The project Von Spar born in the 2003 and they were regarded as the German answer to the post-punk/no-wave renaissance, but their debut was quite a parody about the eighties. Now they return with an uncompromising and unexpected album that will surprise you and maybe leave confused at first. Two long songs without scheme, inspired by seventies Krautrock and minimal music. The two 20 minutes songs combines the spirit of music exploration from Can and Kraftwerk with the experimentation of Ligeti and Reich, passing through the post rock of Godspeed you! Black Emperor and the dark and psychedelic techniques of Neurosis. We can also hear something about the post wave of Pere Ubu and Glenn Branca and the sludge doom metal. "Xaxapoya" starts with a vaguely sinister drone that accompany itself at a tribal drums. A wavering synth rises, the drumming always makes itself much maniacal and a voice, an oppressive yelp, insinuates itself. We are at the twelve minute and ew could have had enough of ; but suddenly a sequencer rises: the rhythm takes shape, the drumming becomes square and a motorik kraut-wave starts. The forcing is strict and the voice neurotic, as well as Polyrock were Devo. We finished exhausted, after a breathlessly run on a Can's guiding principle, an accumulation of percussive and overlaid tracks like in the mystic middle-eastern music, electronic prog effects and a great post-rock plant. In "Dead Voices In The Temple Of Horror" the matter is heavier and cruel. The voice passes through a filter and the drums stresses doom echoes. The guitar sounds like Godspeed you! Black Emperor, but also here like before we run off the rails in a no man's land between Black Sabbath e Godflesh. A work out of time, enigmatic and exciting, for intelligent, curious and patient people.

Since Constellation issued their self-released debut album in 1998, Do Make Say Think have made one critically-acclaimed album after another. "You, You’re A History in Rust" is the fifth record and a brilliant extension of the band’s unique sonic narrative. And as the fans know, DMST’s approach to musical deconstruction is never academic, forced, or played merely for effect; it is always a matter of weaving the captured elements together with the mixing desk played like a master instrument. With this record the band continues its simultaneous explorations into the worlds of post-rock, jazz, electronica; there are dark corners and bright splashes, textural murmurs and bright melodies. Adding in saxophone, trumpet and violin to the guitar, bass and drums, DMST doesn’t use vocals to bring emotion into the music and multiple layers of instruments create the mood. The best moments? "A tender History in rust" with his light, folky feel with whistles and whispers and "Executioner Blues" that doesn’t need vocals because its narrative is well-explained by an assemblage of guitars, strings and jazzy drums that ebb and flow before building to a cacophonous crescendo. Highly recommended!

The fourth and final release in the "Now" compilation series By Underscan Records delivers tracks by Slemper, Lambert, 3tronik and Fibla. A mixture of contemporary electronica from abstract HipHop to dance oriented electro experiments (see under file Autechre, Aphex Twins and Matmos). SLEMPER open the game with a future dance-floor glitch techno tracks named "Dusdatikaf", focus himself on the discovery of new sounds and his compositions go from straight drum’n’bass to experimental electronica. Slemper is Maarten Meussen from DenHaag who just released his debut album "Mismatch" on the Belgian Aecletrick. LAMBERT (Akira Inagawa), with his track "Kaudyoe", focuses his research on samplers, computer and synthesizer, creating relaxed atmospheres, beautiful tones and melodies and leads us into a sort of lo-fi handmade hiphop stylebeats. Fabien Florin (Aka 3TRONIK), in his "Verwirrung" shows us the harder and wide side of electronic soundscapes. A deep and obscure sound with influences from Aphex Twins and Autechre to Matmos. FIBLA is well know in the world of todays electronica. Subtle rhythms patterns, lunar sound and melodies, deeply belonging to the nowadays diversified electronic scene. Influences? From Autechre’s isolationism and Beaumont Hannant’s deep ambient, to Orbital’s and Matmos’ stratified patterns. The complete series with all tracks from the four 12" records will be available on cd in autumn 2006 as a follow up to this release.

Brendon Moeller (Mono Blanco, Beat Pharmacy, Alphamotive) in his « Exploration vol. 1 creates a special mixture of his past influences and listening like The Orb, Fela Kuti, Happy Mondays and De La Soul mixed with his deeper, psychedelic, dance-floor sound. His compositions go from dense soundscape lush with spaced-out subterranean dub (Hypnoteach), bottom-heavy deep house undercurrents (Moving on, For no good reason, Constant elevation) and narcotic dub (sculpture dub) to cosmic jazz fusion, tropical afro-latin rhythms (Midnight dub, Startrack) and adventurous left-field experimentations and irresistible grooves ideal for the dancefloor (Crispy, dreadscapes).
A very good work where dub and ethnic sound meet electronica.

After having recorded many vinyls under several guises (Freestyle Man, Winston Fletcher, Morris Brown, Sassomatic, Thirsty Monk and Mr. Negative), Klas Lindblad, a Finn residing in Berlin and the owner of Moodmusic, releases his first album. "Made Within the Upper Stairs of Heaven" is an interesting mixture of the ’80s with today’s trends in music, and shows his musical roots starting from disco and italo, going through the clubby Chicago and Detroit techno influences mixed with his fine ear for catcy melodies and fine tuned arrangements. The album is featuring vocalists Kiki (B-Pitch Control), Malte (Losoul/Playhouse), Jani Lehto (Star You Star Me) and Bernadette Hengst (Die Braut Haut ins Auge) and mainly consists of modern disco combined with house, electro and some deep house. The productions that stand out are the vocal ones, primarily: "Loosing Touch" with Kiki, "Up To You" with Malte (Losoul) and "Legacy". Perfect to groove the acid-infused "Soul Sounds" features Jani Letho from Finnish nu-disco outfit Star you Star me on vocals. Strong drum production and thight arrangements takes you a ride to Chicago groove, while in "Octagon" melodic Italo meets Cologne techno-structure and Sasse shows his ability to mix sounds and styles from various influences and creating an hybrid sound design with strong emotional touch, even if my favourite tune is the instrumental "The Sound of Highlife" with its daft punkish bass. The rest of the CD is filled mostly with calmer, more dreamy tracks so you listen to this unmixed album almost as if it was a cohesive DJ set, while "Notz" is a perfect ending to the album with its modulatine, arpeggiated synths, creating a dense, rhythmic groove with a mystic vibe.