★Digitalis Recordings
Tunnels
Digitalis root out yet another dazzling label debut, this one a beautiful second LP of romantic synth-boogie from Kansas City's Brandon Knocke aka Discoverer. Operating within the realm comfortably inhabited by Hype Williams, Laurel Halo, Morgan Geist or Glass Candy, 'Tunnels' is all about the enigma of electronic desire. Whether that's unrequited robot love, utopian yearnings or something more esoteric is for you to ascertain. These eight communiques are just dripping with electronic emotion, f…
Nightrunners
Edition of 500, initial copies on super limited red vinyl and cut at D&M. Art and design by Radek Drutis - the man behind those ace Madlib sleeves** In 2010 Brad Rose (Digitalis / Charlatan / The North Sea / Ossining) and his wife Eden Hemming Rose (Foxy Digitalis / Mass Ornament) indulged their pop instincts to beautiful effect on Mechanical Gardens. For anyone familiar with the duo's work it was a radical departure from their experimental devotions and duly picked up a healthy amount of accola…
As Iron Sharpens Iron... (EP 1)
Digitalis trance-master Ricardo Donoso scales heady heights with the first of two EPs (plus a 3rd remix 12") further exploring the potential of electronic hypnotism. The mission first conceived with 'Progress Chance' has now evolved in line with like-minded projects such as Loreno Senni's 'Quantum Jelly', plotting new vectors for a trance music free of fromage and yet still true to the sound's original intentions. On these four tracks his vision is focussed with laser-guided precision, em…
Spectramorphic Iridescence
Signifiers can send all the wrong signals just as often as they can send the right ones. There’s a delicate balance between enticement and giving it all a way. Resident Los Angeles android, [PHYSICS], rides that line and then some on his first LP, Spectramorphic Iridescence. Glazed electronics and polymorphic beats run through wetware enhancements left behind by future civilizations. This music is black ice for all the hackers, ready to fry circuits from the inside and hardwire your dreams.Even …
Untitled
Over the past year-and-a-half, the duo of Dexter Brightman and Jair Espinoza have explored abstract electronics in increasingly new and interesting ways. Over the course of numerous tapes on labels such as Avant Archive, Neon Blossom, and others, the duo has combined the ideas of repetition and sound art and continually mutated them into something that is becoming increasingly difficult to pin down. With the recent “Tek No Muzik” 12” on Crazy Iris, mechanized acid was introduced in the mix. It i…
The Drawing Of The Line
Seattle's Emuul has been around the block a few times over the last few years, releasing an excellent string of tapes on Digitalis, Monorail Trespassing, Stunned and others. Emuul (Kyle Iman) has always shown a masterful level of restraint and subtlety, leaving the listener to fill in the blanks. Iman uses each song as a dot on a map that ultimately leads you to an aural treasure. The Drawing Of The Line is his most fully-realized work, crafting a set of deceptively complex songs that flir…
Boolean Blues
ASESOME NEW RELEASE! Josh Hanson is another of Portland, Oregon’s underappreciated sons. Having come up through the ranks of long-time, long-forgotten faves Hochenkeit, he also spent time as a member of The Davis Redford Trio. But Hanson’s path diverges into a totally different sphere nowadays, spinning solo modular synth exploits to the stars. Influenced not just by the likes of Subotnick and Cluster but also various types of Eastern sounds, Hanson is looking forward, trying to find new pa…
Amber Sea
Duo of Agnes Szelag & Marielle Jakobsons (aka DARWINSBITCH). They create electroacoustic songs on many instruments such as violin, cello, voice, bass, gezhong, piano, & accordian. Their scores are often conceptually or process-driven, resulting in their unique style of electroacoustic music, reminiscent of Scandinavian free folk, lullabies, dramatic film scores, & electronic improvised music
Oppressive Nature
Daryl Groetsch's work is almost unparalleled when it comes to modular synthesizer excursions. Through the static & electronic washes something warm & almost triumphant emerges. Heavy saw waves weave a chaotic mass of urban debris, smoothed over by the sine waves of time. Barriers fade away as they are consumed by sonic vines that find their way into all these aural cracks. Oddly beautiful in an almost post-apocalyptic way.