recommendations 
Thursday, 25 April
Halocyan catch ASC indulging his IDM tastes on the 'Sonic Assault EP', backed with Kangding Ray, Mike Slott and Chrissy Murderbot remixes. Highlights occur in the fractured, '97 Ae styles of 'Fourier System' and his bittersweet stepper 'Sympathy', or Kangding Ray's darker techno take on 'Sonic Assault'.
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** Wicked dubstep junglism from OG South London producer. Includes the bustling, polyrhythmic carnival hustle 'n shuffle of 'Spider Monkey' and the inner-city jungle jazz dub of 'Rainy Street Light' with its Burial or AGCG vibes.
High-intensity techno workouts from J. Tijn on Untold's Pennyroyal label. Following the course of his 'Jack 2' 12" he leaves no prisoners with an aggressive A-side pounding backed by one kinkier swinger and a brutal, Belgian-sounding stomper.
London's Church clubnight and label follow up Happa's debut 12" with two thick club tools by Rumah, backed with James Fox and Apes & Seb Wildwood remixes. Both originals fall into that hulking, square-bassed techno-house category eked out by Boddika and Joy O whilst remixes spin off into slower, deep-housed styled dub-chord swing.
Reissue of party-ready dancehall dub case produced by Chris Cracknell and Henry "Junjo" Lawes. Features the digi-infected dread dub of 'Can't Take Another World War'.
Diverse techno/house session including smart Grenier and MRSK remixes. Brooklyn-based Divvorce turns out the urging menace of 'E1' for the Traversable Wormhole fans, plus a slinkier house roller 'E2' featuring earworming vocal hook by Hound Scales. Remixing 'E2', Grenier comes up with a tribalist techno variant, and MRSK gets funky with the acid on a remix of 'E3'.
**Ships Friday - White Vinyl** Trippier, kinkier deep house plays by Canada's Kevin McPhee. His A-side 'Version One' borrows vibes from classic Relief and Boo Williams styles to a bumpty outcome; B-side 'It's What She Wants' kneads in some swinging Afro-beat drums and kalimba-like timbres to come off like older Kassem Mosse or Workshop grooves, and 'P1:P2' slackens the line for a screwed beatdown wiggle.
*The legendary 5th Burial Mix release, now pressed up on 12" - as unmissable as they come...*
Thursday, 18 April
*Vinyl Edition* Slow fizzin', cryptic tape melt murk from Wanda Group, fresh in with Opal Tapes' third batch from the brink. Coming from the manhead behind Dem Hunger, who delivered that wicked 'Caveman Smack' on Leaving Records, and following a wicked split with Ekoplekz and a C20 for NNA Tapes, it's his most substantial cassette so far, burrowing deeper into a psychedelic ferric humus to masticate alien melodic minerals and trace elements of microtonal harmonics. It feels barely played, more like it was rubbed onto the spool with pebbles and flotsam then buried… Read more
**Timely reissue of an exalted electronic classic, presented on vinyl for the first time and including download code redeemable from the label** Way back in 1998 Isan issued this fresh new template for melodic instrumental electronica. Borrowing ideas from classic Kosmische and the canniest Canterbury pop before it, and offering a frothier option compared to the increasingly complex and austere arrangements of the Skam cabal or Rephlex and Warp-style IDM, 'Beautronics' was, and still is, a triumph of analog subtlety and naif sensitivity and was no less than a staple part of our… Read more
Mr Beatnick's back in business with a third EP on Semtek's Don't Be Afraid label, his first since last year's ace Sun Goddess and arguably his best yet. The first half of the 12" comes over like Metro Area made over for London 2013: dubwise, richly melodic disco-boogie retro-futurism, and balm for tired ears. 'Savannah' in particular sounds breezy as anything, but - as with everything on this record - look under the hood and you'll find a surprisingly complex mechanism driving it. 'Symbiosis' is real class, wrought out of heartsore live string sounds, acutely funked-up synth lines and a chugg… Read more
Finally, I think we're beginning to hear the best of L-Vis as he drops the tacky nu-boogie flavours in favour of a sleek but rugged futurist sounds. Following the lead of his Night Slugs cohort, Jam City, he yields three holo'ed and cyber-haunted 'Ballads', svelte and sheer contoured tech grooves swiping away any extraneous melody or drums to leave behind suggestive, body co-ordinating drum hints and synth comtrails for the 'floor. 'Ballad 4D' works a paucity of elements - flanging hi-hats, detuned pads and bass - in a tessellating rubik's cube groove, and 'Not Mad' comes off like hyper-boogie for… Read more
Rustie making powerr moves on Numbers! On his first new single in over a year, Russell Whyte breaks off what could be considered a demented cousin to Baueer's 'Harlem Shake' - that is, if it had been brought up on a diet of John Hughes movies and sugar puffs - with the dancefloor hero stance of 'Triadzz' and its ultra-peakin' trance-pop crescendos. And if that doesn't have your party convinced, there's the martial bounce of 'Slasherr' with a cavalcade of ceilidh snares and hyper-swaggered Scottish melody. More fun than a barrel of homebrewed buckie.
12" // £14.99**Edition of 500 copies with double-sided insert. Includes download code redeemable from the label** LA's Bestial Mouths follow up an excellent debut LP for Dais on this satisfying split with recent Downwards and Mannequin contributors, Deathday. The Mouths' ride Boudica-like with Sioux hollers over scorched gothic EBM rhythms and synth noise on 'White Eyes' and continue to spill blood with a battery of martial toms and explosive snares against a bellicose backdrop in 'Hollowed' - big tip for fans of Lydia Lunch, Light Asylum, or Diamanda Galas. Deathday follow an aforemention… Read more
**Edition of 500 copies on marbled grey wax. Includes download code redeemable from the label** Deathday serve a chilling debut album of coldwave synth-pop for Desire and LA's Sweating Tapes. Ripe for cyber-punks and bedroom-bound misanthropes, 'Deathday' features seven cuts powered by marching drums, sour, detuned synths and some of the most miserable off key vocals, trudging from the miserable thump of 'Sister' to the jagged, monotone synth stabs and sci-fi intrigue of 'Cold Room' and the phetish, uptempo paranoia of 'Charles Joseph Whitman' to the squally blasts and gothic traits of 'Blood On A … Read more
**Hand-stamped white label** Deeper, druggy house on Sylphe's sophomore trip. Holdie Gawn handles an extended roller landing somewhere between Villalobos-style tech house and Freunde Der Familie's psychoactive dubs in the A-side 'Distinc'. B-side, Micawber's 'Satellite Systems' synchs supple subbass oscillations and offset rimshots for deep space 6am gyrations.
**Orange wax with A4 insert** Classier club grease from the cats at Dixon Avenue Basement Jams. With one ass cheek in early '90s Chicago and the other in 2013 Glasgow, this analogy could get pretty horrible but the mysterious O.D.D keeps it sweet with four tracks working up a sweat from horny basslines a la Abe Duque or classic Cajual oiled up and rubbed against grooving, martial drum machines and infectious siren synth pulses. One fo' the late night swingers.
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** Compelling third album of eccentric, operatic Finnish electro-pop from Heidi Kilpelainen. Apparently inspired by birdsong while on holiday in her homeland, she creates an otherworldly journey through laidback, hypnotic rhythms and lucid yet bizarre song-writing recalling a wealth of music we already love, from Group Rhoda to The Knife/Fever Ray, Kate Bush or Planningtorock. It should come as little surprise, then, that Christoffer Berg, producer for The Knife, Depeche Mode and Little Dragon, is the man behind the scenes. Check!
'Japandorf' is the swansong album by late, legendary Neu! drummer and guitarist, Klaus Dinger - inventor of the "motorik" beat - with fine artists from the Japanese community of his hometown, Düsseldorf. Recorded between 2000-2008 at his Zeeland Studio on the Netherlands coast, and in his home studio near Düsseldorf airport, it captures a brimming sense of positivity in 12 tracks of signature krautrock chug and melodic guitars matched by vocals oscillating between gruff German and chirpy, higher Japanese registers. The spirit which drove Neu!'s early music from the kraut underground … Read more
**Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** Tech-trancey and swinging bass grooves from Rupert Taylor's XXXY for Swansea's Ten Thousand Yen. 'Progression' meshes a technicoloured moiré of arpeggios to snappy snares and round, precise sub pressure; 'Thinkin Bout' opens a folder of cowbells and downpitched vocal stabs in sharply contoured 2-step/house flux.
'Rites' is the chilling solo debut proper by Sri Lanka-born, Bristol-based composer and sound designer, Paul Jebanasam. It arrives via his own Subtext label - home to a series of bracing recent releases by Emptyset and Roly Porter - to deliver a payload of gothic electro-acoustic composition blending neo-classical, black metal and electronic drone traits with an insoluble, elemental alchemy. It should come as little surprise that he's also been known to handle sound design for film, but 'Rites' is concerned with far loftier, artful ideas as the label's press expounds; "Rites brings together a un… Read more
**Reproduction reissue of Afro-Latin-Funk-Fuzz holy grail on heavy vinyl. Includes mp3 download code redeemable from the label** "Belgium, not the first place you'd think of when it comes to Latin or Afro funk. Yet one of the greatest records to blend both styles came from the small northern European country, masterminded by Nico Gomez and his Afro Percussion Inc. Ritual was originally released in 1971 on the Dutch label Omega International (Gomez was born in Holland before moving to Belgium in the late 40s) and is being reissued by Mr Bongo in 2013, bringing its blazing fun… Read more
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE & Z'EV
Rubhitbangklanghear Rubhitbangklangear
Sub Rosa
LP // £14.99
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Cat. Number: SRV340
"For the second time in 20 years, Palestine and Z'ev are performing together, and this is the first time they've recorded it! Unreleased material from Charlemagne's lair, a place now called Charleworld, where both fellows spent 3 days in June 2010. Part of the Sub Rosa/Laboratoire Central sessions."
**First pressing - limited edition of 300 copies - purple vinyl** Desire and New York's Mishka corporation key into your darkest cybernetic fantasies with this ace from NNF and 100% Silk's Xander Harris. 'Snow Crash' is an imagined soundtrack to Neil Stevenson's classic and prescient cyberpunk novel of the same title - a dystopian prediction of "high functioning internet, avatar representation, global connectivity… anarchism, widespread violent gangs, and language viruses." Harris executes the task with robust production and poignant effect. And while his palette is perhaps a little too roo… Read more
Tightest hardstyle trap and jUKe from the Numbers affiliate and his pal, Akka. 'Synergy' swerves between the emosh trance swells and lean, slowfast 808 bounce of 'Illusory' to the grimy 8-bit bully riddim 'Mobius' on the A-side, and over to the hilarious vocal chopping of 'Paul Is Dead', slicing up the phrase "Paul McCartney Is Dead" over hi-NRG jUKe flux and bubbling synths, beside the saccahrine hyper-boogie of 'Trapped In '82' on the flip. One for fans of Rustie, Hud Mo, Krampfhaft.
*Ships Friday* Wicked Bass bat up a nifty debut Chi-house homage by Innershade, backed with acid-laced and psycho-jakkin' remixes by Locked Groove and Vakula. We'd detect a trace of late '80s New Beat to the Belgian producer's taut funk in 'That Girl', while his fellow countryman, Locked Groove makes that connection more explicit with a sterner, stripped down and darker acid version. However, Vakula's remix is all about the Chi, spiking the groove with wild organ riffs, snare rushes and wavey synthlines like Virgo with a serious horn on.
Arclight, now outed as Simian/Lord Skywave's Simon Lord and Werk Discs' Lukid, return to Jacques Greene's Vase label with 'Tumble Down'. Lukid pares down his more wayward inclinations to fit with Lord's Lidell-like vocals, but still keeps that endearing oddness, clearly apparent in the icy grime minimalism-meets-indie-pop of the title track, and diverted into more pastoral, psych-folk shapes with the Animal Collective-like 'Obsidian', whereas 'Hodl Against The Light' is a shockingly sincere, stripped down folk-pop, acoustic guitars and all, and 'One Seven Three Four' is post-dubstep-pop par excellence.
**Totally charming private press obscurity, new on Drag City** "Only in Detroit does an ex-garage-rocker-cum-accidental-n-wave-tourist link up with bewildered local stoned funk act Solar Flight for this dour confessional masterpiece that makes you yearn for the levity and positive vibes of Suicide. Although Rich Ristagno manufactured copies of this, his sole long player, in 1981, artwork was never completed, nor a single unit ever distributed to the non-existent audience for his singular nihilistic vision. Soul-funk meets acid guitars in a manner Funkadelic couldn't ever get high enough to imagine!"
**Includes digital download voucher redeemable from the label** "You, Me, Temporary’ is Sweatson Klank’s third full-length album in 10 years, and it shows just how extensive the Los Angeles native’s artistic growth has been. The music tight ropes between electronic, hip hop and futuristic R&B, sidestepping obvious boxes while finding its own effortlessly. ‘You, Me, Temporary’ transcends genres, balancing the vulnerable and sensual with the rough and jagged. The album has an emotive and sometimes pressing quality, in direct opposition to today’s disposable music mania. The hypnotic in… Read more
Thursday, 11 April
![[PHYSICS] - Spectramorphic Iridescence, DIGITALIS](http://assets.boomkat.com/images/689064/150.jpg "[PHYSICS] - Spectramorphic Iridescence, DIGITALIS")
+ Free MP3
**Initial copies on translucent, tangerine-coloured wax cut by Lupo at D&M** Los Angelino android [PHYSICS] logs into the vaporwave cloud with this engrossing debut album of synthesised electronic emotions and holomorphic narrative. Paralleling the piloerect melodic triggers of Oneohtrix Point Never and the trans-dimensional fidelities of Hype Williams or James Ferraro, 'Spectramorphic Iridescence' is a like viscous psycho-sonic balm for those pleasure centres that respond most acutely to futurist nostalgia, a silicone VR vaporub of frothy arpeggiation and digital enzymes totally… Read more
