Search results: Rotation

Review: Sound Signature kick off the new year with a pleasing reissue of some smoky soul from Theo Parrish's outlet for his most jazzy tendencies. On "Seasons Of My Life" Billy Lo croons over a muted trumpet while a surprisingly rough stomp gets hammered out of a live kit. It's a dreamy, sunkissed jam with all the loose, free-flowing elements you would expect from something with Parrish's stamp on it. Marcellus Pittman helps out on "Feedback", as a sparser, meandering groove does the nasty with some restrained keys. For that Detroit beatdown flavour away from the dancefloor, this is as good as it gets.

Review: Long stretched and building house grooves by Theo Parrish & live band.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.

Notes: The replacement kit includes 2 pairs of rotation wheels, 5 pcs of the air filter and 5 pcs of water filter.

Inside The Package:

Rotation Wheel x 2 sets
Air filters x 5 pcs
Water filters x 5 pcs
EVA stickers x 2 pcs

Review: Sean McCabe's work has formed a solid backbone for Dave Lee's Z Records in the last couple of years. He has a fresh disco style that pairs the old with the new in essential ways. For this new 12" he teases his new album with a sampler of four reworks and remixes. His take on 'Now What' is deep and glossy, then he takes The Blackbyrds' 'Mysterious Vibes' in a slick and soulful deep house direction complete with standout lead sax. The deep house mood continues on the 'Timeline' remix chi has late night keys and exudes real warmth. Last of all is a fantastic broken beat workout that is lush and jazzy.

Review: The man best known as Convextion assumes his ERP aka Event Related Potential alias for four more next level cuts that find him pushing his electro electronics ever more into the future. 'V/Eight' opens with a melancholic bassline under busy drum programming to get things going. 'Equiponderance' is more complex with squirming electronics, more hefty bass notes and serene background pads adding a third dimension. 'Engine Vibration' is a more gritty mix of busy analogue machinery and star-gazing chords then 'Enfield' closes with optimistic sonics and propulsive bouncy bass to end this cosmic cruise on a high.

Notes: Kamieniec is an analog signal processing module directly inspired by a range of classic phaser effect units from 1970s that helped to define entire musical genres. Most of these classic devices contained a fairly small number of phase shifting stages, but made up for that lack with tons of character! However, what was initially intended for guitars is not necessarily sufficient for synthesizers. Therefore, the intention is to preserve the classic sound as it's transported it to a new tonal space while prioritizing flexible modular usability.

Just like many of the famous OTA-based phasers of the 1970s, Kamieniec sports four tuneable stages. However, there are two additional fixed stages included so as to increase the number of notches, and ultimately offer two versions of the mixed signal (that may be used as a stereo pair) at the two outputs of the unit. While the general topology is similar to a certain very classic phaser pedal, the circuitry has been redesigned with modern components and low noise op-amps to bring down the noise floor, improve the bandwidth, and offer a wider range of tuning. The feedback control can be set extremely deep, which results in a very high resonance that is capable of self-oscillation. This produces a unique sound otherwise unreachable for typical phasers, which can vary from subtle and creamy to utterly brutal and grinding. On top of that we've included switchable feedback paths, individual stage group outputs, CV inputs, built-in LFO, and daisy chaining ability to provide a comprehensive integration with a modular synthesizer system.

Expandability:
Unlike any other phaser module, multiple Kamieniec units can be chained together to achieve a more radical response with many notches. The general idea of chaining is to pass along the phase shifted signal to subsequent units before it is mixed with the original version in the last unit of the chain. This approach has a very different effect than plain cascading (connecting multiple phaser units in series), because a long chain of allpass sections yields a dense and uniform pattern of multiple notches, exactly like in a long phaser.

- Eurorack synth compatible
- 9hp, skiff friendly
- Current draw: +40mA / -40mA
- Reverse power protection

Review: "A document created in the shadow of incredible darkness. One from which the creator hadn't planned on escaping and still doesn't. Hence the title of the album. It is the result of an illness that I've battled my whole life. It isn't something that the world has done to me. It's the world I live in, and it's no one's fault."
So says Brian Christinzio, AKA BC Camplight, of his sixth album. As ever, it's a musical masterpiece packing dense layers of instrumental experimentation and theses-worthy lyrical poignance. An artist who has never played by the musical rules, fans of strong juxtapositions will again be in there element, with a tracklist that spans grunge-y garage rock, twisted barroom journeyman stuff, theatrical guitar pop, and plenty more. But the sounds themselves are only one half the genius. When it comes to arrangements, things are as playful as they are innovative, keeping listeners guessing as to how structures will pan out.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


Sean McCabe's work has formed a solid backbone for Dave Lee's Z Records in the last couple of years. He has a fresh disco style that pairs the old with the new in essential ways. For this new 12" he teases his new album with a sampler of four reworks and remixes. His take on 'Now What' is deep and glossy, then he takes The Blackbyrds' 'Mysterious Vibes' in a slick and soulful deep house direction complete with standout lead sax. The deep house mood continues on the 'Timeline' remix chi has late night keys and exudes real warmth. Last of all is a fantastic broken beat workout that is lush and jazzy.

Review: Dustin Zahn makes a return to the techno label Blueprint with his latest titled 'Temporary Vandalism'. 'Catharsis' is a metallic sounding banger that thrives on driving the tension to an all-time pitch - all the making of a classic techno record. 'Rotator' adds a bit more of a tribal sound to the looped style killer. The title track goes full tribal reminding us of classic Oliver Ho material. 'Conduit Of Chaos' is perhaps our favorite of the lot with the classy ever-changing rhythm and incessant pressure that continues to rise. For many, Blueprint is the example of proper techno - and that's a theory that's backed up by this dancefloor ammunition.

Review: Talented LA producer 1morning makes his debut on the well regarded Character label here and brings plenty of the know how he has picked dup while laying down his superb vinyl DJ sets around the world. He fuses new school funky and tribal techno with subtle hints that suggest he has a love of 90s originators like Ben Sims and Dave Angel. 'Samba De Verao' is a dense, high intensity sound with skewed synths and dusty hi hats while 'Flux' is more deep and has throbbing drums and smeared pads fleshing out the groove. On the flip are two more emotionally intense and fantastically engaging techno cuts.

Review: Premier dub techno outlet Greyscale from Lithuania welcomes back Lotech/Hijack following the success of his last album here, Static Phase. He has served up another full length's worth of sublime deep dub techno explorations here, and that marks his rather remarkable 36th full length in total. Winter Constellations is inspired by the Canadian's love of star gazing and the vastness of space and results in plenty of widescreen and cinematic tracks that are subtly detailed with celestial moods. From the power of 'Let's Forget Who We Are' to the infinite depth of 'Auriga' via the airiness of 'Night Sky Dreaming' and 'Horologium', this is another masterfully immersive work that really exploits the album format.

Review: Plant43 is the alias of Emile Facey, one of electro's most tireless innovators. He has a vast discography that never fails to prove he can speak through his machines more ably than just about anyone in the game, and certainly within the genre. Luminous Machines comes on his own label and is an album, his eighth in all, of cinematic and futuristic jams written before a gig at Tresor in April this year. 'Haunting The Depths' has an icy minimalism to it, with crisp drums and snappy hits all underpinned by textured bass. The title cut is a restless affair that pings about the stereo field with squiggling lines and loopy breaks and 'Fixed Point Rotation' has a more dark and menacing feel. These are just some of the highlights of another standout collection.

Review: It's arriving a little late, given the Summer Solstice was late-June, but when an electronic compilation is as strong as this you can forgive the little things. Fittingly, this is a very UK sounding affair, with some tracks almost feeling like Bob Moog has walked into a maypole dance in some strange corner of the British Isles where detectives go missing. On the whole, though, things are much deeper and cosmic, which is where the whole celestial link clearly comes from.

To call it all ambient would be pretty reductive, but the label is useful for much of what's here. In actual fact the collection spans strange downtempo broken beats ('And They Named Him When The Sun Stands Still'), building grooves ('Throbbing Motor Lifeforms'), hypnotic drone ('All of Us Under The Sun') and atmospheric ethereality ('Heralding the Dawn').

Review: Since the mid 2000s, veteran ambient duo Future Sound of London has been doing their own thing, occasionally dropping a new installment in their Environments series of albums. This edition - 6.5 - is their second of the year, and continues the pair's tradition of blending trippy elements to create soundscapes that veer from creepy iciness (the melancholic "Some Degree of Sanctuary"), to mystical ambient dub ("Something Approaching Happiness"), via deep space explorations ("Amplification of Intelligence"), and electronic psychedelia ("Halodule"). While they've arguably sanded down their rougher and weirder edges over the years, FSOL are still capable of crafting distinctive downtempo music that's as hallucinogenic as it comes.

Review: John Hughes' films are a genre all to themselves - sentimental coming of age flicks that embody 1980s small town America like few others managed. Hughes also knew how to use great pop music of the time to capture a moment in his movies, and so the concept of The John Hughes Mixtapes is an inspired one if you want to feels a sweeping sense of nostalgia for a bygone era. This lavish six-LP boxset features classic tracks from movies such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She's Having A Baby, The Great Outdoors and Uncle Buck.

Review: This Australian and now London-dwelling three-piece made their name by balancing out their psychedelic explorations with a somewhat Madchester-derived pop sensibility, and this second album sees them throwing this delicate balance into orbit by effectively offering more of everything - the sonic textures here are more adventurous, the hallucinogenic swirls of sound more lustrous, yet the choruses are as indelible and infectious as ever. A party album with a 'Screamadelica'-esque experimental edge, 'Every Now And Then' makes these three space cadets sound like genuine contenders.

Review: No one knows who Black Fan is just yet so we shall go right to the music - this new EP on Quintessentials epitomises the label's vibe - raw, deep, fad-free house sounds for the heads. The artist has been releasing music for almost a decade on the likes of Local Talk and this label but really stands out with this one. 'I Know - I Am' is a chord-laced dancer with subtlety uplifting energy, and 'Deep Rotation' then pairs it back to lovely wooden drum sounds and clacking hits that are infused with gently warming chords. 'TE2' (Blackburn Warehouse mix) brings more spangled synth energy and a rawer drum sound that is perfect for flashing lights and sweaty dancefloors.

Review: classic 2010 Theo Parrish album Sketches back in stock on CD.

Review: Cold Busted has long been setting the standard for hip hop and instrumental goodness. As well as serving up the latest in their Jet Set series this month, they also invite Belgian beatmaker and fine sonic journeyman Sim Nagai to make an entry into the same much-loved series. 'In Rotation' opens with funky drumming and pitch-shifted guitar licks before Latin flavours wash over 'Cuban Delirium,' a deeper beat with reverential pianos. There is a pure beachside bliss to 'Palm Dreams' with its tumbling drums and hits and languid vocal samples and 'Copacabana Sand' completes the trip with a nice shuffling beat and some gorgeous acoustic string work.

Review: The REPITCH label started back in 2011 with a 12" split three ways between its co-founders, Pasquale Ascione (Ascion), Davide Carbone (D. Carbone) and Nino Pedone (Shapednoise).
Some 11 years on, and the trio are still very much at the heart of the label's activities, celebrated here with the Dys Functional Electronic Music X compilation, highlighting not only their label's scope but also, they say, pointing a way forward for its future intentions. This collection pushes at the edges of the experimental techno genre, whether that be through speed and heaviness (see Buttechno's pummelling 'Ghost Yunost'), smashed up arrangements like opening tune 'Mastice Riddim (VIP Mix)' from Shapednoise and Gabber Eleganza or reconnection with the ruffneck breakbeats that were once an integral part of rave culture (Ascion's 'Plugged' (Heavy-Rotation Mix) and DJ Plant Texture's 'Threat The Music With Respect')

Review: Borrowing its name from a far right militant organisation dedicated to Christian identity and survivalism, active int he USA in the 1970s and early-80s, The Covenant is a Cabaret Voltaire album in every way, shape and form. Number seven from the band, it landed in 1985 through Some Bizarre Records, a fitting name for the imprint given the contents here, which push the boundaries of synth pop and new wave to the very edge of understanding, while still remaining wholly listenable, danceable, and accessible.

Such was the genius of the late Richard H. Kirk, RIP. Then, as now, this might not be everyone, particularly tracks like the rather haunting and Neo-industrial 'Whip Blow', although fare such as 'Motion Rotation' could easily get any room full of any people onto their feet. Nevertheless, it's testament to just how incredibly creative and bold the Cab Vol vision was. And still is.