adieu

First Up On The New Five Piece Westerschelde Series On Nous'klaer Audio Is The Powerful Tool Yellow Cone By Oceanic. Comes With The Original Uinson, Beatless Solo And Even More Tooly Reprise. Illustrations By The Emma Ruth Levie.

Das Heise Experiment 2" marks the 6th album of The Exaltics. Lovely presented on double 10" vinyl with full cover artwork from non other than the mighty Godspill, who also designed the pre release of this album with an amazing looking shape picture disc. To hold things special the guys from SolarOneMusic put a full comic with the story of "Das Heise Experiment" in each record. The music ranges from dark experimental techno, electro, ambient and soundtrackish nightmares which goes perfect with the story of the comic. Also Drexciya's Gerald Donald collaborates with The Exaltics for one track , which is one of the highlights of the album. This music is nothing for the club its much more, a complete story to feel. Turn your headphones on and dive into the world of aliens, scientists and distant gallaxies. All records come with a comic book!!!

The Connection Machine is Natasja Hagemeier and Jeroen Brandjes. The CD-only original release from 2004 has been re-mastered and features nine tracks for this first-time vinyl version of the album. The Down Low label is a vital US resource for deeply personal electronic music that works both in bedrooms and DJ booths. It's a label that put out celebrated albums and EPs by the likes of Convexion, E.R.P and Dan Curtin, and played a key role during its first lifetime. Ten years after their last release they return with this double 180g vinyl version of the Painless album by The Connection Machine. It is an album made up of material made in the nineties that never saw the light of day and is full of achingly deep moods, dreamy acid house, down tempo electronics, ambient, and Detroit techno, all of which make it a lost classic from the Dutch techno scene. This is a vital reissue that not only re-introduces this forgotten classic to a whole new audience, but also the Down Low Music label itself.

53 Degrees North marks SK_eleven s seventh release, as Setaoc Mass continues to add to his flourishing imprint; this time with a two-part EP release. 53 Degrees North Part One focuses its efforts on four-to-the-floor club-centric music the label head is renowned for. All four tracks are emblazoned with his signature, disparate pairing of light and dark sound palettes glued beneath rich, atmospheric textures and hypnotism - all the while keeping its muscular club chassis gleaming beneath. Part Two of the double release sees Coates revealing more of his experimental side. The second cut pays homage to past influences of the producer as he floats between ambient, IDM and electro cuts with ease, all rife with emotion and passion.

Shxcxchcxsh's Rosten label welcomes fellow Swedish producer Sissel Wincent for a smashing vinyl EP, 'Assorted Lights'. 2018 was indeed a busy year for Sissel, having released her second EP on Peder Mannerfelt's imprint as well as collaborating on his new LP. She also made a remix for Fever Ray and took part of the infamous Shape platform roster. With 'Assorted Lights', she pursues her unique blend of minimalism, gabber and experimental sounds to greatest effect. Machines squeal, squeak and hiss in the most natural way conveying passion and emotions with energy from start to finish. Four dancefloor bangers that showcases Sissel Wincent's talent to create dark, odd, yet cosy atmospheres of her own and some of the freshest dance music around.

De:tuned continue to celebrate their 10th anniversary with this second EP of the series and dive deep down into the ambient techno world. The A side makes you drift away on a rare Sun Electric get together, followed by a Higher Intelligence Agency piece of beauty. DeepChord's dubbed lushness completes this highly intense journey.
Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the graphic work. Pressed on 180 gr vinyl and a separate digital version will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

Killer stuf on Klasse Wrecks Sub label Zodiac! Frozen Russian plains rich with moondust and cybo-fog lie still, a faint rumble is heard from behind the horizon and Buttechno checks his Pulsemeter 5000, deciding to head on whilst he still can. Sonic lighting strikes the dead earth, leaving echoes that reverberate for miles around as digital feedback waves sore through the airless landscape. Buttechno steadies his exxo-bike, firing the back up atomic engine before taking a deep breath and heading into the lost and forgotten city. ZCAPRI is the seventh of 12 releases from Z O D I A C 4 4. One for each sign of the stars and then Z O D I A C 4 4 is forever dead and gone. Forever gone and dead.

Delsin's first reissue album of 2019 is the album 'Repeats', an important techno and IDM record from collaborative outfit Repeat, which originally landed on A13 in 1995. Nineties collective Repeat started out as Mark Broom, Andy Turner and Ed Handley, with Dave Hill joining in later on. Ed and Andy, of course, also recording as Plaid and also still members of Black Dog Productions, with whom they recorded albums closely before and after this one. The result is a hard to categorise album that breaks all the rules and draws on IDM, techno, ambient, house and electro to make for nine tracks of atmospheric analogue music that still sounds fresh and in a world of its own.

Line Explorations present its first release - a compilation consisting of six tracks by six national artists, producing under the names of T'iwu, HTL, PX, emme, AMSH and Mensaje Sanador, serving as a sampler for what's to come in the future on the label and the sounds the label will evoke such as techno, IDM, ambient, noise, drone and experimental vibrations from the further avant-garde,

The first track focuses on growing an organic and everyday sonic scape with the use of chords and melodies filled with light touch - reminiscent of clear skies and sunshine - which creates an ambient feel similar to that of daily vibrations of life as presented and explored by T'iwu.

HTL enhances the depth of the reflections of today's emotions one can feel by delving deeper into everyday surroundings and exploring the noise/drone side of the ambient musical styles by mixing melodic elements with the out of the ordinary effects which shock and ululate while shaping the musical texture into a darker and deeper atmosphere.

The following track, by PX, elevates the atmosphere into a more jovial soundscape full of '80's inspired electronica and sci-fi soundtracks. The beat rolls off and twists in a funky groove helping develop a danceable pace for the release.

On top of that, emme presents the fourth track - in the shape of techno meets breaks - where more classical elements of industrially influenced electronic music can be traced from yesteryears. The sounds engulf in warmly distorted melodic strings while flowing over and under the rhythmic structure.

In contrast, AMSH's ''Subway'' presents a downpour of heavy sounds, such as noise influenced synths and delayed infected percussion, along with field recording of trains help envision the movement of a manmade machine and its flow through the undergrounds of today's world.

The final piece, of the label's initial release, comes in the shape of a Mensaje Sanador or healing message. The track takes on the elements of the three titles that have preceded it and explores further the dynamics between current and classical sounds of the electronic dance music genres by delving deeper into sound synthesis, melodies and rhythm as to help one submerge further into exploring such sounds, their history and the future to come.

Chemistry between individuals is an amorphous and elusive notion. It is usually seen as something that occurs between two people who are sharing a physical space, with access to each other's body language and energy. However, modern technology has provided many other opportunities for chemistry to blossom and be explored and this record is just one example of that: Vent is proud to present Kina, a double LP of musical collaborations between MAYa and Tolga Baklacioglu.

Tolga Baklacioglu is an associate professor in aeronautical engineering. He is also a musician. For several years, he has been steadily building a body of work that explores the outer boundaries where techno and abstract textures merge and blur. In 2014, Tolga created a label, VENT, as a platform for his explorations and those of likeminded travelers within this sonic realm.

MAYa Hardinge works in film. She is also a musician. She has collaborated with numerous artists. Beginning in 2008, She released 4 EPs under her solo guise MAYa. Considering her background in film, it comes as no surprise that her work has a strong visual element. Pre- dating Beyonce´'s Lemonade by many years, her last two EPs were visual albums made in

collaboration with various directors.

It makes total sense that MAYa and Tolga should have made an album together. Their interests and backgrounds overlap and diverge meaningfully in a way that has all the hallmarks of good musical chemistry. There is however one unusual element to their collaboration: they have never met. Tolga lives in Eskisehir (Turkey) and MAYa lives in New York City.



Always on the look out for inspiration and new collaborators, Tolga stumbled across MAYa's videos online. What he saw and heard inspired him to reach out and contact her. After some correspondence they decided to experiment with the prospect of making music together. Perhaps deprived of the traditional notions of chemistry defined by proximity, they found inspiration across time and space in the name of exploration and discovery. Tolga began by sending MAYa files of beats and ambiance. Upon finding the ones that spoke to her, MAYa went to work disassembling, adding, subtracting and rearranging. MAYa's work would then go back to Tolga, a world away, for further input and then back again. In this way each track was painstakingly constructed and a true chemistry was born. One built on sensitivity, support and honest artistic communication. In a word: LISTENING.

The songs cover a broad spectrum of topics, from the deeply personal feelings and experiences, to world events, and the fundamental aspects of life and death. Kina is a document of two artists from different backgrounds and their shared visions of the interplay

between one's private microcosm and the global macrocosm of our time; a testament to the fact that, for all its vastness and diversity, this world offers inspiration and potential collaboration around every corner. The music contained within has traveled around the world many times before reaching your ears. As MAYa and Tolga have done before, it is now your turn to LISTEN.

Tachyon Audio 003 is the first release by label boss, Nick Payne. Spurn (A1) leads off the E.P. with hypnotic minimalist drums playfully twitching with a roaming bass-line in a sci-fi electro sound soup. Definitely a 3:00 a.m. melter.

The second track, xYyX (A2), offers classic drum kit sounds pounding down through ethereal fading pads. This muscular groove is sure to warm up any room.

Side B starts with a remix of xYyX (B1) by profound artist, Doubt, who brings his own distinct nature to the E.P. This mutation takes the original elements and brings them into a similar but all new realm, taking the listener down a driven, but esoteric path towards feet moving.

The second remix of XyyX (B2), by well-known Denver, CO, USA sound engineer and musician, Soundguy Josh, is a short broken- beat experimentation with strong drums leading the way to a dramatic climactic crescendo.

The last two audio offerings are open-source locked-groove National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) samples. The first, Kepler Star KIC7671081B (B3), is described by NASA as 'light curve waves to sound.' The second locked groove, Stardust Passing Comet Tempel 1 (B4), is an audio recording of a satellite passing through the tail of comet Tempel 1.

Dutch label Field Records is back with another special album project, this time from Japanese producer ENA aka Yu Asaeda. Bridge is an introspective soundtrack for a documentary also called Bridge - out this Spring - which is about the Dejima bridge, a reconstructed symbol of the Dutch-Japanese trading history in Nagasaki, Japan. The album finds the producer stepping outside of his usual remit of dark ambient and experimental music, and instead comprises ten shorter tracks that touch on abstract and rhythmic sounds that define the essence of Japanese culture. Although he has worked with the director before, this is ENA's first Original Sound Track and finds him freely inspired by the movie and heading in exciting and unknown directions. Hugely atmospheric throughout, there is hypnotic repetition of sounds, strange audio design and a mixture of melancholic moods with more dreamy synths. Sometimes gloopy rhythms gently ripple beneath soothing harmonies and at others times a micro-rhythm appears through the constantly shifting and evolving found sound loops. It's a compelling and unusual album that seamlessly mixes human emotions with a mechanical sense of industry.

Dj feedback:

Mano le Tough (Permanent Vacation): "Amazing sound"

Inverted Audio: "Subconsciously affecting, emotionally invigorating work here. Loving this."

DJ Mag LA: "This album shows that the of ENA sounds are an overflowing line that perfectly combines human emotions. Feel is the perfect word to define the entire album."

Samuli Kemppi (Deep Space Helsinki): "Really really good album. Thank you."

Eric Cloutier (The Bunker NY): "absolutely brilliant."


Philip Sherburne (Pitchfork): "Really interesting stuff here, looking forward to delving into it."

Amandra (Semantica): "Love it ! Thx"

Nihad Tule (Sloboda): "perfect cinematic scapes, thanks!"

Breach (Aus Music): "super enjoyable on a lot of levels and so warm. "

Jonas Kopp (Tresor): "love it ! thanks."

Mosca (Not So Much): "First two tracks are enough for me to know I'm into this"

Fugal (BleeD): "<3"

natural/electronic.system. (Tikita): "This is a great release. Thanks!!"

Roger Gerressen (Yoyaku / Sushitech): "lovely"

Maarten Mittendorff (Indigo Aera): "Amazing all over!!! <3 ENA... really out of the box organic evolving music. Big up Field for releasing this beautifull music!"

Albert van Abbe (VANABBE / No Comment): "This is just great! Suburb travel music, thanks!"

Simo Cell (Livity Sound): "Yes this is brilliant ! "

Efdemin (Dial): "Great textures and sounds. Really interesting work!"

Clouds (Electric Deluxe): "wow this is dope!"

Zadig (Construct Re-Form): "Need to check quietly but i know i already love it. Beautiful ... Thanks !! "

Voiski (Super95): "really beautiful bridge music "

Limited retail edition in double transparent yellow vinyl.
Explosions in Slow Motion is the new album from Brock Van Wey's transcendent bvdub project.
Van Wey's previous n5MD album Heart- less found him harnessing the turmoil around him to create something vast, emotive, and brooding, yet somehow comforting, allowing you to cradle in its weight.
Months after Heartless' release Van Wey moved from turbulent times of his native California home to the chilling winter of Warsaw Poland. A divergence. Alone against the icy cold, confined to the indoors in search of protection against the world outside, Van Wey channeled, as he always does, his surroundings as they coalesced with his self-imposed aberration. The outcome of this move, and period of near total isolation, is Explosions in Slow Motion.
Featuring four long-form songs accompanied by four 'ember' vignettes, Explosions in Slow Motion is quite possibly Van Wey's most mournfully isolated work in his massive discography to date.
Filled with swelling arcs of spectres from the past appearing then slowly drift away. Foggy memories of friends, loved ones, and even adversaries seem to achingly sweep across Explosions in Slow Motion's eighty-minute runtime.
There is a forlorn thread of shrouded nostalgia throughout the album which by album's end leads to catharsis, acceptance and the finality of progres- sion.

On A side, electronic music wizards Kompozyt team up with a Dub Legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry to bring you a heavy-hitting and instant bounce-inducing Dub Techno track 'Hidden Force'. Lee Scratch Perry's amazing and charismatic Dub poetry blends superbly with the neat fusion of spacey and subterranean sounds of Kompozyt productions. The single is not to be missed this summer.

On B side, Kompozyt brings you a 7' version of 'Homesick' - Dub and Trip-hop inspired Experimental Electronica with Olgierd Dokalski on the trumpet. Olgierd's incredible performances of real haunting beauty further reinforce the analog, live and improvisational aspect of Kompozyt's music.

Both tracks come from Kompozyt's debut album: 'Synchronicity' - out everywhere now on CD and DL.


Selected Reviews of Kompozyt's Debut Album and the Single

5/5 Decoded Magazine: 'Incredible album 10/10'

4/5 Lars Berhenrot (Deepershades): 'LOVE THIS .. never-ending deepness ..'

5/5 Pierre Ravan: 'Amazing work from the heart'

5/5 Queensradio.org: 'I'll definitely be playing these guys on air'

4/5 Garth Trinidad (KSRW Radio) 'Exquisite score without a film'

5/5 Hoxton FM (London): 'Incredible release!'

4/5 Stereo MCs: 'Nice vibes refreshing'

4/5 Robert Babicz: 'I love dub. in all forms'
5/5 Adam Hannibal (Balanced) : 'Neat fusion of spacey and subterranean sounds. Reminiscent of the Beyond Recs Ambient Dub compilations with some freshness... Well done'
5/5 Al Bradley (3amrecordings): 'This needs full love because it's excellent :) I can really picture myself just letting this play from the first sound to the last & becoming utterly immersed as it flows through! Gorgeous.'
5/5 Bartlomiej Blesznowski- 'One of the best electronic music albums this year'
4/5 Neil Brown (RMFM; Pro Mobile Magazine): 'Some nice tunes to get your head in gear to.'

5/5 Jorn Kirk (DJ Jay Kay) (Faith Sundays): 'very nice album !!! a joy to listen to'

Borft follow up with Bergsonist "Chaos" after the split with Isabella back in 2016. Call it techno but this is experimental Power of its own kind!!!

Many years in the works, 'CXVI' is Akira Rabelais' supernatural album of collaborations, featuring he singular composer in rapt dialogue with a wishlist of peers including Harold Budd, Ben
Frost, Karen Vogt (Heligoland), Geir Jenssen (Biosphere), Kassel Jaeger, and Stephan Mathieu. Unfurling a quietly breathtaking, dreamlike sequence of events, 'CXVI' blooms in the wake of
Boomkat Editions' first-time vinyl pressings of Akira's seminal classics 'Eisoptrophobia' (2001) and Spellewauerynsherde' (2004) introduced his rarified work to myriad, keen new ears, while also
reminding longer terms fans of his nonpareil genius and alchemical style of composition. Set to be received as Akira's magnum opus, 'CXVI' finds the Hollywood-based composer challenging his usual working methods, pushing himself to refresh binds with longterm
collaborators such as Harold Budd and Stephan Mathieu and forge new relationships with like-minded craftsmen such as Geir Jenssen (Biosphere), while also finding a new vocal muse in Karen Vogt of Heligoland, and also coaxing the recorded debuts of his friend Mélanie Skribiane, and ilmmaker/photographer Bogdan D. Smith.
The result of their time-lapsed endeavours is a record of divine subtlety and poignant patience, rendered with a mirage-like appeal. Opener 'Which Alters When It Alteration Finds', beautifully segues from a prickly bouquet of keys and lovebite-distortion penned with Ben Frost to a reverberant, spine-freezing piano coda from Harold Budd, before 'Which Alters When It Alteration
Finds' smokily gives way to the sylvan shadowplay of the album's masterful centrepiece, 'Star to Every Wandring Worth's Unknown', where Mélanie Skribiane reads from Max Ernst's 'la femme 100 êtes' against an exquisite veil of strings and keys realised by Akira with the GRM's Kassel Jaeger a.k.a. François Bonnet.
The 3rd part of the album only becomes more sparse and isolationist, as Karen Vogt's plainsong gives way to the tremulous, icy timbres of Akira's processed guitar strokes, originally written
or Cedrick Corliolis' 'Tokyo Platform' soundtrack, before the final side of 'If Error and Upon Me Proved' finds Akira pushing Geir Jenssen's (Biosphere) synths into the red, emphasising a romantic soreness that turns into crushing noise, before Bogdan Smith's whispered vocal melts into an ancient, arcane air inscribed to 78rpm vinyl by Stephan Mathieu and then sweetened, re-
ncoporated by Akira as the album's stunning closing passage.
Riddled with bedevilling detail and utterly timeless in its scope, 'CXVI' is a disorientating opus you'll want to undergo over and again, and for our money the first great album of the year thus far.

The Belgian party organisation and record label De:tuned mark their 10th anniversary with the first outing of their 10 x 12'' series. 'DE:10.01' kicks off with a special treat from the 90s golden era: on offer a welcome combination of previously unreleased DAT material by Kirk Degiorgio and expertly affectionate As One remix treatments of both original Sensurreal and Jedi Knights (Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton) work, pure bliss.
The artwork of the first 9 collectable releases of the series forms a 3 x 3 poster display. De:tuned have called on designer Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) to create all graphic work.
This kickstarter for the series is mastered by Matt Colton (Alchemy Mastering) and pressed on 180 gr vinyl. A separate digital version of every release will be available from the usual digital shops. Stay tuned!

The mercurial, industrial pop fetishism of 'Raging Tender' forms the 3rd and most impressive EP from producer Jan Grebenstein and vocalist Christine Seefried for Karl O'Connor/Regis' Downwards label
Stepping on from 2016's 'Strong Proud Stupid and Superior' LP, rebenstein's sound is now tauter, more spacious and seductively strung out, finding a sublime tension between quicksilver slow/fast drum programming and deadpan gothic delivery. Their means of production is still bare-bones minimal in an economical Berlin style that has served the duo very well thus far, from their self-titled debut for Downwards in 2014 thru to more
recent outings on experimental D&B labels Horo and Osiris Music UK.
Title cut 'Raging Tender' zips up fanged arps and needle-toothed hi-hats under Christine's close mic'd vocal with hypnotic poise and force, before 'Breathe' diffuses and unlocks that anaerobic tension with tantric 808 rhythms. After lulling listeners into a false sense of security, 'Arab Icon' raises the heart rate again with jarringly atonal electronics and an unyielding rhythmic grip, while the title and feel of 'Body Electric' speak to the duo's most
prurient desires, with Christine's opiated, any-hole's-a-goal mantra of 'I Sing The Body Electric' set to knackered, bummed-out pads and oozing bass.These are uncompromising, virulent songs about sex, death, and dancing that will surely resonate with knowing connoisseurs of the contemporary darkside.

DBA's .5 series returns with another timely set of beats aimed squarely at the dance floor. General Ludd, fresh from the success of their recent outing on Rubadub, set the tone with Owl, a broken techno slammer guaranteed to form the apex of any set. Next up Herva makes a welcome return to DBA this time alongside Mass Prod, with Constructive Pessimism which mines a deft groove from start to finish offering maximum potential to escort revellers politely into outer space. On the flipside Eotrax alumna and Berlin luminary Nene H comes correct with which starts hard and ends harder, one for the hard dance revisionists but formed of razor sharp, carefully honed production chops. Finally London hero Altered Natives supplies what can only be described as an anthem in the making with Dancing Girl, which has featured already in the sets of DJs like rRoxymore throughout the summer.