Wednesday, June 22, 2022
The Shock Of The New EP - Power From The Skies (No Static/Automatic)
Title: The Shock Of The New EP
Artist: Power From The Skies
Label: No Static/Automatic
Cat Number: NSA003.1
Genre: Techno/Industrial Ambience/Hardcore
1: Doesn’t Follow Logic
2: Karaoke Calculator
3: Pylon Ground
4: Malton Is A Sexy Town
5: Doesn’t Follow Logic (Return Code Zero Remix)
This release is a departure from the electro I’m used to hearing on this label. There is a variance of tempos across the four original tracks with ‘Doesn’t Follow Logic’ consisting of a pervasive glookiness, breakbeats of various textures largely hardcore based, and what sounds like a cartoon horse. Tracks 2, 3 & 4 each play their respective parts in a fluctuant dislocation of the senses. Deploying cohesive rhythmic patterns which run up against beatless brick walls is a recurrent motif, as is an inventive use of acrid electronics and depth. The Return Code Zero Remix of ‘Doesn’t Follow Logic’ is the most fully formed piece of rhythmic disorder here, the other pieces feeling like they’ve been building up to it, but it still has a similar approach, and rounds off this very interesting release nicely.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Parole & Papaver EP - Vertical Cat (Achingly)
Title: Parole & Papaver EP
Artist: Vertical Cat
Label: Achingly
Cat Number: achy004
Genre: Deep House
A1: Parole
A2: Luna
B1: Papaver
B2: Moss (Electro Origins Mix)
Understatement is the name of the game here, in a very good way. ‘Parole’ and ‘Luna’ are two solid deep house tracks; the former feeling like a piece of looped techno distilled to its very essence, bereft of body and all in the mind. ‘Luna’ takes things up a notch; adding grist for the mill in the form of a more solid beat foundation, it courses along a similar cosmic lateral line. ‘Papaver’ does, as described in the press release, take its cues from dub techno, but deploys a much lighter touch without a throbbing bass to ground it. That leaves ‘Moss (Electro Origins Mix)’ which is a wickedly off-beat piece of fragile machine funk. The type which as well as being a challenge to break dance to, has other uses, such as the soundtrack to quiet contemplation while drinking in all that life has to offer. Right up my street this, which means I like it a lot.
Monday, June 20, 2022
They Come In Twos - Alonzo (Cultivated Electronics)
Title: They Come In Twos
Artist: Alonzo
Label: Cultivated Electronics
Cat Number: CE042
Genre: Electro
A1: Animal Control
A2: Cause & Effect
B1: They Come In Twos
B2: Magnetic
C1: Corner Of 11th
C2: Drunken Badger
D1: Unprofessional
D2: Zone D
Having first come across Alonzo via his ‘I’m A . . . ‘ release on WT, and then ‘003’ on Zement, I harboured more anticipation than is strictly normal for someone of my advanced years when discovering this release in my inbox. I’m not disappointed either, with my predilection for grungy, world out of balance beats being more than satisfied three tracks in. Vocoders feature heavily as well, and who cares if the lyrics can’t be made out. It’s all about the menace and threat, yeah? Mind you, nothing works independently. Those sinister spoken word emissions would be nothing without the multiple textures of electro that lift them to new, disorientating heights. There’s a healthy feeling of unease and disturbance aligned to an insatiable machine funk momentum that keeps this collection ticking over like a finely tuned instrument of chaos. Alonzo does like a flange, and this is used throughout the album, but nowhere more devastatingly than when it is combined with a screaming siren on ‘Drunken Badger’. The title track is notable for its coalescence of practically all of dissonant electro’s already mentioned hallmarks, and the collection is bookended by a couple of tunes that also employ oral dissonance sparingly, and multiple cluster bomb effects liberally across their respective synth infused landscapes. On the one hand there’s nothing strikingly new here, but the collection comes together beautifully as a sequential piece of work with momentum sustained. I just wish the tracks were each a little longer to maximise mixing potential.
Sunday, June 19, 2022
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Friday, June 17, 2022
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Down To The Ground - DJ Linus (Nordic Trax)
Title: Down To The Ground
Artist: DJ Linus
Label: Nordic Trax
Cat Number: NT117
Genre: Deep House
1: It’s All Good
2: It’s All Good (Dub Version)
3: Down To The Ground
4: Bavarian Stomper
I’ve still got my copy of ‘Who Stole The Soul’ by the artist still known as the one who makes me think of Peanuts. And this is his first release for what looks like ten years. It’s not bad either. ‘It’s All Good’ is an uplifting, funky vocal track that builds and more stamina than Mo Farah. The dub dispenses with the main vocal and brings the disco dissonance into sharper focus. ‘Down To The Ground’ is an understated, off key shuffler that remains largely in the sonic shadows, it’s a subtle exercise in restraint and has similar constituents to ‘It’s All Good’. The best has been saved until last though, with ‘Bavarian Stomper’ turning out to be a very capable piece of italo disco that’s crying out for a camp as fuck vocal. A good return to the fray from DJ Linus then.
