Pender Street Steppers & YU SU 020424

 

NTS Latest · Pender Street Steppers & YU SU 020424

Kerrie - Machine Alliance (Tresor)

 

Title: Machine Alliance 

Artist: Kerrie 

Label: Tresor

Cat Number: tresor370

Genre: Techno

1: Machine Alliance

2: Symbiosis

3: Technopoly Dream

4: Ode To The D

5: Replicants (Digital Bonus)

6: System & Structure (Digital Bonus)

7: Human In The Loop (Digital Bonus)

Kerrie’s ‘Machine Alliance’ kicks off with a title track that is invertebrate in origin and feels sinister in its reach. It also feels a little bit bogged down under its own weight. The kick a little laborious and at odds with the insectivorous riff over its top. The overall outcome one of frictional fusion. ‘Symbiosis’ is more lively and well-defined; an agile, mutating loop over a more spritely beat. ‘Technopoly Dream’ is a sub bass, stripped down drums and a repetitve spoken word sample, and ‘Ode To The D’, a slowed down, more abstract track, similar in tone to ‘Symbiosis’, but leaving more to the imagination. Of the digital bonus tracks, ‘Replicants’ makes use of break beats over a charred synth line and a threatening, growling low end. ‘System And Structure’ is a linear fluctuator and finally, ‘Human In The Loop’ a beat less, tonal, panoramic composition. This is a strong piece of work from Kerrie where she gets to properly flex her production skills, showing off a repertoire that spans the machine funk spectrum and putting her own stamp on her influences.

Track Of The Day: I Believe - Master Spirit (Utopia Records)

I recently came across this track, (which is almost as good a beginning as “Once upon a time”), rereleased on the Utopia Records label as part of an Interactive Test compilation, and remastered which has, to these ears at least, improved the composition. (The original sounds unnecessarily fast).  And it’s not a new release, coming out in 2022, the original in 1991. Labelled as ‘Italo house’, and much closer in spirit to Sueno Latino than ‘Ride On Time’, this timeless electronic piece dreamy Balaerica is a dense, hedonistic sunrise symphony that reeks of the tropics but is every bit as relevant in currently gloomy Suffolk. This is hypnotic, imaginative limitless stuff that has the power to transport and transcend, so perfect for listening to while doing the shopping.

Track Of The Day: Fred P - Dance Of Rhythms (Syncrophone)

From the excellent eponymously titled recent Syncrophone release, ‘Dance Of Rhythms’ is a ten minute Fred P tour de force. The premise is simple. A long, deep voyage into the shape throwing netherworld, where the lines between deep house, techno and trance blur to such an extent that you’re really not sure whether they’re nouns or adjectives anymore. Possibly more importantly though is the soul that runs through this music. This is the type of track that is on Fred P’s mind when he gets up in the morning, and goes to bed at some ungodly hour. And even though the premise may be simple, the execution certainly isn’t. After all, surely, if anyone could make a track like this, they would.

Recorded at Houghton - Bobby. (2023)

 

https://soundcloud.com/houghton-festival/recorded-at-houghton-bobby-2023?si=99ef38944a5f4f18991adb3fed661387&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Recorded at Houghton - Ivan Smagghe (2023)

Houghton Festival · Recorded at Houghton - Ivan Smagghe (2023)

Track Of The Day: Synaptic Voyager - Electric Ocean (Frame Of Mind)

From the excellent ‘Disconnect To Reconnect’ release that emerged recently, this elegant piece of emotive techno puts one in mind of the cream of UK late 80s to early 90s machine funk. A time when the Detroit influence, while tangible, was bent into something else altogether. Deeper than deep and funkier than funk, the growling bass, taking its cues from Reese, thrust into the foreground and driven forward by break beats so subtle that, due to the other sonic adornment you don’t really notice them. Operating in that meridian between the dawn of time and the first mudskippers, the whole EP is just as good, so it was difficult to find a fave; and you get extended versions if you go digital. Which is nice.

Barac Shamandrum Sessions 1 & 2

 

Barac · Barac - Shamandrum Session 001

Barac · Barac - Shamandrum Session 002

Track Of The Day: Moor - Vago (Parallel 9 remix) (Irenic)

This release, on Roger Gerressen’s excellent Irenic, came out a few months ago and the track here is a Steve Rachmad remix of ‘Vago’, the original of which is also present and also brilliant. On another day I could have featured the original so, even though the slightly bouncier remix takes that honour, I feel the original should get an honourable mention. This track is everything I have always liked about techno; deep; doesn’t get carried away with itself; full of soul; all the right noises in all the right places. You know what’s just around the corner and feel comforted by it. This may sound like it’s predictable, but I think not. There’s plenty to get excited about within these grooves, and it’s definitely one of Rachmad’s more memorable outings of recent years.

Rodion & Mammarella Musica E Computer (Slow Motion)

 

Title: Musica E Computer

Artist: Rodion & Mammarella

Label: Slow Motion

Cat Number: SLOMO052

Genre: Cosmic 

01: Iris

02: A Corrente Alternata

03: Un Segnale Di Speranza

04: Accelerazione

05: La Domenica Del Villaggio

06: Errore Di Calcolo

07: La Memoria Del Sistemi

08: Una Nuova Era

Well this is something. A release “recorded in the legendary Marche Synth Museum (Museo Del Synth Marchigiano). A fully functional recording space that houses a fusion of several private collections of Italian electronic musical instruments gathered over the many years since their creation.” There’s more to say about this, but I think that’s enough about the sheer electronic geekiness at work here. Without such attention to detail where would we be? At sea in a storm of blandness is my guess. And while it’s difficult to single out any particular track for specific praise (they’re all on the money), context is everything. I do like ‘ Accelerazione’, which sounds like it has been spawned from the best Italian futurist tradition, and ‘Errore Di Calcolo’ whose vocodered vocal sounds like it’s repeating “easy gel” at the top of the track. And, there’s a futurist train noise coming through intermittently, putting me in mind of Ivo Panaggi’s ‘Speeding Train (Treno in corsa)’. ‘Iris’ opens the package up in an abstract fashion, merging a harp with jungle sounds and evoking more painting in the process. However, this time its the naive stylings of Henri Rousseau than the forward looking futurism. ‘La Memoria Del Sistemi’ is a soaring synth masterpiece, with a throbbing low end solid enough to take anything on top of it which, in this case, are all manner of space sounds. This is equalled by ‘Un Segnale Di Speranza’, an arpeggiated,  italo chimera composed of a disparate dance dichotomy that coalesces in the most harmonious way. All in all, if this release proves anything it’s that the synth nerds will inherit the Earth, and  it’s never too late to be a part of that.

Track Of The Day: Ohm & Kvadrant - Precious Little Diamond (Levon Vincent Remix) (Kontakt)

A very recent release for a change. This remix by Levon Vincent gets me all nostalgic because it’s a real return to form. Having said that, I haven’t been keeping much of an eye on his recent output, so maybe he never really stopped making tracks like this. And what is “this”? Well, it’s a minimal, tracky stomper which is heavy in all the right places. Hearkening back to the likes of that immortal double header ‘Invisible Bitchslap’ and ‘Woman Is The Devil’, hos take on ‘Precious Little Diamond’ is a little bit quicker, but still manages to showcase his signature approach; ie: one that blends dub techno and a scything groove. Also, whether by accident or design, his tracks have always reminded me of Octave One, which can only be a good thing.