Coldwave/Synth Juno Download

FEATURED RELEASES

Woolfy / Projections - Cruel Summer (Musumeci Remixes)

Cruel Summer (Musumeci Remixes) Permanent Vacation Germany

For Californian duo Woolfy Vs Projections, their fourth long player 'Destinations' arrived in 2019, taking their West Coast style of nu-disco down a left hand path. One of the highlights was their impressive cover version of Bananarama's 1984 pop hit "Cruel Summer" that gets a couple of terrific reworks here by Sicilian scene veteran Musumeci. The Engrave Limited main man is known for his futuristic pursuits in deep house for labels like Bedrock and Innervisions in recent times, but his Wax On rework here goes down a mischievous dark disco route. It is packed full of brooding arpeggios, sweeping FM pads, with steely vintage drum patterns as a backdrop to Woolfy's captivating vocals, while the Wax Off version is a handy dub version.

Funboys

Sorcery Nein

Australian duo Funboys make their debut on the Nein label with this sleeping hit "Sorcery" delivering a sound somewhere between the darker techno of Richie Hawtin, experimental electronics of Severed Heads and zaniness of groups like Yello. Perpetuating this evolution in future-retro electronics, Funboys here also hint at similar oddball samples and themes once heard and pioneered by Eno's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album. Rave versions come in Kimshies 'Boccaccio' remix, with stripped back textures making and heavy percussion in ID_UA's mix. Danny Fade sends in a remix of twinkling lights down a darker techno abyss. Quality release from Nein.

Various

Ransom Note Presents Pen Pals Ransom Note

To do their bit to support artists during the lockdown, music website Ransom Note has put together this compilation, with sees the participating artists receiving much welcomed support. It starts with left of centre post-punk sounds from Malcolm and Funderground, before moving into the gritty, lo-fi house groove of Local Suicide & Thomas Jackson's "Hit & Miss". On "Like To Lie", R Elizabeth & Burko conjure up a jittery electro track, while Bawrut's "Triangulo De Amor Bizarro" sees the compilation descend into low-slung jacking techno, accompanied by Chico Blanco's sleazy vocals. Otik & Tom VR's "Poly Echo 97", which is supported by broken beats and features eerie textures.

Regis

Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss Downwards

A mighty 19 years since we last heard a solo album from Regis on Downwards, Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss sees Karl O'Connor return with a post-era defining sound. Stripped-back, heavy, and broken beat techno swinging with tribal percussion and industrial malice, it's tracks like "Cracked Earth", "Calling Down A Curse" and "The Sun Rose Pure" that should appeal most to hardened Downwards characters. Find slower, more malevolent numbers in "The Blind Departing", made harder still by the moans and gnarly bass in "I See Fire", collectively plotted through a album of loose narratives and beatless sound design in tracks like "Eros In Tangiers" and "Alone Of All Her Sex". Long live Regis!

Jabu & Daniela Dyson

Jabu & Daniela Dyson Do You Have Peace?

Following tracks and collaborations with labels like No Corner, Astro:Dynamics and Blackest Ever Black, the Jabu-trio launch their own 'do you have peace?' label with an hour's worth of lo-fi, tape saturated ambient bliss and dream pop. Shining a light on new friend and collaborator Daniela Dyson, her vocals and poetry finds a playground in the woozy, heart broken and bitter sweet clouds of Jabu's sound. An hour's worth of rhythm, sound, dub and dynamic to be found inside an hour's worth of the dub and dynamic featuring live strings from Rakhi Singhhere and production touches from Sunun & Sebastian Gainsborough (aka Vessel). A soundtrack to a summer's daze.

Axel Boman

Eyes Of My Mind Studio Barnhus Sweden

We were rather surprised to learn that "Eyes of My Mind" is Axel Boman's first solo single on Studio Barnhus, the label he co-founded, since 2013. It's also his first EP of any sort since 2017 (though 2019 did see the release of his fine "Le New Life" LP on Mule Musiq). The track is little less than a loved-up aural hug; a slow building, deliciously glassy-eyed affair in which dreamy chords, quirky vocal samples, droning bass tones and bubbly electronic motifs ride a bustling, loose-limbed drum track that sits somewhere between regular deep house, Max D's Dolo Percussion project and good old-fashioned breakbeat. Boman calms things down dramatically on "Echoes of My Mind", a swelling, wall-of-sound ambient revision of the A-side that's as comforting and meditative as they come.