Terence Fixmer's path through the changing techno landscape of the past 20 years has been anything but direct. Indeed, the French born producer, musician and Planete Rouge label founder has long been influenced by the periphery of continental European dance music subgenres from electronic body music, new beat and acid, before combining them into his own pioneering hybrid of futuristic, EBM-inflected techno with classic releases such as 2001's Muscle Machine or the collaborative Between The Devil LP with Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy as Fixmer/McCarthy. While the sound in recent years has been rediscovered and recast in diverse contexts by a new generation of producers, Through The Cortex sees Fixmer gravitating toward a different kind of industrial-tinged electronics, led as much (or more) by analogue sequencers, melodies and ultra-saturated sounds of synthesizers than drums and percussion. Across eight tracks at a compact but varied 40 minutes, the LP touches on an aesthetic hinted at in recent Ostgut Ton releases (2016's Beneath The Skin EP and 2017's Force EP), revealing a sonic narrative through noisy, screaming synth/vocal riffs with a jagged, guitar- like post-punk sensibility. Through The Cortex is techno with a voice - or rather multiple voices - guiding listeners through hypnotic, space- and social-themed terrain as a kind of dark soundtrack to darker days. The result ranges from the slow John Carpenter-inspired Escape From Precinct 13 funk of 'Expedition' and the patient yet muscular stomp of 'Fury' to the mesmerizing Suicide-like pop of single 'Accelerate', where Fixmer, using his voice as an instrument, chants the track's ambiguous title in an invocation of systemic change/collapse. Elsewhere, the story is told with more abstract and wailing vocals like on 'Shout in A Black Hole', or in the warm, entrancing chords floating across the stereo image in ostensibly changing time-signatures on 'A Halo Somewhere' - the LP's uncharacteristically kosmische musik come-down. The track, and Through The Cortex as a whole, reflect what can be described as Fixmer's idiosyncratic take on both techno subgenres as well as the larger pool of electronic music in general. This broad approach translates into a sound that is not only difficult to pin down, but also one that lends itself to multiple listens.
Suche:g machine
After a short hiatus the ever-dependable Mark E returns to his own Merc label with three new tracks in his own inimitable style
Displaying a depth and flair for aural innovation like no other, Mark plots a course through a heady trio of beautifully constructed machine-funk jams. 'Twilight Fade' leads us seductively into a slowly unfurling Sound Signature style voyage through the soulful circuits. 'Quarttz' is a super deep, all enveloping synth-led workout, while 'First Thing' on the B, stretches a few simple ingredients into a sonic banquet of heady dancefloor bliss.
This one's super limited folks, so we encourage panic buying !
It was like a bird of rarest-spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now - Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
After their LPs 'Ike Yard' (also known as 'A Fact A Second' Factory America, 1982) and Nord (Phisteria and Desire, 2010) Ike Yard delivers their last album 'Rejoy' on Noiztank, 2018 as the culmination of their recent years reinvented sound. As the perpetual flag bearers of the cutting-edge post-punk spirit, the NYC- based band shows muscle in a LP fully loaded with abrasive synth pads, scrap metal percussions, and whispered vocals. Following the previous criteria of 'Sacred Machine' 2017, it is worth to remark the inclusion of external vocals in the pieces 'Sister M' and 'Beyondersay', which feature Yuki Osaki and MAYa. The nine tracks move through different atmospheres, tensions and moods that would perfectly represent a new contemporary soundtrack of the S. Kubrick film 'A Clockwork Orange', a major influence and source of inspiration for the group this time around.
The Rapture's Luke Jenner ventures firmly into the dance floor, this time in full force, on Glittering Jewel, the Brooklyn-based producer's debut EP under his Meditation Tunnel guise. Following his initial outing, La La La, on Life and Death's vinyl-only sub-label, Blitz Series, Glittering Jewel sees Jenner step up with three outsider cuts, dripping in personalit Cloaked subtly into the backdrop, Jenner's unmistakable croon features throughout the disk - a highlight across the board. While dilapidated drum machines, crunched beyond recognition, propel the record into techno territory, Glimmering Jewel retains the artist's bespoke youthful sense of blue-eyed naiveté. Red Axes come through with an unclassifiable, stripped-down reinterpretation of Fire Fly, the perfect pair to deconstruct and re-contextualize the original material. Carefully pressed on high-quality, transparent vinyl, LAD039 stands as a testament to the label's shifting auditory ethos. Artwork by Michela Picchi.
"Cliché's Principle' exhibits the two-sided aura of an artist long familiar with the cultivation of DIY ethos: an effortless expulsion of playful immediacy and the unfolding of a musician well versed in unpretentious composition. Lucy Cliché's five track EP for Fleisch Records is a jacking romp through 120-125bpm electro/new-beat, swooning through downcast ambience, lobotomised vocal samples and sweat-drenched hardware rhythms.
Lucy's musical oeuvre piles high; as a figure in the Sydney underground for the past 15 years she has always explored sounds that playfully antagonize the status-quo; the dysfunctional no-wave approach of her band Naked On The Vague and the manipulated tape ambience of Half High echo throughout Cliché's Principle in the form of chorus buzzed synth chords, abstract drones and ethereal evocation. While there is the strong presence of a live veteran at work behind the machines, Cliché's Principle holds five tracks produced purely with the intention of paving the dance-floor.
Mannequin V/A - Death Of The Machines vol.1
HINOSCH are a duo of Koshiro Hino from Osaka and Stefan Schneider from Düsseldorf, they first (met and) began their collaborative work of musical interaction and exploring contrasting possibilities in 2017. After a number of concerts in the EU and in Japan a debut EP (HINOSCH EP/TAL05) was released in late 2017. Fully instrumental, their first full-length album HANDS offers a more steeply focussed approach than its largely improvised predecessor.
Encouraged by the momentum generated during a number of on-the-spot recordings in Osaka, where Schneider had held a residency in April 2017, the overall sound of the album has been honed down through meticulous studio engineering. One of the outstanding qualities of HANDS certainly is an unprejudiced approach of sound and song structures. The instrumentation is condently reduced to a small range of analogue and digital machines. Snatches of tape-loops deliver lower-pitched vocal and drum machine samples. This characteristic technical set up soon proved ideal in order to dene a tactile vocabulary of fully unsynchronized rhythm patterns. The word tactile perfectly conjures that quality which is the very essence of HANDS. It is the result of the manner in which interdependent threads of rhythm units are deliberately disconnected to form a cohesive, soulful and exible whole. Most tracks on HANDS are devoid of a central motif and examine an unpredictable dialogue. A fantasy of constant change and a search for musical suggestions is the most vital ingredient in this abstract environment.
The album title HANDS refers to physical aspects of electronic music production. Every live concert of Hinosch usually starts out with a hand shake between Hino and Schneider. The general process of collective music making, programming, button pushing, playing, recording, decision making, all demand utmost concentration. The image on the front of the abum sleeve (designed by Takashi Makabe) reects the general approach of HANDS: layers of tuckled fabrics confronting one another to articulate a form for themselves to no other end than their own orchestration.
After having emerged from the ever thrilling Osaka music scene onto the international playgrounds of electronic music just a few years ago Koshiro Hino's solo activities as YPY and his involvement with the band GOAT have already garnered him a very favourable international reception. Stefan Schneider has over the years produced and collaborated with a.o. Joachim Roedelius (Cluster), Arto Lindsay, Klaus Dinger (NEU!), Dieter Moebius (Cluster), Alexander Balanescu, John McEntire (tortoise), Katharina Grosse, Bill Wells and St.Etienne.
They say we are a product of our environment, you are what you eat and you reap what you sow. But what happens when you can no longerdig the earth and your food is toxic Amselcom has forever been near the forefront of change, exposing new ideas and giving insight through music and creativity. Our goal was always to bring the world closer by removing barriers and letting sounds and rhythm demonstrate humanity's true, loving nature. That is why a transformation has taken place and with this latest release we hope to give back and contribute without the shallow, meaningless compensation that feeds the music industry.
Geplantes Nichtstun demonstrates this concept perfectly, by saying it is time to remove ourselves from the machine and make our own way, in our own time. These tracks look to offer introspective that can only be found after eliminating barriers like money and fame. Taking time for idleness lets us forget about the things that try and control our lives, a necessary respite in a time of increasing global noise.Tracks like Opak offer the perfect accompaniment to a quiet time of soulful reflection and Mario Wagner's wonderful Control Room image brings us the idea of self direction and taking charge of your own destiny... one rest at a time.
After years of working as a graphic artist, designer, and creative director, Pilar Zeta will release her debut album Moments of Reality on Ultramajic Records on October 5th, 2018.
Inspired by Japanese post-modern art from the 1980s and produced using synthesizers from the 1990s, the new age album of nine electronic pieces is ambient and cinematic with an off-world feeling.
Her sound draws on the style of bands like Art of Noise and Steve Roach that she was exposed to early in her life and evokes the work of Yasuaki Shimizu, Yello, and Laurie Anderson. Each of the nine tracks will feature a cover with different objects in absurdist settings. Much the same way Zetas visuals seem to be artifacts from a parallel universe, Zetas ethereal and melodic compositions sound like a coded language transmitting from a neighboring galaxy.
I feel privileged to be able to translate my visual world into sound, the unknown was the most fun and fascinating aspect of it
Fueled by a lifelong love of the paranormal, Zetas metaphysical iconography and music exist in futuristic, surreal, and elegant spaces. Her visual and sonic works function as a form of practical magic in a machine-centric world, connecting different mediums through a singular, transcendent vision.
Focusing on low-slung IDM, Acid and atmospheric Electro with nods to Krautrock & Ambient sounds, Steve Hyland's ATTRAKTTA project gets an extended outing on the FILM label. Across eight beautifully produced tracks, Hyland - one of the founding members of AI Records and subsequently Concrete Plastic, explores vibrant synthesis and intricate drum programming, with the music arriving at a sweet spot between home listening material & club-ready workouts for more intelligent dance floors.
Eschewing straightforward synth sequences in favour of blissed out - almost disharmonious sonics, Hyland transmits a curious psychedelia on his debut LP. Sounds pitch and warp organically, buoyed up by saturated low end and punchy drum machine percussion. There remains a decidedly accomplished precision to the work, though - with the music bearing all the hallmarks of an artist of some considerable experience - testament to the British producer & label head's 19 years working in the industry.
A colourful, exquisitely composed LP that riffs on a timeless production aesthetic with considerable style, Echo Principle is a fantastic entry into the FILM Records discography.
Estetika Steps Up With It's Second Release Estetika002 To Bring You A Various Artists Ep Featuring Tracks From Pat King, Jason Patrick, Mattias Fridell, And Francesco De Luca.
Pat King Kicks Off The Ep With misery Loves Company' A Swinging Deep Techno Piece Laced With Emotive Atmospheres, Subtle Dubbed Out Vocals, And Rhythm Elements.
contour Subtracts' A Driving Techno Track Comes By Way Of Jason Patrick Bringing Ominous Pads, Dark Synth Elements, And A Jacking Modulating Clap.
Francesco De Luca Contributes The Third Track Of The Release With twisted' A Stripped Down Deep Moody Techno Number Laced With Polyrhythmic Synth Grooves.
Mattias Fridell Closes Out The Ep With semeldagen' Delivering A Dose Of His Signature Machine Funk Techno And Hypnotic Synth Riff Pivots In Conjunction With Rhythm Elements.
New from the ever discerning Nous camp comes AYLN's RehtomEP, a 25 minute exploration of the kind of unrelenting machine music for which both artist and label have come to prominenc
.
Side A is a journey through sparse syncopated rhythms, industrial noise motifs and the kind of buzz and hum that the heroes of the second wave of techno music championed, culminating in the EP's title track 'Rehtom' which is an exercise in analogue techno mastery.
Side B's delivery is subtly more dulcet, kicking off with Digital Memories, which has a more classical techno structure than anything that came before, building intricate melodies into an otherwise taut and tightly woven electronic landscape while the closing Impulsive Sheit is a gentle downbeat number, exploring the space within the music and creating an atmospheric ambient discourse to outro the heady charge of the EP as a whole.
Release description for promotion : The Art of Deceiving the Look is a Various Artists with four cuts-"BCM" is a Delusions track where they have worked on top of their modular synths and drum machines. Looking for atmospheres and dark rhythms!-"Speechless" by Ocktawian is a linear minimalist techno track with a lot of strength for the dance floor, mental and hypnoticwith abstract arpeggios of the likes of Jeff mills, a good weapon as a DJ tool for the DJ for long and aggressive mixes. ..-"Unseen Village" by Droneghost is a powerful hypnotic techno track, it has some polyrhythms to create this cyclic & hypnotic sensation and field recordings to make the effects and have background drone-"LHS 2936" by animatek is an evocative techno track emulating cadence of minimalist melodies, with a central loop that comes and goes based on multiple samples of the processed bells. LHS2936 is also a celestial body of the milky way to 63.97 light years from the sun and that you can visit whenever you wantin the coordinates -31.6875 / 55.5625 / 0.5.
Robotron is the machine formerly known as Xinner. This is its first offering for the ESP Institute. Side A's Dream Resonator is an idiosyncratic network — dexterous machine drum/percussion programming, an ebb and flow of floating arpeggios, syncopated counter-melodies and a hail of stabbing stringscontinually diffusing into ethereal vapor — all stacked into an (aptly-named) orchestral anthem. Side B's Ice takes a similar approach with arrangement, each instrument carving out its place in the track's mechanics for a glorious convergence of patterns, but, where side A proves optimistic, here we sense a more menacing undercurrent, an austerity powerfully articulated through towering kicks and claps so compressed they fill up every dark corner of negative space. Indeed, Robotron has an innate command for building and calibrating robust systems, but beneath this calculated veil we find the remnant human behavior of Xinner. These two songs will whisper loudly but scream quietly.
Almost three decades after he put out his first record as one half of Tummy Touch twosome Tutto Matto, Paulo Guigliemino continues to produce effortlessly brilliant music that joins the dots between vintage disco, boogie, proto-house and sun-kissed Balearica. For proof, just check the heavyweight dancefloor sunshine that is 'Bella Topa', his first release on Leng Records.
Slow, sensual and blessed with all manner of delay-laden drum machine percussion hits, the track fixes the producer's usual colourful, boogie-era synth flourishes and ear-pleasing instrumentation (think fluid electric pianos, fluttering flutes, eyes-closed jazz guitar solos, lilting saxophones and spacey electronic chords) to a chugging, head-in-the-clouds groove reminiscent of Lindstrom and Prins Thomas's early collaborative work. 'Bella Topa' cleverly shifts shape several times throughout, utilising jazzier rhythms and bolder melodies to light up key moments.
Remixes come from Guigliemino's old pal Federico Marton, a producer best known for being one half of sometime Get Physical, Superfiction and Snatch Recordings artists Italoboyz. He lays down two distinctive revisions, starting with a 'Slow' club reconstruction that adds additional percussive heaviness and sparkling electronics to Super Paolo's twinkling, sun-baked original.
His other version, a 'Fast' club reconstruction, drags Guigliemino's track towards peak-time dancefloors kicking and screaming. Making the most of his friend's killer groove and finding sufficient time and space for each life-affirming musical element to sparkle, his mix bobs, weaves and eventually soars for 12 mesmerizing minutes. The mix, like his slow version, makes use of additional percussion and wisely gives more prominence to the A-side's spacey electronics and boogie-influenced synthesizer flourishes. The results are little less than breathtaking.
Cadans continues an incredibly strong run of releases with 'Curved', his first drop for Ben Sims on-point Hardgroove imprint.
Previous output for Clone Basement Series as well as Darko Esser's Wolfskuil and Balans as well as a collaboration with Randomer for Tasha's Neighbourhood imprint have quickly established Cadans' (Dutchman-in-London, Jeroen Snik) rep.
On 'Curved' we're treated to yet more of the rising star's strident and sometimes disorientating rhythms. 'Creep' and 'Dank' open the EP with blistering purpose - all distorted 909 kicks and and hazy memories of strobes on seething dance floors. The title track kicks off the b-side with an aptly undulating and enjoyably unsettling slant to it's main riff while the EP wraps up with 'Chant' - a brilliantly effective drum-machine and vocal/horn sample workout.
Following the release of lo-fi electronic masterpiece I Don't Remember Now / I Don't Want To Talk About It and his brilliant follow-up Plaster Falling, Cincinnati-based artist John Bender began assembling his third and last album, Pop Surgery, in late 1982.
While all of Bender's work draws from intimate home recordings - featuring the artist alone with various keyboards, analogue sequencers and tape delays - Pop Surgery remains the one that perhaps best distills his arrant deconstruction of the "pop" concept. These twelve frenetic tracks, meticulously stitched together with dubbed-out vocals and disjointed drum machines, stretch the boundaries of bedroom electronics.
Bender would forgo the handmade LP sleeves typical of his Record Sluts imprint. The cover depicts an imposing scrapyard crane, ready to pick up discarded objects with its bright red electromagnet, while the center labels détourn Columbia's classic '70s style.
"I pressed a single run of 500 copies," Bender recounts. "The only review I remember railed at the poor production quality. The DIY era had clearly come to an end."
This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of Suicide, TG's 20 Jazz Funk Greats and early Cabaret Voltaire. Liner notes by John Bender.
- A1: Setaoc Mass - Far Away From Yesterday
- A2: Juxta Position - Hexagon
- B1: Roman Poncet - Turn Down
- B2: Viers - Moomin Trash
- B3: Nocow - Metha
- C1: Kirilik - Batut
- C2: Lady Starlight - D5-12
- D1: Ubx127 - Vectors
- D2: Len Faki - Robot Evolution
- E1: Pablo Mateo - Anfang Ende Immer
- E2: Shlomi Aber - 3000 Reasons Why
- F1: Nocow - Run Far
- F2: Truncate - Bassline
- G1: Lewis Fautzi - Modern Humans
- G2: Jeroen Search - Rubidium
- H1: Amotik - Neela
- H2: Setaoc Mass - Silence
4x12" Set , Special 15th Anniversary Edition, with Special Deluxe 4 Gatefold, shrink wrapped incl Download Card
Celebrating its 15th anniversary as well as the monolithic catalogue 100, Figure releases a gem-packed compilation featuring 15 artists who are shaping the current sound of the label. Ranging from machine-driven stompers courtesy of Juxta Position, Kirilik or Lady Starlight, to punchy electro by Viers and UBX127, to Nocow's signature style wavey melancho-electronics, or the straight-up high-voltage-techno of Shlomi Aber, Lewis Fautzi and captain Len Faki himself, all adequately framed by Setaoc Mass' beautiful ambient pieces - this 4 LP-set encompasses everything Figure both past, present and future. Arriving in a unique gatefolded sleeve that carries the exclusive handmade visual art by Munich artist Julia Schewalie. Whether long time fan or newly recruited follower, this one is a must-have entry in every techno-lover's collection.
Perhaps CPU's deepest foray into techno, Osaka-based artist Yuri Urano's 'Autline' E.P. draws parallels with the machine-like incremental builds of Sweet Exorcist / Richard H Kirk.
Plenty of variation with minimal down-tempo through to fierce industrial techno.
Urano's industrial sound is gaining a lot of attention in the Japanese techno scene and this E.P. will only galvanise her reputation.
Fourth Kind the self titled mini album on Omniverse Records. It's hard to pinpoint a genre with records like this; produced by Marc Mac of 4hero and similar to some of the 4hero output, it defies genre and fits somewhere in-between many. The production is heavily reliant on synthesisers and vintage drum machines in places but is full of real life and organic movements, this is partly down to the signature drums played by Luke Parkhouse. The only other guest spot is filled by Nu Jazz Funker Pascal Strauss aka Luman Child who plays bass guitar on "Take Me To Your Sky" which along with "Afterglows" are the closest we get to dance tracks, in most parts a 70s fusion feel is present. The short interlude type tracks tie the journey together and I would go as far as to say vital to telling the story. Moogs, Arps and Solina strings weave patterns throughout, all in all, across the 10 tracks the album is a journey of mood and emotions. 180g Pressing. Released 28th September 2018.




















