Cititrax/Minimal Wave US Vinyl & CDs

Review: BOOM! Our favourites, Cititrax, roll the third editions of Tracks out onto our shelves, and the results are unsurprisingly strong on this excellent various artists comp. It's a mixed bag of skills, as per usual, and the sounds are those of a new NYC, fuelled by a new sort of post-industrial sensibility. Amato Y Mariana open with the tight beats and groove of "Queires Bailar", followed closely by the ominous compositions of the EBM-flavoured "Montgat" from The Sixteen Steps. On the flip, His Dirty Secrets bleeps out some morphed acid on "Structures", and "Another Stranger" from Further Reductions churns out a slow, mild-mannered house experiment with its roots clearly planted in the coldest of waves. Sick.

Review: There's a delightfully celebratory feel about this debut volume of Cititrax Tracks, a new 12" series from Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax. As beautifully presented as we've come to expect, Tracks Volume 1 boasts a quartet of dancefloor-ready smashers from a blend of new faces and label stalwarts. Amato (aka The Hacker) kicks things off with the glistening EBM funk of "Physique" - all restless synth refrains and pounding bottom end - before LIES affiliate Tsuzing go all dark, psychedelic and twisted on the thrillingly intense, acid-flecked "King of System". An-I go all DAF (with a touch of Front 242) on the fuzzy and dystopian stomper "Mutter", before Cititrax regulars Broken English Club delivers a storming chunk of industrial-tinged analogue funk ("Glass"). Bravo!

Review: Earlier this year Minimal Wave offshoot provided one of this year's most visceral dancefloor weapons in Kino-I, the debut from Doug Lee's new An-I project. Taking inspiration from techno, jack, industrial and punk, An-I successfully drew a line under some of the Berlin-based artist's previous disco-flavoured endeavours. And then some! If you like the Kino-I 12" you will love the new triplet of An-I productions housed on this appropriately titled Gutz 12". The title track alone should come with a health warning; such is the furious onslaught of machine funk it contains, whilst the unnerving "Rut" is the most schizophrenic production you will hear this year. Best of all id closing track "Save Us" sounds like a cross between in Aeternam Vale and Silent Servant. Pressed on a rather thick and dashing slab of magenta orange vinyl!

Review: An-i is the excellent new project from Doug Lee, a man previously responsible for some superb dancefloor ammo as part of TBD alongside Justin Vandervolgen, as well as working with Lovefingers on more mellow fare as The Stallions. If you were one of the lucky few to grab his Bad News 12" with LIES don Ron Morelli then you'll be ready for the haywire nature of the Kino-i EP. Finding a perfect home on Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax, the EP sees the Berlin based producer indulge his machine love on three variations of the same track that almost explode off the wax - must check for fans of Nation, LIES, Mathematics. Pressed up on fluorescent 160gm yellow vinyl and housed in a high gloss black and white sleeve.

Review: An-i is the alias of Berlin-based Korean-American Doug Lee, an artist with over two decades in the game already under several different monikers. This is the third EP to come under this name since debuting it in 2015 and finds him in an even more bold and adventurous mode than ever. Opener 'Rabble' is controlled techno chaos, a flurry of whirring machines and unrelenting drums that will frazzle your brain. 'Rubble' is just as intense, a big wall of rusted synth work and industrial noise mangled into something rhythmic and futuristic. 'Chapel Perilous' on the flip then offers up a spaced-out journey deep into the inner psyche. A welcome return from a truly singular artist that comes on fluorescent yellow wax.

Review: Rampant and 'up for it' as usual, the Cititrax label is back with a new set of wayward technoid experiments for the more trained ears on the dancefloors. This time it's Romania's Borusiade and newcomer The Sixteen Steps who share two sides of a wax plate and, of course, proceed to annihilate any idea of a quiet night in. The former sets off with the mechanical acid bumps of "Infatuation", guided by an eerie set of vocal blurs, and that's followed by the comparatively more beat-centric techno of the apocalyptic "Confutation". On the flip, The Sixteen Steps first lands on "Signals From The South", a house banger with noxious levels of mutant bass at its core, followed by the single-minded industrialism and sheer techno brutality of "Promises On The Run". WOWZAH!

Review: Having made his name during the late '90s and early 2000s as a maker of particularly forthright techno, Oliver Ho has broadened his horizons in recent years. Nowhere is that more obvious on his Broken English Club project, which debuted last year with a pair of industrial and EBM minded releases for Jealous God and Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax. Here he returns to the latter, laying down more fuzzy, straight-to-tape journeys into analogue, mid '80s dancefloor experimentalism. There's naturally much to enjoy, from the peak Cabaret Voltaire grittiness of "Drycutting", and the bleak EBM throb of "Ritual Killing", to the ghostly synthesizers, Jaydee bass and droning textures of "Channel 83".

Review: Minimal Wave's Cititrax imprint has had one of its most prolific years to date in 2013, with the release of excellent albums from Streetwalker and The KVB, and a KVB remix EP featuring the likes of Regis, Silent Servant and Shifted. The Veronica Vasicka-helmed label looks to expand on that success with a number of forthcoming releases planned over the next few months commencing with the debut EP of Facit, whose Mat At Duvorna EP is described by the label as "quintessential melancholic Swedish wave at its finest." Comprised of Joakim Karlsson and Mai Nestor on vocals, the Gothenburg native Karlsson has previous form as Jocke & Elliot, under which name he released an electro-inspired 12-inch on Swedish label Kust Musik in 2010. this new project seems to be more downtempo in nature, with a sound that most resembles a modern day version of French synthwave duo Deux, making them perfect for the stable of labels run by Vasicka.

Review: The lesser spotted Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax gets manoeuvred back into the spotlight for something special. Working together with Veronica Vasicka, South Florida electro punk icons Futurisk tasked four of their biggest fans with remixing their iconic track "Lonely Streets". Perhaps closest to their hearts is the remix from the legendary Chris Carter, which Futurisk's Jeremy Kosoline acknowledges was how they would have liked the original to sound back in 1982 had they the equipment and time. Alongside the shimmering analogue brilliance of Carter's version, NYC fixture Prince Language also steps up with a haunting mid tempo industrial disco version. On the flip, Citinite's Complexxion embellishes the track with some synth heavy retro electro goodness whilst Tom Furse of The Horrors adds yet another fine remix to his CV with a heavily arpeggiated lean.

Review: Mutual Dreaming, the second album from Innergaze, casts its members Aurora Halal and Jason Letkiewicz as stateside contemporary versions of our own Chris & Cosey. The ideas shown in Innergaze's recording career to date seem more fully formed across the eight tracks on this album courtesy of Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax. Mutual Dreaming is undeniably more coherent than the sugary hypno-disco of the duo's 100% Silk drop last year. It's possible to say Halal and Letkiewicz have gleaned more than titular influence from the Mutual Dreaming club night they run in Brooklyn, the various guests that have joined them freeing up their minds musically and allowing them to explore ideas new. There's a saturation of sound throughout that is as vivid as Halal's video work and from the opening, almost brutal synth and drum machine manipulation of the title track you can hear fully the fingers of Letkiewicz.

Review: Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax present this compelling addendum release to Immaterial Visions, the excellent LP from rising leather clad duo The KVB. An illustrious cast of producers have been invited to remix tracks from the album, with Jealous God/DNS pair Regis and Silent Servant joined by Minimal Wave act In Aeternam Vale and Avian duo Shifted and Ventress - the latter as Worn. Regis remixes "Dayzed" which is clearly a favourite of the Downwards icon, having previously selected the track for inclusion on last year's So Click Heels compilation; in O'Connor's hands the song is given a fizzing revision that relegates all sonic elements deep beneath the swaggering bass riff. Mere remnants of The KVB remain intact on Shifted's remix of "I Only See The Lights" as the intensity of feedback is transformed into a taut, minimalist growl, whilst Silent Servant offers a subtle smudged cold wave remix of "Pray To The Light Machine". Despite their massive discography, In Aeternam Vale are unknown quantities to many outside MW/Cititrax enthusiasts but the Lyon act are in fine form with their stomping take on "Lines" whilst Ventress debuts the Worn project with a swampy reverb-laden sinister cosmiche recast of "Old Life".

Review: The don of Birmingham techno Karl O'Connor serves up some live rarities courtesy of retroverts Cititrax. Features recently uncovered recordings of a Regis performance in NYC on January 4th, 1997 at the famed Film Academy. His unmistakeable sound and influence is integral to the DNA of the techno sound, blatantly copied but never matched. Some classics from the Downwards catalogue are contained on this EP in all their austere fashion. "We Said No" "Translation" and "Careless Pedestrian" from his seminal 1996 LP Gymnastics being highlights. The original tapes were discovered by Evan Kreeger, studio work/transfers by James Ruskin in London and audio mastered by Veronica Vasicka in New York.

Review: Self-proclaimed "techno body music" duo Schwefelgelb seem a neat fit with Cititrax, the Minimal Wave sub-label set up to handle contemporary electronic music rather than reissues. There's something particularly muscular, robust and otherworldly about their label debut, which remarkably is their first EP of original tracks for two years. Opener "Die Dunne Hand" sets the tone, with the pair conjuring up a throbbing, mind-altering EBM-funk workout that sounds like an unlikely Nitzer Ebb cover version of the KLF's "What Time Is Love", while "Auf Die Erde" sees them wrap crunchy percussion and dystopian vocal snippets around a surging EBM bassline. Side B begins with the stripped-back metallic mutant funk of "Die Augen Gehen", before the duo dives into chugging, flash-fried industrial/electro/techno fusion on the mind-bending "Das Blid Das Wiederkehrt".

Review: If you've been keeping abreast of all things Minimal Wave this year, you'll probably have picked up on Veronica Vasicka hinting at a forthcoming split release from Silent Servant and Broken English Club, the new project from UK techno man Oliver Ho. We've certainly been eagerly awaiting it her at Juno HQ and it's great to see Violence And Divinity live up to and surpass these expectations! Silent Servant mans the A Side with two tracks that will be familiar to anyone that's been lucky enough to catch his live sets of late, indeed it's almost too easy to visualise the flashing strobes as the pummelling EBM lines of "Cut Unconscious" unravel and beat you down. The two accompanying productions from Ho's Broken English Club dovetail nicely, but veer off into more wave orientated territory, with "Divinity" sounding quite like some of the earlier material put out by In Aeternam Vale. In a word superb.

Review: ** Repress ** If you've been keeping abreast of all things Minimal Wave this year, you'll probably have picked up on Veronica Vasicka hinting at a forthcoming split release from Silent Servant and Broken English Club, the new project from UK techno man Oliver Ho. We've certainly been eagerly awaiting it her at Juno HQ and it's great to see Violence And Divinity live up to and surpass these expectations! Silent Servant mans the A Side with two tracks that will be familiar to anyone that's been lucky enough to catch his live sets of late, indeed it's almost too easy to visualise the flashing strobes as the pummelling EBM lines of "Cut Unconscious" unravel and beat you down. The two accompanying productions from Ho's Broken English Club dovetail nicely, but veer off into more wave orientated territory, with "Divinity" sounding quite like some of the earlier material put out by In Aeternam Vale. In a word superb.

Review: Cititrax's first Tracks 12" sampler did a good job in showcasing material from some of the Brooklyn-based label's favourite contemporary producers. This follow-up, arriving only a few short months after the first, aims to do the same. Returning for his second appearance, Tsuzing kicks things off with the razor-sharp shuffle of "Nonlinear War", whose intoxicating electronics and wild synth lines recall Brown Album-era Orbital, before London-based L/F/D/M takes a trip into bleak techno territory with the acid-laden "Mouth Holes". Flip for Silent Servant's deliciously grandiose, muscular electro-disco workout "The Touch", and the clanking industrial percussion, EBM attitude and humming electro beats of Maelstrom's "Lithium".