Review: Get ready for some proper breakbeat tackle as Oil Gang reprobate Boylan recruits the troops for a heavyweight apocalyptic 140 BPM showdown. With the likes of Slimzee, Trends, D.O.K, U.S.F and Youngsta all on side, the mood is tense and the textures are rough. Imagine that sci-fi sternness of Virus, that old school rolling breakbeat bass of Koma & Bones or Evil 9 complete with the more modern neck snap abrasion of acts like Former or Coido and you're in the right rave. Mean, gritty and unapologetic.
Review: Tresor's extended focus on reissuing old Drexciya and Drexciya-related projects continues here with this version of Shifted Phases' 'The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J Rosinthrope'. A short-lived alias of Drexciya's beloved James Stinson, Shifted Phases' only LP here is one of few affiliated projects that has remained out of print ever since its rather low-key release in 2002. Wildly popular despite it, the music heard on the album is undeniable early electro, locking in a characteristically frank, almost meek, yet astro-nautical electro sound. Scratchy crud and sonar feedback beeps extend to the deepest sonic reaches on this one; you better salvage it from the abyssal waters of history (by copping it), and quick.
Review: 'The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J Rosinthrope' is an obscure rarity by a short-lived alias of Drexciya member James Stinson, Shifted Phases, which is now getting the full, refocused reissue treatment by German clubbing giant Tresor. Having remained out of print since its initially tiny release for over two decades, this bubbly yet grim electro album reflects an epistolary concept expressed musically rather than in written form. Rupert J. Rosinthrope is a mysterious character, but these cosmic memoirs hopefully shed at least some light on "his" misunderstood memory.
Review: Given the reissue wave of Drexciya-related material has been trucking for more than 10 years now, it's quite remarkable this masterpiece from the late James Stinson has waited so long to be reissued. Originally carried on Tresor in 2002 as one of the final releases he put out in his lifetime, the one-off Shifted Phases project feels loaded with context not least with the album framed as 'Cosmic Memoirs'. This is unmistakably Stinson's work, veering from rubbery machine funk freakery to the melancholic, back room electro mood of The Other People Place, all presented with due care across three discs by the Tresor faithful and including two outstanding tracks which were previously only available on the CD edition.
Review: Ben Shirken's first self-titled release as Ex Wiish is a haunting work of digital archaeology. Created with close collaborators including Pavel Milyakov, MIZU and Dorothy Carlos, H.D. Reliquary blends trumpet, violin and modular synths into a fragmented, post-human soundscape that will send shivers down your spine. Inspired by the idea of a hard drive as a sacred archive, Shirken filters live recordings through neural networks and cooks up ghostly echoes of imagined sessions. The result is raw, contemplative ambient with a host of guests all adding to the evocative, filmic nature of these otherworldly soundscapes.
Review: Vocalist, composer, lecturer, performance artist. And we can throw visionary into the mix, too. Katya Shirshkova wears a number of different hats, each as innovative and creative as the next. However, few sound as good as when she's matched with celebrated musical architect David Maranha for a two-track single that's nigh-on impossible to describe. Let alone find much information about. We'll do our best to articulate, though. Le Heron and A Reuniono are polar opposites attracted by their overall impact. On the first, we have vocalisation taking on many forms and sounds, each as strange and beguiling as the next, and really showing the range human voices are capable of. Sometimes soothing, sometimes shrill. The second replaces this with an electric guitar, running through tune-ups, tune-downs, distorted crescendos, muffled breakdowns, and other out-of-this-world effects.
Review: It's been four long years since the last full-length from American electronica producer Henry "Shlohmo" Laufer, a particularly epic wait given his early productivity (he famously launched his career with three albums in two years). Dark Red is, happily, an impressive set, with 11 doses of IDM inspired goodness stretched across two slabs of heavyweight wax. There's naturally much to admire, from the evocative, lo-fi fuzziness of "Emerge From Smoke" and picturesque D33J hook-up "Apathy" (a kind of ambient jazz exploration with hints of horror), to the skittish, jungle-influenced madness of "Fading". Best of all, though, is closer "Beams", a full-throttle exercise in the power of breakcore percussion.
Review: Shuttle358's Optimal.LP, finally available on vinyl for its 25th anniversary, is a landmark debut showcasing Dan Abrams' innovative approach to ambient glitch and dub. Abrams, immersed in the electronica scene of the 1990s, crafted a beautiful sonic landscape that blends ambient drones, delicate melodies, and digital static with remarkable sophistication. The album's juxtaposition of elements creates a tension that is both jarring and oddly soothing, inviting listeners into a world of sonic experimentation and exploration. From the rhythmic complexity of 1990s electronica to the emerging clicks'n'cuts movement, Optimal.LP stands as a landmark piece of work, informed by tradition yet visionary and idiosyncratic. Remastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich and featuring three previously unreleased tracks, this vinyl reissue captures the essence of Abrams' artistic vision. With new artwork by Daniel Castrejon, the album's aesthetic appeal is as compelling as its sonic depth. This is sure to be one of the best reissues in 2024 for electronica.
Review: As one of the leading lights in Norwegian techno with guts, heart and soul, Skatebard has long skirted scene recognition to simply focus on slipping out his own strain of wayward machine matter. Given his track record with Sex Tags Mania, it's no surprise he'd trust DJ Sotofett with access to his archives, and so Spektral has come together as an exploration of long-buried recordings from the early 00s, edited by Sotofett and wrestled into a digestible form for this record. Capturing the best aspects of freeform jamming while cutting everything into shape, there's an inherent dirtiness to these recordings which instantly tells you it comes from an honest place.
Review: Julius Smack collaborated with a fictional AI assistant to create the new album which explores his origins. It is set in a near-future Earth where artists and AI share a symbiotic bond and aims to reflect a world where beauty and violence intertwine. Artists are the last human survivors in this place and they mine their memories and dreams with AI in order to generate art which sustains them but also produces toxins that must be expelled with each new creation. Starlight then is an album which challenges AI's role in creativity and labour, and blurs the lines between art and reality, all while giving rise to a thoughtful and immersive album of innovative ambient.
Review: Norwegian duo Smerz are experts at duality and creating tension between two opposites, be that dark and light, warmth and cold or tension and release. There is a real air of menace to this record for XL that layers zombie vocals over busted synths and murky breaks. Some tracks are bight and dazzling, others are swaggering and ominous like 'Rain' with its big strings and air of Bjork sound design. Recorded over three years and drawing on the members' time in youth choirs, this is an expansive and accomplished record.
Review: Dutch industrial techno producer Parrish Smith created Light Cruel & Vain over the course of nearly three years. Each track on the record was originally conceived solo, then further realised with the assistance of contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos. The collaborative where no studio sessions occurred due to the pandemic - the full collaboration conducted remotely. Notable tracks include the seething post-punk swagger of "Black Scarlet" or the brooding industrial rock of "Sway", to the industrial strength breaks of "Never Break Faith" and a frantic techno banger towards the end "I Wanna Be An Idol".
Review: Oakland's SNDTRAK dropped his long awaited debut album back in 2021. It was a big hit right off the bat and now it gets a welcome reissue. These are snappy beats with rolling drums, deep hip hop instrumentals that bring the best of the dusty school to fresh new school thinking. Delicate melodies are buried within, soulful vocal smears drift in and out of ear shot and well played bass slowly rotate sunder the tunes to bring languid funk. Sunny and heart aching, heat damaged and stoned, this is a warming soundtrack on many different levels.
Review: Soffplaneten takes us deep into a world of downtempo delight with the Samlar Damm LP on Sunken Rock Recordings. It is an eight-track odyssey that veers from the gentle rhythms of the opener to the languid dub rotations of 'Kom Till Mitt Talt' complete with twanging guitars and soulful vocal seductions. 'Hoga Mamma Moln' is a more percussive and upbeat cut built from loose drums and tin pot percussion but held together with smeared and heat-damaged chords. 'Tunnelbanan' is a whacked-out and laid-back stoner joint while 'En Suddig Musik' gets more experimental and unusual in its sonic collage. A wonderfully irreverent new take on Balearic overall.
Review: Esteemed American IDM producer Drew Daniel is back with a new album under his The Soft Pink Truth alias titled Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This? Of the title, Daniel explained it's an actual question proposed to him which has become a mantra of sorts, with the album created as a way to imagine possible musical responses to her question. Created during Covid lockdowns, Daniel recruited a virtual disco band from friends across the world and traversing many genres such as disco, minimalism, ambient, shoegaze and jazz, then pieced together in his Baltimore studio. Guests include Turkish arranger Ulas Kurugullu, Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xu, Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Brooklyn techno artist Rose E Kross and Daniel Clark.
Review: Drew Daniel is The Soft Pink, and he is also one half of Mateos, the quirky electronic pair who have put out tens of albums. This solo project started as a means to explore sounds that don't fall in the Mateos world - which is not many, to be honest. There is rave, dark metal, crust punk and plenty of genre curiosities all drawn up on here with the results managing to be both ethereal and hypnotic. Guests such as Colin Self, Angel Deradoorian (previously Dirty Projectors) and Jana Hunter are amongst many who add extra weight to the album.
Review: Alex Somers has spent much of his hugely successful career either composing music for film and TV, or producing other artists. It's for that reason that it's taken him some time to deliver a debut solo album, though to make up for this he's simultaneously releasing two sets - Siblings and Siblings 2 - both of which feature music mostly recorded between 2014 and 2016. On Siblings, Somers dazzles with his versatility, offering a mixture of haunting, emotive and mind-altering compositions that frequently blur the boundaries between experimental electronica, neo-classical and ambient. The Los Angeles-based producer frequently combines swelling orchestration with crackly field recordings, ethereal vocalisations, immersive synthesizer sounds and off-kilter electronic sounds, resulting in a hazy, otherworldly musical journey that rewards repeat listens.
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