Rising - Antigone (Token)

Title: Rising

Artist: Antigone

Label: Token

Cat Number: TOKEN88LP

Genre: Techno

A1: Rising

A2: Sands of Time

B1: Perchance to Dream

B2: Lost and Found

C1: Out There

C2: Duality of Mind

C3: Infinite Limit

D1: It Follows

D2: Irreversible

D3: Love Field

This is Antigone’s debut album and it’s a patient, well-disciplined realization of what I would hope is the artist’s imagination. This much should be obvious I suppose, but in a genre as claustrophobic as techno, it may need to be said more often than should be necessary. It’s not easy to make something which is truly unique within this genre anymore. The machine funk trace elements of one strain or another always seem to be present and form another layer of veneer on what has already been absorbed. What has kept me listening to this collection over the past few days is its symmetry and ambience; two very important techno characteristics that distinguish this album and raise it above the level of the mundane. It’s a bit too clean at times, but the space within which Antigone operates is both figurative and hallucinatory and, although most of what has been produced here feels safe within its cyclic realms, the restraint and maturity which adorns it is notable.

The Snake Bites Twice - Posthuman (Craigie Knowes)

Title: The Snake Bites Twice  

Artist: Posthuman

Label: Craigie Knowes

Cat Number: CKNOWEP13

Genre: Techno

1: Steal the Show

2: Cobra Structure

3: Polywater Acid

4: Down 2 Jakk

Electro and acid, the devil’s dumplings of electronic dance music. Seen by some to be no more than house/techno inflections, and by others as genre and sub genre respectively. Without going into the detail that I already have, I’d just like to say that the acid dominates on this release by Posthuman, with the only track free of it, ‘Steal the Show’ being an electro banger with a rave sensibility. That doesn’t mean that it’s the only composition to stand out though: ‘Polywater Acid’ journeys into a stoned hinterland for most of its last three minutes; ‘Down 2 Jakk’ is distinguished by dramatic metallic swirls which raise it above the merely mundane and ‘Cobra Structure’ has a funky shuffle that will test even the most double-jointed dancer. Craigie Knowes are signing off a great year in fine style.

Oscillate tracks 001 - D. Tiffany & Roza Terenzi (Oscilate Tracks)

Title: Oscillate Tracks 001

Artist: D. Tiffany & Roza Terenzi

Label: Oscillate Tracks

Cat Number: OSCT001

Genre: Electro/Breaks

A1: Electronique - Roza Terenzi

B1: Spirit Alien - D. Tiffany 

B2: Spirit Alien (Jayda G Esoteric Mix) - D. Tiffany

An interesting release this, which incorporates electro, drum and bass and a Jayda G  remix, which remains true to the original’s spirit while being very much of itself. Roza Terenzi’s ‘Electronique’ is a wonderful track: euphoric electro  with break beats which steadily builds and  relies on disparate elements to come together and provide a stream of mind melding moments. It’s versatile and will build at the beginning of a set, as well as raising the temperature just when needed. It’s subtle, and much more than the sum of its parts. The original of ‘Spirit Alien’ is a cosmic drum and bass excursion and is very understated. Jayda G’s remix goes down a similar rhythmic route, but makes frictional use of percussion and vocal samples to further emphasise syncopation and mood. An interesting release that refuses to be pinned down.

S.T - Rings Around Saturn (Brokntoys)

Title: S/T

Artist: Rings Around Saturn

Label: Brokntoys

Cat Number: BT30

Genre: Techno/Electro

A1: Saturnine

A2: Pulp Tech

A3: Apocalypse Lite

B1: Event Strike

B2: Perfect Crime

C1: Online Spectre

C2: World Interior

C3: Uncanny Soul

D1: Non Place

D2: Automatic Memory

D3: Mirage

A varied and interesting release this one. Flitting between augmented and reductionist strains of electro, techno, IDM and cosmic synthwave Rory McPike has created the soundtrack to a Hieronymous Bosch animation. If the garden of Earthly Delights were set to music, the result wouldn’t be too dissimilar to this. There’s chaos, but also order, a little like the third law of thermodynamics. Above all though, this collection glistens with energy and evokes a dawn of time scenario where fish are just about to grow legs and oversized planets hang in a purple sky. It’s an imaginative, evocative collection of compositions, each of which contributes in its own small way to the construction of a primitive, parallel universe.

Hypnagogia LP - BNJMN (Delsin Records)

Title: Hypnagogia 

Artist: BNJMN

Label: Delsin

Cat Number: Techno

Genre: 131DSR

A1: Atoms Speak

A2: Swarm

A3: Glowed

B1: Titan Dome

B2: Hypnagogia Pt. 1

C1: Theta Wave

C2: Indub

C3: Moth Lines

D1; Hyonagogia Pt. 2

D2: Over White Peaks

I never knew of the existence of this word until introduced to it via the Dopplereffekt/Objekt split release of a few years ago; ‘Hypnagogia, also referred to as "hypnagogic hallucinations", is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep:’ one of my many faults is maybe wanting track titles in electronica to actually have a relationship with the music, and not be random throwaway inscriptions. This isn’t the case here, or maybe I’m overthinking things. That BNJMN feels that this is his first “cohesive body of work” since ‘Black Square’ on Rush Hour back in 2011, however, is a sentiment I feel is worth taking seriously, true or not. Whatever the case, the album is a serious collection of mood setters, and hinges, for me at least on the two eponymous compositions,  which provide the peaks around which the other pieces coalesce. 

Counterfeit Soul Vol 2 - Frazer Campbell (Counterfeit Soul Records)

Title: Counterfeit Soul Vol. 2

Artist: Frazer Campbell

Label: Counterfeit Soul Records

Cat Number: CS002

Genre: Deep House

1: Glad It’s All Night

2: Laurenz Hill

3: Alexo Kneel

4: Mr Green’s Envy

Frazer Campbell flexes his sonic sinews with four tracks which, judging by their titles, owe a debt to those in question. The tunes are tight and bouncy, as we have become used to, and there are various other embellishments to raise this quartet well above that of the purely playful and functional. Campbell keeps things understated throughout, and leaves it to the samples to do the work when necessary, but they wouldn’t sound so good without the grooves. Both ‘Glad It’s All Night’ and ‘Alexo Kneel’ rely on this approach more, with the beats being more upfront on ‘Laurenz Hill’. It’s probably the sunrise evoked by ‘Mr Green’s Envy’ that I find the most touching though, which ensures that each composition offers something a little bit different from its predecessor.

Immortality (ft. Paris Brightledge) - One Last Riot (Paranoid London)

In Heaven - Passarella Death Squad (Passarella Records)

Title: In Heaven

Artist: Passarella Death Squad

Label: Passarella Records

Cat Number: PASS004

Genre: Techno

1: In Heaven

2: In Heaven (Violet Remix)

3: In Heaven (Norman Nodge Remix)

With a name only marginally better than ‘PBR Streetgang’, the music had better be good. Thankfully it is, although I found it totally predictable in tone. A drone, a throb, and a deadpan vocal to accompany a martial beat are the cold wave components of coalescence. Techno lawyer Norman Nodge, a living personification of the black t shirt doesn’t overdo the remix to his credit, while Violet’s emphasizes the break beats which feels sonically a little muddy in parts, but it’s ok. T'artwork is good as well. 

Mix for the Motherchip

Athnatos – Dopplereffekt (Leisure System)

Cold Colony – ERP (Semantica)

Bodypop – Metamatics (Shipwrec)

Astral Flex – Reedale Rise (Kondi)

Pt. 2 SUEDO21 – SW (Sued)

Snow Banks – 214 (Klakson)

Lonely Planet – Pollen (Tresor)

Afrogermanic –UR (UR)

Lost – J. Roland (Lonely Planets)

Fadin’ Away (Heinrich Mueller Remix) – The Hacker (WeMe)

Shell Script Magic – Life Recorder (Acting Press)

Glyph 03 – Archetype (Was/Is)

Future City – The Advent (Kombination Research)

Vohx Continues V1 – Adapta (Frustrated Funk)

Humanity Nill – Will Web (Di’jital Axcess)

Sepsis – Versalife (Trust)

You Don’t Know – Drexciya (UR)

G Club Live – Reflective Souls (Hard Beach Entertainment)

Forget About It – Galaxian (Foul Up)

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