Review: New label Tell Zero Records hits the ground running with a 10" ambient white label that really impresses. There is some lush, slow motion tribalism on the A side that dives deep into the exotic. On the flip, the second beatless journey features some sombre and evocative Olafur Arnalds style piano playing over some haunting field recordings assembled into a captivating collage.
Review: The Advisory Circle's Mind How You Go is a haunting and evocative album that transports listeners back to the eerie world of 1960s and 1970s public information films. Inspired by the chilling soundscapes of these films, the album captures a sense of nostalgia and unease that is both poignant and unsettling. The album's music is both catchy and unsettling, with its eerie melodies and haunting vocals creating a sense of unease. The lyrics, which often focus on themes of danger and caution, add to the album's unsettling atmosphere. Mind How You Go is a masterpiece of nostalgic electronica. It is a record that is both haunting and beautiful.
Review: Manchester's Akkord have been heavily involved with the development of Fabric's Houndstooth label, and the majority of their output has come from the legendary club's young and vibrant new imprint. Much like fellow Mancunians Demdike Stare, their sound is hard to categorise and distil into one genre; the present "Monolith" sits somewhere between the sparser of Shackleton's tunes, and the whirlpool of styles and genres that fit into the ambient/drone territory. Similarly, "Megalith", on the other hand, is a broken artillery of kicks and sporadic jungle breaks, a gorgeous pile of stop-start bass and drums that keep darting in and out from all corners. Ever thought what 3D music might sound like? This goes pretty damn near. Warmly recommended.
Review: While there's no doubt the Middle East has stepped into the electronic music limelight in recent years, catalysed by good (a rebalancing of media focus within dance culture) and bad (controversy surrounding events like MDL Beast and the media's desperation to keep 'breaking new territory' in a world growing smaller by the day), Fatima Al Qadri is not part of this wave. A Senegal-born Kuwaiti, the US-based artist has been doing very good things for well over a decade (2010's 'Muslim Trance' mix is a must hear), creating everything from music exploring meeting points between Arabic traditions and contemporary synth work, to sound installations for renowned galleries. No stranger to Kode 9's Hyperdub, her third outing on the imprint since 2014 puts dark, atmospheric ambient out on the streets of Dakar after dark. Or something like that.
Review: Back in 2016, legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen approached techno pioneer Jeff Mills with the idea of working together. A series of live gigs and off-the-radar studio sessions followed, with the first fruits of their joint efforts finally appearing on this must-have 10". As you'd expect, the duo's collaborative work combines Allen's traditional Nigerian polyrhythms, traditional Afrobeat instrumentation, and the far-sighted, sci-fi inspired electronic futurism that has always marked out Mills' work. The result is a quartet of cuts that could arguably be described as retro-futurist Afro-tech - all delay-laden beats, basslines and organs subtly sparring with gentle acid lines, Motor City electronics, beguiling deep space textures and shimmering, 31st century motifs. It's arguably Allen's stylistic contributions that dominate, but that's no bad thing.
Review: Not a lot sounds like The Amorphous Androgynous, which is a relief because with a name like that you really do need to back it up with something experiential. A quick search online can tell anyone the duo - better known as Future Sound of London - have a strange relationship with Noel Gallagher, having recorded with him only to then be told by the Manchester man the outcome was shit so he destroyed the masters. Apparently these then turned up in a sock circa 2018 and you could almost be forgiven at least one of the tracks is here.
Actually, The World Is Full of Plankton comprises three tracks from 2005's album Alice in Ultraland, but the wailing, trippy, spaced out vocals that float in and out of dominance on the title number almost sound like the old Oasis lad. It's a deep and very operatic affair, which contrasts the exotic spatiality of 'All Is Harvest' and the prog rock piano stepper, 'The Emptiness of Nothingness'. Amazing stuff.
Review: Anom Vitruv prefers to opt for mystique in everything that he does. By that, we mean that not only is he still a mysterious presence as a producer, but his music is equally glazed in a sort of hazy, opaque glow that shape-shifts between house and techno with the dexterity of a feline. The artist returns to Canada's Total Stasis for the label's eighth outing, and this one is an even deeper excursion compared to his 2015 appearance for the label. All four tracks, preferred to be left nameless, are largely non-genre, and it's difficult to pin them down into concrete shapes but that's exactly what is so unique about Vitruv's sonic experiments. While they might not work to full effect in the middle of a house race, they certainly have their own use and identity; the sounds are loose, sparse but filled with movement and sway, while the harmonies themselves recall the organic textures of field recordings and analogue equipment. A beautiful amalgamation of downtempo, new age and house, this is one producer who is doing things his own way. Gorgeous stuff.
Review: Speak to anyone who lived through them about the glory days of IDM and German producer Arovane (aka Uwe Zahn) is probably one of the first names they will happily reel off. Between the late '90s and his apparent retirement in 2004, Zahn was responsible for birthing a clutch of classic IDM longplayers like Tides and Lillies, the 2004 LP for City Centre Offices that seemed to signal his withdrawl from music. However, the production bug bit him again in 2013 and there has been a steady stream of Arovane output leading up to this Aarlenpeers EP. Issued on the Touchin' Bass label operated by self professed Arovan fan Andrea Parker, these two cuts bristle and pulse with abstracted electronic life in a manner one expects from Zahn. "Il_Eth" is quite epic.
Review: A special release from Minimal Wave here as the uber rare Irene & Mavis EP from UK synth poppers Blancmange is granted a reissue! Those with a pub quiz winning level of knowledge of UK synth pop will no doubt be familiar with the 80s hits of Blancmange duo Neil Arthur & Stephen Luscombe, yet this debut EP dating back to 1980 will still sound revelatory. The self released Irene & Mavis EP marked Arthur and Luscombe to be fully willing to experiment with DIY electronics, impressing Mute founder Daniel Miller sufficiently to proclaim them "maiden aunts of electronic music," and thus more than suited as a subject of focus from the Minimal Wave label. There are definite similarities between this nascent stage of Blancmange and the output of Cabaret Voltaire from the same era, particularly in the masked and disembodied nature of the vocals, whilst "Holiday Camp" and "Just Another Spectre" are wonderful examples of instrumental synth music. Despite originally being released in 7" format, the six newly remastered tracks are presented here in 10" format by Minimal Wave with the distinctive artwork retained!
Review: Brother May and Micachu met in 2006 in an internet cafe and now, 14 years later, they are behind this exclusive record store day release. It's a long time since people used to upload songs to MySpace, but that's just what this pair did in their early days and they have continued to work together ever since. This album is a showcase of improvised freestyles and beat making from Brother May and Micachu, all of which was made on a DIY set up in kitchens and bedrooms. That homemade aesthetic characterises the album and make it a mini-modern day classic.
Review: Naturally, there's been plenty of hype surrounding this new Hyperdub 10", which features Burial indulging his often-discussed ambient influences. It's a typically creepy and ghostly affair, with the lack of beats - if not rhythmic elements - only serving to amplify the shadowy producer's impeccable sound design and brilliant use of manipulated field recordings. A-side "Subtemple" is particularly paranoid in tone, featuring as it does chilling melody loops, curious vocal samples, looped vinyl crackle and all manner of layered background noise. Flipside "Beachfires" is, if anything, even more dystopian, with Burial basing the action around the kind of pulsing chords that gust back and forth like an autumnal breeze.
Review: Can there ever be a musical statement as decisive and divisive as John Cage's '4'33'? A quick primer for the uninitiated - in 1952 Cage presented this three-movement piece, in which any ensemble of musicians are to sit and not play a single note, the piece being made up of the environmental sound in which it is performed. The idea of an edit of this piece feels somewhat tongue in cheek, but Castro Moore of the Berlin-based Sound Metaphors crew has such sonic mischief woven into his various guises (DJ Poppers, anyone?). Enjoy this 'Happy Birthday' version 70 years after Cage broke the ultimate taboo on the idea of composed music.
Waves & Peaks(hand-numbered hand-stamped vinyl 10" limited to 150 copies (comes in three different colour sleeves, we cannot guarantee which one you will receive))
Review: The LA mind-bender who built a computer and taught it to rap returns with a second volume of his Savage Planet Discotheque series. The result: some of the funkiest, most cosmic, forward-thinking beats you've heard this side of Brainfeeder. Ranging from the Border Community style mournful slo-mo meanders of "Destination Destiny" to the gutter-minded P-funk of "Silver Spine" via the soulful Hudmo-in-a-sewer vibe of "Hardships", this pushes more boundaries than you thought existed. Unique and outstanding in equal measure.
Review: It's impossible to deny how tight the production on this experimental but highly workable and coherent double-A side actually is. Both tunes belong on the Everything In Its Right Place shelf, and each of those things seems to have been crafted with meticulous attention to detail. Opening on the original version of 'Kodokushi', there are more than a few clear references to the glory days of progressive breakbeat dance music, with the track a sparse, space-age set opener if ever there was one, gradually unfolding into a subtle and loose rhythm crying out for heavier beats to mix in. The Toulouse Low Trax remix goes someway to answering that call, bringing a gradually growing groove into the equation and heightening the percussive elements, leaving us somewhere between an instrumental of Massive Attack's 'Karma Coma' and Sasha's 'Airdrawndagger' LP.
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