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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Preview of Midland - Trace EP

Midland's close work with Aus music continues with a 12" of Chicago-esque house, which is sounding pretty tasty. Due to be released Feb 25th.

Sun Electric - O'Locco (Sei A Remix)

I currently have something of a fan-stiffy for Apollo Records, R&S' ambient sublabel, following their re-emergence as a major player last year, and Sei A's delicate rework of Sun Electric is perfect music for the early spring we're (apparently) getting. Fresh, cold and delicate, with fingers of light peaking through.

Lakker - Death Mask EP

Lakker - Death Mask EP (Love Love Records, Out Now)

Despite having put out a long string of (mostly) free downloads for the past four years, Love Love Records have generally escaped my attention until the release of this, their first physical release. Admittedly, their back catalogue deals heavily in breakcore, chip-tune and the more extroverted corners of experimental music that generally err too heavily on the hyperactive, or downright bizarre for my liking - their LoveCore comp has got some great moments though, particularly Scrase's skronky electronica, and their digital-only Kanji Kinetic release is a must for fans of his work. For their first 12", Love Love are releasing an EP from long-running Irish audio-visual artists Lakker, three tracks of far-out techno that constantly threatens to devolve into complete noisecore. A-side LF9 channels a hefty dose of PanSonic, with delicate bleep melodies constantly threatened by washes of redux and distortion, with a meaty kick-snare combo that recalls Forward Strategy Group- it's a stark contrast between delicate electronica and aggressive techno that sets the tone for the rest of the record. Numb on the B-side is similarly based around monotone bleeps, taking a simple four-note pattern and distressing it repeatedly via pitchbend and filter modulation - again, Lakker allow the sounds to veer towards the uncomfortable, but coat it all in an ominous fog of reverb that softens the blow slightly. With the flattened-out 909 kicks and toms leaning more towards the microhouse styles of Farben or Frank Bretschneider than the militant techno of the A-side, the B-side is a much less intense proposition that LF9.

Title track Death Mask is definitely the best of the three however, coming across like Analogue Bubble Bath-era AFX, with breakbeat influence techno formed from electronic feedback and white noise. The chords are lush, the samples distorted and robotic, and the beats follow a recognisably glitchy two-step pattern, all of which are garbled by filters and noise, before breaking back into rich techno again. As with much of Lakker's work, it occupies the far corners of techno, ever so slightly too surreal for most dancefloors, but great listening nonetheless.

Find more Lakker at their tumblr account.


LOVWAX01 - Lakker - Death Mask E.P. from Lakker on Vimeo.

Shallowrave, Show 7 Year Zero

 

More long-playing goodness from ourselves over at Radiomagnetic.com, kicking off the New Year with a compilation of the usual eclectic sounds, from dark and minimal dronescapes, to hip-hop and metal, with the occasional pop screamer as well. 

Tracklist

1. Nailbomb – Shit Piñata – Roadrunner
2. Church of When the Shit Hits the Fan – The Laugh Track – Black Lantern
3. Wu Tang Clan & Kool G Rap – Rivers Of Blood (The Man With The Iron Fists Soundtrack) – Soul Temple
4. Shelter Point – Braille – Hot Flush
5. Volor Flex – About You – Apollo Records
6. WIFE – Bodies – Left Blank
7. Echologist – Buzz Factory (Pole Dub mix) – Echochord
8. gh?l – Untitled – Unreleased
9. Demdike Stare – Of Decaying Shadows – Modern Love
10. Faith No More – I Started A Joke – Polydor
11. Piemont – Floating Oil (Fred Sierra Remix)  JETT Records
12. gh?l – Kepler – Unreleased
13. Buck 65 – Blood of a Young Wolf – WEA
14. Boz Skags – The Lowdown – Columbia
15. Len – Steal My Sunshine – Work
16. The Militia – Electrolux – Ram Records
17. Geoff Before Dishonour – Cro Magnon – Little Rock Records
18. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Swamp Snake – Vertigo
19. Propaghandi – Apparently I’m a PC Fascist(because I care about human and non human animals) – Fat Wreck
20. YuTaNi ft. Zayn – Will U Be Mine – soundcloud.com/connor-reid
21. BLK SMK – The Humbling Part Two – www.flurex.org
22. Cruffy – Make Me Feel Good (88bpm Mix) - www.phuturelabs.com
23. CoMa – Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night – coma-noise.bandcamp.com
24. Small Black ft. Heems – Two Rivers – soundcloud.com/small-black
25. Lakutis – Death Shark – msihkanyc.bandcamp.com
26. Shisa – Melt – soundcloud.com/perris
27. Das Racist – I Don’t Want To Deal With Those Monsters – dasracist.net
28. Loki – Omnilash – soundcloud.com/volitionglasgow
29. p.WRECKS – Faux Forest – pwrecksshit.bandcamp.com
30. BEAK> – Hatton – beak.bandcamp.com  

 

Listen here. 

Soundcloud upload coming soon.

Our apologies for the delay, normal service will be resumed in January.

Space Dimension Controller - Welcome To Mikrosector-50 album preview

We wrote last year that Space Dimension Controller's first work for R&S was excellent music, packaged up with a ludicrously OTT backstory. Following this up, Space Dimension Controller's latest offering Welcome To Mikrosector-50 takes the cosmic prog nonsense to an even higher level, expanding on the further exploits of Mr. 8040 and his adventures in time travel and treating entirely straight-faced. Regardless, it all sounds pretty good, and we'll post a full review shortly, but whether the concept album improves on or detracts from the sound is another matter entirely...

You know what? Here's some sci-fi for you all to read.

2013
After four years stranded on Earth he has finally repaired the time travel capabilities of his Electropod. His goal was to return to the exact moment in the future of his fateful accident, but due to only having primitive Earth tools and technology at his disposal, the journeys destination was not as accurate as he had hoped and he ended up arriving 5 years later than anticipated.
Now, Mikrosector-50 has changed. It is no longer the strictly governed dystopian planet as Mr. 8040 remembers, where music was controlled by the Tiraquon Security Council and love was deemed unnecessary. Instead people were having fun and love and music filled the streets. At first, Mr. 8040 enjoyed this change and received a huge planet-wide welcome party, but once the party was over Mr. 8040 knew that he had to find his secret lover from before the accident and try to continue what they once had in this new free planet.
Upon returning to his home pod on the Armament Moon and still unaware that it is 5 years later than he expected, he finds the pod to be completely empty, with no sign of his secret lover. He activates the pod's computer and asks where she is, only to find out he is in year 2357 and that there has been no activity in his pod since shortly after he left. Upon learning this, he knows there is only one person he can find answers from, his boss, lead Space Dimension Controller of the Tiraquon Security Council, Max Tiraquon. He meets Max, but something doesn't seem right, there is a sense of hostility.When asked about the whereabouts of Mr. 8040's lover, Max is reluctant to say and tells him that she knows what he had been up to in the past.The women, the nightclubs, the parties. He tells her she's moved on, and maybe Mr. 8040 should too.After this encounter,Mr.8040 tells Max that he is done and leaves,quitting theTiraquon Security Council.
Disorientated and alone in a future no longer his own, Mr. 8040 realises his mistakes, he has done wrong by his lover, but how he will ever see her again to apologise? He leaves Mikrosector-50 and the boundaries of the Tiraquon6 Security Barrier for the distant pirate asteroid colony of EroDru-10. Famous for it's nightclubs, drugs and red light district. He needs to let off some steam, and maybe find a girl, but his game isn't the same as it used to be. Refused by countless girls, a drunk Mr. 8040 gets thrown out of a club and stumbles around the streets of EroDru-10. He encounters a local alien who recognises him and takes him to his nightclub, his guards are down and he takes a cosmic upper to help the night along. Intoxicated on drink and drugs he dances through the night in this sweaty club, before finishing the night with a robotic prostitute at her love pod.
All night he has been trying to mask the pain of losing his girl but reality hits him hard and he decides to go somewhere he hasn't been for years.The place that he built for his secret lover shortly before the accident that sent him back through time. He's not sure what he'll find there, he's hoping for answers, but how could he know. He tells the ships computer to set course for The Love Quadrant.
The Love Quadrant is no longer the same. It's power source had diminished due to the lack of activity while he was away. Instead of the vibrant and colourful cosmic oasis it once was, it was now a dark, grey and cold place. Mr. 8040 now knows that the future is no longer the place for him, that the past had become more of a home. It's time to return to the Quadrasector of the Tiraquon6 Security Barrier to find his main ship. He enters the vessel, and finds that someone had been there, but nothing had been taken and quickly shrugs it off as another attempted looting by an Astro Bandit. Now, in the same location as the accident, Mr. 8040 asks his computer if it would be possible to recreate the accident and send him back through time again. The computer refuses, it's protocol disallowing any action that may put it's user in danger, but Mr. 8040 opts to do it manually. He orders his computer to return to Mikrosector-50 and inform Max of his decision to return to the past. He enters the walkway to his Electropod and begins his journey back through time with a mission of groove.

Download - Nickel Remix of the XX

Like pretty much everything else they've done, it's been nigh-impossible to avoid the XX's most recent single Chained, but I've got admit this remix from Nickel's actually pretty enjoyable, shooting the floaty pop-melodies through with a solid techno beat, and aiming for the dancefloors. Free tuneage right here.

Function - Incubation (Ostgut Ton)

Function - Incubation (Ostgut Ton, March 4th)

It's hard to believe that Function's been producing tracks for over 15 years, when he continues to put out music of such depth and variety that it constantly feels fresh. His debut album, released in March on Ostgut is a remarkable testament to Function's ability to stay fresh and relevant and continually incorporate new sounds and dynamics into his work.

Having been working since the techno boom of the early 90s, Function (David Sumner) produced a number of reasonably-well received records, before reinventing himself as part of the game-changing Sandwell District collective around 2006. This time last year, Sandwell released a statement declaring that "As of December 31st 2011, all audio communications will cease", signalling the next stage of Sumner's metamorphosis, which kicked off with the slow-burning Obsessed on Echochord last year. Finally, after six months of news reports and speculation, Sumner at last releases his debut album on Ostgut, and whilst it's perhaps not as widely significant as Sandwell's work, it's certainly one of the more interesting techno albums I've heard in a while. Whilst some artist albums are just a larger bunch of singles and filler, Incubation is a single, cohesive, dense narrative, broken down into individual tracks. Ostgut describe it as "like the soundtrack to a suspenseful Techno-thriller", an apt description that fits with the widescreen sound Sumner's crafted - Function's still making his distinctive long-running techno, with its cavernous synth riffs and reverb-drenched percussion, but each track feeds into epic whole that nods to Carpenter, Vangelis and Jeff Mill's iconic Time Machine.

Feeding into the concept of a soundtrack, Voiceprint is a definite credit sequence; its kickdrum conspicuously absent, and it's arpeggiated repetitive riff creating a paranoiac mood, which breaks open as soon Against The Wall rolls in on highly strung acid squelch, cold washes of decay and solid kicks. Continuing the cinematic feel, the aptly-titled Inter approaches Deepchord levels of washed-out ambience for a second interlude, whilst Counterpoint enhances the widescreen feel by plucking the synth riff from Sandwell's killer Sampler #1 and submersing it in a haze of radio signal and stabbing metallic keys. To some extent, it's Function showing off his influences, dropping in aspects of dub, ambient and industrial, but in his experienced hands, it integrates seamlessly to enhance the techno. However, the withhold-and-tease dynamic can grow frustrating, and Function delivers seriously meaty pay-offs with the likes of Incubation, Voiceprint (Reprise) and Psychic Warfare, which come on like vintage Red Planet - all overdriven kicks, cosmic atmospherics and epic percussion riffs. Whilst this will rightly appeal to techno geeks, Modifier is my standout track - fusing Function's signature sound with Vainio-esque monotones, it's brilliantly dark, gradually shifting from icy fragility to skull-crushing heaviness, whilst riding a sinuous tom pattern.

This is how to do a techno album properly.

Jack Dixon - 1 EP (free download)

Techno/ house producer Jack Dixon has a wealth of releases under his belt, via a number of hi-quality record labels - we dig free music and we dig his work, so check this 3-track EP out. Combining spectral atmospherics and wonky percussion, it's an enjoyably diverse set of tracks.
Get it here.

Dense & Pica - Crispy Duck

I can't say the title's really doing it for me, but Hot Flush's latest 12" from the anonymous duo Dense & Pica is some quality prime-time techno that nods to Berghain and Tresor as much as to the Motor City, and occupies similar ground to some of Redshape's old school throwbacks. Their whole deal of hand-stamped, limited run vinyl is a nice touch - working the anonymous angle without getting into some over-worked game of Clue about it- as well as giving their records a nice sense of individuality. 31's unstable house riff is killing for me right now.