SYNKRO - Lost Here - Apollo Records

Close your eyes and breathe deeply with this one, as Synkro returns for his third release on Apollo with four new productions of affecting, midnight electronica. Joe McBride's ear for inimitable melodies has always fit his intricate percussion patterns like a glove. On the Lost Here EP, however, the Synkro project has been elevated to a new level with subtle flourishes of pop structure and two standout vocal performances by Robert Manos. Lost Here ascends to the clouds, hovering on cavernous chords that wrap Manos' words in a cocoon of eyes-down emotion as scissoring rhythms flit underneath. Touching down again, In My Arms calls on circadian rhythms and oscillating layers of synthesizer to create a dreamlike environment, isolating Manos' song in an antechamber of space and sound. The B side slinks in with a playful bass riff on Nights of Pleasure, underpinning celestial waves of chimes, tones, and chords before Fading Lights suspends each element in zero-gravity as a pure, heat-treated distillation of the Synkro sound.
Although still maintaining a presence in the wider bass music sphere, Synkro showcased his diversity in tempo, structure and new sound with the superlative ‘Reservoir’ bw ‘Just Say’ on Box Clever & ‘Angels VIP’ bw ‘Good Loving’ on Smokin' Sessions. Major support for Synkro music has come from names like dBridge, Instra:mental, ASC, Chris Coco, Giles Peterson, Brendon Moeller, Mary Anne Hobbs, London Electricity, Kasra & many more. This has displayed a maturation of his sound & style, and with material of various tempos scheduled for release on respected labels labels such as Exit, Autonomic, Brownswood Recordings, Blackout Music, Critical, Warm Communications, Pushing Red, Mindset, Box Clever any many more, it has become increasingly obvious that this will be the year when Synkro takes his deserved place amongst the luminaries of the electronic music world. Synkro's musical career has already seen him DJing everywhere from Manchester to Poland, London to Belgium, and Cardiff to the USA, and it is inevitable there will be many more stamps in Synkro's passport by the end of this year as he takes his new sound to the world.


Tracklist:

A1 - Lost Here
A2 - In My Arms
B1 - Nights Of Pleasure
B2 - Fading Lights

Podcast #19 - Alex Dolby

It was May 2002 and Alex Dolby made his entrance on the clubbing scene with "Psiko Garden", his first release, which will become immediatly a worldwide hit. The release attracted attention in no time at all, it become a hit played by famous djs worldwide so that Sasha decided to make a remix.
Alex Dolby began churning out one hit after another, as "Hazy Way" and "Obsessive Sound", up to release his first album, "Psiko Garden", in 2006 on the label Global Underground.
From here on, Alex Dolby has undertaken a complete change music, managing to assert itself and is currently becoming one of the most recognized and talent producers of the scene techno and tech house. He initiated important collaborations with artists such as Timo Maas and Santos, with whom he worked in the label Rockets and Ponies, and its release were published on labels like Viva Music, Bedrock and Cocoon compilation of Adam Beyer.
During this years, Alex Dolby has traveled extensively performing in top clubs of the world: Ministry of Sound London, Dc10 Ibiza, Pacha Buenos Aires, Magazzini Generali Milan, Sazae Osaka, Brancaleone Rome, Cafè D'Anvers Belgium and many others.
2013 is a crucial year for the career of Alex Dolby and January is the month in which his club was opened in Frosinone, Affekt, closely related to the techno sounds.
The artistic program has shown immediately of the highest order, and the club has been able to show for the first time in the history of the area/country, artists such as Norman Nodge, Tommy Four Seven, Shifted, Markantonio, Marco Faraone, Chris Tietjen and Len Faki .
The work of Alex Dolby did not stop here, but wanted to create a label, Affekt Recordings, which rotates 360 degrees around at his club and that embraces fully underground techno sounds.
On Affekt Recordings released two Ep, called Viral Ep and Modular Ep, which were played and supported by artists like Danny Tenaglia, Dave Clark, Ben Sims, Dubfire, Joseph Capriati, Alan Fitzpatrick and many others.
His mind is always looking to create new musical forms, trying to understand and interpret the changing times and with them the musical tastes of people.

Sit back buckle up and listen to this podcast exclusive for our blog.
Enjoy

 

CC / GOLDEN DONNA - CGI001 - CGI Records

CGI Records is proud to present the long overdue vinyl debut of Cc, one of the most talented DJs and producers currently working outside of the limelight. This release follows 'Up Wind', his outstanding 2012 digital EP for JASS, and precedes his forthcoming debut 12” EP for Proper Trax. Designed to appeal to DJs and house fans seeking hard, funky, and effective club weapons, Cc’s sound is informed by years spent honing his skills in clubs in Chicago (as heard on the funky and direct house workout of “Calvino Italo”) and as a resident DJ for No Pain In Pop in London (the UK Garage rhythms adapted to Cc’s own deep and distinct sonic palette on “Shackles”). Cc now holds it down in the Southern states as a resident at Atlanta’s HUNGER club night and Savannah’s Cape Fear. The flip-side of the record contains 2 tracks by Golden Donna, an incredibly unique and talented producer who is following up last year’s stunning debut LP for Not Not Fun with two deep, moving, and melodic cuts of some extremely adventurous and almost ambient electro. Rich, pronounced melodic textures encourage deep introspection as they collide with uncommonly fresh rhythms, making this a workout for the mind as well as the body.
Edition of 500 copies mastered by Dietrich Schoenemann


Tracklist:

01. Cc - Calvino Italo
02. Cc - Shackles
03. Golden Donna - Colditz
04. Golden Donna - Soft Escape II

DEBUKAS - I Am Machinery - 2020 Vision

2020Vision drops the ‘I Am Machinery’ L.P this December by rising British producer Debukas. An
eleven track collection of rich analogue sounds, raw rhythms and cosseting melodies.
‘’He’s a one-man synth orchestra, that Debukas. Those beautiful layers of yearning vocals, the Detroit strings, the coruscating hi-hats and drums that speak of years at the altar of house and techno’s venerated gods. I Am Machinery is somewhat apt. Debukas was born in 2011, though the seeds of it were sewn much earlier. Echoes of its influences go back to Gary Numan singles, teenage forays into the world of Junos and Casios, 808 State and early Warp, Transmat and Metroplex, Arthur Russell and Gino Soccio. It’s all there in the primordial Celtic soup that comprises Debukas. John
Clark was born somewhat earlier. You may or may not have heard about some of his previous exploits. He had a brief dalliance with pop infamy in Japan. There was a series of bands large and small and collaborations so brief John is still not sure they really happened. I Am Machinery is one of the most complete electronic albums you’ll hear this year – or any other, for that matter. Those years spent toiling in bands has given him a mean ear for the killer hook, just as the hours spent in Rubadub Records in Glasgow provided him with the inspiration. This is neither house music not techno, though you can certainly dance to it. Debukas has taken the basic building blocks of those genres and somehow repurposed them to produce music that is vocal-based without featuring formal songs (it feels at times as though he’s sampled himself from some obscure found-sound album). When he hits his stride, you can almost imagine – in some far off, alternative universe, maybe – Debukas on Top Of The Pops performing, say, ‘Some Days’. If you’ve been lucky enough to come across his EPs for 2020Vision, you will have heard and appreciated his unique style; it sounds like nothing else on the roster yet fits perfectly among it all. I Am Machinery is a step further; a step forward. The sound has received a slight polish though one that comes from confidence in a sure direction rather than songs with a needless sheen. And here’s confidence for you, some of the best material from the EPs has been ditched so the album has a flow, as if all of these songs were conceived to only live together communally on I Am Machinery, like brothers and sisters, or even prisoners (of soul).
On ‘Tape Symphony’, one of the newest songs, Debukas woos us with some white soul, edged with those glittery synths and an unrelenting bass figure. ‘Hold Back The Sea’, technically just a simple house groove, is imbued with his trademark multi-layered vocals which rends it startlingly and unintentionally similar to Frankie Goes To Hollywood – bizarrely, I know, but it just totally works. I Am Machinery is that rare thing: a great electronic album. It’s where man meets machinery and they have some right old rumpy-pumpy in front of everyone. This is Debukas’s lovechild. Plug in, tune in, blast off.’’
Debukas’ ‘I Am Machinery’ is out on 2020Vision December 2013.


Tracklist:

1. I Am Machinery
2. Hold Back The Sea
3. How Did You Find Me
4. Shake
5. Love Plant
6. Rings
7. South
8. Minus
9. Knowledge
10. Some Days
11. Tape Symphony

JEROME - CGI002 - CGI Records

Having devoted the better part of two decades tearing apart music from every conceivable angle and putting it back together as only he can, the wanderer also known as JEROME releases his debut EP with CGI Records. Not much is known about this lazy magnet but his sound is indeed magnetic. JEROME has constructed some of the tuffest house abstractions using only what will fit in the backseat of his '81 Rabbit. Huge round bass lines ground the unrestrained dubby house experiments happening around it. By capturing an improvised performance, we are gifted a hypnotic and moving dancefloor experience that only occurs in the heat of the moment. Massive 20+ minute live takes were sent to CGI Records HQ, edited down and the two most powerful cuts were chosen for pressing on this special limited edition hand-stamped white label.


Tracklist:

A1 - 4B
A2 - 5

INDIGO - Storm Ep - Samurai Red Seal

Manchester's Liam Blackburn aka Indigo is an artist devoted to sound and its effects on our lives. Now signed to R&S offshoot 'Apollo', he joins Samurai Red Seal for a guest appearance after his debut for our camp with the popular (and now sold out) 'Reaching The Source' vinyl EP for Samurai Horo and a contribution to our 'Scope' LP, also on Samurai Horo. The 'Storm' EP showcases the focused menace the Indigo style is capable of, with tightly wound musical energy bursting through the cracks on title track 'Storm' and 'Volta'. 'Spirit Of The Winds' (with Versa) lets the energy unwind slightly more with a powerful, but ultimately subtle showcase of breakbeats, while 'Condition' submerges the listener in a sumptuous bed of reverb and production finesse. Now working on his debut LP for Apollo in 2014, the 'Storm' EP is a mouth-watering collection that puts Indigo again at the front of an innovative pack of producers working in and around 170 bpm electronica.


Tracklist:

01. Volta
02. Spirit Of The Winds (Indigo & Versa)
03. Storm
04. Condition

He/aT - A Terrible Misunderstanding - He/aT

“Killer Techno” - Hardwax (on He/aT 001)
He/aT (pronounced “Heat”) is a new project from an established UK producer. This is the second He/aT EP to date, following on from the “A Death In The Family EP” release earlier this summer. Limited to a vinyl-only pressing of 500 (which sold out immediately), it was not repressed, bringing He/aT to the attention of the techno community. “A Terrible Misunderstanding EP” contains 4 tracks of fresh, raw, bass-heavy techno; as tempered and toughened as it is controlled, as melodic as it is intricate. This EP continues to build upon the rich history of proper techno from middle England, and also unfolds the next chapter in the rise of He/aT.


Tracklist:

A1   - A Terrible Misunderstanding 
A2   - In Various States Of Undress

AA1 - We Made Our Excuses And Left
AA2 - For The High Jump

BEN SIMS - Fabric 73 - Fabric Records

 Prolific, eclectic, and always evolving, Ben Sims' name has been synonymous with quality techno for nearly two decades. His enviable career path mirrors the history of twenty years of popular music in the UK, drifting from hip-hop and reggae into the early days of pirate radio, the peak of acid house, and pummeling hardcore. Sims has always been a precocious listener – in his early teens he would DJ his school's disco parties prior to gaining a reputation as an advanced talent on the rave and club circuit – and his experience is reflected in the timelessness of the selections on Fabric 73. Beholden to no specific era or genre beyond the power of their pure transportive grooves, on Fabric 73 Sims showcases the restlessly creative selections that continue to make him an essential and inspiring DJ for advanced techno listeners worldwide. Born in Essex, Sims' childhood was soundtracked by reggae, ska, and radio chart music. After being exposed to electro and hearing local kids dancing to a ghettoblaster in a nearby park, Sims got hooked on hip-hop and bought his first turntable setup at the age of 10. Even now, his DJing is influenced by the sampladelic energy of hip-hop, frenetic cutups plucked from their surroundings and repurposed in enhanced form. The ideal of a swaggering MC and the voice as percussive instrument also remains an influence, evident in his canny deployment of exhilarating microsamples in typically instrumental templates. Fabric 73 is full of this vocal detail, with samples folded, creased, and crammed into the spirited techno in a way that suggests a raucous party inside the tunes themselves, and not just occurring amongst those listening. Sims' molecular mixing has a piercing immediacy that doesn't lose sight of musicality, making for an engrossing and impressively fluid listening experience. Heavily influenced by what Sims calls the “perfect and elusive” environment of Fabric's Room 2, his long-awaited contribution to the Fabric series matches that industrial setting and the depth of experience possible in a dark, sweaty, peaktime room. "Fabric already plays a special role in my life as an DJ as it's one of fave places to play but now the mix CD takes it to the next level. I'm very happy and excited to be a part of the series and cement our relationship further. "
Ben Sims Fabric 73 was mixed live in sections, with Sims then poring over details, adding edits, and stitching the various parts together in Ableton to form a master mix. Sims' longevity reflects familiarity with a vast trove of techno's musical history, but this mix showcases his ever-evolving tastes, containing predominantly new and unreleased material as well as favourites from 2013. Fabric 73 is a cratedigger's dream, with no fewer than eighteen unreleased tracks and a number of Sims' famed edits, used as transitional bridges but delivering an emotional and percussive wallop that far outstrips their simplicity. In an attempt to make initial listens as immediate as possible, Sims has even refrained from playing out certain unreleased tracks until the CD's official release date. The beginning of the mix suggests a hush falling over a packed room, Sims taking the decks to the sound of twinkling arpeggios before catapulting into slinky techno. There is an immediate emphasis on granular shifts in tone and timbre, reflecting Sims' superhuman mixing prowess (the mix was recorded on three Pioneer CDJ2000s). Alden Tyrell's “Wurk It” is a jacking and disorienting early peak along with Sims' forthcoming remix of Floorplan, the alias of techno legend Robert Hood. Sims' world is one where the jittery club workouts of L-Vis 1990 rub comfortably against the psychedelic techno of Truncate, and his own Fokus Group alias project sits sandwiched between an unhinged Surgeon remix and newcomers Clouds. Sims allows the mix to artfully disintegrate and rebuild, delving into percussive detail and chordal warmth rarely heard in such assaultive techno. Taking cues from his heroes Jeff Mills and Robert Hood, Sims' mixing is thrusting and minimal without sacrificing thick detail. The tunes are foreboding but also plain fun, as in Sandrien's snide and funky “I Left My Girlfriend In A Club.” There are numerous spiralling rabbit holes and gnashing elemental minimalism, whether it's the 303 purity in a Sims edit of Donnie Tempo's “Tazmanian Virus” or any variety of disembodied whoops, coughs, come-ons, and other vocal tics. A series of Sims' edits and unreleased originals bring the mix to a storming end, with Paul Woolford's “Broken Dreams” establishing a connection to Fabric's in-house Houndstooth label. Drawing on a rich and unparalleled musical history, Ben Sims' Fabric 73 is as much autobiography as it is vision of an uncompromising musical future.

Tracklist:


01 Joton GS
01 [Mastertraxx]
02 Kryptic Minds & Paul Mac Icon
[Tactical]
03 Kirk Degiorgio Dread
[Machine]
04 Alden Tyrell Wurk
It [Clone Jack For Daze]
05 Ben Sims The
Little Jam (Edit) [Theory]
06 Floorplan Higher
(Ben Sims Remix) [MPlant]
07 Gingy & Bordello All
Day (Robert Hood Remix) [Turbo]
08 Dimi Angélis & Jeroen Search Monopole
(Sims JFF Edit) [A&S]
09 Tripeo Kienokki
(Edit) [Theory]
10 Benjamin Damage Recursion
[50WEAPONS]
11 Ben Sims Raise
Your Hands (Mr G Remix) [Theory]
12 Mark Broom 133
[Beard Man]
13 MDL vs JR Belmont
(Edit) [Theory]
14 Marcel Dettmann Corebox
(James Ruskin Blueprint Mix) [MDR]
15 Mark Ambrose Shooting
Stars (Fokus Group Remix Edit) [Theory]
16 Robert Hood Moveable
Parts (Untitled 1 Mark
Broom Edit) [MPlant]
17 Ben Sims Break
Glass (Sims Remix Edit) [Theory]
18 LVis
1990 SDS5000
[Clone Jack For Daze]
19 Sandrien I
Left My Girlfriend In A Club (Edit) [Theory]
20 J Tijn U
U U [WNCL ]
21 Nphonix Tactix
(Sims JFF Edit) [Audio Culture]
22 Mike Dehnert Eigenzeit
[Fachwerk]
23 Ben Sims Break
Glass (LVis
1990 Dance System Remix Edit) [Theory]
24 LVis
1990 Wires
[Clone Jack For Daze]
25 Donnie Tempo Tazmanian
Virus (Sims JFF Edit) [moreaboutmusic]
26 Chicago Skyway Fall
Down (Sims JFF Edit) [unreleased]
27 Chicago Skyway Ride
3 (Sims JFF Edit) [unreleased]
28 Truncate Room
Mode [Truncate]
29 Truncate Model
1 [Truncate]
30 Paul Mac Grind
Returns (Ritzi Lee Remix) [Stimulus]
31 Ben Sims Samurai
(Edit) [Theory]
32 Julien H Mulder Symmetric
Timeline (Sims JFF Edit) [Färden]
33 Rod 90'
s (Edit) [unreleased]
34 Ben Sims Something
(Sims Beats Mix Edit) [Theory]
35 Terrence Dixon Minimalism
A1 (Ben Klock Remix) [Sino / Technorient]
36 Ø [Phase] Distracted
[Token / N.E.W.S.]
37 Ben Sims Dream
State (Edit) [Theory]
38 Ben Sims Raw
Hide [Theory]
39 Pfirter Ahora
(Sims JFF Edit) [Mindtrip]
40 Ben Sims Neurosis
(Surgeon Remix Edit) [Theory]
41 Clouds Chained
To A Dead Camel [Overlee Assembly]
42 Fokus Group Nut
Nut [Pennyroyal]
43 Ben Sims Joyrider
(Trevino Remix Edit) [Theory]
44 Special Request Broken
Dreams [Houndstooth]

PINK SKULL - Huitlacoche - My Favorite Robot Records

My Favorite Robot serves up another unique and uncompromising release from Pink Skull, this time in the form of an exclusive vinyl release, months ahead of its digital companion. Energetic analogue forms that are simultaneously playful and moody define the sound of their latest full length Huitlacoche.
Huitlacoche, the group's fourth release, sees its first full length foray with a new pared down line up of Julian Grefe, Justin Geller, and Joe Lentini. Days on end spent tethered to their synths have yielded a purely electronic record; in a way, a return to their roots and a serious step forward.
This line-up has recently made waves with their EPs for MFRR, Throne of Blood, and Days of Being Wild, with each garnering attention across the globe.
The title track kicks off with a serious raw groover, whose ticking, machine made percussion lays down a strong foundation for the dance floor whilst the synth frippery completely takes one's mind away to another place.
'Trans Gender Express' continues in the same vein with molten acid lines set off by gentle, ambient synthscapes. 'Perfect Suites' is a deeper, more elastic affair offering up sublime and surreal synth work that conjures up images of otherworldly perfection.
‘Mutant Comfort' is a trippy melodic free-fall and 'Burmese Engines' is a beatless trip through inner space. All of the releases conjure up the ghosts of synth pioneers past, from warm ambient to proto industrial - all the while keeping their attention focused on the future… and it's all hugely captivating.


Tracklist:

A1 - Huitlacoche
A2 - Trans Gender Express
A3 - Perfect Suites
B1 – Ryryryry
B2 - Mutant Comfort
B3 - Burmese Engines

ABSTRAXION - Break Of Lights - Biologic Records

28 year old French producer Harold Boué aka Abstraxion releases his debut LP ‘Break of Lights’ for the label pairing of Biologic/Have A Killer Time in December 2013.
Based in London and Marseille, Abstraxion’s material has so far won plaudits from Erol Alkan, Simian Mobile Disco, James Holden and Caribou’s Dan Snaith. Full of melancholic reveries and hybrid explorations, Break of Lights reveals Abstraxion to be a standout producer and true obsessive to his craft. “The most important thing for me in this record was finding my own sounds and combinations to build a whole new world,” says the producer of his first long player. “I wanted my album to be coherent and reflect what my project is about so that people could get into that timeless spaceship. Break of Lights, consequently, abounds with texturally rich, rapturous gems and thoughtful meditations on the passage of time. Album opener “White Rain,” featuring the whispered vocals of Parisian artist Chloé, winds plaintive guitar around modular synths and Abstraxion’s own ghostly vocalizations. “Moon” bubbles with blinking synths and blip-and-bleep effects that, in a titular nod, flash celestially. “Every Night I’m Lying” marries tremendous beats with gorgeous vocals from Danish singer Astrid Engberg. Possibly the most hypnotic track here, "Around Me," warms with sonorous synths that speak like beautifully indecipherable utterances. And “Les Histoires,” dedicated to the producer’s father, emerges with half-recalled conversations from childhood, then drifts – as if via time – through spectral keyboards that filter past like memories.
Abstraxion co-manage the label Biologic Records with DJ, producer DC Salas. After putting out a series of EPs, he released the singles “Jus Acid” and “Jaipur's Elephant” on Different Records in 2011 and 2012, respectively. He has also released music on Marketing Music. Always a singular character with an ear for sound, he has built a music studio in Marseille with old analogic instruments. He spends his time there making electronic music that is as explorative and organic as possible. “I’ve built a system in my studio where I can spontaneously compose with all my instruments," he says. "That way, in the end, the track has the same warmth of feeling as the room during the recording process itself.”


Tracklist:

01. White Rain feat. Chloé
02. Moon
03. Every Night I'm Lying feat. Astrid Engberg
04. Rising
05. Goodbye
06. Around Me
07. Break Of Lights (Album Version)
08. Yards
09. We Used To
10. Les Histoires

TONY LIONNI - Just A Little More - Madhouse Records

Three years after his debut album, British born producer Tony Lionni is to release his second album, Just A Little More, this time on Kerri Chandler’s hugely influential Madhouse Records.
Lionni’s career dates back to the middle of the last decade, but he has continually served up classic house cuts on labels like Keith Worthy’s Aesthetic Audio, German techno stable Ostgut Ton and Freerange Records. His sound veers from deep and moody techno to more uplifting and piano laced house and that production range and dexterity is something that again characterises all 13 tracks of his exceptional new album.
One single from the album has already been heard on plenty of dancefloors after Chandler first aired it on Radio 1 back in early 2013. That sultry single is ‘Take Me With You’ featuring Rachel Fraser and is one of a few collaborations. Others include the organic deep house and rippling chords of ‘Time Stands Still’ featuring seminal Chicago house vocalist Robert Owens, whilst the elastic beats and twinkly melodies of ‘Do You Believe’ features talented Manchester vocalist Maria Marcial.
Elsewhere on the album Lionni explores hugely musical house sounds with lush sweeping strings on ‘Black Orchid’, jazz tinged and chord laced atmospheres on the mid-tempo delight that is ‘Lost Souls’ and more driven beats on tracks like ‘When 2 R In Love’.
Of course as well as offering plenty of great material for DJs, this is an album so musical and carefully thought out it also works on headphones and at home. This is an album that makes you feel good without resorting to the usual tired tropes, and retains plenty of class from start to finish. Few people are making house music as emotionally honest and artistically accomplished as this nowadays, but once again Lionni proves he is a master of his form.


Tracklist:

1. Just A Little More
2. Black Orchid
3. Time Stands Still (feat. Robert Owens)
4. Take Me With You (feat. Rachel Fraser)
5. Lost Souls
6. Keep Me Hanging On
7. Can’t Help Myself
8. Don’t Let Go
9. Do You Believe (feat Maria Marcial)
10. Shelter From The Rain
11. When 2 R In Love (Deluxe Digital Only)
12. Shining Bright (Deluxe Digital Only)
13. Positive Vibration (Deluxe Digital Only)

NINA KRAVIZ - MR Jones - Rekids

Nina Kraviz returns to Rekids with her first release of original material since 2012's self-titled debut album. The Mr Jones EP sees her unveiling material originally made in 2008 - presented on the digital release in original and updated 2013 versions - alongside brand new productions and a collaboration with Detroit's Luke Hess, offering a great way to hear how the the producer's music has evolved over time. The Mr Jones EP features some of my very first tracks and brand new ones: 'Mr Jones' is about a person who is always looking for truth around him and brave enough to always say what he thinks - it was originally made in Moscow in 2008, which I revisited this year and now releasing as both a new 2013 version, with the untouched 2008 version featured on the digital release known as the 'Home Listening Mix', for which I think it is better suited. It was made by a combination of my vocals recorded in real time over a few takes, which then went through different FX, tones and machines to create a kind of voodoo feeling that was unique to the very special Moscow morning on which it was recorded.
'Sheer' is one of my first approaches to making a techno track in 2008. All the vocals featured are my own - I made a few different mixdowns of the track, one of which is available on the digital release with a different structure and mastering. 'Black White' is another earlier track: a stranger-sounding one I began making in a Miami hotel room some time ago - maybe some of that scenario has made it into the track... 'Desire' and 'Remember' are brand new tracks: 'Desire' was freshly made in my Berlin studio one month ago, while 'Remember' is my collaboration with Luke Hess, produced and recorded by us both in Luke's Detroit studio earlier this year, where I convinced him to get on the mic too - it's inspired by a very old poem and about very deep true feelings of one person to another, and a moment when one suddenly forgets the other...


Tracklist:

01: Desire
02: Mr Jones (Original 2008 Home Listening Mix)
03: Mr Jones (Mix 1)
04: Mr Jones (Mix 2)
05: Remember (Epic Moment Mix) [*With Luke Hess]
06: Remember [*With Luke Hess]
07: Black White
08: So Wrong
09: Sheer
10: Sheer (Too Much Going On Neurotic Mix)

BOOT and TAX - Acido EP - Optimo Trax

The next two Optimo Trax releases are from Milan. This first one is four HOT tracks from two self-effacing Milanese maestros. "Acido" is already shaping up to be a club classic and never fails to cause a commotion; it has been thoroughly road tested throughout summer 2013. The other tracks cover all idiosyncratic bases from high grade Sleaze Funk to Spaghetti Western infused low slung house.


Tracklist:

A1 - Acido
A2 - Egon

AA1 - The Simone
AA2 - Comprendes

TRUS'ME - Somebody (Mosca Remix) - Prime Numbers

Prime Numbers highlight the most hyped Trus'me track from his 'Treat Me Right' album released earlier this year. 'Somebody' is an insistent, throbbing production championed by many a dj in 2013 including Daniel Bell, MCDE, Deetron, Ben Klock, Bicep, Nina Kraviz & Guy Gerber.
Hypnotic acid bass pulses under shifting cymbals & claps with jacked-up, penetrating snare breakdowns. Simple, classic & effective.
Following his recent excursion on the Ann Aimee imprint Mosca remixes for the flip. Dropping the tempo he indulges in a smouldering bass heavy affair, stripping the minimal original even further back & subtly crafting the parts to create a spacious, heads- down groove.
A masterful rework.


Tracklist:

 A1 - TRUS'ME - Somebody (Original)
 B1 - TRUS'ME - Somebody (Mosca Remix)

DUSTY KID - III - Isolade

Dusty Kid's third album is a cinematic experience of almost 2 hours listening conceived as a single piece of music, like a wall of bricks that strictly belong to each other to give the whole album a well defined story. The album, mixed by using few different vintage consoles and recording everything on a reel-to-reel tape in order to get a more alive and lofi result, moves towards a very underground feeling. There are no easy-listening melodies (don't expect in fact any "America" or "Lynchesque", any "Kore" or "Chentu Mizas") but it rather sounds like a saga of dirty, confused, delirious, sometimes bizzare and ridiculous, very dark techno moments.
"III" might remind of a noir-horror-fantasy movie to watch with eyes closed and where the listener is the main character who can play like in a 'shoot-em-up game made of many levels. The sinister calm of the opening, made of the leftfield acid ambient landscapes and industrial noises of the first 4 tracks, preannounces that something is going to happen and leads the listener into a further level of the game where entrance is initially restrained by a man at the door "He Won't Let You In".
Once got through listener is taken onto a further level and enters the "Leather Bears Cinematic Suite". The 5-tracks "suite" is a deep journey into the 90's techno with its first track "Doom" being an almost metallurgical hell as the listener climbs the stairs that will lead him into the main scene. From now on what the listener will see is just what he would expect to see there...the title of the "suite" says it all! "Pandemonium" and "Dark Room" really seem to drive the listener inside a wonderfully painted idea of what's going on in there.
As the listener takes the "Exit 12", that with its lofi and dark mix perfectly describes the feeling after a night spent in the "suite" and echoes of "Flashback" from the previous night still echoing in his confused and distorted mind, the journey goes even more deeply into the 90's techno. "Yota Wave" is in fact a skillfully grotesque recreation of a futuristic techno trance experimentalism of the early Plus 8 Records. Level after level listener goes on in the game and while "In The Wood" sounds like a track recorded from the radio with a poor quality cassette, the triad "Prelude"-"Omega Y" and "Omega X" just seems to be a track coming out from another track which comes from another track like in a concentric way. "Escape" follows in the same key as the previous triad with a flying ethereal athmosphere followed by a massive tribal anthem as "Idklip" explodes while the listener approaches the final level of the game. "Ending", a simple pronounced piano note that lays on a tender carpet of soffused strings and far reverbs leads the listener to the light at the end of this journey.


Tracklist:

01. Crepuscolaris
02. Far
03. Sandalyon
04. Raww Oohmm
05. He Won't Let You In
06. Level I : Doom
07. Level II : Flames
08. Level III : Pandemonium
09. Level IV : Darkroom
10. Level V : Exit 12
11. Flashback
12. Yota Wave
13. Antares
14. In The Wood
15. Prelude
16. Omega Y
17. Omega X
18. Escape
19. Idklip
20. Ending

OM UNIT - Threads - Civil Music

Threads is the debut album from London producer Om Unit,  released on Civil Music in October 2013. While this is a debut full length for Om Unit, real name Jim Coles, it is in fact the producer’s fourth studio album, following from work in the 2000s under the name 2tall. Having reset the clock on his artistic output in 2010, Coles has spent the past three years refining a unique sound as Om Unit via collaborations with Machinedrum on Planet Mu, releases on Goldie’s Metalheadz, dBridge’s Exit Records and Civil Music, his own Cosmic Bridge label and the short-lived Phillip D. Kick alias that fleshed out the links between Chicago’s footwork, jungle and slow/fast. The confluence of all this work takes full flight on Threads. Across its fifteen tracks Threads articulates Om Unit’s musical journey from his beginnings to the present. It references his hip hop background, in the swung out, hypnotic headnod of ‘Wall of Light’ and the positive message of ‘Just Sayin’’, a collaboration with the mysterious Gone The Hero, (who will be stepping out of the shadows on Jneiro Jarel’s Label Who imprint in 2014,) and touches on the music that has impacted him in recent years such as dubstep, the bassweight of which anchors the album. Dubstep’s influence is most obvious in the eyes-down roller ‘Nagual’ and the deeply emotive ‘The Silence’ featuring vocalist Jinadu. There are also hints of slow-mo house’s chug, a sound Coles first experimented with upon taking the Om Unit name. It’s this slow groove that drives the spellbinding ‘Patients’ featuring Young Echo’s MC Jabu, who gives life to the beat with poetic raps, and it’s also central to the 2013 reworking of ‘The Corridor’, a track from the first Om Unit release. Here Coles slows the original’s key elements down even further while managing to keep all the slow moving, hypnotic magic of the original. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the album is grounded in Coles’ junglistic roots, a relationship that has driven much of his recent output and DJ work. Here it takes on its most refined form yet, equally apparent throughout but obviously manifested on the most dancefloor friendly tracks: ‘Jaguar’, ‘Wicker and Pearl’ and ‘Governer’s Bay’. These three tracks close the album but not before one more parting shot, the deeply meaningful ‘The Road’ featuring London’s urban poet, and legend, Charlie Dark. A key part of the Threads experience is how the tracklisting presents the music, balancing introspective and energetic moments, instrumental and vocal. While stand out moments can be picked, as they are sure to, Threads is an album that works best when the listener lets him or herself be guided by its creator. It is perhaps cliché for a label to claim that their next release is a standout, or even a classic, record yet Coles’ maturation as a producer over the past decade has allowed him to synthesize all these influences and references into something coherent and unique that takes the listener on a personal yet accessible journey. As such Threads truly feels like it has that classic potential. “The road is selfish and the road can be hard, the road can be long, the road can be far / The road will mean struggle, the road will leave scars, the road requires wisdom, the road requires truth / The road will never care about the fire in the booth” – Charlie Dark, from Om Unit - Threads LP, track 15 ‘The Road’


Tracklist:

01. Folding Shadows
02. The Silence
03. Healing Rain
04. Jus Sayin'
05. Drift Interlude
06. Reverse Logic
07. Corridor 2013
08. Nagual
09. Patients
10. Deep Sea Pyramid
11. Wall Of Light
12. Jaguar
13. Wicker And Pearl
14. Governer's Bay
15. The Road

SHIFTED - Under A Single Banner LR - Bed Of Nails

It’s been a busy couple of years for the producer behind the Shifted project. On top of an extremely well received album for the Mote Evolver label, the producer has edged further out into the fringes of electronic music under a number of aliases, taking in noise/ambient variants as ‘Covered in Sand’, as well as more distorted, technofied productions under the Alexander Lewis moniker, a sound described by the Blackest Ever Black label as “S-M Techno”.
His new album as Shifted, ‘Under a Single Banner’ finds the producer converging these strands into a lucid re- imagining of Techno, starting off from the toughened, purist templates honed down by the likes of Sandwell District and Marcel Dettmann, and stretching out into more textured, sometimes noisy, often introverted and melancholy signatures.
It’s a perfect fit for Bed of Nails, a label that’s given a platform for the more direct dance-floor mutations of Dominick Fernow’s own productions as Vatican Shadow, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement and Christian Cosmos, as well as familiar Hospital Productions affiliates such as Kris Lapke under the ‘Bronze Age’ guise.
There’s a rich and earthy warmth to ‘Under a Single Banner’ that’s perhaps at odds with the puerile fixation on all things noisey at the fringes of Techno these days, but for the most part, the tension and momentum keeps the album definitively aimed at the floor without ever resting on its laurels.


Tracklist:

01. Core Of Stone
02. Chrome, Canopy & Bursting Heart
03. Suspended Inside
04. Under A Single Banner
05. Burning Tyres
06. Pulse Incomplete
07. Contract 0
08. Story Of Aurea
09. Wash Over Me

MY PANDA SHALL FLY - Tape Tekkno - Gang Of Ducks

Dancing around a totem, rhythm, groove and few words. My Panda Shall Fly, mystical guru of sound, drags along his 6 compositions, rhythmic machine-gun fire which creeps like splinters into the sound epidermis made of pad and lysergic bass lines. Without noticing you'll find yourself in a limbo where the most absurd idea makes sense, the harmonious chords blur into the dust raised by the dance and everything becomes pure expression. If the volume is high enough I'm sure you already stood up and left your chair.


Tracklist:

01. ---+ Beat
02. Fast=G
03. Dark No
04. 0_
05. Trance ###
06. P1 Techno
07. Slow T
08. @ Tune

SPECIAL REQUEST - Soul Music - Houndstooth

This autumn marks the release of Paul Woolford's debut full-length album as Special Request. Following a run of four incendiary 12-inches on his own imprint that drew attention from right across the dance music community, the UK producer and DJ will deliver Soul Music - diving even deeper into the raw energy of UK pirate radio influences that informed his previous EPs - via fabric's recently established label, Houndstooth.
Using a studio built almost exclusively from vintage hardware and boosted by industrial-strength EQ and an FM transmitter, Woolford constructs what he refers to as "false memories" broadcasting his material in order to sample and re-incorporate it in a myriad of different ways. The outcome of this unorthodox method is an album of considerable weight. This debut will be released in two stages: 7th October sees the album released on a triple vinyl LP; whilst the CD and digital versions, released on 21st October, include a bonus volume featuring the Special Request VIP of Tessela's Hackney Parrot (already played 5 times on BBC Radio 1 across 3 different shows) alongside the remix of Lana Del Rey's 'Ride', further tracks from the previous 12- inches, plus unreleased reworks from Detroit's Anthony Shakir, New York's Anthony Naples, Leipzig's Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup, Chicago's Hieroglyphic Being and London's Lee Gamble. Not for the faint hearted...


Tracklist:

01 - Forbidden
02 - Undead
03 - Cold Blooded
04 - Body Armour
05 - Lockjaw
06 - Ride Vip
07 - Soundboy Killer
08 - Broken Dreams
09 - Black Ops
10 - Capsules
11 - Deranged
12 - Descent

RECONDITE - Hinterland LR - Ghostly International

A year on from his acclaimed excursions with the 303 for Acid Test, Recondite arrives on Ghostly International for a full-length album of startling maturity. Set for release on November 11th, it shows the artist looking towards his homeland of Lower Bavaria for inspiration, seeking to capture “the area’s mentality and natural environment” within the 10-track LP.
Utilising local field recordings taken during a number of stints in the German region, he depicts the “emotions of the four seasons” and “characteristics of people’s minds” throughout the record, an approach that finds him exploring the celestial angles of a sound that has been developed throughout a recording career still shy of half a decade.
That said the Berlin-based producer has already amassed a covetable discography, with releases on the likes of Hotflush, Dystopian and his own Plangent Records imprint garnering him a formidable reputation amongst the most discerning of music lovers, and seeing his tracks being championed by everyone from Dixon to Marcel Dettmann.
Never one to rest on his laurels, his debut for Ghostly International finds him at his most arresting, exhibiting a refined palette that masterfully adheres to the concept he’s devised for himself. Notably coherent, the harrowing timbres of ‘Floe’, punishing weight of ‘Stems’ and rousing motifs of the Pitchfork premiered ‘Abscondence’ display the full breadth of his imagination, earning himself a distinct place on the established roster whilst chronicling what looks to have been a remarkably personal journey.
“Basically, this is the album that had to come out of Recondite eventually. It is Recondite.”


Tracklist:

01 Rise
02 Leafs
03 Still
04 Riant
05 Stems
06 Floe
07 Abscondence
08 Clouded
09 Fey
10 The Fade
11 Grove (Bonus Track)