Electro 141 Items

White vinyl!

Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs, closer to VG+. 2 Black labels, on some copies one label is written with a marker "Instruments Of Darkness'' (not on this copy).

Emerging from a thick spiralling haze, is the debut album from Mystic AM - a new project from Rod Modell and label founder Ario Farahani. Conceived as an immersive fictional soundtrack piece, the release tells the story of a traveller, some centuries ago, and the rather intense metaphysical experience he unexpectedly stumbles into whilst taking shelter on a hot desert night at Zein-o-Din Caravanserai, near Yazd in Persia. Dusk envelopes the vast barren landscape as the protagonist enters the ribat, treasures of woven silks, ornaments and exotic spices glint under the flickering oil lamps, swirls of perfumed vapour dance mesmerisingly in the darkness. As the music unfolds the events of the passing day quickly melt away, and the unsuspecting traveller is plunged into an otherworldly dimension.

Utilising an extensive collection of old Iranian records as source material, the album is an intoxicating mise-en-scéne of whispering melodies, undulating rhythms, and atmospheric sound details. An active buyer of old Iranian music, Ario began extracting and editing samples from the records acquired during frequent trips to Iran over recent years - during which the mood and flavour of the project began to crystallise. Once handed over to Rod for further processing and arrangement, the album took its final shape - an endless tapestry of sights, sounds, and memories that fade mysteriously into the night’s reverie. Textures seep into one another in washes of colour, and hallmarks of classical Persian sounds filter through - the slow stroll of the daf, scintillating runs of santoor, and solitary lines drifting out of the kamancheh. Bridging the realms of the real and the imaginary, the collaboration signals the first contribution to Mystic AM’s enigmatic concept.

It's by some strange inversion that since his untimely death in 1999 Bryn Jones' Muslimgauze project has become evermore enigmatic as his publicly available recordings have become evermore vast. The Mancunian artist's sudden passing at the age of 37 prematurely resolved a body of work that remains as experimental as it is diffuse, with an informal archive that was left spread between favoured labels and confidantes. And though this monadic project never abided by genre specifications, it all feels as if it is taking the critical pulses of its time and rendering them into something other than the sum of its obscure compulsions. Jones' double album 'Veiled Sisters' from 1993 is no exception, and it persists as a magnificent outlier in his singular and bewildering discography.

Originally released by the label Soleilmoon, an early and lifelong supporter of Jones' work along with Staalplaat, the album is a notable example of the uniquely recombinant fragility and fervour of Jones' work. This 3LP edition marks the album's first appearance on vinyl. Like much of the Muslimgauze catalogue, 'Veiled Sisters' is dedicated to the Palestine Liberation Organization, with its two halves—Sister One and Sister Two—calling on the history and conflicts of the modern Islamic world through opaque titles and snatches of musical oration.

Forgoing the raucous timbre and abrasion that Jones could occasionally employ, this album balances a medley of shrill instrumental bursts with a complex patterning of ambient atmospheres. 'Veiled Sisters' moves with a hypnotic gait across its extended runtime with a dynamic ensemble of electronics grounded in a pulsing yet evasive combination of low-slung kicks and dub-soaked bass. The hissy wash of drums, both played and machined, decorate a restless patina all over, and the cacophony of samples send impressions scattershot into Jones' idiosyncratic yet readymade psychedelia. With a quiet intensity that is not often captured this succinctly in the Muslimgauze catalogue, this new edition of 'Veiled Sisters' is a reminder of the haunting wonder that Jones was capable of manifesting.

Paul DeMarinis is a key figure in the history of electronic music since the 1970s. Collaborator with the likes of Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and David Tudor, DeMarinis is a pioneer in the development of gallery sound installation and digital music technologies. Black Truffle is thrilled to announce the release of a double-LP collection, selected in collaboration with the artist, focussing on DeMarinis’s exploration of synthesized voice and the digital analysis and manipulation of speech sounds.

An astounding compilation of the breakneck Shangaan dance output of the Nozinja studio in Soweto, recorded between 2006 and 2009.

Straight from Salvador, Ubunto is the freshest kid around clubs and parties in São Paulo and Brazil. DJ, Producer and multi-instrumentalist, Ubunto mixes the deep sounds of his motherland Bahia with modern eletronic textures of today. "O Vento", originally composed by all time famous "Dorival Caymmi" meets a new version on this album, featuring "As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã", a great example of "Abafabanca´s" 8 super uplifted tracks for the first time on wax. Includes special bonus track available on vinyl only. Just another great shot from São Paulo based label, SDB Discos.

With his first widely available new material in 5 years, Aphex Twin returns with an intricate and melodic addition to his discography.

The machines co-opted in production are as complex as the Weirdcore artwork, layering signature sombre ambient chords with intricate drum programming.

‘Blackbox Life Recorder 21f’ marks Aphex Twin’s official and celebrated return to augment our current reality.

Terra Magica Rec. is back with its fifth release “Club Terram”! This time it will be another V.A. compilation of never heard and unreleased original gems of electronic body music. Think: A double 12” vinyl which is fully charged for dismantled club use as those mighty Terram clubbers say. Compiled and arranged by Tom Sprenger & Mirko Hecktor all tracks are dance floor oriented rhythms which will activate your maximum energy output as well as total chill out crash. Let the new bots work your life balance. Multiverse to introverse to metaverse. With its discoish genre splicing between 90s-IDM 2 Big Beat and Breakbeats 2 NuCosmic 2 Acid-Madchester 2 rolling trancey driven Goa beats the record reflects the electronic underground culture of dance clubs and discotheques of the past 50 years. These stand for emancipation, gay liberation, cicil rights, working class and democracy. Find your inner peace on the chill out floor side. Or go bonkers to the hedonistic main room floor fillers. Find your unique personal safe space in Terrams different floors and hidden rooms. A Club FOR A L L. As Richard Dyer wrote in 1979 “In Defence of Disco”: ‘Capitalism constructs the disco experience, but it does not necessarily know what it is doing, apart from making money’. The underground is where we go moving.

Sonically, Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu’s Renegade Breakdown LP is noticeably different to previous Davidson releases. This is a record which largely eschews the wave music, house and techno influences that drove albums like Working Class Woman. Instead, Davidson and her bandmates Pierre Guerineau (Essaie Pas) and Asaël R. Robitaille (Bataille Solaire) draw heavily from styles like dream-pop, 60s chansons, jazz-tinged balladry and the stately rock style of David Bowie’s The Next Day to create an alluring set of leftfield pop for the twilight hours.

Even on the tracks where Renegade Breakdown comes close to Working Class Woman territory - the steady electro-disco stomp of the opening title-track, for instance, or Gary Numan-esque ‘C’est parce que j’m’en fous’ - the sound here is more slow-burning than its frenetic predecessor. On these cuts the group soften up the chunky Big Beat stomp of an act like Daft Punk with reflexive keys and vocals that reach more for !!! territory.

The connecting thread between Renegade Breakdown and Davidson’s other work is her arch lyricism and appetite for subversion. Few other artists would break the fourth wall with a line like “Oh by the way, there are no money makers on this record”, something Davidson does on the title-track. Throughout the album Davidson & L’Œil Nu never allow the listener to get too comfortable, meaning that, while Renegade Breakdown may sound luxurious, there is a playfulness about it which always keeps you on your toes.

Together they have produced an album of sleek, lush pop tracks which are elevated by Davidson’s trademark wit and wry lyrical content.

Sealed copy!

Bristol don Nicky Soft Touch makes his eagerly awaited return with the follow up to his last TIN release, Lonely City Sampler. Set for release almost exactly one year on, Lonely City Cuts sees Soft Touch continue in his deft explorations of sampling, chopping and rearranging beats using cuts from helter skelter and sidewinder tapes. Much like his previous release, as well as the self-released projects he's shared in the meantime, the LP is centred around a DIY aesthetic, making intimacy and introspection two of its defining features.

Conceived during a stint living in London, the series is imbued with a sense of place. Delivered via raw production techniques, voice recordings and off-kilter, broken garage beats, this positions the release amongst the moody, urban landscapes which provide the backdrop for Burial and Actress' music. On Volume One, this sounds like narling basslines that ricochet around swung percussion, and plaintive ambience that immerses you in its shadowy worlds. On Volume Two, like hip hop interludes, deep house grooves and hyper referential skits.

Early Days maps out Nine Circles interpretation of Cold Wave and Minimal Synth. Unbelievably the tracks are mostly from a brief time period, ’80—’82. Alienation and uncertainty course through the 2LP with heavy Korg chords, metallic machine beats and brittle vocals. Nine circles was formed in the early 80s by Peter Van Garderen and Lidia Fiala. In 1980 there was band called Genetic Factor. This band split up when the three members got girlfriends and they started to make music together with their girls. So at that time there were 3 bands living together in one house.

French pianist Vanessa Wagner collects solo piano studies of graceful minimalism and rare finesse for new album Mirrored.

Quickly following March 2022’s Study of the Invisible album, Vanessa Wagner returns with a new collection of work that paints in many colours. The application of shadow in Mirrored evokes haunting poignancy; the care and delicateness of its negative space leaves room for undulating melodic motifs to ebb and flow; its bold splashes of luminescence are striking and rich. And while the album collates re-interpretations of works by composers as varied as Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Moondog, Leo Ferré and Camille Pepin, the potency and effect of the collection as a whole reflects only Vanessa Wagner and the extraordinary breadth of her abilities.

Performing solo, exposed to timbre, tempo and clarity, many of the pieces here - such as “Sea Horses” by (Vanessa’s one-time mentor) Moondog or Philip Glass’ “Etude 4” - demand virtuosic abilities as a performer and interpreter. But in Vanessa Wagner’s hands, they are not only made her own, but made mesmeric and magical by the sensitivity of her touch.

Awe Kid explores ideas of trans-humanism, evolution and digital immortality on Body Logic, a fantastically lush new album for Atomnation. The immersive 10 track record plays with organic, breathing textures punctuated by moments of digital unrealness to result in an album permeated with a dream-like quality. This contrast is mirrored by the artwork from Portugal's acclaimed The Royal Studio.

Awe Kid is an alias of Sine Language Records co-founder Rick Parsons. It is the product of years spent exploring a multitude of different music. From early days in post-hardcore groups and on to a love of 90s Warp, electronic jazz and more experimental niches, the multi-instrumentalist has now settled on his own unique fusion of breaks, ambient and left-field dance music. This deft studio wizard mixes up melodic nostalgia with forward-thinking sound design using whatever he can get his hands on, from analog and modular hardware, to samplers, field recordings to digital techniques.

Says Parsons, “I love working with digital processes because you get these unexpected moments where you dial something in, that somehow takes on a tangible, organic form in the real world. Searching for these sweet spots was the motivation for the album, contrasting natural textures against synthetic elements, and finding ways to create something that feels like it exists outside of the computer.”

While the album pays homage to dance music traditions, such as the broken beat of title track 'Body Logic', and full-throttle breaks of 'Zenith', these are assimilated and repurposed to create something that defies genre categorization. The listener's journey is perfectly paced, with broody but uplifting cuts of electronica giving way to shimmering, celestial melodies, and dusty breakbeats emerging from dense layers of atmosphere, only for the mood to be reset with soothing, suspenseful synths and haunting vocal samples. Elsewhere, devastatingly emotional ambient is followed by punchy grooves and propulsive melodies to make for a real ride.

The sublime album debut of O’o inhabits the sonic hinterland where great pop meets the avant garde, and delectable melodies nestle gently with found sounds, musical moods and synthy atmospheres. Comparisons can be drawn with contemporaries like James Blake, Bjork, Laurie Anderson and even Lorde, though such an exercise is reductive given that O’o sound very much in a sonic universe all of their own. ‘Touche’ is subtle, nuanced, clever but never arch, emotional but never melodramatic.

Legowelt has been a key figure in the Dutch electronic music scene since the early nineties, steadily relea­sing timeless music that merges the pioneering sounds of Detroit and Chicago with idiosyncratic sci-fi fascinations. "Unconditional Contours" captures Legowelt's stint at the Swiss Museum for Electronic Music Instruments (smem), after he was invited to be the first artist in residence at the institution's "Playroom" project. Legowelt visited Smem in Fribourg, Switzerland, in early 2019 to explore the collection and record music. Possessing an extensive collection of synthesizers himself, he used hand-picked synthesizers from the museum's archive: the rare Farfisa Synthorchestra, the Evs-1 Evolution, the "shittiest rompler ever made", amongst many others. The 10-track album "Unconditional Contours" is both a probe into the vast collection of Smem, and a display of Legowelt's well established composi­tional qualities. Leaving ample space for new sounds to unfold, Legowelt invokes gentle trips, brooding excursions, bleep heavy soundscapes, and reimagined elements of dance music classicism. Smem and -ous are launching the "smem+ous" series to document the "Playroom" residencies. A limited edition of this album was already sent out to early supporters of the "Playroom". Founded in 2016 and based on a collection of more than 5000 synthesizers, organs, drum machines and effects that had been collected over a 35 year period by Klemens Niklaus Trenkle, Smem offers residencies, studio sessions, talks and workshops.

Mannequin Records is proud to present a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, "Norton Computer For Peace" (1983), "Personal Computer" (1984), "Artificial Intellingence" (1985).
Apple's first music "endorsement" (later IBM consultant) and early Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music.
While the beat-oriented style of Norton’s music aligns her with such global fellow-travelers as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk, her championing of the personal computer as a tool for self-sufficient musical creativity also connects her to more artsy musicians such as Pietro Grossi, Laurie Spiegel, and the League of Automatic Music Composers. Norton’s predilection for the bright, glossy timbres of early digital instruments also recalls Hubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader’s bizarre 1982 one-off Erdenklang.
1 year after "Personal Computer", Doris Norton released 'Artificial Intelligence' (previous title: 'From Art-Physiol to Artificial Intelligence', changed before publishing) in 1985, setting a step up in her deep electronic music research and innovation.
"The whole album was composed and programmed only with the alfanumerical keyboard of the computer. The total of the notes and coded events takes to the number 124.648: of these 123.827 were coded with 'step time' procedure and the rest with real time procedure.
Having done reduced the keyboard Doris Norton used only an hexaphonic JX.8P with memory processed by her and interfaced to the computer.
No drums were used, neither electronic nor much less acoustic. All the rhythmics were obtained by A.D.A. conversions and processing of wave ranges and with the use of expanders with a very special handling of envelopes, frequency, resonance, noise
Doris Norton fed the computer the parameters of vowels and consonants of her own voice, like A, O, U, E, D, N, through an A.D.A conversion card; by processing these values and assembling them in phoneme in hundreds of different combination, various compressed resolutions she was able to make the computer sing a complete song in a totally human way (with the voice of Doris).
Many other yxith sounds resulting from A.D.A. conversions are present in this new album 'Artificial Intelligence', amongst these: pipe organ, plate, electric discharge, iron beat, birds, dog, harp, woods ...... all sampled and handled by the computer.
'Artificial Intelligence' is a perfect example of how human intelligence can bend the coded 'artificial intelligence' to hits own will. ....."
(Source: ComputerMusik -1985)

Channeling her innermost depths, Oshana reveals her widest body of work to date, “Disciples of Dystopia;” a multi-faceted expression of the emotions, influences, and sounds that have guided her on her musical journey. The album aptly marks the fourth release on her very own, Psionic label, and is the first double 12” in the catalogue.

Beautiful 1 LP Edition Clasic with 350g cardboard sleeve, Sticker - The holy grail album Mkwaju by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada’s Mkwaju ensemble WRWTFWW Records is proud to announce the highly anticipated official reissue of holy grail album Mkwaju by acclaimed Japanese percussionist Midori Takada’s Mkwaju ensemble, sourced from the original masters and available in two versions: a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon) and a digipack CD.

Some sonic communities grow even in isolation, in the lonely obsessive moments in the studio as time melts away. Deep inside the Detroit Underground nests a Berlin underground, chasing those resonant shared sounds. DU Berlin draws together some of that love felt through music in the German capital. It’s not the wild city of reunification or *Berlin Calling* or tourist-style movies or the easyJet set. This is the side of the city that endlessly romances machines for the sheer joy of it, as The Allegorist titles her track, “until dawn.” And with some big names and emerging, ranging from mainstays to veteran agitators, the Berlin DU crew have telegraphed each other through productions and mutual inspiration. The results vibrate and rumble with sympathetic frequencies, but never limited to grayscale or dithered palettes.

Design: Neubau Berlin.

T.Raumschiere, Akkamiau, Yaporigami, Andre Uhl, The Allergorist,Lars Fenin, Peter Kirn, Jessica Kert, Brayan Valenzuela, Nitta aka Dinamite

Band words on reissue> The first edition of our own label, Sterbt Menschen Records, dedicated to release archive recordings of ours. The re release of our long time out of print debut album, first released on CD by Old Europa Cafe and vinyl by Blind Prophet Records. Edition of 500. Hand numbered and hand stamped with our logo by ourselves Original artwork (by Carmen Burguess) and the bonus track Exito de Una Ex Santa, as in the original. Mueran Humanos – BIO For the uninitiated, Mueran Humanos can be a tough one to explain. You could list their influences and call them “a psychedelic-krautrock-post punk electronics duo who manage to capture the rich cultural history and excitement of their adopted home of Berlin and infuse it with a sophisticated South American chic imported from their native Buenos Aires”, but that would be doing them an injustice. The reality is that there isn’t anything to explain. They don’t need a pretentious description full of talking points that make music nerds get all mushy and gushy. Once you listen to them, it just makes sense.

ontains remixes by BXP, Big Hands, Elena Colombi and Front du Cadaux.

Unveiling the upcoming release – a captivating remix of La Serpiente's "You Are Dreaming!” Immerse yourself in the sonic journey as BXP delivers a psychedelic rework with its unique loop and arrangement style. Front de Cadeaux explores downtempo techno, Big Hands introduces trippy polyrhythms, Elena Colombi contributes an energetic uptempo track, and (exclusively for digital download) enjoy a 15-minute mind-blowing remix by Wang Inc. Together, these remixers redefine musical boundaries, promising a dynamic and eclectic experience. Get ready for a transcendent odyssey through diverse sounds and styles. This record has been realized with the contribution of the Bologna Unesco City of Music and Comune di Bologna.

Artist Bio:

Marco Segato is a sonic explorer, producer and live performer currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He's the co-founder of Rete Neurale Milano E.S.T. - an event born in the infamous Milanese multi-cultural space Macao - and curator of the mix series Empty Signal Transmission. He was a Red Bull Music Academy alumnus in 2016 Montréal (Canada) and graduated in Audio Production at SAE Institute Milan in 2017. During the last few years, Marco released his music under three different monikers: La Serpiente, MS, and Narvalos (a duo project with Alessio Costantino aka Askmeaboutdogs). Across these projects, his sound maintains a sense of mysticism brewing with eerie tension, influenced and incorporating sounds of broken beats, post-industrial experimentations, and ritualistic elements to conjure psychic immersion. He produces and performs live sets with analog and digital hardware, with a sonic outcome that always saturates the mind with extra-musical ideas. Marco has released on labels such as Brokntoys, Xcpt Music, Random Numbers, Sons of Traders, Communion Records, Dionysian Mysteries, Vastechoses, etc... as well as on many solidarity compilations like Перамен! A Compilation for Belarus, Despertar: Chile, Sonic Resistance. A Compilation For Rojava. Recently, he has started a journey of sharing his extensive music selection with his monthly residency “Searching for the Sublime” at Tbilisi’s Mutant Radio.

Brains rule for the next No Static / Automatic release as the hyper-prolific DMX Krew presents five new tracks of laser gun acid, bleepy electro and mutant tunnelling techno on Brain Mutants EP. Ns/a could not be more honoured to bring DMX Krew to the label, hugely influential in UK’s electronic music world, the sheer mass and relentless ingenuity of his release history is breathtaking. There’s over 24 albums and even more EPs released to date, found on Rephlex Records, his own Breakin and Fresh Up labels, and more recently a string of albums on Hypercolour Records. It really would not be right to pin him down to one style of beat with the expanse of his work covering braindance, electro funk, pop, acid, ambient, techno and beyond. Working with the Aphex Twin created Sample Brain, old disco records and analogue synth notes were fed into the sample mashing web app to create the sounds used on this EP. Label boss Ara-u picked out his favourites from the palette which DMX Krew cut up, looped and added in rock-hard drums. The results are super playful, high calibre club tracks you expect from the one and only DMX Krew - designed for heavy impact on the club floor.

One-off masterpiece release of German Minimal Synth-Pop from Gütersloh, Germany in 1984. Recorded in a DIY recording studio in a former prison for the mentally ill located on the outskirts of a forest near the artists' homes aptly named Prison Studio. Back in 1984, the release was privately pressed on 7" by the band itself, distributed in limited quantities at the time and it has only exchanged hands a few times on public marketplaces since its original release, for very high prices. The record has always been as rare as it is good, to quote Basso. We are delighted to make this outstanding release available again to record collectors and DJs around the world as the first release on Average Records. Included in this 12" repress are 2 stunning brand new remixes by virtuoso producers and friends Alexander Arpeggio from Berlin and Aradea Barandana aka Dea who currently resides between Jakarta and Bali, each bringing their own flavour to the table.

How a boy from the Sri Lankan jungle formed the greatest post-punk band you’ve never heard. Fronted by an intense singer with an oblique songbook and a mysterious past Glorious Din were unlike any other group to emerge from San Francisco’s ‘80s underground. With singer Eric Cope, the chosen persona of a Joy Division-obsessed Sri Lankan boy who travelled halfway around the world to follow his punk dream.

How a boy from the Sri Lankan jungle formed the greatest post-punk band you’ve never heard. Fronted by an intense singer with an oblique songbook and a mysterious past Glorious Din were unlike any other group to emerge from San Francisco’s ‘80s underground. With singer Eric Cope, the chosen persona of a Joy Division-obsessed Sri Lankan boy who travelled halfway around the world to follow his punk dream.

The first two EPs of rising French-Algerian singer-producer-songwriter Sabrina Bellaouel on InFiné are now available on a single 12″ vinyl edition for the first time. At the crossroads of modern electronic production, alternative RnB & North African beats, Sabrina Bellaouel offers her listeners an unprecedented mix of grand emotion of the Pop stage and the cutting-edge underground flair of buzzing nightclubs Textextext - (add your write up) 2020 saw Sabrina Bellaouel step out of her cocoon a fully formed artist.

We at Antinote are proud to make our first French-Russian connection. Olga is from Moscow. She came to us after Dominique Dumont's show in Paris, winter 2018. We checked her music and immediately fell in love with the song 'Mojno'. Step by step we built a nice collection of tracks that now make up the 1905 LP! Very active in the electronic music scene, she’s spent the last ten years releasing music, performing, recording & DJing as well as being busy with her tech-project Playtronica (with them she's created 3 controllers that you allow to play scales on people, objects and colors). Across the "1905" LP she utilises some DIY devices such as Yamaha sampler vss-33, voice glitcher from the Russian company “Naked Boards” and organelle synth that creates this synesthetic tone in “ready when you are”. Besides dreamy pads and dancy beats Olga is ironically singing on Russian about her daily routine, in a positive way. There's no sadness and melancholy in the dark snowy days, where even the full moon or retrograde-mercury don’t even bother you ...if you are in harmony with mother nature's 5 elements.

Finally the official remastered reissue of one of the rarest and sought after italo-disco record from early 80's. You'll be hard pushed to hear anything like this ever again... this is an epic out there electronic production that's one of a kind. In the same period of other italo-disco classics like REM, STOPP, Klein & MBO, GANG previously reissued by Best Italy, they representing the roots of chicago sound played by the pioneers like RoCMNT 002n Hardy!

Unequal cycles searching for synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often considered to be an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, for example Dub effects that listen to themselves crumbling. But also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never clear, constantly restless and exciting.

Two years after the release of the Polarius EP Inner Voices Of A Clown, Danny Wolfers returns to Altered Circuits, this time under his best-known alias Legowelt, for Ruins Of Cracktopolis: a collection of "hymns to survive the dystopian circus of today's techno scene" in the artist's own words. On Do You Know Who You Never Be, a short staccato lead and dark chords revolve around a monolithic kick drum pattern that takes care of the cadence and bass. A mysterious vocoder and a laser sequence that gets torn and twisted to the max join, but the track never loses its steady pace - it gets help from shakers so much mixed to the front they could be lifted from a B'more track. Amidst the effervescing 303 lines and bold drum sequences of In A Trance Dance All Night" Wolfers finds a canvas for a stretched synthesizer jam with eighties breaking allure. This melody, together with the pads and vocal, are drenched in reverb - they float like mist ascending from the The Hague dunes. Throughout Ruins Of Cracktopolis, more vintage Dutch West Coast, the hiss-laden broken beat that guides the bass sequences and ominous blippy synth patterns switches to a 4/4 structure and back. These make for captivating shifts in pace while the minor progressions continue unfolding. Like Twin Peaks targets prime energy once the arpeggiator sequence present from the start lowers an octave. The track runs smooth like a pomade slick-back; it's only tempered slightly when the crunchy kick and tom change place for a moody chord sequence break. Even if these four tracks target the club, they are equally suited for - quoting Wolfers again - "leisurely home listening". Their greatest strengths are, as so often, their melodic aspects. The artist is known to be a synthesizer aficionado, but his unique personal touch immediately shines through no matter which gear he works with. The machines never seem to dominate the composing process; quite the opposite: it's as if he isn't programming or registering as much as trying to teach them his take on electronic music.

Our second installment is going to be a classic 4-track various artist release. Carefully curated and selected pieces of music, produced by close friends, this release fulfills the label's mission of providing a platform for our loved ones. This issue features some incredible artists and friends united on wax. The Berlin and Munich-based duo Medus & Niko S. offer a hybrid track with nostalgic elements of techno, breaks, and progressive house, capable of busting any dancefloor. Longtime Munich resident DJ and producer Dancing Lessons contributes a hypnotic tech-house infused tune with elements of breakbeat and electro, taking the listener on a personal journey through time and space. Munich's young and upcoming producer Johnmon and label owner of Powerloader Records chips in a proper 90s bomb with driving drums, dark, and quirky synths. An all-round tool suited for any dance floor situation. Finally, Vienna-based Doesntmatter polishes off the VA with an expertly crafted electro track. He is the veteran out of the bunch with various releases under his belt on labels such as Traumschallplatten, Reboot Prague, Vienna Underground Track, and Zone Focus.