Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: The first anyone heard from Robert Fleck was an early drop on Well Street back in 2018, and it's been quiet since then. Anyone following Well Street knows it's a hot tip for upfront artists in the fractured fissures of the UK underground, and Fleck makes a welcome return to prove the point. There's a lot of different touchstones you could point to on this release, from nimble-footed broken beat and a whiff of nu jazz orchestration, not to mention a bass music sensibility and an appreciation for deeper strains of UK techno. But more than all that, Fleck merges his unique spread of influences into something fresh and unique, comfortably slipping between conventional genre markings with the kind of flair we've come to expect from Well Street.

Review: Burnt Friedman and Joao Pais Filipe's collaborative efforts began back in 2018. The former using synthesis and electronics to paint subtly but incredibly specific aural pictures, the latter focusing on the drum and rhythmic end of things. At times their music feels entirely designed for the dancefloors of underground electronic clubs, in other moments it's something very different indeed.


This latest EP lives up to those broad brushstrokes. '21-30' is a lush, almost tropical sounding workout that offers a complex percussive pattern, and combines these with gentle shades of melody, harmony, hook and distorted note. '22-105' brings elements of glitchiness and robotics into the mix. Meanwhile, '18-140' would work well as a brooding building tool (or section) of a 'proper techno' mix, with '23-130' bridging gaps between the lot.

Review: In The Dark is a new EP from The Gaslamp Killer that features a series of remixes of the title track. It appeared on his debut album Breakthrough back in 2012 and was a real standout so to get these alternative perspectives is welcome indeed. These have never been heard on vinyl before and are sure to blow up the dancefloor as well as your brain cells. Mono/Poly, Drumetrics, and The Heliocentrics all step up with tunes that previously were only available on digital formats and get reissued now to mark the 10th anniversary of the aforementioned debut album.

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: Geo Rip is the trio of Aaron Leitko, John Calvin Jones and Mike Petillo who made their debut four years ago with a cassette release on U-Udios out of Takoma Park, MD (USA). Their eponymously titled sophomore effort here on The Trilogy Tapes features four experimental cuts, all said to be improvised live-to-tape. From the wonky electronics and splintered beats of opening track "Drop In Center" leading into the off-kilter deepness of "Nah Press Fake Text", their sound then diverts into more electro (-ish) sounding territory on woozy B2 track "Underwater Bodycam".

Review: Stamp glides up to a 15th release with the ever-present Ben Gomori the man responsible. The former writer has done it all in his time from playful edits to big house to here, dazzling disco. 'DM Slide' is a classic-sounding cut with busy basslines and silky arps, nice tinny percussion and a glorious vocal that soars way up top. That takes up the a-side while the flip is a dub version that ups the disco energy and removes the vocals so that the cosmic fx are more front and centre. A useful 12" so far.

Review: "I resynthesized some vocals that almost sounded human, but not quite. That's why I decided to name the track after a monkey." Depeche Mode mainstay, and one of the UK's finest modern musicians and songwriters, on his website Martin Gore cuts to the quick in explaining his latest solo release, which takes its name directly from Jared Diamond's book about the similarities between animal and human behaviour, The Third Chimpanzee.

It's certainly a pretty wild experience. Like the preceding lone wolf album, MG, here MG the guy gives us five tracks of synth goodness made on modular consoles. Visiting post-ambient, IDM and industrial noise, or rather luring those elements out of their natural comfort zones and into an atmosphere that almost feels as though you're lost in nature, it's a real opportunity for escapism at a time when many of us have never needed one more.

Review: Welcome to System Revival Recordings, a new label which inaugurates itself with an EP from Headless Horseman. He is someone who has a sophisticated sound and experimental approach to sound design that always brings his techno to life. 'Minor Setbacks' is a new series of releases on this label and its cut here is a fierce one indeed that was originally made as support for a Various Artists compilation for charity for Beirut in 2020. It has lashing of acid flash about the mix over tight, textural drums. Berlin's boundary breaking Monolake and Detroit's influential Erika add their own remix.

Review: Emergent Italian producer Herva has been responsible for some truly unique music committed to wax in recent times - see last year's album for Delsin as well as his hook up with Massprod on the mighty Kontra-Musik. His run of fine releases continues here with How To Mind Your Own, a six track EP for Dublin's All City operation which doesn't so much as defy easy genre categorisation, it laughs in the face of such futile gestures. Some may call it deep house but really Herva has crafted some mutant brands of the genre where individual tracks contain more ideas and rhythmic deviations than you are likely to hear in whole 12"s from many other artists. Totally crazy and totally refreshing.

Review: Following on from last year's impressive Redlight debut, Scott Hess is back on his Adeen label with another selection of warm and inventive house cuts splashed with colour and analogue wobbles precision-engineered to catch your ear. Lead track 'Sirius City' leans on a harmonically rich lead line and plenty of off-kilter wriggles to appeal to those who want some cheekiness in their tunes. 'UFO' sports a tasteful acid tweak running in between plush pads and snappy drums, while 'Call Me, Acid' plays around with telephone tropes to make a bleepy jam that will have the ID requests flying in. 'Stars' offers something sweeter to complete the set, spacing out the beats to leave the synths plenty of room to cavort around a celestial name-checking session for deep house dreamers.

Review: Brainfeeder serves up this new 12" from Hiatus Kaiyote which finds them diving ever deeper into their own idiosyncratic world of jazzy electronics and expansive grooves. The Australian funk outfit has been nominated twice for a Grammy and their Mood Valiant album was critically acclaimed by all. The pick of this limited green vinyl is the title track 'Canopic Jar' with its lurching beats, twisted guitars and stained lead vocal. It comes as an instrumental and an Capella while the opener 'Journey To The Crystal Tomb' is a short but sweet passage of haunting ambient.

Review: NX12X is the first in a new series of experimental records from this label and the artists given the keys for the inaugural release are Goldsmiths student and modular synth maestro Sam Hostettler and electronic innovator La Leif who tackle a pair of tracks each. Hostettler's sounds are the moody, heavy ambient atmospheres of 'Pointalims' and the more light and airy li-fi soundscapes of 'Opalescence.' La Leif offers broken beats with a skeletal feel and a burial-style synth aesthetic on 'Kyoto' and then crunchy breaks and fizzing, distorted synth malfunctions of 'Kimochi.'

Review: Since first emerging in 2011 via the globally renowned Bella Union stable, Swedish indie rock duo I Break Horses have certainly set out their stall. The pair, better known as Maria Linden and Fredrik Balck, have - among other things - hit the road to support both M83 and Sigur Ros in the years between then and now. Indicative of their incredibly textured and subtly all-consuming approach to soundscapes, while this release comprises two remixes it still feels every bit a Horses outing.

There's just so much timbre to get to grips with. 'Death Engine' belongs in a twisted math rock dream, as grungy and rough as it is epic and emotional, if you look beneath the immediate discordance and distortion. Mythologen's take on 'Turn' is a cleaner second act, taking the pace down a notch and removing chaos, leaving only calm and serene harmonies of real beauty behind.

Review: Here's some fresh techno from Intercepts, a new project dropping three slabs of hi-def, immersive club material from three different un-named artists for adventurous souls. 'Track 1' moves at a slower tempo and deals in fractured rhythms, all the better to carry the huge swathes of atmospheric sound design. 'Track 2' rolls with a deceptive discoid funk which contrasts neatly with the looped up Berlin techno-friendly elements. 'Track 3' takes things even further out into experimental - but still rhythmical - territory, marking Intercepts out as a label with a strong sense of adventure and their own distinctive way of merging influences into something which may well tickle your ear drums.

Review: When it comes to heavy chug, Multi Culti has always known exactly where to strike to make the most memorable or - more accurately - inescapable impact. Thomas Jackson's 'Slow Train' is just the latest case in point, then, drawing dancers and listeners alike in with its warm-hued, hypnotic synth lines, stabs and warbles in all the right places to ensure that while not that much happens, you'll be stomping about like everything was going on at once. Far from a one-track-wonder, Calypso Cult II is the label setting out all its stalls with aplomb. 'Jungle Tungle' is a strange, somewhat shrill, constantly building and percussively dominated workout that's tough and yet not actually that tough. 'Big Plastic Room' is peak time acid meets Kraut oddness, while 'Hipocampos' brings things to a beautiful close with beguiling, downtempo sludge.

Review: Uganda keeps on giving, with the country currently at the forefront of sub-Saharan Africa's electronic underground: a fertile corner of the world in terms of emerging and established talent. Enter Hibotep, a Kampala-based rising star who was born and raised in Ethiopia but grew up in Somalia. Joining her on this EP, another one to know from the Ugandan capital, Hibo Elmi, a DJ, filmmaker, fashion designer, installation artist, rapper and studio head considered to be one of the most important female dance music makers on the continent right now. Running the gamut from 'Amber''s dark, hypnotising dub-hop moves, through 'Ebwino's sparse, weightless tones, which eventually give way to playful stepping rhythm beneath the relentless microphone skills of MC Will'stone, and 'Saffron' with its slow mo, exotic shuffle, if those responsible for this EP themselves reflect the incredible diversity of the city's scene, the sounds do the same.

Review: There's a not a huge amount we know about Koberman's Probandenausweis, other than the fact it sounds very good and will appeal to fans of shamanic, slo-mo, kosmische, drug chug, ambient and experimental electronica. It's a slow building, gradually evolving and immersive trip into a studio, with arrangements valuing silence and emptiness as much as the notes and beats themselves.
Opening on 'Sonnenschirmbrand', a ritualistic number that seems to have the whisper of forgotten souls in the backdrop of a tribalistic beat, layers of noises and percussion adding to the feeling of it taking root in your body well before the bass kicks in. Meanwhile, low ends rule on '32 Ngoesolo', in contrast to 'UH DT101', which uses a twisting synth line as its focal point, allowing other elements to build around it until we're locked into a head nodding oddity.

Review: It almost seems redundant, writing something about the latest fabric Originals release. If you could think of a more enticing double-header for fans of bass, Leftfield techno, and UK-hued alternative electronic music then we want to hear it, with both producers here moving well beyond cult status and into the world of households names in homes well beyond their original audiences. And yet, remarkably, neither have strayed too far from where they initially set stalls. Hyperdub boss Kode 9 proves this first, with the sightly dizzying 'Infirmary'. Born from a combination of loose, open, galloping UKF and organic techno, with its foundations rooted in footwork, it's a bounding high-energy body mover that refuses to quit. Flip it and find Burial edging closer to 'dance music' than many might be used to, although it's a deep, moody interpretation packed with the spellbinding vocal flourishes of a mutant garage and suppressed, fidgety drums so subtle they're close to background noise.

Review: Heavyweight heroes Kode9 and Burial are no stranger to working together having done so to great success on FABRICLIVE 100 back in 2018. They don't actually collaborate on this one, though, instead serving up one side each of a new 12" for Fabric. As experimental artists with a penchant for drawn from the UK hardcore continuum you roughly know what to expect - fresh rhythms, emotive sounds designs, compelling rhythms. The 140g 12" comes in both limited edition and standard black vinyl versions, and both have bespoke 3D design with the fabric logo printed on reverse board heavyweight card.

Review: Le Motel, le hotel, les Holiday Inns. Wherever you choose to stay after your raving trip, be sure to pack this wonderful collection from the innovative Belgian craftsman Le Motel. Delivered by the ever-impressive Yuku collective, the whole EP flexes the spectrum in terms of tempos and influences. From the deep ploughman techno swing of 'Raving Crew' to the electroid funk and percussive fire of 'Helix' via the cumbia-inspired and turns of the minimal head-bender '429 Too Many Requests', this is an exceptional journey into the more esoteric side of breaks and club music. Essential.

Review: Veteran Irish producer Lerosa is back with a new one this week on local imprint Lunar Disko. The Trust EP features six terrific tracks all delivered in his singular style. On the A side, it opens up with the experimental synth intro 'Who Can You Trust', followed by the moody, almost John Carpenter-ish soundtrack vibe of "Revelations' and 'Reborn'. On the flip over, he heads to Detroit on the sci-fi electro of "Condition 1" and the acidified computer funk of 'Slow Bear'.

Review: LIMC's Ramp EP is a perplexing thing. Released by Germany's Inch By Inch this year, it sounds like it was born in simpler times, while also being a complex piece of work by anyone's standards. Downbeat? Certainly in terms of tempo, but perhaps not so much when it comes to how you take in the contents, which are designed to keep you hooked rather than play easy on the mind.

IDM? Maybe, there are few genre labels more fitting, although to us it really sounds more like an accomplished, refined, and sophisticated retro-hued video game score looking for a home and finding one not in the colourful on-screen antics of some bright-eyed playable, but the sound systems of forward-thinkers everywhere. A great, if obscure, one to own.

Review: While there is barely any solid information as to the identity and ideals behind the Lokal Affair project, this is the sort of material that speaks for itself, and one which has successfully tapped into the current state of affairs in the electronic game. This badass EP lands on the increasingly relevant Boomarm Nation, and carries three killer infusions of cryptic pseudo house and ethnic rhythms for the more open-minded DJ. If there was such a thing as 'small-room tools' then these would be it; watch out for the Alter Echo remix on the flip, too, as it's a rather voracious affair for the dance. Big ol' tip here!

Review: The ever-popular and always innovative Dark Entries welcomes Lust Pattern for more deviant electro explorations here and i isn't the first time the artists has graced the label in such fashion: Ryan Armbridge has previously done so as Linea Aspera many times before, exploring coldwave revivalist sounds alongside Zoe Zanias. With this alias, though, he looks to post-punk and electro-funk for inspiration. Opener 'Forming Lines' is redolent of Drexciyan squelch with plenty of live drumming powering it on. 'Choreography' has a similarly aquatic feel but with faster drums and more urgent funk and 'It's Right There In Front Of You' then slows to a predatory and menacing crawl. 'No Floor' is a motorik workout with the squelchiest of mutant synth sounds and rickety rhythms.

Review: Based in New York City and famed for his sonic experimentalism, Madteo is back with another alluring three tracker on Honest Jon's. The music is all about rugged machine funk, busted loops and lo-fi house grooves that recall the greats like Moodymann. 'Str8 Crooked' is the most loose and clattering of the lot with its knackered bassline stay down low. The amusingly titled 'Build Back Better Sweatshops' is scuffed up deep house a la STL and 'Episcopi Vagantes' is an epic 16 minute tune with spinning hi hats, wonky synthesis and plenty of cavernous soundscapes to explore at 5am on a darkened dance floor.

Review: No prizes for guessing the source of inspiration behind Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid's latest psyched out ambient odyssey, On Mushrooms is an immersive trip in itself but actually serves as precursor to the producer's forthcoming album, Mycelium Music, due to arrive in the coming months. An homage to the natural phenomena not just of hallucinogenic shrooms, but the bond between people and the natural world, and the hidden connections of that world. "When you go out for mushrooms in the hills of California there is an experience in which you wander for hours, scanning low until your eyes are fatigued and then suddenly there is a break in the chaparral and a cluster of immaculate King Boletes appears before you, posed with an almost hieratic intensity," says Matthewdavid. If you pay close attention to that moment of perception, it is almost always accompanied by a telepathic whispering voice that says: 'Oh hello, we've been waiting for you'."

Review: Meeting Point bring us four slices of moody but musical experiments from the point at which broken beat and bass culture meet. The slow motion of skeletal skank of 'Brass Beat' shows that the duo are capable of tempting plenty of character out of their machines, while 'Morning Air', with its highly pitched synth glories and stop start drums, also show they're not in the least bit bothered about fitting into existing genre frameworks. Fascinating stuff.