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Music Reviews

Nigh/T\mare: Through

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Artist: Nigh/T\mare (@)
Title: Through
Format: 12" x 2 + Download
Label: Forbidden Teachings (@)
Rated: * * * * *
Some techno records want to move your body. "Through" wants to interrogate your nervous system.

Giuseppe Sciretti, operating as Nigh/T\mare, has never treated the dance floor as a neutral environment. Since his early releases in 2017 and subsequent work across labels orbiting the darker fringes of industrial and atmospheric techno, he has built a vocabulary steeped in tension. Not decorative darkness. Structural darkness. On "Through", his first full-length for Forbidden Teachings, that vocabulary is refined into something heavier, slower to dissolve, and more introspective.

The album unfolds across ten tracks, pressed on double 12" and extended digitally, and it feels deliberately paced. The title piece, “Through”, establishes the terrain: cavernous low-end pressure, distant metallic textures, and a pulse that feels less like a beat and more like a heartbeat under strain. Sciretti’s sound design is meticulous. Every reverb tail seems placed to widen the psychological frame rather than simply thicken the mix.

“The Succession of Things” expands the scope. Its structure is patient, almost ritualistic. Layers accumulate gradually, then recede, as if demonstrating impermanence in real time. This is techno that understands erosion. Nothing remains static for long. Even the most insistent patterns seem aware that they will eventually collapse into silence.

There is a personal undercurrent here that aligns with Sciretti’s broader artistic approach. He has often described his music as a conduit for processing anxiety, stress, and emotional turbulence. On “Mental Breakdown” and “A Lack of Caress,” that intention becomes audible. The rhythms maintain functional clarity, but the atmospheres are raw, frayed at the edges. The tracks do not dramatize pain; they inhabit it.

“Flagellum” and “Beyond the River” lean toward the more physical dimension of his sound. The percussion strikes with controlled force, the basslines carve clean arcs through the spectrum. Yet even at their most driving, these tracks avoid becoming blunt tools. There is always a sense of space, of depth beneath the surface aggression.

“Arise” and “Rising” suggest motion, but not necessarily ascent. They feel like attempts to stand upright under pressure. Sciretti’s production resists cheap catharsis. He does not provide an obvious drop to release tension. Instead, he sustains it, reshapes it, and occasionally lets it fracture into unexpected harmonics.

The digital bonus track, “Resilience”, functions as a subdued epilogue. It does not offer triumph. It offers endurance. The textures are slightly warmer, the atmosphere marginally less oppressive, but the overall mood remains contemplative. Survival, in this context, is not glamorous. It is ongoing.

Technically, "Through" showcases a producer in full control of his sonic identity. The kicks are dense without overpowering. The high frequencies cut without becoming brittle. The balance between industrial grit and lush ambience is carefully maintained. Sciretti understands how to make space feel inhabited rather than empty.

What distinguishes this album from generic dark techno is its emotional specificity. The mood is not an aesthetic pose. It feels earned. The tracks move through despair and fatigue, yes, but also through persistence. The album’s central question, whether the self can transcend its shaping forces, remains unresolved. That ambiguity becomes its strength.



Deluka: Supercinema 06

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Artist: Deluka
Title: Supercinema 06
Format: 12" + Download
Label: Supercinema Records (@)
Rated: * * * * *
Electronic music loves a concept. Cowboys, deserts, duels at sunset. Usually it is just artwork and a press release wearing a hat. With Supercinema 06, Deluka actually commits to the bit.

This 12" marks Part 1 of a five-EP narrative titled The Journey of the Minstrel, a serialized Western in which music replaces gunfire and the saloon becomes a dance floor. It sounds theatrical on paper. On wax, it becomes something more restrained and deliberate. Francesco De Luca, the Italian DJ and producer behind the Deluka alias and founder of Berlin’s No Signal Records, understands pacing. He does not rush the story. He builds it.

“Libra” opens the record with calibrated equilibrium. The groove is steady but not inert, pivoting around a bassline that feels measured rather than aggressive. Deluka’s production leans toward hypnotic repetition, yet small percussive shifts keep the track in motion. If this is the arrival of the minstrel in town, he is not bursting through the saloon doors. He is assessing the room.

“Secret (Vision II)” stretches out over eight minutes, and here Deluka’s Berlin education becomes audible. The arrangement unfolds patiently, layering filtered synth motifs and subtly evolving textures. There is a cinematic undertow, but it is not melodramatic. The tension simmers instead of exploding. The track seems to ask whether anticipation might be more powerful than climax. It often is.

“Detroit State of Mind” tips its hat to lineage without turning into homage. The rhythmic framework carries a certain Motor City discipline, crisp hi-hats, assertive low-end architecture, yet Deluka keeps his tonal palette warmer than strict revivalism would allow. It is less about imitation and more about dialogue. The desert myth meets industrial backbone.

“Plastic Emotion”, the closing piece, expands the scope. At nearly nine minutes, it feels like the EP’s emotional thesis. Synth lines glide in elongated arcs, at once sleek and slightly melancholic. The track breathes in long phrases, inviting immersion rather than immediate reaction. If the minstrel’s songs are meant to capture the village’s attention, this is the moment when they begin to believe him.

Deluka’s signature lies in his balance between groove and atmosphere. His textures are polished without becoming sterile, rhythmic without being blunt. There is an almost architectural sense of space in these tracks. Elements are placed with intention, leaving air between them. Nothing feels accidental.

The broader narrative promised by the forthcoming installments, duels, dances, revenge, legacy, suggests escalation. This first chapter, however, opts for groundwork. It introduces tone and tension, establishing a sonic landscape where story and club functionality coexist. The concept could have been kitsch. Instead, it becomes a framing device for disciplined, immersive production.

Released on Supercinema in both vinyl and digital formats, Supercinema 06 feels designed for environments that appreciate patience. It rewards sustained listening as much as physical movement. In a climate where tracks often shout for immediate attention, Deluka chooses controlled magnetism.

The minstrel has arrived. He is not waving a flag. He is tuning his instrument, letting the first notes drift into the room. The duel can wait. The journey has just begun.



Steril / Latex: Essentiels

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Artist: Steril / Latex
Title: Essentiels
Format: 12" + Download
Label: Muller Records (@)
Rated: * * * * *
There was a time when electro did not ask for permission. It arrived in black vinyl, smelling faintly of smoke machines and futurism, and assumed your body would comply. "Essentiels" revisits that era without embalming it.

Michi Bormann, operating under the Latex and Steril aliases, has long occupied a specific corridor of European electronic music: sleek, slightly perverse, rhythmically insistent. Through releases on Muller Records and earlier outings on labels such as Gigolo and Lasergun, he carved out a sound that balanced cold machinery with nightclub pulse. This compilation gathers what are described as the “best tracks”, newly mastered and processed, which in practice means the chrome has been polished without removing the fingerprints.

The Latex material dominates the first stretch of the album, and it becomes clear quickly that Bormann understood the architecture of the dance floor. “Life on Earth” and “Latex Gloves” hinge on taut basslines and crisp, almost surgical drum programming. There is a precision here that avoids sterility. The grooves feel engineered but not inert. Repetition becomes propulsion rather than redundancy.

Titles like “Bio Metric” and “Remote Control” underline Bormann’s fascination with technology as both aesthetic and metaphor. These tracks carry the minimal discipline of classic electro while flirting with the decadent edge of early 2000s European club culture. Synth lines glide with a certain aerodynamic arrogance, never bloated, always streamlined. When melodies appear, they are functional, almost coded, as if designed to unlock muscle memory rather than sentiment.

“Rain in the Night” and “Love” reveal another facet. Beneath the rigid frameworks, there is a faint romantic undercurrent, though it is filtered through circuitry. Emotion is present, but it is expressed through modulation rather than confession. Bormann rarely indulges in overt drama. He prefers suggestion.

The repetition of “Remote Control” in two versions is not redundancy but a reminder of how elastic these structures are. Small shifts in processing alter the atmosphere significantly. The new mastering lends added depth and clarity, emphasizing low-end punch while sharpening the metallic edges. The tracks feel revitalized rather than refurbished.

The Steril selections close the compilation with a darker shade. “Grey”, “Orbital Bombardement”, and “White Dressed Domina” move closer to industrial territory. The rhythms hit harder, the textures feel more abrasive. Where Latex tends toward polished seduction, Steril leans into confrontation. Yet even here, the dance impulse remains intact. This is severity you can move to.

What makes "Essentiels" more than a nostalgic exercise is its coherence. Despite being drawn from different periods and aliases, the tracks share a distinct sonic identity. Bormann’s sense of economy stands out. He does not overcrowd his arrangements. Each element earns its position. The space between sounds becomes as important as the sounds themselves.

In the current landscape of hyper-saturated electronic releases, this compilation feels almost instructive. It demonstrates how minimal components, when assembled with conviction, can generate lasting impact. No excessive layering. No ornamental clutter. Just rhythm, tone, and a clear understanding of tension.

The limited vinyl edition underscores the record’s physical roots. These tracks were built for speakers that move air, for rooms that amplify bass into communal experience. Yet they also withstand solitary listening, revealing structural finesse beneath the surface sheen.

"Essentiels" does not attempt to rewrite history. It reframes it with sharper edges and renewed weight. The future that these tracks once imagined may have arrived in slightly altered form, but the pulse remains persuasive. Some machines age poorly. These still function, humming steadily, waiting for the next body on the floor.



ükya: Soon Means Now

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Artist: ükya
Title: Soon Means Now
Format: CD + Download
Label: Nakama Records (@)
Rated: * * * * *
Time, according to ükya, is a flexible material. It stretches. It folds. It refuses to wait politely. "Soon Means Now" is not just a title; it is a small philosophical correction delivered with a trombone, a guitar, and a drum kit.

The Norwegian trio, who insist on keeping their initial letter modestly lowercase, return on Nakama Records with a follow-up to their debut "We Come for an Experience of Presence". That earlier statement already suggested a group suspicious of musical complacency. Here, Emil Bø, Kristian Enkerud Lien, and Michael Lee Sørenmo sharpen their inquiry into how structure and spontaneity can coexist without neutralizing each other.

Their chosen tools are deceptively traditional: trombone, guitar, drums. No electronics. No orchestral padding. Yet what they extract from this format feels anything but conventional. The trio’s interest in just intonation and European art music could easily have turned into academic stiffness. Instead, it becomes a living tension. Pitch is treated as something elastic. Harmony feels negotiated in real time rather than agreed upon in advance.

The track titles, a sequence of numerical codes, suggest diagrams rather than songs. “1.2.1”, “6.2.1”, “2.3.2”. They read like coordinates or fragments of a larger system. Listening through the album, it becomes clear that these numbers are not decoration. Each piece operates as a compact experiment in proportion and balance. Most tracks hover under three minutes, yet none feel incomplete. They function like distilled arguments, concise but not simplistic.

Bø’s trombone often carries the melodic contour, but rarely in a lyrical, romantic sense. Instead, it outlines microtonal arcs that lean slightly off center, creating a sense of gravitational pull. Lien’s guitar resists the temptation to fill space. At times it provides brittle harmonic scaffolding; at others, it fractures into sparse gestures that feel more like questions than statements. Sørenmo’s drumming is alert and economical, shaping dynamics with precision rather than volume.

What makes "Soon Means Now" compelling is the trio’s refusal to treat minimalism as austerity. There is energy here, even urgency. The shorter pieces flicker by like thoughts that demand immediate attention. The longer closing tracks, particularly “2.3.2”, “7.2”, and “1.1”, allow ideas to breathe and expand. In these stretches, the trio demonstrates how organized sound can remain porous, how a predefined framework can still leave room for surprise.

One senses that ükya’s engagement with just intonation is not a technical display but a perceptual exercise. Intervals rub against each other in subtle ways, producing overtones that feel slightly uncanny. The ear adjusts. What first seemed unstable gradually becomes coherent. The listener is recalibrated.

Recorded at Flerbruket and shaped with a clear, unvarnished mix, the album preserves the immediacy of three musicians negotiating form in real time. There is no excess gloss. Every breath through the trombone, every muted string vibration, every percussive shimmer remains tangible.

The broader Norwegian experimental scene has long balanced conceptual rigor with improvisational vitality. ükya belong squarely in that lineage, yet they avoid sounding derivative. Their music feels young without being naive, intellectual without becoming distant.

"Soon Means Now" ultimately proposes a modest but radical idea: that presence is not something to be achieved later. It is happening already, in the friction between planned structure and spontaneous gesture. The trio does not dramatize this insight. They articulate it, piece by piece, interval by interval.

In a culture that constantly postpones depth in favor of speed, ükya offer a subtle inversion. Soon is not later. It is here, vibrating slightly off pitch, waiting for you to listen closely enough.



Televizyon: Mom! I'm Growing Up

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Artist: Televizyon (@)
Title: Mom! I'm Growing Up
Format: LP
Label: Sauajazz (@)
Rated: * * * * *
Growing up is usually marketed as a clean upward trajectory. New shoes. New voice. Bigger rooms. "Mom! I’m Growing Up" politely disagrees. It suggests that growth is noisy, contradictory, occasionally absurd, and best handled with a drum kit nearby.

Televizyon, led by Turkish vocalist and electronic manipulator Sanem Kalfa, arrives on Sauajazz with a debut that feels less like a genre exercise and more like a well-calibrated identity crisis. And that is meant as praise. Kalfa, long embedded in the international jazz circuit and now operating out of Amsterdam, assembles a quartet that reads like a small summit meeting: Polish keyboard shapeshifter Marta Warelis, Norwegian bass cornerstone Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Korean rhythmic architect Sun-Mi Hong. Four distinct musical biographies. One shared appetite for dismantling categories.

The project’s conceptual seed is deceptively simple. Kalfa draws from the jingles and melodic fragments of Turkish television commercials from the 1980s, those bright, efficient earworms designed to sell detergent and optimism in under thirty seconds. Instead of parodying them, Televizyon stretches them. What happens when a commercial hook is given emotional depth? When nostalgia is filtered through improvisation? When irony decides to step aside and let sincerity try something dangerous?

“Basic Kneeds” opens with wiry momentum, Kalfa’s voice sliding between clarity and distortion, as if she is testing how much of herself she wants to reveal. Warelis’ organ and synth lines flicker between playful and slightly unhinged, while Håker Flaten and Hong lock into grooves that feel both grounded and ready to combust. The rhythm section is crucial here. Without it, the pop-adjacent melodies might float away. With it, they acquire teeth.

The brief title track “Televizyon” functions like a glitchy channel switch, a reminder of the project’s conceptual roots. Then the album pivots into its emotional core with “Mom! I’m Growing Up.” The song balances childlike directness with adult ambiguity. Kalfa’s vocal performance avoids theatricality; instead, she leans into vulnerability without turning it into spectacle. Growth here is not triumph. It is negotiation.

Throughout the record, the quartet flirts with alternative rock textures that might evoke bands operating at the more eccentric end of indie, yet everything remains anchored in an improviser’s mindset. Even the catchiest passages feel open-ended, as if they could fracture and reassemble at any moment. “Let Me Be Alone” and “IDKY” oscillate between intimacy and defiance, their structures sturdy enough to support melody but porous enough to let unpredictability seep through.

“Greed” sharpens the tone. The groove tightens, the electronics thicken, and Kalfa’s delivery acquires a pointed edge. It is here that Televizyon’s hybrid identity becomes most convincing. This is not jazz borrowing pop aesthetics for decoration. Nor is it indie rock dressed up in harmonic sophistication. It is a deliberate crossing, executed by musicians who understand both languages fluently and refuse to choose.

The production, captured at Wisseloord Studios and shaped by Alessandro Mazzieri alongside Kalfa, preserves a tactile immediacy. The electronics never overwhelm the human presence. Hong’s drumming remains vivid and alert. Håker Flaten’s bass provides a muscular through-line. Warelis navigates between organ warmth and synthetic sparkle with agile restraint.

By the time “I’ll Leave Now” closes the album, the title feels less like an exit and more like a declaration of autonomy. The journey through genres, eras, and emotional registers has not resolved into a neat statement. Instead, it leaves a residue of possibility.

What makes "Mom! I’m Growing Up" compelling is not its stylistic breadth alone, but its refusal to treat simplicity as naivety. Those commercial fragments from 1980s Turkish television become portals rather than punchlines. Kalfa and her collaborators recognize that memory, like music, can be both glossy and complicated.

Growing up, it turns out, is not about abandoning where you started. It is about re-sampling it, distorting it, and daring to sing it back in your own voice.