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Datacide 18 Record Reviews by Controlled Weirdness

The Wheel of Rituals
[Viewlexx]
Dirty industrial tinged techno/electro from a mystery artist. 6 tracks of unease and menace. Throbs and clangs deliciously. Perfect for a pagan warehouse all-nighter.

General Ludd
Radd Ludd 2
[Rubadub]
Killer spaced out techno dub from Glasgow. Richard McMaster from Golden Teacher and Tom Marshall contribute 4 tracks of deep and intricate percussion that occasionally goes into heavy bass and drum assault. Rhythms are top drawer, needs a good system to accommodate the low end.

Schwefelgelb
Aus Den Falten
[aufnahme + wiedergabe]

The last few years have seen a steady resurgence of EBM. A lot of the new tunes have the Eighties metronomic Goth pulse but with a lot better production values to help the tunes rock the dance floor. Schwefelgelb are one of the leading exponents of this style and couldn’t be more Berlin if you tried. This is what I expect to hear in the infamous Berghain dark room. Militant jack hammer grooves with whispered German phrases in the background as multiple bodies jerk to endless syncopated bass repetition.

Kalbata
001 and 002
[Brush and Broom]
Wicked new label from Ariel Tagar, aka Kalbata. The focus is on deep house and techno grooves, but still with off kilter rhythm and tones. 001 has two mesmerizing cuts of subtle percussion, melodies move in and out hypnotically. 002 features four excellent and accomplished acid workouts that wriggle and throb deliciously.

Phil Kieran
Polyrhythmic
[Optimo]
Killer 3-tracker of simple polyrhythmic drums and groove that undulates and snakes in perpetual motion. Live drums mixed with a metronomic pulse and subsonic bass. Has a touch of Golden Teacher grooviness befitting its release on Glasgow’s always interesting and ever-eclectic Optimo.

Sound of Mind
Freaky Programming
[F.A.C.T. Records]
Re-issue of 2-tracker Detroit electro bangers from Erik Travis. Nothing too intellectual here just pure pumping fat 808’s and vocal snippets cut up in proper jackin style for the dance floor. Raw and dirty, boom and bass!

Cestrian:
Secret Language
[Vivod/Unknown to the Unknown]
Filthy rolling electro with a touch of distortion and some syncopated groove and funk, previously only available on digital in 2012. Now repressed on vinyl with an extra remix from Umberto.

Raw Ambassador:
Shadows of Evil
[Mannequin]
Part of the “Death of the Machines” series. Four filthy grinding EBM grooves that probably have a bit too much distortion when listened to on nice speakers but sound perfect when you’re fucked up at 6 in the morning.

Transllusion:
A moment of Insanity
[Clone Aqualung Series]
Previous unreleased electro experiments from Drexciyan wave jumper James Stinson under his Transllusion alias. Four tracks of deep-sea exploration in his own unique style.

The Hacker:
Le Theatre des Operations
[Dark Entries]
Double 12” containing 8 tracks of electro techno throb cut loud for the floor and demonstrating a mastery of minimal machine funk. Killer.

We Buy Gold 003
3rd release on We Buy Gold and as before just a hyper limited press of 100 copies on a stamped white label from London. No name of artists or tracks and as it says on Bandcamp, “4 notorious producers exploring the outer realms of club music”. Weird and dark breaks with Juke and UK bass culture vibes and essential for those of us who love genre mutation.

Blind Rape:
Special Delivery
[Edit Service]
Killer chug edits of obscure Brazilian percussion, Yugoslavian EBM and weirdo Krautrock disco. A serious dig in the crates for little known but amazing tunes to reshape. Grisha Nelyubin on the edits. Just needs to sort out the shit project name.

Calypso 001
Excellent new label from Mexico whose aim is to focus attention on Latin-American producers. Over the past few years some amazing music has been filtering over from South America and this 4-track EP features some superb creeping chug style, new wave and esoteric dance, from Mendrix, Colossio, Thomass Jackson and Inigo Vontier. Essential.

Metro Jaxx Volume One
[Balkan Vinyl]
Banging jack, acid and house bangers from a varied group of underground rave selectors. Limited repress on a green label as the original went fast. Don’t sleep. Peak dancefloor bombs for DJs.

Controlled Weirdness

buy [4]
Christoph de Babalon: Grim Zenith EP [VIS005]We haven’t had an EP vinyl from CDB in many years, really since the excellent ‘A World of My Own’ 12” on Restroom Records. The wait is paid off with this evocative release limited to 300 copies. A1 ‘Could We Be?’ submerges us in…
  • all record reviews published in the latest issue from autumn 2008 The Reverend reviews: Counterstrike – From Beyond the Grave EP – Algorythm Recordings (Algo 003)“If you can’t keep up don’t step up.” The dark side of drum n bass has been on top form recently with artists like Limewax…
  • Record review section of Datacide 4 with reviews by Flint Michigan, ATX, Eun, Kovert, Delinquent, Scud, border fox, The Reverend, and The Jackal. Various Artists - Chinese Revenge - Eclectic 01 A four  track e.p by four different artists kicks off this new label - with the D'Archangelo brothers contributing…