Central Processing Unit Vinyl & CDs

Review: There are many things about this debut album from exiled Sheffielder 96 Back that are, frankly, remarkable. For starters, it's utterly brilliant and sounds like the work of an artist with years in the game under his belt, rather than a 19-year-old who is still making his way in the scene. As you'd expect, it's rooted in electro, with the Bristol-based youngster flitting between dashing alien funk ("Matryoshka"), freestyle-influenced cheeriness ("Excited, Boy"), weighty, Drexciya style rollers ("Ghzel Tea"), sub-heavy sleaze ("Digi Trigger"), early Aphex Twin-meets-DMX Krew melodiousness ("Vennsate") and rush-inducing workouts that are giddier than your average toddler after a few too many shots of neat orange squash.

Review: Central Processing Unit welcome cross-genre fusionists Biochip for another spelling bind album that mixes up electro, IDM, brain dance and plenty of in between sounds. At times their style sis as smooth and liquid and Drexcyia, at others more gnarly and dark. 'Mind Bubbles' is the gurgling opener with nimble drum programming, and from there things really take off with the gliding and icy grooves of 'Polymorphic State'. The likes of 'Antagonist (part 6)' spin you out with more complex lectures and frazzled synths and from there the highlights keep on coming.

Review: Central Processing Unit's most recent album releases, from 96 Back, Noumen and Nullptr, were all incredible, so hopes are naturally high for this full-length from hip-hop beat-maker turned electro scene stalwart Paul Blackford. It is, unsurprisingly, rather good, with Blackford delivering a string of cuts that mix ear-pleasing analogue basslines (some squelchy, others more angular) with relaxed chords, shimmering synthesizer sounds, picturesque melodies and beats that are largely a lot more laidback than some of the punchy, sci-fi flavoured fare CPU has been putting out of late. Blackford's hip-hop roots can be heard in the swing of the beats, while the melodies and synth sounds used throughout are far warmer and woozier than the often cold and clinical choices associated with the more intergalactic end of the electro spectrum.

Review: Blackplod is one of the key artists in the Central Processing Unit set up and he has been for a little while now. Helping to cement his status is his debut album Enter Universe which comes after a trio of top EPs since 2021. Here he levels up his sound across 12 tracks of dizzying leftfield electro that draws on the classics while sketching out the future of the sound. 'Pulsation' sets a great tone from the off with meandering synths and stepping basslines then there's mystery and intrigue on the likes of 'Material Collapse' and squelchy and bleeping alien lifeforms that bring tracks like 'The Mission' alive.

Review: Sheffield's Central Processing Unit has long been in a fine run of form, and right at the sharp end of the contemporary electro scene. The same can be said of latest signing Bochum Welt, who as far back as 1994 was releasing on Aphex Twin's influential Rephlex label, but here he goes ambient. Often making tracks that go on to be part of his mesmeric live show, this album makes use of the artists "old monster synths" and is subtly coloured by the Steel City's rich history of standout keys players, from Human League to Cabaret Voltaire. Largely consisting of a range of ambient beauties that take in hazy summer afternoon soundtracks, suspensory cosmic trips and heavenly ascensions, there's also a badass squelchy electro jam to wake you from your reverie.

Review: Drew Lustman's longstanding FaltyDL moniker makes a welcome return with a debut full length record for the eminent Central Processing Unit label. In The Wake Of Wolves deconstructs Lustman's usual rough dance sound for a less predictable album-length breakdown, retaining his usual arid textures while playing up the more sound-designed and maximalist ends of his craft. In the pithy words of CPU: "This could pass for Four Tet or even Hannah Diamond at points, the steady build of pulsing synths and looped vocals recalling a more mysterious version of the PC Music sound." Whether you totally agree, you'd have to agree FaltyDL has at least taken on something of their contemporary future-pop/digisonic aesthetic and incorporated it into his own; this is most evident on the glassy pirouettes and gladiate complexities of 'Minds Protection', or the tenebrous post-punk descensions of 'New Friends', or many maximized IDM trap-doors and toolroom hard-clips of 'Workout'.

Review: Filipovich is a distinctive artist known for her work across various media including found footage films, painting, silkscreening, and performance. Her recent musical releases have picked up plenty of attention starting with 2021's Magnificat on Time Released Sound, which featured treated samples of Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil. In Idealized, her debut on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit, she shifts to contemporary techno while maintaining her signature gothic atmosphere. The album showcases minimal and dub techno influences with tracks like 'Physical' and 'Wave' employing steady drum pulses and delay-drenched loops. Idealized blends respect for techno tradition with Filipovich's innovative approach to sound.

Review: A surprising addition to Sheffield electro label Central Processing Unit is French enfant terrible Joan-Mael Peneau aka Maelstrom - who many of you may know more for his noisy, bass driven techno exploits over the years on labels like Bromance, RAAR and Zone in conjunction with Louisahhh. The Alph4 EP sees him explore more abstract and experimental forms of underground electronics that are absolutely in harmony with CPSmith's modus operandi. From the retro futurist dystopian breaks of "Who Else Is Reading" or "Letter From M", through to the soulfully emotive futurism of "Lost Echoes" (feat Djedjotronic) and the lo-fi acid sleaze of "Vznietit" - its indeed a surprisingly impressive EP from the Paris based producer.

Review: Maelstrom returns to Central Processing Unit for his fourth outing, and this time he's dropping his longest release yet. French electro mainstay Joan-Mael Peneau, known to many as Maelstrom, has been a fixture on the scene since the early 2000s, and he brings every ounce of that experience to his new LP, The FM Tapes. Spanning 11 tracks, this album is a masterclass in precision, confidence, and control. From the opening moments of 'Ondes Courtes', Maelstrom makes it clear that he's not here to mess around. The track offers a dark, brooding take on electro, with tight, shuffling beats and expertly layered synth work that sets the tone for what's to come. Tracks like 'Alt50ser' follow, pushing forward with mechanical rhythms and a frenetic energy that could only come from an artist with such a seasoned hand. 'La Vie Sociale Des Sons' showcases his knack for combining complex soundscapes with raw, dancefloor-ready energy, blending heavy basslines with shimmering top-end details. The album's centrepiece, 'Res 06 (feat. Fasme)', serves as a standout, bringing in an almost cinematic quality. The beats remain hard and driving, but there's a subtle elegance in the way Maelstrom weaves textures around them, creating something that feels both intense and intricate. Yet, despite all the technical wizardry, The FM Tapes never feels cold or clinical. There's a warmth to tracks like 'My Digitone', where the rhythms are precise but still leave room for playfulness and experimentation. It's this balance of meticulous craftsmanship and spontaneous energy that defines the LP and makes it feel so vital.

Review: Under the Mikron alias, the Corcoran brothers have been responsible for some of the best thought-out and executed electronic music of recent years. While that may seem like a bold claim, it's backed up by the quality of music on sophomore set "Severance". Their specialism is rich, spacey and emotive fare that sits somewhere between IDM, electro, new wave and Italo-disco. There's plenty of this kind of intelligent fare on offer here, alongside more downtempo offerings such as the hip-hop beat-driven shuffle of "Aldergrove", the dub techno influenced deepness of "Imora", the subterranean wonkiness of "Cast On A Clock Face" and the liquid ambient bliss of "Oceania".

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Central Processing Unit continues their run of fine albums via a sophomore set from Noumen, a Ukrainian producer whose debut full length "Apeiron" was one of the Sheffield-based imprint's finest releases of 2017. He begins by doing his best impression of Autechre at their experimental best on "Mist", before escorting us through high-octane "Braindance" style IDM ("Hydra"), experimental D&B ("Call Of Darkness"), intense cut-up electronica ("Clinch"), wonky lo-fi workouts ("Square"), intergalactic post-dubstep soundscapes ("Spleen Tear"), and the kind of drifting, intergalactic goodness that's always been CPU's bread and butter ("Arclight").

Review: Central Processing Unit continues their run of fine albums via a sophomore set from Noumen, a Ukrainian producer whose debut full length "Apeiron" was one of the Sheffield-based imprint's finest releases of 2017. He begins by doing his best impression of Autechre at their experimental best on "Mist", before escorting us through high-octane "Braindance" style IDM ("Hydra"), experimental D&B ("Call Of Darkness"), intense cut-up electronica ("Clinch"), wonky lo-fi workouts ("Square"), intergalactic post-dubstep soundscapes ("Spleen Tear"), and the kind of drifting, intergalactic goodness that's always been CPU's bread and butter ("Arclight").

Review: As anyone who copped his 2016 debut album as Nullptr will attest, Eddie Symons' brand of electro is audibly more far-sighted and otherworldly than his peers. Given that electro is by its very nature a futurist artistic form, that's high praise indeed. Symons is naturally in fine form on the aptly titled "Future World", his first album for much-loved Sheffield imprint Central Processing Unit. Full of bustling beats, bold analogue melodies, shimmering chords, squelchy bass and undulating acid lines, the set offers a well-judged balance between angular, forthright club cuts - many of which are in a similar sonic vein to Drexciya - and deeper, more melodious moments that reminded us a little of Gerard Hanson's work as Convexion and Boris Bunnik's Versalife releases.

Review: While he may have been serving up sporadic albums and singles since the mid 2000s, Emile Facey AKA Plant43 has never been in better form than he is right now - as last year's superb ambient album on Shipwrec proved. "Three Dimensions", a thrillingly spacious, melodic and intergalactic album that marks his debut for Central Processing Unit, is similarly impressive. This time round he's once again showcasing the deep and evocative style of futurist electro that has long been his staple sound. The results are uniformly outstanding, from the triple-time shuffle of "Orange Neon Display" and starburst warmth of "Check The Resolution", to the spiraling synthesizer supernova of "Disrupt & Disobey" and the ultra-deep and dreamy bliss of "Lo-res Dreams".

Review: Sean Dorris' S>>D project was always bound to end up on Central Processing Unit; after all, they do tend to recruit the very best of the electro game, and the producer's previous release for the likes of Icasea have established him as someone to push the genre forwards into next century. Co Intel Pro is a curious blend of different influences and ideas, all liquefied down to a shape-shifting electro structure that even Stingray would find hard to blend up for the dancefloor sets. These fifteen tracks, in truth, are a much deeper array of sounds, and it is ambient and drone sounds which make up the best part of it. If you're looking for that soundtrack aesthetic, but want a little but of movement in those pads, you'd be picking up the right release. Most importantly, you'll be copping an album with a clear vision, and a well-constructed story at its core. Industrial goodness, right here.

Review: If you needed any more evidence that Central Processing Unit are fine purveyors of highly engineered electro, then here it is in the form of an immaculate LP by the one and only Carl Finlow under his Silicon Scally moniker. Across the nine tracks featured on the Field Lines album, you have typically precise sci-fi beats ('Receptors'), imaginary future soundtracks ('Empty Hallways'), Toulon-Detroit connections ('Inhibitor') as well as the sounds of outer space transmissions ('Submerged') and the sounds of alien intergalactic warfare on the epic 'Static Fire'.

Review: We find ourselves mulling over years of munificent machine music from Sheffield's Central Processing Unit, who celebrate their systematic success with a 13-year retrofit compilation, bringing together some of its best ever sonic chips in the game. Having marked every release so far with a binary numbers system designed to classify each release in the brutal manner of an adamantium-clad computer, CPU128 classics celebrates the crispest, most-kilowatted tunes to grace the South Yorkshire algo's catalogue, from its beta test days as the prototyper of Cygnus' 2012 LP Newmark Phase, to DMX Krew's clattering 'Not Very' and Jensen Intercepter's 'mActavis'.

Review: Since launching five years ago, Chris Smith's Central Processing Unit label has risen to become one of the finest purveyors of electro, IDM and intelligent techno on the planet. Here, Smith has decided to celebrate the story so far with a luxurious, double-vinyl set featuring brand new remixes of CPU catalogue classics. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the braindance-goes-techno rush of Missqulater's remix of CN's "Zener Diode Blues" and the Motor City-meets-the-Steel City brilliance of Plant43's rework of Blixaboy, to the sludgy, slo-mo bliss of Noumen reworking B12, and the latter's thrillingly beautiful interpretation of Ms Jynx's "Diving Loop". In other words, it's a brilliant collection of analogue electronic music from some of the greatest talents in the game. We wouldn't have expected anything less, to be honest.