Berlin. Detroit. Sheffield. Tallinn? :: Estonian Electronics from Porridge Bullet

Eastern Europe has been somewhat forgotten, even ignored, by electronic enthusiasts. Britain, Germany and the US are the historic epicenters with the likes of Scandinavia and Italy taking on the mechanical mantle. But the former Bloc nations demand attention. Porridge Bullet is wonderfully individual. Club bangers to out there ambience and everything in between from Tallinn.

As you’ll know, there are hubs of analog activity. Berlin. Detroit. Chicago. Glasgow. London. Amsterdam. In many ways electronics is tethered to the West, but there is activity elsewhere.

Now Tallinn might not leap off the screen as a hive of dance sounds but beneath the weight of the past blooms a burgeoning scene. Porridge Bullet / Pudru Kuul has been releasing since 2012. Now the names may not be household ones but who needs the best known brands. Likewise, this Estonian imprint isn’t just interested in machine sounds. Jazz noodling is supported by drum machines. Guttural hollering chants into sunken synths. Wrong-footed house melted into misshapen melodies.

A quartet brought the label to life: Raul Saaremets (aka Ajukaja) and his son Marke alongside Siim Nestor and his brother Madis . Siim tells me the idea was “to release Estoninan music” on vinyl and “try to get it heard by music lovers all over the world.” But their base is expanding with some “British guys” being in the pipeline.

The best known of the Porridge Bullet roster has to be 100% Silk artist Maria Minerva. She has collaborated with Ajukaja, who some may know from his recent partnerships on Levels. Siim is enthusiastic about the sounds of the Eastern nation remarking “there’s a lot of great music coming all the time—in last few years the electronic dance music scene kind of blossoms. There’s a lot regular great club nights happening.”

The latest offering from the small coastal city comes from the duo of Raul Saaremets and Aivar Tõnso aka Hypnosaurus. The twosome are pioneers of electronics in Estonia. Together they’ve been active since the 90s. But their style does not cozily fit in the annals of techno. Instead theirs is a different blend. Their recent compilation 1991-1992 is a two decade old cross section of a genre splitting style. Speeding club anthems, orient tinted house, proto glitch, horror IDM and more. Out there electronics created by two musicians whose love of machine music was forged under the shadow of the Iron Curtain.

Porridge Bullet’s tastes appear to be as diverse as Estonian history itself. Styles are allowed to run off and dart into the playground of anywhere goes. Perhaps the latest illustrates this best. By an Unknown party “Ahiwo Ahiwo” is funk and fiesta laden tracks from I’m guessing is West Africa (though it could be a sample happy European.) Either way, all the colors and sounds of Ghana or even Nigeria are on show in this DJ friendly festival.

Eastern Europe has been somewhat forgotten, even ignored, by electronic enthusiasts. Britain, Germany and the US are the historic epicenters with the likes of Scandinavia and Italy taking on the mechanical mantle. But the former Bloc nations demand attention. Porridge Bullet is wonderfully individual. Club bangers to out there ambience and everything in between from Tallinn. With this the imprint chiefs promote music through radio shows, journalism and even a store in the capital. An impressive offence by any standards and an assault which looks set to continue and maybe even shift the geographical stereotypes of dance.

Explore Porridge Bullet’s outputs here.