Buscar:the k system

Following on from the success of 2020's 'Inside' EP on Livity Sound and previous releases on UK labels Cong Burn and Blank Mind, Manchester's Lack returns to Livity Sound with a brand new EP of hybridised and dubbed techno cuts.
“I wanted to try and create a sense of space or calm within the tracks, even if only subtle. I suppose it was a reflection on the crazy state of the world and needing to find space within myself to stay grounded and get through it”
From the deep bass and irresistible skank of Grapefruit to the rapid yet ice cool propulsion of Microshift and the spacious yet energised rhythms of Make It Circular and Constant, this new record further explores Lack's fractured techno aesthetic, skilfully joining the dots between broken dub techno and vintage dubstep.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.

xpressed by synthetic voices, they present a futuristic take on modern electronic music.
Lush sounds of classic analog synths, modular drum machines, and digital sources merge into unheard soundscapes within their voltage driven root system. Six tracks combining various paths of the electronic landform into a musical journey framed by Kris Wellings’
uncanny chants. Garden Scene is a trip from the aesthetics of Detroit electro to complexity of IDM to harmonic outbursts from the abyss of contemporary pop culture.

Eamon Harkin, 1/2 of Mister Saturday Night Records and Nowadays in NYC, brings us a balmy 4 track EP, simultaneously full of longing, bliss, and hope. Adeptly oscillating between techno and house, these ear-worm, tastefully catchy tracks will find themselves perfectly at home both on reopened, outdoor summer dance floors as well as on bedroom stereo systems. If you do find yourself on a reopened dance floor, you may end up shedding a joyful tear to one of these.

Limited edition of 300 copies on black vinyl. Mastered by Dietrich Schoenemann. Design by Nick Owen. Photography by Frank Harkin.

A bridging of minds and energies, a confluence of souls and spirits. Midnight Shift releases an exclusive collaboration between Prequel Tapes and dBridge - Ionize. Cast all genres aside, as two electronic worlds collide to produce a third sonic space.

Start your engines with 'Divisible Cause' speeding and hurtling into the great atmospheric unknown. Outlier for the freaks, 'Stray Thrills' amalgamates between the classicist EBM and futurist UK bass. Stumble through 'Pleasure Systems' with light sabres, wrangled beats and gun shots ricochetting off the walls in one heady disorientation. Then wander aimlessly into the warehouse at 170bpm with 'Mindless', led by twilight tones and menacing machines at every turn.

Snapped Ankles return to the forest, but it's not as they left it. Trees planted in neat rows. A well-ordered monoculture with access roads and heavy machinery. The smell of greenwashed money in the air. There's no sign of the ancient woodland they emerged from on debut album, Come Play The Trees. And it's far cry from the gentrified East London they found themselves hawking on Stunning Luxury. All is not well in the face of progress. Welcome to the Forest Of Your Problems. Even among the famously close-knit woodwose community there are factions forming. Meet The Business Imp, The Cornucopian, The Nemophile and The Protester. Each with their own motivations and belief systems. Their own sense of injustice: contradictions, anxieties and guilt. There are woodwose who have risen to the top in the boom and bust world of real estate and hedge funds. Grab what you can before the next crash. Others find euphoria in the absolute conviction that wealth and technology will see us through this. There are those with their recycling in order, who are well-versed in the prospect of imminent ecological and economic collapse, burying themselves in vegan cookery and extensive international holiday itineraries. And there's an increasing number angry at the state of the world, ready to take to the streets and the trees in an attempt to force real change. Forest Of Your Problems runs the gamut of modern woodwose emotions. In this neat human approximation of the forest, it's an increasingly knotted affair. Despite all of this, Snapped Ankles haven't lost their innate ability to make you want to move your feet - their Teutonic forest rhythms are still shot through with post-punk lightning. Whether they're exploring those opportunities which might arise when a Nigerian prince emails out of the blue on 'The Evidence', or referencing the crooked woodwose attempting to go straight on 'Rhythm Is Our Business', this is music to lose your inhibitions to. The moments of pure elation on 'Shifting Basslines Of The Cornucopians' are worth the admission price alone - "It's a great time to be alive!" ...apparently. Snapped Ankles outsider status has always allowed them to hold a mirror up to society. Now the boundaries are not so clear. In the four years since Come Play The Trees was released, their cult has flourished. Previous album Stunning Luxury saw the band invited to play the BBC 6 Music Festival and a KEXP session on the back of a sold-out UK tour which culminated with two nights at Village Underground in London. As those who have witnessed the shamanic ritual of their live shows will attest, they are a truly unique, communal experience. Forest Of Your Problems will see the woodwose bring their ancient forest rhythms and high-wire, multi-media live act to ever bigger stages - including Camden's iconic Roundhouse in October.

In view of the immense Black Lives Matter mobilisation in reaction to the murder of George Floyd and the comparatively meagre societal reaction to the attack in Hanau, the question arises: How come our society does not show the same empathy and solidarity towards its own fellow citizens with Kurdish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Afghan migrant backgrounds or members of the Roma and Sinti?

How limited is our postcolonial discourse if we are unable to address the racist exploitation of those who repair our cars, deliver our parcels or harvest our asparagus?

It’s all a sham. Shake it off like a biometric photograph. Shake off that false consciousness. The Black Diaspora is a transatlantic lie invented by music curators and journalists. Embrace this nuanced return to structures and superstructures, to articulations and historical constellations as analytical tools.

Allow me to dampen your expectations. This is not the sound of decolonisation. This is no compilation of BLM protest songs. This is no celebration of Black emancipatory struggles. You will not be able to play this at your hip post-pandemic house party. This will not go down well with your woke friends. This is music for the square in the room. For that reluctant BAME/Person of Color repelled by your fetishisation of the African-American experience.

This is music for gated communities. This is Fehler Kuti singing of class relations, not of identities and positionalities. This is Fehler Kuti resisting.

Listen to these songs of infrastructure and appraisal of the welfare state. Join me in mourning the broken promises of prosperity for all. Send that “Ausländer“ of your mind to heaven. Colonialism fucked you up. Platform Capitalism is keeping you in chains. Are we to unionise all human and non-human workers at Amazon? Will modernity always have that "forever nigger“? What about those dispossessed field hands harvesting your asparagus?

All is lost. The system is rigged. Because all histories, gestures and identities have been absorbed into this late capitalist apparatus we call diversity. It can integrate anything and anyone. It made me. It is the price of the ticket. And it is unable to challenge its own premise of an atomised society. As if you and I had so little in common.

They will try and help you. They will build a museum for your history and a scholarship program for your future. I warn you. Don‘t let them give you a name. Resist appellation. Don’t get that German passport. Don‘t eat asparagus.

Fehler Kuti, Spring 2021

All songs by Julian Warner. Produced by Markus Acher and Tobias Siegert.

Markus Acher – drums, percussion, backing vocals Micha Acher – sousaphone, trumpet Cico Beck – synthesizer Jenny Bohn – backing vocals Pacifico Boy – vocals Katja Kobolt – spoken word Theresa Loibl – bass clarinet, backing vocals Sascha Schwegeler – steeldrum, kalimba, percussion, backing vocals Tobias Siegert – bass, synthesizers, percussion, backing vocals Julian Warner – piano, memotron, vocals

recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert at Minga Records, july – december 2020 mastered by Moritz Illner at Duophonic

Cover art and photography by Andreas Neumeister. Layout by Sascha Schwegeler.

Fehler Kuti “Professional People” is part of the same multiverse as “The History of the Federal Republic of Germany as told by Fehler Kuti und die Polizei”. A production by Julian Warner. In cooperation with Münchner Kammerspiele. Funded by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich. Released by Alien Transistor.

Clear Vinyl

DDS catch enduringly absorbing sonic alchemist Jim O’Rourke at his knottiest and most ingenious in a wormholing suite of amorphous rhythm and psychedelic electronics - a massive RIYL Autechre, Roland Kayn, Bernard Parmegiani, NYZ, Keith Fullerton Whitman.
Playing up to and into DDS’ freeform aesthetics, O’Rourke renders 40 minutes shearing hyaline synth tones and ruptured rhythm generated at his Steamroom facilities in Tokyo, a modular outzone trawling that harks back to his iconic Mego releases and some of the more recent Steamroom experiments. It’s an ideal addition to the ever expanding DDS cosmos, following Demdike’s recent ‘Drum Machine’ expo with a slice of purist and screwed modular magick that transcends early
electronics and modern styles in pursuit of musical sensations that defy stylistic brackets.
‘Too Compliment’ was assembled using a bespoke Hordijk modular system, a rare West Coast-style setup hand made by Dutch engineer Rob Hordijk. O’Rourke focuses on the frequency shifter here, using it to coax out fluxing tone thickets, haphazard frequencies and elongated drone corridors.
It’s transportive stuff, harking back to the early days of private press academic synth music but also sitting on edge alongside Autechre’s recent long-form work, as well as O’Rourke’s classic “I’m Happy, And I’m Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4” In O’Rourke’s hands, the mass of electronics takes on throbbing, organic dimensions, congealing
grey matter and purplish veins of fluid in viscous transitions that glisten and spark with invention as they form new tissue. What comes out is as unearthly as the earliest electronic music, but also
blessed with a psychedelc spirit in a way that’s long kept O’Rourke right out on his own, teetering between paradigms yet never settling into any single style. If you’ve always been keen on finding a way into that sprawling soundworld, ‘Too Compliment’ is a perfect entry point into a highly rewarding creative macrocosm.

(part 2/3 featuring Sept, Raven, Frazi.er & Trym) Amelie Lens' EXHALE Records continues to deliver fiercely dynamic techno from the underground's most promising, rising and established artists with its second VA compilation.


Amelie Lens' EXHALE Records continues to deliver fiercely dynamic techno from the underground's most promising, rising and established artists with its second VA compilation.

Following EXHALE's first VA release in 2020, the party series turned label once again welcomes existing members, flourishing producers and blossoming new artists to the EXHALE family for its second various artists compilation.

Opening the second EXH002 vinyl is 'Bóg Jest w Techno' event boss Sept, who presents us with a stripped back cut layered with piercing synth keys and gentle electro elements in 'Beyond The Veil'. Acid stabs and a female voice echo the track title in Raven's trippy cut 'Metal On Metal', with light airy synths to close out that simulate euphoria. We're taken on a dark and weighteir expedition with Frazi.er in 'Systematic Ignorance' - a brooding bass drives the sound, with acid melodies adding texture throughout. Keeping up pace is 'Kendall' by Trym, a cinematic composition that utilises cymbals, hi-hats and synth notes to create a brighter melody over its dark percussion.

Strut presents one of the most in-demand and significant albums from the archives of Jimmy Gray's Black Fire Records, 'Bow To The People' (1976 )by theatre collective Theatre West, based out of Dayton, Ohio. Recorded at Arrest studios in Washington in '76, 'Bow To The People' brought together songs from several of Theatre West's best known plays including Bow To The People, The System and Black Love and unflinchingly explored serious issues around drug addiction, mental health and cultural awareness. "The whole idea of Bow To The People was to honour our black forefathers," explains Dillard. "It was important to do that for the kids that didn't know." Shelved following the original recording, the Bow To The People album eventually surfaced on a limited CD on Black Fire in 1993. Now receivingits first full international release, the album features the previously unreleased tracks 'Man Of Many Means' and 'I Don't Know Much About Love'

Hong Kong based hypno-tropicalia duo Blood Wine or Honey are set to release their second album 'DTx2' on 30th June 2021. Made up of seasoned multi-instrumentalists James Banbury (synths, bass, percussion, cello) and Joseph von Hess (vocals, clarinet, sax, percussion), they create a heaving, heady brew of brazen sax themes, lo-fi/hi-tech electronics, densely layered cello inflections and motorik drums.

These explorations start with the dance-floor then go above and beyond, taking notes from post-punk and tropical polyrhythms, always anchored by the bass weight of the sound system. Their distinctive sound is created in the industrial warehouses and hidden rural settlements of Hong Kong, surrounded by the low-end throb of heavy machinery, the lingering scent of hand sanitiser and the humidity of the South China Sea.

Written and recorded during 2020-21, new album 'DTx2' looks ahead to an uncertain future, drawing deep on their experiences and influences and welcoming a host of co-conspirators.

Jean Daval, aka Preservation (credits include Yasiin Bey fka Mos Def, MF Doom, RZA, GZA, Raekwon, KRS-One, Aesop Rock), provided truffle-hunted beats, synths and basses, which, when put through the BWoH mangle, emerged as 'Messenger'.

Superstar and old friend of the band KT Tunstall came to work with BWoH after they contributed a DJ mix for her lockdown 'KTRave' on Instagram. 'Attraction' was the result. Wonky bass, found-bounce beats and Buddy Rich drums smashed out by Tim Weller (Marc Almond, Future Sound of London, Goldfrapp, The Chemical Brothers, David Axelrod) resulted in a bonkers production with passionate vocals and layers of harmony.

'I Shall Rush Out As I Am' is a collaboration with legendary pop provocateur Paul Morley and Janice Lau of Hong Kong band David Boring. The track is based on the words and the spirit of sci-fi writer, satirist, literary critic and radical feminist Joanna Russ and took shape quickly, with tinges of A Certain Ratio and memories of Suicide, provoking Janice to an authentic scream-of-consciousness delivery.

Multi-talented London singer, musician and composer Kamal (Neighbourhood Recordings) took time away from being the Next Big Thing to transform 'Testing Time' with funk-edged keys. A key figure in the extraordinary '90s Hong Kong music scene, Zoë Brewster contributed vocals.

Roughly divided, the album's first set of songs make relatively short statements, punchily self-contained with common threads. The final four tracks, Testing Time, Embers, Embrasure

and Echt Embrace disperse into flights of mantric fantasy, with quicksand time-signature shifts and key-changes emerging into a more introspective zone with a fervent pulse, a shift in energy: stamina over speed.

In Post-Heretic Dracula X Chronicles II the Dracula figure functions as a part fictive and part autobiographical metaphor. Dracula mirrors certain systematic (therefore also internal) conditionings and attributes in its whole ambivalent fluctuations. This character represents the complex relationships of a loving/living person in a neo-liberal capitalist system while oscillating between melancholia & rage, facing the preservation or loss of his love and standing in an alienated position towards the ruling order. The eleven featured compositions and their respective song names (both of them are riddled with references) playfully touch on conflicts between love, life and system-critique, without being too upfront about the subject-matter.

Nicola Kazimir (*28.05.1990 in Zürich, Schweiz)

A DJ, producer, musician, artist, space-owner, record label owner and party organizer, Nicola Kazimir works freely across platforms and communities. For Kazimir, these numerous positions are not static, and they can actfluidly and reciprocally as a whole, or as separate entities. His artistic and acoustic productions are mostly based on topics that include the institutionalization of techno, copyright, dividualism and the human perception of repetitive rhythm patterns mixed with aesthetic codes of b-movie horror movies or occultism. He is one of the founders and still part of the labels Les Points/ Gentrified Underground / Infoline and the offspace Mikro Zürich. Other projects include a supporting role in the organization of Zentralwäscherei Zürich and being part of the Clubbüro-team at Rote Fabrik.

A sonic clash of Tropical, On-U and Eastern proportions, t-woc drops 6 tracks of dope sound system bashment for Strangelove. Informed by Mick's musical wanderlust and prolific digging, Pentangle deftly blends a mélange of influences where Caribbean steel drum, Anatolian melodies and the sounds of the Maghreb all float through the mix.

Like his work for Macadam Mambo/ Emotional Response- its a sound hard to pin down and all woven into a heady brew percolating somewhere in the dance-floor twilight zone. With early works created pre-lockdown at an artist residency in The Dock in County Leitrim, the heads down groove of 'Crazy Bronco' & 'Goddy' don't sound out of place with an early 90's Uk bass culture. Elsewhere the deeper cuts rub against a little sunshine as the late night swing of Midnight Magic riffs off Junior Delgado's roots classic.

With killer artwork c/o Marius Houschyar Strangelove is super stoked to release this collection of outernational rhythms from the Irish vinyl wallah, mix engineer and producer

Vital Sales Points:
Follow up to the labels previous exotic waves of Scribble & Sjunne Ferger,

The Chilean/French duet are known for their hypnotic music which incorporates eerie sounds generated by raw and mineral materials (metal, rocks etc) to create tracks that are in turn hyper-rhythmic and dreamy, poised between postpunk rock and electronic dance music. The band have also been very active in the field of multimedia & performance arts, and Xpujil explores that other dimension of their talent. Released on Crammed's revered MADE TO MEASURE series (which is dedicated to experimental, minimal & ambient music), Xpujil consists of a single 40-minute track, which draws the listener into an aural, immersive experience. Based on sounds recorded by Nova Materia during a trip in the Mexican jungle, in Maya territory (Xpujil is the name of an old Mayan city, now lost in the middle of the forest), the album was then produced in the band's Parisian studio, and features contribution by electronic musician/drummer Ikue Mori (of DNA fame) and cellist Gaspar Claus. The album was mixed in binaural, and is best enjoyed on headphones. Nova Materia will be performing Xpujil in appropriate settings (museums, performance arts spaces), with multichannel immersive sound systems. Nova Materia are Caroline Chaspoul and Eduardo Henriquez, formerly with Panico, the alternative rock band they had created in Chile, with which they toured around the globe and released several albums.

Quietschbunte Indie-Pop-Tunes Nachdem das letzte Tune-Yards-Album "I can feel you creep into my private life" 2018 auf 12 Songs Themen wie Geschlechterteilung, Politik, Feminismus und die nach wie vor um sich greifende Umweltverschmutzung behandelte, hinterfragen sich Merrill Garbus und ihr langjähriger Mitstreiter Nate Brenner auf dem fünften Studioalbum "sketchy." selbst. "We had really been non-stop hustling," reflektiert Merrill, die zwischen 2009 und 2018 vier hoch gelobte Alben als Tune-Yards veröffentlicht hat, durchgängig auf Tour war und zusätzlich noch den Score zum surrealistischen Boots Riley-Film "Sorry To Bother You" kreierte. Ihre eigene Rolle in den von ihr so verhassten, eingefahrenen Systemen, lähmte Merrill, ohne Idee, wie sie nun weitermachen sollte. Inspiriert vom Buch der Beastie Boys und von Questloves "Creative Quest" machte sich das Duo daran täglich für mehrere Stunden in ihrem Proberaum zu jammen, um sich ähnlich wie Athleten vor einem Wettkampf zu trainieren. Dabei tauschten sie Computer-Samples gegen Live-Instrumente ein (Merrill an den Drums, Nate am Bass) und schon nach kurzer Zeit entstanden die ersten neuen Songs. Das Ergebnis ist ein farbenfrohes und fröhliches Album mit Lyrics, die es in sich haben.

Tracks by Reedale Rise, The Abstract Eye, LCTR, Moodex, Jonas Bengio and Mr Velcro Fastener. The Time Capsule project, also known as 808 Box, is a project created by Fundamental Records. The six boxes released in recent years include 56 records with over 300 tracks from artists from every corner of the world. Some warehouse copies have surfaced of the 10th Anniversary 808 Box, and these will be available individually. These are new copies in perfect condition, with the original sleeves printed with the images of the classic Roland TR-808.

La Fraicheur is a name that has been garnering increasing attention across the techno scene for the past decade and now she brings her well-refined, driving techno to Lobster Theremin.

The stuttering bass line and driving percussion of La Fin Du Debut immediately lurs us in while Garbage is a pensive, stripped out roller lined with existential affirmations. The pumping arpeggios of Renouveau open up the flip while the glacial melodies of Freezing close out the record with a welcome jolt to the system.

This record is a masterclass in driving techno which is as hypnotic as it is reflective.

Manni Dee returns to Perc Trax for the release of 'A Low Level Love', his second full album following on from 'The Residue' released in 2018 by Berlin techno institution Tresor. Manni opened his Perc Trax account back in 2017 with his 'Throbs Of Discontent' 12" which featured his breakout hit 'London Isn't England' and since then he's become Perc Trax regular releasing his recent 'Everyone's Replaceable Now' 12" plus his 'Gulabi Gang' contribution to first of the 'Forever' various artists series. During this time Manni has gone from a cult UK favourite to being internationally recognised, performing all around the world.

On 'A Low Level Love' Manni expands on both his previous album and his recent run of Perc Trax releases, mixing his trademark club techno rhythms with broken beat and non-dance floor outings. 'No More Heroes' and 'You Don't Always Get What You Want' see Manni at his most melodic and introspective, whilst the storm of kick drums on 'Closer' shows a new intensity and aggression to Manni's music even when compared to the heaviest of his previous releases.

Guest slots and collaborations can often detract from the artistic vision of an album, but Manni chooses his co-conspirators well, with vocalist Sylph adding a human element to album opener 'Persist & Change' and London acid techno legend Chris Liberator providing both vocals and some of the inspiration for club hit in waiting 'London In My System'.

'A Low Level Love' will be released by Perc Trax on 17th June on 2 x 12" vinyl, CD and digital. The album was mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis, London. The front cover photography was taken by Bruna Kazinoti and design was handled by Adult Art Club.

Germany’s Tilman inaugurates his new imprint Pleasant
Systems this June with the ‘Adventures’ EP, featuring
collaborations with Will Buck and Rhode & Brown. Mainz,
Germany based producer and DJ Tilman has been dropping
his twist on contemporary house over the past decade on
labels such as Shall Not Fade, Life Is For Living and Quality
Vibes as well as his own Fine imprint, run in collaboration
with Johannes Albert. Here though, Tilman marks a new
beginning with the launch of Pleasant Systems, a new
imprint designed to shine a light on vintage inspired house
sounds from both himself and friends. Up ¦rst is ‘What’s
Mine Is Mine’, a collaboration with Brooklyn’s Will Buck which
lays down an amalgamation of airy synth pads, choppy bass
stabs, bright piano lines and enchanting §ute like melodies
atop a swinging drum groove. ‘Strawberry Fields’ follows,
stripping things back to shu©ed percussion, billowing
ethereal textures and wandering sub bass tones while
§uttering brass tones and resonant leads ebb and §ow
within. ‘Velvet Park’ opens the §ip side, this time joining
forces with Rhode & Brown, embracing a classic sound with
raw crunchy drums, delayed piano chords, bumpy bass
stabs, cinematic strings and brass hooks throughout. ‘Lovin'’
then rounds out the release, dropping the tempo, featuring
the voice of Tilman himself and laying focus on off-kilter
organic percussion, twinkling resonant tones, eighties tinged

French House legend​ - Boston Bun (Ed Banger / Circa ‘99)​ is set to release his debut album - ​‘There’s A Nightclub Inside My Head’ ​this coming April. Containing ​8 unreleased tracks​, ​‘Whenever You’re Ready’​ and the Annie Mac favourite ‘Nobody But You’, the album conceptualised during last year's lockdown & provides an introspective space for the producer and his listeners to enjoy.

‘Sometimes it’s great to take a break, sometimes it’s not. If you were on planet Earth during the year of 2020, you know what I’m talking about. I took that time to visit the nightclub inside my head. The last one open, actually. The booth, the sound system, the stairs, the bar, the smell, the noise of my left shoe on the sticky floor, everything was exactly how I left it. It got me a bit emotional to be honest, so I started thinking about the right soundtrack that could fit in that space. And here it is. I hope you’ll enjoy the night.’ - Boston Bun

‘There’s A Nightclub Inside My Head’ ​is for everyone, anyone who needs a moment to reflect, dance or simply be present with themselves. A chance to be transported to your own secure space, to interpret and visualise the music however you wish.

Peshekhod, the debut album from Dima Pantyushin and Sasha Lipsky, oscillates through an immaculate synth-pop ecosystem in which every shift feels both accurate in its absurdity and divinely danceable.

The album (“peshekhod” translates to “pedestrian”) investigates the inner narrative of a Muscovite as he wanders through the city, recalls his work, and contemplates his existence. It’s roughly autobiographical in scope— Pantyushin was born and raised in Moscow, co-runs Cafe Enthusiast in the city center, and is a visual artist by trade—yet explores feelings universal. His lyrics conjure the nostalgia and joy of parenthood in “Ray of Sunshine,” the paranoia of metropolitan life on “Pigeon,” and the slippage of time on “Chess.”

Fellow Moscow native and longtime friend, Sasha Lipsky, who writes and performs with his brother in Simple Symmetry, joins Pantyushin on production. Lipsky weaves entire sonic ecosystems for Dima’s instinctual observations and adroit lyrics. The result is a musical landscape that bounces between the terrestrial and the divine as Pantyushin’s croon and Lipsky’s synth-heavy compositions swell with aliveness.

Pantyushin and Lipsky graft genres to their electronic framework throughout Peshekhod. “Nature” summons 1950’s pastiche complete with upbeat mellotron, while “Time” and “House (With an Attic)” go from ethereal ambient to subterranean techno and back again. But every oscillation and shift feels part of the same system. Pantyushin never strays too far from his pedestrian protagonist. He knows the best stories are the ones in which we can see ourselves, while Lipsky dresses each observation with earworms you’ll struggle to shake, even if you don’t speak the language. Peshekhod is a picaresque in miniature. A record that considers the stations of the day in deft detail, for all to tap into.