ZEMENT Schallplatten & CDs

Review: French electro botherer Kafkactrl came up over the past couple of years with releases on Vortex Traks, and now they've been snapped up by Kluentah's Zement label which means rubbing shoulders with the likes of LTF and Chupacabras. Fine company indeed, and this promising newcomer more than steps up to the plate with assured, moody and brooding electro gear produced with flair and precision in equal measure. Across the six tracks you get a lot of ground covered, from 'Interzone's edgy dystopian machine funk to the lurid robo-nightmares of 'Gradient Descent' and the Drexciyan body pop of 'Checksum Zero'.

Review: M Parent's penchant for texture is laid bare on this searing and arresting new EP for Zement. It opens with 'Gravel Pit' which sounds like an audio diary from a car-wrecking plant. Twisted metal, fizzing battery acid, and crushed glass all feature over a distorted baseline and broken rhythm. Those same scuzzy sounds define the rest of the EP from the acid-laced 'Ideal Future' to the coruscated funk of 'Acid Thirst' via the caustic intensity of closer Climb These Walls'. An impressively unique offering that very much has its own singularly sound palette.

Review: Zement welcome back Ole Mic Odd and Alonzo for another punch of high impact tunes aimed squarely at the floor. There is plenty of cosmic urgency to the electro-tech of 'B-A-D' and all its withering sci-fi aesthetics. 'Automate Your Mind' bristles eve more with brilliantly tight drums and hits and mystic pads up above. 'Body Rocking' gets busy with pixelated melodic arps and vocoder vocals with punchy kicks and 'Smoke Break' is a more mindful and slower jam for thoughtful reflection.