Review: Using only a guitar and the occasional synthesiser, this two-track debut album is a visceral experience, with the record quickly pulling us into a listening world thick with uncertainty, unease and disorientation. At times, the experience is just plain chilling, with some of the more crystalline moments on 'Track 2' invoking the sinister melodies of a 1970s horror movie soundtrack. Amazingly, these aren't the darkest sections, either. The feeling of doom is omnipresent throughout, with distorted noises nodding to the clank and screech of old rusted metal, or simply the strange sounds that come with being in the house alone at night. Environmental recordings are interspersed, which only adds to the sense of not quite being alone in this place. A moody, highly compelling ride that sends shivers down the spine for both musical and atmospheric reasons.
Review: Berlin's Felix K has always made an art form of techno. His take on the genre is about space, weight and sound design as much as anything. He shows that on the Nullpunkt label with a double pack of expertly realised cuts. 'Sudbaism' is a dubby and cavernous opener with plenty of atmosphere to it then 'Noism' darts about the stereo field with jerking rhythms and snatched vocal yells underpinned by vast bass. Elsewhere there is plenty of moody menace to the empty underground caverns of 'Loss' while 'Life' is like being trapped in the middle of a factory production line in full flow. An evocative work, for sure.
Review: Trauma Collective returns to shock your system on their fifth release, which comes courtesy of Spain's Rafael M. Espinosa aka Geistform. The Barcelona-based artist, also known for his exploits under the Univac alias, has crafted a singular style that exists at the interzone of IDM, digital noise and electro and having earned him releases on Pi Electronics, Femur and Hands Productions in recent years.
Espinosa executes four programs in sonic warfare on the Antena EP, all sounding akin to complex bitstream amplification. A multi-level barrage of frequencies play offense on opening cut "Proxima B", which sets the theme for more widescreen pulsations that gash the senses, as heard on the syntax error of "Note Repeat" and building up to a climax on the monochromatic soundstage of "Norc" - a jagged and angular exploration in bass artefacts and static redux.
Since unleashing the austere techno of Birmingham legend Mick Harris (as Monrella) and hometown hero Kwartz on unsuspecting ears, the Madrid-based collective has now ventured into more experimental spheres, as heard on the off-kilter mentalism of ASC's Loop Research and the brooding atmosphere of Makunaimadama's limited cassette release last year. Antena is the logical progression for the label's next chapter, where it continues to push the threshold of electronic music's outer limits.
Review: Stone's Throw has never really made any wrong moves in our opinion, and here the label puts its full force behind a deceptively powerful album. Taking us to places that are deeper than perhaps what the imprint is best known for, this is immersive, hypnotic, otherworldly stuff made from a variety of plugged in machines, analogue and otherwise, including a semi-modular synth. The result is a journey-style collection packed with atmosphere but one that's also painstakingly detailed and textured. Sound waves are rendered almost visible by the movements, drones, tracks and other pieces here, drum and effects machines producing the kind of noises that mesmerise and suck you in further as time passes. Tunes to get lost in, the only remaining question is whether anyone will ever want to return.
Review: In a move many might have believed not possible, Bobby Krlic makes a welcome return as The Haxan Cloak with this monumental single. It's no less than ten years since we last heard from the industrial-tinged electronica maverick on his Excavation album, but now he's back with a bruising new piece called 'N/Y' which pops up on both sides of this clear 12" platter. It's a high pressure release full of jackhammer percussion and noise blasts, plus some sirens thrown in for good measure. Holding true to the industrial tradition, it's entirely engineered as a blast of intensity, and Krlic has considerable talent to render such an approach in a powerful, provocative way.
Review: The Udacha label might have been away for a while but is now back with a vengeance. First up for this return is a new long player by the mighty fine Kurvenschreiber quarter, which is made up of Sergey Komarov, Vlad Dobrovolski, Ilya Sadovski and Alexey Grachev. These sound artists have been excelling in their field for some 10 years now and use synths as well as found sound objects to create their work. Magnetic tape loops, various instruments, pre-recorded loops, shortwave radios, transformers and much more give rise to this unique record which mixes up Boolean jazz, kurventronika and post-rock.
Review: Zach Murray is a fast-rising London producer who makes a great impression here with an ambitious and ultimately accomplished double pack on Oscuro. The title track 'Pieces Of The Puzzle' opens with sweeping ambient before 'Chill Pill' explores as glistening melodic world of futuristic tech and 'Can't Stop The Rain' has an old-school energy to its marching drums and rave stabs. There are also forays into acidic electro like on 'Keep Chasin'' and rugged breaks on 'Phase Me', elastic house sounds on 'Dubmotions' and cosmic turbulence in the trippy 'Dreams,' all of which show off this producer's versatility in style.
Review: Russian avant-garde sculptor namesakes Naum Gabo, AKA Jonnie Wilkes of Optimo and mastering engineer James Savage, drop their inaugural album, 'F. Lux.' The pair delve deep over eight tracks of cavernous ambiance, pummeling industrial techno and barren, windswept synthscapes, which are perfectly alluded to by Scottish painter Andrew Cranston's surreal artwork. In turns introspective and oppressive, the pair ditch their usual stylistic sensibilities for something altogether more longform and enveloping, allowing for full immersion in the cavernous soundworld. Highlights include opening wormhole 'Aora' and the deeply tense grindhouse resonances of the aptly named 'Hebust Cometh'. Wicked and bad.
Review: If you've ever been luck enough to attend the Freerotation music festival than plenty about this remix package will make sense. Not least the interpretation by event co-founder and modular synth hero Steevio, here delivering a remix on vinyl for the first time. Bringing in elements of jazz, ambient, field recordings, dub, house music and - albeit barely audible - subtle shades of tech, it's a sophisticated package that fully buys into the theory of electronic sounds being a form of high art. Running the gamut from the stepping, poised but decidedly free spirited 'Lucid' and Deadbeat's tense, drone-y take on'Sam Gimignano', to the lush keys and white noise of Andrea Cicheki's redo of 'Siegfried 2.0' and Dr Nojoke's beautifully blissed out smoky house, it's as dense as it is accomplished.
Emma Wild & Whale (DJ Sotofett Overdubble mix) (3:29)
Seance Of A Kondalike (DJ Sotofett Newseance mix) (5:26)
Out Of The Dark Into The Dawn (DJ Sotofett Lite Drum mix) (6:04)
Melting Grey (DJ Sotofett Grey Room mix) (4:55)
A Dead Rose (DJ Sotofett extended mix) (3:27)
Review: The words 'DJ Sotofett Remakes' is like catnip to lovers of obscure electric sounds. And here is the Allchival label with no fewer than six of them as the left-of-centre maestro adds his take to originals by Stano. His club mix of 'Room' is all spaced out and cosmic, then goes super slow and psychedelic with his snaking bass sounds on an Overdubble mix of 'Emma Wild & Whale' before Seance Of A Kondalike" (DJ Sotofett Newseance mix) picks up the pace but remains utterly psyched-out and intoxicating. There is still time for snaking dub techno and warped electronics on the remaining three sides.
Review: Thomas Xu from Steady Flight Circle and Tommy Kladis from Music Time with Friends come together on this new cassette-only release that captures three of their sessions at Kladis's studio. Xu was on synthesizers while Kladis was in charge of samples, drums and loops on the SP-555 and the final touch was lo-fi drums from John Shaughnessy. It takes the form of two extended jams that reach out to almost 15 minutes of dusty, ambient-laced soundscapes with distant percussive details and melancholic moods. 'Klaxu' has more darkness and more prominent rhythms to it but both pieces make for escapist listening.
Review: For the second release on New York City's Peace Anthem Records, Annie Garlid
Aka UCC Harlo - a viola player and singer from Connecticut, living in Berlin - joins NY Graffiti for what the label so eloquently described itself as 'Ketamine-paced grooves, baroque miniatures, hazy-humid sonics, and dub inflections'. On the A side, you've got UCC Harlo serving up the minimal atmospherics of 'Let's See' awash in shimmering FM synth aesthetics, followed over on the flip by the evocative breaks of 'UN' by NY Graffiti, not to mention each of them delivering a remix of the other's track.
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