Boomkat update – Umberto, Hunee, Hugo Race, etc

*Key album from Emeralds founding member John Elliot, previously available in a handmade edition of just 150 copies. The album is widely regarded as one of the most important of all the Emeralds side-projects to date and for this edition the audio has been completely remastered by James Plotkin and cut at Berlin’s D&M. It also features new artwork from John Elliot and Witchbeam. We have 300 copies only available – first come, first served* John Elliott, aka 1/3 of the Emeralds, embarked on an anonymous journey into washed out synthdrone-psychedelia some two years ago. The results were released on an obscure triple cassette, and eventually made their way into the hands of the marvellous Digitalis imprint, who’ve done us all a great favour by pressing them once again on this gorgeous gatefold edition. Our enviably prolific protagonist chose to work under the Imaginary Softwoods sobriquet for this release, untethering himself from the more widescreen Emeralds project to involve himself in a vast array of bleak dronescapes and almost baroque experiments, recalling the personal endeavours of 60’s/70’s European private pressings. The sounds here are bleached to a ferric residue (captured on high quality chrome tape), gaining a similar timbre to Kevin Drumm’s recent ‘Imperial Distortion’ works, albeit with more melodic movement and a shy, starry-eyed personality. And unlike the spirit-invoking crescendos of Emeralds, Imaginary Softwoods tracks are by comparison, relatively restrained and brooding affairs, perhaps because they’re limited to two hands on the keys instead of six? The tracks are neatly organised into five minute compositions, spread between overcast, sullen atmospheres and gently sombre moments whose tones are stripped to a dull sparkle, sounding like some well worn acetate found on a dusty shelf. We’re completely smitten with these recordings, and if you’re lucky enough to nab one of these we’re certain you’ll share the feeling. An absolute essential for fans of JD Emmanuel, Kevin Drumm and Emeralds – grab one while you can.

Seeping out of the American underground on the always engrossing NNF label, Matt Hill presents his sophomore Umberto album. It follows on from the Giallo soundtrack style he brilliantly aped on ‘From The Grave…’ deeper into the bowels of the early ’80s sound, leering creepily at John Carpenter and the more bewitching ends of Italo disco and new wavey bits. Many have tried this sound – step forward Zombi, Gatekeeper, Francesco Clemente, Anton Maiovvi – but far fewer have achieved it with as much grain and VHS-warped eeriness as this. It feels more like James Ferraro has locked onto a killer Giallo collection in his dream dungeon and authentically immersed himself in their soundtracks, recreating their mood, tension and gothic mise-en-scene with scary accuracy, from the witch disco of ‘The Psychic’ and ‘Night Stalking’ to the Eurozone emotions of ‘Red Dawn’ and the Goblin-esque ‘Widow Of The Web’, all the while keeping a sly sliver of knowing cheekiness tucked in the top pocket. By the time you reach the ascending end-title arpeggiations of ‘Everything Is Going To Be Okay’ it’s time for another oversized pizza and 10 gallon bottle of cola. Sick record, limited to 485 copies, with wicked artwork from Seth Johnson. Highly Recommended!

The first solo album released by Jane Birkin, Di Doo Dah was made in conjunction with Serge Gainsbourg and Jean Claude Vannier, originally released in 1973. This new Light In The Attic reissue adds a further two bonus tracks on the CD version: 1971’s ‘La Decadanse’ and ‘Les Langues De Chat’. The original artwork is supplemented with previously unseen photographs, French and English lyric transcriptions and extensive liner notes in the booklet including a new interview with Birkin herself. Di Doo Dah follows on from the 1969 duet album Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus’ and the classic 1971 release, L’Histoire De Melody Nelson, and while this is still very much a collaboration, Birkin’s singularly breathy lead vocal is at the heart of all things. The production and Vannier arrangements are wonderful throughout, at times recalling the lithe string parts from his experimental solo album L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, and Gainsbourg’s writing hits some real highs with the likes of ‘Help Cammionneur!’, ‘Kawasaki’ and ‘La Baigneuse De Brighton’. This record invites parallels to be drawn with the solo albums Birkin’s daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg would go on to make; she’s recruited the services of male writers and producers yet still managed to make a record that sounds like it’s all her own. Highly recommended.

An all-out stunner from Brian Pyles aka California’s Starving Weirdos, joining in on NNF’s current soundtrack-y agenda with an incredible solo album. ‘Psychical’ is about as heavy as they come, for synthesized dreams of dark African dread and blood curdling ambience, at least. The whole album plays through like a movie itself, tracks blending into one another like scenes to effectively toy with your senses of fear and what-the-f**k comes next… doom laden drones blacken the horizon to all the peripheries creating a tense atmosphere for panned hand-drums, incantations of “Blood and Marijuana”, unheimlich poetics and even a cameo from Tom Carter ov Charalambides, shredding the acid red skies with guitar on ‘Real Things’. We fear we might be giving too much away and spoiling the fun at this point so we’ll just say this is one of the darkest and most affecting sides of schlock horror we heard all year. Limited copies only, and featuring occult VHS artwork by Manda Beth Brown.

Brilliant debut album from fractal beat collage artist, Dam Mantle. With only one full release to his name and a handful of ace remixes for Gold Panda, GonjaSufi and Au Revoir Simone, the Glaswegian producer (sometimes a duo) has obviously warranted a good deal of attention from all quarters of the musical world. We can simply put this down to the fact that their sound is strikingly unique, imbued with a restless soul twitching between spikes of skweeed digital hip-hop, crafty electronic boogie, dubstep and whatever else is good right now, managing to make it all sound messily coherent in a really psyched-out style. It’s so hard to lock his tracks to any singular pole that we won’t bother, but if you’ve been charmed by Zomby, boggled by Becoming Real or under the spell of As Valet and the maddest strains of the LA sound, this album is a total must.

Seriously heavyweight 7 x 7″ box set including rare King Tubby classics housed in opulent, glossy-finished box set from Jamaican Recordings. This is a fitting tribute to one of dub’s most integral auteurs, including his very best versions for Bunny “Striker” Lee, and a handful of his finest remixes, plus bonus cuts from the first four official King Tubby LPs. Contains absolute head-wrecking masterpieces such as the sci-fi sampling ‘A Rougher Version’, the echo chamber ghosts of ‘Jahovah Version’, his seminal ‘Conversation Dub’ reduction, and the magical dub soul of ‘Declaration Of Dub’ all cleanly cut with imitation centre labels. There’s no repress on this badbwoy, so wine up quick if you want one! Full Tracklisting: 7″ 1. 1. Roots Of Dub 2.Dread Locks Dub 7″ 2. 3. Better Version 4. A Good Version 7″ 3. 5.Declaration Of Dub 6. A Truthful Dub 7″ 4. 7. The Jahovah Dub 8. Conversation Dub 7″ 5. 9. Waltzing Mathilda 10. Weeping Dub 7″ 6. 11. Natty Dub 12. Move Out Of Babylon Dub 7″ 7. 13. Don’t Cut Off Your Dreadlocks 14. A Rougher Version

“New York City, 2069. A new form of crime has evolved. Only one hard-as-nails ex-cop has what it takes to get to the bottom of their plot and stop the new age outlaws from finding the alien artifact and destroying earth as we know it.” Back in March this year, NNF released the original version of this album on cassette, but it’s maker, Dylan Ettinger, has returned to the master tapes in order to “further articulate the new age sci-fi ambient drift jazz vision of those pieces into something even grander and more elegant”, now issued as the ‘Directors Cut’, buffed with new mastering, resequenced tracklist and extra noodly Vangelis impersonations. The A-side is one long drift of cinematic synth washes and arcing arpeggiations, from tender to intrepid via field recordings of the cyber jungle in the space of 25 mins. The mission gets weirder and more confused as the glowing pills kick in on the flipside, starting in a techno bar in the old zones surrounded by a chorus of pissed up aliens, before succumbing to blissed out ethereal harmonics at ‘Penguin Point’ and coming home to a one-roomed apartment on the 764th storey in ‘Gordons Theme’. Features stunning sci-fi sleeve art from Dan McPharlin and photocopied insert, in an run of 490 copies.

Chart smashing 7″ from the Olde English Spelling Bee camp, dropping the debut from Brooklyn’s hugely tipped Greatest Hits. Aside from having one of the best names ever, this band also make some of the most f**ked up pop music we’ve heard all year. Think Autre Ne Veut doing a guest spot on The Hitman And Her presented by Pete Waterman and James V/VM in a Michaela Strachan mask, and you’re almost there. The PWL-production line groove of ‘Danse Pop’ is our favourite, while ‘Make You Mine’ strikes a baggier rut of Balearic sunshine, pished-up on warm vodka and starved of oxygen from smoking too many Regals. On the flip ‘Stop And Go’ is a weird-out slice of FM boogie pop pie and ‘Ambulance’ is a snottier electropunk nugget. Can the Olde English Spelling Bee do no wrong? Magic.

Enhanced and incredibly produced bass music from the Raster Noton camp courtesy of Kangding Ray, reinforced with stunning remixes from Alva Noto and Ben Frost. With ‘Pruitt Igoe’ Kangding Ray augments his sound to Raster’s current avant-techno agenda, logging onto the ‘floor with the burly swing of ‘Rise’ and ‘Fall’, both echoing Dubstep’s move into slower tempos and elevated groove technology like some uncompromising Teutonic cousin to Pinch’s ‘Croydon House’ sound or a steel-plated Shackleton rhythm trip. Of course this is all in line with Raster’s overriding agenda of intense, considered minimalism, striving to eke the optimised impact from every sound and eschewing the need for any unnecessarily conventional melody or harmony. On the remixes, Alva Noto continues a streak of rhythmically charged form, following remixes for Greie Gut Fraktion and Vladislav Delay with a colossal remodel of ‘Rise’, filtering the original’s distorted field recordings of street singers from Uttar Pradesh into something like an inverted version of Ancient Methods’ stentorian techno funk. Finally, Ben Frost returns Kangding Ray’s programming favour on his ‘By The Throat’ album with a gripping refix of ‘Fall’, placing kicks like boulders strewn on arctic tundra while dynamically contorting the ghoulish synths into nightmarish figures looming from the inky blackness. As you can probably tell, this is pushing our buttons, hard. So good.

The second in this heavyweight Congotronics remix series sets Mark Ernestus of Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel fame to task, remixing Konono No.1’s ‘Masikulu’ in two blinding versions. To call this a dancefloor dream come true might be hyperbolic, but wholeheartedly sincere. Ernestus tackles the material faithfully and respectfully, duppying Konono’s mesmeric rhythms with a learned sleight of hand and additional percussion from like-minded ally, Burnt Friedman, resulting in two tracks of mindblowing and timeless Afro-Germanic hybrids. Very usefully, the 115bpm pace is coolly House and Techno compatible, making for endless potential permutations in the right hands and ripe for a global dancefloor currently converging on a tribal trajectory. We could heap praise on this all day but you’ve probably checked the samples and know what we’re talking about already. As ESSENTIAL as they come.

**Purple Marbled Vinyl** Returned from the core of the sphere of the unknown, Space Dimension Controller delivers a luscious double pack for R&S, and on marbled vinyl to boot. There are few in modern techno/house/electro quarters who haven’t been charmed by his 12″s on Royal Oak and Kinnego, and that number is set to increase with these seven tracks. The epithet adorning both plates “Created aboard the Electropod of a time-trapped futurist” neatly encapsulates ‘Temporary Thrillz’, from the silvery electrosoul shimmer of ‘Mercurial Attraction’, to the Anti-G slide of ‘2EZ (Autopilot’s Lament)’ and the sci-fi Boogie sophistication of ‘Transatlantic Landing Bay’. Our two favourite tracks are coincidentally the slowest, with the lubricated ‘lectrosex of closer ‘Simmering Emotion (Stay With Me)’ and the sensuous drag of ‘Kaleidoscopic Ecstacy’ sounding like slow jamz for android porn. Big tip!

Omar-S on the case again, dropping three tracks of undiluted D-troit Jack-trax and one mad little Disco edit. ‘Solely Supported’ is Electro-House in the original Chicago sense of the term, riding a fat Italo-debted bassline and crispy claps deep into the groove, before the fiercely raw ‘Under Jamaica’ does what he does best with gritty, tracky drum loops and submerged bass dubbed up and smoked out, Omar-S style. On the flip ‘Columns’ dominates with a more laidback and smoothly hypnotic House number, while the deadly ‘Boot Gill’ adds some of his nonchalant charm to a deep Disco edit. Needed.

FXHE present a lip-smackingly choice rerelease of Roy Davis Jr.’s ‘All I Do’, backed with an epic percussive workout from Omar S and DJ B-Len-D. No messing, ‘All I Do’ is an all time classic NYC Garage classic, maybe not as well known as ‘Gabrielle’ but a staple fixture in Omar’s DJ sets and a beautiful tune nonetheless. On the flip the restless soul and imagination of A.O.Smith links with his Detroit fellow for ‘Da Teys’, keeping matters subtly minimal yet deeply tribal with insistent congas pushed on with stealthy bass hits while slow rising keys smokily infiltrate and intoxicate the whole affair. This one’s going to be getting a lot of play around here. So good.

“Wareika Hill Sounds is the contemporary roots reggae project of Calvin cameron – mainstay of the original Light Of saba line-up, the genius behind Lambs Bread Collie – who to this day lives above the headquarters of the mystic Revelation Of Rastafari, in the Wareika district of Kingston, Jamaica. In the great pedagogical traditions of the multi-cultrual Light Of Saba, and before that Count Ossie, this new recording runs together two JA musical traditions – a kind of drumming (and drum) brought from the Congo, and the island’s variation of calypso – into a thundering grounation charge. As always, the Skatalite’s trombone-playign is majestic: deadly, gripping, deeply cultivated. The dub is tremendous, too. Expertly mastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin,a nd beautfully pressed at Pallas, for maximum soundboy worries. With a lovely printed sleeve, designed by Will Bankhead.” Limited copies – highly recommended!

Not Not Fun deliver Pocahaunted’s final recordings together, made earlier this spring at the end of a three week US tour. Funnily enough, these are their first and last recordings to be in a proper studio (Louder, in San Fran), and the results are a brilliant tease for what might have been. ‘Threshold’ starts out slow, building from almost orgiastic sighs, yawns and wails to find a heads-down discopunk-steppers groove, featuring the triumvirate of Amanda Brown, Diva Dompe and Leyna Noel forming loose but hypnotic chants and ghostly caterwauls. On the flip ‘Echolocation’ is essentially their closing note, loping towards the conclusion with an instinctively mournful feel guided by Diva Dompe’s deft bass and a mesmerizing slow climax of vocals and deliciously amateurish desert dub guitar with acres of reverb. Limited, and very excellent indeed.

Modeselektor proudly present volume 2 in their highly collectable Modeselektion series, scanning the future of 128bpm groove technology. 2562 offers a swinging garage-techno number on ‘Wind It Up’, while Shed serves dusted, minimalist jazz/2-step percussion and a sweeping, heavily filtered synthline to head swirling effect. Finally, SBTRKT does his characteristically playful yet deeply techy thing with ‘The Unspoken’, rubbing Zomby-style melody over bustling brukken beats and surging electro synth strikes…

Remarkable release from Optimo Music; four tracks of crazy electro-acoustic disco psychedelia, fresh outta Jakarta, Indonesia!! Space System are Adhianto Aryo and Jonathan Kusuma, two relatively new producers with only a small handful of releases to their name. With ‘Sorrow Show’ the duo erect a towering, modern psych-disco colossus where thunderous toms collide with breathtaking synth explosions before grooving into lazer-guided jazz keys worthy of Mr Fingers. We’ve honestly never heard owt quite like this before. ‘Petik’ follows, binding heavenly harp with dub-splayed synths and a brittle but inviting shuffle rhythm. On the remix tip, ‘Sorrow Show’ receives a more EBM tempered revision, and ‘Nocturnal’ blends bobbling Chicago bassline with Gamelan-like timbres for another incredibly unique fusion. Seriously – get this.