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By now you must be already familiar with Qual being the solo project of William Maybelline, one half of the Lebanon Hanover duo. When William first stepped into the scene as an individual artist back in 2014, he declared the intention to explore the very grimmest areas in synth-based music. While Sable debut LP was unapologetically gothic in subject matter and sound, Qual’s most recent and uncompromising outputs of Cupio Dissolvi EP and last year’s album The Ultimate Climax merge the despairingly freezing properties of 90s EBM with the more aggressive sensibilities of industrial techno without ever diluting the intensity of either. Brand new 4-track EP Cyber Care is the perfect synthesis of both these aspects. On A side the slither of the title-track and the mechanical assault of Inject Your Mind will make you feel the hardest, most vicious side of Maybelline’s creation. B side’s I Have To Return Some Video Tapes and Motherblood will toss you into a ice-cold galaxy of paranoia and disorientation. This is not an appealing world, as Qual is impossible to listen to half-heartedly – it will drag you by the jaw and butcher you in a dirty alleyway.
Following 1 or 2 small run / mailorder lathe cuts, Polytechnic Youth follow it’s hugely successful Popcorn Lung label compilation LP, with it’s first full length of the new year, and man… this one is just wonderful! A mighty record to kick off what promises to be another hugely productive, constantly busy year for the Crouch End based synth label. ABC represents a compilation of the best songs of the first three EPs, subtly remixed and remastered to best suit vinyl. This really is a remarkable record. Displaying all the PY traits of icy cool blasts of minimal synth, motorik grooves, melodic pop via passing nods to early Mute and Sky records. Think the drive shaft of Neu!, the punishing low end of King Tubby, the interleaved melodic lines of Vince Clarke, the melancholic, otherworldly whimsy of Raymond Scott and Delia Derbyshire, the hypnotic drone of Spacemen 3, and the analogue intimacy of Le Car.
Movies For Ears is a retrospective collection of works by Polish-born, Glasgow-based artist Ela Orleans which navigates almost two decades of songwriting in the heart of the global pop underground. This remastered collection casts an ear over what Orleans might call the ‘pop sensibility’ within her back catalogue. Released previously on a number of small DIY labels, Orleans’ music coincided with the explosion of auto-didactic musicians finding their voice in the age of the blogosphere, artists emboldened by the democratisation of music-making afforded by the internet. From the outset, Orleans’ childhood studying formal music mixed with cut-up techniques, sampling, sound-art and experimentation to create a distinctive signature cloaked in an innate melancholy and playfulness. Fully remastered by James Plotkin, featuring extensive sleeve-notes and rare photos from Orleans’ archive, Movies For Ears presents an appraisal of the musician’s work, painting a portrait of an artist with an uncanny ability to evoke emotions and ghosts of memories in the listener.
The newest offering on Pinkman Broken Dreams: Rough, noisy and cataclysmic machine music, seasoned with industrial and EBM influences, by Frenchman December. Every single bit as uncompromising and assertive as his previous output on Mannequin or Jealous God. |
