Boomkat – new Virgo Four, Hype Williams, Tropic Of Cancer, etc

*Upfront Exclusive – Limited to 1000 individually numbered copies for the world, on white vinyl* Pre-eminent H-Pop geniuses, Hype Williams, deliver the crackish satisfaction of ‘One Nation’, their third album proper and first for the hugely exciting Hippos in Tanks label – home to Laurel Halo, Games, SLEEP ∞ OVER, Grimes, D’eon, Autre Ne Veut and others. With the same fugged-up blend of sly insouciance and deceptively naive production that made ‘Find Out What Happens…’ so vital, Denna Francis and Roy D. Blunt have assembled a sublime followup which makes so much else out there seem over-earnest and over-dressed. From the warped VHS signature of ‘Ital’ inwards, their surreal grasp of possessed, private synth music and deliberately economical production is delivered with innate confidence and the blackest humour. Whether it’s the hilariously frank self-help samples and new age tones of the first ‘Untitled’ or the poor chap chatting about Peregrines who is so abruptly cut off in the second ‘Untitled (And Your Batty’s So Round)’ to what sounds like a “chillout” version of track 3 from Pita’s ‘Get Out’, the juxtapositions are knowingly acute and unforced. It’s partly that aspect, the fluid transfer of concise but free wandering thought processes into sound, and their consolidation of free psyche methods with a bass-soaked UK flavour, that makes their music so interesting while keeping their semi-conscious illusion so intact and enigmatic. Also, by eschewing glossy production they’ve cut straight to the essence, or the truth of the matter, and this is a mighty, mighty beautiful thing. Inside ‘One Nation’ you’ll find some potential future favourites like the gobsmacking post-House condensation of ‘Mitsubishi’, the Juicy Fruit tang of ‘William, Shotgun Sprayer’, the brittle but gloopy slowfast vibe of ‘Warlord’ and the heart-melting R&B cover ‘Your Girl Smells Chung When She Wears Dior’, all heard through their inimitably cracked veneer. What Hype Williams hold back is equal to what they put in and this sense of considered restraint makes for a listeining experience pretty much unlike anything out there. And ultimately, beyond the haze of mystery, ‘One Nation’ is a moving, romantic, almost melancholy listening experience, and one we just cannot stop playing. Beyond essential.

*Absolutely mindblowing 30-track collection of unreleased material from Chicago House pioneers Virgo, dusted off and now brought to the world courtesy of Rush Hour* Incredible and luxurious vinyl boxset compiling 30 (!!!) previously unreleased Virgo tracks dating between 1984-1990!!! It follows Rush Hour’s honourable reissue of their eponymous album in 2010, and is a result of the label scouring 100s of 4-track tapes that had been untouched and unreleased due to local record business politics and disinterest. As the mood is ripe for vintage Chicago gear the timing of this album couldn’t be any more perfect, offering a glimpse into the more esoteric, experimental and diverse riches of House and electronic music’s hidden history. Initial highlights have to be the fluid groove transmission of ‘Sex’, the sub-weighty depths of ‘Let The Music Play’, the Chris & Cosey-esque ‘Lost Inside Of You’, and the gobsmacking anthem potential of ‘I Have Always Wanted’, but genuinely, nearly every track is pure killer and sounding all the better for a prime remastering job. The vinyl set comes housed in a handsome, silk-screened box housing 5LPs, each containing six tracks, plus a 30x30cm insert with photos and sleeve notes. HUGELY recommended!!!

Following the almost unanimous praise for their previous studio masterpiece, Moritz Von Oswald (Maurizio/Rhythm & Sound), Max Loderbauer (Nsi./Sun Electric) and Sasu Ripatti (Vladislav Delay) present ‘Horizontal Structures’, the jazz-suave and rolling x-axis to the kosmische y of ‘Vertical Ascent’. The curve of their projections becomes more complex with the addition of Paul St. Hilaire (aka Tikiman) on guitar and ECM artist, Marc Muellbauer’s double bass infusing deeply instinctive jazz moves into the cats-cradle of organ, percussion and electronics. There’s a more leveled spirit and cruising groove to this album, their deft interactions creating a deeply engrained blue moodiness and playful efficacy whose potential is beautifully rendered in Moritz’s mixing desk. As the elements begin to fuse like condensed gas particles in the bell jar sphere of ‘Structure One’ its clear to hear the group’s evolution as the groove subliminally coalesces with a looseness that wasn’t there before, Tiki’s Afro-lilting guitar swirling about like fragrant hashish smoke and Muellbauer’s eyes-shut bass adding daubs of melodic colouration. ‘Structure 2’ is more urgent and soundtrack-y, melody stripped back while the rhythm section ripples away with infinite Krautrock essence, before ‘Structure 3’ reintroduces the dub with moonboot skank rhythm hinging on crisp snare punctuations and offset chords in the dreamiest headspace. The 20 minute ‘Structure 4’ is perhaps the craftiest, Moritz the mixing board illusionist deftly weaving the acoustic and electronic, the synthetic and the real with a sleight of hand that makes this music at once electro-acoustic jazz and dub concrète, yet with the fundamental grace and glide of deep techno. Highly recommended!

Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai first premiered their collaborative Cyclo project a deacde ago on Raster Noton. Relaunching in 2011 they’re just as intent on creating a synaesthetic visualization of sound that “…seeks to create a new hybrid of visual art and music”. Essentially the sounds on ‘Id’ are inextricable from their visual corollary. They’re the unmastered sonic illustrations of detailed graphical data, and vice versa, developed from a database of sounds composed to produce visual responses when analysed in real time with the help of stereo image monitoring equipment. Most importantly, the sounds are subservient to the image, hence the record remains purposefully unmastered in order to retain the waveform’s original integrity when visualized through an XY phase scope, transcending the usual sound>image dynamic. But that’s not to say that the music doesn’t possess its own heightened, strangely affecting quality – within 30 seconds of listening through headphones this reviewer’s eyes were watering, a physically visceral effect if we’ve ever felt one. A man-sized Kleenex later and we discover that, unlike its relatively austere predecessor, the sounds within cover a wider spectrum of rhythms, from spasmodic digital pulses to lightyears-advanced electro syncopation, and similarly a dazzling frequency range capable of causing acutely synaesthetic reactions. All this leads us to think that ‘Id’ is a work of uncompromising genius, at once cementing and advancing Ikeda and Nicolai’s relentlessly ongoing audio/visual quest. Highly recommended! *Shipping for the release date of March 7th*

**Limited to 500 copies!** Soul Jazz have just made our week with the release of three exclusive minimal synth/coldwave tracks from the legendary E.M.A.K studios. None of these appeared on the recent E.M.A.K album, but for our money they’re even better than anything on it. Both the Carpenter-esque ‘Tanz In Der Himmel’ and ‘Slow Motion’ are killer Drag-style electro rhythms ripe for sleazing on attaches at the ambassadors disco in Cologne, while ‘Auf Immer’ is a beautiful near beatless piece to soundtrack what happens afterwards. ESSENTIAL!!!

Incredible 2nd single from underground secrets, Tropic Of Cancer, featuring a possessed rewiring by Richard H Kirk! If you picked up their previous 10″, ‘The Dull Age’ you’ve likely clicked buy already, but if you were too slow that day (they sold out in a flash) you reallllly don’t want to miss out again. Their original ‘Brave World’ is blank-eyed Industrial goth music of the highest order, powered by brittle, bony drums and hypnotised by a mournful bassline and coated in grey flannel drones, Mendez’s vocals pushed deep in the mix to haunt from within. Affecting with an eerier, dubbed-out essence, Richard H Kirk bleaches the whole thing at his mixing desk to leave behind porous, skeletal remains, which are deftly looped into swaying moire of semi-conscious patterns for that dosed-up doom disco potency. Highly recommended to darkside fiends of all persuasions.

Actress drops his first release since the milestone ‘Splazsh’ LP with two killers for Nonplus. It follows last years surprise entry ‘Machine & Voice’ with a similar dancefloor slant, especially on the hard swinging archival track ‘Harrier ATTK’. Like much of his gear it’s practically devoid of discernable bass (compared with your average dubstep tune), but like his idol, Drexciya, much of the energy comes from uniquely programmed syncopation and textures that bite and graze instead of punching you in the stomach, while the lead riff is just pure electro emo. On the flip ‘Gershwin’ is more akin to something from his Thriller sessions, a squashed and smudged underwater R&B number warped with coruscating filters and with the surfaces of his one-man submersible about to buckle under the deep sea pressure. Killer!

Jamie’s Housed-up highlight from the ‘We’re New Here’ LP receives a plush, 12″ pressing housed in die cut sleeve, backed with a special DJ version. The sensitively sparse version of ‘I’ll Take Care Of U’ flips Gil into a cruising House rhythm licked with Balearic guitar from Romy xx, while the ‘Special DJ Version’ sets to work tweaking the drums and shuffling the arrangement for maximum dancefloor impact. Either way, you should have shivers down your spine to this record. Big TIP!!!

DJ Rolando and 2562 are responsible for the 3rd session of Skudge remixes. Following Aardvarck’s lead, 2562 tackles ‘Convolution’, transforming it into a heaving halfstep swinger with tightly compressed percussion and acres of dubby headspace sparingly coloured with subtly daubed chords. Remixing ‘Ontic’ on the flip, Rolando adds his own vocals intoning “it’s a spiritual thing/a body thing” while augmenting the rhythm with a slinkier copulation of silvery hi-hats and churning toms, beautifully measured for ‘floor triggering tension/release. Respectful of the class A material inside, the label have given this one a proper full colour sleeve and everything! Killer twelve – don’t miss.