RE:ST Switzerland Vinyl & CDs

Review: Fresh off the back of Cryptographic's intense 'Echo' release comes this fitting V/A from the ever-intriguing Swiss experimental 170 label Re:st. Music to realign our Covid-ravaged chakras to 'Re:align' introduces three new names to the label; Alternate Current steams out of the gates with a dub techno juggernaut 'Borrowed Language' while Dreadmaul & Tobe:n whip a rhythmic stampede that's screaming to be unleashed on a big system with 'Homunculus'. Flip for two slightly more cosmic tales as label founder LCP gently pats us down with the trickling lolloping loops of 'Off Limits' before Books signs us out with the sparse and skippy 'Cosine'. Refine your alignments.

Review: De Lichting member Human Space Machine makes his debut on Re.st with four uncompromising techno / broken beat fusions. Each cut writhing and exploring a different tempo and style but painting from the same palette, 'Zone' sets the technoid/D&B tone while 'Unmade' hurls us deep into the dubby abyss. Flip for more highly contrasting dynamics as 'Sigh' goes full-on ploughman 4x4 while 'Slo' lives up to its name in a deep and dreamy way. Get lost in the zone!

Review: Re:st regular Lcp has so far proven to be a producer with many musical talents, offering up a string of releases that flit between ambient, techno, IDM and off-kilter dancefloor moves. "Carried From Secret Seas" marks the producer's first solo EP for two years and sees him combine club-ready rhythms with evocative ambient chords and far-sighted, intergalactic electronics. The most robust of the three tracks is "Rural Nightline", a heavy, stripped-back and effects laden drum workout that's as creepy and clandestine as it is tough and intense. The other two cuts, "Minus 10" and "Carried From Secret Seas", are both far more dreamy and positive in tone, with Lcp wrapping ambient textures and soft focus melodies around deep broken techno beats.

Review: Nekyia (previously of Neurosplit) last appeared in November 2018 on a standout VA for Ruffhouse & Gremlinz's UVB-76. Now they're back with a solo outing on RE:ST that offers some thrillingly dark and deep bass music. "White Sky, Nicotine Lips" is a superbly heavyweight rhythm built on lurching loops that pin you to the floor, "Killing Daylight" is even more empty and unsettling, like prowling a desolate urban landscape. Flipside "Vurrgh" gets busy with minimal drum programming and layers of static and industrial hum and hiss that bring a real sense of paranoia. "About The Beauty Of Gold Among Ruins" closes out with bleak and smoky warehouse techno that hypnotises you in no time. Vital stuff.

Review: UK deepsmith Synkro links with Romanian kindred spirit Dyl for this very special four-tracker on Swiss label Re.st. Every bit as immersive and emotive as you'd expect from such a meeting of minds, all laced together with strong elements of dub and ambient textures, 'Voices' ushers into the duo's unique cosmos before we float through a series of beats and atmospheres. The dubby hypnosis of 'Faded', the gentle echoes and pulses and twinkling arpeggios of 'On The Run' and the graceful, dusky hues of the finale 'Empty Faces'. Limited to 150 copies, blink and you'll miss this.

Review: Adam O'Hara's surreal ambient-drone debut 'Eyes Open' was a cerebral, yet relaxing experience, though on his latest EP, the drone influences take more of a spotlight. On the opening track 'Hearing the Scent of the Colour Red' and on the title track, incorporating gentle rhythmic percussion and other spliced samples to conjure an almost alien experience. The journey climaxes on 'I Am Your Geometry' where a mixture of glitched noise and increasing cicada sound produces an atmosphere of extraterrestrial unease, not unlike the feelings conjured by the paintings of Alex Grey, from which the EP was named after. The 1995 oil painting shows a surreal tunnel of eyes, looking passively up towards a warm light. Collective Vision is a textural dive into exploration of the unknown, is a thought-provoking listen and is well deserving as a unique collectors piece.