Leftfield Recommendations September 2013

Review: Whilst Ventress is less prolific than his Avian co-founder Shifted, he has been responsible for some finely crafted techno in the slate grey, minimalistic vein in recent times. Here Ventress uses his debut on Avian sub label Mira as an opportunity to explore his more experimental side with the full debut of the Worn alias. The cultured ears out there will no doubt be familiar with the Worn approach thanks to a stunning contribution to The KVB Remixes EP released on Cititrax earlier this year, and the lead track on this Feminist EP sees Worn collaborate with The KVB frontman Nicholas Wood. Naturally incorporating elements of The KVB's atmospheric guitars over a fuzz edged synth motif, "Feminist" is complemented by three further productions that slip deep into oppressive drone.

Review: The prospect of Donato Dozzy reworking Bee Mask for the Spectrum Spool label is a mouth watering one and this double LP collection, entitled straightforwardly enough Donato Dozzy Plays Bee Mask more than lives up to it's billing. Originally commissioned to turn in a remix of Bee Mask's "Vaporware" track from last year's LP for Room 40, Dozzy apparently felt the track's inherent beauty merited more than just the one and sent over seven! This decision has resulted in a superb collection of reimaginations from the Voices Of The Lake producer, ranging from calming moments of serenity to bleepish, deep techno explorations.

Review: Perhaps the most coveted of Death Waltz's excellent series of reissues thanks to its Dinos Chapman designed cover art and splattered vinyl, the swift sell out of their reissue of John Carpenter's score to The Fog has ensured a repress for the title, this time on gold vinyl. Whatever colour the vinyl is seems irrelevant when you're talking about one of Carpenter's most iconic scores; telling the story of a small North California fishing town terrorised by a glowing supernatural fog containing the vengeful ghosts of six murdered lepers, Carpenter's score built on the more simplistic piano melody and synthesiser combination of the iconic Halloween score to create something much more abstract and foreboding.

Review: Marking the first release for this new project from Regis and Russell Haswell, PAN happily issue forth some troublesome industrial tackle that does away with any notion of direct 4/4 thrust and instead takes the textural muck and applies it to scattered, broken techno constructions more concerned with noise than motion. Move it does though, not least on "Industrial Disease", which deftly strafes on a roaming half step beat while the most guttural of metallic drones roams malevolently through the middle of the track. "Caulk" is more poised in its demeanour, letting sparse rhythmic pulses cut through the submerged ruminations in the distance, until "The Unabridged Truth" brings the beat back as a helpless vessel for more of that grimy sound design.

Review: Ahead of Camella Lobo's forthcoming debut Tropic Of Cancer album for Blackest Ever Black, the London label return to one of her most prized recorded moments, The Sorrow Of Two Blooms. Originally released back in 2011, this three track 12" was Tropic Of Cancer at a stage when Juan Mendez was still involved and listening back now it's all too easy to understand why so many have fallen under it's spell. There's a spectral delight to the manner in which "A Colour" unfolds, with Lobo's voice drenched beneath the reverberant drone but clinging to foggy strings that embellish the track with a certain degree of light. The languid thump of "Temporal Vessels" lays Lobo's vocals so deep in the mix you are worried she's trapped down a well whilst "Dive (Wheel Of The Law)" is perhaps Tropic Of Cancer at their mystifying, bewitchingly hypnotic best. Spread across the B Side, it comes cloaked in viscous fuzz, Lobo's yearning yet indecipherable vocals seemingly glued to the pensive guitar lines. The result is utterly captivating.

Review: Minimal Wave return to the band that started their impressive endeavours with a fourth pressing of the Oppenheimer Analysis EP which is presented in loving memory of founding member Martin Lloyd who sadly passed away earlier this year. A welcome chance to bask in the duo's politically charged wave sounds for anyone that missed out on the previous three pressings here, with two absolute classics from the Oppenheimer Analysis cassette "New Mexico" present in the shape of "The Devil's Dancer" and Silent Servant favourite "Cold War". In addition there are two unreleased cuts culled from the archives of Andy Oppenheimer and Martin Lloyd that further demonstrate what an important band Oppenheimer Analysis were!

Review: ** Repress ** Raime inaugurated the Blackest Ever Black label, so it makes sense that the London duo should be the first artists on the label's ever growing roster to deliver a full album. Quarter Turns Over A Living Line finds Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead progressing from the sample based material of their early releases in favour of live instrumentation, though the elongated sessions spent "painstakingly piecing together" the hours of recorded music ensures their trademark eeriness and despondency remains intact. There's a boldness of vision apparent from the rumbling, recycled orchestrations of lead track "Passed Over Trail" that captures your attention and doesn't relent from there. "The Last Foundry" comes across like a funeral procession mourning the passing of Skull Disco, while "Exist In The Repeat Of Practice" brandishes the kind of foreboding stasis that was prevalent in much of Demdike Stare's Modern Love Tryptych of releases. A plinking digidub rhythm seems thrillingly incongruous amidst the enveloping sonic drudgery of "The Walker In Blast & Bottle", while Raime could feasibly soundtrack a spaghetti western set in Dante's Hell with "Your Cast Will Tire". Quarter Turns Over A Living Line makes for a quite brilliant body of work that demands your full attention and craves repeat listens.

Review: Petar Dundov delivers the Music Man label his third album, Sailing Off The Grid. Similarly to last year's Ideas From The Pond LP, his latest full length sees Dundov squeeze the richest of synthesised colours from his music machines. Tracks like "Moving", "Yesterday Is Tomorrow" and "White Spring" focus on strong, nightdrive arpeggios, while others like "Enter The Vortex", "Spheres" and "Sur La Mer Avec Mon Ami" look to ambient textures cast in a classical arrangement. Petar Dundov may not necessarily be breaking new ground with this LP, but his sound is certainly off the grid.

Review: With this sizable EP electro techno staple Scanone makes another appearance on regular haunt Yellow Machines, bringing five tracks of diverse, sci-fi infused electronica that kicks where it counts but keeps the tone esoteric on top. "Moon 2" is a fast-paced, dark-toned break cut, filtering in just enough melody to keep things emotional while the beats dutifully snap around the mix with an energetic grace. "Scene 7" is a more gentle affair, moving from anchorless strings to twitchy diversions into micro-sampled rhythms and rounded synth. "Darklight" calls to mind some of the earliest of Aphex Twin's breakbeats, but the melodies on top have a more tangible kind of melancholia to them which serves the spiritual impact of the record well. On the whole, it's the electro informed approach of classic labels like Skam that Scanone brings to mind with Scenes, and as an under-represented sound he is bringing a welcome focus to it.

Review: There's an air of unfussy experimental simplicity about Lucent Glances, the third full-length from abstract electronic artist Raica. The hand-printed artwork and matter-of-fact tracklist - simply a list of track numbers, and nothing more - gives little away, but that's presumably how Raica would want it. Opening with a track that delivers little more than clandestine atmospherics and vintage synthesizer pulses, Lucent Glances shifts uneasily between moody beatscapes (see "2"), heavy electronic tones ("3"), creeping ambience ("6"), sparse dubscapes ("4") and distorted, alien electronics ("8"). It's unusual and out-there, but also strangely comforting. Interesting stuff.

Review: Wow! Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti return with the first tangible Carter Tutti material in some fifteen years and they demonstrate to be fully capable of manipulating monolithic sounds on these rather dashing looking Coolican 10". Last seen working with Factory Floor's Nik Void for Mute and reimaging the seminal Desertshore album by Nico, the UK industrial royalty signal their return to the universally known Carter Tutti project with two versions of one track seemingly inspired by the name of the metal lampshade used by Delia Derbyshire in her music-making. Both these versions are fine exercises in lurching, industrial body music and make for a welcome addition to their respected canon.

Review: Everything about this package is special. From the silkscreen printed cover designed by Lotte Effinger to the tongue-in-cheek title. Don't DJ is an exciting new departure for this Durian Brother. At points it's full-strength tribal techno ("Euclidean Grid"), at others it's mesmerisingly abstract and ambient ("End&"). What ties this complex package together is the focus on multiple rhythm dynamics and percussion that tell their own narratives. Challenging your perception of the electronic musical framework, this is truly unique.

Review: As one of the world's more renowned mastering engineers at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin, Rashad Becker is making that rare leap from post-production back down the signal chain to deliver this long player for PAN. It's an apt destination for the sounds contained within, as Becker twists and contorts a satisfying spread of noises from the ominous to the humourous, wielding a fearsome grasp of sound design and achieving a staggering depth of detail in the lurid netherworld his music creates. There's musicality locked into the fluttering pitches of his devices, whether they might be real world instruments mutated via digital means, or 1s and 0s kneaded into organic matter. Either way Becker's take on noise will grab you by the ears and drag you down into the audible mulch with glee.

Review: Strut's recent foray into the world of industrial, EBM and new-wave with Trevor Jackson's superb Metal Dance compilation (the follow-up to which is due in September) has clearly given them a passion for the subject. Here, they allow Walls guitarist/producer Alessio Natalizia to curate a two-disc wander through Italy's hitherto under-explored 1980s new wave scene. It's a bit of an eye-opener, if truth be told, full of cold-wave, synth-wave and electronic oddities. Given the quality of the material, you don't have to look far for gems; check, for example, the discordant, dubwise oddness of 2+2=5's "Jacho's Story", the droning synths and backwards tape loops of L'Ultimo Arcano's bizarre "1984-85" and the wide-eyed bliss of ATROX's "Against The Odds". And that's just for starters. Stunning stuff, as usual.

Review: Repitch Recordings founder and Violetshaped conspirator Shapednoise calls on the spirit of T.S. Eliot for Until Human Voices Wake Us, his debut on the tireless Opal Tapes. Representing the label's third step into the realm of vinyl releases (after excellent transmissions from caps lock deviant WANDA GROUP and Swedish producer MCMXCI) Shapednoise feels perfectly at home on Opal Tapes across these six tracks, plunging head first into the gauzy sonic nether regions between techno and industrial sounds. Tracks such as "Witness Of A Heart Attack Death" and "Black Cells" align perfectly with the approach shown by Avian duo SHXCXCHCXSH on their recent debut LP, whilst"Information On The Individual Sensoriality" is Nino Pedone successfully merging the Opal Tapes aesthetic with the creeping horror soundtrack manipulations of his Violetshaped project with Violet Poison.