Border Community Vinyl & CDs

Review: One of The Inheritors more subdued moments, it may initially seem odd for James Holden to have chosen such an undanceable track for its own EP, but here it finds itself warped into new forms for the club environment. The "Tool" version sees Holden laying a slowly unfurling rhythm under the original's pastoral analogue synths which ebb and flow with a new intensity. The "dub" does much the same but in a more subdued manner, while the "Gibbersolo" isolates the deeply disturbing vocals to chilling effect.

Review: Leading up to James Holden's long awaited second album, Border Community offer the Holden obsessive with a remix 10" featuring new scores of "Renata" by Daphni and Steve Moore. Daphni's remix is executed in typically unpredictable fashion by the Caribou frontman Dan Snaith, as the melancholic and euphoric fervour of Holden's consuming original is calmed by a breathy vocal choral and scissor-cut salvos lifted from an early UK Garage style. Steve Moore's alternate version offers a tom drum melodic and dreamy ambient wash of hyper-coloured synths that whiz and whirl to the point of ecstasy just before climax. A essential for Holden completists.

Review: There's an indication in the name, but in case you weren't sure James Holden is in a fighting mood on this new single, which provides a sneak peak at what impending album The Inheritors might hold in store. "Gone Feral" is a visceral cut that combines an awkwardly time-signatured beat with yowling swathes of distorted synth that fill every possible inch of the frequency range, leaving no room to breathe or get a handle on the track whatsoever. The "Drumtool" of the track unsurprisingly leaves the lopsided beat and some static pressure to flail on its own, while the "Synthtool" makes for a delirious beatless excursion which comes almost as a relief after the staggering intensity of the original track. Brace yourselves for the next era of Holden, he's not pulling any punches.

Review: James Holden's career trajectory has been odd, to say the least. Having found fame as a fresh-faced teenaged progressive house producer, he's spent the last decade distancing himself from his early work (and, arguably, doing the same with his Border Community label). The Inheritors is his first album for nearly seven years, and you can tell. Whereas his debut set, 2006's The Idiots Are Winning, was rooted in tech-house and minimal - albeit with a sprinkling of IDM tracks - The Inheritors is a wonderfully out-there, atmospheric and occasionally uncomfortable set. Rooted in IDM, drone, ambience and leftfield beats, it flits between nightmarish oddness ("Sky Burial"), wide-eyed fluidity ("Inter-City 125") and intense, lo-fi electronica ("Seven Stars").

Review: After the abrasive nature of Gone Feral, James Holden delivers another 12" of singular techno abstraction that bolsters the Border Community main man's intention to surge ahead with starkly original material. "The Illuminations" is a fast-paced thriller that mixes analogue mischief into psychedelic leanings, leaning on a constantly surging rhythmic intention as a sturdy backbone for long-form synth tweaking of a resolutely hand made nature. On the flip you can lose yourself in the pure drum workout of the "Drumsolo" mix, where the frenetic patterns make for a potent techno tool, or alternatively you can cut loose the percussive anchors and drift off on the ambient wonderment of the "Arpsolo".

Review: It's been seven years since Holden's debut album The Idiots Are Winning was released on his own Border Community imprint, and in that time new material has been scarce to say the least. Thankfully, The Inheritors was well worth the wait; produced with a combination of Holden's extensive analogue modular system and his own self-coded software, the album takes in influences as wide as The KLF, Elgar, ceilidh music, pentatonic folk scales and ancient pagan rituals, with each track recorded in one take with no overdubs. Border Community cohort Luke Abbott's Holkham Drones album would be the closest comparison, but even that superb record doesn't come close to the sprawling marvel that is The Inheritors, with highlights like the jazz sax of "The Caterpillar's Intervention" and twisting analogue techno of "Gone Feral" coming thick and fast.

Review: A massive underground tune, check out the sound file if you missed this. Very nice!!

Review: UK-Polish duo Holden & Zimpel return with more adventures in Kraut-jazz-techno, if that's even a thing. The description certainly makes sense on 'Saturday', which opens the scoring here on a tip that is at once informed by Underground Resistance, drone-y avant-garde and something with flutes. Starting as it means to go on, to say the least. From there we run through days of the week in order to 'Wednesday', making this one of the longest weekends we can think of in some time. 'Sunday''s distorted strings sounding almost like a strange species communicating via fraught noises. 'Tuesday' is more rhythmically balanced, almost risking coming close to more standard electronica as its melodies reach ever higher, before the final number closes out with an air of euphoria and subtle drive.