Various Artists - Hyperdub 10.2 [Hyperdub Promo]

Celebrating its tenth anniversary  in 2014 with a string of releases and compilations the widely appreciated Hyperdub label has recently unleashed the 14 track strong sampler "Hyperdub 10.2" which is not only gathering some of the labels most recognized artists alongside a bunch of talented producers that haven't seen much media coverage up to this date but also covers the labels vast and diverse musical spectrum. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland are opening things with a sweet TripHop 2.0 tune named "Signal 2012", Burial explores the positive, yet melancholia driven spheres of PostGarage and serves an overly kitschy outro for his "Shell Of Light" whilst Jessy Lanza sets dark, threatening gangsta basslines up against undeniably seductive Future R'n'B and pays homage to some of the great Plastic R'n'B ballads of the late 80s and Cooly G is following the same line with her song that's "Obsessed" but minus the gangsta bass. King Britt's Fhloston Paradigm's "Never Defeated" featuring Rachel Claudio deals with stumbling, super abstract Downtempo rhythm structures before catering top notch synth jams and introducing the next level of angelic Philly Soul to the wowed audience - also check the review of the recent Fhloston Paradigm album here. With DVA's "Super Solid" things get more uplifting with what's to be called a huge Future Garage anthem paying respect to Jungle days through sweet beat wizzardry, epidemic stab works and great vocals performed by Zaki Ibrahim - a tune abstract as fuck beatwise but at the same time causing dancefloor mayhem when reloaded in a rave. Ikonika & Dam-Funk join forces for an electronic Disco Funk piece that's one of the rare weak points in "Hyperdub 10.2" due to the attempt of emulating the glory of the King Of Pop-era and failing for a kitsch-dripping reason and it seems like Morgan Zarate's "Pusher Taker" featuring Roses Gabor takes the uber-sweetness level even higher with his epic, super Slomo Dubstep meets Future R'n'B presented in "Pusher Taker". Being her second take on this album Jessy Lanza's "You And Me" fuses Plastic (Neo)Soul with bouncing Trap, cut-heavy sample works, sparse killer bass and funky synths for a perfect late night dancefloor experience that can be pointed out as the main highlight of this album for sure. Later on we see Morgan Zarate on production again with "Sticks & Stone" which is a huge oldskool'ish Funk / R'n'B / HipHop production featuring Eska and the legendary Ghostface Killah on microphone duty. Getting closer to the end the so-called "Soule Power Mix" of DVA's "Just Vybe" starts with a heavy 4/4 but turns out as a swinging Soul amalgamation of Future Garage and West London Phusion dedicated to all followers of Dego and his 2000 Black gang. Even the praised Grimeist Terror Danjah proves his abilities as Future R'n'B producer here whilst Meleka literally seduces the listener on spot on his tune "You Make Me Feel" before the legendary DJ Rashad and his homies DJ Spinn & Taso are up for some serious Juke action with their killer cut "Only One" taken from his "Double Cup" album. With the final tune "Lies, Lies feat. Copeland" we see Hyperdub head honcho Kode9 bringing in his vision of UK Funky, a short and swinging statement of a vocal tune that possibly implies a glimpse into the next decade of Hyperdub Bass Music. If you haven't been catching up on the imprints latest doings this one is a nice opportunity to do so. Check.

Si Begg - Flight To The Death *Bob Humid Remix (Live Performance Orgy Video)

Bob Humid performing his RMX of Si Begg's "Fight to The Death" live & in full-effect from bob@bobhumid.de on Vimeo.

Feverish. Intense. Ritualistic. Bass heavy. NSFW. Great. Do not play this to minors.

Cassar - Tetris Instrumental

Super low cut bass operations. Psyched out melody. J Cassar rolls deadly. File under: BassTrap.

Wieman - The Classics Album [Baskaru 030 Promo]

Another fresh release coming from the Baskaru stable these days is "The Classics Album", a collaborational joint of Frans De Waard and Roel Meelkop produced under their conjunctional MeltPop moniker Wieman. As both musicians have been on our radar for ages, e.g. for their joined forces project Goem that has been regularly aired via our former "Die Nachtschwestern" radio show or - as solo artists - for productions under the name of Beequeen (Frans De Waard), responsible for the seminal Ambient / Drone 10" "The Surrough Gate", or Roel Meelkop's THU20 which e.g. has been reviewed on these pages back in 2003 with their "Live In Groningen" release on Stichting Mixer, we were quite thrilled to see them explore new paths with their conceptional approach they refer to as MeltPop which is in parts related to the "use everything"-feel of Plunderphonics but works in a more organized manner as their choice of samples is clearly defined by a contextual predetermination. In this case all samples used were taken from songs sporting classical music-tinged titles with words like "symphony", "rhapsody", "overture" etc. in them. And albeit it remains unclear whether this specific predetermination specifically influenced the sound of the five tracks to be found on "The Classics Album" it's quite remarkable how the results turn out here. From the cranky, dry and repetetive advanced dancefloor cut "With A Lat Of Verve" to the Ambient MicroHouse sickness of "The King Ist Queer" which combines organic Deep Listening loops with sterile, uberly precise drum works and trashy 8 bit bleep freestyles on Acid slowly evolving into a jazzy Static Noize Rave jam the journey continues into the tense Cold Ambient of "The Lady Es A Tramp" with its piercing loops in reverse and layered crescendos of (neo)classical origin. Talking Cold or Death Ambient here the sci-fi'esque intro of the "Mega Deconstructed Live Wish" totally fits into that drawer before, quite surprisingly, de- and reconstructed Heavy Rock loops take over, soon clanging and falling apart again whilst giving way to a nerve wrecking skipping unaligned needle exorcism. Finally the nearly 17 minutes closing tune "Do You Have ElP" depicts eternal darkness and isolationist, deep space TechIndustrial monotonicity with a foundation of solid, hollow, slow and sluggish beats, post fall out athmospheres and electronic buzzes that both are later accompanied and displaced by shrieking, scurrying alien ants gradually falling silent until only a few, ever repeating hydraulic noises guide our way through the last quarter of the track which unveils a quite surprising one minute ending playing around with a female voice after a short jaunt into full on silence. What a journey.

Sawako - nu.it [Baskaru 032 Promo]

Recently put on the circuit via the French label Baskaru - an imprint deeply dedicated to all things experimental with a roster including greatly appreciated artists like Yoshio Machida, who appeared as a guest performer at our long-gone "Die Gesellschaft Ist Krank"-series back in May 2003, or the Drone god Francisco Lopez - is the latest release by the Japanese sound experimentalist Sawako. With "nu.it" she dedicates herself to more floating, calm and athmospheric Ambient pieces - setting the tone with the sweet Piano-led opener "Locus Of Everyday Life", taking listeners deep into the enchanted forrests with "Nostal.Noz" by serving a menu of lovely spheres and a few light crackles before going even further with tense, droning multitwisted church bells and sweet Glockenspiel sounds trailing off in "Nemumel". More overwhelming, gently healing PopAmbient beauty is revealed in the audible oceans of "F.light"  whilst fans of tender, possibly prepared, piano sounds might vote for the looped, seemingly Hauschka'esque "Piano Cote" as their preferred piece of ear candy here. Furthermore "O.ver" presents a cinemascope view on melancholia at dusk that lasts for less than three minutes, followed by the obviously heavily prepared piano tones of "Mind.ight" that even might be referred to as the most jazzy cut on this approx. 40 minutes longs album that's closed by "In.fini", an Ambient journey into the realms of solemn Deep Listening music. If you love Ambient as a genre, you need to hear this one for sure.

Magic Panda - Life Is Elsewhere *Roi Koch Remix [Animated Music Video by Rod McRae]

Chromatic, iridiscent TechHouse with a  twist of string-heavy (Neo)Trance and sweetly morphing geometric shapes. We fully approve of this. Löv!

Matthew Collings - Silence Is A Rhythm Too [Denovali Promo]

Scheduled for release on July 25th via Denovali Records, which are also about to re-release his debut "Splintered Instruments" on vinyl these days, is the release of Matthew Collings' sophomore longplay piece "Silence Is A Rhythm Too"- a Deep Listening six track album laid out over approx. 44 minutes exploring the realms of fragile, organic instrumentation, plangent violins, ritualistic drums and icy Drone music, an amalgamation of cinematic quality and a feel for myths and mysteriousness surely surrounded by nordic, especially Icelandic, tales - a place in which Collings used to live for six years prior to moving to his base Edinburgh. Thematically themed by meta terms like romanticism, tragedy and death, especially the antipodal construction of love and death symbolized by the use of silence and Noize, "Silence Is A Rhythm Too" can be filed under the flag of providing autumnal feelings on a PostFolk-referencing, deconstructivist level of Ambient music that defo has its more threatening, thunderously climaxing moments like halfway through "Toms", shortly before things break down into calm organic instrumentation after layers and layers and layers of ravaging sounds built up like a storm front at the far horizon. Following up to this is "I Am Made Of Endless Hours" which is of a more soothing character and provides echoes of melancholia driven Jazz improvisations interrupted by more chaotic sonic events whilst the final title track seems to go the Pink Floyd- meets Future Sound Of London-way (in their "ISDN" phase that is) like one would expect this fusion to sound in the 23rd century - floating, epic, deeply psychedelic and defo providing a sonic trip into one's inner self. Defo a good one and possibly an album too deep to embrace within only one session alone - therefore a grower as well which is about to stand the test of time.

baze.djunkiii Charts 07/2014

01. DJ Rashad - We On 1 [Southern Belle Recordings]



DJ Rashad's legacy. His last release before he tragically passed away. Stone cold, hard bouncing, super dry Juke / Footwork for those who know. Official classic. Must have.

02. Driftmachine - Nocturnes [Umor Rex Records 065]
See review for details....

03. Yucca - Seasons [AdP Records Promo]
See  review for details...

04. Diamond Version - CI [Mute Records]
It's album time and I'm well surprised how smooth the first album effort of Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender sounds after a series of more unwieldy, abstract singles that have been introducing their Diamond Version project throughout the past year or so. Embracing a well tight vision of darkness and uber clean production skills the pair serves a phonky, but still threatening pack of ten Electronica / Electro tunes for advanced dancefloors and mathematically gifted folks but also explores quite exciting vocal spheres in collaborations with the likes of Leslie Winer, Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, Kyoka or Atsuhiro Ito that might be referred to as the future of Industrial SynthPop and Dark Braindance due to their sterile presence and deep ass bass waves. Recommended.

05. Alix Perez - U [Exit Records 050]
Massive release on D-Bridge's Exit Records. Alix Depauw a.k.a. Alix Perez explores hyper abstract Future Choppage / 23rd Century Jungle with the title track "U", delves deep into heavy stepping Dub spheres with "Sludge", a collaborational effort together with Stray, teams up with DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn for the anthemic RaggaJuke killer "Make It Worth" and finally gets grimey with the heavily compressed Dubstep Rave fusion "Gully Halves" that is built around dark sawtooth basslines and heavily pitch transformed vocal bits. Get that.

06. Various Artists - Adventures In Techno Soul 3 [Ferox Records]
After a long period of only sparse occasional releases on the digital circuit it seems like Russ Gabriel's seminal Ferox Records is back on vinyl again and - most important - have set a more regular release schedule for the future. With "Adventures In Techno Soul 3" on the circuit now which is following up on the 1996- / 1998-released volumes 1 and 2 they've gathered an impressive stack of eight tracks for this double vinyl edition including the likes of Darren Harris, Affie Yusuf, Bush Funk, Move D, the labels head Russ Gabriel and others, who are summing up the future of Techno Soul indeed with a musical range from more Ambient / Deep Listening tones, soft spoken Detroit deepness, raw and pumping House with a jazzy, discoid twist to glittering Detroit Techno with clear dancefloor focus - see especially Hoax Believers' "Cosmic Intervention" for this one but also Bush Funk's "Late Night Delivery" seems to, well, deliver in a groove-heavy context throughout small hours. "Adventures In Techno Soul"? Yes, please.

07. Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around [American  Records]



Well, Johnny Cash. The man in black. Not exactly the most obvious choice to appear in the top 10 of a former electronic music DJ that is - admittedly - neither an expert of nor overly familiar with Johnny Cash's work at all. But there are two songs on this official repress that I'm closely bond to - the first being his cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" which I came across first when my BETA-ZERFALL partner in crime Herr Brandt played that one out at one of our shows in Kiel - a song I've heard millions of times in its original version as it was featured on their "Violator" album which was my first ever vinyl record I bought. The second is a sweet memory of watching a Johnny Cash documentary with the one I'd still call the love of my life - his cover "Hurt" was in it and since we've unfortunately split up this is the only song that still makes me shed a few tears when- and whereever its on. So this album was a kinda essential pick when I discovered it was repressed. But going further through "American IV: The Man Comes Around " there's of course more stunning beauty to be discovered and hailed than these two songs - the tragedy of guilt in "I Hung My Head" or the amazing declaration of love that "In My Life" is in all its reduced simplicity. A great one for sure.

08. Jesse Osborne-Lanthier (Noir) / The H / Madison Dinelle / Hobo Cubes - On Information: A Study In Form Of Pictures And Music [Los Discos Enfantasmes Promo]
See review for details...

09. Istari Lasterfahrer - Walls Cave In On You [Sozialistischer Plattenbau]
After a break of about eight years time this one seven track mini album produced by the notorious Istari Lasterfahrer is the first Sozialistischer Plattenbau-release  after long years that finally makes it into my collection as it slightly sticks out from the uniformity of most of the labels output that - without criticising its straightforward attitude in sticking to what they love - seemed to be stuck in a loop for while, especially when one has been following their paths from day dot. With "Walls Cave In On You" Istari Lasterfahrer comes up with something more refreshening, mixing up his DarkJungle, Ambient, Breakcore and Freebreakz with a lively, frolicking acidic touch and even going back to more experimental Electronics with tunes like "Transgressive" or "Nymph", a tune that even seems to have a slightly experimental FreeJazz twist to it and so does the B1 tune "Hysteresis" to a spine tingling effect. When it comes to darkness levels there's no way not to mention the killing vocal - sic !!! - intro of the thrilling slomo Illbient Bass piece entitled "Fly Away" which pays homage to the great and legendary Electric Ladyland compilations on the longtime defunct Mille Plateaux imprint, whilst "Purquoi Moi" brings out an astoundingly intense level of raw, offbeat driven DarkJungle that reminds us of  the genres heydays in the early to mid noughties.  Nice.

10. Steve Bug - Pelican Glide [Poker Flat Recordings 150 Promo]
There's been much praise recently when it comes to Steve Bug's latest 12" outing on his very own Poker Flat Recordings-imprint and this praise has been proved legit. Whilst the title track is on a moody, but more melody-driven tip with the usualy slice of minor melancholia woven in we see the rare vocal cut "Till It's Gone (feat. Delhia De France)" burst with sexyness and being accompanied by a geometrically stunning video cut. Watch the video here...

Fhloston Paradigm - The Phoenix [Hyperdub Promo]

Forthcoming on Hyperdub these days is King Britt's first longplay piece under his 2009 introduced and recently fully adopted more experimental moniker Fhloston Paradigm. Within fourteen tracks we see him exploring a truly cinematic world of soundsets, fusing epic panoramic elements from Synth pioneering icons like Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre with PostStep-reminiscing beat structures, weaving in the uberly syncopated, Jazz-flavored beat science of the Broken Beat / West London Phusion sound and finally arranging layers and layers of melancholia soaking string arrangements and 'troity bleeps around this hot amalgamation to a thrilling, futuristic effect. Especially the 2.5 minutes smash "Chasing Rainbows" is about to sent well-experienced dancefloors to heaven whilst the follow-up "Perception" teaches sweet lessons in sci-fi'esque modular synthesis and creates deeply alarming and pretty (in)tense scores for flics yet to be filmed - defo recommended to all fans of classic Ambient and Deep Listening Music. Alongside the great voice of Rachel Claudio the Fhloston Paradigm explores the possibilities of heart-warming, organic Phuture PhillySoul in all its shining angelic glory that's also recognizable in the Electronic Opera of "Tension Remains" with Pia Ercole on vocals - btw talking Electronic Opera: does anyone remember Cosmic Baby's "Futura" ? This tune would've well fit in there. But back to "The Phoenix" - the delay heavy 4/4 title track that beams us back to clubland with its freestyle synth jams, laser'esque sounds and psychotic Acid bursts - one for setting the roof on fire when hammered in the context of a pumping 3 a.m. session. Within the 91 seconds of "Portal 3" Fhloston Paradigm creates an aphotic, thunderous sonic armageddon followed by tripped out, siren busting TechnoJazz workout that seems to be one of the most tension-heavy tunes ever created within this niche. Without going into further details it seems like King Britt is - using a different name though - still on top of his game with this pretty diverse, yet coherent and fascinating album on Hyperdub. Props for that.

Freddy The Dyke - Freddy The Dyke [Skussmaal 002 Promo]

Actually it's not the hardest of all guesses that promos flying in from Norway that do include guitars of any kind might not be soft spoken and tender in their overall attitude. And checking out the first full length album - well, 30 minutes... - of the Stavanger-based duo Freddy The Dyke proves this right for a reason. Released via Skussmaal the six tracks provided here tell stories of anger and raw, unprocessed energy, a mayhem of machine gun firing guitars with a suprisingly funky feel reminiscing of better Crossover-days, violent drum stampedes and Hardcore-schooled vocals that might be more suitably referred to as screamals as well as some PostPunk-influences ravaging like a hurricane. With the exception of the ritualistic, haunting and Drone-leaning Voodoo Experimentalism of "Roto" that will be loved by fans of the German Advanced JazzCore / UltraFunk outfit Dÿse, all songs are set straight to unleash immediate chaos whereever blasted from a huge P.A. and to set folks dressed in black in motion. Listen to "Sandi Yama" and feel surprised by the electrifying powers of the dark side. Heavy! And also recommended to all those still in love with the legendary project Flugschädel.

Captain Capa - Arsenic (Official Video)

The bwoys of Captain Capa, which are recently touring the States alongside the Vans Warped Tour pack, have unleashed  a new, haunting and quite puzzling, video for their heavy autotune-smash "Arsenic" that, although high def recorded, uncovers a hidden love for Lynch'esque twists and cliffhanging stories.

Video: lsb_TV presentz "Kompressionskammer" w/ baze.djunkiii (DJ-Set) & Uli Sigg (Visuals)

Broadcasted for the first time via lsb_TV on Alex.TV / Berlin last saturday baze.djunkiii's full hours journey between pumping TechHouse and straight forward Techno is now available on youtube for the public. Massive shouts go to Mr. Uli Sigg for the great visual work and the lsb_TV crew for their efforts they put in the project - large up!