Techno Vinyl New Releases - News

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Architect John Körmeling worked on a system of music, that sets aside familiar Western tuning and is based instead on square roots, areas and volumes. In order to realise this music, he turned back to the harpsichord and adapted its jangling sound to an intonation that literally plays Pythagorean ratios - that's the idea behind the new instrument called Frogsichord. Körmeling then turned to the veteran rule-breaker Charlemagne Palestine, pioneer of long-form improvisations on harpsichord, harmonium and other neglected keyboard instruments. This LP documents Palestine performances on the Frogsichord made in Brussels, Rotterdam and in Cappadocia, Turkey.

The sound is strange, perhaps even estranging, but Palestine has made it his own, and created a music that is rich and detailed, not simply “exotic”. It’s no longer a question of “Western” tonality colliding with “non-European” harmonic systems. Here is music that taps into the universal language of mathematics, one that we are all programmed, however unwillingly, to understand. Meet the Frogsichord. It will change how you listen to music. It might even help you with maths.

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Matière Mémoire presents the MMXX Series: In anticipation of the year 2020, Matière Mémoire asked 20 experimental/electronic artists to create an original 20 minutes piece and an artwork. Throughout this year, each quarter will see the release of 5 new vinyls.

Each record is limited to 500 copies and comes as a crystal clear vinyl featuring an original track of 20 minutes on one side, and a laser engraved artwork on the other. Each 12" is housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, coming with a print of the artist artwork.

Participate in this series:
Franck Vigroux, John Duncan, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Reinier Van Houdt, Stephen O’Malley, CM Von Hausswolff, Hampus Lindwall, Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm, Bérangère Maximin, Kassel Jaeger, Daniel Menche, Charlemagne Palestine, Giueseppe Ielasi, Carlos Casas, Susanna Santos Silva, Joachim Nordwall, Karbé Dinel, Mauro Lanza

Slow Reels combines Ian Hawgood's love of reel-to-reel tape machines and vintage synthesizers with James Murray's melodicism and richly textured digital sound design. Their Morr Music debut, ‘Farewell Islands’, is an arresting, fluorescing album that blends full-frequency dronescaping with a slow-burning ambient minimalism.

Ian and James met on the UK minimal music scene releasing each others' music on their Home Normal and Slowcraft labels. Their recording collaboration began remotely while Ian lived in Warsaw, spending long nights with his collection of reel-to-reel machines: “I created a number of loops with an old and sadly dying Akai which was noisy and would stutter quite a bit. I also found myself using older tape on cracked reels and the effects of this really helped develop a newer path for my own work”. James began to weave piano, guitar and synthesizers into the material from his London studio, combining the two artists' tonalities into something so unexpectedly compelling it took them both by surprise. Ian then transferred these manipulations back onto tape, further refining and defining the sound during deep dive experimental analogue mastering sessions.

The role of old technology in Slow Reels' work lends a sense of decay and transience sure to resonate with admirers of William Basinski, Rafael Anton Irisarri and Benoît Pioulard, but the underlying melodies set a clear counterpoint: a longing for the vivid is deeply grounded within this music. The four cinematic, long-form movements of ‘Farewell Islands’ possess a delicate romanticism and emotional urgency that engages and gradually overwhelms the listener.

The islands of the title are both real and notional, as James explains: "places of meaning to both of us in our lives, found now only out of time, belonging outside the present and out of reach”. This nostalgic farewell also marks a fresh beginning, as the duo's ongoing Brighton-based studio sessions generate further reels of unearthly electronic landscapes that seem to hiss, warble and granulate their own way onto tape.

Asa Tone is Jakarta-born Melati Malay and New York based Tristan Arp and Kaazi. In January 2018 the trio travelled to Indonesia during Melati’s annual return home, set up a temporary studio in a house nestled in the jungle’s canopy and recorded a series of improvisational pieces together, later edited for brevity. The music incorporates both digital and analogue processing and largely draws upon the group’s collective voice, a small selection of instrumentation and their immediate environment. For fans of Mensch, Golden Teacher, New York duo Georgia.

For the new Arma release Ena explores different, distinct facets of his sound across three productions. “Pale” distills his vision of techno as a minimalist, repetitive construct. Working around non-standard time signatures, he creates a densely woven lattice of percussive pulses, which cut a polyrhythmic path through nightmarish sheets of noise. “Secondary Color” uses a broader palette that opens the Ena sound up to the light,,, “Wired” heads further away from the grid in pursuit of sound design exploration, as a rack of pipes and chambers strike, boom and chime against artful distortion and cavernous reverb. While Ena has historically been hesitant about remixes of his material, he warmed to the idea of long-time Arma friend JASSS reworking “Wired”. Taking the track into her own fiercely individual sound world, she uses the harmonic tonality of the original as a jump-off point for an epic, emotionally forthright chiller loaded with coldwave bombast, trap hats and Silvia’ own voice. Coming from entirely different angles of approach, Ena and JASSS are bound together by their fearless individuality. You can sense the slithers of pre-existing music somewhere in their constructions, but such familiarities are no more than faint echoes of places they passed through on their way to somewhere new.

After a period of quiet, Area is back with friends on Kimochi Sound.
All the tracks here are reworks of Area productions, but the collaborators take the originals in new and exciting directions.

Gauss' Natan H offers up a stomping version of Dare To Be Different, whereas Freerotation's Leif contrasts with a fleetfooted rendition of The Face Yours Reminds Me Of. Longtime label contributor Benjamin Brunn gets the whole B-side to traverse tempos and textures and round out the emotive release.

hand-numbered white vinyl 12" in spray-painted sleeve limited to 200 copies (comes in different coloured sleeve we cannot guarantee which one you will receive)

Der Kanadische Wahlberliner Nathan Micay (aka Bwana) Präsentiert Sein Debütalbum Auf Lucky Me. Nach Releases Auf Whities, Esp, Aus, Cin Cin Und Dj-sets Für Resident Advisor, Essential Mixes, Boiler Room, Kreiert Micay Nun Eine Neue, Verjüngte Schnittstelle All Der Elemente, Die Zur Magie Von Future Sound Of Londons Rave-hybriden "accelerator" Beitrugen (prog, Trance, Techno, Hardcore, Jungle, Idm, Ambient). Verpackt In Ein Hochmelodisch-komplex-spaciges Sound-design Klingt "blue Spring" Wie Ein Inspirierter Technicolor-trip Durch Sub-bässe, Future-breakbeats, Dancefloor-rollercoaster, Erhabener Euphoria, Ausserweltliche Klanglandschaften Und Sogar Ein Wenig 3/4 Zeit.

The official soundtrack from the Netflix movie 'Kidnapping Stella' gets remix treatments by dub techno mastermind Vril and Berlin local Anja Zaube on the A-side, as well as DUATRECORDS labelheads Amin Fallaha and R100 on the flipside.

‘’The Duel’’ is a sonic portrayal of the process of one coming to terms with a loss of a loved one. Each musical piece paints the emotions of such a processes. The ‘’Intro’’ shocks at a realisation of such a loss and immediate denial, which is portrayed by visceral and tightly searing sounds. Its questionable tone and thin layers of frequencies symbolise one’s own questioning for the reasons of such loss and the thin layer of security one feels without the presence of its loved one. The second track promotes the idea that denial cannot be continued due to the anger and self-blame within oneself as envisioned with deeper frequencies and more foreboding synthesizer soundscapes. ‘’Transition’’ lifts up the atmosphere by suggesting false hope of one somehow able to put off or delay the ordeal completely while ‘’Depression’’ hits back with heavier sounds confirming the reality of one’s loss of a loved one and subsequent quieting of the soul that follows the departure of a loved one.

The silence of the last pieces promote the space to think and feel in-depth which gradually evokes the feeling of acceptance of one’s loss. The sense of time limitations and realities of impermanence vibrate through in and out the release, forcing one dealing with such a loss to fight and duel oneself until a transformation pushes one to accept the loss, realise matters of life further and enrich one’s life by embracing life while it’s here and appreciating the life of others who are and were here for one another.

From underground Russia comes LVRIN's second release on Pinkman Broken Dreams. 6 jams for the freaks - stripped to the bone, with minimum fuss and maximum attitude.

Chasing up Good Morning Tapes’ standout EPs by HTRK’s Jonnine Standish and UK synthesist, XVARR, the ’All Welcome’ 12” pairs three previously tape-only tracks with a trio of exclusives on a killer compilation from the promising French labelSupplying a varied and engaging experience ranging from Tapes’ classical Indian invocations to Eszaid’s gutted D&B and Kiki Kudo’s fizzy electro-dub, ‘All Welcome’ renders the label’s aesthetic wide open with a wonderfully shine-eyed appeal to mutual, empathetic ambient souls and lovers
of electronic magick.

Tapes, aka South London enigma Jackson Bailey, coaxes the EP into action with the woozy title tune of his 2018 tape ’Silence Please’, meshing electronic tanpura drone with mysterious winds and sloshing tabla drums in a respectful tradition of English artists including Robert Wyatt and Shackleton, before Eddie Ruscha’s Only Thingz spies Eno via The Orb and Vangelis in the glyding
synth pads and smeared brass tone of ‘All Eyes Open’, and Berlin-based Brazilian artist INNSYTER follows a deliciously groggy ambient hunch in ‘Morning Blend’.

The label then play it closer to home with an eviscerated D&B dub by Eszaid, co-owner of the Paris-based Collapsing Market label, with ‘The Most Sacred Syllable’ primed for fans of Andy Stott or Demdike Stare, and Anthony Naples takes it to NYC with an extended mix of his scudding piano house workout ‘Goodness’ off the ‘Take Me With You’ tape (not found on the LP released by ANS!), and Kiki Kudo keeps it stateside with the palpitating electro-dub fizz of ‘Hala Dub’ in a style relatable to E.M.M.A. or Jay Glass Dubs.

repress

Los Angeles based Principleasure releases his debut LP 'I (One)' on 30th April to critical acclaim. 'An enthralling debut album' according to Mixmag who promptly made it their Album of the Month, 'A brilliantly crafted debut album' proclaim Future Music Magazine and 'Brooding with icy contempt' say Electronic Sound in their full page review. With festival support from DJs as diverse as Dixon and AME to A-Trak, 'I' comes hot off the back of 3 EPs released in 2018, with videos from Hirad Sab (Sevdaliza) and Yoshi Sodeoka (Digitalism), support from BBC Radio 1 (Annie Mac) and KCRW (Mario Cotto).

2x12"

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Opium is currently the most talked about club North of Berlin. Vilnius based spot has built its reputation slowly but surely to become one of the brightest lights in the night sky of Europe. The club has earned the admiration of local crowd, loyalty of visiting artists and respect of industry insiders by nurturing unique local talent, bringing cutting edge House & Techno acts on a weekly bases, building a devoted community and rocking the parties of the highest intensity and unprecedented intimacy. Its no wonder Boiler Room and Resident Advisor both came knocking on the door in 2017 for special features and events.

2018 marks another milestone in club's incredible journey: the first ever music compilation entitled 'Opium of the People', a rock solid collection of 13 unreleased tracks by core residents and the members of extended Opium family from all around the world featuring Tel Aviv's producer and song writer Autarkic, Australia-born-Europe-bound New Age travellers Dreems and Kris Baha, Canadian smooth operator Thomas Von Party, Frankfurt's Musikmaschine Lauer, German-Mexican studio encounter of Sebastian Voigt & Theus Mago, Berlin based Spanish fashionista Hugo Capablanca, Detroit legend Sharif Laffrey and Russian crate digging trio of Leonid Lipelis, Sergey Krylow and Ilya Simonov under the name of Plungerbird x Beard in Dust. Most of them are coming to Lithuanian capital's hot spot so often, they could easily start their own fan clubs in town. The local talent also gets a well-deserved attention. Manfredas, Siaubas, Pletnev, and V find their place on the compilation and bring the modern sound of Vilnius nights to the vanguard.

'Opium of the People' has been conceived and compiled by Vidmantas 'V' Cepkauskas, the head of programming and resident DJ of Opium, a well-known contributor to the electronic music scene for nearly two decades. He has reinvented a friends-to-friends after-hours place into an international music institution in a matter of six seasons and is the best candidate to curate and present 'Opium of the People'.

Shanghai-based music producer HUAN HUAN （aka Diamond Lil) is releasing her first 12” EP “One Big Bug” in Ran Music’s sub-label Ran Groove in November. The EP includes 3 dance tracks with influences from Electro, Industrial and Techno music. There’s also a remix from her good friend Fishdoll. Being deeply involved in Shanghai’s club scene, HUAN HUAN’s debut EP is a re-interpretation of her aesthetic towards club music. Her usual deep and exquisite sounds have turned into a more minimalistic and industrial direction which you can hear in the classic Electro grooves, aggressive modern sub-frequency sound design and random industrial noise in the background. The listener can find the trail of the modern techno direction as well as feel the smell of an electro revival, together with Fishdoll’s contrasting flavor remix, presenting us this amazing EP.

HUAN HUAN（aka Diamond Lil) is an independent music producer and DJ living in Shanghai. She’s one of the most appearing figures in Shanghai’s club scene. As an excellent music producer, she produces music and remixes for many other artists in the scene. She’s good at creating deep atmospheric soundscapes with a cinematic feeling. Her delicate sounds are glued together into vibrating grooves, with the synth sounds from the 90s forming her secret weapon conquering people’s ear drums on dance floors. Benefiting from Shanghai’s advanced club scene, HUAN HUAN’s performance and music work have reached wider platforms and have caught the ears of many overseas acts and labels

We first came across the choir in 2017 when we booked them to play Caring Is Creepy in Margate. The choir was a new thing then and a little rough around the edges (I initially wondered if it was a cover for mid-week drinking by some of Margate’s mums, and for that I sincerely apologise).

It seemed like a nice idea to ask them to cover some Moshi Moshi songs to mark our 20th birthday celebrations but we never dreamed they would come out sounding as good as they have.

Much of the credit for that must go to the expert guidance of choir master Hughie Gavin who arranged and directed the recordings and took these songs in some deeply.

Loneos translates in passion for music, discovering is the main goal here. The future has been encripted through many releases in the past, the many ways of Loneos will reveal such authentic and exclusive jam, through passion and hard work. Library sound, obscure film score, cosmic folk and underground psychedelic masterpiece will gradually show up in our catalog, radically changing your idea of futuristic and inspirational music.

Like Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) we’re here to deep look into what is around us, being it close or far away, but sure to be discovered.

12". LP regular pressed & designed on 180g Black Coloured Vinyl. Limited Edition to 400 Copies. Includes OBI-Stripe, Printed Slipcase & Handwritten Notes; they're limited to 100 Copies.

Originally released in 1972 for the sought after Gemelli imprint, Espressioni was credited to longtime Ennio Morricone partner and conspirator Bruno Nicolai, one of the most influential Italian composer in the heyday of film music and modern composition.

The maestro Morricone shows his persona between the folds of the record as well, revealing a common sense for obscure leanings in the tradition of avant-garde jazz and classic contemporary. The many faces of the two composers are fully in charge through the 9 episodes of the release, such a chronological history akin to the common area of Italian psycho drama and cultish noir-exploitation short movies.

Fascinating tough obscure, these austere compositions should be fitting ideally along your Gruppo D’ Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza or Egisto Macchi essential releases.

Loneos translates in passion for music, discovering is the main goal here. The future has been encripted through many releases in the past, the many ways of Loneos will reveal such authentic and exclusive jam, through passion and hard work. Library sound, obscure film score, cosmic folk and underground psychedelic masterpiece will gradually show up in our catalog, radically changing your idea of futuristic and inspirational music.

Like Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) we’re here to deep look into what is around us, being it close or far away, but sure to be discovered.

12". LP regular pressed & designed on 180g White Coloured Vinyl. Limited Edition to 400 Copies. Includes OBI-Stripe, Printed Slipcase & Handwritten Notes; they're limited to 100 Copies.

Originally released in 1972 for the sought after Gemelli imprint, Espressioni was credited to longtime Ennio Morricone partner and conspirator Bruno Nicolai, one of the most influential Italian composer in the heyday of film music and modern composition.

The maestro Morricone shows his persona between the folds of the record as well, revealing a common sense for obscure leanings in the tradition of avant-garde jazz and classic contemporary. The many faces of the two composers are fully in charge through the 9 episodes of the release, such a chronological history akin to the common area of Italian psycho drama and cultish noir-exploitation short movies.

Fascinating tough obscure, these austere compositions should be fitting ideally along your Gruppo D’ Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza or Egisto Macchi essential releases.

Song Cycle is delighted to present the first reissue of Wounds by David Toop and Paul Burwell. Originally released in 1980 on Toop’s Quartz! label, the album is representative of a seminal moment within the British music scene evolved around the London Musicians Collective in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Founded in 1976 by a group of improvising musicians and sound artists including Evan Parker, Peter Cusack, Lol Coxhill, Sylvia Hallet, Max Eastley, the LMC contributed to shape a new generation of free improvisers with broader interests ranging from the music of John Stevens, Evan Parker, and Cornelius Cardew, to non-western music experiences.

David Toop and Paul Burwell came to know each other precisely in these crucial moments, to start a long-lasting collaboration on two separate but intertwined projects a trio with the artist and poet Bob Cobbing, and an improvisation duo. As result of the latter, the nine tracks included in Wounds are edited from a single performance at the LMC, date 30.6.1979.

Recorded by Max Eastley and Russ Wood, these shows saw the employment of different musical instruments as well an odd number of found objects placed in front of the artists, on the floor, ready to be picked up and played. Electric guitar, flute, cassette, water, rubbish, explosives, six strings harp, bamboo fiddle, whistle were only a few of the wider arrange of instruments at the disposal of the two.

The result is an ambivalent album, suspended between the unfolding of the time of performance, and the circularity of the ritual. And if the collage of texts appearing on the artwork demonstrates a certain disapproval and skepticism toward the progress of society, Wounds seems also suggesting a possible cure.

The improvised music, the use of non-canonical instruments, the presence of pre-recorded sounds coming, seems indeed to be an open invitation to the listeners to abandon the old conventions and to search for a new system of relationships.

Funeral Souvenir’s "La noche del anhídrido" is an Spanish cult electronic masterpiece recorded by Miguel A. Ruiz (Orfeón Gagarin) in the eighties, now issued for first time in 180 gr virgin vinyl.

Besides of all the album the vinyl includes, like bonus tracks, the lost songs of the German compilations of 87 and 88 and free download code of the digital version, antistatic inner sleeves & insert with original material and info of the issue in heavy paper. All songs remastered from the original tape.

"LA NOCHE DEL ANHÍDRIDO" was recorded in 1987 and initially released in cassette format C-30. A work of industrial environments with rhythmic touches voice treatment and above all some icy metallic effects to call them somehow) that imbue the whole album and give it timelessness.

This work could be introduced today as a scoop of Miguel A. Ruiz and nobody would notice that 32 years have passed since this artist conceived it. This is the merit of the great sound artists, who know to make their work remain beyond time, space and dimensions. A privilege for our minds."

Josep Maria Soler Solá. September 2019. Stahlfabrik / Wet Dreams.

Trance-inducing percussive drifter inspired by Italy's experimental techno era and recorded with similar techniques. Ultra-limited edition of 35 transparent dubs.

Jesse Kanda is a visual artist and musician widely known for his modern gothic surrealist art, especially his work with Björk, Arca,
and FKA twigs, and in recent years for his own musical output as Doon Kanda.

At Hyperdub, we are very excited by his transition into music; if there were a sound to his beautiful, otherworldly art, this is it in it's pure form. ‘Labyrinth’ is his debut album, comprised of 13 pieces of new music, and 10 artworks.

It is a dreamlike, exhilarating listen from start to finish, covering emotional ground from hell to heaven. It was created between summer 2018 and spring 2019 in London and Ontario. His two previous EPs 'Heart' (2017) and 'Luna' (2018) focused on melody across a spectrum of emotion, and like his visual work often metamorphosed pain into beauty. 'Labyrinth' chronicles a period of loss, in ecstatic fantasy.

Stylistically, much of the album is in 3/4 time signature in rhythms reminiscent of waltz, allowing Kanda to create movement through melody. This idiosyncratic gothic style was hinted at in his first EP, and is in full bloom here. It is also a proposition of a new form of club music; one can imagine venues transformed into an alien world, where the music moves the crowd in previously unknown ways.
The album has a narrative arc of building chaos, peaking with ‘’Mino’, then a resolve of clarity at ‘Bunny’.

There are still so many treasures to be discovered out there, but once you find a gem like this you can definitely put the research on hold for a little while and give it a deep listen. Recorded at Fono Roma in 1971, Eroina is a series of haunting improvisations - each one inspired by the effects of a different drug - made of whirling electronic glitches, skronky horns, pounded piano, funky drums and weird tape experiments delivering the best drone/spaced/drugged out free jazz performed by the legendary ensemble of Ennio Morricone, Mario Bertoncini, Egisto Macchi, Battisti D'Amario, Franco Evangelisti and Walter Bianchi. A timeless masterpiece.

The fourth installment and latest in the Falling Ethics ELEVEN series contains tracks by label owner P.E.A.R.L., JK Flesh and the mysterious Auto De Fe. 'Moral Standards' is a tough opening track by label owner P.E.A.R.L. that is dancefloor oriented and packed with an almost tribal vigour. JK Flesh's 'Static Demon' revolves around a non linear rhythm and a fierce synth sequence that elvolves throughout. Auto De Fe's 'Mierda Bendita' is an adventurous piece of work that will strike a chord will lovers of industrial music.

AAA (pronounced something like AOE) is the first release from SHXCXCHCXSH under the new moniker HSXCHCXCXHS. It's a single LP, delivered in 80 bpm and presented with visuals from Pedro Maia.

The talented artist Restive Plaggona returns to Sacred Court with his new EP, including a massive remix from the Swedish duo SHXCXCHCXSH.

Edouard Cheritel is a Paris based French composer who has been working on classical compositions for almost 25 years. At the age of four he started to learn the clarinet at the National Conservatory of Lyon and stayed there for 21 years. During this long development of his musical capabilities he has learned to write and play chamber and symphonic music - he studied classical composition for 15 years - and worked in the fields of modern composition for another 6 years.

In the meantime Edouard always experimented with electronic music while being a member of several electronic and pop bands. The biggest commercial success was his project "Employee Of The Year", which has released two albums, played several times on the French national television, has done remixes for SOHN & Wild Belle and provided several pieces for advertisements.

After building this foundation as a very versatile artist over years, Edouard Cheritel finished his first solo compositions called "Suite No1" in 2019. They form a compact debut Suite consisting of four movements combining the classical composition skills of Edouard with his sensitivity for electronic tunes and a lightly pop appeal, resulting in a partly melancholic and partly very energetic journey.

Beside the activities regarding the ongoing Suite series, Edouard Cheritel currently works on his debut solo full length and a project called "People" that he will realize in 2020. For "People" Edouard will compose music day-to-day together with and for the people in the pedestrian areas of Paris. Concrete plans for this project will be revealed at the end of 2019. In the future there will also be opportunitities to see his pieces being performed by himself solo in an intimate context or with a complete live orchestration he is currently working on.

Repress

Five years ago, the expression Russian electronic scene bore a tone of futurology and expectancies rather than a real state of affairs. It was possible to put together musicians of local and genre importance easily in general, but not of significance in national scale. With rise and further development of Gost Zvuk, Russian electronic music achieved power not only as cultural phenomenon within country s borders, but also fully proved to be a thing of international meaning. Starting operations in 2014, the label quickly defined its domains of authority and engagement and created full-bloody community of musicians, where everyone has a special view on his own work and unique sound. The projects presented on this compilation can be rightfully called the contemporary vanguard of Russian and global electronic music.

Each of resonant artists holds his own disparate creative field and impact. However, in this diversity the unity of creation of beauty and ingenuity is born, that distinguishes Russian independent electronica. All compiled tracks perfectly characterize the artists involved, sometimes from extremely striking sides; from HMOT s chaotic improvisations to kedr livansky s ethereal grooves, from unearthly landscapes of Gamayun to undistracted concisions by Ol or Buttechno. Both electric boffinry and club anthems merge into united vision, placed in graceful frame of Rashad Becker s mastering.

Maybe this compilation won t close the question What is the Russian Sound? , which has been arising for more than twenty years. Nevertheless, it is able to give an extensive view on the evolution of Russian electronica in the 2010s.

Given Jones' rather slack approach to track titles (both being consistent with and sometimes even just supplying them), it's a bit of a relief to realize that two tracks with the same name are indeed related. In the case of "Arab Jerusalem", which makes up nearly half of the newly-released Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade, that kinship is immediately apparent even though both tracks are clearly their own experiences. Released as the first track on the Minaret-Spearker picture disc 7" in 1996, "Arab Jeruzalem" (spelling also sometimes being fairly slack) is 5:42 of effectively shifting dark ambience, wordless female vocals drifting over the hand percussion, chimes, and static of the track, with eventual conversational loops discussing ... something underneath.

The end of that version is especially striking for the way the woman's wordless singing starts being sampled in such a way that it overlays the whole track (and, slightly, itself). The almost 24-minute "Arab Jerusalem" here might be called the Deer Hunter version of the same story, building with great patience and many more abstract detours towards what now seems like simultaneously an excerpt and, now, a climax.

As with many of Jones' more ambient tracks, the great length just lets it cast its spell more thoroughly and entrancingly. The other three tracks, meanwhile, suggest some of Jones' other work but never evoke them as directly as "Arab Jerusalem". "Jordan River" is nearly as long (a second shy of 20 minutes) but strips out the vocal elements in its predecessor, focusing instead on a more active percussive workout (analogue and digital both) and a river of hiss running down the center of the track. The title track of Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade might bring to mind the title of "Lalique Gadaffi Jar" from Libya Tour Guide (last reissued by Staalplaat in 2015), but if they're sonically related Jones must have practically melted the other track to get this one.

And the closing "Desert Gulag" (like the title track, a much more manageable length than the first two epic tracks here) bears a slight resemblance to "Negev Gulag" from 1996's Fatah Guerrilla, here what was a piercing, repetitive drone is softened and looped over more of Jones' percussion. The result is a well-rounded release that shows off many aspects of Jones' sound as Muslimgauze, while existing (like many of these DAT tapes do) in conversation with much of his previously released work.

If early humans heard today’s music would they shun it or relate it to the constant struggle, brute danger and terrifying, preterite beauty of their world? On his latest Where To Now release, ‘Lowlands’, grizzled sonic voyager U goes some way to approaching and exploring this notion.

Far more dancefloor-geared than his last release for Where To Now?, (the acclaimed ‘Vienna Orchestra’), the EP opens with ‘Arctic Eden’ where slamming breaks somehow obliterate any trace of evoked dance music nostalgia as they are chopped to a perpetually rolling false start. The effect is visceral yet stilted, like a dog jerking to begin the motion of running from an ambient threat such as fireworks. Snares are sometimes overshadowed by clanging hits like a child gleefully banging on pans. This and the following 2 tracks are cryptic and primordial acid flashbacks marking the A-Side as the proverbial ‘edge of the forest’ where we can gather in relative safety and semi-familiarity, aside from the looming and dense periphery of trees and ill defined peril that lies adjacent.

‘Don’t Fuck With The Dragon’ deceives with its heavy kicked four-to-the-floor introduction before diving into a low-hanging smokescreen of murky synths that obscure pounding percussion and vague and muttered voices. A sawing bass synth tears through amid pinging 808 cowbells and frequent flashes of sound like granite scraping across the EP’s sonic tiles. Sudden euphoria takes hold as the murk clears to the track’s ebullient conclusion. ‘Buildbase’ indeed has the driving pulse of construction to it but the base is nearly destroyed as explosive sideswipes render previous sequences to sludge and rubble and the percussive clicks no longer propel forward but tiptoe around the bass drum thuds and menace.

On the B-Side we are into the forest. Barely navigable and unfamiliar - in classic U style we are turned on our heads and forced to feel for the touchpoints on this side having been perhaps lulled into a false sense of security before. A strong Eastern vibe announces the side as dune-dwelling drums hammer behind a sandstorm of swishing sonic texture. This heralds a sombre and regal section that develops into a thanatoptic drone with a post-industrial lament of echoing metallic percussion rising from the track’s smouldering ashes.

High tide’s downbeat drums float behind a submerged classical motif and drowned piano melodies as we drift into the focal point of this strange collection. The title track opens like a Celtic ‘O Superman’ as heavily processed vocals weave a traditional tale over beautiful, doomy, looming synths and ambiguous high register melodies. It is raw emotion delicately balanced on the edge of the comical. Unsettling and familiar and uncomfortable. It is the perfect conclusion to an intriguing 30 minutes of music that seems to deliberately cater to nobody specific yet prods at myriad facets of the human spirit.

Back in 2015, two of Sweden's most coveted electronic music producers quietly collaborated.

The duos outcomes where complied and made available via a trifling 20 self release tapes,circulated by the two during an event in Lithuania.

Ever since copies have traded hands in second hand market for staggering prices and cassette tape rips of the release have been circulating the web - one of these caught the attention of Vaagner, a label dedicated to reissuing noteworthy cassette releases from around the globe.

What makes the release so special is its expressiveness, the duo originally used the tape medium to explore various facets of their sound, resulting in an explorative release that feels both invigorating and reflective.

Now 3 years later, Vaagner is proud to present it's 3rd release, a reissue of Acronym and Korridor's seminal untitled cassette, made available digitally and on vinyl for the first time, re-mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring bespoke artwork and including an unreleased bonus track from the duo which was conceived during the time of the original release.

The vinyl edition is limited to 300 copies world wide and each release comes with a download code. 100 of these copies are limited to the vaagner bandcamp and additionally come with a riso printed insert.

Following a string of releases via his own bbbbbb recors, along with bodies of work on трип Recordings, February 2019 saw Bjarki debut on !K7 Records with the ‘Happy Earthday’ album.

With the album considered to be the Icelandic producers first full debut LP, ‘Happy Earthday’ offered a conceptual collection of music which Bjarki thought he would never release. Influenced by his home country of Iceland as well as the planet’s environmental issues, the album received support across the board from the likes of The Quietus, DJ Mag, Pitchfork, XLR8R, FACT and CLASH Music, along with being crowned Mixmag’s ‘Album of The Month’.

As part of the limited edition 200 copy box set version of ‘Happy Earthday’, a secret album of original music was available to hear unbeknown to listeners. Now receiving a full release this December on double vinyl and digital platforms, Bjarki will release his second full album of the year via !K7 Records. ‘Psychotic_Window’ is a further extension of the experimental artists creative vision whilst continuing to address environmental themes and nature.

Combining influences from techno, breakbeat, IDM, electronica and more across all of his studio output, ‘Psychotic_Window’ is Bjarki’s final signoff for 2019. The new 14-track album follows in line with one of his most significant years to date, highlighted by performances at major events including Dekmantel and DGTL Festival, along with pioneering eclectic new sounds via his bbbbbb recors label.

“After ‘Happy Earthday’, people have been asking me about the secret tracks and it made me feel that they deserve a proper release. Each track means a lot to me as I made them during a depressing phase in my life; I was pretty broke, working many shit jobs and also just being super lazy, uninterested in leaving my apartment.

Before I started touring, I had these periods where I could write so much music without thinking, pouring my heart out to comfort my thoughts and feelings without trying. I doubt that this kind of window will come back to me anytime soon, my way of music making has changed a lot after going on tour. At that time, I was listening to a lot of Coil, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti. I think every struggling artist goes through these phases of being sleep deprived, staying up and making music all night. This was my psychotic window.” -
Bjarki

Clear Vinyl.

Raime explore exquisitely honed rhythmic instincts with scintillating results on the 2nd release on their RR label.

Where the London duo’s 2018 EP and RR debut ‘We Can’t Be That Far From The Beginning’ evoked a meditative mood from the info overload of their home city that left acres of space to the
imagination, the ‘Planted’ EP rejoins the dance with four tracks that icily acknowledge strong influence from Latin American and Chicago footwork styles in a classically skooled mutation of hardcore British dance music.

In four fleetingly ambiguous dancefloor workouts they carry on a conceptual theme exploring the digital subconscious with persistently invasive, alien ambient shrapnel - half-heard voices, aleatoric prangs, and tag-covered signposts - woven into and thru their tightly coiled and reflexive drum programming.

UPTOWN, ’Num’ flexes tendons and hips like a Leonce riddim that danced all the way from NOLA and ATL to the wintery dawn of a LDN warehouse, while the lip-biting tension of minimalist 160bpm jungle/ footwork patterns and jibber-jawed vocals in ‘Ripli’ suggests the Alien film’s protagonist lost in a mazy rave space, chased by H.R. Giger-designed face huggers (or gurning energy vampires).
DOWNTOWN, ‘Kella’ then catches them on a grimy dubtech bounce, cocked back and straining at the harness, before ‘Belly’ shuts down the dance with invasive, demonic motifs exploding over dark blue chords and palpitating jungle subs with impeccable darkside style.

2x12"

Karl O’Connor (Regis) rallies the Downwards troops for the odd family portrait of ‘Let Love Decide’, including the first new Concrete Fence collab between Regis and Haswell since that killer PAN hookup, plus all new and exclusive tracks by label staples Mick Harris, Nick Dunton, Simon Shreeve, DVA Damas and Karl Meier, plus Rachel Aiello’s Layne, and Khrone/Mjolsness (Male) and various appearances by Regis himself in different formations.
Cutting across the face of the label, ‘Let Love Decide Pt.1’ is the first part of Downwards’ contemporary portrait series aligning veteran hands with the new class of mutant industrial disciples. The nine tracks include a strong clutch of exclusive projects such as the EBM supergroup You Hung - a quartet of Nick Dunton (vocals), Jim Siegel (drums), Simon Shreeve (Live mix and Studio), and Karl O’Connor (synth) - and Karl & Ken Meier’s “ambient” alias Obelus, cued up beside previously unheard Fret gear by Mick Harris and a Cub collab between Karl O’Connor and Simon Shreeve, to highlight the label’s strength in diversity and shared purpose.
Naturally, the label kingpin Karl O’Connor is a constant throughout the compilation, a connective ligature that ties the slurred slow techno of Cub’s ‘Teenage Fists’ to the live band EBM praxis of You Hung, where O’Connor’s synth underlines Krishna Goineau-styled vox by Nick Dunton (65D Mavericks) and the gnashing drums of Jim Siegel (Raspberry Bulbs), as well as the welcome reappearance of his Concrete Fence duo with Russell Haswell in a sharp cut of pranging industrial funk that sounds like vintage Autechre, chopped and skewed.
Following his turn in Cub, Simon Shreeve also weighs in his powerful studio pressure on the soggy, gothic lurch of ‘The Space Between Cultures’, while Mick Harris ramps the distortion on a ravenous Fret cut ‘Helicopter Rig’. The rest is essentially a showcase of the label’s American ambassadors,
taking in the scuffed modular dub brawl of ’Scale Reference’ by Karl & Ken Meier’s Obelus beside Layne’s blank-eyed swagger, and a stark shot in the ambient unknown by Jonathan Khrone & Benjamin Mjolsness (aka Male), while L.A.’s DVA Damas stretch out across the D-side on a stripe of sexy darkwave-techno rolige.

Before another Vatican Shadow release appears on vinyl for the first time early next year, Hospital Productions reissue a killer 2011 tape release on a 2019 vinyl pressing after appearing on a long
sold-out LP edition for Type in 2012 Remastered and slightly edited from the original 4 x tape boxset, ‘Kneel Before Religious Icons’
reasserts its place in the pantheon of Vatican Shadow’s prized early releases which, with the benefit of hindsight, arguably amount to one of this past decade’s definitive projects.

Originally recorded in 2010, the album’s eight tracks revolve some of the first material recorded by Dominick Fernow in this mode, aside from his then better known work as Prurient. At the time, Fernow was still working under cover of anonymity and this release in particular only aided in heightening the intrigue and fascination surrounding this project and the way it eerily resonated with the both the redrawing of geopolitical borders and those between industrial, ambient, noise and techno styles.

The album contains one of the most valued VS outings in Worshippers At The Same Mosque’, with its pall of synth pads, needly harpsichord and stepping drums patently influenced by Muslimgauze,
while the parade ground trample of ‘Church Of All Images’ - which would form the basis for a now classic Regis remix issued by Blackest Ever Black - adds up to one of the project’s most militant
numbers along with the scudding, bombed-out terrain of ‘Gods Representative on Earth’ and ’Shooter In The Same Uniform as The Soldiers’.

As an historic document of the time and a gripping album in its own right, ‘Kneel Before Religious Icons’ holds tight among Vatican Shadow’s most crucial and convincing communiques.