Kalahari Oyster Cult Vinyl & CDs

Review: "Digital native. Noun. A person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age." Prime handler of comet powder-fuelled floor heroics for the sun-dazed hours, Melbourne's Escape Artist made quite the impression with his previous pair of EPs for Salt Mines and much enticing debut tape album for Couch Acid Recordings. Turning up on Kalahari Oyster Cult with his anticipated third outing, 'Digital Natives', the Aussie producer pulls out a quartet of old-school ravey pumpers, rife with the usual pack of patented Escape Artist tropes. Kalahari's 19th oyster is sure to get dancers wading knee-deep in their own sweat as EA takes care of whooshing us off to dreamier Utopian heights in one smooth movement.

Review: While much of Volodymyr Gnatenko's album was produced during the worst points of the ongoing global pandemic, it sounds scarily contemporary - not least because the Ukranian producer's love of poignant chords, melancholic melodies and heart-aching aural textures are as emotionally resonant as the horrors currently unfolding in his homeland. Rainalice, his debut album, is undoubtedly a triumph: a thrillingly retro-futurist collection of IDM, electro and ambient techno excursions completed in his Kyiv studio (where he now shelters during air raids), that inadvertently offer a reminder of the vibrancy of the pre-war electronic music scene in Ukraine whilst sonically transporting listeners to some distant plant or galaxy.

Review: Following a recent headline-grabbing appearance on Eversines' 'Plooi EP' and the release of his debut 12", 'RDS Theme', on De Lichting, RDS delivers his first 12-inch for Kalahari Oyster Cult. It's a typically trippy, mind-altering affair, with the Amsterdam-based artist first channelling the spirit of 1993 progressive house on the acid-laden, otherworldly stomp of '2312', before joining the dots between jazzy deep house, breakbeat hardcore and mid-90s D&B on 'BB Suite'. On 'Silky', he layers intergalactic-sounding synth refrains and dreamy chords over an uber-deep, Rob Gordon style bassline and rolling deep house beats, while 'Autechrein' sees RDS doff a cap towards head-nodding, hip-hop influenced mid-90s IDM.

Review: Having previously impressed with some deliciously wide-eyed, mind-mangling missives on Salt Mines, Planet Euphorique and Craigie Knowes, Reptant pops up on Kalahari Oyster Cult with some similarly inclining late night workouts. Check first title track "Phasic Reflex", a bustling body-pop across intergalactic electro territory that flits between string-laden dreaminess and weighty, acid-fired wonkiness, before admiring the tighter electro bounce of the Egyptian Lover-ish "MS Plenty". Over on side B it's all about "A Realist's Realistic Reality", where Reptant's foreboding, spacey and Dexter-ish original version comes accompanied by a wonderfully melodious, breakbeat-driven electronica re-make by Roza Terenzi.

Review: SUED co-pilot SW offers up a six track MyDefinition of techno on Kalahari Oyster Cult that is utterly fresh. He starts with dubbed out rhythms and percolating percussion before getting tripped out and break-y on 'Moonnewso On', with its alien effects and squelchy bass. 'Goiossee' is another slow motion braindance the 'Massless' recalls the early work of Two Loneswordsmen. There are hectic rhythms and wild detuned chords tumbling all over the place on 'J JustMUST4y' before closing salvo 'VFXpeaksTWIN' is an ambient piece pairing church chords with breaking waves. Weird and wonderful.