Reviews: electronica

M-tronic seems to be becoming one of the most interesting and qualitative French electronic dance labels nowadays, after excellent releases by Dither and Beefcake, there now is a release by newcomers Ch District and Duuster…

Ukio Bionic is a French electro act with a typical old-skool analogue sound. Nevertheless the music never sounds dated. Modern elements are seamless woven into the music. Simple, but effective, melodies are combined with IDM – and click ‘n cuts – like rhythms, like on the futuristic entitled ‘Cyborgtech corp.’ Nevertheless the songs are very dancefloor friendly…

Earlier I already reviewed albums by Vers and Woosamaquin, two talented acts on the Dysgenic Records labels. Both acts are present on this label compilation with two tracks. Eight further projects also contribute two tracks…

In a nice minimal dark red/brownish paper digipack comes the fourth album of the French act Dither. This project of Marc T. already released an album on M-Tronic before, last year’s “Urei”, which I have not heard. But if it’s as good as this new album I would not be surprised when it becomes a part of my cd collection one day…

The listener is really spoiled with this debut album by Displacer, the project of Mike Morton from Toronto, Canada. It is filled to the brim with over 76 minutes of beautiful electronic sounds. The stylish digipack also looks great and futuristic, printed on special rough paper…

Tennis consist of Ben Edwards, also recording as Benge and Douglas Benford, who does solo work under the name of Si-Cut.db. They started to collaborate end nineties as Tennis. This release is their third full album, and their second release on the french Bip-Hop label…

When I first visited the website of the label Dysgenic Records, I was pleasantly surprised. I did not know Dysgenic yet and apparently it is a very small, independent label, but their site looks nicely stylished and professional. Take for instance the listening facilities, a very nice ‘cd-player’ can be used on the website…

Another release from Dysgenic Records. The project with the difficult name Woosamaquin comes from Boston and is handled by a guy called Lorrin Baker…

This piece of vinyl by seduced me by its great ‘retro-look’ cover, with on the front a little girl, listening to a Vromb record on her old pick-up. On the back we see a young boy playing with a toy telephone…

This is already the 6th part in the Bip-Hop generation compilation series. It is also the last. This compilation contains exclusive tracks by Alejandra & Aeron, Scanner, Bittonic, Ilpo Vaisanen, Battery Operated and Angel. All the music can be classified as difficult electronica or idm, although one track is more difficult than the other, and some are quite accessible…

This release by Terminal sound system on Release entertainment, is a re-release. The original album came out on Embryo Recordings, Australia. Not much information is to be found on Terminal Sound System. There is one more Terminal sound system cd released, “Black note EP” from 2002, on Embryo recordings…

Francisco Lopez is well known in the drone-scene for his amazing sound recording and sound-manipulation of natural phenomena. Recording rainforests, underwater life, etc. He often ranges from very silent and total quietness to huge walls of sound. Steve Roden is best known for his In between Noise project, that did lots of recordings on special sites, such as unused buildings, etc…

This cd is a collaboration between Scanner, who released lots of cutting edge electronic records over the years, and Tonne, whom I’ve never heard of so far. It is a soundtrack for an exhibition held at various locations…

Professor Smalls is a project by Martin Stovey, who is also involved in Elixir (experimental beats) and Sykes (more relaxed dance orientated tunes). “Out of body experiences” is called an EP, though it contains 60 minutes of music. To be frankly, this release by prof…

This is the second impressive looking release from the young French label Parametric, after “Oxydes” by Mlada Fronta. Again we are treated to a double cd digipack, with a little more sober industrial design this time. And again you get two cd’s packed to the brim with electronic music, with some remixes by well-known names…

Shaz Yousaf, an exotic sounding name, is a musician in the industrial field, based in Harrow, London. He is also active in an industrial rock band called ‘Serca’. On this demo cd you can find a collection of songs he made in the past year, showcasing quite a variety of electronic styles…

[not a real review, more a background story…..

“Apparitions” is Cordell Klier’s first release under his own name. He has been active in the experimental music scene for a while with his label Doctsect and the noise projects Vidisni and Kreptkrept…

A new interesting electronic project: Narc. Based in Canada, this is the second full-length release. On the website from Narc I saw that this act has made various cdr releases, as well as some remixes, performances and collaborations. This cd is described as: “corporate ideals and class warfare ranging from rhythmic industrial and noise to anodized ambience and dark orchestration”…