Bridging mid-90′s melodic pulsars tied to current-era data processing, the whole package feels as raw as it’ll ever get. Robert Galbraith, previously known for his darker strands of electronics as Codec and the label operator behind now defunct Component Records now reverts to his roots as Raab Codec. Keeping busy with his latest start-up label [...]
Category: "Reviews"
Chinese Man :: Remix with the Sun (Chinese Man)
Chinese Man is a French trio at its core that prioritizes dub, ragga and hip-hop, but that’s just the box out of which they burst. With their eclectic cinematic tastes, they manage to create a new kind of showcase—beat making as three-ring circus with go-go dancers, Arab orchestras and old-time preaching. With its full-length debut [...]
hosmOz :: Vulva EP (Bedroom Research / Detroit Underground)
As this EP sheds its plethora of mechanical eruptions, rest assured that hosmOz exhibits finesse and controlled chaos from start to end. The challenging art of technical electronics bleeds rhythmic flows that may or may not hit the sweet spot for its audience. It’s unfortunate but sometimes sound design remains sound design unless the human [...]
Nothing But Noise :: Not Bleeding Red (Future Noise Music)
Without ever dropping a drumbeat over its hour-and-forty-minute runtime, Not Bleeding Red still keeps the listener engaged and entranced. Analog synth, Berlin-school ambient from the founders of Front 242? Sign me up. Nothing But Noise is the name of this new project, put together by Daniel Bressanutti and Dirk Bergen, the latter of whom left [...]
Ignatius :: Strays (Buried In Time)
A strong collection of lightly dusted stray tracks of heavy bass, beats and astute sound design. Fans waiting for Gescom to get back together for their infrequent ventures in the studio will be comforted by Ignatius‘ knack for creating parallel distortions of submerged exp-electro—a strong collection of lightly dusted stray tracks of heavy bass, beats [...]
aMadoo :: Matsunoo Grand Shrine – Roumon LIVE (Somehow)
Playing at an eighth-century Shinto shrine in Kyoto, the musicians, led by Yuuji Hiromoto, first eye each other inquisitively, violin, muted trumpet, electronics, tabla, as kids with restless legs run up and down a path through the audience. A genuinely startling performance which grows from ambient meditation into electrifying jazz-funk. Playing at an eighth-century Shinto [...]
Christina Vantzou :: No. 1 DVD & Remixes (The Numbered Series)
Subjecting such a frugal piece to deconstruction by remixers is unexpected, though Vantzou certainly has enlisted an impressive roster. All show the original great respect by exercising vivid imagination under the same tight leash of restraint. Artist and musician Christina Vantzou released No. 1 on Kranky in October of 2011 and shortly thereafter, released this [...]
Superlauncher :: Catalysm (UNOIKI)
As these mutating pulses of bass, noise and hypnotizing dub cycle through the ears, one can’t help but become entranced by these unusual sounds—both stripped and engulfing. [Release page] A mixture of granulated digital rhythms reminiscent of the aura left behind by the Clicks’n Cuts movement is ever present here—crisped blips, snips and snaps from [...]
Crump :: Chiaroscuro EP (Slime)
A bouncy, rolling batch of minimal house tracks with a somewhat understated feel. It’s solid though, infectious and persistent, like a puppy needing a walk. I have to admit—Crump (aka Alex Crump)—is a producer that I’ve not come across before. He’s a Bristol lad with a bit of form and has just had his EP [...]
Zoon van Snook :: (Falling from) The Nutty Tree (Mush)
Snook has a bottomless treasure chest of beats, samples and melodies, but rather than just throw them all up in the air and see where they land, he selects them with aplomb and crafts a fast-moving, cohesive forty-five minute album. Zoon van Snook is the guy you want to do your remix. He possesses that [...]
V/A :: Frogmania (Plastic Frog)
Frogmania sees heavy hitters of the minimal scene sit side by side with newcomers. Downtrodden wave pulls up a seat next to Amiga inspired electronics—a stunning cross section of a fixating sound. Reviewing records is a good gig—it keeps you up to date with music, and who doesn’t like getting packages in the post? Every [...]
Reef Project :: Aquaculture (System)
As synths melt on a seabed of highs and lows, Reef Project reveals a wide stereo-field lending itself to either headphone consumption or home audio listening as each pair of ears dives into the depths of Aquaculture‘s nebulous pulse. We’re pretty sure reviews for Aquaculture will inherently include aquatic descriptors—an ebb and flow of visual [...]
Ian Boddy and Erik Wøllo :: Frontiers (DiN)
Frontiers is a deeply moving , cerebral and constantly charming spacey musical adventure largely made of majestic floating synthesized waves, sinuous drone textures, hypno-ish rhythmical punctuations, programmed drums and frantic synth-like guitar tones. Part of the collaborative projects directed by Ian Boddy for his musical laboratory and independent label DiN, Frontiers features the presence and [...]
Fabrics :: Refabricated (From A Tree)
Shards of twisted bass, left field tape recordings, broken synthesizers, blistered techno wrangling and an affinity for surreal auditory manipulation keeps Refabricated on its edge as it leans on mysterious iterations of past and future. Skimming our review from July 2011 of Fabrics and the same duo (Greek purveyors of music technology, Vasilis Kesalidis and [...]
Simoncino :: Werehouse EP (Echovolt)
There are some gentle techno thoughts coming through, but it is warm and layered house that is at the heart of the Italian’s sound. Simoncino has been building his credentials for several years now. Since 2008 the Italian has been serving up his take on the Chitown sound—having pushed the house envelope on labels like [...]
O’Leary – Louhivuori – Hauta-aho :: Astral Fishing (TIBProd. Italy )
In its unassuming way, however, this ambient darkhorse recorded with relative unknowns stands out due to its majestic demeanor and excellence of execution. Outwardly the dourest land in Western Europe, Finland happens to have one of the liveliest “out” music scenes anywhere, with its singular spin on neo-folk psychedelia, a taste for sophisticated jazz and [...]
Tomoroh Hidari :: Some Stars Not Yet Black Holes (Record Label Records)
Some Stars Not Yet Black Holes is an absolutely brilliant, deeply cerebral and moving effort that will ravish fans of electro-acoustic researches, kosmische synthesized minimalism (70′s Berliners) and absorbing dark ambient realms—an astonishingly profound, sonorous and evocative collection of slowly evolving meditative electronics. The Viennese based artist Tomoroh Hidari made a reputation thanks to the [...]
Clark :: Iradelphic (Warp)
Three years of traveling around the world, learning new instruments and his first real collaborations with more conventional vocalists have all gone into the rich tapestry of Iradelphic, and have truly bought Clark’s sound back down to earth with a rich self awareness and an audible hunger to really explore new things. It’s always a [...]
SIC & Buzz :: Double review (Dark Entries)
Dark Entries is one of the premier synth wave and post punk revivalist labels. A loaded statement, but a fair one. Boss Josh Cheon has the knack, the ability to source and resuscitate ambiguous analogue scores and gritty minimalism. Once more, the San Fran label is crossing the Atlantic to revive two Euro obscurities. I’ve [...]
Kid606 :: Ejaculazer Tag EP (Tigerbeat6)
Tigerbeat6, the label that has continued to crank out audio gems for the past 13 years, continues its tradition of giving you more than you could have predicted that you wanted. In what seems to be a resurgence in output from the label, and the artist, Kid606 dropped the precursor an upcoming full-length, called Ejaculazer [...]
FURS :: Anti-Node EP (Detroit Underground / eBoy)
Overall an enjoyable EP that segues from quaint electronics to well-oiled rhythm blocks while retaining its bright lit canvass of melodic shuffles. The smothered 8-bit audio bubbles of the early 00′s rings in the air on FURS‘ extended player with dBoy (a collaborative effort between Detroit Underground and the German graphic design group eBoy). The [...]
Nachtliche :: Full Moon (Cytown)
Korgs, strings and drum machine. Nachtliche adhere to the tried and true formula of cold electronics. Angst ridden vocals, bald strings, pared synths and a wholly anti-disposition. [Buy at Juno] The only guarantee you’ve got from one day to the next is, time will pass. Fierce misanthropic stuff, ah not really. But the years do [...]
Sven Schienhammer (Quantec) :: Altostratus Translucidus (Bine Music)
Canopying the whole sky, the cloud-watcher on the ground might spy unexpected shapes in the textured dub haze of Altostratus Translucidus: Bach practicing scales on his harpsichord, boxcars passing across the prairie, the tone arm of a record player jerking back with each revolution. The silicon dub techno entities identified as Quantec and Monoaxial are [...]
Shawn O Sullivan, Below Underground, Steve Moore :: 3View (L.I.E.S.)
Every time the label dives into the vast oceans of house, techno and electronics it resurfaces with another pearl from the depths. Function, form and flawless execution. Ron Morelli’s L.I.E.S. label has only been on the go for two years, but has been receiving serious acclaim from DJ’s and electronic zealots across the world. Do latest [...]
Coppe’ + Nikakoi :: Rays (Mango + Sweetrice)
It’s basically all here and out in the open—an album that passes through just about every genre without losing its stimulating vision. Drum’n bass mingles with atmospheric glitch, vocal snippets frolic among crisp electrons and what’s left is an album that simply defies categorization. [Release page] Press releases usually offer decent media tools to navigate [...]
Tomoroh Hidari :: The Black Star Variations (Laridae)
Energized minimalism balanced across a heady mix of bass-thumps and tribal transformation keeps this veritable dose of electrons en route. Variations are the spice of life. The endless pursuit of re-creating, adjusting, mutating, altering and fine tuning form the basis for this extended (remix) player, a fractured yet beautiful foray into exp-electronics. Rather than remixing [...]