Bureau B: CEL – Self-titled

CEL

The debut album from this German-Polish duo CEL is a test laboratory for rhythmic cadences and electrostatic discharges. Under the expert guidance of Hamburg producer Tobias Levin, they have created seven self-contained instrumentals enriched by vibraphone, xylophone and African percussion. Zemler’s stripped down mechanics and Kubin’s erratic electronics dovetail superbly. A sense of concentrated restlessness pervades the album – in the greater stream of things, some tracks come close to bursting their banks whilst others scale the loftiest heights of insanity. And yet – every movement, every tone fits perfectly. There is method to the madness, an exercise in systematic excess.

LP / Digital Album

Posted on April 30th, 2020 under Releases, ,

Dais Records: Riki – Self-titled

Riki

Riki is the Los Angeles based dark synth-pop outfit commandeered by the mysterious Niff Nawor, a visual artist and musician active in the deathrock / anarcho-punk scenes of the California bay area (formerly a member of Crimson Scarlet), before founding her solo endeavor as Riki in 2017. Niff’s desire to explore her own sound manifested in the recording of the Hot City cassette tape in 2017, which featured Chelsey Crowley of Crimson Scarlet, Skot Brown of Phantom Limbs and Peđaof Doomed to Extinction. Released on Commodity Tapes and later reissued on vinyl by the well-regarded Symphony of Destruction label, Riki followed the release of the single with several small tours and festival dates, performing with such acts as Light Asylum, Black Marble, and Trisomie 21.

For her self-titled debut album for Dais, Riki explores courage, physicality, and romance across eight timeless synth pop anthems. Produced and engineered by hardware-based synthesist Matia Simovich of INHALT, influences and ideas are worn proudly without deviating from fresh and daring electro-pop territory. Nostalgic cues can be heard ranging from Neue Deutsch Welle, early Adrian Sherwood productions, classic ZYX Italo Disco, Japanese Visual Kei and even classic new wave/pop like Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, and early Madonna.

The lead single, Napoleon, contains Riki’s indelible sound design, reminiscent of 80’s New York dance floor electro-pop that recalls the fusion of uptown and downtown styles and culture, told through Riki’s present day West Coast narrative. For contrast, the second single entitled Böse Lügen (Body Mix) was previously released in demo form and re-mixed to emphasize its commanding presence and addictive nature. Translated simply to “Wicked Lies” and sung completely in German, Böse Lügen moves away from the upbeat romanticism found throughout the album and commands serious self-reflection guised within an infectious dance floor anthem.

Riki invites listeners to “reveal their useless habits of complacency and fear…and witness their own rebirth, a rhythm universal”.

LP / Digital Album

Posted on April 29th, 2020 under Releases, ,

AVANT! Records: SDH – Against Strong Thinking

SDH – Against Strong Thinking

SDH return with the Against Strong Thinking EP, which follows its 2018 self-titled album. Although six songs may be insufficient, their new tracks highlight the strengths of their debut. The beats are deeper, the atmospheres sadder.

The band continues to explore the musical language as a poetic form and trying to discover new questions that allow the great categories of thinking to be undone. Against Strong Thinking talks about the importance of facing all that categorical, dogmatic and conclusive thinking. There is a need for dialogue with everything that seems unquestionable. Again, the questions guide all the songs and, again, there is no single answer. Sometimes this doubt is fertile, sometimes it is painful and involves a total and profound loss.

The album begins with Suffer, a perfect song to cry in late night clubs, dancing with tears in your eyes. But SDH know how to make a crowd dance too. No Miracles is an instant banger and Your Next Story sounds cruelly sexy. Poem Against Strong Thinking and Four Arms have that melancholic trademark sound with interesting musical progressions that we discovered in their first album and there’s also a good surprise: the inclusion of a re-recorded version of You Pt. 12, the first song released by SDH in 2016, this time with a better production that makes it easily one of their best tracks.

The importance of the body, the senses, the dance and the dialectic is present in each theme as a form of struggle of a voice that dialogues with itself against the firmness of its own strong thoughts.

12″ EP / Digital Album

Posted on April 28th, 2020 under Releases, ,

Gooiland: Future de Hierro – Costumbres y medidas

Future de Hierro – Costumbres y medidas

Futuro de Hierro, hailing from Barcelona, is the project by one of the Màgia Roja label/club/community collaborators… mostly known for this work with Dame Area but his solo project Futuro de Hierro is equally (or more?) interesting… the loud repetitive broken beats, noises and powerful delivered Spanish vocals make up for a punk influenced industrial techno sound which borders rhythmic noise at times… like something in between Liaisons Dangereuses, Esplendor Geométrico and Sonar…

This is an uncompromising EP filled with harsh tracks that still work for the dance floor… especially for those fed up with hearing the same beat over and over and over again…

12″ EP

Posted on April 27th, 2020 under Releases, , ,

Gooiland: Leroy Se Meurt – La Chute

Leroy Se Meurt – La Chute

About a year ago Leroy Se Meurt delivered a simply hard-hitting and smashing debut EP… which quickly sold out at the ET HQ… the mixed background of this duo from Paris in electronic music and in punk-rock shapes the distinctive sound of Leroy Se Meurt… you can call it synth-punk or elektropunk… or simply post-punk for that matter… Not only their debut EP did have impact… possibly even more did their live shows… their live performance is wild and in your face…

Now there is the follow up to that acclaimed debut EP… this time Leroy Se Meurt takes a little step back from the totally in your face attitude… the sound is a bit darker and aims less on a direct confrontation but works to crawl under your skin… the energy and tension is still there but is building up gradually… and has a bigger impact that way… Don’t miss out on this next step in the campaign of Leroy Se Meurt!

12″ EP

Posted on April 26th, 2020 under Releases, , ,