recommendations 
Monday, 20 May
Lethal Techno trax from René Pawlowitz aka Shed in EQD mode. Once again we're floored by the ferocity and hard-nosed discipline of his productions, from the monstrous modulations and Industrial-edged transmission on the A-side thru the unrelenting peak of the B-side. This guy's defintiely not f**king around - Strongly recommended.
Serious techno session from Shed in his EQD guise! These two tracks are the sound of a man working ever deeper into his artform, toying and tweaking the kinks in timelessly functional fashion. The A-side is driven by humongous kicks and offset with microscopically tooled, insectoid syncopation designed to enhance your body movements with the streamlined precision of a catamaran engineer. The flipside offers some melodic respite with hypnotic Detroit/Berlin chords while the razor-sharp shuffle uncompromisingly carries out it's purpose in style. Heavyweight DJ tools!
Highly effective techno rollers from Shed in his EQD guise. The A-side is a killer piece of Rob Hood-esque Berlin-meet-Detroit styles, replete with burning organ refrain for your Techno soul, while the flip is a grinding, heads-down romp with shades of of late 90's Surgeon. Both do the job in fine style. TIP!
The first 12" from the mysterious Equalised crew outta Berlin caused much speculation as to the identity of the unnamed producer, a timeless game of guessing and worng footing ensued until those with a keener ear were able to discern that the styles were quite obviously that of ****. The second 12" in the series comes from the same pair of hands, with a familiar drum palette this time reworked into one of the most elegiac and genuinely soul stirring breakbeat hardcore styled cuts of recent times. We really can't stress to you how good this track is (especially when you know the producer at work… Read more
We've been after these bad boys for a while now. Emanating from the Hardwax production line in deepest Berlin, Equalized is a new label dedicated to no nonsense club goods from some of the crew's finest button pushers, with EQ'D 1 coming from the trusted hands of one of their most skilled operators, who shall for now remain nameless. Side A is a steadily upbuidling techno tool with percolating Detroit vibes and electric bassline over booming kicks, while the B-side is the real floor melter with hard filter and EQ treatments on some devastating dub chord driven techno that sounds unreal on a big rig. Dettmann, Scion and Shed heads take note, it's an absolute winner!
DELTA FUNKTIONEN
Sun Storm / Onkalo (Karenn Remix)
Delsin Records
MP3 Download // £1.95
FLAC Download // £2.50
Cat. Number: 99DSR
Delta Funktionen returns to Delsin for the first time since last year’s Traces LP, supported with a remix from the increasingly ubiquitous Karenn. A side ‘Sun Storm’ is solid DJ gear attempting to reconcile the intimate, sweaty basement jack of Larry H’s ‘Washing Machine’ with big-room techno dynamics, while the other Delta original, ‘Challenger’, is moody, night-drive-thru-atlantis electro that nods to Drexciya’s Grava 4. Blawan and Pariah do their Karenn thing on ‘Onkalo’, a properly rough-and-tumble, heavy-industry techno banger that can’t really be argued with - it’s at once their grottiest, most degraded production to date, and the hardest-hitting.
Tenderised torch song backed with Ghosting Season and Flako remixes. 'Youthern' is heartbroken folksoul in the mould of James Blake - whom they recently supported on tour - and 'Hammerspace' weeps Forest Swords-style guitars and over-egged vocals on a dubstep rhythm. Ghosting Season join in with a post-rock-styled, bass-heavy remix of 'Youthern' while Flako tackles the original with a delicately bleepy variant.
CARL CRAIG
The Album Formerly Known As... (Planet E Edition)
Planet E
MP3 Download // £6.99FLAC Download // £7.99
Cat. Number: PE65280-1
The album formerly known as.."Landcrusing" with bonus cuts and a total of 12 completly re-mastered and re-worked tracks with additional edits. Features the unreleased 'Sparkle' and new ambient versions of 'Technology' and 'Home Entertainment', plus 'Technology' (original), 'They Were', 'Mind Of A Machine', 'Science Fiction', 'One Day Soon', 'Landcrusing', 'Einbahn', and 'Home Entertainment' (original), "A Wonderful Life" (alternate version), Technoloambient (Max Dub) and Home Entertainment (Caya Dub). These killers have never been availble on vinyl before … Read more
Calibre returns with a new 13-track album for Signature.
Ninja Tune's chill-out sophisticate Bonobo branches out with a pair of vocal collaborations underpinned by undemanding beats and lush-going-on-mawkish string arrangements. Inexplicably, Erykah Badu gets only second billing, with Grey Reverend taking the mic for competently executed but ultimately generic lead track 'First Fires'. The Badu-led 'Heaven The Sinner' is far classier and more absorbing, a piece of smoky, smartly turned-out future-soul with an elegant, jazzy sway to it; here the lavish orchestration feels earned. Recommended if you're into Bonobo (obviously), Jazzanova, Jaga Jazzist or Cinematic Orchestra.
BODUF SONGS / JESSICA BAILIFF
MORC
MP3 Download // £1.70FLAC Download // £2.10
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: morc 66
"Boduf Songs and Jessica Bailiff re-work one of their older songs in totally different versions. Boduf Songs presents a stripped own but electric and heavy version of decapitation blues, originally a vibrating and pulsating track.. Jessica Bailiff brings a new take on Lakeside blues, heavily relying on keyboards."
New on Desire.
Review to follow shortly…
After well received editions for Mister Saturday Night Records and Well Rounded Individuals, New York's jazz/house/'tronica trio have coined their own label to issue these four groovers. Coming off like Falty DL's music school cousins, their 'Sly Gazebo' EP blends richly layered instrumentation with limber house grooves , taking in the almost Reichian freshness of 'Avocado Roller' featuring Becca Stevens and the bustling shuffler 'In The Room' on the A-side, backed with an extended, jazz-wise electro-stepper titled 'Sly Gazebo' and the nimble neo-classical meets IDM arrangement of 'Nancy's Library' feat. 5150 Sound on the flip.
Still operating incognito, Adesse follows up his edits 12" with a sterling trio of house and dope slow/fast grooves for Trus'me's Prime Numbers. A-side, 'Untitled Love' is a pendulous tech-house ace with some seriously canny swing synch that could only be the work of someone with lots of experience in this field. B-side, better yet, his slowfast roller 'Supernal' is quite possibly the best thing on Prime Numbers to date; a rugged-as-hell yet somehow delicate piece of low sunk subs and mosquito hi-hats with a hypnotic vocal stab that's got us bouncing the hydraulics on my office chair. Ret… Read more
Dave Clarke unveils his first original _Unsubscribe_ production alongside new studio spar, Mr. Jones, for Fabric's Houndstooth label. 'Spek Hondje' is a posh pounder par excellence, refitting the uncompromising, stripped down structures of Clarke's classic Red series with a refreshed production palette of digital studio ghouls and the gutter-steeped vocal of Bear Who? to gripping effect. Both the growling, vocal-driven original and B-side instrumental deliver exactly the sort of ruthless, peak time-intensive energy transfer we'd expect at Fabric come 4am, designed to trigger all kinda primal, nocturnal behaviours without a whiff of regret. Welcome back Mr. Clarke.
Thursday, 16 May
+ Free MP3
**Limited to 500 copies only, pressed on white vinyl. Comes with a free download dropped into your account free of charge on Monday, 20th May** Public Information collect diverse reinterpretations of F.C. Judd's pioneering electronic music from Leyland Kirby, Pye Corner Audio, Chris Carter, Peter Rehberg, Bandshell, Ekoplekz, The Boats, Mordant Music, Holly Herndon and many more. The groundbreaking, experimental originals are chopped, sliced and refried into wonderfully abstract shapes in keeping with F.C. Judd's vision, ranging from instrument builder Ian Helliwell's fra… Read more
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** Amazing return from Alex Zhang Hungtai's Dirty Beaches; a sprawling double header opus of labyrinthine darkwave pop, knackered electronics and chamber experiments. We're usually impressed by his work but this one is really something else, feeding forward the traces of dilapidated rockabilly, blues and garage that informed his brilliant 'Badlands' into a deeply captivating new sound more akin to Suicide, Andy Stott or Loren Connors. Crafted over the course of winter 2012 while living between Montreal and Berlin, it'… Read more
Visionary DJ/selector and sonic theorist Steve Goodman aka Kode 9 mans what is inarguably Rinse's most crucial mix CD to date. With mercurial sleight of hand he blends 37 tracks spanning the rhizome of techy, contemporary, bass-rooted funk and leaves most other selectors for dust. Bridging tempos, styles and patterns from myriad sub-strains of house, garage, hip hop, grime and footwork, he sums his intentions thusly; "This style has emerged out of me trying to fit all the stuff I want to play in a set… Generally these sets start relatively simple rhythmically and then get more f*cked-up as the mix goes… Read more
WILLIAM BASINSKI
Temporary Residence Ltd.
CD // £11.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: 2062.1201
'Nocturnes' is William Basinski's first new solo recording release in four years. It comprises two typically sanguine, extended compositions; 'Nocturnes' written between 1979-80 during his post-grad period in San Francisco, and 'The Trail Of Tears' recorded in 2009 for the Robert Wilson opera, 'The Life and Death of Marina Abramovich'. If there's any one way to measure the efficacy of his music, it's by how drowsy one feels after consumption. We could either do with a snooze or a strong coffee after initial listens, and we mean that with the utmost respect. The first piece revolves recording… Read more
Ghost Box co-convenor Julian House is back to haunt your waking dreams with a new album of imagined library cues, test-tones, telly themes and yellowed sound-postcards from a 70s childhood you may or may not have endured. This is his first solo album as The Focus Group since 2007's We Are All Pan's People, though of course in 2009 there was the magickal, expansive Broadcast collaboration Investigate Witch Cults of The Radio Age. In the best possible sense, it's a return to business as usual: a deviant collector's collage of ersatz soft-psych, pastoral jazz, public information anno… Read more
Infectious Afro-futuristix from the inimitable Portable, backed with Anthony Shakir and Kowton remixes. His original 'Albatross' is a deadly lesson to all the blandbag house swingers in the art of getting the f**k down, dealing the maddest mechanical kinks and zipping electronics topped with those ever intriguing vocals , no drops, no daft detuned vocals, just proper, hi-tech funk. Equally Kowton gets the vibe, tucking its tetchy itchiness into pressurised subs and rhythmelodic patter with a grimy, bittersweet flavour. And who better to complement that feeling than Anthony Shakir with his manic, banging B-side remix. 'Madmen' indeed!
Deft dancefloor excursions from Laurel Halo, instrumental all the way and taking inspiration from UK club gear, continental techno and digital dancehall. ‘Throw’ sounds like a Bok Bok production routed through Jammy’s studio circa ‘85, irie piano chords peeling off a grimy snare attack, all extraneous crenellations sanded off for maximum club impact. ‘Uhffo’ is on a kind of introspective, quasi-tropical house tip, daubed with glassbowl percussion and deep blue comedown synths; this wouldn’t have sounded out of a place on an Irdial B-side back in the day, and we mean that as a com… Read more
James Blake’s uncommissioned Harmonimix of ‘Changes’ finally gets an official release courtesy of Mala’s own Deep Medi, three years after it first started getting heard and turning heads at dances. It remains one of Blake’s most effective and affecting productions, sticking close to the trudging halfstep lean of the source material but placing most emphasis on the bombastic brass, strings and vocal samples that figure only as scene-setters in the original. What starts out as minimal, discombobulated dancehall, nudged along by eski drum clicks, swells to a rousing, quasi-symphonic,… Read more
Last heard on the celebrated 'Vision Of Estonia' album, PPU dig out two of Uku Kuut's 1995 recordings made during his years living in Santa Monica, California. Up top is the laidback instrumental summer jam 'I Feel Love'; flipside is a damn cut instrumental soul joint, 'Santa Monica Pier'. So good...
Pearson Sound shares four lean, moody and experimental riddims on his eponymous imprint. Up front he unleashes the strafing, darkside synthlines and fractured steppers flux of 'REM' and a daedly body swerve entitled 'Gridlock' laced with proper subbass pressure and almost Anthony Shakir-style percussive edits. Down town, 'Figment' figures Mr. Kennedy at his most reflective, jettisoning the beats in place of Popol Vuh-style chorales and piquant synth sparkle, and almost acting as an intro for the rugged, filtered 'ardcore tessellations of 'Crimson (Beat Ritual). Really strong twelve...
**White vinyl in clear poly sleeve** James Blake 'fesses up a steppin' dub and exclusive new tune on 1-800-Dinosaur - the new imprint coined by him and his manager, Dan Foat. His 'Voyeur (Dub)' cuts a sharp line for the 'floor with driving 4/4 rhythm and plush, dramatic harmonic rendering giving way to wobbly electro bass while streamling synthlines light up the sky crimson. The exclusive B-side, 'And Holy Ghost' affords room for Blake's more avant and experimental tendencies - those that we first fell for and which have since been pushed back in favour of pop ambition - dallyin… Read more
"Metro Detroit frisky/risky dreamer DJ Coyote Clean Up serves up a heart n’ hardbody emotional saga with 2 Hot 2 Wait, his deep-debut full-length on 100% Silk. Hot-under-the-collar horniness (a woman simply counts to three on “Zebra Go Seek” and you start to undress), headphone-house grain (the fuzzy gut-bump on “The Least U Could Feel” is like warm breath whispering in your ear), skrewed RnB Freestyle strip-hop (stuttery layers give hopeful, life-affirming energy to the lover-lost “Awesome Luv”) and out-of-time mash-ups (“Double Dip” is a memory overlapping, with a classic ’95 dial-ton… Read more
Notts stalwart Kamal Joory aka Geiom tweaks out the electroid funky flex of '2-4-6' for Brighton's Well Rounded Records, backed with a ruggedly sprung Desto remix. Voiced by Terrible Shock, the original plays out a sort of lean, uptempo UK bashment bubble seared with strobing synthlines for the MDMA crew. The Desto remix cooly resets the riddim to a sparse 808 step 'n roll with bumping subbass and spacious sound design.
MALCOLM MIDDLETON
5.14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alchohol John Nicotine
Chemikal Underground Records
3LP + CD // £34.99
Cat. Number: CHEM198
**Available on vinyl for the first time - Deluxe triple vinyl pack, plus 15 track bonus CD and data CD with all tracks in 320 kbps MP3 and a short film** Malcolm Middleton comprises one half of Scottish misery legends Arab Strap. As alluded to in the title, he hit something of a low patch during Autumn/Winter 2001 and had to write some songs. These ended up being recorded as a 10 track acoustic album which Chemikal Underground later asked him to transform into something more. The result is his debut solo album ‘5:14 fluoxytine seagull alcohol john nicotine’, recorded with a little help from friends Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap), Jenny Reeve (Eva) and Barry Burns (Mogwai).
