Electronica
Premiere: Werner Niedermeier & Gareth Whitehead – ‘Nineteen92’: taking ‘tronica out past Khruangbin
PROLIFIC producers Werner Niedermeier and Gareth Whitehead have been working together for about a decade now. As well as their busy DJ commitments and running their own record labels they have have found time to put out releases on a myriad of imprints, including Compost, Kling Klingon and Poker Flat. They’re gearing up for their …
ALBUM REVIEW: Conrad Schnitzler – ‘Con’: Tangerine Dream man’s ’78 LP gets first UK issue
Tangerine Dream founder’s 1978 LP of synthy motorik receives its first UK issue: spacious, eerie and polyrhythmic by turns
ALBUM REVIEW: GLOK – ‘Dissident Remixed’: Andy Bell’s tronica alter-ego gets a comprehensive rerub
OUT OF all the four members of Ride – Mark, Andy, Loz and Steve, it’s hands down Andy who’s had the most varied and viable extra-curricular activities. There was Hurricane #1, his Britpoppish outfit from immediately following the black nite crash of first-era Ride, who grazed the top 20 with “Only the Strongest Will Survive.” …
ALBUM REVIEW: Figueroa – ‘The World As We Know It’: shimmering psych-tronica from Amon Tobin
AMON TOBIN has been in there for quite a while now, toying with our heads with very fine, playful, exploratory and sometimes just wonderfully weird sonic artistry. Rio-born, he arrived with Ninebar Records as Cujo, fashioning these trademark deep bass surges out on the edges of drum ‘n’ bass, like spitting thunderheads. He came out …
TRACK: Richard Skelton – ‘For The Application Of Fire’: a new electronic spellbook
RICHARD SKELTON is absolutely what you might term a polymath. A poet, writer and artist, intensely concerned with the nature and experience of place, he only began to fashion musics in 2004 after a tragic personal loss. Since then he has released something like fifty albums and EPs, under his own name and aliases such …
ALBUM REVIEW: Gunther Wüsthoff – ‘[to|dig]ital’: deep tronica from the Faust man’s vault
BUREAU B is one of those beautifully interesting labels – nein, curators – out there on the fringes, lovingly delving in the depths of the crates, remastering and compiling, making sure an absolute plethora of lost music is brought back to our ears. It’s main archival thrust is to dig beyond the major catalogue of …
Say Psych: Album Review: The Vacant Lots – Interzone
Interzone is the third full-length album by New York’s electro post-punk duo The Vacant Lots (Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen): a genre-blending synthesis of dance and psych made for secluded listeners and all night partygoers, meant for headphones and the club. It was released on Fuzz Club Records last week. Created with aid from Alan Vega’s Arp synthesier …
TRACK: Liam Mour’s ‘Ode To Youth’ weaves and Warps
AN ANALOGUE synth figure comes chattering in; it morphs and builds and flexes with echoey overtones. It’s joined by a haunting melodic figure, swathed in distance and haunting half-remembrance. The track breaks down into anthemic synth washes, and then a sweetly old-skool rhythm programme kicks in and knits it all together. Yum. So goes “Ode …
Premiere: Unruly Girls – Black Love (Video)
Backseat Mafia is very honoured to premiere today the phenomenal new video by Italian band Unruly Girls. ‘Black Love’ is off their recently released album ‘Epidemic’ – an album I rated a 9.1 out of 10 – and is a typically unhinged, anarchic and thundering production, yet is antithetically tinged with a sense of poignancy. …
SEE: MELTWATER – LINES IN THE SAND
A highlight of 2019 was Jon Gibson who goes under the pseudonym of Meltwater releasing his first EP – Digital Distractions. The North East electronic talent behind the project noise creator entitled Melt Water. He uses samples and live instruments to create thoughtful intelligent compositions focusing on northern life and the hardships and joy of …