summary 
Thursday, 24 May
SND / DOPPLEREFFEKT / ELEH
Festival Elecronica En Abril: 2003-2012
La Casa Encendida
Deluxe 2LP Box Set // £19.99
Cat. Number: LACASABOX
Album of the Week
**Beautifully packaged boxed/double LP pressing including exclusive, previously unreleased material from Eleh, Thomas Koner, SND, Dopplereffekt, Farben, Matmos, NSI, Maja Ratke and much more. Comes pressed on two gorgeous semi-opaque/white LP's housed in a special printed canvas box with cross-woven fibres creating different colourways depending on the angle of view** Madrid's Festival Electrónica en Abril celebrates ten years of commitment to modern electronic music with a collection of ten exclusive tracks from Eleh, SND, nsi., Dopplereffekt, Thomas Köner, Matmos, Farben, Radian, Maja Ratje, … Read more
Album of the Week
**Gorgeously printed edition of 550 copies with silk-screen jackets** Beautiful split side featuring a new, 20 minute Eleh piece 'Empty Summer Endless', and the filigree subtlety of Duane Pitre's 'Feel Free Installation'. Trying to describe an Eleh track often inevitably leads to us saying the same thing, so we'll simply say it's another immense, immersive excursion into the near-subsonic abyss. Duane Pitre's side meanwhile, is best described by the label (if you ask us; it's lovely): "Feel Free is a new composition by Duane Pitre that currently has three possible manifestations: solo performance , group performance, and sound insta… Read more
Album of the Week
*Six tracks of KILLER body-working rhythmic dynamism and uniquely contoured edits from the mighty Pomassl* Franz Pomassl presents new, original material and tracks from his 2007 CD 'Spare Parts' on vinyl for the first time. The Austrian electronic innovator and craftsman has near-peerless, incredibly diverse credentials - from releases on Raster Noton and Sex Tags Mania to collaborating with Kodwo Eshun - and it's this duality of hi-end conceptual electronica and more base, grooving instincts which lie at the core of his music. Released through his long-running Laton imprint, 'Surplus Ships' breaks down as six tracks of body-working … Read more
Album of the Week
*Following that KILLER debut back in 2010, this amazing project featuring members of Astral Social Club and High Wolf return for another dose of heavy, squashed and bass-heavy Techno malfunctions* Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club, Vibracathedral Orchestra) reunites with High Wolf for a 2nd LP of amazing spiralling cosmic loop orchestration and Techno f*ck-ups. Lest we forget, their first, eponymous vinyl was a highlight of 2010's psych scenery, sounding like little else before or since. For Weird Forest, their 'Hespherides' adopts a more gradual, unfolding approach than its predecessor's motorik onslaught, preferring to wade thr… Read more
THE HUNDRED IN THE HANDS
Keep It Low (Andy Stott / Patten / JD Twitch Remixes)
Warp
12" // £7.99
Cat. Number: WAP335
Single of the Week
*Includes a KILLER remix from Andy Stott, plus essential reworks from Patten and JD Twitch* The new single from Warp pop outfit Hundred In The Hands exceeds our expectations, thanks largely to what is honestly some of the heaviest sub-bass we've heard all year; wistful vocals, airy synth lines and ringing guitar complete the picture. The real draw is the remixes: Andy Stott breaks down and reconstructs the track according to the precise, airtight aesthetic of his landmark Passed Me By and We Stay Together LPs, using the original's vocal judiciously for a surprisingly anthemic climax.… Read more
Recommended release
It's no secret how much we like Spectrum Spools over here, and this sort of release is really what separates them from many other labels of their ilk right now. Drainolith's 'Fighting!' is probably the most disarmingly confusing record to emerge from the Spools camp to date, and in that maybe the most rewarding. Sure on the first listen it might sound like three dudes jamming independently of one another, but as you let the layers blend together - the syrupy synthesizer tones, the Royal Trux-devoted blues guitar twangs and the hauntingly deadpan vocals, it starts to make perfect sense. Fans of Shadow Ring probably won't need this kinda… Read more
Recommended release
The Glaswegian producer behind last year's Joy Orb and Gilles P-tipped singles serves a classy mini-LP of pan-global riddims for Huntleys & Palmers. Informed by Kodwo Eshun's concept of Afro-futurism and an innate feel for plush, plump groove construction, the eight tracks of 'Future Rhythm Machine' hybridise UK Bass and Afro-Latin Highlife sensibilities with a seductive, succinct ability like few others. He's joined by Chilean vocalist Mamacita on a swaying moire of bleeps and hip-greased shuffle for opener 'Haven't Got Any Body' and the crafty balance of moody bass descent and Cumbia twang on 'La Samaria', while SA ex-pa… Read more
CD // £8.99Album of the Week
Modern minimalist hero and boss of the Line label, Richard Chartier, debuts his new guise Pinkcourtesyphone with one of the best things we've ever heard from the label - the outstanding 'Foley Folly Folio'. It's still purely electronic and relatively minimal in the wider sense of the word, but compared with his most stringent, process-based output, it could easily be deemed "maximalist", or perhaps most suitably, Pop Ambient. It's ostensibly a comfortable, luxurious, lounge-ready ambient exploration, but suffused with an unheimlich atmosphere manifesting in the same way that Lynch and Badalamenti, or even Boyd Rice's subv… Read more
Recommended release
Pantha Du Prince and his pal, Stephan Abry ease off with this mondo-chilled new collaboration as Ursprung. The pair have previously collaborated: Abry - a former member of German experimental group Workshop - contributed "sound sources played on prepared instruments" to Herr Du Prince's 'Black Noise' album, but it's the first time they've been credited side-by-side. Their title translates to "origin" in English and rings true with their stripped down approach to arrangement and playing. At a guess, Abry is responsible for the lushly languid guitar lines which percolate through the sonorous bass pulses and perfume the set with a rarified ai… Read more
Recommended release
**Limited edition of 300 copies including large insert with liner notes** French avant-garde ensemble, Gol, expand their 'Gollaboration' series in this meeting with minimalist pioneer Charlemagne Palestine. Documenting an improvised performance at the la nuit des nouveaux arts sacrés festival, june 20th 2008, 'Pandamoniahbleeummm!!!!' finds Palestine manning the world famous organ of St. Eustace church in Paris supplemented by the Gol quartet (Frédéric Rebotier, Jean-Marcel Busson, Ravi Shardja, and Samon Takahashi) doing electronics, bass, guitar, and flutes in some kind of pagan ritual. Palestine dominates p… Read more
With a reputation inversely proportionate to his output - the super-limited 'Dandelion' 10" and 'Fever' single - the bloke f.k.a. Christian AIDS drops his most substantial release to date for Ramp. Essentially Bass music for Pop and indie fans who don't really "do" dancing, the 'Arem' EP calibrates disparate elements of Trance, Noise-Pop, and ecstatic Indie with lo-fi drum programming glancing towards Araabmuzik's triplet Hip Hop rhythms and Zomby's brittle 2-step patterns. Fans of D/R/U/G/S or Wu Lyf should probably check it out.
Smart debut album of moody, Pop-edged Dubstep from Londoner and former co-pilot of Imminent Recordings, aka Dot. Launched on her own label, Read Write Music, 'Calling Home' was actually created in 2009 but for some undisclosed reason reaches the scene three years later. Now in 2012, listening to her densely layered take on halfstep with dramatically personalised Pop vocals, it feels a shame she wasn't around to capitalise on the scene's massive growth spurt, but thankfully 'Calling Home' hasn't dated. Like some fusion of Björk, Emika, Kito and Martina Topley-Bird (yes, all obvious female references but… Read more
Wednesday, 23 May
"A new live CD, taken from the two nights C93 played at the British School in Rome in 2005 as David Tibet, John Contreras and Maja Elliott. José Pacheco compiled the CD and 1,000 copies have been made. The four panel digipak CD features new paintings by David Tibet."
Monday, 21 May
Featured Download
Coming from the deranged mind of Christopher Ernst and visual artist Reid Bingham, ‘Not All Clouds are White’ sounds something like a minimal techno record without any beats. That doesn’t make a lot of sense I know, but it’s the feel you get from the album; while it might be made up of gassy hisses and low-frequency pulses, there’s so much density in the details you begin hearing rhythms that may or may not be there. It might be a boiling, clattering tap or a throbbing hum but the rhythms are there, somewhere. One for fans of Thomas Koner’s cavernous ambience or the stark loner-acid of Plastikman – this is gonna take you to some weird places, and that’s got to be a good thing.
Featured Download
Laurel Halo's 'Quarantine' is one of the most compelling debut albums we've heard this year. Ever since she revealed the hyper-fused kinetics of 2010's 'King Felix' EP, there's been a certain weight of expectation on this unique artist, which has evidently been fulfilled with the likes of her technofied 'Hour Logic' and 'Spring' EPs, plus the criminally overlooked ambient holo-spaces of the 'Antenna' cassette for NNA Tapes. Yet, if you still haven't been convinced of her skills, a newly established connection with the esteemed Hyperdub and the utter brilliance of this album - from the sounds to the artwork - should be ringing yo… Read more
**Lazer-etched and screen-printed one-sided vinyl housed in screen-printed inner with insert. Limited edition of 200** New York's Led Er Est accompany their recent 'The Diver' album with this one-off ace for Monofonus Press. Perhaps taking cues from Tri Angles Holy Other, Burial Hex or the clandestine Chasing Voices, 'Turritopsis Blues' plays out snappy 808 trills with Goblin-esque synth motifs breaking down to a trippy bridge before resolving a doomy 2nd half drop for the goth steppers.
Featured Download
Arriving with support from Oneman, Jackmaster and more, Last Japan aka Marco Giuliani makes his vinyl debut for Lo Note UK. 'Ambush' presents a sparse and cold, yet fleshly tactile sound, setting up the dance with misdirecting minimal subs and skeletal percussion before the titular ambush comes, dropping a dirtload of junglist breaks on yer. 'Tactics' holds down the flipside, craftily blending field recordings into the rhythmic framework before subsiding into rolling Bass styles punctuated by crisp, reserved tribal drums. One for fans of South London Ordnance, Blawan, Dark Sky, Untold, then.
Nartica minimal-techno explorer Arctic Hospital returns for this brand new longplayer and it appears he’s edging towards a more ‘epic’ sound. The hyper-edited clipped iciness of his earlier work has been replaced with an echoing, dense warmth making way for the prime-time excess of ‘Going Sun’ and the Artificial Intelligence throwback ‘Friend Amplifier’. Needless to say it’s more good stuff and one for people who like their dance music with a bit more going on under the hood.
MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
False Industries
MP3 Download // £3.95
FLAC Download // £4.95
Cat. Number: 0827170285781
Featured Download
Tim Martin has been releasing under the Maps and Diagrams moniker for a good ten years now, and he’s showing no sign of losing steam with this latest on the False Industries label. A far cry from the percussive crunchiness of his earlier material, ‘Delius’ is as cool and glassy as a Fox’s Glacier mint, and probably more refreshing too. There’s a fuzzy analogue glow to Martin’s recordings, and ‘Delius’ shows this off better than ever – even in the coldest, most cavernous moments you get the sense that Martin may have bounced everything to tape just to round off those harsh edges a little. There’s plenty of ‘ambient’ music aroun… Read more
Featured Download
Swung and, yes, soulful house cuts from Myakkah, impressively keeping things nice and silky in a deep New York style without shorting us on pirate-ready rudeness - think Roska meets Rheji Burrell. 'Eyes Up' is the most satisfying hybrid of summery top-down vibes and club-savvy production, but 'Eyes Down' goes for a more swaggering techno feel with almost as impressive results. 'I Want To Feel' is a beautifully dubbed-out, thoroughly modern, steppers' take on classic house sounds, and 'Modern Life' finds the sweet spot between gauzy, Clams-style cloud-rap and synthed-out Chicago house inna Virgo style. Top record from a promising producer, no mistake.
Featured Download
"Two hands, two channels, one take" accurately sums the Ekoplekz technique, but his pitch black portals of radiophonic dub continue to elude description like the movement of bats in a cave. Returning to Mordant Music - home of his 'Memowrekz' double cassette and 'Fountain Square' 12 - 'Skalectrikz' collects "searing live and studio scree from all corners of Ekoplekz's 2011 assault". The first tape features sounds captured and mildewed in his Dromilly Vale home studio (the name being a syncretic homage to King Tubby's Dromilly Avenue studio and the Maida Vale labs of the Radiophonic vanguard) and plumbs the depths of his cheap, arc… Read more
Featured Download
Super-taut, crystalline fusion of Hip Hop, Footwork and Electronic club music with a world-wide dancefloor outlook. XLII hails from Tokyo and his dynamic constructions are brimming with the sort of electric energy you'd expect from that city. 'Dilated' is a sharp slowfast burner with steel-tipped 808s, skewed synths and elastic bass stabs while 'No Cure' rocks up a rapid, outsider take on Chicago Footwork and 'Thro Yo!' works with flash, Amon Tobin-styled synthwork and ultra-criss drum programming beside the robotic ragga of 'Rasclap'. Starkey gives 'Thro Yo!' a fractal Grime overhaul and ex-Various Productions guy, EAN goes in killer s… Read more
Featured Download
*Senking returns to Raster with another double-headed set of slowed-down, rugged and dark transmissions.* Senking's 2nd EP follow-up to 2010's heavyweight 'Pong' LP sees him add chiming harmonies and even vocals to his abyssal bass contours. With gargantuan A-side 'The Dance Hall Walk' he lasers warped and glooming features into a hulking iceberg sculpture, perching a blunted text read by Michael Cramm over unshakeable, plunging bass ballast. This will sound shocking on a big rig! B-side's 'Closing Eyes' swipes away any extraneous sounds to leave a desolate scape of plangent, ringing tones skidding across icy synth surfaces and harmonise… Read more
Featured Download
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
Sunday, 20 May
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
Thursday, 17 May
CEDRIC STEVENS / LEYLAND KIRBY / MOTION SICKNESS OF TIME TRAVEL / FENNESZ
The Syncopated Elevators Legacy
Discrepant
2LP // £14.99
Cat. Number: CREP003
**Limited edition of 500 on 180g vinyl housed in double gatefold jacket featuring exclusive work from Fennesz, Leyland Kirby, Motion Sickness of Time Travel, Sylvain Chauveau and more** Discrepant Records collect nine highlights of Cédric Stevens' oeuvre 1997-2005, backed with new and exclusive revisions by Leyland Kirby, Burning Star Core, Fennesz, Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, Sylvain Chaveau and My Cat Is An Alien. Whilst he's best recognised to raving throngs as Acid Kirk, Cédric Stevens most intriguing music wa… Read more
**Debut release from a new imprint -The Death Of Rave - curated by us and featuring a seminal piece of sound art by 2008 Turner prize-winning artist Mark Leckey. Limited edition of 500 copies only cut at D&M Berlin, no repress** The video installation Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) is one of the best known and loved works by London-based artist and Northern English emigre, Mark Leckey. A phantasmic and transcendent collage of meticulously sourced and rearranged footage and sound samples spanning three decades of British subculture - from Northern Soul thru '80s Casuals and pre… Read more
