Review: Damon Wild and Dave 'Function' Sumner have been close allies since the early 90s, so it's no surprise that Sumner has managed to persuade Wild to release his first album in 13 years on his Infrastructure label. Cosmic Path lives up to its title and sounds like an intergalactic journey on a starship. By turns menacing, thanks to the hyper speed bleeps of "Red", tripped out (check the stepping "Distant Carrier" ) and functional - the drum-heavy "Marslander" and the aptly named "Sparse" are among the finest drum tracks that he has produced - this album proves that the veteran New York artist remains at the very top of his game.
Review: Having contributed to a recent Infrastructure compilation, Rrose moves to consolidate the relationship with Function's label with the release of a full EP. Arc has more in common with the producer's techno work for Sandwell District than last year's conceptual outing on Further, but this release still resounds to a deeply experimental approach. "Specimen 2" unites minimal, tonal sounds with an abstract rhythm. On "Specimen 3" a similar concept prevails, as Rob Hood-influenced, microscopic stabs cozy up to pitter-patter beats. Even the dance floor-friendly title track, with its bass-heavy pulse and doubled-up claps, has an atonal, abstract backdrop.
Review: According to Infrastructure NYC head Function, this compilation was compiled like an album and involves not only the core group of artists but also connects the dots between the label's past, his Berghain 07 mix CD for Ostgut Ton, the legendary Sandwell District days and the respective history of the artists. Infrastructure Facticity spans "a narrative ranging from lush, ambient electronics and post-club diversions, to contemporary club techno and back again." British artist Robert McNally provides the artwork and musically the highlights are not so much the dancefloor ready bangers, which are mainly quite good, rather the moments of restraint such as Vatican Shadow's brooding and almost Boards Of Canada sounding "Swords Over Paradise", the slow burning reduced acid of Cassegrain & Tin Man's "Open Sea" and Rrose's finest moment yet, "Cephalon", which can barely be described in words!
Review: Function's Infrastructure New York continues with its consistent stream of impressive releases after Post Scriptum and Cassegrain & Tin Man with this reissue of Mark Archer aka Trackman from 1995. Also known for being part of Altern 8, this is some Archer's finest work and one of Function's favourite records. All six cuts have been remastered from the original tapes plus a bonus track "Paradise". Quality and timeless techno and truly one for the heads.
Review: Cassegrain duo Alex Tsiridis and Huseyin Evirgren team up with American acid minimalist Tin Man for a new collaboration on Function and Inland's Infrastructure label, out of New York. The EP is a perfect blend of each of the respective parties' styles and mindsets, where cuts such as "Seduct Seduct" contain that unmistakable 303 swagger in Tin Man's inimitable style but also float more freely and feel murkier than his solo output thanks to Cassegrain's input. The same goes for the rest of the tunes, and our favourite has to be "Ether Ether" for that stomping groove and masterfully moulded percussion. Recommended.
Review: Mystery producer Post Scriptum appeared from nowhere earlier in the year, pricking the ears of techno heads the world over with the superb "Human Timescales" on Function's Berghain 07 mix. Function is clearly a fan, as he's decided to release the anonymous producer's debut album, Post Scriptum 01, on his Infrastructure imprint. Reviews elsewhere have called it "one of the year's best techno sets", and it's hard to disagree. Largely spooky, clandestine and paranoid, it mixes hypnotic, floor-friendly rhythms with crusty, minimal-style textures and vintage bleeps and electronic melodies. The results are, without fail, thoroughly impressive, with the Drexciyan bubbler "The Extreme Distance" standing out.
Review: Mariano DC is a relatively new producer, with just a handful of releases on Traut and Varianz. That hasn't stopped him from delivering the musical equivalent of five blows from a concrete block for Dave 'Function' Sumner's label. The mood throughout Stiletto is heavy, abrasive and banging. The title track and "Kaverna" both resound to pounding, resonating kicks and frazzled percussive hisses, while "Estalaktita" draws on the east European broken beat approach, adding in a cacophony of deranged alien noises that swarm in relentlessly. "Incidental" uses a similar rhythmic structure but isn't quite as tough, but the doubled up beats of "Cascada" should leave the listener in no doubt that Mariano DC means serious business.
Control Through Prohibition Or Supply - (7:04) 129 BPM
Removal Of The Six Armed Goddess - (5:40) 129 BPM
Review: The announcement that Dave 'Function' Sumner was planning to lift Infrastructure New York out of its previously dormant state represented one of the most welcome surprises for techno fans so far in 2014. Brandishing a name that sounds like a Mad Men extra, Australian-born Irvine Campbell lines the second release on the reborn Infrastructure NY and offers an intriguing insight into how a classically trained violinist approaches techno. The industrialised and percussive "Thread Laid Bare On The Ground" which is very much in line with the music of Vatican Shadow's Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement project. "Control Through Prohibition Or Supply" is a dubby, militaristic march of watery textures, reverb and blurry Tablas while finishing this impressive debut are the searing Amazonian sounds of another great title in "Removal Of The Six Armed Goddess".
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