Andy Votel and Demdike Stare inaugurate their joint project under the Slant Azymuth aegis for Pre-Cert’s 4th release of acousmatic sound poetry and hyperstitious ephemera. For our P’s it’s the best Pre-Cert yet and easily one of the darkest projects we’ve heard Votel involved with. While each track bears traceable hallmarks of their individual tastes, Slant Azymuth is perhaps best regarded as a shared vision, triangulated from three shadowy perspectives. They offer no explanation or reasoning for this record, meaning we’re left to enter the void unarmed and pregnant with fear from the faded artwork and cryptic track titles. Without wanting to give too much away, it drifts between four central scenes, each dosing the listener in a subtly creepy manner, from the noxious swamp gas atmospheres of ‘Gray Equidae’ to the adrenal build of ‘Helicial Scan’ and the mesmeric, snake-eye syncopation of ‘U-Matic Thrill’, but it’s perhaps the three abstracted intervals, or ‘Intervisions’ which evoke the strangest, most inexplicable emotions and questions of sanity. Ultimately it’s a riddle within a riddle, whose answers will elude all but its creators. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try… A must for the home tapers and adventurous armchair-o-nauts.

**Includes download code redeemable from the label** Musette is a very dapper looking gent called Joel Danell who makes utterly enchanting exotica and records onto time-worn and overused tape. ‘Drape Me In Velvet’ is his first vinyl release and first record for the lovely Swedish label, Häpna. It’s also one of the most endearing albums to cross our paths from the label so far, braiding hand-played strands of wheezy organ music with rippling easy listening rhythms in a gloriously spacey and tantalisingly out-of-reach sound world. We’re a bit partial to good use of tape-recorded techniques around these parts, but this fella’s got something really special going on, apparently using half-century-old reel-to-reels and cassettes inherited from his family and dating to the ’50s and ’60s to achieve his uncannily warm and anachronistic aesthetic. There’s obviously a playful sense of irony at work, to be able to craft such archaic work in an age of futuristic possibilities. And like, say, The Caretaker, it’s matched and masked with a sincerity that’s loveably demented and always accessible and reality-stifling when you need it – as though providing a glimpse into the whiskey and prescription smudged memory recess of a character from Mad Men. Like we say, it’s one of the years first real gems, a record we’ll all surely be getting better acquainted with.

Dramatic Records’ web of fictions grows ever more intricate with the release of Gabo Gulbenkian’s electro cruise ‘Explorers’. Already beloved of XXJFG, the fourth release on this intriguing imprint casts into dreamspace electronica, arcing from late ’90s IDM back towards lushly compatible realms of kosmische and Italian soundtracks. It’s a sound quite close to our hearts and rendered here in crisp yet sweetly psychedelic relief. Each of the nine tracks are respectfully dedicated to the ‘Explorers’ of the title, and also accompanied by a brief but evocative quote. For example, the plainsong chorale and glassy keys of ‘Arthur Rimbaud (1851 – 1891)’ reads “I might well be the child abandoned on the jetty heading out to sea, the little farmboy following the lane whose forehead touches the sky”, ok well that’s one of the more esoteric instances, but there’s also the surreal digital anachronisms of ‘Baron Münchhausen (1720 – 1727)’ “He spoke as a Man of the world, without circumlocution; his adventures were numerous and perhaps singular, but only such as might have been expected to happen to a man of such experience”, each lending these carefully constructed homages a sense of wonder and cute playfulness which is possibly Dramatic Records’ most endearing quality.

*Edition of 300 housed in printed sleeve and full colour jacket. Includes A3 poster and download code redeemable from the label* Uncompromising, devilish noise performances by two intriguing, boundary pushing duos – Lasse Marhaug & John Wiese, and Cologne’s Kalong aka Jessika Loers and Melani Wratil – on the very promising Alarm imprint. It’s a case of experience superceding youth, as Marhaug and Wiese obliterate the A-side with a maelstrom of fractal, infinitely morphing spatial dynamics and abstract, kinetic sounds ranging from guttural roars to sharply defined metallic prangs and clangs, from oblique stretches of cacophonous inferno to what could be a contact mic rubbed against the interior of a  skull inside a live organism. The pacing and density of the piece is as malleable as the sounds themselves, dissolving and resolving between colossal black hole densities and gaseous dispersions with a free jazz dexterity. By contrast, Kalong’s side, performed and recorded at UFA Palast, Cologne in June 2011, is more linear, gradually amassing layers of caustic, bubbling noise before the gates break and they tumble headfirst through mauling thickets of white noise, scorching solar flare stabs and strobing pulse patterns, to the eerie relief of droning vocals, and back into the fray, all with a wayward force and feel for the kind of visceral sonics which leave open wounds on their way in. 

*Eight-panel gatefold double disc CD with 20-page booklet and six picture postcards. Includes an exclusive Junior Vasquez mix* With the current groundswell and ubiquity of House music, it’s important to redress the roots and reasons behind such a sprawling scene. This expertly compiled 18-track compilation, Junior Vasquez mix, twenty page booklet and postcard set does just that, documenting New York’s flamboyant Voguing scene 1976-96 by tracing its history from Disco thru House via foundational tracks from Masters At Work, Loose Joints, Armand Van Helden, and Malcolm Maclaren, among others. In recent years the scene has been pushed underground, only to resurface in its most modern manifestation on releases by MikeQ, and heavily referenced by the likes of Kingdom and Bok Bok, combining that crucially catty, c*nty attitude with up-to-date production techniques. The tracks here exhibit the authentic roots of the modern sound, from Master At Work’s pivotal ‘The Ha Dance (Ken/Lou Mixx)’, to Armand Van Helden’s haughty classic ‘The Witch Doktor (Dark Ages Mix)’, and the functional, body-working grooves of Junior Vasquez’s ‘X (Sound Factory Mix)’ and Rageous Projecting Kevin Aviance on ‘C*nty (The Feeling) (Party Mix)’. Essentially these tracks are placed in context as dancefloor tools, or even weapons, catalysts for bitchy conflict and an energy and sense of style which really gave House music its fiery, sexy reputation in the first place. All too sadly folk are much more conservative on the dancefloor these days (maybe we’re not going to the right clubs), but hopefully this collection – and Chantal Regnault’s accompanying book – will incite some of you into action. See you on the runway, bitches. Recommended.

‘Stars and Topsoil’, Cocteau Twins’ collection of the best of their 4AD years, is belatedly issued on vinyl for the first time ever, on limited edition white vinyl with a gatefold sleeve, printed inner bags and a complete remaster from Robin Guthrie…

**Second vinyl edition – pressed up on transparent blue vinyl** Type mark their 100th release with a reissue of Porter Ricks’ essential ‘Biokinetics’ – never before available as one vinyl set. Back in 1996, dark ambient pioneer and sound designer Thomas Köner, together with engineer Andy Mellwig, presented the Techno community with one of it’s most enduring and definitive albums in the form of ‘Biokinetics’. It was the first album release on Basic Channel’s Chain Reaction imprint, birthing three 12″ singles which expanded and twisted the templates of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus with an aquatic torque and unique vision, taking the sound to immersive, isolated depths previously unexplored to this degree. Womb-like systolic pulses plunge us fathoms into darkness penetrated by only the faintest trace of melody, its oceanic pressure profoundly meditative and transporting, reflecting the unimaginable vastness of space. But most importantly, ‘Biokinetics’ achieved what so many others tried but failed within this realm; managing to shape the infinite wave with an individual sense of narrative, one which will entrance a dancefloor and equally flood the senses of a home listener, dissolving the boundaries between club functionality and artistic experience. Fundamentally, it just sounds incredible – as good as the original copies thanks to a new cut at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering. This is the first time all of these tracks have been presented on one vinyl package – with a CD edition to follow in the coming weeks.

Type mark their 100th release with a reissue of Porter Ricks’ essential ‘Biokinetics’. Back in 1996, dark ambient pioneer and sound designer Thomas Köner, together with engineer Andy Mellwig, presented the Techno community with one of it’s most enduring and definitive albums in the form of ‘Biokinetics’. It was the first album release on Basic Channel’s Chain Reaction imprint, birthing three 12″ singles which expanded and twisted the templates of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus with an aquatic torque and unique vision, taking the sound to immersive, isolated depths previously unexplored to this degree. Womb-like systolic pulses plunge us fathoms into darkness penetrated by only the faintest trace of melody, its oceanic pressure profoundly meditative and transporting, reflecting the unimaginable vastness of space. But most importantly, ‘Biokinetics’ achieved what so many others tried but failed within this realm; managing to shape the infinite wave with an individual sense of narrative, one which will entrance a dancefloor and equally flood the senses of a home listener, dissolving the boundaries between club functionality and artistic experience. Fundamentally, it just sounds incredible – available for teh first time in over 15 years and featuring brand new artwork.

James Leyland Kirby returns with a long-in-the-making soundtrack to acclaimed filmmaker Grant Gee’s documentary about German writer WG Sebald. ‘Patience (After Sebald)’ is a multi-layered film essay on landscape, art, history, life and loss – an exploration of the work and influence of German writer WG Sebald (1944-2001), told via a long walk through coastal East Anglia tracking his most famous book ‘The Rings Of Saturn’. Much like The Caretaker’s oeuvre, Sebald’s works are particularly focused on themes of memory, both personal and collective, making Kirby the ideal candidate for this score. Grant tasked him with soundtracking responsibilities, but rather than thrift shop shellac, the source material for ‘Patience’ was sourced from Franz Schubert’s 1827 piece ‘Winterreise’ and subjected to his perplexing processes, smudging and rubbing isolated fragments into a dust-caked haze of plangent keys, strangely resolved loops and de-pitched vocals which recede from view as eerily as they appear. Mastered by Lupo at D&M, the album is adorned with another specially commissioned painting by Ivan Seal.

Demdike Stare and Hype Williams present sun-dazed, 180º revisions of the Shangaan Electro sound for Honest Jon’s Records. Landing in quick succession to those outlandish versions by Actress, both sets of artists here view the sound from detached, impressionistic perspectives, resulting in four richly psychedelic experiences. It’s difficult to discern any original elements in Demdike’s two versions; the first features ostensibly “tribal” percussions perhaps best suited for post-ritual hours, the party laid to waste and surveyed by a flock of cannibalistic gulls. On the dub, all that’s left is a lingering trace of dislocated spirit voices and gulls hovering for the morsel of rhythm trapped, stuttering in the sampler. Hype Williams’ side is far removed still, flipping the beat to a skeletal jazz break while Ms Copeland lends a faded, Lynchian, chamber-pop vocal to ‘My Love’, and the hollowed-out, bass drowned dub…

*Limited edition of 240 copies for the world* Moon Wiring Club on an Eldritch rave tip! The first 7″ on Gecophonic is primed for village hoedowns and full moon orgies with one track-a-piece from Moon Wiring Club’s Ian Hodgson and a remix from the mysterious Lord Wilfred, whoever he or she may be. On the A-side ‘Always A Party’, MWC chops up what sounds like a bored Fenella Fielding over sub-’ardcore drum loops and proper darkside synth stabs, sounding not unlike old skool Two Lone Swordsmen in a cider-drenched dance-off with the Ghost Box crew – or how we’d imagine that to sound. Flipside Lord Wilfred drops an acid rubbed ‘Myxomatosis Mix’ of ‘Infernal Devices’, carving lop-sided breaks and squiggly acid with a ruddy cheeked charm, impossibly deep low-end pads included. Ace artwork by Kynaston Mass, too!

100% Silk are out in force to remix Peaking Lights’ adored ’936′ LP. One of the year’s most nattered about names, Ital refits ‘Marshmellow Yellow’ with a struttin’ Mr. Soft groove, all spongy bass bumps and refracted melody, while Xander Harris views ‘Birds Of Paradise’ as a sludgy piece of Balearic baroque with spy-eyed arpeggios. Best of all is Innergaze’s baggy acid re-tweak of ‘Shines For U’, full of lip-smacking MDMA charm, and Cuticle make a welcome return to the label with the seeping, sideways Chicago revision of ‘Tiger Eyes’. Perfectly trippy.

No rest for the wickedest: UTTU come thru with two deeper bangers from the Windy City’s Marcus Mixx. The ‘Chicago Club Mixx’ riffs on a piano hook and dirty grained ruffness not dissimilar to Alias G’s ‘Delite Tonite’, but with a darker, sexier suffusion of mid-’90s dancefloor sweat. The ‘Rub It Mixx’ is leaner, slicker, toying with a juicy fretless bass lick and allowing more space for those hovering, deeply evocative strings and haunting vocal. It’s still party music, but deep with it. Tip!