Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor [Felte 056]

Put on the circuit via the ever active Felte label on March 22nd, 2k19 is "Rendered Armour", the latest longplay outing created by Detroit's Industrial Rock-dubbed outfit named Ritual Howls which cater a quite surprising opener with "Alone Together", a well-twangy, seductive and more DesertRock / DesertBlues infused song effort, a vibe that's kept well alive in the more uptempo and Wave-infused, David Lynch'esque follow-up "Mother Of The Dead". With "Love Cuts" the band showcases their darker, muscular side with hefty beats and screaming synth crescendos for those loving bands like Sisters Of Mercy, "The Offering" offers quite anthemic qualities amalgamating massive low frequency bass waves and electrified Americana with mesmerizing vocals whereas "Devoured Decency" brings forward a mixture of raw electronic DeltaBlues and an Industrial'esque for those loving Depeche Mode's "Delta Machine" and similar albums to death. Furthermore "I Can Hear Your Tears" kicks proper ass with a marching 4/4 attitude and stripped down, captivating main guitar motif, "Thought Talks" is on a deeper, romantic and still anthemic Industrial meets Dark Pop-tip and the concluding cut "All I've Known" unites all vantablack, but loving souls for a final dance in dark. Proper good. Recommended.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Kindstod [Dangerous Diskettes 003 Promo]

Coming in as a pre-release promo on the hyper underground imprint Dangerous Diskettes is the labels cat.no. 003, a new floppy disk single crafted by the artist known as Kindstod. Sporting one single track named "Preteen Deathfuck (A Noise Tribute To Nattefrost)" we see Kindstod providing a beautiful, highly dynamic excursion into the realms of Noize / Rhythm Industrial in a mostly scraping, grinding uptempo manner before turning towards warmer, and somewhat even harmonic, structures after approx. two minutes, introducing a certain warm and hellish but welcoming feel to a genre usually associated with stone cold darkness and ultrabrutality. Is Ambient GrindNoize a genre claimed yet?

Floppy artwork on Instagram!

Out now: NO MORE - 123456789 *baze.djunkiii & Herr Brandt Dream A Nudream Remix [El Caballo Semental 001]

NO MORE don't need much of an introduction – the legendary Kiel-based (No)Wave / PostPunk band project took the worlds dancefloors by storm with the release of their seminal single „Suicide Commando“ in 1981 which was later re-introduced to the Techno / Electro youth of the world, when Munich's DJ Hell famously reinterpreted the tune in 1998.

Still actively touring and releasing on a regular NO MORE are now making their debut on the freshly launched Intrauterin Recordings-offshoot EL CABALLO SEMENTAL.

The labels cat.no. 001 is a first time on vinyl release taken off NO MORE's „The Return Of The German Angst“ digital mixtape and sees one of the bands hit tunes being reworked in a unique, highly captivating manner, pressed exclusively as a limited to 200 copies whitelabel edition on purple / violet vinyl.

„123456789 (baze.djunkiii + Herr Brandt Dream A Nudream Remix)“ exceeds the bands natural musical realm by far and transfers the song into MoombahGoth / DubWave territories previously unheard of, not only for a classic band like NO MORE. The rework picks up latest developments from the urban and bass music world whilst keeping the haunted vibe of the original songs chorus intact, slighty references NuBeat / PostPunk and Dub, adds lush, dreamy Cosmic guitar textures and even winks to the underground whistle and rave posse with a sweet as candy piano breakdown.

In their conjunctional remix work we see Intrauterin Recordings-founder baze.djunkiii, quality electronic music activist and prolific DJ for more than 20 years, and Herr Brandt, founding member of the classic German Wave / Indie / Alternative outfit The Convent as well as of the praised underground Synth Pop / Minimal Wave band Sonnenbrandt, effortlessly merge the best of two musical worlds to create something new and captivating, like they used to do on the decks with their former BETA-ZERFALL parties which were the main and initial reason the two of them and NO MORE came together in the first place.

Maverick Sabre - When I Wake Up [FAMM / The Orchard / Sony]

To be released on March 22nd, 2k19 via FAMM / The Orchard is "When I Wake Up", the latest album by now North London-based Michael Stafford a.k.a Maverick Sabre which we've already announced on the pages with the advent of the first video outtake "Her Grace" in late December, 2k18. Catering an overall selection of thirteen tracks the former rapper now turned songwriter delivers a timeless, dramatic take on (Neo)Soul on this longplayer, opening with the killer widescreen arrangement of "Preach" whereas beat foundations prevalent in tunes like "Drifting" or "A Mile Away" still bear witness of his original HipHop roots in their overall sample-informed dopeness and smoky, vintage, yet dancefloor kicking attitude that is well related to the genres golden era whereas more laid back cuts like "Nirvana", "Don't Talk About It" or the highly dynamic "Weakness" provide a sweet crossover between still club functional beats and heartfelt emotion, oftentimes garnished with a good portion of Blues and the overwhelmingly touching feel of a hot desert sunset. Good stuff, this!

Promo artwork on Instagram!

Alexandra Spence - Waking, She Heard The Fluttering [Room40 Promo]

Fresh on the circuit via the Australian Room40-imprint is Alexandra Spence's nine track album "Waking, She Heard The Fluttering", a 45 minute journey into sound influenced by both her conversations with David Toop in 2018 as well as by her own take and reflections on textures both in material and sound. Coming from this angle we see Alexandra Spence create a sonic realm built on various Field Recordings from all over Europe intermingling with raw, oftentimes buzzing and slightly electric sounding structures or, on the other hand, beautiful Ambient textures touched by echoes of the Clicks'n'Cuts genre, especially prevalent in the digital crackles of tunes like "Bodyscan". Furthermore tunes like "A Soft Crackle" bring on the exact flutter and partially unpleasant feedback Noize that one would possibly associate with the albums title, "Sleep In Nothingness" comes at us with a psyched out, tense unease meets multilayered ASMR-attitude and the 15 minutes spanning title track brings forth a highly textural, ever evolving take on Deep Listening Music partly reminiscent of Scanner's seminal 1994 "Mass Observation" piece just to pick a few tunes off of this longplayer which will be released on April 5th, 2k19.

Christian Winther Christensen - Almost In G [Col Legno]

Put on the circuit via the Col Legno-imprint on February 15th, 2k19 is "Almost In G", the latest longplay work by New Music composer Christian Winther Christiansen performed by the 12 piece orchestra known as Scenatet. Consisting of an entirety of seven compositions, these being split into a total of 16 tracks spread over the course of roughly an hour the opening title piece "Almost In G" seems to be touching on highly experimental FreeJazz and Free Improvisation with an alarmingly, explosive, eruptive and unsettling percussive undertone found in its oftentimes extremely dynamic arrangement going from near silence to maximum loudness on a regular whereas the follow up "Sextet" relies on repetitive, saw-like string scrapings and echoes of a rural, naturalistic approach towards folk'ish structures which have a quite calming effect on the listener. With "Chorale" we see Christian Winther Christiansen entering formalistic, structural, yet multilayered and somewhat meandering visions of courtly music performances in a future societally asunder, his "String Trio" extends the realm of Contemporary Classical and "Nachtmusik" brings forth a minimalist rhythmic foundation submerged by wildly plucked strings and short harmonic episodes before working its way towards a climaxing crescendo. Finally "Being Apu Sarkar" provides more of a stripped down, calm take on classic (Neo)Classical compositions for advanced listeners and the concluding piece named "Four Hyper-Realistic Songs", which btw would be a well-fitting title for a new, forthcoming Björk EP, caters a selection of tender, yet not less demanding musical works of a slighty tongue-in-cheek nature. Demanding stuff for a musically trained expert audience.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Gramm - Type Zwei

20 years after its initial release on Source Records the debut album of Jan Jelinek's GRAMM project will be re-issued via Faitiche in early April, 2k19. One to watch out for!

22.03.2019 Mojo Kingdom @ Mojo Jazz Cafe / Hamburg

decks:
baze.djunkiii [Intrauterin Recordings / Combat Dubs]
Bahr

file under:  UK Bass / Grime / UK Garage / Dubstep

doors: 21oo gmt+1

Mojo Jazz Cafe
Reeperbahn 1
Hamburg St. Pauli
Germany

William Basinski - On Time Out Of Time [Temporary Residence Promo]

Put on the circuit via the Temporary Residence-label on March 8th, 2k19 is William Basinki's most recent album "On Time Out of Time" which is comprised out of compositional works for installations taking place throughout the year 2017. Whilst the nearly 40 minutes spanning title track brings forth a beautiful, calm take on classic, and classy, slowly moving sci-fi Ambient utilizing actual sounds derived from a double black hole merger happening 1.3 billion years we see the second cut on this longplayer, "4(E+D)4(ER+EPR)", presenting a deeper, blurred out variation on heartfelt Ambient melancholia for die-hard genre heads as well as followers of the so-called PopAmbient movement and even, though beats are absent over the course of the tracks 10 minute playtime, DubTechno fans. Highly recommended, this.

Yann Novak - Scalar Fields [Room40 Promo]

Released via the Australian Room40-imprint on March 8th, 2k19 is "Scalar Fields", the latest album outing crafted by sound artist Yann Novak. Comprised of two compositions of 20 minutes length each, created from the idea of slowing down video and brought to life as a Los Angeles-based audiovisual installation in 2016 from which the audio is drawn the album starts with "Scalar Field (Yellow, Blue, Yellow)", a beautiful static flow of time dissolving, slow motion Ambient that provides nothing but a soft, calming, conceptional pillow enabling the user to enter new, previously unexplored realms of perception whereas the follow up "Scalar Field (Orange, Pink, Orange)" is taking a similarly timeless route whilst bringing forth a slightly more ruminant, inward-looking and melancholic touch in droning Ambient music over the course of its playtime.

Gintas K - M [Gk Rec. 002]

Coming in straight from Lithuania is "M", the second album released by Gintas Kraptavicius a.k.a. Gintas K through his very own label Gk Rec., exclusively set up to be a channel to release his own musical output. Split into two main pieces, the 2012 composed "M" and the more recent, 2017 work "Mimicry" the nearly 70 minutes longplayer provides a total of seventeen tracks with "M" containing six, of which "4m" was previously released on a Sub Rosa compilation back in 2013, and "Mimicry" eleven of them. Opening with the title piece we experience Gintas K exploring a world of chaotic, hectic, buzzing and bleeping Digital Noize structures which bring us back to the early days of Max/MSP through its glitching, ever morphing and demanding, yet non-repetetive nature with the aforementioned "4m" being the most structured, calm and somewhat Electronica-oriented out of the six parts whereas "Mimicry" focuses on a more scraping, dry, electric and minimalist aproach and even adds occasional sparse and abstract percussive elements to the highly artificial sound structures which, therefore, could be referred to as a glimpse of what could be a Digital FreeJazz / Future Jazz sound of a far flung future even though cuts like "Mimicry 4" weigh in some Ambient references and widescreen panoramic elements at times and "Mimicry 8" tends to resemble a morphed, ever warped take on Clicks'n'Cuts especially throughout its opening sequence. Defo a special interest release, this.

Arg The 909 King - 808 Acid Inferno

DJ Arg kills it with this 11 minute raw, jacking Acid inferno. Tune!

Sascha Müller [Supersix Records Extra 082]

Soon to come from the vaults of Uelsen's ever active Sascha Müller is cat.no 082 of the Supersix Records-imprint, a new twelve track album bringing forth more electronic music greatness, this time opening with a tune named "Classified Human" which comes across as a monotonous highly, brutally compressed take on oldskool-oriented ToolTechno whilst "Come Shot" stays on the path of raw, brutal compression, yet adds spiralling Acid elements, unprocessed hi-hats and epic, well uplifting Trance string arrangements turning the tune into a massive HardTrance / AcidTrance burner before "Computerrider" indulges in killer, slightly Acid-infused Dope Beats reminiscent of Fauna Flash's legendary 1996-released single "Please... May I Sniff Your Klompen Kloqquen" for those who know. With "Crispy Crackers" Sascha Müller delivers a blueprint of twisted, bleepy killer Phonk accompanied by trancey modulations, the "Cyborg Wars" are a thrilling uptempo AcidTrance affair and entering the "Dark Room" we're facing an ecstatic crowd enjoying uplifting and slightly electroid, stripped down and deep, stab-focused House Music that is not minimal at all. "Das SETI Projekt" is a playful, intelligent variation of ever morphing Spacenight Electro, "Das Spiegelbild" evokes memories of masterly scored sci-fi / horror movies in combination with classic, slightly Tribal-infused Intelligent Techno whilst the follow up named "Datentransfer" fuses clumsy, Speedy J-alike Electro Drum'n'Bass with beautiful, cascading Trance-pads to a great effect. Furthermore "Deep Space One" feels like acidic, slightly off-kilter Italian Sawtooth Techno around approx. 1992, "Deleted" fuses filtered DubTechno-chords and most miltant uptempo basslines compression and the concluding cut named "Der Augenblick Des Moments" finally waves goodbye in a soft, friendly DubTechno meets Ambient House manner. Good stuff in here.

Marja Ahti - Vegetal Negatives [Hallow Ground Promo]

Scheduled for release via Hallow Ground on March 29th, 2k19 is "Vegetal Negatives", the four track debut album created and realized by the Turku-based artist Marja Ahti which draws inspiration for this album from a text written by French writer Rene Dalves, dabbling with the idea of turning animals inside out which hypothetically will reverse organ functions as well. This said, the composer opens with "Coastal Inversion", an excursion into calm Deep Listening Music / Ambient territories mostly based on timeless, levitating harmonies and several layers of field recorded water sounds progressing into sonically darker, uneasy and slightly brooding realms of minimalism over the course of 12+ minutes before "Rooftop Gardens" relies on a collage of unprocessed Field Recordings to create an environmental acoustic fingerprint of a world which, in this form, never existed. With "Symbiogenesis" we see Marja Ahti explore a cold, futuristic, sci-fi environment in which silent, steadily working machines have replaced all human interaction and the final cut "Chora" brings forth a slightly retrofuturist and score'esque variation of Ambient minimalism in combination with modular sweeps and a steady stream of unintelligible background announcements as a thrilling closure for a well interesting album firstling.

A$AP Rocky ft. Skepta - Praise The Lord (Da Greeze) *Lewi B Remix

A killer dope tune this is. Them beats, though!

Jennifer Touch - Chemistry (Official Video)

Maybe this is the most beautiful, yet most desolate SynthPop tune around in 2k19.

Jana Rush - Ohhhh

A raw Juke / Footwork banger with a touch of Soul. We really do dig this

Ingar Zach - Floating Layer Cake [Sofa Music]

Scheduled for release on March 29th, 2k19 via the Norwegian Sofa Music label is Ingar Zach's new album named "Floating Layer Cake", presenting two new extended solo compositions derived from collaborations with Kim Myhr, Caroline Bergvall and the Canadian string quartet Quatuor Bozzini. Opening with "The Lost Ones" we see Ingar Zach entering a world of ever oscillating, scintillating Ambient with a harmonic, Contemporary Classical-infused touch, well score'esque, brooding and mystical qualities as well as some slightly tongue-in-cheek moments accompanied by Caroline Bergvall's intense lyricism before resolving in a huge end of track climax whereas "Let The Snare Speaks" serves multiple layers of static, ever buzzing midrange drones alongside warm and comfy Ambient pad structures over the course of 20 minutes. Recommended for late night listening.

Album artwork on Instagram!

baze.djunkiii Chart Haul 03/2019

Lan Cao / Gregor Seidl / Wolfgang Seidel - Optimistic Modernism [Moloko+ 102]

Recently released via the German imprint Moloko+ is "Optimistic Modernism", an acoustic homage to the interchangeable modernist design approach of the 60s, interestingly oftentimes aimed at female consumers, built and condensed from 3.5 hours of material created by Lan Cao, Gregor Seidl and Wolfgang Seidel over the course of three recording sessions at the former Rotaprint factory in Berlin Wedding in 2017. Coming with an extensive 48 pages booklet and a special cardboard slip cover the album itself caters a menu of eight tracks in total, opening with "Jettatura", a tense, 4:44 minutes spanning excursion into retrofuturistic electroacoustics with score'esque qualities whereas "East Anglia" explores full on minimalism garnished with echoes of echoes of Post-PostRock and swampy modular bleeps. The follow up "Tarantism" explores more of a nervous, scraping, percussive, abstract and somewhat FreeJazz- / Tribal-infused vibe, "Robin Hood Gardens (Steal The City From The Rich)" brings more score'esque, brooding, feverish and this time slightly Asian vibes to the table, fusing eruptive outbursts and calm, yet tense and spine-tingling background tones whereas "Zugzwang" is steadily working towards a climaxing, polyrhythmic crescendo. Using "The Sixth Sense" we see the three musicians continue to follow the polyrhythmic path whilst adding some intense piano chords and strummed string instruments to the well threatening melange, their homage to the "Barbican Estate" is as stripped down as it is thrilling, providing a Western / Morricone'esque tension for the concrete architectural desert and the final cut that is "Ghibli Garden" brings on a trundling, slightly chaotic take on highly experimental Indietronics for a confusing, yet well interesting closing.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø / Daniel Lercher / Julie Rokseth - Off The Coast [Sofa Music]

Released on the Norwegian Sofa Music-label on March 1st, 2k19 is "Off The Land", the second conjunctional album effort by musicians Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø and Daniel Lercher which are joined by harpist Julie Rokseth for their sophomore longplayer. Recorded, produced and finalized in the small fishing village of Sula / Norway the now trio presents a new serving of four tracks, opening with the title track "Off The Coast" which combines what seems to be an altered, processed Field Recording of a chugging motor with deep, yet minimalist Ambient modulations and a tender, overall approach of creating Deep Listening Music for highly focused headphone sessions whereas the follow up "Inside Elements" features the singing 80 year old Sula-resident Aksel Johansen, a regular visitor throughout the production sessions, atop a foundation of breaking waves and seemingly naturalist swell before exploring realms of electroacoustic composition, slowly moving vibrations, deep klaxon'esque sonic events perfectly aligned with the village's history and single harp chords over the course of ten minutes. Furthermore we see "Farther Away" bringing forth the calmest, most organic and all embracing low frequency Ambient vibe we've come across in ages and the final cut "Winding" relies on sinewave-based harmonies alongside single piano and harp notes to create a fragile, mystical and enchanting take on highly ethereal, levitating Ambient which works best experienced on an audiophile P.A. system in total, late night silence. Beautiful.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Sascha Müller - Traxxx Vol. 10 [SM Traxxx 33-2019]

Scheduled for release via the SM Traxxx label on March 21st, 2k19 is Sascha Müller's new digital two track single, "Traxxx Vol. 10". With the opening "Track 19" we see the ever active artist catering to the needs of those longing for storming, tool-oriented Techno bangers for maximum dancefloor impact whereas the second cut "Track 20" keeps up with the overall tool approach, yet relies on a combination of multiple layered Acid lines to create a spiralling, trance-inducing effect directly aiming at ravers minds and movements. 

Freddy Fresh - Epiphany *Freestyle Mix

What a lovely, melodic and positive glimpse on what's to expect from the new Freddy Fresh album seemingly scheduled for spring 2k19.

Sascha Müller [Supersix Records Extra 081]

Just released on Supersix Records as the labels cat.no. 081 is Sascha Müller's latest twelve track digital album piece which, as usual, brings a lot of musical goodness to dancefloors worldwide. Opening with "Astronaut" we see the Uelsen-based producer provide a dope, well bleepy and ever morphing take on shuffled Electro with a trancy twist which immediately takes us back to the UK scene of the 90s whereas "Black Widow" brings forth a hypnotic, electroid Acid swing bordering Intelligent Techno and "Blipp" goes deep into fever'ish, slightly tribalistic ChillOut territories over the course of eleven minutes. The subsequent "Bones And Congas" doesn't bring exactly this but more of a thrilling, spine-tingling AcidTrance vibe for purists, "Born Trippi" brings forth a happy, melodic Techno vibe accompanied by deep, beautiful House pads whereas "Brainbug" pleases the needs of those still loving the raw, unpolished Rave approach of the Italian Techno scence in the first half of the 90s. Furthermore "Breath Of The Stars" combines (Neo)Cosmic, Synth and retrofuturist Space Ambient, "Bubblegum" caters a menu of dry, compressed to distortion bassdrums garnished with swampy Acid modulations and raw claps and the following "Bürgerradio" amalgamates a massive bassline groove, razor sharp hi-hats and a muscular Techno pump for high energy primetime workouts. Finally there's the "Chamber" in which we're about to come across a subaquatic, stripped down and hard hitting variation of raw, bouncing AcidTechno / MonoAcid, "Chikatetsu" goes back to the days of breakdance / b-boying and ElectroFunk beatwise and the concluding cut "Choco Beatz Delight" provides a brutally compressed take on mechanical TechnoPhonk for a closing. Bang.

baze.djunkiii Charts 03/2019

01. The Criminal Minds - Baptized By Dub [Whitehouse 008]
One of the biggest Oldskool / Breakbeat / UK Hardcore anthems of the year 1992 finally repressed and remastered and it still hasn't lost any of its power and fascination. An absolute killer and an early lead into what was to become Jungle in years thereafter. An essential piece of electronic music history, this.

02. Hellfish & Bryan Fury - Fuck Everybody / Outcasts [PRSPCT XTRM 043]
Yes, Hardcore! The Dutch PRSPCT-offspring PRSPCT XTRM presents a hard banging, no bullshit-cooperation between two of the genres praised veterans on lovely petrol-colored vinyl. Whilst "Outcasts" meanders in between banging Hardcore and so-called Crossbreed it's the A-side "Fuck Everybody" that's a massive party banger for all Contemporary Hardcore-fans as well as for oldskool oriented gabbernauts. Hard as nails.

03. DRS - Space Cadet EP [Space Cadet 002]
The first single / EP taken from DRS' "Man From The Deep" album is great, yet pretty misleading. Three tracks of beautifully rolling Liquid Drum'n'Bass well fitted for the mans skills on the mic plus a deep Future Soul love song named "Falling For You" seem to imply that the album to come would be a Drum'n'Bass album mainly which it totally is not. But despite this minor flaw all collaborations with the likes of Glxy, A.I, Skeptical and Dogger & Mindstate fully live up to the quality standards and expectations one might have for a release by one of the scenes most prolific MC's and will be found in many a DJ's crate for a long while, especially for cuts like "Overdose" and the razor sharp, yet tender "Forget All This".

04. Basic Rhythm - Slewage [Type Recordings 133]
A slightly mysterious release - somehow. Originally released in 2k16 as a limited edition of 300 stamped whitelabel copies this 12" was popping up at the recordstore on a regular again, either because it has been repressed without any announcement or some lost boxes have been rediscovered somewhere in the labels original archives. No matter what, the sound of the four tracks on this EP is excellent, ranging from raw and dark Instrumental Grime riddims that sent us back to the early days of the genre - remember Emalkay's massive "Grimecore EP Vol. 1" on Morphic Sounds in 2005 ??? - to vantablack excursions into Cold / Death Ambient. Defo a good one, this.

05. Juan Atkins - Dimensions [Life's Good Records 001]
The motor city originator Juan Atkins comes straight us with the first release of the Metroplex-related Life's Good Records imprint. With "Dimensions" we're exposed to some of the most playful, positive and uplifting Electro / ElectroFunk we've come across in ages whilst the previously unreleased "Flash Flood" on the flip caters a banging blueprint of complex, masterly crafted Detroit Techno that cannot be missed for many a reason. Killer.

06. Eva Be - Belight EP [Poker Flat Wax Only 008]
Quite a surprising release for the Pokerflat Recordings-camp, this. Whilst both tracks on the A-side of this violet / white-translucent vinyl only release seem to pay a slowed down, yet bass heavy homage to the long gone heydays of SpeedGarage we see "Pills" on the flip even delivering some actual breakbeat-loops and a kinda NuSkoolBreaks-influenced vibe which defo slays on the dancefloor. Proper good.

07. Xotox - Silent Shout [Pro Noize / Dark Dimensions]
See review for details..

08. Paal Nilssen-Love - New Brazilian Funk [PNL Records 042]
See review for details..

09. Ake Hodell - Verbal Brainwash And Other Works [Fylkingen Records]
See review for details..

10. Various Artists - Far Away But Ever Closer: Young Lithuanian Composers Abroad [Music Information Centre Lithuania]
See review for details...

Eau Rouge - Fear (Official Video)

Our friends of Eau Rouge are back with a new video, bringing forth what possibly is their most tender, fragile vulnerable musical outing so far.

Andi Toma - Damn Luei Lit [Infinite Greyscale 013]

After a longer period of silence and their latest release put out back in 2017 we see the Berlin-based art label Infinite Greyscale making a comeback in 2019 with its cat.no. 013, the first ever solo release by Mouse On Mars' Andi Toma under his real name. Co-produced by Thomas Knoefel and released on a limited to 300 copies white, one-sided 10" vinyl with a beautiful silk-screen print on the flip we see Andi Toma explore deep, electro-organic territories with his tune "Damn Luei Lit". Obviously incorporating elements of Tribal / Future Tribal-informed polyrhythms alongside scattered echoes of horns and other real life instruments paired up with detailed electronic textures and various layers of intensity this one is as musically unique as somehow familiar vibewise, especially for those who've been following artists like DJ Marcelle / Another Nice Mess recently or have been schooled by Harald "Sack" Ziegler & Frank "Schültge" Blumm in the late 90s as well as - who guessed ? - Mouse On Mars in the groups early years. Sweet stuff and we'd wish to see more labels giving artists a platform to fully experiment and explore musical structures and ideas beyond any given norm, genre or definition these days.

ViVii - ViVii [Dumont Dumont / Rough Trade Promo]

Scheduled for release via Dumont Dumont / Rough Trade on March 15th, 2k19 is the self-titled debut album by Swedish duo Emil and Caroline Jonsson, better known under the artistic guise that is ViVii. Providing a selection of eleven tracks on their firstling, including the subtle little earworm "Love Love Love" we've already featured on these pages a few weeks ago, the couple explores sonic realms of epic, yet slightly blurred and reverberating DreamPop with a romantic, sweet and well uplifting note on the opener "Pick Me Up" whereas the songs like "End Of Joy" bring on a beautiful fusion of innocent Folk and an ethereal Singer/Songwriter-attitude which is also to be found in the levitating, introspective melancholia of "Wanna Fly" which later on manages to surprise listeners with quite a funky bassline motif. With songs like "And Tragic" ViVii even provides romantic slow jams for dancefloors in love, "Suckerpunch" comes across as the next potential single and a candidate for a DreamPop summer hit with its slightly Dub-infused bass drive and "Savant" provides a beautiful organic, all embracing warmth like a lazy summer evening just to pick a few favorites from the well recommended firstling.

Promo artwork on Instagram!

Chasms - The Mirage [Felte 057]

Released on February 22nd, 2k19 via the Felte-label is "The Mirage", the sophomore album outing of Chasms, a musical collaboration of Jess Labrador and Shannon Madden. Following a tumultous and sad period in the lives of the duo we see them coming to terms with happenings of the past over the course of seven brand new tracks plus the original version and a rework of their most recent single "Divine Illusion" featured on this longplayer. Opening with the 7 minutes spanning cut "Shadow" we see Chasms paving the way for things to come, a journey into deep, slightly balearic and heavily Dub-infused Leftfield Pop built on a foundation of mostly ethereal, echo-heavy voices, stripped down rhythm signatures and raw, warm, organic bass works appealing to Indie- and DreamPop-lovers as well as to Shoegaze-fans, Massive Attack-headz and those who've been digging Paul Oakenfold's many a 'Perfecto' remixes of classic Pop cuts released throughout the first half of the 90s as well as to followers of more contemporary band outfits like Peaking Lights. This said, it should be pretty clear where the main target audience of Chasms might be at, yet we presume that even die-hard followers of the mentioned genres might not be necessarily impressed as, considering the full runtime of 50 minutes, there's not much variation delivered and, despite changing tempo ranges, it feels like the first three or four tracks fully define what the band has to offer musically and what follows represents only miniscule variations of what seems to be a pretty much formulaic approach to songwriting and aesthetics with the shoegazing, distorted guitar riffs in the intro of the title track seemingly being the only element that sticking out for a reason. Maybe a four track EP would've been enough?

Album artwork on Instagram!

Maulgruppe - Tiere In Tschernobyl [Major Label]

Lined up for release on Jena's most active Major Label-imprint is "Tiere In Tschernobyl", the debut album by the newest Jens Rachut-led band outfit Maulgruppe. This time the legendary musician of Nuclear Raped Fuck Bomb-, Kommando Sonne-nmilch-, Oma Hans- and a gazillion more bands fame teams up with members and contributors of outfits like Yass, Ten Volt-Shock and Kurt to create a menu of eleven songs which seems to be the most dense, most desolate and angsty of Rachut's releases in years. Referencing the ultimate greyscale scepticism of Punk and PostPunk throughout the cold war-era whilst painting a black-and-white picture of postapocalytic madness, shaped by piercing, in-your-face mid-range guitar riffing, highly intense atmospheres and ethereal, slightly off-kilter synth motifs in songs like "Geschwür" or "Fäden Ziehen" we experience Maulgruppe bringing forth a huge amount of untamend, high-octane energy whereas "Jäger" is a variation of Jens Rachut's unprecedented, trademark Spoken Word-poetry which, in its most direct and unfiltered form, only could evolve in a city like Hamburg for a reason. The albums title track is a blueprint for Apocalyptic Nuclear Punk with a few electronic undertones whereas the following smash hit "Selbstmitleid Trinken" pays homage to the frontman's former N.R.F.B. project and the epicly titled "Geh Zum Arzt Du Affe" deals with the physical toll of highly independent Punk life just to pick a few songs off this recommended, yet highly dystopian longplayer. Check. 

Øyvind Torvund - The Exotica Album [Hubro Music]

Set for release via the Norwegian Hubro Music-label on March 8th, 2k19 is "The Exotica Album", the latest album project thought up by composer Øyvind Torvund who's taking a shot at reviving the Exotica- / Easy Listening-genre for 2019 whilst crossing over into the field of what he refers to as 'early electronic modernism' in the promo sheet coming with the album's pre-release copy. This attempt, finalized with the help of 19 - !!! -additional artists and musicians, comes down to a result of ten tracks spread over a total runtime 34 minutes, amalgamating the re-imagined sound of a naturalistic environment with a feel of undisturbed, yet well psychedelic joy and calmness, bringing forth genre-typical rhythm signatures and highly emotional string arrangements in conjunction with sweet, vintage electronics bleeps and trickles, yet doesn't fail to surprise with massive Noize eruptions in the otherwise tender, but slightly off-kilter "Waking Up Again" whereas the "Rainforest Morning" presents a cheeky, playful and positive attitude, "Jungle Alarm" brings forth dramatic pianos and arrangements whilst "Cave" even manages to incorporate FreeJazz elements into its Technicolor aesthetic, just to pick a few favorite cuts out of this unusual and well-interesting album.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Xotox - Silent Shout [Pro Noize / Dark Dimensions]

Sitting in our postbox only recently was the January, 2k19-released "Silent Shout", a new album outing coming in straight from the studios of the Paderborn-based Industrial- / EBM- / HardTechno-producer Andreas Davids a.k.a. Xotox who's been active on the circuit since the late 90s and took not only the electronic underground but also the so-called Alternative scene by storm with his distinct and hard hitting productions. Bringing forth five new original tracks, one rework and a pack of six remixes the album opens with its title track, a powerful, yet sparse trip into massive, hoover signal-emulating, klaxon'esque bass signals paired with intense lyrics and complex rhythm signatures for pitch black dancefloors, followed by the dark Rhythm Industrial-informed, psyched out Techno meets ProtoTrance-cut "Paleodisco" and the tense, spine-tingling, yet beautiful athmosphere of the post-apocalyptic "Still Closer Then". The subsequent confession "I Dream Only Beautiful Nightmares" brings forth Xotox's uptempo, somewhat Breakbeat- / Drum'n'Bass / DarkJungle-infused side without meeting any of the mentioned genres criteria but presenting a sense for dramatic arrangements and vintage synth basslines instead, "Nothing (Reworked Version)" deals with the artists brutal, hypercompressed and uncompromising trademark 4/4 sound whereas "Weltuntergang" pairs up slow, grinding, hypnotic beats with ever morphing background atmospheres building up towards a cataclysmic climax that never happens over the course of nearly 9 minutes. Furthermore "Paleodisco (Schwarzwald RMX)" delivers quite a melodic, 90s-reminiscing and well uplifting take on Rave vs. HardTechno, "I Dream Only Beautiful Nightmares (Defaults RMX)" weighs in a dark, bubbly, yet fear-inducing sci-fi vibe over the course of 132 seconds and "Still Closer (Autoclav 1.1 RMX)" caters to the needs of those loving their Industrial Phonk meets Illbient meets large scale panoramic arrangements to the max. Following up is "I Dream Only Beautiful Nightmares (Sci-Fi Industries RMX) which deals with slightly distorted, washed out and ethereal melodies atop a foundation of what could be described as deepest Future Trance in slow motion, "Still Closer (Loss RMX)" indulges in multi-layered, complex IDM / Electronica in the vein of beloved, mid-90s Future Sound Of London-productions and the final cut, "Weltuntergang (Nyppy Mix)", delivers a cold and deadly, subtle, yet bass heavy and vantablack closing for what maybe is the deepest, most complex Xotox longplayer ever released. Highly recommended, this.

Tim Linghaus - About B. (Memory Sketches B-Sides Recordings) [Sound In Silence 061]

Another one released via the Greek Sound In Silence-imprint on January 19th, 2k19 is "About B. (Memory Sketches B-Sides Recordings)", the second ever full album release by German, Cuxhaven-based artist and composer Tim Linghaus. Bringing forth thirteen new tracks plus four reworks of compositions from his 2018 longplay debut within a timespan of 25 minutes only there's no wonder that the 'sketches' description suits this release perfectly, with only two cuts stretched out over more than two minutes and many even remaining under 60 seconds long... or: short. Despite this slightly patchwork-y approach Tim Linghaus manages to deliver a coherent, oftentimes crackly and vintage-touched vision of short Ambient and ChillOut episodes, partly crossing over into (Neo)Classical or score'esque territories, touching base on inward looking piano miniatures or widescreen panoramas paired with classical string etudes and beautiful pads. With all the ideas and layouts featured on here Tim Linghaus could easily have made two, maybe three, full-length albums out of the material presented and we do hope that these sketches will be picked up by some sync-agency in the future as they'd make up excellent film music for arthouse flics and touching, highly emotional film noir screenings.

Album artwork on Instagram!

Ten Fe - Future Perfect, Present Tense [Some Kinda Love / PIAS Promo]

After already revealing the first glimpse on the forthcoming Ten Fe-album "Future Perfect, Present Tense" through posting the music video for its opener "Won't Happen" in November, 2k18 it's now about time to fully inspect the new, eleven songs spanning album piece which is scheduled for release on March 8th, 2k19 via Some Kinda Love / PIAS. Coming from a background of mutual busking and sharing band experiences before the formation of Ten Fe as a project the bands founding members Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan present, alongside their fellow musicians, a straight continuation of their 2017-released debut, aiming for a simple, relatable and obviously Americana-informed songwriting approach, swinging in between uplifting and melancholia moodwise and coming up with subtle, yet lovely earworms like "No Night Lasts Forever", classic 70s-infused bits like "Coasting", timeless, romantic Pop ballads like "Caught On The Inside" or the Piano-driven, tender "To Lie Here Is Enough" whereas tunes like "Here Again" provide more of an upbeat feel and "Not Tonight" even adds a seductive, 80s-infused synth bassline to the albums most uptempo song before the final cut "Superrich" comes forth with a slightly shuffled Rock beat for a closing. Defo a good one for Indie fans in love, this.

Pylone - A Jamais / Ping [Sound On Probation 019]

Scheduled for release via Sound On Probation on March 1st, 2k19 is the third musical outing by Laurent Perrier's Pylone project, a two track and 37 minutes spanning album rendering of electro-acoustic composition techniques on modular synthesizers. With the first track "A Jamais" fusing and amalgamating cutup vocal microsamples provided by multimedia artist Lyne Vermes we're taken into a well psychedelic, tripping sonic realm evoking memories of how early sci-fi flics were dealing with states of trance or hypnosis in their score compositions whereas the second, also 18+ minutes spanning tune "Ping" brings forth a lecture in minimalism, being created by triggering a single twinpeak filter which results in a multi-layered structure of warped, percussive, gamelan-resembling bleeps, computational feedbacks and ethereal, yet cold and scientific sweeps of a well calming, contemplative nature for those loving to search refuge in thrilling retrofuturistic soundscapes for a reason. 

Amp - Entangled Time [Sound In Silence 060]

Released via the Greek Ambient staple Sound In Silence on January 18th, 2k19 is ""Entangled Time", the second album outing created by the 1992 formed project Amp for the label. Founded by Richard F. Walker a.k.a. Richard Amp and operating as a duo consisting of its founder and London-based Karine Charff we see Amp catering a menu of five brand new tracks, opening with the 10+ minutes cut named "Drifting", a wonderful, elegic composition somewhat in between panoramic Ambient and echoes of score'esque (Neo)Classical string arrangements before slowly fading into the washed out sound of crashing waves at the very end of the tune followed by "Will-Oh Dreams" which combines drifting Ambient pad structures, brutal, partly reverberating background beats and dreamy, blurred vocals to create a fascinating lullaby for Industrial headz. Within the short "Playing Time" Amp is exploring timeless, ever pulsating and dubbed out dream states, "Opal Tears"brings forth a shoegazing take on beauteous, autumnal Post-PostRock and the concluding "Will-Oh Dreams (Extended Mix)" presents an alternative, yet not less drifting variation of the original cut, weighing in additional layers of low frequency PostRock chords and an extended playtime of 16+ minutes for all fans of Deep Listening Music. Great stuff. Check.

Laibach - The Coming Race (Official Video)

Taken from the forthcoming album - and film - "Iron Sky: The Coming Race" this new musical outing defo proves that Laibach have a thing going for Blues and highly dramatic Soul. Quite a surprise, this.

Labrecque / Barakat - Terminal Desert [Karlrecords 064 Promo]

Scheduled for release via Karlrecords on March 15th, 2k19 is "Terminal Desert", the new two track album collaboration created by Paul La Brecque and Ghazi Barakat. With both artists coming from a rather Rock-infused background looking for a new aesthetic in this conjunctional effort we see the opening tune "Jajouka Pipe Dream" fusing obvious oriental / middle eastern influences with a dreamy, slightly psychedelic and endlessly meandering take on contemporary Krautrock - if this is a thing - whereas the second cut, the also 17 minutes spanning "Planet R-101" starts on an amalgamation of a droning electric buzz accompanied by minimalistic DesertBlues guitars only to evolve into a beautifully floating piece of Post-PostRock meets (Neo)Cosmic meets Ambient over the course of its runtime, well able to fully please all those longing for soothing, ever evolving sounds as well as fans of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze et al. for a reason before adding a slightly oriental touch after passing minute 10 or so. "Planet R-101" wins.

Rian Treanor - Ataxia [Planet Mu 405 Promo]

Scheduled for release on March 15th, 2k19 via the renowned and critically acclaimed Planet Mu-imprint is "Ataxia", the full length nine track debut album created by Rian Treanor who has released acclaimed singles on labels like The Death Of Rave and Arcola previously. Whilst the album title refers to 'the loss of full control of bodily movements' we defo see the musical outings on this longplayer, cheekily all named "Ataxia" and defined by their placement within the vinyl album version with Treanor's intention being '...to make people's bodies move in unpredictable ways', move bodies, opening with highly hypnotic and abstract polyrhythms paired with intense Spoken Word repetitions presented in "Ataxia_A1" whereas the follow up "Ataxia_A2" strips things down, bordering Phonk, Glitch, IDM and echoes of Breakcore before "Ataxia_B1" indulges in a cold, yet atmospheric scifi future with its deep melodic intro elements and expertly sculpted beats. With "Ataxia_B2" we see Rian Treanor exploring highly cut-up realms of FuturePop and experimental PostGarage for buzzing dancefloors, "Ataxia_C1" can be filed under the flag of thrilling FutureGrime abstractions and "Ataxia_C2" brings forth a sweet, seductive take on ElectroPhonk for advanced late night sets. Furthermore "Ataxia_D1" caters to the needs of all Breakbeat ravers with killer bleep melodies, advanced rhythms and distinct, highly ecstatic stab sequences, "Ataxia_D2" gets down in a bouncy, positive and slightly tribalistic fashion, once again delivering a massive dancefloor impact before the final cut "Ataxia_D3" provides a fascinating amalgamation of early 90s IDM Rave in a B12-reminiscent way and cut up, multilayered Future Soul-vocals for a massive closing. Highly recommended.

Intrauterin Recordings Feature @ Slackjackerz.com

The Swiss-based blog portal Slackjackerz.com has just released a sweet little feature on baze.djunkiii's label Intrauterin Recordings which, despite some hibernation periods in between, is going into its 20th year in 2k19.

Here it is!