DMX KREW Schallplatten & CDs

Review: "Right, OK!" Worm Records offer up their second various artists release for 2024, coming just a neat two months after September's inaugural release featuring Ruf Dug, Wallace, The Mole and Gallegos. Now the label turn their hand to a completely different league of artists, convoking Boulderhead, Wooka, DMX Krew and Jorg Kuning for yet another star-studded audio-strudel, spanning both chilled and heated ends of the spectrum. Boulderhead's A1 is the ludic highlight among the four, a charming Valley Girl voice peppering the vocal track with exceptional backhandedness; we hear talk of floating on clouds and an affect of casual acceptance behind the glitch-science, suggesting vibes of bounciness and breeze. Wooka goes sillier speed garage on 'Make Yourself Comfortable', a challenging charge given the track's otherwise rather jagged jam; Krew and Koenig close things off on a comparatively calm note, the former's B1 opting for a set of bruk-en beats and wet synth yaps, and the latter's 'Imbolc' quiescing with clement Rhodeses and homely drum machines.

Review: In the third instalment of Whispers of an Ancient World, the legend that is DMX KREW brings his personal vision to Jorge Luis Borges's story The Library of Babel. Inspired by Borges's universe, DMX KREW explores the library as both a physical and symbolic space and one that houses the vast sum of human knowledge. This library is far from static; it's alive, buzzing with activity and guarded by librarians who are also seekers each interpreting the infinite knowledge within its endless hexagonal rooms. Outside of the concept, the tunes are superbly cinematic, with narrative-field ambient soundscapes and deft synth modulations all triggering plenty of emotional responses.

Review: Veteran electrohead and former artist on the Rephlex Records roseter DMX Krew's Ed DMX takes the well-known story by Jorge Luis Borges of The Library of Babel, said to contain all the different languages of the earth. Some deep philosophical thought has gone into the album's concept, but we'll leave that to Ed to explain. Instead, we'll tell you that from beginning to end there's plenty of the kind of trademark 80s synth playfulness in evidence, with a generally more mellow and soundtrack-related rather than frenetic and dancefloor-filling vibe in evidence, even on faster tracks like 'The Combed Thunderclap'. Still, Ed knows what he's doing when it comes to this kind of leftfield electro gear, and it's a rewarding, never boring listen.

Review: New week, new album from the prolific and always fantastic DMX Krew. Unlikely Seeming is the latest from the much-loved UK underground mainstay and it comes on the Byrd Out label featuring eight superb cuts that showcase his signature mix of joyous synth hooks, pads full of texture and of course innovative analogue drum machine rhythms. With hints of 80s pop and a slightly softer sound than he has done in the past, this is another triumph that is well worth adding to all his many other triumphant albums on your shelves.

Review: A sprawling, typically irreverent effort from the ever-prolific DMX Krew. With each unfolding track, Edward Upton charts a new tributary in the Detroit-Berlin-Sheffield pipeline, from the grouchy technoid stomp of 'Bathtime Bobby', to the hazy chillout room introspection of 'Escape To 92', to the dazzled machine funk of aptly named elektro quest 'Desperate Measures'. Another thoroughly satisfying entry in the ever-growing DMX catalogue, Spiral Dance is a sizzling hotplate of timeless electro wizardry.

Review: Let's hear it for Ed Upton, otherwise known as the evergreen DMX Krew. We're never short of essential electro of all stripes from the Rephlex veteran, but there's a special place in our hearts for the vocal turns he used to do back in the early days. Around 2004 he was focusing on purely instrumental experiments through the Collapse Of The Wave Function series, but Japanese label Poplot convinced him to return to the feelgood vocal electro and synth-pop sound and snuck this out as a CD-only release. Now on double vinyl, it's a love letter to the best of boogie and electro funk and Upton has a whale of a time laying down those endearingly straight-up party time, open-hearted lyrics about good times and love lives that any proper boogie record needs.

Review: Legendary Rephlex alumni and electro mainstay DMX Krew revisited a Minneapolis sound with boogie and freestyle elements in this timeless 2005 Japan-exclusive release. After almost 20 years it finally gets a vinyl issue over there in Europe thanks to Cold Blow and is a surefire way to kick start your day no matter the mood you are in. As ever, the studio wizard cranks up through the gears, gets the most out of his array of machines and explores rhythm and sound from many different angles, sometimes seemingly all at once. This remains a great record despite its vintage.

Review: You can't get more reliable than Ed DMX frankly. The veteran artist can do all electro styles imaginable and all with equal elan. This month, for example, is dropping a disco and boogie fried 12" as well as this more classically inclined electro outing on the fine Shipwrec label out of the Netherlands. 'Parasite' has a perfectly elastic and rubbery baseline under celestial melodies, 'Tree In Space' is a twitchy rhythm and 'Unbelief' then settles into a deeper groove with smeared synth chords. 'Meltdown' ends with a darker and more atmospheric sound for the late night hours.