EMIKA Vinyl & CDs

Review: Emika continues her impressive new independent direction on her eponymous label, with the Berlin artist seeking out some great remixes to complement her most recent album Drei. There's the legendary The Black Dog turning in a stellar remix of "Battles", The Exaltics do a great rework of "What's The Cure" injecting a smooth late night flavour which sounds great. Otherwise there's Emika herself with Borai doing another version of it that is pure electro pop bliss of the darkest kind. Finally, Irish Techno stalwart Eomac turns in another dark atmospheric rework reminiscent of The Haxan Cloak.

Review: Having made her breakthrough with a couple of albums on Ninja Tune, this year has seen Anglo Czech producer Emika elect to break out and establish her own label, Emika Records, in order to "to move away from the inevitable constraints of the traditional record label structure." The move has obviously served her well, with DREI Emika's second album of 2015 following Klavirni, a long player focused on works for piano. This nine track set is much more in line with the eclectic vocal led electronics of her prior output for Ninja Tune and sees Emika in full artistic control. Recorded in just two weeks, DREI is, according to Emika, an album about freedom and it sounds like she is really enjoying the creative flexibility this new label is affording her.

Review: In its original format experimental enfant terrible Emika's Chemical Fever is a dreamy sound scape containing tortured vocals and spiky barbs of percussion - a bit like Kate Bush on downers. The re-edit gives it a more contemporary sound with a stepping rhythm cutting through the dreamy textures, while Tommy Four Seven offers an austere approach. The UK producer's take on "The Long Goodbye" features eerie, angelic vocals meeting with a menacing bass as chiming bells herald the apocalypse. By contrast, Substance's reshape of the title track focuses on the dreamy sound scapes, letting them unravel over a glitchy, skeletal rhythm.

Review: Berlin's resident hard edged popstrel Emika returns to Ninja Tune for a third time - with "Count Backwards" echoing her previous output in confounding expectations. Adventurous in its rhythmic leanings and cloaked in a smoky and sinister backdrop, "Count Backwards" has us wondering what Emika could achieve over the length of an album. This is complemented on the A Side by a suitably beefed up take from Kryptic Minds which really pushes some thick subs into the echoed out spaces. On the flip Berghain don Marcel Dettmann delivers two takes on the original, with the opening and quite scary vocal edit dying to be utilised by the more adventurous producers out there - a sampled chunk of the track at 33rm is all the backing you need for a witch house track. Dettmann's remix is more familiar fare for the Berlin brigade, repositioning the percussive shuffle to a dubby industrial rattle filled with exquisite metallic textures.

Review: After her awesome vocal performance on MyMy's "Price Tag", the British born, Berlin based music technology student Emika drops with one of her own dubsteppish, leftfield productions on Ninja Tune. "Double Edge" sees her delicate vocals sit in a kind of awkward beauty over a deep, dubstep beat. The accompanying remix from Bristol creates a cavernous atmosphere, decapitating the vocal and turning the track into an ultra moody dub workout.

Review: D&B-turned-dubstep duo Kryptic Minds seem to have somewhat of a predisposition towards the darker shades of dubstep with their trademark murky basslines, inky black soundscapes, haunting vocals and deep dubs. "Make You Sleep" is no exception to the rule; employing Emika's whispering lyrical prowess with heavy, solipsistic bass and rolling subs, it's another superb venture, building hype for the release of their album, due out later this year (we can't wait!) On the flip, insomnia troubling cut "Can't Sleep" (feat. Alys Be) continues the vibe with more contemplative, melodic blissed out music from the pair, rounding the release off to perfection.