Here there are some recent releases for our techno columns
Mahk Rumbae aka Mark Crumby (Konstruktivists, Antechamber, Mitra Mitra, Ghost Actor) returns under his techno-industrial alias Codex Empire, delivering his first full length after a series of Eps. Slow Erosion is a collection of pulsating and abrasive techno tracks full of obsessive mantras and compulsive whip-like drums. The two parts of The Brutality Of Facts welcome us in a dark world with grim ambiances, then evolving into a factorized rhythms follows hypnotizing bass sounds and maniacal drum machines. Hoggar Circle is a pounding affair with brooding sounds capes, cinematic qualities, and almost ritualistic snare drums, while a track like Murmuration employs acid atmospheres and strong dark techno vibes. What You Believe Is True ends the album with moody melodies and a ride made of obsessive industrial drum sounds. A strong effort from the Vienna-based English musician.
The Horrorist – Separate Dimension
American producer and musician Oliver Chesler aka The Horrorist debuts on the German label aufnahme + wiedergabe with his fifth album Separate Dimension. Here he fuses EBM bass-lines, synth sounds, old-school motifs and minimal structures with tense atmospheres and contemporary techno elements. Tracks like Into Our Dreams presents us a downtempo and decadent style, giving us a sort of horror-body music with sleazy vocals, while Programmed is a more robust affair made of throbbing bass-lines, steady claps and lysergic mantras. How Do We Get Revenge evokes the grimier side of minimal synth-pop thanks to its crawling rhythms and melancholic lines, and Here Comes The Whip showcases an electro number with frantic grooves and aggressive vocals supported by tongue-in-cheek arpeggiators. The Horrorist gives us here another episode in his series of mutant works with a unique style.
Hailing from Tbilisi, Vulkanski debuts on Hayden Payne (Phase Fatale) and Florian Engerling’s label BITE with his Ep Science Gardens. Expect an obsessive and mechanical brand of techno, full of frantic bass-lines, stomping marches and droning elements. The title track perfectly presents the work, conquering our minds with its hypnotizing rhythmic pattern, upon which sparse effects are layered. The number evolves into a furious techno attack with noisy parts and pounding drums. Stalking Caracal is an even noisier affair with full-on distortions and sudden machine gun-like mantras, an episode close to rhythmic-noise territory, while Red Dinner is an experimental take on the genre made of broken sounds, steady snare drums, and intelligent structures. Jangiani ends the Ep with distorted kicks, throbbing bass-lines a growing tension which climaxes into abrasive textures. A welcome addition to the label roster.
The German duo Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert, Sebastian Szary) mixes techno, breakbeat, urban rhythms, and much more in Who Else, their new album. If One United Power starts the work with alien bass drums and eerie atmospheres, the following track Wealth dwells in mutant hip-hop elements thanks to the presence of English rapper Flohio, sporting a controlled structures with micro-sounds and almost tribal drums. Is in numbers like WMF love song that old-school techno elements resurface and are most present: claps, snare drums, arpeggios, sampled effects, acid atmospheres craft a perfect club anthem which updates 90’s vibes. I am Your God is maybe the savagest moment on the work, graced by Otto Von Schirach’s distorted screams and steel-like percussions. A broodier affair, albeit it doesn’t forfeit dance-floor compatibility, showing the different facets of the duo. A strong album from veterans of the genre.
