featured releases

VARIOUS : Music Volume Two – Benbecula – 12” £4.99 Second label sampler from Scotland’s excellent Benbecula imprint, giving us an idea of what they have in store for us over the coming months. Christ kicks off proceedings - an important player in the emerging Scottish electronic scene of the late 90’s , Christ has a writing credit on Boards of Canada’s sought after ‘Twoism’ EP!! The track featured here - ‘Moxley Moy’ provides us with a first clue as to what he has been doing with himself since that time – the answer being a glorious infusion of haunting piano keys and the most subtle form of electronic integration. Truly classic stuff; expect a debut solo release very soon. Joni is up next, an artist reported to have a museum-capacity collection of vintage analogue synths, ‘Too Stupid’ breaks down any generic categorisation and instead organically forms a future Bossa classic. Little introduction needed – listen and be hooked for a lifetime. Seriously sublime. Loveliness follows from Toytronic's Mr Projectile, Clubbed To Death , Frog Pocket , East Of Insanity and Marcia Blaine School For Girls (these guys will be huge and will do so for reasons other than just having the most fantastic name ever to have graced the electronic microcosm!). All that’s left is the final track...the artist wishes to remain anonymous, but you’ll have heard of him before. After all, what’s life without a little mystery?? Strictly limited edition and alltogether rather deliciously wonderful. Buy!

CORNELIUS : Point - Matador - LP £12.99 CD £11.99 This is the eagery anticipated new full-length from Tokyo’s multi-talented Keigo Oyamada, aka Cornelius. Much has been made in the press over the last few weeks over the ingenuity and excellence of this LP, and it really never fails to dissappoint. The sound is an amalgamation of Folk, Bacharachian whimsy, punk, electronica and, above all, Pop. The intrigue is supplied with the diversification and experimentation with technique employed by Keigo in his studio : unusual field recordings, the sounds of trickling water, delicate filtration adjustments and so on. The opening ‘Bug’ sets the scene perfectly, accoustic foundations and a chug-a-long rhythm, the vocal sounding vaguely Stereolab/High Llamas -ish, but the behind-the-scenes constructions steal the show, birds chirping and an intricate assemblage of barely recognisable found sounds that somehow manage to avoid creating clutter and expand on the pop aesthetic. ‘Brazil’ employs a Vocoded computerised speech emulator for the vocal, but stays clear of electropop and instead offers a lovely and somewhat tongue-in-cheek cover of the classic samba of the same name, all refreshingly soothing and entertaining. 12” track ‘Drop’ expands with enough loveliness to fill you with sunshine, before the slowly punctuated drum machine flow of ‘Tone Twilight Zone’ strums away into the sunset blissfully. A perfect pop album, and what could be better?

MURCOF : Monotonu EP - Context 12" £5.99 Let’s start off by saying that this is one of the most original and eye-opening 12”s we’ve heard in a while, Fernando Corona (aka Murcof) putting Mexico on the map and re-alligning our preconceptions in the process. Much in the same way that the magnificent Safety Scissors manages to subvert genres and presets with mind-boggling imagination and a little tweaking, Murcof has created a hybrid of many things – a shuffling downtempo beat, a violin, some pops and an intuitive ability to compose the sound of things you have never heard before. The opening ‘Memoria’ sets the scene perfectly, a hint of the Hassidic string adornes a perfectly shuffled groove in glorious widescreen before ‘Mir’ developes the theme further down the cinematic route – haunting sounds interchanged with a percussive line that builds in tempo and complexity as the track progresses. The flip takes things further - ‘Mfrelay’ adapting the micro-house constructions of the likes of Akufen, slows it down a little and creates another breathtaking symphony of melody and unusual instrumentation – seriously breathtaking stuff. Finally, ‘Marmol’ closes the night with an end-credit epilogue, the slowest track on board judged to perfection in creating the ultimate blend in melancholy and excitement. One small step for music as we know it , one giant leap for the Context label. Remarkable.

PERSON : From person to you - Spezial Material - LP + CD £9.99 Bit of a special one this, Switzerland’s Spezialmaterial label has really got us by the balls with one of the loveliest packaging concepts we have seen and 6 tracks of total electronic perfection. This is very much in the crunchy Ae/Toytronic/Team Doyobi vein, but the quality is seriously high, with the opening ‘In Karton’ managing to bounce in all the right places and is just dark enough to qualify for cinematic approval. ‘Orte Artuis’ kicks-in with a filtered and blanched-out skittering breakbeat and slowly simplifies itself into a tweaked electroid monster, the programing and sound control here is superb, and when the heartfelt melody refrains drop, the evolution is natural and works beautifully. The EP comes with a CD that includes some audio, some sound generators, animations and some gorgeous images. The whole thing is housed in a lush card sleeve that’s inserted into a semi-opaque fabric surround, this really looks amazing. For aesthetic freaks and collectors, as well as those of you into the crunchy stuff... please, don’t miss out on this one!

POLE AND MANUELA KRAUSE : Mein Freund Der Baum - Monika 7" £3.99 Long awaited return of the man known as Pole, this time with a heartwarming collaboration with hunysuckle vocalist Mauela Krause. If this excellent 7” gives us an idea of what to expect from Pole’s forthcoming material, we’re gonna be in for a treat. The A-Side is a cover version of a German cult hit ‘Mein Freund Der Baum’ - Manuela’s vocal deep and drawn, Stephan’s production work reminiscent of his magnificent production for Barbara Morgenstern on her ‘Fjorden’ album....subtle, deep and incredibly detailed. The faint sounds of melodica and dub echo are there, making for a pop hit that works on many levels. The flipside goes deeper with the instrumental ‘Balalaika Dub’ - giving our man Pole a chance to elucidate and clarify where his head is at – a slowed down dub groove and a moving piano line that edges closer and closer to the mix as the track progresses. Lovely stuff once again on Monika. Ace.

INTRICATE : Aube - Spezial Material - 12" £6.99 First release in stock this week on the superb Spezialmaterial label from Switzerland, kicking things off with this 6-tracker from Intricate. Producing the kind of quasi-glitch electroid electronix that we love so dearly, this will seriously mess with the headz of all you dsp boffins out there, appealing to fans of Toytronic, Team Doyobi and the like, and taking things that little bit further. ‘Octavian’ drops with all the required fx trickery and proceeds to expand into a spacious electroid beat and some tweaked darkisms. ’Kay_One’ is reminiscent of Ae (circa ‘96), with a winding groove and a beat that’s evidently been deconstructed several times, only to be re-pieced with extra crunch. ‘Treze’, however, is the standout track here, totally dedvestating half-paced beats and high-end tweaks, sounding like a borg version of Autechre’s staggering ‘Garbage’, subtle melodies that make a half-appearance, enough to have you hooked on first listen. Seriously seriously good stuff kids. Essential purchase.

MAPSTATION FEAT RAS DONOVAN : New direction - Staubgold - 12" £5.99 After an outing together for Domino, Stefan Schneider of To Rococo Rot reunites with Ras Donovan for his second excellent EP for Staubgold. Schneider removes the analogue hiss of Rhythm and Sound from the equation, instead sleek and clear lines indeed deliver on the promise of a New Direction. 'Stop' fits snugly into the To Rococo mould - modulating bell-like tones shift against swelling digital flurries, with some guitar as textural interest. But it is the essential warmth of Donovan's voice against the soulful, metronomic precision of Schneider's music which indeed provides a clear development from 2000's Sleep Engine Sleep. Rootical reggae music with electronics is sounding more like the future than ever...

NOIZE CREATOR : Broken Bar - Ambush 12" £4.99 DJ Scud’s Ambush label returns to wreak more havoc on us once again, this time courtesy of Dresden’s Malladjusted Stefan Senf, otherwise known as Noize Creator. All you Venetian Snares fans out there take note – what we have here is some seriously spannered and intricately cut-up noise and break destructions, sheets of visceral, tooth-jarring noise and, above all, the heaviest kind of dancefloor demolition you’ll hear this year. Seriously good shit, 6-tracks wide and exactly what the (noise) doctor ordered. Ace.

APPARAT : Tttrial and eror - Shitkatapult - CD £9.99 Shitkatapult’s crunchy electronic side rears its fibre-optic head once again with this second LP from the excellent Apparat. The mechanised percussive rumbles of ‘First Eror’ clink along with a semi-industrial flavour, the melody disguising itself under digits and calculations, but keep enough of a presence to develop further with every listen. ‘Bugs and Fixes’, meanwhile, takes a leaf out of Funkstorung’s guide to squashed Hip-Hop, some nice DSP work on board and a wash of melancholy grapples with the underlying beat, a crunchy metallic affair. This is strong electronic territory from start to finish, another indispensable full-length from the shit-throwing crew. Check!.

QUASIMOTO : Astonaut EP - Antidote - 12" £4.99 The Quas fly's cross the atlantic for an outing on this very promising looking new UK label Antidote. Exclusively licensed with love from Stones Throw. Strangly pressed on single sided 12", hey we're british. Astronaut starts with a familiar jazz lick, then it's return to The Unseen for Quas imaganing a life travelling the cosmos with Sun Ra as your guide, "Space Is The Place". Killercuddycut. Am I Confused? get's Madlib on the mic, asking himself the obvious question. Boombip Madlib rhythm track as per usual, too much quality. Then our extra fave dope cut Lonely Piano instrumental bliss with sampled bass, piano, guitar, wrapped round the baddest beat of the week and nuff of the spiritual jazz dust stuck in the grooves. Can't nobody touch the 'Lib flavors, this be needed now!!!!

VARIOUS : Scratch OST - Transparent Music - CD £14.99 Scratch is a feature-length documentary film that explores the world of the hip-hop DJ. It's a story of unknown underdogs and serious virtuosos who are radically changing the way we hear, play and create music. This is the soundtrack. All tracks rare as f**k and a few def exclusives, check Rockit 2002, Transparent boss Herbie Hancock getting down with Mixmaster Mike, Grandmixer DST, Rob Swift, Q-Bert, Faust & Shortee and Babu. Lineup or what!!! Absolutely devestating stuff. Two new Rob Swift joints with Bill Laswell on the boards. Rare treats come from X-ecutioners with DJ Premier, Rob Swift, Invisble Scratch Piklz, DJ Disk, Eddie Def and the old school Boogie Boy and Kid Delight with Afrika Bambaataa. Rock solid and great entertainment, can't wait to see the film.

VARIOUS : Definitive Jux Presents 2 - Definitive Jux - 2LP £13.99 CD £13.99 Crazy how quickly a year goes by. Artists involved this time round are Weathermen (El-P, Copywrite, Camu Tao & Vast Aire), Aesop Rock, Mr Lif & Murs, Camu Tao, Rob Smith (Sonic Sum), RJD2, Masai Bey, El-P & Vast Aire, Atoms Family, Yak Ballz and El-P's recent solo hit. Joints to drop first include RJD2's heavyweight instrumental I Really Like Your Def Jux Baby Tee like all his killer work so far compressed into one bomb track. Aesop Rock's Dead Pan could be his best yet and the Mr.Lif & Murs joint Sneak Preview is truly incredible. What you notice is the Def Jux thread running through this entire compilation, this realised by being truly true to the cause rather than the usual fake posturing associated with the current scene. Twelve tracks = essential.

NEW WORLD ROMANTIC : Spirit E.P. - Delsin 12" £5.99 Under his New World Romantic moniker, New World Aquarium’s latest release goes all Basic Channel for 2002. ‘Iniquities Den’ goes all deep :extremely muddy strings mix and weave into each other, a hint of background noise and some murky percussion and kick drums rise from the depths to add form to the mass of noise that precedes them. Deep as you like. I am not surprised that labels such as Planet E and Peacefrog are both chasing him. Each track clocks in at over 6 minutes, and a wonderful time spent it is, forget flavour of the moment, just listen to Delsin do their thing.

LAUB : Filesharing - Kitty Yo - CD £12.99 Vladislav Delay’s Girlfriend and all-round electronic deconstructionist AGF makes a long-awaited reappearance with her band Laub on the Kitty Yo label. Having left the traditional band concept behind this new laptop collaboration incorporates a modern futuristic sound with innovative digital production concepts, a mixture of pop, experimental electronics, processing, and a delicate injection of AGF’s mesmerising and memorable vocal. Recommended.

RICHIE HAWTIN : DE9 Edits - Novamute - 10" £4.99 CD £4.99 Hawtin attempts a re-edit of the Rhythm & Sound track ‘range’d’ - hard in itself seeing as R&S are close to perfection in their production. This is a little more loop based than the original, retaining the grainy sound with some amazing percussive differences. As for ‘(r)edit #1’, which is an edit of Ritchie’s own track ‘Freek’d’, this too is an extremely loop-based version. Starting off with the 4/4 straight away, a subtle Maurizio-esque bass line padding under the beat, and added dubbed out percussion just enhances the feel of Berlin based techno. Vinyl limited to 400 copies only!

ULTRA RED VS ANNA PLANETA : split - Fat Cat - 12" £4.99 The first ‘Split 12" on Fat Cat for 2002 (and the 14th in the series thus far), showcases two very different takes on the use of field recording, with one side providing storming floor-friendly tracks and the other a more home-listening affair. California-based activists Ultra-red provide two great house tracks, ‘A16’ and ‘A17’, which were composed exclusively from site recordings made during street protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Washington DC, April 16th and 17th, 2000. Anna Planeta’s two tracks are composed of live digital recordings of sounds made and heard at a huge, long-abandoned Catholic school house near Alton Towers theme park. Moving and fascinating in turn...Check.

CAPITOL K : Pillow - XL - 12" £4.99 CD £4.99 7" 99p The man behind the Capitol K moniker, Kristian Craig Robinson, after two warmly-received and limited edition vinyl releases on XL last year and work for Planet-Mu, is finally ready for his full assault on the mainstream with his new single, ’Pillow’. It’s a work of cut-up and off-kilter pop genius, and is suitably accompanied by remixes from fellow leftfield artistes Wagon Christ and Leafcutter John. As an added bonus, the full vocal mix of album track, ’Capitol Beat Sticky’, is included on the vinyl release, having only previously been available on ’The Cosmic Forces Of Mu’ compilation on Planet Mu. Niiiiice. The ultra limited 7” to accompany the 12” and CD releases featuresan exclusive Leafcutter John Remix that takes the semi-accoustic electronic jangle of the original and adds some delicately cut-up interjections. Be quick!

BENGE : I Computor Expanding CD £8.99 Benge has raided his archives for this CD first released in 1997. Heading into digital beat territory ‘I Computer’ holds some of the mans best work. The opening track ‘blue computer’ starts with an apprehensive string line held up by scattered beats, balanced by a sonar-like noise which only becomes apparent when the beat breaks off. The next track ‘I sequencer’ kickstarts with some wicked electronic funk. Staggered breakbeats underline the bass line and some perfectly placed g-funk synths enhance the groove. Add a touch Of tweaking and the track is a winner, in a glitched-up-funk Atom Heart kinda way. The rest of the tracks are all extremely strong and the selection is quite surprising, at times sounding like the more emotive end of Gescom, reinforcing the standing that the Expanding 7”s have built up. Computer funk for the soul.