Nummer Vinyl & CDs

Review: Paul Mahoux's BuLu was a groundbreaking project when it was originally released 30 years ago on the French label Virtual. The Parisian, who is now based in Okinawa, crafted 'Silicon-Shepherd' and 'Senegalese-Sharpshooter' as defining tracks of the early trance scene and both of them transcended techno and house boundaries in all new ways. Side A features chopped vocals, trippy synths and M1 slap bass for some peak-time euphoria with a mind-expanding edge. On the flip, things slow down with a mix of traditional instruments and mystical choirs for a meditative journey. Remixes round out this great revising of a 90s free-spirited sound.

Review: After impressing with a couple of unrelenting EPs of raw analogue house and techno on Going Good and Peur Bleue, French duo Nummer decided to launch their own label earlier this year. Here, they follow-up their debut release for that eponymous imprint, To The D, with a second dose of clattering dancefloor fare. Opener "Street War Success" is unflinchingly punishing, with industrial textures and wild electronics riding a muddy but bombastic, bass-heavy groove. They try their hand at dancefloor-focused IDM on the tuneful and enveloping "The Golden Age", before "Downtown Breukelen" draws proceedings to a close via ghostly pads, Drexciyan textures and bubbling downtempo beats.

Review: Ex-London based French duo Nummer have apparently upped sticks for a life in electronic music mecca Berlin. They are coming at you with the seventh edition on their eponymous imprint here. Emmanuel Corre and Silvere Letellier get funky feeling on the A side with the soulful Motor City inspired groove deepness of "Daybreaker", while on the flip "303 Life" takes things into trippier afterhours territory with its slow-motion acid flashback. Similar to their awesome work as Detroit Syndrome but less on the electro tip and more of an emphasis on classic techno.

Review: Since parting company with Going Good a few years back, Nummer has successfully been self-releasing their own forthright machine music. The London-based French duo continues to impress on this first three-track salvo of 2018. Arguably the strongest cut here is A-side "Life Is A Hideout", a muddy and bass-heavy concoction built around bustling breakbeats, foreboding bass, creepy electronics and slowly blossoming synthesizer chords. The track's rhythmic looseness is matched by the dense, dystopian sound soup of "The Magic City" - an impeccably creepy affair that reminded us of mid-'80s Test Department - while "Quiet Nights" sees them successfully play around with pots-and-pans percussion, delay-laden trumpet samples and a mutant acid bassline.

Review: French duo in London Nummer are back on their eponymous imprint with some esoteric and tripped out jams that take you deep into the exotic. On the A side we have "Out Of The Darkness" a slow burning exercise in hypnotism with shamanic qualities, and the heady tribal trance of "Primal Fire": if the subtle acid flashes won't grab you, the polyrhythms certainly will. On the flip, the neon lit balearica of "Ajaja Rhythmus" over its glorious 11 minute duration had us rather impressed. As did "Meditation In Baltimore" which is the EP's finest moment. This evocative and bittersweet jam features some rolling tribal rhythms beneath some celestial synths and soothing pads, which are altogether quite brilliant indeed.

Review: Over the course of their six-year career, French twosome Nummer have slowly morphed from fresh-faced angular techno enthusiasts, to makers of admired electronic music rooted in a widescreen and nuanced musical vision. Their growing maturity is much in evidence on "Night Confidence", an EP that effortlessly flits between deep, dreamy and delay-laden lo-fi deep house bliss ("Sea Junkies"), sleazy, acid-fired, alien-sounding late night house weirdness ("Hassen (Dub)"), extra-percussive fusions of Burrell Brothers style deep house and new age beauty ("Kyoto's Forest"), and the wonderful analogue/organic fusion that is rolling, outer-space house jam "Windchill". An inspired EP from a duo whose music is sounding fresher than ever.