Bureau B has released so many incredible reissues that it has been hard to document all of them. Artists released this year include Martin Rev (of Suicide), Cluster, Dieter Moebius, Jimi Tenor and Faust among so many others. The label is incredibly prolific, and 2022 was another banner year for the label, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year!
The Spanish ambient music label Faint brings together some of the best modern electronic music composers like David Cordero, Pepo Galán and Robert Farrugia.
Spanish techno producer and label owner Oscar Mulero is featured today, and I have to say that this is the best techno album (or in this case, EP) I’ve heard in a long time. The tracks on this EP are beat-heavy, rather brutal, and yet they keep such a hypnotic rhythm that you cannot help but be impressed by such pounding, nor will you be able to not twitch in time to the music.
Compost Records continues to please my ears, this time releasing the latest album of South African composer Felix Laband, who works somewhere in the center of a dance/experimental/collage triangle. The music is ever-evolving, never boring, and blessed with a pleasant beat.
Uchylak are a Polish group who have a rather retro sound, combining dark electro, techno, and even Electronic Body Music or hard beat into a very punchy, well-produced album.
Our friend The Mossad has composed a tribute to a young lady by the name of Eden Gaiski, and the pain and suffering she endured after a horrible car accident which caused permanent brain damage. The music is instrumental, combining techno with a sweeping electronic wave behind the music.
Modern Obscure Music out of Barcelona, Spain, is making Baroque available for the first time ever on vinyl. This disc was one of them many treasures the late Japanese composer Susumu Yokota released before his passing in 2015 at the age of 54. The album presents some of the most listenable and engaging techno I’ve ever heard, making warmth out of electronic processing. Though it’s sad to know he is no more, it’s wonderful to know that labels like Modern Obscure Music are doing their part to make sure Yokota’s work is never forgotten.
Buh Records out of Peru has released a compilation which serves as a snapshot of Lima’s grimy techno scene. From the label’s Bandcamp site: “The title of this compilation is inspired by the name of a concert held in Lima in 1991, considered to be the first techno concert to have taken place in Peru. Even though not all intervening groups were doing techno at that time, they did share the fact that they all used keyboards. Four of them, however (Cuerpos del Deseo, Ensamble, Círculo Interior and Reacción), were in fact affiliated to an electronic sound (techno-pop, EBM). The…
The Mossad have been featured here before, but this new two-track single blends sounds that would feel familiar to fans of both Fad Gadget and the On-U Sound catalog stripped down to it’s Industrial undergarments.
Sometimes it’s an absolute pleasure to take a stroll down memory lane. My friend Ryant Reeleyes, who worked with Los Angeles legends Jugend Staat many years ago, never gave up the aggro-Industrial-techno bug, and has kept the spirit of bands like Skinny Puppy and Front 242 alive. The album is harsh, ugly at times, cavernous and it makes for a brutal listening experience.