CELEBS WITHOUT THEIR MAKEUP

One of the (many) things in my life that I stumble across and wonder Where did this come from? Subdued freak beats and electronic pulsations from somewhere in the American Southeast. Imagine primitive '60s experimental/electronic artists with the access to today's modern technology but without the exposure to techno or EDM or anything of the sort....it's weird and erratic but it doesn't sound intentionally weird. It sounds intentional, to be sure, but organic. Some patience required, but definitely worth the effort. 

THE EMPEROR HAS NO SKIN

JOCK CLUB

I still sometimes think about that MARSHSTEPPER show at The Lab in SF a bunch of years ago, when I showed up on time (stupid) and waited for HOURS before anything happened and then when something did happen it was a fucking laptop techno DJ kid and I was silently fuming because I'm old and sometimes I get cranky and sleepy and I just wanted to fucking see MARSHSTEPPER and then after a few minutes I was like "damn, this laptop DJ kid is fukkn banging" and then I was really happy and MARSHSTEPPER was super good too. Yeah....been a JOCK CLUB fan ever since that night. Good job, laptop DJ kid. 

IN THE JUNGLE

ENEMA SYRINGE

You might not want to trust me, and I understand that. Sometimes I steer you wrong, like the time I posted the interview with my father-in-law talking about heat stroke and hydrating enemas. Sorry. But surely you are by now smart enough to trust Chondritic Sound, yes? Good. They were nice enough last fall to repurpose two older recordings by ENEMA SYRINGE and present them with two short new pieces to create Flapper. It was a good move. Lo-fi disjointed repetition, minimal beats, and polite distortion make up the initial track, and then things slowly get darker and more chaotic. It's like a journey and an escape, all in just under twenty minutes.

FLAPPER

GLOCHIDS

Beautiful and peaceful collection reinterpreting nine different GLOCHIDS tracks. Remixes by JOCK CLUB, SØREN, J.S. AURELIUS, DEEP PILL, SANDOVAL and others. Perfect listening today, for a myriad of reasons. 

REmI-X

GENEVA JACUZZI

Blind purchase here (what's $5 to an uppity dude with a job, right?!), but the second I heard that weird digitized voice from the past pretentiously groaning something about "eating your sex"  I knew that I had made the correct decision. Lowest common denominator primitive proto-electro (techno?Italidisco? house? who knows?!?!) presented with what I can only assume is blatantly calculated precision and an aspiration for something resembling actual and real "success." My assumption here is that this outfit is highly regarded in some alternate universe (read: cocaine users in their 20s), but I confess that on more than one occasion since that blind purchase, GENEVA JACUZZI has filled my home and my earholes. Choice track: "Macho Island." You're welcome. 

TECHNOPHELIA

JUDITH

Excellent mystery techno mix I snagged in LA a few weeks ago...chilled out, laid back and subtly psychedelic. You're down or you aren't. 

JUDITH

MUTWAWA

Gorgeous pounding EDM in the most primal sense. This is Midwest after hours dance clubs circa 1988, but seemingly with more drugs...and it's great.

MUTWAWA

DEALING & TROPICAL BODY

A quarter hour of dark electronics and tortured manipulations from DEALING (for the more curious, I believe this outfit is associated with the decidedly more filthy SACRED FOLLOWERS).  Four tracks from TROPICAL BODY on the flip, and as much as I dig the entirely of this tape, the distant rhythms and high end hiss of "Minimal Structure For Aircraft Travel" is the piece of work that keeps me coming back. Check the 4:25 mark, when that hiss peels back to expose the rolling swarm of synth pulsating under the beats...this is the shit that I want. Don't get me wrong here, all four tracks of lo-fi psychedelic techno are stellar, I don't want my affinity for that one song to imply that this is outfit is only good for one track - quite the opposite. Our Love Was Real is an excellent pairing and deserves repeated listens (as expected from Ascetic House), and I expect that you will be very pleased to give this tape the proper attention.

OUR LOVE WAS REAL

AVELLAN CROSS

This one had me from play. Deep and entrancing minimal techno sounds with more than enough other worldly weirdness. Primitive techno melting into first wave ambient/industrial...I shouldn't try to describe it....I'll just hope that you enjoy it. Nostilevo never disappoints...

TECHNOISE

DRMCRSHR

"Nihilist Queer Revolt Musik" - Hard to express what a mindfuck the DREAMCRUSHER set in New York was. Noise. Blinding noise in a pitch black room with a piercing strobe pointed directly at the (small) audience. Everything was in slow motion, and I was disoriented before the beats started....and then it started. That shrill daemon that had punctuated our show with insane outbursts and generally bizarre behavior all night....now it had a microphone, and now it had control. First there was the spectacle, and then it was enteractive....and I spell that with an "e" because The Entity I Will Call: DRMCRSHR was in your fukkn shit before you knew what was happening. One minute there was screaming in your face, then the lights went off and before you could see again there were two men rolling on the floor in a passionate embrace. I have, perhaps, never been that fukkd by a live performance. Reality and imagination were interchangeable, and it was as if, in between the rapid fire blinks of those lights, anything was possible. The sounds are relentless hi NRG techno/acid house distorted beyond anything approaching reasonable, and even out of the context of the live experience I highly recommend DRMCRSHR. But.....in the flesh. So much flesh. Listening to this tape as I type, I'm reminded how off balance I was when things returned to normal...the lights came up and sense of surroundings slowly returned - but those of us in that room went somewhere. If you're reading this, DRMCRSHR: you fukkn did it. Don't stop. 

HACKERS ALL OF THEM HACKERS

Oh yeah...OF COURSE the motherfukkr is originally from Kansas...

SIOBHAN

More trance inducing electronic dirges from SIOBHAN. It's like you're hosting your own dance night in a dark, filthy alley half a block away from the techno club and find a way to amplify the distorted, distant sounds emanating from inside the brick walls and underneath the dumpsters. It's the dangerous, fascinating version of the music Other People listen to mindlessly...and it's wonderful. 

OMEGA STAMP

LOWEBRAU

When I reach blindly for a new electronic artist, this is exactly what I hope I will grasp onto. Mental dancefloor punishment from a Quebec outfit that knows exactly how to find a groove and drive it right into the dirt and then resurrect it in the most glorious manner imaginable. This is '80 Acid House and Detroit Techno crashing headfirst into those new kids flying the EBM banner and then just when you aren't paying attention you're neck deep in industrial brutality. This shit is so goddamn good I don't really know what to say aside from-----listen to these sounds. And check LOWEBRAU, because ">" is just the tip of the iceberg.

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HARMS

Boo Boo handed me this a while ago....and I figured it would be pretty good. That dude is typically pretty good at things, and I knew that he'd been fucking with synths and electronics, so I figured he'd be pretty good at those too. I didn't know he would be this good. From TANGERINE DREAM to minimal techno to dated dance floor burners, this HARMS tape delivers from start to finish. "Run. Fucking Go And Get Out Of Here" is the absolute jam, but I think it works so much better juxtaposed against the overwhelmingly mellow backdrop of the rest of Let The Moment Wash You Away. No attempt to be weirder or more intense or more mysterious, just a blissfully successful electronic soundtrack to accompany you on your journey....whatever that journey might be. 

LET THE MOMENT WASH YOU AWAY

FLORES DEL VICIO

Relentless rhythm. Constant pulse. Mind numbing noise. Devastating low end. While punk and hardcore turn into classic rock, it seems more and more that the innovators are looking to a different past in order to move into the future. These are future sounds. 

REACH A BETTER FEELING

SØREN

From "Something's Changing," the opening minimal techno track that constantly flirts with thoughts of abandoning the beat altogether and settling into a deep and extended chill, SØREN steps into "Lesser Vehicle" and takes chilling to new and dark heights. It's like techno chopped and screwed, downbeat and erratic, but m-e-l-l-o-w and hypnotic. And then the final track slaps you to attention - manic stream of consciousness electronic dance music that somehow manages to crank the BPMs to inhuman levels while maintaining complete and deliberate calm...three distinct approaches and all more than a little bit successful. SØREN is one of the brainchildren behind ROSENKOPF, so that success should come as no surprise, and this cassette was released by Ascetic House, further removing any expectations for unsuccessfulness. 

MIXED EMOTIONS

DEEP PILL

Another selection from the dizzying array of contributions from the Ascetic House family, DEEP PILL implants a half hour of trippy minimal techno into your body with 2013's High Dose. Building up and cooling down throughout the five tracks, this tape seems to settle into the background at times...until you realize that the rest of your day has receded and you are paying attention to nothing but these sounds (the 4:10 mark of the second track is where this really starts to take hold, and it never lets go). This label never disappoints.

HIGH DOSE

PYONGYANG HARDCORE RESISTANCE

Manipulated breakbeat and hardcore techno mingle with North Korean pop music and military propaganda samples to create one of the most genuine mindfukks I've ever shared here. Total overload, and it's great. It's also not Korean, but I cannot imagine that you will gave half a shit about that once you let this brilliance seep into you. Do it.

THE HARDCOREAN WAVE