Techno Vinyl New Releases - News

Jessica Ackerley (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Patrick Shiroishi (Los Angeles, California) are both members of the newly announced super-family-group SSWAN (along with trumpeter Chris Williams, drummer Jason Nazary, and bassist Luke Stewart). Both have prolific outputs and work diligently to push the boundaries of their respective instruments and previous musical ideas.

'Across Water' sees Ackerley and Shiroishi contributing their own unique takes on the ambient sound. Jessica contributes 'I Am Here' and 'The Crevices Between My Heart', each following the collection's theme of water while the guitar and synth work on the second composition gives way to visuals of deep-sea life that can only sustain itself away from the hustle and bustle of crowdedness. Similarly, Patrick is no stranger to straddling the fine lines between subtle and overt emotionality. 'Because You Went There' and 'Leaving It All Behind' are his offerings, seemingly looking up to the sky rather than down ay the ocean, infused by the sweet and smoggy California air.

Pye Corner Audio releases a new album, Let’s Emerge!, for Sonic Cathedral. It’s his first studio outing for the label following the acclaimed live recording Social Dissonance, which came out earlier this year, and it features Ride guitarist Andy Bell playing on five of its ten tracks. From the first glimpse of the artwork to the first note of the music it’s a marked deviation from Pye Corner Audio’s more traditional shadowy sounds. Whereas his last outing for Ghost Box (2021’s Entangled Routes) was inspired by the underground fungal pathways through which plants communicate, this one is very much above ground, bathed in sunlight and acid-bright psychedelia.

“This is a departure to sunnier climes, but a departure nonetheless,” says Pye Corner Audio, aka Martin Jenkins. “It’s something that I’d been thinking about for a while. I try to tailor my work slightly differently for the various labels that I work with, and this seems to fit nicely with Sonic Cathedral’s ethos.” Designer Marc Jones’ bold and ultra vivid artwork consciously references the likes of LFO, Spacemen 3 and the early output of Stereolab. “I think it mixes together many of my earliest influences,” explains Martin. “I’ve been a long-time fan of Spacemen 3 and Stereolab.

Their moments of repetition and drone have always seeped into what I’ve tried to create.

“I was living in a small apartment and I’d stripped down my studio set-up when I was recording this album. This enabled me to focus on a few key pieces of equipment and explore them fully.” The recordings were fleshed out by Andy Bell, who Martin first met at the Sonic Cathedral 15th birthday party at The Social in London back in 2019 – the same show that became the live album Social Dissonance.

“New alliances were formed and friendships made in that basement in Little Portland Street,” recalls Martin. “When I met Andy, we agreed that we needed to work together in some way. After I’d remixed a few tracks from his album The View From Halfway Down, he kindly repaid the favour.” The end results – mastered in New York by acclaimed engineer Heba Kadry – are incredible, from the first stirrings of opener ‘De-Hibernate’, via the glorious ‘Haze Loops’ and ‘Saturation Point’, the album slowly but surely awakens, blinking and feeling its way into the light. It all culminates in the epic closing track ‘Warmth Of The Sun’ which, with its vocal harmonies and acid breakdown, is seven and a half minutes of pure release.

“That one’s about life’s simple pleasures,” concludes Martin. “The Beach Boys, tremolo guitars, infinite drones, Spacemen 3. Let’s emerge from this darkened era and feel the ‘Warmth Of The Sun’. “The last few years have seen huge changes, both personally and in a wider perspective. The album title is a reaction to this, a collective (tentative) sigh of relief. Here’s to new beginnings and a sense of hope.”

The sophomore solo release of Los Angeles-based artist and producer marine eyes (Cynthia Bernard), moving to the esteemed Past Inside The Present after her soothing debut record, idyll, on Stereoscenic Records in March 2021. Also one half of the ambient duo, awakened souls, she most recently curated the mental health benefit compilation for Past Inside The Present, Healing Together. Filled with the sounds of nature and visions of the clouds and heavens above, chamomile is a totally absorbing listen, wrapping you up in its harmonious chordplay and transporting you to a calmer, sunnier, altogether nicer place.

The sophomore solo release of Los Angeles-based artist and producer marine eyes (Cynthia Bernard), moving to the esteemed Past Inside The Present after her soothing debut record, idyll, on Stereoscenic Records in March 2021. Also one half of the ambient duo, awakened souls, she most recently curated the mental health benefit compilation for Past Inside The Present, Healing Together. Filled with the sounds of nature and visions of the clouds and heavens above, chamomile is a totally absorbing listen, wrapping you up in its harmonious chordplay and transporting you to a calmer, sunnier, altogether nicer place.

This record is about love, grief, loss, and growth. Much of the music was written in the months leading up to my mother's death from pancreatic cancer in February 2020. Her prolonged illness taught me valuable lessons about impermanence and what it means to turn towards pain and suffering in order to remain connected with the world around me. Through not denying reality as it is, we are freed up to support those most in need of our love, compassion, and understanding. -Nick Turner

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Emotional Rescue reissue 'Into Dark Water', the second album from UK post-industrial ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC).

The willfully obscure OYC formed in Nottingham in 1982 and have had a sporadic career on the outskirts of musical culture ever since. Initially associated with the early 80s post-industrial scene - along with Soviet France and Muslimgauze - OYC quietly forged their own brand of ambient music at a time when it was distinctly unfashionable to do so.

Always reluctant to categorise their sounds, OYC have been variously described as post-industrial, ambient, darkwave, tribal ambient, chill out, electronica and Fourth World. Take your pick.

'Into Dark Water' was recorded in 1986 over four days in an eight-track garage studio in Nottingham. Produced and engineered by John Kaukis, the result was a blend of flutes, percussion, electronics and loops that focused their sound and became for many the definitive OYC album.

Originally released in 1987 on the Leeds-based Final Image label, 'Into Dark Water' quickly sold out and has been highly sought after ever since. The re-issue, featuring a lovingly recreated sleeve, makes a vinyl version of this classic available again for the first time in over 30 years.

Forest Drive West makes a welcome return to Echocord this February with the ‘Recursion’ EP, featuring one solo cut and two collaborations with DB1 and Localhost. London’s Forest Drive West has been steadily releasing his left of centre take on techno over the past five years on the likes of Livity Sound, Hidden Hawaii, Delsin, AD93 fka Whities and of course Echocord where here returns here following the ‘Parallel Space’ EP back in 2019.

Leading the release is the murky, tense atmospherics of ‘100m’, produced alongside regular collaborator DB1 the eight minute composition journeys through unfurling, expansive pads, subtly nuanced bass warbles and gritty off-kilter percussion.

Next up, Forest Drive West joins forces with Localhost for title-cut ‘Recursion’, embracing a 4/4 approach rhythmically this time and bringing hazy, ethereal pads, earth shattering subs and circling stab sequences into the limelight. Forest Drive West’s solo cut ‘Anchor’ then rounds out the release, taking things deeper into dub territory via tumbling percussive echoes, billowing chords and heavy doses of low-end drive.

Andrew Heath describes his music as 'lower case', but although this cross-nation collaboration with Anne Chris Bakker and M Cosa de Resistance is understated, serene and slow moving, it's also capable of painting ambitiously widescreen images at the same time. The seven tracks here revolve around the UK producer's trademarks - solitary sounding piano and atmospherics both courtesy of field recordings and electronics - but with extra embellishments, most notably the eerie sound of the zither and six string experiments from Dutch guitarist Bakker. It's a horizontal listen, certainly, but one that's full of life and creativity all the same.

Ambient composer and improviser Tom Leclerc shares a series of moments with WILD in which the pair experiment and go off grid in their search for immersive ambient sounds. All of the session for this album on Giraffe Tape sharpened in the same day with a stripped back studio set up featuring minimalist synths and pedals. Both artist's own restive sounds meet in a new world where distant cosmic winds gently blow over pastural chord sequences. There is subtle movement in these tracks, some of which are darker and heavier than others which have more light, hope and joy.

Available for distribution for the first time! The new album by drummer producer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen continues where his trio 3TM was last spotted: "Atonal Drums", out on Helsinki's We Jazz Records, lives someplace in & around the new spots where acoustic jazz and electronic music spill into each other in ways previosuly unheard. Each vinyl copy is unique and comes "edited" by Teddy Rok with personalized signatures and extra bespoke stickers glued in. "Atonal Drums", initially a Bandcamp only exclusive, was featured in Wilco's best albums of 2021. Vinyl and tape copies include download code.

Available for distribution for the first time! The new album by drummer producer Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen continues where his trio 3TM was last spotted: "Atonal Drums", out on Helsinki's We Jazz Records, lives someplace in & around the new spots where acoustic jazz and electronic music spill into each other in ways previosuly unheard. Each vinyl copy is unique and comes "edited" by Teddy Rok with personalized signatures and extra bespoke stickers glued in. "Atonal Drums", initially a Bandcamp only exclusive, was featured in Wilco's best albums of 2021. Vinyl and tape copies include download code.

FACT’s Patch Notes is a performance series that celebrates the art of making electronic music with hardware.

As part of the practice behind Hélène Vogelsinger’s modular synthesizer compositions, she explores abandoned places, connecting with their energies to create immersive moments.

For her Patch Notes performance, she serendipitously stumbled across an abandoned castle in the French countryside.

“The installation and the recording session are always a process within the process, which takes a few hours. Technically it requires a good organisation: three modular cases and hundred of cables, a generator, a camera, lights and again so many cables,” she says.

“It is something really intense, especially in those types of abandoned places, where you have to avoid a lot of obstacles. I love the fact that they have layers of stories and histories, with different occupants, often crossing times, and always full of beautiful and melancholic poetry.”

Another collaborative effort from the consistently fascinating US ambient kings Past Inside The President, this time with Hendrix - not that one - and Wayne Robert Thomas, whose atmospheric guitar-led work has featured several times on the label before. If the average ambient album has its head in the clouds, this is more grounding, more gamboling in the fields perhaps than floating in the ether, with gentle flute and guitar giving the walls of synth sounds some perspective. That said, the closing track of the four, 'Retract R (Type K)', sizzles away like something by Growing or even Spaceman 3 left to fry in the sun. Magnificent stuff..

Matching microscopic detail and stark minimalism with a pervading warmth and open, natural flow, Tammo Hesselink shores up on Mantis with four refined and distinctive techno variations. Tammo operated under a number of different guises before, debuting as The Invariants via a self-steered series in 2014 before scattering a tangled web of projects across Nous'klaer Audio. On Mantis 07 he takes a granular approach to techno, using space as a vital ingredient to expose the fine detail in each rhythmic impression and passing texture.

Healing Together is a benefit compilation for mental health recovery featuring 23 ambient-electronic artists from around the world. Recognizing that music is a bridge to normalizing conversations about the challenges people are going through, each artist was prompted to create a song that would help someone with mental health struggles know they're not alone. This sprouted into a collection of ambient music holding space for the many emotional landscapes we experience as humans. Healing Together features new compositions specially prepared for the compilation from the incredible line-up of women artists Nailah Hunter, Penelope Trappes, Clarice Jensen, Drum & Lace, Sofie Birch, Hollie Kenniff, Clariloops, more eaze, Ami Dang, Karen Vogt, Patricia Wolf, Zoe Polanski, Sachi Kobayashi, Christina Giannone, Ai Yamamoto, Cat Tyson Hughes, IKSRE, Inquiri, Belly Full of Stars, Claire Deak, Pechblende, Caminuata and marine eyes. Net profits of the compilation will go to Sounds of Saving, a non-profit fueling hope for mental health both by celebrating the power of human connection to music and directing people towards the resources they need before it's too late.

Born in Girona, Spain and based in Berlin since 2019, Alex Busse' Santacruz's Ameeva project previously came to life on the Lowless music label in 2020 and the album 'Fractura del SueNo'. His live set for the 9128 Birthday event took these experimental electronics to a deeper, more personal level, weaving friends' samples and conversations into a rich tapestry of drone and field recordings, creating an immersive and enveloping 40-minute narrative. That's been captured here by the 9128 label, which aims to document significant live performances by artists that previously performed on the 9128.live platform, with results that are imaginative and impressionist, like clouds of synths and other soundscapes with the serene relentlessness and sense of purpose as molten lava moving down the mountainside.

Vinyl Only

Sweden's Kvalia Records, an all-vinyl affair, continues on its path towards becoming a key player in delivering deep, psychedelic techno. For its 5th edition the label invites Psyk and Anthony Linell to join forces. "About Time" consists of two smooth, melancholic originals by Psyk and one pumping, icy remix signed Anthony Linell.

melancholy

Repress

Blue Vinyl In honor of the December full moon 2021, Luigi Tozzi finally invites us to yet another emotional journey, down into the depths of the Deep Blue.

The release comes in a limited edition, marbled 180-gram double vinyl, and an unlimited black edition. Sheathed inside a matte white sleeve of a high-quality carton with Hypnus signature, custom cut round corners. All adorned with a stunning artwork by Gabriella Holmstrom.

Early support from Brando Lupi, Svreca, Artefakt, and Eric Cloutier to name a few.

During the later stages of 2020, Damien Duque (City of Dawn) and M Cody McPhail (ATOP) decided to begin writing a collaborative album together. Their styles, although different, compliment each other extremely well and it became apparent that this project would end up flowing out of them with ease. They shared wav files and recording parts individually at each other homes over a few months. City of Dawn's smooth reverbed tonal compositions mixed with ATOP's rougher and meandering synth lines gives the Starwind lp its expansive and cosmic qualities.

'Liberamente' is now available for the first time on cassette. Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea create soft-textured and slowly unfolding sonic landscapes, somewhere between guitar-oriented drone music and modern classical. Liberamente is the kind of album that demands attention and patience from the listener, yet it's ultimately a very rewarding one. Stylistically Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea sums up several decades of American soundscape and drone music, taking threads from Windy & Carl, Auburn Lull, and Stars of the Lid then weaves them into a contemporary, and sonically adventurous whole. On the surface it suggests simplicity, but dig deeper and the seven pieces on Liberamente reveals a rare compositional dexterity. This is minimalism at its finest.

A wonderful and enchanted record! I enjoyed all the sonic blends of piano resonance and subtle sounds throughout the album. There is an analogy with guitarists who use echo and pedal volume (like Fred Frith from Henry Cow for example, Steve Hackett from Genesis or David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) who "let the sound unfold". And the end piece in the "style of Bolero by Ravel" which concludes this impressionist work would have been appreciated by the group of 6, or the Arcueil School of Honneger, Milhaud or even Sauguet under the impulse of both the great Satie and the most endearing musician, and the most 'surrealist' of his time, the solitary, minimalist dandy, and the master of musical impressionism, Debussy himself.

This is the 13th release on RIOT Radio Records, an independent techno label based in Scotland.

Mickey Nox is a techno enthusiast, label owner, DJ and producer from Melbourne, Australia. His impressively unique style and attitude towards his constantly evolving productions and DJ sets is dark, menacing, and always maniacally exhilarating as he becomes progressively more entangled within his heavy hitting hardware.

This 2 x 12” vinyl has five original tracks and three insane remixes from a trinity of head bangers. Not only are all the original tracks on this release techno missiles solely intent on becoming club destroyers, but the additional remixes from Ayarcana, Myler and Ansome devilishly turn it into a weapon of true annihilation.

WARNING: THESE ‘FUCKING HAMMERS’ ARE INSTRUMENTS OF ASSAULT TO POUND YOUR SUBJECTS INTO SUBMISSION.

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Strange anomalies are scattered throughout the world. Things that could not possibly belong to the time period or place in which they were found. These so called out of place artifacts baffle historians & archaeologists up until today and have inspired producers Vril & Rødhåd to write a collaborative concept album.

As a result the two producers got together in the studio with the idea to subvert the expectations of their previous work. They experimented over two sessions in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a record showcasing a different palette of sounds and tempo.
The album is suited for deep listening and exploring aforementioned concepts or introspection in general. A mystic tone is set from the start, and grips the listener throughout the whole run time. Each track encapsulates this notion in its own unique form, blending sonic ambience and complex beats that reaches spectral heights.
Both producer's styles shine individually, but the collaboration achieves something greater than the sum of its parts.

In the spring of 2019 Void and Tucker convened at Void’s Demna Studio to record two days of modular improvisations. Using their individualised modular cases they connected the two configurations to create one whole system where they could integrate and meld sequences, beats, drones and samples. Key to the duo’s process was bringing the organic textures of guitar, cello and voice together with machine rhythms, creating a balance between circuitry and the human body.

The duo edited down the raw recordings into their crucial moments, expanding upon the improvisations into eight cohesive pieces.
Sleep Nameless Fear carves out a world of heavy percussive patterns, monolithic drones, disembodied voices and noise frequency manipulation into one detailed vortex.

7x12" LP. Herdersmat - Morderstwo - Rotterdam.

**Silver and black vinyl may or may not have audio distortion intermittently during playback, depending on your system. This was discovered after the press had been completed and packed, so we have included a red repress without audio issues. All purchases will ship with both silver and red copies.

Purple+Gold Mixed Vinyl

Primal Code's fifth record on Hypnus introduces a refreshing evolution of their contemporary fusion of electronic music genres.

Early support from Brando Lupi, Abstract Division, Giorgio Gigli, Samuli Kemppi, Takaaki Itoh and Ness to name a few.

Brand new techno compilation featuring Regis, Oscar Mulero, ASC, Stanislav Tolkachev, Anthony Linell, Jonas Kopp, Claudio PRC & Blazej Malinowski, Valentino Mora, D-Leria, Sciahri & Desroi, Simone Giudice and Svreca.

The eagerly anticipated second remix package of André Hommen’s More Than This album is set for release in April on his These Eyes imprint. Following the Remixes Pt.1, featuring Robag Wruhme and Jonathan Kaspar, André recruits heavy-weight’s Donato Dozzy, Michael Mayer and Manuel Tur to deliver the remixes of Pantone. Donato Dozzy kicks things off with a tribal-esque remix. A bass-heavy, rolling drum at the heart of the track is met with intricate percussion and bird sounds, which take you on a tropical journey. Michael Mayer’s remix gets to work with a punchy, up-tempo bassline, perfectly partnered with airy synths and soothing pads. Rounding off the release, Manuel Tur’s remix offers darker drums that progressively build, enhanced with finely chopped vocals that echo in and out combined with minimalistic melodies. Italian native Donato Dozzy is widely acclaimed in techno circles across the globe. Displaying a large variation in terms of sound and method, his releases can be found on Tresor, Spectrum Spools and his own Spazio Disponibile. As a co-founder of Kompakt, Michael Mayer works closely with artists on their releases for the label. With three studio albums under his belt and numerous remixes for the likes of Miss Kittin, Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode, it’s easy to see why Mayer has such an acclaimed status in the dance world. Manuel Tur was born and raised in Essen, Germany. He released his debut EP at the age of sixteen and has gone on to release on labels such as Freerange and Running Back.

2022 Repress

'Enande mane' is Evigt Morker's first release for Northern Electronics since his artful debut album, 'Krona.' The fizzy bliss of melancholia's brutal truths have rarely been explored this thoroughly by Evigt Morker until now. Though often riding the torque of his caustic moments with a playful, ebbing refrain, these four tracks lead with the elation.

Siavash Amini is a composer from Tehran, Iran. He Has worked with labels like Room40, Hallow Ground, Opal Tapes and Umor Rex for the better half of the past ten years. He has performed at festivals like CTM & MUTEK and many other well known international events. Apart from it Siavash is a co-founder of the “SET experimental art events” and “SETfest” in Tehran, Iran. His work ranges from fragile ambient pieces and brittle IDM (incorporating his distinctive style of atmospheric guitar playing) to noisy drones and bleak modern classical pieces. His compositions have been inspired by films such as Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror as well as novels by Dostoyesvky and poems by T.S. Eliot.

Saffronkeira is the Sardinian sound researcher Eugenio Caria being active in the electronic music scene since almost two decades. His most recent work - a cooperation with the Italian jazz trumpet legend Paolo Fresu - earned a lot of praise from the international music press for the pure timelessness of the album.

"Upon hearing a small snippet of sound an image is conjured, not a memory but not unfamiliar. A shell of a memory, thousand events superimposed on each other. While trying to extract points of a narrative to ease the discomfort of this recollection, I try to separate and unfold the image and with it the points of the spectrum which make up the sound, a shell of a narrative. Here is an album based upon an almost entirely imagined/ synthesized happening upon hearing a snippet of sound. It sounded like of a whole story that never happened but yet I felt myself amongst it’s participants, a sound triggering a false memory. Each sound in Eugenio’s collection of sounds and ideas guided me a to a point in the narrative and it’s construction. He had handed me a portals of some kind to a few scenes of the whole narrative. This is the soundtrack for that false memory from all the perspectives I can think of."

PDD are super excited to welcome Only Child to its ever growing label roster.

Alex Burkat returns with his first vinyl release in 3 years on New York City / Philadelphia based underground record label.

The Spiral Island features the best of his unreleased material from when he was living in Flatbush, Brooklyn NY from 2010-2014. Expect meditative ambient, classic downtempo dubstep, and hypnotic drone.

Early Support

King Britt, Eamon Harkin

Collaborations is a new series curated by Artefakt on their own imprint De Stijl. Inviting friends and likeminded artists for extended studio improvisations crafting an EP based on live sessions. First guest is Claudio PRC, a close friend and familiar face in the deep techno scene. Having released on labels such as Semantica, TGP, his own 012 and most recently Delsin Records, he has a close connection to Artefakt. Both artists reside in Berlin and share a dedicated passion for atmospheric and immersive ambient and techno. Collaborations I features four jams combining the unmistakable strengths of both artists, resulting in a well varied pack of emotive techno with room for experiment. Where 'Gaia' and 'Dwelling' feel like iconic tracks of the pair teaming up, on the flip side 'Sonic Rite' slows down in pace and catches a magnificent groove. The shared love for ambient results in the mesmerizing closer of the EP 'Distant Light'.