recommendations 
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
*Much needed reissue of this early computer music classic, recorded between 1977 and 1980 and one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers. Remastered from the original tapes and cut to vinyl at D&M Berlin - made in an edition of 700 copies only, initial copies come on strictly limited white vinyl* Digitalis dig deep to unearth and reissue one of the first albums to be produced almost exclusively on digital synthesizers. The work of Canadian composer and video artist, Jean Piché, his densely layered and harmonically rich 'Heliograms' was pieced together between 1977-1980, inspired by the… 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
*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
Single of the Week
**Edition limited to 500 copies on 140g black wax** Camella Lobo's cultish Tropic Of Cancer make a very welcome return with an exquisite 12" on Rome, Italy's Mannequin imprint. Their flawless formula of starched drum machine, plangent jangle and wrist-slitting synth romance is resolutely unchanged and that's completely fine by us. Title track 'Permissions Of Love' is achingly gorgeous, Camella's opiated glossolalia following the sanguine contours of a dystopian, droning lead synth and a nightshift drum machine pattern made for bedsits and cruising light industrial zones at 4am. On B-side, 'Beneath The Light', a tinny w… 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
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE
Alga Marghen
LP // £15.99
SOUNDTRACKS / LIBRARY / EARLY ELECTRONIC
Cat. Number: PLANA-P ALGA038
Album of the Week
**Limited edition of 380 copies of these incredible, seminal recordings** For your pleasure and enlightenment, Alga Marghen have pressed up two seminal, radical and previously unreleased realisations by Charlemagne Palestine. These 'Two Electronic Sonorities' are both products of his influential and personal Golden Research period in the 1960s, and with hindsight now confirm how advanced his approach to sound was for that time. The incredible 'Crown Chan' was first created for a dance by Gus Solomon in 1970 and Palestine clearly relished the opportunity to challenge the dancers with his experimental electron… Read more
Single of the Week
Girl Unit returns to the Night Slugs mothership with an EP hefty enough - six tracks - and rewarding enough to be described as a mini-album. We'd almost forgotten how good this fella is, and 'Ensemble (Club Mix)''s boogiedown synths and deadly drum programming instantly set us straight. 'Cake Boss' is quite simply mental, seeming to re-imagine 909-bashing techno brutalism according to the jagging, stop-start demands of a grime dance, and 'Plaza'' is a ghetto-electro bouncer for the jeeps, while 'Double Take' strips away the feelgood synths and pushes the same rhythmic template deep into 'floor-crushing abstraction - it almost wouldn'… 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
Single of the Week
**First edition with picture sleeve** Slackk (aka Patrice & Friends) makes his first move of 2012 with the eagerly anticipated 'Raw Missions' for Local Action. Named after a former East London pirate station, this is effectively Slackk doing Grime instrumentals from his insider/outsider perspective - he ran the legendary Grimetapes facility from Liverpool for years - and it's effing deadly. Paying tribute to the ranks of Ruff Sqwad, DJ Oddz and Waifer, the EP rolls shoulders from trilling claps and seasick folk/road melodies on 'Blue Sleet' to the bare bones acidic syncopation of '90 Years' on the A-side, thru the G-Funk styles of '… Read more
Single of the Week
**Hand-stamped white label** Blank Mind - the label what dropped those maaad soca bits from Adrian Lenz/Sandman - do y'all a favour by pressing up two long-out-of-print, late '90s Juke aces from 'The Honorable' DJ Clent. Face up it's the weirdly wired '3rd Wurle' from Clent's 1st 12" on Dance Mania; an hydraulic Ghetto pumper with wheezee horns and glute-pummelling bass. Face down, 'Hit It From The Back' plays inside-out with herky-jerky claps and needling hi-hats locked on a percolating bassline. Original's would cost you a good deal more than this = don't be daft: cop dat!
Recommended release
**One-time pressing of 330 copies only** "Issued for an art event recently presented at the Galleria Milano in the first week of April 2012, the recordings on this LP edition represent a very specific and intimate moment in the creative sound production of Davide Mosconi with NADMA associates Inez Klok and Gustavo Bonora. For Davide Mosconi and for all the artists and musicians involved in the groups he founded (the legendary NADMA, Organic Archestra, Il Quartetto, Alea), improvising sessions were a daily practice that founded their very idea of music: a constant flux, a spontaneous research as important as li… Read more
Recommended release
Daniel Savio - the man credited with christening Skweee and one of its most prolific protagonists - turns 'em out on MYOR. You get both sides of the man's character here: his floor-gratifying groove instincts are flaring on the rude bump and swing of 'Asscs Denied', whereas 'Make It Personal is cuter, lowlit and seductive.
Recommended release
*Three pieces from the Rotating Assembly's Craig Huckaby (brother of Mike), produced by Theo Parrish and Pirahnahead* From instrumental killer 'S.T.F.U.' to this ace, Theo Parrish's crucially contrary Sound Signature label presents three pieces from Rotating Assembly member Craig Huckaby (yep, brother of Mike). On 'Black Music' a close mic'd Huckaby lays esoteric narrative over Parrish's Weldon Irvine-sampling production, while the flip features a tripping, percussive Pirahnahead production set to the dubbed-out poem 'Squirrel', which is also included in a capella. Dope artwork, lyrics on rear of sleeve, limited copies!
Recommended release
Pasteman & Tanka hold it down for 877 Records with two 808-driven Electro/House rollers. 'Camaro' is the big one - all escalating arpeggios, ass-tapping cowbells and booming bass for your mum's Suzuki jeep. B-side 'Torino' plays it cooler with strutting, dubbed-out House vibes sounding like Wbeeza if he did a record for Swamp 81. Big twelve!
WEST NORWOOD CASSETTE LIBRARY / PANGAEA
Coming On Strong (Pangaea Mix)
WNCL Recordings
10" // £7.99
Cat. Number: WNCL010
Recommended release
WNCL rolls out a cool and bumpy New Jersey House sound with 'Coming On Strong', backed up by a smart Pangaea remix. Ruddy acid bass locks hips with bouncing toms and sticky sax bleats on Bob Bhamra's (WNCL) tidy original, but if you want some grit swing look no further than Pangaea's clipped, body-tight flex on the flip!
Recommended release
Three deep-fried Boogie-Step burners with heavy grime and a Brazilian influence. It's not a simple concoction, but it's one well within Swindle's means. A-side 'Do The Jazz' syncs strummed guitar, tickled organ and Bossa scat on the intro before flipping into synth-strike Boogie-Step and back again. B-side 'Under The Sun' runs from halfstep sway to taut double-timed kick drums and raving synths, while 'If I Was A Superhero' comes off like Roy Ayers with a copy of fruityloops.
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
Recommended release
October & Borai give up some genuinely *Deep* House for Bristol's stalwart Applepips imprint. In contrast to the flood of by-numbers chugg-offs streaming from that city and unfortunately everywhere else, there's a keener sense of experience, craft and intention to these two aces which a lot of youngers could learn from. A-side 'I Didn't Mean To' arrives at a unique juncture of rumping Detroit beatdown, machine Boogie and swooping junglist torque, deftly re-entwining their shared pre-1990 DNA with precise, lushly floating and powerful effect. We'd imagine A Guy Called Gerald or 4 Hero to give nods of approval. Flipside 'Palma… Read more
TRUS'ME
In The Red (DVS1 Mix) / Shakea Body (Terrence Dixon Mix)
PRIME NUMBERS
12" // £6.99
Cat. Number: PN14
Recommended release
Another set of remixes of Trus'me - 'Shakeabody' from his classic 2007 set Working Night$, and the title track from 2009's follow-up, In The Red. While we can't help but feel we're overdue some fresh and original material from David Wolstencroft - we've been waiting three years, basically - these new remixes, from Klockworks/Transmat affiliate DVS1 and Detroit maverick Terrence Dixon, are quality enough to tide us over a little longer. DVS1's version of 'Shakeabody' is proudly, pointedly functional but does retain something of the original's melancholic, funk-marinated feel amid cavernously reverb… Read more
Recommended release
*Strictly limited copies only* Four Tet hits the 'floor with two solid grooves for his Text label. 'Jupiters' embarks on a wave of cascading, twirling synths clearing the air for a pressurised, pirouetting piece of kosmische Garage, whilst 'Ocoras' pushes into bleeping, swinging Dub techno terrain with a hypnotic, heads-down tilt. Strong twelve - limited copies!
KELAN PHILIP COHRAN & THE HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE
Kelan Philip Cohran & The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Honest Jon's Records
2LP // £11.99
Cat. Number: HJRLP65
Recommended release
At Eighty Five, jazz legend Philip Cohran is doing pretty well. Keeping busy in his adopted hometown of Chicago he’s still a regular sight around town, and by the sounds of this latest album, recorded last summer, he’s not lost any of his edge. Cohran is still best known for lending his expertise to Sun Ra’s Arkestra, most notably contributing zither to ‘Angels and Demons at Play’. Over the last umpteen years however his focus has been on his Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, where he (accompanied by no less than eight of his family) has managed to stumble across a uniq… Read more
Recommended release
**Edition limited to 300 copies, including the graphic score to 'Musique Directe V'** Planam initiate the Gollaboration series between French avant-garde unit Gol and titans of contemporary music, starting with husband/wife Romanian spectralists Iancu Dumitrescu & Ana-Maria Avram, plus members from Ensemblul Hyperion. Spontaneous and intense, 'Musique Directe' is poised on the edge of advanced electro-acoustic music and primitive avant-garde, using Dumitrescu's infinitely morphing digital processes as a basis for deft, but restrained improvisation. The results are wildly unpredictable and almost always … Read more
Recommended release
**Edition limited to 500 hand-stamped and numbered copies in metallic silver screen-printed jacket** UK Hip Hop and Soul stalwart Dobie drops four tracks of super-rugged street riddims, white label styles, for Big Dada. He makes a strong impression with the biting snares and booming, oddly organic bass pressure of 'Hustle With Speed' on the A-side - sounding like he's orchestrating an ensemble of hypersynced soul bot instrumentalists in his studio - while 'State Of Flux' jacks on kinetic acid swing vibe, again with very crafty drum sounds and properly robust production. Further in, 'Gillet Sq N16' shakes out a cowbell-heavy and uptem… 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
Recommended release
7even is a label we normally associate with reliably powerful, techno-crisp dubstep, so this has to count as their most adventurous and surprising offering yet. Why? Well, there are vocals, and pretty good vocals at that - particularly impressive is the strung-out, sub-heavy boy-girl duet 'You Live In Me', which sounds like Portishead might if they'd grown up raving at FWD. The same vocal partnership also lights up 'Stop', an uptempo techno stepper, while on 'Forest' the human voices recede into the shadows, allowing us to focus on the low-slung breaks and enhanced bottom-end - it's no exaggeration to say that this one sounds like the … Read more
Recommended release
HCB strike up with their notorious Prodigy medley backed by an original Afrobeat ace. Seamlessly segueing 'Out of Space', 'Walls Of Jericho' and 'No Good (Start The Dance)' it's guaranteed to put a grin on even the most curmudgeonly gurned-out mug and we expect you'll likely hear it parping up all o'er the shop this summer. The flipside 'Owl Sanctuary' is another ripe peach, penned by drummer Olly Blackman and suitably strong on dipping, swerving drum syncopation. Fun times.
Recommended release
**Hand-sprayed screen-printed sleeve includes A3 poster** Senseless set off the 2nd 12" celebrating their 5th anniversary. Frontside is a grimy ruckus called 'Void' from up-and-comers Mak & Pasteman, fitting East London claps to fragrant vocals and body swerving bass for fans of J Sweet, Jam City, or Rossi B & Luca. NKC bruks open the B-side with a shrill but bassy bubbler named 'Errthing' crossing the lines between Ballroom and Dutch House styles, while German production duo JTRP - best known for their aces on Deep Teknologi - unload the bassbin-crumpling torque of 'Nothing To Do Here', forward styles!
Recommended release
Well good this, on his latest Bristol lad Gemmy has decided to take on grime and serves up a blasted sawtooth appreciation to all things South London with the phenomenal title cut. This one’s worth the price of admission alone, but just for kicks we get three more bangers too, and while they don’t have quite the same abrasive neck-snapping quality as ‘Tales of the Deep’ they still hit hard, and move in similar grime-baiting circles. Fans of the recent slew of Butterz material or Joker’s more street-focused bangers will be needing this one ASAP. Don’t sleep.
