Cerca:techno tower

H- side is etched
The American cable-television industry exploded in the 1980s, pushing broadcasts of diverse programming and emissions of low-laying cultures into homes. Community stations piggybacked on the digital developments of the time, extending their existence through telephony and broadcast a iliates. For those growing up in this time, in locations such as New York City, the localized communications beamed into their homes exposed them to an impressionable array of disparate sounds and visions.
Move into the 1990s and New York was filled to the brim of emergent cultures drawing from this ebullition of communication. From Rammellzee’s shapeshifting to the late Judy Russell and Frank and Karen Mendez’s Nu Groove imprint fusing reggae, poetry and house, nascent ideas emanated from the city walls, from within stores such as Sonic Groove store and on VHS releases such as Stakker’s The Evil Acid Baron Show, a legendary technicolor psychedelic trip along the wildest frontiers of acid house. As scenes expanded and identities developed, such individuals weather the events of the visceral now, expressing themselves right into an unpredictable future.
Function’s long career has seen him uncover a vast range of sonic identities, a mainstay through house, techno and industrial with collaborations with the likes of Regis, Damon Wild alongside his highly influential Infrastructure imprint. With influences deeply tied to pop art, rave and gay scenes, and early memories of block-parties emitting Kraftwerk and Strafe, he found himself seeking out the undercover illegal nights of the 90s on a quest of sexual unearthing, mixing the ever-yearning escapology mission of disco with the influential DJ sets of Jeff Mills.
For his new album Existenz, he marks a clear step away from the corporeal techno of his recent releases. Pivoting around themes of religion, sexuality, trauma and healing, it is a work expansive and celebratory, a clear liberation from a deeply internalized past. Formed from a collection of recordings made in a period from late 2016 to mid 2019, Existenz takes the form of a creative outburst in reaction to a number of traumas - recent, childhood and throughout Function’s life. Life partner Stefanie Parnow assisted the production process in its entirety, providing inspiration, spiritual healing and featuring vocal contributions.
Cosmic synths soar and swoop in ‘Pleasure Discipline’ through towering stacks of rhythm that stutter and creak to a halt before rebooting, a firm robotic response to human intervention. ‘Zahlensender’ reflects a spatial tetris of urban life, as digitalization set within an XYZ matrix confronts the sprawling city. Constant arpeggiated meditations echo synaptic transmissions, e ecting a dissolution of boundaries. ’The Approach’ recalls the unification of the self, a state of delirium non-subjective and smooth, as all connections and functions give way to simple intensities of feeling, crossing the threshold into spirituality. ’Golden Dawn’, featuring Stefanie Parnow, marks a further elevation of dubbed-out euphoria, as once more positive rays emerge. His ode to the effortless short-trip urban navigation 'Kurzstrecke' finds Function in motion, upfront and bold, snapshots of conversation and flickers of light. 'Ertrinken' finds metallic bass jabs swamping snipped synthetic voices, with hidden stores of emotion set as a nod to the history of vocoders as a tool for encrypted military communication. House icon Robert Owens features on 'Growth Cycle' and 'Be', entrenching a celebratory atmosphere over Function's clubwise leanings. Closing track 'Downtown 161' reflects the unmistakeable filtered and squashed interjections of television, and sampled dance vocals - a sound for the curious, dreamers and dancers.
With Existenz, Function reveals an essential body of work, spread over 4LP - thought experiments on the role of identity and spirituality after a lifetime of upheaval and trauma. Leading up until the release date, Function will undertake an album promo tour with select dates - A/V shows at Berlin Atonal and Rural festival in Japan, and three dates as part of his Bassiani residency.

Santamaria Brothers are the latest incarnation of a lifelong musical journey rooted in rhythm, rebellion, and reinvention. The children of Peruvian and Ecuadorian immigrants to Australia, brothers Pat and Andrew Santamaria grew up steeped in the sounds and culture of Latin America - a deep inheritance that coloured everything they did, even as they moved through scenes and styles far from home.

In their youth, the brothers sharpened their first musical swords playing in globally touring indie bands. As the rhythm section of cult outfit Lost Valentinos, they had the opportunity to see the world and learn from the best; touring with, working alongside, and releasing music through the likes of Soulwax, Ewan Pearson, and Kitsuné. Taking those experiences home, they dove deep into the rave underground, co-founding of the crucial Sydney-centric techno label, warehouse party collective, and long-running radio show Motorik! In that guise,they helped shape the city’s electronic music scene over the past decade from the booth, the studio, the airwaves, and the street.

Now, after years behind the decks and on both sides of the mixing board, Santamaria Brothers return to their roots - releasing music under the family name for the first time. With We Got Latin Soul, they bring it all together on a 4-track EP of club-ready edits (via Sosilly Records). Reworking four towering figures of Latin soul; Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers, and Joe Bataan — the brothers inject each cut with tasteful touches of Balearic haze and chugging acid house pressure, honouring the originals while making them sing on today’s dancefloors.

This is Latin soul filtered through a unique blend of antipodean rave culture, crate-digging, and relentless reinvention. It’s joyful, percussive, and made for the club - a full-circle moment from two lifers forever finding new ways to move bodies.

Towering dub techno titan Brendon Moeller takes care of the 10th EP from Fossils Records and does so with a typically excellent six-track. The New York-based South African has long since mastered the art of space and restraint in his music and that's laid bare again here. 'Motion' has sinewy electronics and warped bass making for a fuller cut than you might expect from him. 'Disko Inferno' is a jumble of percussion and fizzy synth warmth and 'Habitual Ritual' then sinks into deep, dusty and ritualistic rhythms. 'Apparatus' is Moller's refined take on deep jungle and there are dancehall mutations on 'Samurai Steps' and serene deep space trips on 'Meltdown', making this one of his most varied EPs.

Shipwrec have delved into the underbelly of electronics for their latest discovery. Fake Youth Cult is the brand new project of Richard van Kruysdijk, an artist who has been integral to the Dutch music scene. Following releases on Delsin, as well as founding his own Music for Speakers label, this latest undertaking explores the darker hues of Kruysdijk's audio creations. Across six tracks, a realm of shadows and steel is constructed. From the murky tones of "Visitor" to the industrial and blackened "Scorched", a towering sound of punishing percussion looms over the listener. Techno is central message. Despite this, the piercing coldness of electro rises in the incising and stark "Messing." The influence of punk comes to the fore in racing rhythms and lean strings that make up "Smear." BPMs drop in the slow burning EBM stained "Management." The machines take control for the finale. A relentless kick is the motor that drives this seven minute juggernaut to the close. Broad and brutish brilliance from a prodigious talent.

Rough and ready trippy Techno with a 90's UK lean. Four versatile tracks with the eerie lockdown of 'Bellmarsh', trancey hardgroove 'Dimples' and signature track 'Extendo' to the ravey closer 'Cheese Bin'. Ryan once again serves up the goods for heady dancefloors.

After the release of DISSIDÆNCE Episode 1, warmly met with both critical and popular success, Vitalic keeps his promise and returns with a second instalment, darker and more techno than the first, and this time with a marked industrial aesthetic - cold and minimal. The composition and production style have a post-cold wave heritage, something that has always been part of the artist's DNA but is now brandished with renewed pride.

DISSIDÆNCE Episode 2 opens with Sirens, a towering tornado of synths and sweat, followed by Dancing in the Street, The Void and Light is a Train, sparse techno boiled down to its essence - mechanical, cold and alarming. Tempering this hostility are moments of grace and poetry like Marching, Friends & Foes and Winter is Coming, both melodic and melancholic.

A two-pronged project masterfully orchestrated by Vitalic, a strange cosmic voyage of implacable energy.

Cititrax release Sand Clock, the new full-length album by Men With Secrets, the Italian trio of Donato Dozzy, Lino Monaco, and Nicola Buono (Retina.it). Originally emerging from a shared background in experimental techno under the name Le Officine Di Efesto, the three musicians turned toward classic post-punk, minimal wave, and synth-driven pop with the formation of Men With Secrets. Their debut album Psycho Romance (2020), released on Bunker Records, introduced a meticulously produced body of work that felt like a rediscovered European darkwave recording from the early 1980s—yet was entirely contemporary in its construction.

With Sand Clock, the trio deepen this language. The album leans more directly into the melodic clarity and romantic tension of late-80s and early-90s darkwave and synthpop while maintaining the stark restraint that defines the project. Icy synthesizers, shuddering basslines, and precise drum machine programming frame baritone vocals that are intimate, emotionally exposed, and quietly apocalyptic.

Balancing pop structure with gothic atmosphere, Sand Clock moves between shadowed dance floor momentum and solitary headphone introspection. It is not an exercise in revivalism, but a continuation—an acknowledgment that the emotional architecture of that era remains unresolved and still relevant. Written and produced by Donato Dozzy, Lino Monaco, and Nicola Buono and recorded in Rome and Pompeii.

The vinyl edition is pressed on clear 160-gram vinyl, limited to 500 copies worldwide. Each record is housed in a heavy printed jacket with a printed inner sleeve.

Sascha Ring aka Apparat’s work as a producer, artist, musician, live act and DJ has always been in a constant state of metamorphosis, while simultaneoulsy always managing to stay true to his trademark musical sound.

There is a unique spirit that lives within his projects and productions or rather they all have this special vision of music which becomes more distinctive with every release and spans his ‘Multifunktionsebene’ and ‘Walls’ albums on Shitkatapult, his ‘Moderat’ album made together with the boys from Modeselektor on Bpitch Control and his DJ-Kicks mix for !K7.

Following on from Kode9 and his friend James Holden, Apparat offers a wonderful mix and insight into the tracks that have influenced and roused his passion for club productions over the years as well as his current favourites in his box.

The mix includes an exclusive track ‘Sayulita’. Together with this mix, it also symbolises a nice reference point in an important chapter in Apparat’s own history – club music. This is a chapter that is by no means finished, for the more he succeeds in re-writing the narrow parameters of techno music, the more important it remains as the driving force in his life.

WRWTFWW Records is very happy to announce the first-ever vinyl release of Japanese electronic music producer Virgo's unheralded sophomore album, Remnants, a sleeper underground hit from 1999, now finally available as a limited edition 45rpm cut double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve.
Released only on CD in 1999 by Tokyo-based cult label FORM@ RECORDS, Remnants is a quietly visionary record: mellow ambient techno, fluid electronica, and soul-laced atmospherics with the spirit of Detroit close to the heart. As the follow-up to his essential debut Landform Code, Virgo expands his palette here - working in widescreen textures, warm synth tones, and patient, emotive arrangements that feel both intimate and cinematic. The result is lush, heartfelt, and simply brilliant - a late '90s statement that rewards deep, repeated listening.
Remnants sits comfortably alongside the era's best explorations in soulful techno, ambient, and IDM, recalling the sensibilities of B12, The Black Dog, Ian O'Brien, and the lineage of labels Warp, Likemind and Clear, while remaining distinctly Virgo - subtle, sophisticated, and unexpectedly moving.
The album is released alongside Virgo's Landform Code, also available on vinyl for the first time ever, as part of a collaborative reissue series between WRWTFWW and FORM@. It aslo signals more archival treasures to come : vinyl pressings of FORM@ compilations Art Form I (1997), Art Form 2 (1998), and Re-Form Ver-1.0 (1999).

With over 2 decades of formal exploration and exhilarating abstraction Get On is, somewhat surprisingly, only the fourth solo Pita full length. Peter Rehberg has always been vouched for pushing the very limits of the technology du jour, be it software or in recent years a complex modular set. Rehberg’s motives are one of unbridled exploration often resulting in extreme and exhilarating audio works.

Having spearheaded the contemporary electronic sound with his uncompromising explorations of noise, rhythm and extreme computer music, he has also worked with numerous experimental musicians in collaboration. Rehberg stands in the wake of a sonic revolution, once fringe, which transformed over time into the sound of a generation of experimental geeks and club freaks worldwide.

Get On follows on from the 2016 release Get In. As with other titles in his ‘Get’ series we have an unwieldy blend of noise, abstraction, gnarled rhythm and blurred melody. Both analogue and digital tools are deployed as a means of expressing something outside of everyday electronics. ‘AMFM’ launches proceedings with some delightfully disorientating ricocheting electronics setting off a subversive sonic spectrum. ‘Frozen Jumper’ presents some ugly skittering electronics which rotate into exquisitely mangled forms before launching into an unsettling euphoria. The last piece ‘Motivation’ is a towering sensitive work, simultaneously haunted and emotionally moving. Get On marks another monumental work in the ongoing evolution from one of the ground zero pioneers of contemporary radical electronic music. As uncompromising as ever this is Pita in his prime. Emotion rung from the most twisted of frames.

"Irrepressible, off-the-wall and utterly unique - the late 70s/early 80s Latin jazz-funk and leftfield electronic boogie of Japanese composer and pianist Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi collected for the first time.

A star in Japan, she moved to Europe to record global hits with Depeche Mode and Swing Out Sister, toured the world with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and made beats with Attica Blues’ Tony Nwachukwu. Now based in London, Mimi currently fronts Tokyo Riddim Band - the intergenerational live Japanese Reggae outfit born from Time Capsule’s acclaimed 2023 compilation of the same name - playing live shows and releasing a trio of recordings.

Choice Cuts 1978-1983 collects eight recordings from four of Mimi’s first five albums – Sea Flight (1978) recorded with her group Flying Mimi Band, and Coconuts High (1981), Nuts Nuts Nuts (1982) and Tropicana (1983) under her own name.

The compilation opens with a syncopated electro-funk cover of Sergio Mendes’ ‘Mas Que Nada’ (Tropicana) and the crisp and stripped back techno-pop of ‘Coffee Rumba’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) with a keyboard bass line that would have made Stevie Wonder weep.

Alongside the off-beat synth jam ‘Quiet Explosion’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) and piano samba of ‘Espresso’ (Tropicana), there’s two low slung soul-jazz numbers, ‘Naze’ and ‘Angel Sky’, from Sea Flight (1978) that recall the collaborations between Herbie Hancock and Kimiko Kasai. But it is around the two tracks from Mimi’s 1981 album Coconuts High that this compilation revolves (and from whose cover shoot it borrows).

Released on legendary guitarist Takanaka’s Kitty Records label, Coconuts High was recorded in LA with a jazz fusion backing band, including Alex Acuña, Abraham Laborial, Harvey Mason and the Tower of Power horns. A riot of playful Latin-tinged jazz, funk and fusion with the off-beat spirit of Kid Creole & and the Coconuts, the album became a cult hit. Here it’s the sultry, Minnie Riperton-esque ‘Crazy Love’, with its addictive groove and bittersweet melodies that makes the cut, alongside the steel drum-infused carnivalesque bounce of ‘Palm St’.

Choice Cuts 1978-1983 will introduce the idiosyncratic energy and playful verve of this under-the-radar pioneer to a wider audience for the first time. Welcome to the world of Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi."

Sediment is an assemblage of field recordings made in the Swiss canton of Jura on a single day in August 2022. Jura's rock and limestone formations create a complex topology which hosts a diversity of sound spaces; human, more-than-human, geophonic, subterranean and extra-terrestrial. By walking and driving through this landscape curious pockets of activity are revealed to the listener. The layers of strata that make up Jura; earth, rock, forest, cables, pipes, factories, planes and radio towers inform the sound strata. These recordings incorporate and embrace these many layerings; the acoustic, radio, magnetic, vibrational, tectonic, resonant.

Over the course of a day Tim Shaw and Laurent Güdel followed their ears, they visited forests, mountains, rivers, hydroelectric plants, caves, radio broadcast towers, wind turbines, train tracks, sacred wells, man made tunnels and abandoned factories, harvesting sounds from this tangled and ever-changing soundscape. Using various listening devices they attempted to listen into the full spectrum of activity, hydrophonic, geophonic, air-pressure, electromagnetic and radio.

Sounds harvested include pieces of limestone being submerged into water, electromagnetic fall out from cell towers, the resonance of a limestone processing factory, VLF radio, the mechanisms of infrastructure, radio controlled airplanes and acoustic signals. These files are mixed and blended together to create a new stratification.

The final compositions were separately pieced together in each of the artist's studios using the collective corpus of recordings. The result is two different sonic interpretations of this layered, ancient and complex landscape.

Tim Shaw works with sound, light, and communication media to create performances, installations, and site-responsive interventions. His practice spans environmental sound art, digital media, media archaeology and walking. He frequently presents his work at festivals, in forests, caves, warehouses, up mountains, and in museums and art galleries all over the world.

Laurent Güdel explores analogue synthesis, phonography, and sound archives through multi-channel electroacoustic compositions, live performances, installations, and audio publications. His work explores the politics of sound, the means of production of early electronic music, and the archaeology of audio technologies, their infrastructures and institutions. He is also co-curator of Kopfhörer, a series dedicated to live experimental music.

Carrying on their longstanding dedication to the seminal output of Merzbow, Urashima returns with what is unquestionably their most ambitious release to date: “Collection 001-010”, a deluxe, 10 LP vinyl box set limited to 299 copies, gathering together the entirety of the project’s first ten releases, originally released in 1981. Encountering the band in its early incarnation of the duo of Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani, raw, exposed and bristling with energy, foreshadowing numerous trajectories they would follow over the coming years, these astounding full lengths - the majority of which have never been released on vinyl - come housed in a beautifully produced, deluxe wooden box, with each LP in its own individual sleeve reproducing the original artwork, and a LP-sized 32-page book containing reproductions of artworls and collages by Masami Akita, an interview conducted by Jim O'Rourke, and liner notes penned by Lasse Marhaug, Thurston Moore, and Akita himself, amounting to what is unquestionably one of the most historically significant releases we’re likely to encounter in 2025.

Deluxe Edition of 299 copies, remastered from the original analog tapes by Masami Akita, each LP comes in its individual sleeve reproducing the original artwork, also includes a LP-sized 32-page book. ** Since its founding during the late 2000s, the Italian imprint, Urashima, has become a definitive voice in the landscape of noise. Bringing forth beautiful limited edition releases, they’ve sculpted a singular vision of one of the most vibrant and revolutionary bodies of experimental sound to have graced the globe. Among the many projects that they have supported over the decades, there has been an undeniable dedication to the output of the seminal Japanese noise outfit, Merzbow, making a significant amount of the project’s out of print back catalog available across a range of formats. Now they return with what is arguably their most stunning and ambitious release dedicated to the project to date: “Collection 001-010”, gathering the entirety of Merzbow’s first ten releases, largely privately released by the band on cassette across 1981, in a deluxe, 10 LP vinyl box set. Representing what is effectively ground zero in Japanese noise and collectively amounting to some of the most sought after releases ever produced within that movement, Urashima’s truly beautiful collection comes fully remastered by Masami Akita himself from the original tapes, presenting all but a small number in their first ever vinyl pressings, with each LP housed in its own individual sleeve reproducing the original artwork, alongside a LP-sized 32-page book containing reproductions of artworks and collages by Masami Akita, an interview conducted by Jim O'Rourke, and liner notes penned by Lasse Marhaug, Thurston Moore and Akita himself. Towering with energy and groundbreaking creative vision, within the realms of noise and experimental music, releases don’t get more monumental or historically important than this!

Merzbow came roaring onto the Tokyo scene in 1979, and remains, to this day, one of the most prolific and aggressively forward-thinking projects in experimental music. Eventually becoming the solo vehicle for the efforts of Masami Akita, in its earliest incarnation the project was the duo of Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani, taking their name from German artist Kurt Schwitters' pre-war architectural assemblage, The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau, and quickly set out to challenge entrenched notions of what music could be. Embracing technology and the machine, even in its earliest iterations, Merzbow pushed toward new territories of the extreme, arriving at a space of pure, unadulterated sonic onslaught that has continued, for over 40 years, to set the pace for the entire genre of noise, and has remained one of the movement’s most important, definitive voices, continuously laying the groundwork for countless artists who have followed in its wake.

When dealing with historical gestures, there’s an invertible aura surrounding original line-ups and early statements, and rightfully so. It is often within a band’s debut that we catch the purest glimpse of the raw energy and creative ferment that made them what they are. This is certainly the case when regarding the coveted early releases of Merzbow, capturing the emergence of the project in its form as the duo of Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani as they helped set the blue print from the then emerging movement of Japanese noise. Over the course of its nearly five decades of activity, Merzbow has always been noted for how prolific and ambitious the project is. This was no less the case in the very beginning. While they were active for roughly two years prior, in 1981 alone they issued ten self-released cassettes numerically titled “Collection 001-010”, albums which have both individually and collectively become holy grails in the realms of noise, with only two - “Collection 007” and “Collection 009” - ever receiving vinyl reissues prior to now.

As Lasse Marhaug deftly articulates in the newly commissioned liner notes for “Collection 001-010”, despite having been recorded in different location across a span of time, the sum total of Merzbow’s first ten releases might be best regarded as a single release to be listened to in the same, durational sitting, with the material standing well apart from what most came to expect from Merzbow, while foreshadowing numerous trajectories the project would take over the coming years. Not only do these recordings feature a vast array of instrumentation - tapes, acoustic and electric guitar, violin, drums, voice, recorder, organ, found sounds, clarinet, homemade and prepared instruments, a vast arsenal of effects and electronics, and piano, to only begin to scratch the surface - the majority of which would disappear from the project’s active sources of sound generation over the subsequent years, but there is a slow pacing and raw sense of openness and exposure that reveals strong connections to the avant-garde improvisations of groups like AMM, Musica Elettronica Viva, and Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, the psychedelia of groups like Taj Mahal Travellers and Flower Traveling band (both of whom Akita mentions having seen in youth within his interview with Jim O’Rourke), and rock in general - albeit in fully abstracted forms - unspooling as brittle, pointillistic, textural, raw and abrasive forms, that occasionally flirts with unexpected tonal sensibilities. As Marhaug describes it in his excellent liner notes: «Sonically, “Collection” sounds more sparse and stripped. It’s dry sounding, up-front, no reverb, and there’s less heavy low-end grime and thin on the signature frequency sweeps. Viewed in a 1981 context, musically, it’s more akin to what the LAFMS (Los Angeles Free Music Society) pool of artists were doing at that time than what was happening in industrial music... There’s a strong playfulness throughout, like the sound objects are being explored for the first time, without neither restraint nor hurry. Events are allowed to be fully examined before the music moves on, or simply cuts off. To a large degree, the music on “Collection” feels acoustic in nature, although a Electro-Harmonix ring-modulator features prominently throughout.»

Easily described as a rarely encountered revelation into the original and earlier documented studio sound of Merzbow, “Collection 001-010” collectively amounts to an engrossing sonic journey in its own right, while also allowing for important, often overlooked connections drawn from numerous other creative wellsprings, notably free jazz, underground rock, the output of European and Japanese avant-garde music, as well as Dada, Fluxus, and Mail Art, much of which, beyond the illumination made possible by the sounds, Jim O’Rourke’s fantastic interview with Akita, published in the booklet, further explores, offering great insights into the origins of Merzbow and the thinking behind the project, as well as aspects of the earliest days of Japanese noise.

Repress!

Echospace Detroit is the label launched by Rod Modell (Deepchord) and Soultek's Steven Hitchell, two leading lights of the minimal dub techno scene. And as with anything Deepchord, the entire release has an air of mystery to it. Previously, as a near-mythical vinyl pressing with minimal packaging and restricted pressings, everything about Vantage Isle was geared toward the underground, or 'those who know.' However, there's nothing but love of craft driving these grooves, and now a lot more people will finally be able to hear this absolutely brilliant collection of spacial dub wonder on CD. Vantage Isle Sessions consists of a whopping 13 takes of the title track, reworked by Modell and Hitchell in various guises (cv313, Deepchord, Echospace, Spacecho), as well as a guest spot (and first ever remix) from Gerard Hanson (Convextion). Across their 13 versions, Modell and Hitchell manage to take the Deepchord template (analog synths, deep bass, gently throbbing beats, bursts of static and noise, and deep, deep chords) into a surprising variety of directions, akin to looking at the same giant glacier from a helicopter from every angle possible: some are beatless and undulating, some are pulsing and dynamic, some are looking up from under the ice and some are towering overhead. The aforementioned Convextion version is revelatory. It's built on cascading and echoing pieces of the original that are layered like shifting sands, for a distinctly dark and shimmering journey to the bottom of the frozen ocean and back. It's remarkable enough to get all these takes on one basic template to sound somewhat different, given that the source material is really just a skeletal array of sound sheets. Vantage Isle Sessions is for anyone looking for the logical successors to the Basic Channel throne, or just looking for something mellow for those steamy late summer nights. A stone-cold classic of the genre. Don't miss it." -Todd Hutlock, Stylus Magazine/Beatz by the Pound

"Steeped in mystery, Detroit musicians Rod Modell and Mike Schommer (aka Deepchord) are legendary for their hard to find twelve-inch dub techno releases. Their sound is heavily influenced by Berlin dub techno producers like Maurizio, Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Rhythm & Sound, Blue Train and Pole. While the German sound often has a futuristic metallic edge, Deepchord are known more for the rust and grease, which is part and parcel of those metal parts. Static, analog sounds, deep bass thumps and, of course, deep chords blend in a timeless minimal manner. However, the real gems on this disc are the drifty ambient cuts devoid of beats. This is an excellent album that is on par with the classics from a decade ago!" -Exclaim


"In terms of ambient dub, if Basic Channel is the Father (the source, remote and inaccessible and very powerful) and Pole is the Son (dazzling but ultimately stranded halfway between man and the divine), than Rod Modell’s Deepchord and his Echospace label he run with Steve Hitchell is definitely the Holy Spirit." -Popmatters


"Deepchord’s dub-techno stealthily peels away melody, leaving a bare chassis of beats to ghost-ride down Woodward Avenue. Vantage Isle Sessions, which collects remixes of a 2002 Detroit Electronic Music Festival performance, finds the duo swerving through empty, neon-smeared streets, and recalls Berlin’s Chain Reaction label, minus the anemic minimalism." -XLR8R

"The album scales a magnificent peak in “Spacecho Dub II - Extended Mix” when smeary chords ricochet over a massively deep, bass-heavy pulse, and Hanson's light-speed missile of vaporous propulsion (“Convextion Remix”) is beautiful too.
Long may they run." -Textura

‘Vantage Isle’ is a tremendous achievement that will most likely be held up as a high water mark of the genre for years to come." -Resident Advisor

"My favorite mix is by Convextion (his first remix for another artist). Reedy, distant synth tones sound like a science fiction soundtrack overheard rooms away. An undercurrent of echoes, many difficult to describe, drift in a sonic syrup." -Gridface

"Modell’s music always seems to be in this suspended animation, adrift and afloat in a majestic emptiness." -Dusted Mag

CREDITS:
Written & Produced by Deepchord. Redesigned and Reshaped by Convextion (Gerard Hanson) cv313 (Stephen Hitchell) echospace / spacecho (Rod Modell + Stephen Hitchell)
Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Ron Murphy @ NSC Mastering, Detroit, USA. Side E/F Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Dietrich @ Complete, NYC, USA. (2018)

Black Truffle is thrilled to begin 2025 with a rare solo release from Konrad Sprenger, alias of elusive Berlin composer-producer-instrument builder Jörg Hiller. A prolific collaborator, Sprenger has worked extensively with icons of American minimalism such as Ellen Fullman (with whom her recorded the gloriously eccentric song album Ort) and Arnold Dreyblatt (as a core member of the Orchestra of Excited Strings since 2009), as well as releasing their music on his impeccably curated label, Choose. As an instrument builder and installation artist, he has overseen the creation of a computer-controlled multi-channel electric guitar and, with Phillip Sollmann, a modular pipe organ system designed to be reconfigured from space to space.

In much of Hiller’s work, a scientific approach to acoustic phenomena co-exists with a pop sensibility and a sly sense of humour. Nowhere is this unique combination more in evidence than in his slim body of solo work, beginning with the startling diversity of instrumentation and compositional approaches heard on the short pieces of Miniaturen (2006) and Versprochen (2009), followed by the more single-minded exploration of the computer-controlled electric guitar on Stack Music (2017). Set brings together these various strands of Sprenger’s work into a wildly infectious, playful epic, performed by the composer and the mysterious Ensemble Risonanze Moderne. On the LP’s second side, we are also treated to a guest appearance from longtime collaborator Oren Ambarchi, on whose recent solo releases Simian Angel and Shebang Sprenger has made key production contributions. Ambarchi’s signature stuttering, swirling harmonics weave through a sparkling assemblage of electric guitars, acoustic instruments, percussion and electronics—though, given the deft use that much of Sprenger’s recent production work makes of midi-controlled sampled instrumentation, it’s anyone’s guess where the acoustic ends and the digital begins here.

As soon as the needle drops on the first side, we are inside a musical world that Set will inhabit for its 33 minutes: sparkling guitar harmonics and palm-muted notes, tuned percussion, crisp electronic drum hits, flashes of horns, and untraceable bursts of synthetic sound are arranged into a skittering polyrhythmic framework calling up the detail-rich percussive constructions of contemporary techno filtered through the pointillism of the post-serialist European avant-garde. Behind this shifting mist of particulate sound, winds and strings sound out held chords, reminiscent of Arthur Russell’s Tower of Meaning in their epic yet seemingly aimless drift. The relationship between elements is mysterious, appearing both carefully considered and almost random. Though never straying too far from where it begins, as the piece moves along, it spotlights increasingly bizarre instrument choices (shakuhachi and steel drums, anyone?) as well as momentary liftoffs into motorik propulsion. Set is a fascinating, mercurial thing: at once propulsive and fragmented, essentially static in form yet ever-changing in detail, unabashedly egghead in its construction yet sure to get the feet tapping.

EMEX is the latest project from Modular Expansion, marking the reunion of George Apergis and Alex Retsis after eight years. Together, they've developed EMEX Live in an entirely new dimension. This release features two techno tracks with a classic old-school flavor, recorded during the EMEX Live performance at the Phygital Audiovisual event. Phygital, an immersive experience curated by Modular Expansion, was supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture and the National Opera. Held at the Castle of Rio, the event showcased live audiovisual performances that blended digital and physical instruments.

Blurb:
A confident, two track release, cut loud to a split 12” from Meat Beat Manifesto & ScanOne
Following on from featuring together on the Yellow Machines BLE-EP series.

Bleeps, Breaks, Space and Bass.

Meat Beat Manifesto's ‘Into The Sun’ kicks off pulsing techno and IDM spasms against evocative NASA samples, the track evolves into a frenzied and unstable tower of wonky jungle break edits and heavy sub sweeps threatening imminent collapse. Weaving the contrasting rhythms with a narrative of eerie analogue pads and incidental atmospherics, Jack Dangers delivers a striking and fresh piece reminiscent of mid 90s left field rave acts such early Plug, Bedouin Ascent, and Law & Auder crew, both in their worldly experimental stylings as well as their forward-leaning progressivism.

ScanOne’s track ‘Secondary Loop’ is a seven minute galactic adventure of a slightly less hectic pace, and a brighter array of scenery. With a firm thematic nod to that 89 / 90, pre-hardcore sound exemplified by the likes of 808 State, FSOL, and Orbital, the voyage is signposted by chunky, shuffling breaks, glowing invigorating rave pads and sparkling arpeggiated sequences, built for those peak dance moments, light and dark, sundown or sunrise.

A new Opus on DEMIAN RECORDS !
massive Deejay Hard Techno EP !

"Vanatühi" by Kiwanoid is a technopagan concept album. Track titles refer to the word "nothing" in various languages.
The sonic landscape is crafted using deprecated tools: a first-generation 4-bit laptop, the DOS operating system, and a tracker program. Inspired by glitch aesthetics, the sound palette includes clicks, error noises, and low-bitrate techno sounds. Initially, the structures of the pieces may appear complex and chaotic. This electronic thicket might seem abstract, cold, and inaccessible, yet upon closer examination, it reveals a plethora of diverse species, coming across as somewhat nostalgic and warm, evoking surreal associations. From beneath towering sequoias peek pixelated ferns, LED eyes are blinking from below the undergrowth, and against the backdrop of a crackling campfire and cave paintings, a lively stomping of microchips unfolds.
Sudden contrasts, sharp cutting edges, a tachycardic bass drum engine, and irregular polyrhythms make themselves physically felt. Elsewhere, haunting lo-fi textures, hidden ambient drones, mysterious hums, and obscurely garbled samples offer introspective breathers. The dynamic range of the music is favourably extensive, and the raw imperfections of the sound are unmasked by reverb effects or other generic tools. Interwoven throughout are outsider rhythm loops, which could find a home at an alien rave party or a hobgoblin honky-tonk. Various human voice samples build a bridge to the listener, allowing them to embody a cyborg-like experience.

While each twist and turn remains unpredictable, these diverse approaches align in complementary patterns and stochastic regularities, making the whole surprisingly coherent, despite its chaos. The album doesn't bore the audience with intentionally irritating compositions or pseudocomplexity - it demands attention, but doesn't try to outrun its listeners.