Leech - Data Horde (Peak Oil)
Leech, aka Brian Foote, is a master in transfiguration, exfoliating his tracks, breaking them down into core elements of each respective genre, then mending those skeletal corpses back together, morphing them into something new.
His LP "Data Horde" is nothing less than a data dump of uncut nuggets of electronic music morph-mutating - while playing - into finely refined pieces of art.
Robotalco - Callisto (100% Silk)
What to expect from an artist with a stated mission to explore „liquid vibes, 80s French industrial, futuristic house, and the intangible crossroads of Kingston and Detroit“?
In the case of Milanese melting potter Sebastiano Urciuoli aka Robotalco, it doesn’t really matter, for all expectations will be rendered obsolete. Not because „Callisto“ is such a unique and new approach to electronic (house) music, it’s not. But every track (if not each part of every track) on this LP takes you by surprise, whirling your head around until you willfully surrender and simply start listening to each and every track as it is
Wice - Anticipate Home EP (Steinlach)
Too many people fall prey to the dichotomy of nostalgia when what they really experience is sonic fiction. Wice remarkably demonstrates this with four tracks on the young „Steinlach" imprint, a label from my home town Tuebingen.
Exploring static energy, Wice readily stimulates elektrons to form a dense pulsating noise floor full of hidden info-patterns. Making you witness the unwitnessed, turning you into a medium transmitting sensory current.
Odd Okoddo - Okitwoye (Pingipung)
Africa is running like an endless thread through 2019. So much beautiful and empowering music and such cultural heritage, yes even in Central Europe. Odd Okoddo is a prime example.
The Kenyan/German duo formed by Olith Ratego and Sven Kacirek gift us with a multi-layered love-letter. Swinging rhythms, sparse afro electronic sounds, mesmerizing chants - sci-fi blues at it’s best.
Spaza - Spaza (Mushroom Hour)
Spaza is a loose collective and a vehicle of constant change and improvisation. Coming from their respective jazz, afro-funk, and experimental electro scenes this ever-changing group of musicians from Johannesburg aims for absolute freedom and independence of sound.
Meticulously articulated yet wildly improvised this album was recorded in one take and that’s where all its beauty stems from. Spaza presents to you a sonic palette as broad as the universe. A wild journey through indigenous exploration and global expansion and of a pervasive haunting quality.