Review: Belgian label nacht and The Pilotwings (Louis & Guillaume) present a compilation of works created in the STELPLAATS venue in Leuven, early 2022. In November 2021, right before the second Covid lockdown. Guillaume and Louis were invited by the nacht crew in Leuven to play their first dj-set together since the start of the pandemic. At the time, the nacht crew had just received the first physical release on their brand new imprint, and the team was eager to get the record out into the world. For the second release, however, everything was possible. Before the show, somewhere between the obligatory nasal swab and the third drink, the idea of an unusual collaboration sprouted. Leuven Works compiles five tracks that flowed out of the sessions in STELPLAATS and is a testament to the week that Louis and Guillaume had under the STELPLAATS roof. During their stay, the blood brothers got looked after with love by the nacht team, who provided homemade pizzas and a well-stocked fridge full of Duvels, allowing The Pilotwings to truly root into the Leuven soil and enrich the local landscape with their colourful presence.
Review: Hailing from Philadelphia - currently up there with the most artistically arresting cities in the US (having spawned the nickname 'New York's most exciting borough' among those wanting weary of the Big Apple's gentrified shell) - Plastic Ivy make music that's pure drama on disc. Or digital file, depending on your chosen format. Founded by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lira Marie Landes, when teamed up with bassist, producer and engineer Daniel James Shields, the duo are something real to contend with.
Here we're given four pieces of compelling evidence proving that point. Original versions ooze a kind of affected sexuality, a retro-tinged electro-punk ride through the experimental side door of a night in the club, nodding to influences from Kitten to The Human League. Remixed, though, 'Superior Corruption' is nothing short of a banging electro number filled with attitude and cheekiness. Essential.
Review: DFA Records prime mysterious new Brighton signees Proper Monday Number with a sure start, flicking the proverbial Rube Goldberg machine into gear with a banging remix of their otherwise unreleased debut track 'High Horse'. Here, of course, it's LCD Soundsystem / DFA's very own James Murphy at the remix controls, together with resident DFA DJ and "decent human" Matt Cash. Toolroom dance moods extend over a lusciously simple seven minutes, bringing home FM stabs and LinnDrum faceslaps aplenty. And the lyrics: "stop what you're doing now... you ain't got no crown! get off your high horse! turn this ship around!" In our day and age, we need more anti-stagnation, ego-teardown anthems like this, so we welcome the sentiment by the masked duo.
Matra Murena (feat Local Suicide - Rafael Cerato remix) (5:41)
Review: Plenty of dark disco's finest practitioners come together on this new 12" on Iptamenos Discos, with Psycho Weazel serving up the original tune. They are two producers from Switzerland who mix up indie-dance, cold wave, breakbeat and EBM. Here they offer 'Mains D'Argile' featuring Curses which has sweeping, widescreen synths bring a retro feel to a stiff, kinetic beat. The wonderful Marvin & Guy offer an extended mix for extra long club fun and then it is Local Suicide who guests on 'Matra Murena' which brings a perfect mix of light and dark to stark grooves, and Rafael Cerato remixes to close out the package.
Review: Pye Corner Audio shows off his love of acid on the first of two EPs for Emotional Response that drop simultaneously. This first one is his debut on the label and comes with a gorgeous cover that perfectly encapsulates the sounds within. 'Dust Acid' is a sparse cut with dusty drums and meandering basslines that slowly sink you in, then 'Magnetic Acid Two,' which like all of these was recorded live, is another expertly reduced brew of murkiness with plenty of frayed edges and vintage analog sounds. 'Wanna Show U Acid' is a late-night acid dream and 'Magnetic Acid Four' shuts down slightly more bite. Four timeless backroom cuts, make no mistake.
Review: Q Lazzarus was always going to be a good fit for the cult synth and cold wave crew, Dark Entries, and so it proves here with this overdue debut. Diane Luckey was born in 1960 in New Jersey and created her iconic moniker while living in NYC's East Village. Her breakout moment came after meeting director Jonathan Demme during a 1986 snowstorm; he was captivated by her demo playing in her taxi. Their encounter led to the unforgettable inclusion of 'Goodbye Horses' in Silence of the Lambs. Despite its cult status, Luckey and collaborator William Garvey remained largely overlooked but surely that will change now as they offer up five unreleased tracks that have been newly mixed from original master tapes.
Review: QUAL is the solo project of William Maybelline from Lebanon Hanover, and one known for its "meaner, darker, and nastier" persona. The name qual means pain in German and since the 2015 debut Sable, the moniker has delved into dark, minimal synth, old-school EBM, and industrial electronics using analogue equipment. Following the 2021 LP Tenebris in Lux and the 2022 remix album Re-Animate, he now returns with Techsick featuring three new tracks and a Sarin remix. Highlights include the metal-influenced 'Dancing in Hell,' the familiar minimalist 'Techsick,' and the dual-sided 'Funeral Fashion,' blending classic EBM with a techno remix. The first 12" vinyl edition is limited to 500 copies so move fast.
Review: Middlesborough musician Rees impressed with his last outing on the Bordello A Parigi label: 'Three Eyes' was a real dancefloor gem which he now follows up with three more gems that showcase the artist's eclectic style and versatile skills. 'Dream Wave' is a bright, busy, intense cut with glistening synths front and centre, dancing about a crunchy and rigid rhythm while 'The New Beat' ups the ante with eerie arps leading the way as more metallic drum sounds clatter away below. Last of all is 'Electric Body' which is awash with more incisive synths and guitar lines, all with a hypotonic lead synth and new wave techno drums powering it along.
Review: "Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth." So said the world's most visible climate activist Greta Thunberg in her pre-COP26 speech in Milan, blasting world leaders for inadequate (or near-non-existent) responses to the environmental crisis. Given we're 12 months down the line and the vast majority of promises made at said 2021 climate summit have not been actioned, with emissions continuing to climb, it's unsurprising direct action has turned much more direct and disruptive this year, and people are now sampling the young orator to amplify her message through music.
If that sounds like it may lack subtlety, fear not. Renude19 have managed to achieve something pretty difficult - a protest dancefloor track that doesn't ram things down your throat and works very well without you knowing that context. Essentially a dystopian-vibed broken beat synth workout with electro-pop vocals and occasional "Blah blah blah" hook, it's timely and well executed.
Review: Back by popular demand comes this four track revisitation of the famous 80s synthpop classic, which emerged in December 2024 with the kind of slightly Euro twist in the vocal department you might expect from the Netherlands-based Random Vinyl stable. The Master Mix is perhaos the most poignant, given that its airy, lush pads were put together by the late producer Marc Hartman who very sadly passed away in August 2024 at the far too young age of 58. But all four show due reverence to this monolithic moment in electronic music history, without resisting the temptation to add a little new. Grey-t stuff.
Review: Mainrecords returns with the 'Radiation Dance' EP which is the newest outing from co-label owner Matthias Schildger. It opens with the sleek electronic lines and Kraftwerkian hypnosis of 'CH Dance' on icy rhythms and lush synth chords. 'Radiation' is a more rugged techno sound but still artful in its pads and widescreen melodic scope. There is a retro 80s feel to 'Divine Divide' while 'Rzwodzwo's Brain' birds some more buffed metal textures, tripped-out FX and jittery rhythms. Last of all is 'Datapoppers' which is a great blend of analogue kits and drums, retro-future synths and curious cosmic moods.
Review: Endrik Schroeder's career renaissance continues, albeit three years on from his previous EP - a sparkling, synth-heavy inspired affair that saw the one-time '90s techno producer successfully turn his hand to sun-bright Italo-disco. He's dialled things up a notch on 'The Hope', a storming slab of nu-disco/Italo-disco fusion full of elastic bass guitar, soaring synth lines, spacey chords and restless drums - all topped off with a heady and intoxicating vocal courtesy of fellow veteran Miss Kittin. He flips the script on flipside cut 'The Dogs', smothering unfussy beats in waves of James Holden style ambient electronics, heady lead lines and immersive aural textures.
Review: Sevdaliza's debut EP The Suspended Kid was first released in 2015. She put it out on her own Twisted Elegance label and at the time said that "The title is how people responded to me in social situations. I realised that those things that deflect me from social situations - not getting along with your coach or your boss or whatever - it made me realise I had to choose a different path."It is a highly creative work of experimental electronic which has since seen her go on to your 35 countries. Now for the fist time ever the album is pressed up to 2000 individually numbered copies of clear vinyl.
Review: Ahead of two albums worth of Severed Heads reissues on the excellent Medical Records, their West Coast compadres Dark Entries present a 12" edition of what is perhaps the band's most iconic track. One of three records due this month to celebrate Dark Entries fifth anniversary, this 12" is themed around "Dead Eyes Opened", perhaps Severed Heads' most iconic track and presented here in extended 12" mix version. Anyone with a passing interest in primitive electronics should be more than familiar with "Dead Eyes Opened" which sounds remarkably ahead of it's time even today. Both the B Side tracks from the original 1984 pressing make the cut too and Dark Entries have done a wonderful job in replicating the artwork too.
Review: Amongst minimal wave and alternative synth-pop enthusiasts, short-lived London band Shoc Corridor has an excellent reputation. Although they released a pair of albums and a gaggle of singles in 1983 and '84, it is '82 debut single A Blind Sign that gets collectors drooling. On this Dark Entries reissue, it's easy to see why. Flipside cut "Sargasso Sea", a fantastically spaced-out combination of heavily dub influenced post-punk bass, minimalist drum machine hits and liquid electronics, is particularly special, while "On Reflection" is a fine slab of swooning, near Balearic electronica. The title track, a Gary Numan-esque chunk of mutant synth-pop that bizarrely includes some jangly acoustic guitars amongst the arpeggio bass and twittering synthesizer melodies, is also inspired.
Review: Breakcore don DJ Balli and tropical electro purveyor Sindaco team up on the aptly titled Mutant Goth Italo. True to its name, the Italian duo deliver a batch of oddball, high-energy Euro dance filtered through a nocturnal lens, with affecting vocals from Ossydiana. The twisted pop sensibilities of opener 'Pizzeria Brigada Rossa' set the tone i a feverish pace, shimmering synths, and a searing vocal top-line. The gorgeously sleazy 'Febbre' is a standout, driving yet restrained, while 'Ricatto' impresses with its sinister synths, crisp drums and undulating bass. Closer 'Fedeli Alle Linee' lets it all hang out, pairing singalong melodies with snappy rhythms and snarling bass arps.
Memorabilia (Daniel Miller 2023 remix - instrumental) (5:13)
Memorabilia (The Hacker 2023 remix) (6:35)
Memorabilia (Wally Funk 2023 remix) (5:39)
Review: The birth point of ecstasy in British music is usually credited to acid house and the second summer of love: a cemented vision of kids sweating and vibrating in clubs, fields and warehouses in 1988, united by universal empathy and mind-popping sounds. However, in 1981, a couple of young men from Leeds went to New York, discovered the drug in its infancy, fused its' gritty synth pop to acid house's squelchy 303 groove and recorded an album - Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The rest, as they say, is history.
Review: Nothing but gorgeousness seems to characterise the work of the Minimal Wave imprint over the recent years. It's a label that is both unpredictable and continuously elegant in its choice of reissues. This time, it's a wonderful unearthing of Soma Holidays cult-hit, Shake Your Molecules. The Franco-American duo was part of Brooklyn's clique of artists throughout the 1980's, and although their sound is firmly representative of that era, the tracks are still ridiculously fresh and seductive both in their melodies and vocals. The title track is a sort of synth-pop tune gone wrong in a good way, where drugged-up lyrics meets morphing synths and metallic drum machines, whereas the Dub cut could easily be played in most techno DJ sets these days. On the B-side, we have the charming, atmospheric glow of "Too Many People" and "Art Dimension", the top pick in our opinion and one which is screaming to be be remixed into a contemporary house tune.
Review: By Italo-disco standards, where artists often got one-shot at glory, Some Bizarre was relatively successful. The studio duo released three 12" singles, with 1983 debut Don't Be Afraid being most coveted by Italo-disco collectors. Here it gets a timely reissue from Dark Entries. The original vocal version actually still stands up well, sounding a little like a quirky European tribute to early Depeche Mode, with a little Visage thrown in. The drum machine handclap-heavy percussion and Yazzoo-style synth riffs make it more potent than some Italo-disco of the period, and the vocal is much stronger - and less heavily accented - than many Italian records of the period. As usual, it's accompanied by a dub-style Instrumental on the flip.
Review: Sumerian Fleet is a collaborative project from Mr. Pauli and Alden Tyrell, and alongside their couple of excellent albums on Dark Entries these dark side synth wave devotees also delivered a coveted record to Clone's West Coast Series back in 2010. Finally, that record is getting a repress to thwart the sharks and get grimy, gothic electro back in the hands of the real fans. Every track is a masterpiece, but one of our personal favourites is the rubbery nightmare funk of 'Blech Erkrankung', which comes on like Joy Division and Front 242 getting in a fight and falling down the stairs together.
Review: In typical Music From Memory fashion, their latest archival release shines a light on one of the UK's lesser-known bands of the early 1980s. The System released a lone single in 1981, followed by a now incredibly rare debut album, Logic, in 1983. Three of the cuts here are taken from that set, including the dreamy, downbeat Balearic-pop opener "Almost Grown" - a wonderfully evocative six minutes, all told - and the far-sighted, spacey, proto-techno shuffler "Vampirella". This EP also includes one previously unreleased track, "Find It In Your Eyes", which was rescued from long-forgotten master tapes during the licensing process.
Voyager (Marlon Hoffstadt aka DJ Daddy Trance remix) (5:19)
Review: Since making his debut in 2019 via 'Koi Jaye' - a stunning edit of a little-known Punjabi take on throbbing, Moroder inspired electronic disco - Tjade has delivered a handful of 'must-check' releases that showcase the growing quality of his throbbing, Italo and Hi-NRG-influenced original. The Voyager EP, his latest effort, may well be his strongest collection of cuts to date. For proof, check 'Voyager', a kaleidoscopic, synth-heavy stomper that channels the spirt of Hi-NRG and early trance and comes backed with a stomping techno-trance rework courtesy of Marlon Hoffstadt AKA DJ Trance. Elsewhere, 'Shut Out' sees him add 90s trance style melodies and synth sounds to a punchy breakbeat groove, while 'In Contact' is a throbbing Hi-NRG workout blessed with deliciously cheery electronic lead lines.
Sulking In The Hallway Outside The Cafeteria (4:11)
Review: Luke Wyatt's Torn Hawk project has always been hard to pigeonhole, with the American producer frequently combining admirable experimental instincts and a love for dusty, distorted sounds with a desire to foreground melody and associated musical niceness. Both sides of his musical personality combine on this six-track EP for Fixed Rhythms. The highlight - for us at least - is the surf guitar solo-laden moody epic 'Oh Yeah (Cop Collab)', where waves of gritty, psychedelic and weirdo noises rise above dense sonic textures and rolling beats. That said, there's plenty to set the pulse racing elsewhere across the EP, including the outstanding-fi workout 'Make Things So Complicated', the dubbed-out beat science of 'Dirty Black Satin' and the experimental breakbeat madness of 'Sulking In The Hallway Outside The Cafeteria'.
Review: The Outer Edge reckons that this first release on their label is one of "the rarest and simultaneously best-recorded independently released German new wave singles in history." Bold words, but probably not far wrong. 80s outfit Total wrote it as the first and title single for an album deal they signed. It's a killer cut with hints of 'The Message''s hip-hop rhythm and alluring female vocals over a lush bassline from the Jupiter 8 keyboard and DMX drum machine funk driving it along at such an inviting mid-tempo. The withering cosmic keys add extra spacey goodness and here it comes with a couple of alternative mixes, though the OG is really the one.
Review: Crossing between V/A comp and split 12", Unusual Systems present the tenth edition in their series celebrating the work of local Italian producers. Glossing xenon flashes of Italo disco and electro-disco-synth, we've here the tasering talents of duo Two Opposites and then solo artist Corp on the A, backed up by Catalan producers Torrent and Adria on the B side. The opening productions are slick, adumbrate bops, outlining the barest, darkest contours of Italo in its most abstract form. Adria's 'Bakaloo' is the highlight of the B, indulging the weirdest of buildups and most party-crashing of progressions.
Review: UV & Nenor link up once more and return to Fossils with three new edits that take the form of spaced-out deep cosmic chuggers. These are all classy tunes with an analogue edge, great deference to the classic synth sounds of days gone by but all with nice modern touches. 'Space Love' is a widescreen odyssey with sultry female vocals and a sweet theremin sound. On the flip, 'Shwag' has hazy pads and slowed down, rugged, sleazy drums and bass and then last of all comes 'GoGo Stomp' with another bubbly bottom end, squelchy bassline and weird but wonderful vocal sounds. A brilliantly high-grade addition to your record back.
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