Sunday, April 20, 2025
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Friday, April 18, 2025
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Monday, April 14, 2025
Madteo - Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta (UNSURE)
Title: Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta
Artist: Madteo
Label: UNSURE
Cat Number: UNSURE004
Genre: Fuck Knows
1: Cans People
2: Motrice Pia
3: To Know Those Who
4: Rave Nite Itz All Right Vox
5: To Know Those Who
6: Nocturnal Palates
7: Rave Nite Itz All Right
8: Luglio Ottantotto
9: Emo G (Sticky Wicket)
10: Metrazol (4 Art Ind Epil Cons)
Coming into this collection blind, one might wonder “what’s that all about then?” I guess I should just refer to the press release, which does all of the hard work for me.
“Madteo is one of the great eccentric visionaries of electronic music, and his new album Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta on Unsure once more happens to be a mind-bending piece of art. Misto Atmosferico E Ad Azione Diretta shifts between focused gritty grooves and the long freeform associative adventures that you haven’t heard before—never static, sometimes overwhelming, always on edge.”
Madteo is obviously going to divide listeners, so let’s cut to the chase and see how I perceive this “piece of work”. It’s quite linear in places: ‘ Cans People’, ‘To Know Those Who’, ‘Metrazol (4 Art Ind Epil Cons)’ (the 5th track, not the last, as I have written) ‘Luglio Ottantotto’ and ‘Emo G (Sticky Wicket)’. These tracks, with the exception of the 14 minute ‘Emo G . . . ‘ don’t outstay their welcome and collectively feel like dubby, smeared lofi excursions. ‘Luglio Ottantotto’ is 10 minutes long, however it has a little bit more in its spectral, Lynchian armoury. ‘Emo G . . . ‘ does feel like its being made up as it goes along, these last two tracks also have the hauntalogical, disembodied effect of listening to short wave radio. (Those were the days). ‘Metrazol (4 Art Ind Epil Cons)’ stands out as an island of polymorphic rhythm around which everything can coalesce. Like some Sufi hymn brought inot sharp focus by the surrouunding abstraction. ‘Rave Nite Itz All Right’ feels dense and claustraphobic. The vocal version is the title being intoned over its 45 second length and, as such, feels just a little self-indulgent. Having said all of this though, I like the relative unpredictability of what I hear. So there’s that.
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Friday, April 11, 2025
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Monday, April 07, 2025
Saturday, April 05, 2025
Friday, April 04, 2025
Hackney Electronica - Synaptic Shadows: A Journey Through The Circuit (Dark Entries)
Title: Synaptic Shadows: A Journey Through The Circuit
Artist: Hackney Electronica
Label: Dark Entries
Cat Number: DE-338
Genre: Electronica Innit
1: H.E. Nuestro Circuito
2: Efecto Perfecto
3: The One
4: Whispers From The Depths
5: Nueva Ola
Hackney Electronica are Quinn Whalley (Paranoid London), Unai Trotti (Cartulis Music), and Margo Broom (Hermitage Working Studios), who got together during lockdown to make “ acidic rave-inflected wave.” Soi if that’s what this is, it’s really rather good. There is a variety of moods and tempos on show: ‘H.E. Nuestro Circuito’ souhnds like something the BBC Radiophonic Workshop might have made in collaboration with Anthony Rother. However, for the most part, we duck and dive through various takes on electro and breaks until it’s difficult to tell the difference. This mainly down to the respective heaviness of each track, with ‘Efecto Perfecto’ being a point at which thud, funk and eloquence combine. ‘The One’ is a little lighter, but not that different sonically speaking. There’s more room to manoeuvre between the beats, but the dark arts necessary to be learnt in order to assemble such a symphony are pervasive. ‘Whispers From The Depths’ sounds like it could be your token Drexciya hommage, and maybe it is. However, I doubt it. It sounds more like the soundtrack to Prometheus having his liver pecked at. The paranoid, smeared electro of ‘Nueva Ola’ rounds things off, taking things deeper and more haunted still, adding to the general veil of uncertainty that comes free of charge to the listener in the process. All good this.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Tuesday, April 01, 2025
Monday, March 31, 2025
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
Patrick Conway - Loss/Silencio (ESP Institute)
Title: Loss/Silencio
Artist: Patrick Conway
Label: ESP Institute
Cat Number: ESP-CXIV
Genre: Broken Break Beat
A: Loss
B: Silencio
It’s been a long wait since 2020’s ‘Hypersocial/Safety Test’. The UK was still groggy from the pandemic and crawling out of lockdown. And of course loads of other stuff has happened, mostly bad. And I’m wondering as I listen to these two tracks if any of these events are being reflected in this release. Neither composition is sweetness and light, rather redolent of deterioration and a struggle for rebirth. That’s the impression I get listening to ‘Silencio’, a tune whose break beats feel uncertainly optimistic. ‘Loss’ plunges deeper, its panel-beating battery draped in discord and darkness. Obviously appropriate given its title. It’s the sound of suppression and misery. Don’t play within earshot of the suicidal.
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Friday, March 21, 2025
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Monday, March 17, 2025
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Friday, March 14, 2025
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Luxus Varta - Magnetic (Specimen Records)
Title: Magnetic
Artist: Luxus Varta
Label: Specimen Records
Cat Number: SPEC032
Genre: Electro
A1: Magnetic
A2: Broken Tube
B1: Gelatin 55
B2: Colour Splitter
On entering the world inhabited by Luxus Varta one should definitely be prepared to
eschew stability and familiarization. Being inside these tunes is akin to finding yourself trapped in a vortex of organised disorientation. The often brittle beats combining with sturdier low ends offer some room to manoeuvre. However, it’s an illusion to think you can dance your way free from the sonic scrim curtain you’re caught in. The two tracks on the A side are more abstract than the more straight up electro numbers on the B pop pickers, and they occasionally allow themselves to seep out from their confines. The title track is a good example of this; its off-kilter approach giving scope for it to vaporize into the ether without missing a beat. ‘Broken Tube’ is a piece of panel beater techno tempered by an electro foundation, while both ‘Gelatin 55’ and ‘Colour Splitter’ play out this release in a more orthodox, but no less imaginative way. Their pitched up, undulating approach incorporating a gamut of dark, metaphysical b-boy moves.
