Ninja Says No

Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - Black Magic Cannot Cross Running Water

God damn. Can Blackest Ever Black do any wrong? Complementing their existing roster of dark ambient, minimal and industrial artists, their latest release comes from Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement, who's black magic rituals for Hospital Productions so far have been utterly superlative. Stretching synth tones and industrial malfunctions out until they attain monolithic proportions, Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement craft a form of ambience that drowns modern electronics in a brutalist swamp of afro-dread. Whilst previous releases have drawn comparisons to Raime, with their skeletal beats and noticeable dub-influence, Black Magic Cannot Cross Running Water is a mostly beatless affair more indebted to Carpenter, Lustmord and Frank Bretschneider - the second track Refugees From Black Magic opens with a strangely ominous patter of rainfall that develops a loping half-rhythm before being subsumed under a wash of crepuscular synth noise. Top quality music.

Happy Easter / Hail Satan

Miles - Faint Hearted

Miles Whittaker, who's had his fingers in acts as diverse as Pendle Coven, MLZ, Millie and Demdike Stare basically gives us massive nerd-boners with every new release, and has chosen to follow up Demdike Stare's obnoxiously heavy Test Pressing with a full-length album under his own name. Boiling down everything from contemporary electronica and techno, to retro Chicago and old-school jungle, it's a seething mass of intricately engineered sounds, smothered in distressing levels of noise - opener Lebensform takes the fairly ubiquitous filter-house / dub techno sound and pushes it to a terrifying level of extremity, dissolving into a wall of white noise and oscillation. It just gets weirder from then on, and definitely takes a good few listens to get into.

Swingfest 2013 London - Free download

In anticipation of Denovali Record's Swingfest, they've put together a 21 track free sampler of something from all corners - Fennez, Andy Stott and Thoms Koner are all favourites, but there's a broad range of artists on the sampler that you've likely never heard much of. From sludge rock and classical piano to techno and industrial, it's a fine mixtape.

Flying Saucepan Records

Today's recommended listening comes from Flying Saucepan Records, an Ayrshire-based archive label run by an old friend of Shallowrave. Designed to clear hard-drives, catalogue archives and provide an outlet for many projects that never saw the light of day, Flying Saucepan's first release proudly display their mid-90s heritage, channelling acid, rave and the Sheffield warehouse scene. Also rocking out the speakers is the first Panpod, a mix of influential and related projects that joins the dots between electro, industrial, rave and techno, and is really rather kinky. 

Monokrak's latest podcast

We've written more than enough about the genius of Monokrak in the past, so you ought to know what to expect - minimal, deep, twisted techno. This month's podcast was composed by the excellent Floating Mind and is very deserving of your time.

Bigg Taj FT Dj Bunty - All The Years

We've always loved Bigg Taj, so there's much love for this collab with DJ Bunty. 'Nuff Said.

Elastic Dreams - A Saggitariun

Today's free listening is on a dark and minimal techno tip. Elastic Dreams mixes it up for Teshcast.

We deliver another grab bag of funk, psyche and minimal, chaotically blended for your pleasure. Vintage bleeps, cutting edge electro, and the latest from techno’s grizzled veterans; Shallow Rave are all about the the wonkiest, weirdest and most out-there beats.

Tracklist

1. Skudge – Ursa Major (Cosmin TRG Remix) – Skudge
2. THP Orchestra – 2 Hot 4 Love – Butterfly Records
3. Marc Houle – On It – M_nus
4. Walton – 808 Vybzin – Hyperdub
5. Bernard Badie – Overjoyed – Mojuba
6. Sweet Exorcist – Test One – Warp
7. Karl Krak – Tin Tin – Unknown
8. Sweet Exorcist – Mad Jack (Jimi Tenor Remix) – Warp
9. Wes Montgomery – Tequila – Verve
10. The Slits – Newtown – Island Records
11. Psyche – Crackdown – Transmat
12. King Midas Sound – I Dub – Hyperdub
13. Todd Terje – Swingstar (pt 1) – Smalltown Supersound
14. Christian Vogel – Today’s Standard Form – Shitkatapult
15. Sixties Guns – Lightz – Unknown
16. Bering Strait – Surface – Apollo
17. Indigo – Sunrise – Apollo
18. The Black Dog – Bleep #2 – Dust Science
19. Nothern Structures – Session 4 – Sonic Groove 
20. Andy Stott – Ceramics – Modern Love
21. Echologist ft Spaceape – Mercy Beat (Cosmic dub) – Resopal Red
22. Alan Backdrop – Ramas – Motoguzzi
23. Oliver Deutschmann – Sadness Descends (Hiver Remix) – Vidab
24. Black Dog – Bleep #5 – Dust Science
25. Space Dimension Controller – Welcome to Microsector 50 – R&S
26. Space Dimension Controller – Music for Spaceports - R&S
27. Karl Sanders – Luring The Doom Serpent – Relapse

We promised, and here it is - a brand new two hour radio show from ShallowRave...

Radiomagnetic link.

Dauwd - And (Free download)

Ahead of his forthcoming EP for Ghostly International, Dauwd gives away this melancholic slice of electronica.

Floating Mind - Live from Chez Moi mix

Todays listening is some deep and minimal tech from the Monokrak crew.

In the studio again...

 

New Shallowradio episode dropping very soon - killer tunes from Skudge, Cristian Vogel, Space Dimension Controller and brand new material from techno's grizzled vets, The Black Dog. Two hours of aural chaos from the best damn radio show on the internet.

Just Because...

Dear office workers,happy payday Friday. Remember this when getting yourself some coffee.

Space Dimension Controller - Return to Microsector 50 ()

Space Dimension Controller - Return to Microsector 50 (R&S, 25 Feb)

In the past, we've possibly been a little disparaging of Space Dimension Controller, not for the quality of his music, which is an unquestionably excellent fusion of electro-funk, techno, cosmic disco, but for the over-the-top presentation he insists on. The musical Kayfabe that he adheres to draws so heavily from trash-fiction and indulges it without a shred of self-knowing, that it comes across as slightly demented... However, SDC's Mr 8040 character and his rapidly-expanding universe do have their own unique charm, and with the fine line between genius and madness blurring at post-light speeds, Return to Microsector 50 currently orbits the twin moons of "so bad it's good" and "so bad it's horrible". To put it another way, I can't decide if its Batman and Robin or Batman; The Movie.

As well as the fact that the music's bloody brilliant, it's SDC's dedication to and enthusiasm for the gimmick that's slowly turning me into a convert; this teaser EP for debut album Welcome to Microsector-50 features a final track of ambient washes and desolate drones that seems fairly typical of electronic EPs. Its title? Music for Spaceports. It's this hilariously irreverent bastardisation of Eno's terminology for his own ends that just tips the balance and lands Space Dimension Controller firmly in the land of the eccentric genius. As noted, the rest of the EP's pretty damn good too, functioning as both deleted scenes from the full album and the missing links of Space Dimension Controller's musical history - the title track joins the dots between Juan Atkins and the Rotters Golf Club, and Whilst I Was Away brings together aspects of ambient and dub that feel a little disparate in the album's lengthier interludes and had left Quadraskank Interlude feeling out of place. Most importantly though, the EP flat out drips cosmic slop, opening up into a massive George Clinton homage, replete with future-funk riffs, wailing guitar solos and acid-fried fantastical narratives.

For me, the Funkadelic love is the last piece of the puzzle that suddenly makes sense of SDC's overblown narratives and deliberately trashy vocals - it's the cornerstone that contextualises everything else and gives credence to magnificent combination of funk and psychadelica.

Black Dog mixes

After listening to their new 12" repeatedly, I've been consuming more and more of the Black Dog, and I'm digging both these mixes for completely different reasons. One's the brilliantly deep darkwave/ IDM/ techno that they're renowned for producing, the other a collection of post-punk and British experimental that's a fascinating history lesson for those who weren't around to see it.

Shallowrave. Show One, Year One

Shallow Rave awaken the groundhog and welcome in spring with a selection of techno, electronica and experimental noise. Twisted machine funk, malfunctioning electronics, and some screwy samples make for the usual mixed bag.

1. Lakker – Death Mask – Love Love Records
2. Albert Van Abbe – Sugar Lobby Series 9090 – Curle
3. Raime – Told and Collapsed – Blackest Ever Black
4. Tropic of Cancer – The One Left – Mannequin Records
5. Alan Backdrop – PDST – Motoguzzi Records
6. Mike Shannon – Made in Belgrade – Exone
7. Lakker – Numb – Love Love Records
8. Mike Shannon – Sidewinder (Exercise One Remix) – Exone
9. Yves De Mey – Whispering Strokes – Sandwell District
10. TM404 – 02 303 303 303 303 606 – Kontra Music
11. Konx Om Pax – Twin Portal Redux – Planet Mu
12. Sandwell District – Immolare (Function Version) – Sandwell District
13. Kode 9 – Black Sun (Partial Eclipse Version) – Hyperdub
14. Stephen Brown - Mini Mood – Skudge
15. Energy 52 – Cafe Del Mar – Eye Q Records
16. Kresy – Crupier en Celo (Delete Remix) – Multi Vitamins
17. FRAK – Pulse Crack – Musika
18. Zomby – Spliff Dub (Rustie Remix) – Hyperdub 
19. Mark Pritchard & Om’Mas Keith – Wind It Up (Original Mix) – Hyperdub
20. The Host – 3AM Surfing – Planet Mu
21. Walton – Mangled Riddim – Hyperdub 
22. The Immortals – The Ultimate Warlord – RCA
23. J Dillah – Fuck The Police – Up Above Records

Shallow Rave: Year One, Show One by Radio Magnetic on Mixcloud

Professor Elemental - This Is My Horse

 

I am beginning to think that perhaps Professor Elemental is becoming more and more unhinged (if such as thing is possible), but either way, here's him rapping about horses, in what's definitely one of the more interesting pieces of topical humour to come out of the whole "oh god, we've eaten named animals" crisis.

The Black Dog - Return Ov The Bleep

The Black Dog - Return Ov The Bleep (11 March, Dust Science Recordings)

In their many and varied incarnations, The Black Dog have repeatedly delivered ground breaking music and reinvented themselves countless times. Approaching their 25th year as a production unit, they show no signs of drifting into the mid-life morass of pipe-and-slippers electronica, still putting out techno that's complex and intricate, whilst possessed of all the fire and fury of a steroid-enhanced bull. There's radiophonic samples, an insistence on using the arcahic "ov" in the title, and a totally arbitrary numeric titling scheme, but it's a relatively small dose of intellectualism- this is the Black Dog re-engaging with City of Steel techno, and delivering wicked fat productions. In part, they attribute this return to basics to their Electronic Supper Club project, which has seen the Black Dog nurturing the Northern electronic scene and promoting artists who were likely children when Bytes was released.
As the elder statesmen of bleep and bass, The Black Dog display a strong sense of maturity and subtly on Return ov The Bleep, with Bleep 4 and Bleep 2 on the A-side working montone waveforms for lengthy periods before carefully distressing and displacing them across a 4/4 pattern. As with all minimalism, it's a delicate balance between subtlety and boredom, but the richness of sound and the weight of the subs engulfs the dancefloor, rendering the subsequent distortions suitably gnarly. On the flipside, it's more of the same - huge basslines and skronky analogue tones for the heads, but slightly funkier beats for the feet. Bleep One bears more than a passing resemblance to Surgeon's work, with its double kicks and broken rhythm building an off-kilter techno beast. In contrast, Bleep Five fires up a massive acidic synthline and drenches it with over saturation, managing to conjoin Sheffield's history of both fired-up rave and experimental post-punk/ industrial. Since their Liber series emerged last year, the Black Dog have been one of my absolute favourite acts, and Return ov the Bleep draws from the very best of their multiple incarnations to produce techno that engages with a rich history without ever sounding overly retro, and still manages to show modern producers a few tricks.

Free Ghostpoet download

In his own words... Free to download after 1000 reposts.
‘MSI ‪MUSMID ’ pronounced " ‪M S I" " ‪MUS" "MID" "is a track based on a dream I had where dimsum and noodles were life-long friends who kept squabbling all the time...I try in vain to make sense of it all.”