Boomkat – ELEH, ROBERT LIPPOK, LFO, etc.

*Strictly limited deluxe 3CD set remastered by Eleh specifically for the digital medium. Metallic silver print on heavy duty matte black gatefold reverse-board jacket with gorgeous transparent cd’s* Important present a crucial and comprehensive collection of Eleh’s three ‘Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis’ volumes, now available for the first time since their long-sold out vinyl editions. They comprise a snapshot of one of the most singular bodies of minimalist electronics in recent years, a collection of pure, reduced analogue compositions designed to induce hypnotic, deeply spiritual states comparable with the effects of music by Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young or Charlemagne Palestine. Ostensibly, it is academic music, an exercise in the isolation, modulation and layering of specifically affective tonal frequencies, but their effect is as transcendent and universally understood as almost anything else when heard and felt with open ears and mind. Well OK, it may take a little patience on your behalf, but it’s meditative music, concentrated on the slightest fluctuations in timbre and texture and with huge attention given to the precise spatialization of each individual frequency – even so far as allegedly reaching infrasonic frequencies vibrating at 0.05Hz – basically (un)sounds which are inaudible but physically felt (a central theme of Steve Goodman ((Kode 9’s)) book ‘Sonic Warfare’). Take it from us, it’s a rarified experience quite unlike any other, which should appeal equally to seasoned followers of minimalism and even those bassbin disciples who eulogise about subbass at Dubstep events. This is also one of those instances where the CD format really comes into its own, taking full advantage of the low noise floor and clarity afforded by the digital medium. An incredible, momentous set.

Arriving like some blockbuster sequel to ‘Returnal’, Oneohtrix Point Never’s eagerly anticipated ‘Replica’ sucks us deep into a simulated 4.1 world fantasia. Most strikingly, his sonic palette is far broader than before, adding piano keys, Techno beats and somersaulting glitch edits with a fancier, hi-tech studio-honed sound design, articulating a more kinetic, progressive vision of timeless electronica. There’s a palpable sense that he’s excitedly exploring every option afforded him by the Mexican Summer studios, immersing himself and us in a vivid off-planet adventure every bit as sincerely lush and awe-inspiring as previous solo outings, but moving out of the shadows of his over-referenced influences and into the light of a stranger, alien sun. There are still obvious reminders of David Byrne & Brian Eno’s ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’ or Eno and Jon Hassell’s ‘Possible Musics’ and moments of Sakamoto-esque sublime, but there’s also traces of Nicholas Collins’ stutter-circuits and the digital dreams of mid-eighties Chris Carter. To be honest, we’ve not had a chance to spend much time with ‘Replica’ (sort it out promo people!), but we can guarantee it’s going to be getting much closer inspection. From initial impressions it’s hugely promising!

**500 copies for the world, initial copies on transparent vinyl – almost 40 minutes of incredible, original, completely unsocialised brilliance sounding somewhere between Vangelis, Armando and John Carpenter** The third volume of four in this incredible series, beamed direct from the depths of Berlin onto vinyl. Our maverick protagonist again looks to the future mindful of the past, following a twisted trajectory from imagination to realisation which would leave lesser artists and musicians exhausted (or in need of drying out). But as we all know, his lifestyle and cathartic sonic processes are not in vain: for many this series has provided some of the greatest material of an already crazy career. On vol.3, we dare say he’s produced one of his most unforgettable moments with ‘The Watcher And The Watched’ – a mind-burrowing and Kafkaesque arrangement of overdriven machine rhythms and intuitive melodic narration that feels like Morton Sherman’s long lost crypto-Tech side-project with James Stinson. There’s also the profound highs of ‘The Start Of Wars And The End Of Eras’, an unending nitrous blast of chromatic chaos and ghoulish chorales, but they’re both the most extreme examples, and in quieter, more reflective mode on the midnight drift of ‘Fleeting Modern’ or the ambiguous anguish of ‘We Might Just Lose This One’ his sodden soul is tangibly more bruised and tender. It almost goes without saying – so check the clips if you don’t believe us – but this record is nothing short of essential. 

To Rococo Rot helmsman Robert Lippok comes good (again) with an engrossing solo album on Raster-Noton, based on a live performance he gave at Villa Massimo in September of last year. The ricocheting marimba tech-noir of ‘inphase’ sounds like Steve Reich jamming with Monoton, while ‘sugarcubes’ connects the digital minimalism of R-N with the plangent post-rock moves of Lippok’s 90s work, while ‘nycycle’ and ‘whitesuperstructure’ offer the warmth of vintage deep house through a sound design of chilly, spotless futurity. The skill and humanity that Lippok puts into his digital synthesis means that even the more conventionally droning, ambient pieces feel fresh and of-the-moment; the long, beautiful closing piece, ‘daylightastronomy’, is brought to life by the Beatrice Martini’s harp contributions. For fans of timelessly emotive but technically advanced electronics, this album is hugely recommended.

**Strictly limited edition heavyweight vinyl edition housed in thick card jacket and printed inner with lyrics. Includes digital download code redeemable from the label** A crucial companion of new material to Dominick Fernow’s devastating Bermuda Drain LP, Time’s Arrow leads with its title track in extended and edited forms with the inner sleeve quote from Jim Al-Khalili ((yep, the BBC physicist))?) adding an air of mystery to proceedings. Just another day at the office then. It’s a crisp synth-wave kicker, its oddly grooving drums and layered melodies nudging Prurient further into dance music climes than ever before. ‘Maskless Face’ is classic Fernow catharsis – essentially guttural screaming across a burned-out industrial backdrop – and ‘Slavery In The Bahamas’ harks back to Prurient’s classic Black Vase set in its effortless navigation of hypnotic loops and caustic power electronics.’Let’s Make A Slave (De-Shelled)’ revisits one of Bermuda Drain’s finest tracks, rounding out an unmissable 12″ for denizens of darkness. “Listen In Daylight While Searching Storm Drains Off The LA Freeway.” So good.

*TG’s remarkable second album remastered and reissued – with a second disc of bonus material* “For the first time in 30 years Throbbing Gristle are now back on their own original Industrial Records label. To mark the occasion we are pleased to announce the rerelease of TG’s first five albums on vinyl & CD. Each album has been restored and remastered specifically for each format by Chris Carter from 24bit ‘baked tape’ digital transfers of the original first generation analogue master tapes. Vinyl – The newly cut 180-gram vinyl editions include painstakingly restored cover artworks, using original source material from the Industrial Records visual archive. In addition each of the vinyl releases include an exclusive large format 8-page colour booklet featuring an abundance of Throbbing Gristle archival material, including some previously unpublished photos of the band. Each vinyl release is limited to 2000 copies. COMPACT DISC Each of the CD special-editions are presented in a gatefold sleeve featuring restored and remastered cover artworks and an integrated 8-page booklet (* the booklets feature different artworks and content to the vinyl editions). While the CD releases feature the same track count and running order as the vinyl editions each CD special-edition also includes an exclusive bonus CD containing content from the year of the albums original release. This additional content includes TG live tracks and remastered singles. CD Tracklist Disc 1 1/I.B.M. 2/Hit By A Rock 3/United 4/Valley Of The Shadow Of The Death 5/Dead On Arrival 6/Weeping 7/Hamburger Lady 8/Hometime 9/AB/7A 10/E-Coli 11/Death Threats 12/Walls Of Sound 13/Blood On The Floor Disc 2 01/Introduction-The Crypt 1978 02/It’s Always the Way-Goldsmiths College, London 1978 03/Industrial Muzak-The Crypt 1978 04/Cabaret Voltaire-IT College Wakefield 1978 05/Hamburger Lady-Goldsmiths College, London 1978 06/IBM-Goldsmiths College, London 1978 07/New After Cease To Exist Soundtrack LFMC 1978 08/Whistling Song-The Crypt 1978 09/Mother Spunk-IT College Wakefield 1978 10/Five Knuckle Shuffle – 7″ Single 11/We Hate You (Little Girls) – 7” Single

*20th anniversary edition, includes all 14 original CD tracks cut to double vinyl for the first time – 4 of these have never been available on vinyl before. Includes download code redeemable from the label* LFO’s seminal debut LP ‘Frequencies’ should need scant introduction to our customers. Its transcendent influence can be felt across two decades of UK electronica and further afield, with its original co-creator Mark Bell going on to produce world-renowned pop music for Björk. Twenty years since it unleashed international anthems like ‘LFO (Leeds warehouse Mix)’, ‘We Are Back’ and ‘Mentok 1′ upon sweaty, peakin’ raves across the world, Warp have given it a deluxe reissue, now cut over two plates for optimum audio fidelity and width, primed for those clubs which still have (and service) their record decks, and ready to bless the turntables of ageing ravers everywhere. If you don’t already own it, there’s simply never been a better time to pick it up – it now sounds better than ever thanks to a masterful recut by Rashad at D&M and a loud pressing spread across two heavy LP’s. ESSENTIAL.

*Limited gatefold edition with a coloured vinyl pressing from Sasha Grey’s notorious band – recommended!* New York’s Pendu Sound initiate a trilogy of aTelecine albums with ‘The Falcon And The Pod’, following the group’s revelatory pair of LPs which slunk out in 2010. Atelecine now counts Anthony D’juan and Ian Cinnamon alongside core duo, Sasha Grey and Pablo St. Francis, and while they’ve not entirely lost the endearing lo-fi element of their earliest tracks, they seem to have added more flesh and a mesmerising clarity to the shadowy arrangement of tape loops, grunged guitars and vintage synths. There are actual song structures to be found this time, as opposed to the loop-based hardware dowsing of ‘A Cassette Tape Culture’, shifting their sound closer to the esoteric headspace of Coil, NWW and Psychik TV without becoming mere pastiche. Still, though, the best parts are those weirder cuts which evade easy categorisation, such as the the nine minutes of concrète collaging on ‘A Secret Ratio’, the spectrally attuned synth dérive of ‘Magazine’ or the sploshy rhythms and alien textures of the title track. Effectively they’re one of the most sonically intriguing and darkest elements to emerge from the DIY/Darkwave resurgence, and “The Falcon and The Pod” might just be their most impressive set of recordings yet. Highly Recommended.

*300 Copies only – not to be re-pressed* The label run by heads at Warp and the British Library Sound archive returns with Step 2 of its Public Information programme. This time the focus is on Vancouver’s Konrad Jandavs – a “purveyor of Kosmiche Trash, of noxious electronics, of deep and frazzled future-scapes” and recipient of XXJFG’s top record of 2010 for his ‘Soft Coast EP’. In sharp contrast to the label’s immaculate opening instalment from ADR, No UFO’s ‘Mind Controls The Flood’ is far more noisy, chaotic and psychedelic; an often mystical maelstrom of grainy, textured synthesis, murky colours and motorik funk. Across the A-side we’re churned in the sci-fi-complex structures of ‘Flash III’ and rapt by the futuristic lounge sway of ‘Mechanically Replayed’, while ‘C. Bryan (Magnitizdat)’ shores up at some alien expanse of liquid metal ocean tones. To the flip, there’s the beautiful, Neu!-like meditation ‘Ted & Monty’, besides the squashed, subtly threatening machine funk of ‘Form Constant Flood’, and the sublime resolution ‘Less Or Even Much More’. A strong recommendation to fans of Laurel Halo, Oneohtrix Point Never, or Demdike Stare.

‘The End Of All Things’ is Tropic Of Cancer’s tender farewell note to Downwards, collecting their two 10″s for the label together with a cover of Soft Cell’s ‘L.O.V.E. Feelings’ and new, unreleased material – seven tracks in total. For some, Downwards’ foray into this gloomy, gothic sideroom didn’t sit well with their perception of the label’s aesthetic, but for everyone else, their two 10″s and successive records by Pink Playground and Sandra Electronics – among others – on the DO series have marked out some of the most intriguing Downwards gear in years. The duo of Camella Lobo and Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) have summoned a very special sound with their breathtakingly spacious production and scarily evocative songcraft, from the dry-iced drift of ‘The Dull Age’ to the motorik dread of ‘Victims’ and ‘Be Brave’. The new tracks add further dimensions to their loosely defined style, from the opiated droop of their Soft Cell cover ‘L.O.V.E. Feelings’, thru the incredible baroque excoriation of ‘Distorted Horizon’ to the cold-sweating EBM thrust of ‘Chrome Vox’, pitching them perfectly between the ethereal grace and romance of the originals – AC Marias, Danse Society, Jesus & Mary Chain – and a more modern, spatially rendered production reassuringly beyond the reach of any darkside dilettantes. Brilliant material – highly Recommended.

Foundational bleep techno from Richard Barrett and Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk. Pivotal to the early success of Warp Records, Sweet Exorcist’s crucial 12″s also made explicit the link between industrial music and the new dawn of acid house, building on the dancefloor-conscious, mantra-like direction that the Cabs had taken their own music in the early-mid 80s. These broadcasts from the mind-forges of the Steel City are bleep ‘n bass at its most punchy and primitive: electronic body music stripped to its jutting, sinewy essence. Opening with a sample from Close Encounters of The Third Kind, ‘Testone’ is as eerie as it is immediate, while ‘Clonk’ (Freebass) and ‘Clonk’s Coming Off’ are some of the most abstract, funked-up jack-tracks to be born outside of Chicago. RetroActivity expands upon CCEP/CCCD, Warp’s first ever long-form release, compiling all the classics plus numerous alternate versions, making for a comprehensive 2xCD set that will serve fans, fanatics and newcomers all equally well.

**White vinyl, cut at Berlin’s D&M. Hand numbered edition of 250** Senufo’s latest edition is a deeply abstract session of concrete collaging and controlled electronic chaos from Chris Cooper aka Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase. Chris is “the most reliable member of AHPN” and also known for his work with Barn Owl and in Fat Worm Of Error (Ecstatic Peace, Ultra Eczema, Load) or Chicagoan improv ensemble, The BSC. AHPN’s sound is essentially a more electronic take on the improvisations of Fat Worm Of Error, swapping live instrumentation for feedback loops, hyperstatic drum machines and “digital rot” to create constantly morphing patina of filigree small sounds and electro-acoustic diffusions. They expand and contract with restless frequency from fractal chirrups reminding of Tomuttontu to placid stretches of fluid, lilting metallic timbres mere leagues from Dolphins Into The Future. But while both of those artists have a cutely defined melodic aspect, Chris Cooper’s music is yet more disjointed and esoteric, imbued with a careful sense of dynamic spatial placement and psychedelic sleight-of-hand which, in its own way, has the potential to take your mind far, far out. Excellent.

*Edition of 250 in screen-printed sleeve with info sheet* Excellent DIY effort from Savoury Days Records, pairing contemporary lo-fi, punk and minimal synth stuff with original 1980 tracks by The Hollow Men, The Door And The Window and The Passionate Winemakers. It’s a great concept and faithfully executed in the great tradition of UK DIY, prizing uniqueness, eccentricity and diversity over more superficial values. A-side we’re introduced to the likes of Tim Goss and Chloe Mutter’s duo Call Back The Giants and their opiated lounge music, besides the shonky minimal synth blurts of The Rebel, a killer post-punk original ‘Never Again’ by The Hollow Men and best of all Adam Bohman’s ‘Stirling Effort’ – a recording of a man with a stutter giving a rambling and rather funny talk at the Round Chapel in Clapton. Further 1980 originals come from the noisy Passionate Winemakers and The Door And The Window, and there’s also a superb offering from Design A Wave, who were last heard on that excellent Altar 12″. The 2nd side finishes with the ethereal elegance of La La Vasquez, an all-female trio from the south east of England “Interested in the history of women and punk”, and the creepy, bleached concrète of Helm aka Luke Younger with ‘Statuesque’. An excellent record, strongly recommended to wavers of all shapes and predilections. Highly Recommended.

Timeless, instant-classic material from the one and only Levon Vincent! Having played our copies of ‘Man Or Mistress’ and just about every other Levon 12″ to the hilt by now, new material is always welcome, but he’s spoiling us here. The A-side is a modern tribal House masterpiece, shaking the drums into a mammoth, speaker-owning subbass while layers of star-screaming synths expand and envelope your mind with jaw-dropping psychedelic dynamism. Then there’s the B-side. ‘Revs/Cost’ opens the account with steppin’ snare punctuations and rib crushing subs before a lashing dub chord rifles thru the whole thing, syncing with a flooded subbass to spine-chilling effect. For measure there’s also the staggering ‘Pivotal Moments In Life’, a life-affirming piece of House music if we’ve ever heard one. Damn, the production values are just insanely high on each track. Calling this record anything less than essential would be a par.

Cooly G re-enters our orbit on two stellar collaborations with House allies Simbad and Karizma. Looking every bit the futurist dancefloor queen on the sleeve, it’s a stone-set reassurance – if needed – of her unique prowess when it comes to sumptuous yet rudely sensuous rhythm vybz. With Simbad on ‘Landscapes’ she scopes a stunning scene of tucked, Gurley-esque drum programming and astro-planing synth washes graced with her silk-cut vocals. It’d almost be a disrespect not to shut your eyes when dancing to this. Equally ‘ardcore debted, and ruffer still ‘It’s Serious’, produced with Karizma, locks off a more dextrous, ruthlessly cut-up tribal shake-down, pivoting off pointillist drums and steppin’ on landmine bass plosions. In other words: f**kin’ lethal. Highly recommended!

Regis, Silent Servant and Pearson Sound on Sub Pop?! Yep, DNTEL have given up their track ‘Anywhere Anyone’ to the badboys for remix treatment, and we can’t imagine they’re not delighted, and also a little surprised, with the results. Sandwell boys Silent Servant and Regis keep the vocal intact, adding some extra layers of radiophonic distortion and delay, and anchoring it all with a galloping rhythm not dissimilar to the one on Regis’s CUB 12” from a couple of years back. Pearson Sound’s version is the real shock in that it’s, gulp, beatless: the Hessle Audio operative instead chooses to revel in, and expand upon, the source material’s exquisitely twinkly ambience. He does a magnificent job of it, quite frankly, making for a roundly impressive 12”. Strictly limited copies only – be quick.

Following last year’s essential ‘The Space Between’ reissue, Optimo Music delves again into the spotless back catalogue of Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter and gives ‘Moonlight’, originally found on 1985’s Mondo Beat LP, a remastered 12″ pressing. This synth-wave whip-cracker is a bit of an underground dance classic already – a bootleg version was caned by Belgian new beat and Italian Cosmic DJs back in day – but this is really the definitive edition, cut nice and loud for eternal club impact. Neurotic Drum Band tease out the dark italo energy of the source material – but it’s the immensely addictive and forward-thinking original that just completely destroys us every time. An absolutely essential twelve – don’t miss!

*Edition of 300* Milan’s Schoolmap Records don’t release a lot but when they do it’s always worthy of your attention. The label’s 1st release in nearly two years (after records by Akira Rabelais, Eliane Radigue and Andrew Pekler) is a meeting between one of Russia’s most prolific, yet often overlooked synth pioneers and film score composers, Sergey Rodionov, and the esteemed Stefan Goldmann, a veteran of German Techno and electronic music. Coming from such disparate spheres they’ve chosen to produce remixes of each other’s material, with hugely intriguing results. A-side Rodionov plays Goldmann’s ‘The Bribe’ from his ‘Lunatic Fringe’ 12″ on Macro Records, inverting the original dancefloor intent with a more cinematic theme, articulated as mechanical rhythms and toy-like melodies with a sinister, strangely tuned appeal. In sharp contrast on the B-side, Goldmann remixes Rodionov’s ‘Theme From Solis Arbor’, taken from the 1988 score to Vladimir Naumov’s late Soviet futurist flick. Martial drums are diffused into “multi-phrased polymetric layers” in three parts, sandwiching the film’s central synth fanfare motif in a surreally resolved composition likely to be reserved for the strangest section of the library. Amazing record.

*Limited edition coloured vinyl – includes a new and exclusive track with Thom Yorke on the flip* One of two Thom Yorke collaborations from Modeselektor’s ace ‘Monkeytown’ album comes backed with a rusted ‘Dull Hull Edit V.7’ exclusive to this release. The original is reworked to a radio edit on the A-side, clipping the Ae-do-Soca-Jungle rhythm and condensing the emotive arrangement like some electronic sea shanty for star-sailors from 2112. The ‘Dull Hull Edit V.7’ is a radical revision, stripping the vocals and salvaging an industrial structure from the original, sounding like a chopped & screwed Einstürzende Neubauten moment. ACE!

*First edition of 350 copies. Laser-cut, hand-assembled jacket housing hand-stamped & numbered insert* Diagonal, a new label from London demands your attention with three KILLER bare-boned rhythm tracks by label head Powell, backed with a superb Karl O’Connor (Regis) remix. Powell’s original tracks are a masterful reduction and consolidation of ideas studied from the likes of Nitzer Ebb, Suicide and Mika Vainio, matching their rockabilly attitude with the kind of dry, technoid funk exercised by Raime or Vatican Shadow. His title track is all chugging, bow-kneed swagger, like warehouse music made in 1959, while ’09’ is sludgier and gloweringly stush, and ‘Robotics’ like some leather-lashed tribal tattoo from Cut Hands. Needless to say, Karl O’Connor’s remix appointment is an inspired choice – a purified reduction of fluid bass and echoic snares subsumed by a looming, pitch black wave of wraith-like phantasms. An essential selection for the connoisseurs.

With a slick shimmy, Mosca rolls off his Numbers ace onto three Teched-out swingers for Martyn’s 3024 imprint. ‘The Wavey EP’ is about the most Techno-oriented release on the label so far, implying a deep lineage connecting strands of UK Garage, Funky and House with a stripped down warehouse aesthetic. A-side is the inimitably shifty ‘Dom Perignon’, a heads-high roller built from squashed subs and clipped drums synced with the kind of offset dub stabs you’d more likely hear from Sweden’s Skudge or MRSK. Flipside, ‘Orange Jack’ puffs up the chest for a more haughty New York skip and swing – slashing string stabs knit with wooden pecussive accents and swooping subs to irresistible effect, while ‘Jäger’ goes heads-down into full-on Techno mode, kinda like a more streamlined R1 Ryders. Pure badness. Big TIP!