Since 1997 Smartguy Records has been releasing a veritable banquet of styles and genres. U.S. labels seem more comfortable releasing a spectrum of sounds. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a pigeonholing of European imprints. It just seems that American labels are more willing to put out a buffet of genres. San Francisco’s Smartguy Records [...]
Articles By: Robbie Geoghegan
Dalek I :: Compass Kum’pas (Medical)
Compass Kum’pas was first released in 1980, getting a few re-issues in the latter years of the decade. Seattle’s Medical Records has come to blow the dust off this forgotten album, prime the needle and lead you into the world of Dalek I. It’s no news that Liverpool is a music town. But within Merseyside’s [...]
Publicist / Tussle :: Split Infinitive (Voltaire)
With electro disco having dried up over the last few years, Voltaire are, in a way, breaking with the norm. For those looking for an analogue fix with a decent floor slant, look no further. It’s full time work, well part time, staying up to date with the comings and goings of electronic music. But [...]
The Exaltics / Gosub :: The Exaltics Meets Gosub (Solar One Music)
The Exaltics serve up two warming Electro tracks, toeing the line between detached and inviting. Gosub tears down any welcoming aspects, instead establishing an uneasy twosome of Electro dappled with disaffection. [Release page] There are a handful of Electro labels and artists that are consistently releasing pure quality; Solar One Music and The Exaltics (Robert Witschakowski) are two [...]
Soma Sema :: Artificial Heart / Frenzy (No Emb Blanc)
Synth pop has a tendency to focus on the machine sounds, with the larynx being used as an accompaniment. Soma Sema turn this norm on its head. [Release page] 2011 was a great year for synth wave. Amongst the generous array of re-issues came some choice newcomers and numerous labels showcased this fledgling talent. Kernkrach [...]
Octavius :: Laws (Mannequin)
Laws is an almost lawless boarder crossing, skipping across state lines into a number of blurred genres. Synth wave, minimal pop and the darker side of the synthesizer has been the focus of Mannequin. Octavius aka William Marshall is no bright-eyed newcomer, an artist who’s been releasing since before the millennium. After nearly ten years of [...]
Joe Drive :: Exoplanets EP (Lux Rec)
Joe Drive and Exoplanets finishes off a quality year testing the limits of many genres—utilizing elements of House, Techno and Electro and incorporating these supposedly disparate sounds into three strong pieces. [Order page] Just before the New Year dawned Lux Rec managed one last piece of vinyl to end 2011. Joe Drive is an up [...]
Tevo Howard :: The Drapes in the Living Room EP (Thug)
Tevo Howard’s sound seems to be on a constant curve of transformation. The Chicago man’s sound is rooted in House, exploring the classic elements and venturing further into the depths as years have passed. Oceania has never really been a hotbed of electronics. Some bits and bobs have come from Australia and New Zealand, but [...]
Legowelt :: Poverties Paradise (Echovolt)
Poverties Paradise is a sublime piece of electronics, Legowelt draping the listener in warm analogue sounds alongside a steady machine beat. Despite the financial austerity coursing through Europe record labels are still managing to get vinyl on the table. From the sun drenched, and economically entrenched, shores of Greece comes Echovolt Records. Since 2009 this Athens [...]
Ian Martin & Yard :: Double review (Further)
A soulful audio tonic is required to escape the rains of the Pacific North West. Seattle based Further Records have been producing such remedies from their very beginning. For the latest output the soaked city offers up Celestial Acid by Yard and Mechanical Rain by Ian Martin. The title of Yard‘s latest might hint towards of an [...]
Momentform & Kartei :: Double review (W.T. Records)
W.T. Records closes a productive 2011 with two débutantes, First up are France’s Momentform with their self titled EP. Momentform is Fake breaks the silence with a slow piece of synth wave. Intelligent structures weave as strings add another dimension to the synths. “Selected Works” is an electro wave powerhouse from the get go. Vocals [...]
Anna Logue / Mannequin :: 2011, a year for some collaboration
Too often labels become ego centric and lone projects. Both imprints have realised a common love of synth wave and minimal pop, the pair working together to achieve similar aims and getting out some great obscurities in the process. As the last days of 2011 close it’s a nice time to reflect on the year [...]
D.Carred / Hysteric :: EP double review (Bordello A Parigi)
Winter may be here, but Italo sun is rising in the Netherlands. In 1985 D.Carred cut two pieces of golden ray Italo. In recent years these Italo Summer days have languished in dark clubs and darker collector closets. Now D.Carred’s lost works are getting the re-issue treatment. Italo is a pretty varied sound, some influenced [...]
Orpheus :: Path From Hades (Sequencias)
Of late electronic music has become much more retrospective. The past is building the present. Vintage machines are the tools of construction. The structures echo the blueprints of old. This attempt to recondition Chicago is producing a second age of house. Orpheus crafts his tracks within tight parameters. [Clone release page] “House, what is house?” [...]
Morphology :: Information Paradox EP (Cultivated Electronics)
With its new club night up and running down in London it’s time for Cultivated Electronics to serve up a new slice of electro. Quick trip to the grey skies of Finland is in order. [Clone release page] The Finnish dynamos of electro, Morphology, set out some clinical analogue moods with Information Paradox. With every release [...]
Fiese Art & Half A Twin :: Double review (Förderung Kosmischer Kunst – Musik)
The synth wave resurgence rolls on. Parallel to the revival is a wealth of new artists and groups taking up the synth mantle. Some have tried and failed, touting some angular hair form of electroclash. F.K.K. are right on the money, reinvigorating classic sounds whilst broaching into experimentation. The 7” has had a turbulent life. [...]
ATTRACTIVE! :: 3View 2011.12
Sometimes releases come out under the radar. The latest lot from Attractive! have fallen into this category. Over the year this minimal synth imprint has doubled its back catalogue, from three to six. For the latest lot a trio of groups find themselves on 7” vinyl. Treeline are the duo of label boss Steve Lippert [...]
Bakterielle Infektion & Television Set :: Double review (Genetic Music)
Semsroth has created turmoil filled synthscapes haunted by the vocals, and vocoders, of Uwe Marx. Under his Television Set moniker he has produced catchy melodies swaddled in melancholy. In from school. Great stuff, those records from Pelicanneck have arrived. Couple from Gescom, Plaid’s Booc and a split 12” on A.D.S.R.. First side Skanfrom, second Bakterielle Infektion. [...]
Lost Tribe :: Lost Tribe (Blind Prophet)
The internet has probably helped a lot too. Lost Tribe are an unapologetic piece of goth rock, tough and coarse. Their sound is something akin to sonorous salt in a widening wound. I’ve never been the type of person who says they “like all kinds of music.” I take umbridge with those who parrot this [...]
Vita Noctis & The Danse Society :: Double review (Dark Entries)
Vita Noctis toe the line between an 80′s disenfranchised rift and a cold wave chord. The Danse Society come from the age when British society was on the verge of dissolution, of widespread strikes and the Troubles of Northern Ireland. [Dark Entries shop] The West Coast of the US is synonymous with one drink. Coffee. [...]
V/A :: Doppelhertz Vol. 2 (Kernkrach)
The German imprint is once again searching the globe for new and ground-breaking synth wave, minimal pop and electro wave. Début artists, established names, solo synthisists and more are represented across two 180gm pieces of vinyl. [Release page] There is something clinically gloomy when it comes to this time of the year. The Summer is [...]
Ophion :: Pallor Absentis (Diametric.)
The tracks are of that lush ambient tradition where the club is not even in the thought process, where there is only musician and sound blending in a sea of pulses and drone. Electricity, up. Gas, up. Cold winter forecast. One way to beat the frosty onset is to strap on some headphones and sink [...]
Dream Affair / King Dude :: Double review (AVANT!)
Since 2007 AVANT! Records has been releasing an assortment of cold wave, synth inspiration and beleaguered punk. Artists and groups like Cult of Youth and Scorpion Violente have been represented on this burgeoning imprint. As the clouds gather AVANT! return with two full length albums from Dream Affair and King Dude. Dream Affair aka Hayden [...]
V/A :: We Want You To Understand The Future Vol. 1 (ProForm Series)
The cues are taken straight from Chicago, with labels like Trax, DJ International and Westbrook coursing through these Finnish veins. The record offers up four cuts of 303 painted House, with a bit of Techno pebble dash. The House train continues to roll on. More and more artists and labels are turning back to the [...]
John Heckle :: Hard Sleeper/Ancient Deep (Signals)
Heckle adopts aspects of techno into his sound, introspectives of industrial and colours of ambient into his music. [Release page] The aged sound of House is being donned by the youth of today. John Heckle is close becoming the darling child of the House revival. When Z-Factor were first hitting ears, Mr Heckle was but [...]
Lost Trax / The Connection Machine :: Lost Connection (Tabernacle)
The deep lingering chords of both Lost Trax and The Connection Machine are suited to more intimate occasions. With temperatures dropping, get a seat and a glass of something. Strap on the Seinheissers, leave the economic horrors at the door and enjoy the warm techno goodness of Lost Connection. Austerity. Doing more with less; the [...]