Boomkat new JAMES FERRARO, INDIGNANT SENILITY, ARTHUR RUSSELL, etc

*Edition of 400 copies, packaged in hand-assembled four colour printed double sleeve with an insert* Giuseppe Ielasi’s amazing Senufo Editions label present a reissue of two long-form compositions by a master of discreet, devout electro-acoustics – Eliane Radigue. The first of the two half-hour pieces ‘Geelriandre’ was made on an ARP Synthesizer in 1972 accompanied by Gérard Fremy on Piano, and finally recorded at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, December 1979. In its 29 minute life-span the world seems to gradually slow down spinning on its axis, everything feels measured to a deeply attuned internal clock. The ARP provides layers of wavering tones which gradually accumulate, dissipate and re-emerge with a subliminal quality while sensitively struck percussion – gongs and other, sharper metallic objects – mark out time with a saintly, opiated patience. Just so so good. Oh man, then there’s ‘Arthesis’ – realised on the Moog Synthesizer at the University of Iowa in 1973, a track which makes you feel like part of your consciousness is folding back into itself. A low, low hum starts out in the left channel before overtones gradually bleed into the right ending with a moebius strip-like circuit. After another 15 minutes or so both channels appear to start swooning in a kind of elliptical syncopation, leaving you utterly transfixed and practically dazed by the end. Hearing these pieces now, in our over-saturated soundsphere, the effect is nothing short of radical and deeply, unforgettably affective. If you’re seeking something literally extra-ordinary, which seems to displace time altogether, these pieces will greatly enrich your mind. When this material was originally released in 2003 on Fringes Recordings it was available in a greater number than this run and sold out immediately, so if you know what’s good…

*Strictly limited pressing – just 440 copies available, with initial copies on Chestnut coloured vinyl* Pat Maher has left an indelible mark on our listening habits over the last few years – and in the process has become a producer tipped by many a tastemaker. From the ketamine techno fractals of his Diamond Catalog alias to the cough syrup-laced chopped and screwed productions as DJ Yo Yo Dieting, the guy just seems to have furrowed his own unique path situating him somewhere between the films of David Lynch, the aesthetic of the Tri Angle label and the mindset of the most experimental end of the U.S. underground movement. But by far the deepest impression Maher has made has been left by the unforgettable degenerations of his Indignant Senility project. 18 months have passed since the release of ‘Plays Wagner’ (his debut proper), in which time he’s become scarily familiar with his technique of decaying and manipulating found sound and sampled detritus. Like some arcane alchemist perfecting his magick, or a Victor Frankenstein of thrift shop wax, on ‘Consecration Of The Whipstain’ he’s resuscitated acousmatic fragments of f*ck-knows-what into a supernatural collage of symphonic ambient space and cold, metal-on-shellac texture. But most importantly it’s the channels between the gauzy layers, in the cracks of the dulled ceramic glaze, where the ghoulish drafts circulate more freely and chill to the bone with an intravenous sense of movement which wasn’t quite there previously, despite always being hinted at. Like the best of his work, there’s an unpredictability to the (de)composition of his occult sonics which, like the most memorable horror films (or their soundtracks), sustains the suspension of disbelief without you ever noticing, always holding back more than it gives away. And to further the celluloid analogy, it’s handled with a masterful attention to the lighting of each scene, allowing certain looming objects and apparitions just enough light to elicit deeply instinctive responses from the listener/viewer. There’s a list ranging from Xennakis to The Caretaker, Bellows to Lustmord and Kevin Drumm who could be more or less compared to this sound, but ultimately there’s something genuinely, quietly demented about it which should be approached with caution by anyone of a nervous disposition. It’s just hugely recommended to everyone else.

For the past seven years or more James Ferraro has been mapping out the MTV-reared, internet-scrambled parapsychology of an entire f*cked up generation, releasing countless tapes, CD-Rs and LPs to expound and expand his pungently postmodern vision. Recently that slew has abated a little while he’s been preparing this full-length for Hippos In Tanks, and now we can see why: Far Side Virtual is by far the most evolved, immersive, accessible and acute Ferraro offering to date, at once a major departure from his previous work and a perfect distillation of his long-standing themes. On first contact, the shedding of his long-standing lowest-fi aesthetic in favour of punchy, pin-sharp production is a bit of a shock, but ultimately this strategy proves all the more subversive; rather than simply commenting on the beast of hyper-consumerism, he’s now broadcasting from within it its Gatorade-lined belly. With titular references to Google, Mac, wi-fi, Pixar and Starbucks, conceptually it’s an attempt to capture something of the vulgar way we live now; sonically the whole thing is a psychedelic fantasia on the kind of music you hear when on hold to a dodgy insurance agent, or soundtracking a TV ad for dial-0800-GET-THIN diet pills – all cheap synths, glitzy chimes and oversexed saxophones, melodies deeply sinister in their utopian promise. There’s still that all-important tape-bounced, hypnagogic distance to proceedings, but for the most part what we have hear is a kind of unheimlich techno-pop that’s like nothing else out there, and yet instantly, eerily familiar – thanks to its roots in the audio-visual shrapnel of the everyday.

Strut Records’ crucial compendium of Factory’s lesser-known, deadly dancefloor killers lands on double gatefold vinyl! Trustingly collected by the legendary Bill Brewster, it spans the nascent years of the influential Manchester label, charting the double refraction of cutting-edge dancefloor ideas between Cottonopolis and New York which followed the flight paths of New Order, Section 25 and A Certain Ratio during their early ’80s heyday. Now, as everyone knows, Manchester loves a good dance, and the incessant search for “the perfect beat” lead that early band of pioneers such as Martin Moscrop, Bernard Sumner, Mike Pickering and Rob Gretton to essentially recreate what they’d experienced at NYC clubs like The Danceteria and Village Vanguard at their newly opened Haçienda club on Whitworth street, and even going as far as enlisting the likes of Arthur Baker, and DJs Mark Kamin and Jellybean Benitez to produce and remix for the label. In the process they transformed the Manchester landscape of dour post-punk into a stylishly forward thinking assimilation of New York club sounds. And the tunes? There’s some absolute killers here (read that in a Gary Barlow voice for emphasis), from the eight-minute megamix of Section 25’s seminal ‘Looking From A Hilltop’ to the hypnotic Electro sophistication of John “Jellybean” Benitez’ restructure of 52nd Street’s ‘Cool As Ice’ and Mark Kamin’s fruity New York remix of Marcel King’s ’84 soul burner ‘Reach For Love’. But it’s not all Electroid. There’s also a healthy representation of the label’s more outre and exotic tastes, taking in Dennis Bovell’s X-O-Dubs cut ‘See Them A’Come’ and of the lush romance of The Durutti Column’s ‘For Belgian Friends’. Best of all for newcomers to the sound, compiler Bill Brewster has sidestepped the label’s dodgier moments and presented the perfect springboard for any any younger heads to dive into this era. Essential!

**Hand screen-printed, super heavyweight deluxe boxset housing 4LPs, unpublished photographs, artwork and testimonials, and liner notes by A.R.’s biographer Tim Lawrence** For the Arthur Russell fan they don’t come much more crucial than this! Sleeping Bag, the label who handled some of Arthur’s finest dancefloor moments, have compiled his entire output as Dinosaur L, from the classic ’24/24′ LP through the multiple edits of ‘Go Bang’ and ‘In The Corn Belt’ together with his lesser known productions as Felix, Sounds Of JHS 126 Brooklyn, Bonzo Goes To Washington, and Indian Ocean. Some of the latter tracks were collected on ‘The Sleeping Bag Sessions’ 2LP a couple of years back, but they’re not on a blag here – the production values for this box are entirely worthy of Arthur’s recognised status as a genuine musical auteur, and in our opinion at least, one of the most important artists of the last 40 years. It should bear repeating that this set includes some of the finest, most original and eternally beguiling bodies of work in modern music, so go figure. Out-and-out essential. Tracklisting in full: A1. Dinosaur L – #1 (You’re Gonna Be Clean On Your Bean) A2. Dinosaur L – #5 (Go Bang!) A3. Dinosaur L – #2 (No, Thank You) B1. Dinosaur L – #7 B2. Dinosaur L – #3 (In The Corn Belt) B3. Dinosaur L – #6 (Get Set) C1. Dinosaur L – Clean On Your Bean #1 C2. Dinosaur L – #5 Go Bang! (Francois K Mix) D1. Dinosaur L – Go Bang! (Thank You Arthur Edit) D2. Dinosaur L – In The Corn Belt (Larry Levan Remix) E1. Dinosaur L – Go Bang! (Walter Gibbons Mix) F1. Bonzo Goes To Washington – 5 Minutes (B-b-b Bombing Mix) F2. Felix – Tiger Stripes (Extended Version) F3. The Sounds Of J.H.S. 126 Brooklyn – Chill Pill (Underwater Mix) G1. Indian Ocean – School Bell / Treehouse G2. You Can’t Hold Me Down (Extended Version) H1. Indian Ocean – Treehouse / School Bell (Extended Bootleg Edit) H2. Bonzo Goes To Washington – 5 Minutes (R-r-r Radio Mix) H3. The Sounds Of J.H.S. 126 Brooklyn ft The Educational Crew – You Can’t Hold Me Down (Test Pressing Version – Previously Unreleased

*Edition of 300 copies only for the world* Fresh from his ace 7″ for NNA Tapes, Belgium’s Hans Dens drops his 2nd vinyl LP of lo-fi hypnagogic synthscrapes. His latest blown-out Techno odyssey scrambles the coordinates between Krautrock, minimal synth music and Belgian beats, hovering in an illusory interzone of self-organising synth music and almost unconsciously programmed arrangements. Through the A-side we encounter the lolling, eyes-shut ‘Opiate Vague’ which sounds somewhere between Hype Williams and Rabih Beani, besides the decaying topographies of ‘Pai Apnan/Pai Nan’ like Motion Sickness of Time Travel on a bad trip, and the submerged murk of ‘Grind At Heart’. Flipside the journey becomes more fractal with a series of shorter tracks morphing from humid cyber-tropical simulations reminding of L.J.R. Martens to infernal dream noise and chewed techno, before spitting us out on the mind-decompressing drone pressure systems of ‘Baby Food’. Most excellent.

Seventeen new tracks from Russell Haswell, plus 16 page booklet with text and 15 vector oscillograms. The tracks are improvisations on either modular synthesizer, computer or electronics and pedals (full equipment listed in booklet). They were simultaneously recorded and monitored on stereo/phase scope (visual) and speakers or headphones (auditory), direct to 2-channel HD with no overdub and no midi. It’s all intended to be an multi-sensory experience, providing instructions to connect an Oscilloscope X-Y view or software equivalent and including a reading list to really get you in the mood. And what does it sound like? Oh f*ck, that bit. Essentially they’re seventeen hugely dynamic and abstract shapes, lasting between 33 seconds and just over 12 minutes, from somersaulting glitches to raging white noise clusterf*cks and obliterating distortion, via isolated ambience and almost cartoonish frequency chatter. Put simply, it satisfies a very specific itch for the furthest freaks.

BNJMN serves Rush Hour with a second LP of unique productions on ‘Black Square’. His sound here is brilliantly versatile; whether he’s on a swinging House tip or a steppin’ electronica flex, there’s a consistent sense of compositional virtue which marks him out from the crowd. It’s all heavily imbued with a debt to vintage ’90s IDM and Ambient Techno but executed with a cyber-simulant freshness which feels more up-to-the-moment, taking House and Techno templates and revitalising them with ultra-crisp digital tropes which might not satisfy the analogue purists, but so what? There’s highlights to be heard on the emotively rave-spirited ‘Keep The Power Out’ and the Tokyo Tech-House vibes of ‘Open The Floodgates’, or on a more leftfield tip check for the woozy, off-centre stepper ‘Wisdom Of Uncertainty’ or the almost baroque beatless beauty of ‘Hallowed’ for a fine taste of what to expect. TIPPED!

**Includes digital download voucher redeemable from the label** French drone deities High Wolf might be best known for their shimmering Not Not Fun efforts, but this latest full-length (emerging on the ever-reliable Holy Mountain imprint) is probably their best yet. Apparently it was inspired by a long trip to India and Nepal, and this Eastern promise is clearly reflected in the band’s sound palette. Pulsing tablas sit beneath a dense, sludgy bed of droning guitars – but ‘Atlas Nation’ isn’t a chore to listen to. While a great deal of drone music can be a feat of endurance, High Wolf throw enough hooks in there you’ll find yourself almost humming along to at some points. A good comparison might be the similarly-loctated Natural Snow Buildings, and while High Wolf breach far more worldly places, they definitely share a knack for creating beauty from the dark recesses of sound. The album draws to an epic close with ‘Haiti’, an elegy of sorts to the country’s debilitating earthquake and maybe the band’s saddest and most affecting composition to date. It climaxes in a cacophony of distortion and chiming percussion and I’m reminded of sacred music, somehow – a fitting tribute to weighty subject matter. Highly recommended.

**Immense collection of exquisite Bollywood horror-funk themes reclaimed by the FK crew – hugely recommended!** After what seems like a thousand years of blood, sweat, tears, and a lot more blood, your zombified disc disciples at Finders Keepers unveil one of their most essential collections yet. This musical mausoleum of malformed freak funk and dreadful discothèque pop has been resurrected from the maligned cinematic subculture of Bombay’s bloodthirsty horror film industry and witnesses the cognoscenti of the Bollywood pop scene at their most creative, destructive an experimentally effective. “Bollywood Bloodbath” features India’s finest composers, such as Bappi Lahiri, RD Burman, Sonik Omi, Sapan Jogmohan and Laxmikant Pyarelal making the kind of radical risk-rock that would under normal circumstances have studio security escorting these overworked maestros off set for a well-earned break or a relaxing exorcism. Take all the most oblique, indigenous characteristics of your favourite Bollywood musicals then condense them into a bubbling serum and watch the Jekyll and Hyde transformation commence as these A-list composers create bloodcurdling B-Music for the films they never thought the outernationals would see or hear. Leading up to the inauguration of the notorious Ramsay Bros film company (whose sibling rivalry in the 70s and 80s lead to the inclusion of flight-style puke bags in participating picture houses) this compilation pulls no punches and plunges the “B” of Bombay into the heart of the b-movie and squirts a masala of bloody ketchup and red wine onto the sets of Bollywood’s glorious filmic musicals. Licensed exclusively from the independant Indian film music companies (revealing incidental tracks that they didn’t even know they owned) Bollywood Bloodbath is the result of avid stomach turning research via VHS tapes, chewed-up cassettes, and LPs, 12″s and 45s remastered from some of the only existing master tapes; presented on both CD and vinyl for both the hairy home listeners and daring DJs just in time for the witching season. Hunt down the spooky Sansani before it gets to you first!”

*Demdike Stare’s Miles with an incredible set of dark analogue productions somewhere between Eleh, Pan Sonic and Eliane Radigue. Comes housed in a white-on-white embossed sleeve – limited copies available* Suum Cuique (pronouned Soom Kwi-Kwe, Latin for “To Each His Own”) follows the remit of Young Americans to explore uncharted, experimental, and personal synthscapes, guided by the hand of intuition with an entirely analogue array of machines. There’s a confidence and ability to these productions which elevates them above the masses of lo-fi synth meanderings currently murmuring in the underground, occupying the tantalising space between Eliane Radigue and James Ferraro, or Thomas Köner and Daphne Oram, creating a dialogue between their shared and opposing aesthetics to give an emotional response with deeply chilling and engrossing results. In ‘Lithic Reduction’ concrète textures grind like a millstone to release powdery clouds of analog dust, settling only to be dispersed by gusts of blackened distortion, whereas ‘Red Binary’ is distinctly electronic, revolving around muted radar bleeps like the resonance from SAW II soundtracking a speckly pill experience that’s starting to go west. The album’s centrepiece, the aptly titled ‘Entropy’ nods to the sublimely stoic work of Eleh, radiating microtonal bass shifts while a bitter northerly wind builds in intensity. Brilliantly out of place, ‘Cyclic Redundancy’ opens the flipside with a majestically submerged slab of completely obliterated and submerged 4/4, like an unholy collusion between Mika Vainio, Sandwell and Bernard Parmegiani soundtracking a trade union rave in the 1950’s, before ‘Even In Death…’ conjures imagery of a eulogy given by a Mongolian throat singer with crows circling overhead.

Funkineven comes as rough as yer nan’s stubble on three killer analogue sessions – his most focused and stripped release to date. In fact, it’s so gnarled there’s even a warning on the centre label “It’s Not Your Speakers, It’s The Beat”, a sure sign of great things ahead. On the A-side you’ll feel the gravelly wallop of ‘Beat Crash’, a bruxist confection of wildly overdriven electro bass, surging hyper-Boogie keys and needling hi-hats, kinda like Alec Empire jamming with Dâm Funk. Flipside ‘F*ck Off’ churns any remaining residue between your ears with gargled acid tweaks and brittle-but-booming machine rhythm, then there’s ‘Iron Cloud’, like some recording made by Mr Fingers after a three-day PCP-bender in ’86. For our 2p, this is the best Funkineven record to date and an absolute must!

**Side A of this 12″ is pressed as a 7” played at 45rpm and Side B is cut as a 10” at 33rpm, the additional space is taken up by a disc etching, mastered and cut expertly at Abbey Road. Limited edition of 500** Jesse Reiner’s San Franciscan Kosmische four-piece follow-up their excellent RPG mission ‘Music For The Tactile Dome’ with a canny two tracker for Great Pop Supplement. The group, now expanded to include Damon Palermo (Mi Ami/Magic Touch) Diego Gonzales, and Phil Manley (Trans Am/The F*cking Champs) go deep with their searching A-side ‘The Prime Revealer’, propelling us into a milky cosmos of spooling arpeggios, distant star scream synths and proto-Techno pulses with wide-eyed but almost pop-focussed intent. The flipside is more mysterious, widescreen and exploratory; sentinel synths scan endless martian terrain while their swelling atmospheric mix leaves us feeling light headed and floating. Excellent music, and top-notch presentation! Tipped for fans of Expo70, Steve Moore, Jean Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze.

UTTU deliver their hottest drop yet, a lethal platter featuring DJ Stingray, Heinrich Mueller (Dopplereffekt), and Cestrian (aka Ali Renault)! The original two parts of ‘Sadist’ features the shady UTTU characters in collaboration with DJ Stingray, pulling no punches with hyper-fused elements of D-troit Jit, Industrial-strength Electro and Chi-town Footwork honed to a body-owning flex. Flipside, following his notorious appearance at the UTTU party in June, Heinrich Mueller ices ‘The Sadist’ into stoic, spindly beats and hypnotic arpeggios leaving spider-trails across yo’ mind, while Cestrian buffs up a more brusing EBM-tempered version to conclude. For the Footwork futurists and Electro fetishists this really don’t come any more essential this week. BIG tip!

*Pink vinyl – Picture sleeve includes two-sided 12×12″ insert* Johnny Jewel and Ida No are back! Their first single in over a year ‘Warm In The Winter’ is an exuberant slice of pop-positive disco NRG, Ida cooing ‘I Love You/We Love You’ over star-melting arpeggios primed for the huggiest indie-discos around. For contrast, ‘Beautiful Object’ drops the pace for a slow, swirling bit of Piano-Disco-Boogie, a full-bodied pop groover with trilling vocal hooks you’ll no doubt find yourself humming at the bus stop days after receipt. B-side includes instrumentals of both songs.