Review: Given the distinctive quality of his heavily electronic, mind-soothing fusions of deep house, dub techno and sprightly electronica, any new album from Shinichi Atobe is good news. It's especially welcome when it's the first full-length he's released in two years, as is the case with the immaculate "Yes". Melodious, life-affirming and lusciously otherworldly, it sees the Japanese producer drift between off-world dub-house (the superbly spaced-out "Lake 2"), jazzy electronic house bliss ("Yes"), percussive deep space dancefloor soundscapes (the layered drums, twinkling pianos and futuristic synth sounds of "Lake 3"), and the kind of echoing, hard-to-pigeonhole headiness that defies easy categorization ("Rain 3"). In a word: superb.
Review: The UK's Mica Levi is back on our charts and much like last time, we expect these five glorious slices of drone-laden experimentation to fly out of here in record time. The supremely off-kilter waves of this new EP land on Demdike Stare's DDS imprint, now something of an institution for the odder side of electronica, and they couldn't be better placed anywhere else. That said, the noisy ambient glows of "Delete Beach (Japanese)", and the sparse, aqueous drum machine loops of "Interlude 1" are perhaps a step further out into the ether compared to the label's usual bag of tricks. Then the instrumental cut of "Delete Beach" morphs and develops beautifully for the entirety of the waxplate while, "Interlude 2" catapults us into a world made up of sporadic pianos and Vengelian synths, leaving the English version of "Delete Beach".
Review: The UK's Mica Levi is back on our charts and much like last time, we expect these five glorious slices of drone-laden experimentation to fly out of here in record time. The supremely off-kilter waves of this new EP land on Demdike Stare's DDS imprint, now something of an institution for the odder side of electronica, and they couldn't be better placed anywhere else. That said, the noisy ambient glows of "Delete Beach (Japanese)", and the sparse, aqueous drum machine loops of "Interlude 1" are perhaps a step further out into the ether compared to the label's usual bag of tricks. Then the instrumental cut of "Delete Beach" morphs and develops beautifully for the entirety of the waxplate while, "Interlude 2" catapults us into a world made up of sporadic pianos and Vengelian synths, leaving the English version of "Delete Beach".
Congo Get Slap (Mark Ernestus remix) - (7:10) 90 BPM
Flagged Up (Mark Ernestus remix) - (9:36) 68 BPM
Review: The DDS label, short for Distort Decay Sustain, has given artists like Demdike Stare a platform on which to express themselves through over the years, but it was really Equiknoxx's LP from 2016, Bird Sound Power, which opened their doors to a whole new category of listener. In fact, it was that LP, with all its stunning, dub-wise experimentation, which has led to Mark Ernestus being called up for a pair of remixes. As you probably know, this is a rare case, so this 12" is sort of a special piece - "Congo Get Slap" is given the pure Ernestus rundown, with a charging, minimalistic percussion being swallowed whole by the raucous dub stabs caving in from all angles; the remix of "Flagged Up" is a much slower, more brooding affair in the same vein as the mythical cuts residing on imprints like Basic Channel and Chain Reaction - nothing but deep, meditative dub flexing for the mind. BIG!
Review: Jamaica's Equiknoxx have spent the last decade re-inventing dancehall for the 21st century, delivering a swathe of releases that look further afield than Kingston for inspiration. Bird Sound Power is, somewhat surprisingly, their first appearance on vinyl, and sees them pop up on Demdike Stare's experimentally-minded DDS imprint. Featuring a mix of brand new cuts and previously released - but largely unknown - jams, it's a set that impresses with both its' rhythmic dexterity, and its' obvious inventiveness. Their 'riddims' veer from the punchy and rolling to the weird and out-there, with cute electronic flourishes, IDM influences, ambient chords and trill birdsong all adding to the humid, thrill-a-minute mood.
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