Review: For their latest delve into the archives, Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle has decided to focus on Sandoz, a celebrated Richard H. Kirk solo project that generally joined the dots between dub and then contemporaneous styles of electronic music. The four tracks contained here were originally released on the earliest Sandoz 12" singles (1992-93), all of which are now frustratingly hard to find. Kirk's healthy obsession with Afro-futurism can be heard in the tribal chants, dub-wise bass and glassy-eyed electronics of opener "Human Spirit", while "Beam" sounds like a deeper, dreamier take on the Yorkshire Bleep sound he helped to create. "Chocolate Machine" is another deep, drowsy and melodious workout rich in clanking percussion hits, and "Steel Tabernacle" is Sweet Exorcist style "clonk" with added ghostly melodies.
Review: Music From Memory sublabel Second Circle are back with a great EP by Tim Schumacher aka DJ Normal 4, who has released on PRR! PRR!, Klasse Wrecks and his own Aiwo imprint - which he runs with DJ Carrera and LL/DJ. Bringing his signature sound of broken industrial dreams mixed with escapist rave fantasies, he delves into the archives with two tracks recorded around 2011/2012. The loose house jam "Aeo" with its sunny Caribbean influence starts things off nicely, he is then into the dusty and lo-fi acid house vibe of "Kalaidoka" as well as a new track named "La Arabia" - a tripped-out retro techno workout, fuelled by some wicked breaks.
Review: LA's Nicky Benedek is back, thankfully, as it was about time we received some feel-good summer vibes from the producer, an artist who is as comfortable making lo-fi house as he is tooled-up boogie and psyched-out future-disco! He's up on Second Circle this time, the Music From Memory offshoot, with the bumpy, jazz-minded sounds of "Earlyman Dance" leading the EP in fine style; the original itself is followed by a deeper, more off-kilter rework from Canyon. "MACA" is another magnetic arrangement of electro bass, sparse analogue beats and Benedek's trademark hypnotisms, which follow through in dubwise motion on "Tengu's Mystery". "Sixtern" is more of a beat track, laying down some rough sample beats and hazy melodies, while the Hedonistic mix of "Sub Terra" provides a cleaner, more suave house gem to take this highly recommended release to a close. Wonderful, modern house music.
Review: To date, sometime Antinote and Melody as Truth contributor D.K (AKA Paris-based producer Dang-Khoa Chau) has yet to release a duff record. In fact, we'd go as far as saying that each of his releases has been nothing less than essential. The Mystery Dub EP, his first EP for Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle, is every bit as alluring as its predecessors. As usual, many of the tracks come doused in humid, tropical samples, boast rush-inducing chords and melodies, and are underpinned by brilliantly programmed, Maxmillion Dunbar style machine rhythms. Highlights-wise, we're rather enjoying boisterous, delay-heavy opener "Stick By The Rules (Long Version)" and the ambient house influenced brilliance of "Rebound", though the simpler "Mystery Dub" and obligatory ambient cut "Wise Bird" are similarly impressive.
Review: Second Circle's latest mini-album comes from the previously unheard Giuseppe Leonardi, a "young Viennese musician" whose heady, synthesizer-heavy style is reminiscent of some of the curious obscurities reissued on parent label Music From Memory. While experimental in nature - think skewed combinations of lo-fi analogue keyboards, sparse and dusty drum machine hits and all manner of manipulated voices - each of the five tracks is pleasingly melodious. Combined with a range of left-of-centre influences from the early-to-mid '80s (think new wave ambient, new wave and British post-punk dub), it makes for a heady and arresting collection of tracks that actually gets better with each successive listen.
Review: Tako Reyenga and Jamie Tiller's Second Circle has proven to be a fascinating diffusion outlet from their main Music From Memory imprint, with an obvious focus on the creme de la creme of modern balearica. This follows up hot releases by head honcho Reyenga with Johnny Nash (as Sombrero Galaxy), Nenad Markovic aka 33.10.3402 and newcomer Dazion. And like the latter, here is another upstart: in the form of Swiss producer Androo. The Geneva based artist delves deep into all things exotic and retro: from the Caribbean flavoured, steel drum workout of opener "2000 & Universe" to the evocative classic house of the title track and the smacked out psychedelia of "Slice Dub". It's, all in all, a wonderful little journey on offer here.
Dancing In The Future (instrumental) - (4:34) 110 BPM
Review: Amsterdam's Second Circle is the new sub label of Tako and Jamie Tiller's Music From Memory. The first release of 2017 is a four tracker from young Dutch producer Dazion aka Chris Kuhlen entitled Don't Get Me Wrong. The Hague based producer is known for a 'deep love for goofy rhythm boxes and mid-'80s forgotten synths'. He collaborates with Ghanaian musician Ebou Gaye Mada, who sings and plays percussion on the deep and spiritual African boogie of "Be A Man" and Ljubisa Arsenovic (Paya), who sings on the dusty and neon-lit slo-mo disco of "Dancing In The Future."
Review: Music From Memory's Second Circle offshoot - an imprint designed to release fresh productions, rather than the reissues that the parent label is more famous for - reaches release number five, with Aussie audio explorer Tornado Wallace at the helm. He begins in typically atmospheric fashion with "Falling Sun", a lolloping, sunset-friendly cut that peppers a slack-tuned, tribal-influenced drum pattern with bubbly, eyes-closed melodies and spacey chords. His penchant for African-influenced drums is explored further on the dense but hazy "Singing Planet" and "Kakadu", where the bongo-heavy rhythms eventually come to the fore after a spellbinding, ambient introduction.
Review: With Jonny Nash and Red Light's Tako Reyenga at the controls, this second Sombrero Galaxy release - the first for five years - was never going to be anything less than a spacey gem. That's exactly what they deliver, blending gentle but surprisingly tough drum machine rhythms with outer-space chords, lilting melodies and yearning, almost heart-aching melodies. Reyenga's Japanese roots come to the fore on "Planetary Dance", which wraps oriental synthesizer melodies around Motor City electronics, shimmering guitar passages and a metronomic groove. "The Edge of Space" is similarly inclined, with fluttering acid lines and throbbing sub-bass only serving to increase the spaced-out, Detroit-goes-deep mood.
Review: After completing a quadrilogy of Mecanica releases for ESP Institute inspired by "opium dens and whorehouses" earlier in 2015, Serbian artist Nenad Markovi brings his 33 10 3402 project to Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle. If you indulged in anyone of those Mecanica EPs for Andrew Hogge's label you will be all over this Bura EP with Markovic channelling similar depths of rhythm and texture across the four tracks. There's enough semblance of rhythm on display in cuts like the title track and the dubby machine funk of "Syg" to intrigue the more adventurous DJs out there whilst "P-Tok" could easily be mistaken for a forgotten Borft B side. A superb record.
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