Finlay Shakespeare is a freak. With this, his second album for Editions he confirms this. As a one man band it often strikes the listener as bewildering that he can do all this; the programming sits firmly in the realms of genius, the constant punch of melody upon melody leaves a pleasant sting of surprise and as a lyric writer there’s a part of his moniker that seems apt. Solemnities is more gritty than his previous outings as a more raucous industrial edge is grafted on to his epic electronic pop leanings. Occupation launches proceedings as a snarling electro pop monster. Finlay’s vocals have never been delivered with such urgency.

From here it’s one melodic banger followed by another as Shakespeare truly hones his voice and craft into something utterly of his own devising, despite, or as a result of, the specific world of electronic music he is referencing. Covering a wide range of emotional states, from anger to euphoria this is a wild complex dip into one man’s world perfectly crafted into an external release. She Says / Nothing Ends concludes proceedings with an anthem so bold it would be a worldwide hit if the world could be told. Find a comfortable position, turn Solemnities up loud and let Finlay take you on this startling spectacular trip.

LP / Digital Album

Upside Down Smile was recorded and produced by Ewa Justka and by self-designed, self-made, selfselfself, odd looking slightly dysfunctional synthesisers and by a trance purple killer Roland JP8080 and by his brother virus and some other Roland brothers no sisters included during the time when Ewa Justka who currently lives in Glasgow, Govanhill, Allison street, where recently her passport was stolen due to the burglary, where she lives in joy, although sometimes the floor gets wet due to the leaking windows and sometimes one can find dead pigeons laying on the staircase but it’s nice and cosy and Ewa Justka highly influential person in the deep dark transistor ladder circuits lives since she is studying PhD at Edinburgh college of art where she thinks a lot about imitation in synthesiser design and filters and VCOs and formants and acid and hardcore music and twin t filters and operational amplifiers and she turns knobs and thinks and the upside down smile album was made in the depth of those thoughts quite often sad thoughts upside down smile is a bit of a cynical smile but an honest smile cynical but honest upside down smile is a smile through tears but tears of joy scottish joy upside down smile is upside down acid one could say upside down smile could be interpreted as a sad smile but it is a smile in the end of the day.

LP / Digital Album

Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism.

Following 2017’s acclaimed 2LP “Patterns of Consciousness”, “Ecstatic Computation” is the new full-length LP by Caterina Barbieri. The album revolves around the creative use of complex sequencing techniques and pattern-based operations to explore the artefacts of human perception and memory processes by ultimately inducing a sense of ecstasy and contemplation. Computation is turned from being a formal, automatic writing technique into a creative, psychedelic practice to generate temporal hallucinations. A state of trance and wonder where the perception of time is distorted and challenged.

Equally nervous and ecstatic, the fast permutation of patterns can create a state where time stands still whilst simultaneously being in motion. Is this propulsive music moving forward or backward? As long as the perception of the present is constantly enhanced and refreshed in an endless sense of loss, re-discovery and the search for self-orientation this question lies mute aside the thrilling and perplexing moment of the matter at hand.

Digital Album

As audacious as the sleeve it comes housed in, the UK’s most eccentric audio malefactor returns with his eighth studio album, Practical Electronics with Thighpaulsandra. Unique in the Thighpaulsandra oeuvre, this one eschews the usual group based recordings, consisting of electronics and vocals only.

Hovering between haunted narratives and extended instrumental sequences Practical Electronics is an eccentric excursion into playful pop and fearless electronic experimentation. Simultaneously intimidating and accessible, the energy of this untamed mind unleashes an artefact where high art unfolds as an oblique electronic cabaret.

Having cut is teeth amongst such legendary outfits such as Coil and Spiritualized Thighpaulsandra has constantly catapulted himself further and further into a musical landscape utterly of his own devising. Practical Electronics is the latest exemplary installment of a voice that is uncompromising as it is outlandish.

LP / Digital Album

The playful confidence that exudes Finlay Shakespeare’s practice is flagarenty laid out on Domestic Economy, his extraordinary debut full length. Domestic Economy displays two eventful sides evidencing the unique musical approach Shakespeare has developed in such a short period of time. Let’s get some facts straight, Finlay is young. And talented. His programming skills belie his years and one can detect a sharp appreciation of historical electronic pop whilst simultaneously developing a canny understanding as to where such a form exists in the current age. Shakespeare’s brazen lyrical content and significant melodic prowess highlight a brave new voice in what can often be an sterile aesthetic environment.

Domestic Economy bursts with edgy ecstatic electronic pop. A form not only unusual for Editions Mego (actually known for idolising such forms) but somewhat of a scarcity amongst the modern electronic landscape. Beling age, form and movement Domestic Economy is a damn near perfect amalgamation of historical respect and contemporary anxiety wrapped in an exquisite song-form package. Made in Bristol. Published in Wien. Delivered to all brains, like a wayward dream.

LP / Digital Album

Originally developed as a film score »Takt der Arbeit« is inspired by a handful of industrial and instructional films from the early 1960′s until the early 1990′s that portrait different forms of work. Felix Kubin is translating these historic documents into a musical poem of conceptual depth. »Takt der Arbeit« – the beat of work – is not only serving as a title but also as constructive element in this endeavour.

Being hunted down by the ever accelerated pulse of our reality is an omnipresent issue in capitalist societies of the the Western world. Living in times of constant exhaustion, it’s not only our bodies that have been disciplined by and synchronized to the rhythms of working processes, but also our minds that rage in the tempo of our surroundings. Following an almost analytical effort, Kubin and an ensemble of 3 percussionists are investigating the different qualities and intensities of time that are catalyzed in working processes. While picking up precise temporal and motoric motives of the films, condensing paces and excavating rhythmic patterns, the ensemble is mapping out an animist choreography, shifting from a time when labour was still relying on bodily efforts to a time when machines and ticking clocks seem to reign and model our perception. While Side A is dedicated to procedures that are still based on manual and mechanical movement, Side B is inspired by the digital age, marked by invisible processes and subcutaneous pulses that we internalize.

The result is a critical and poetic reflection on the rhythms of our daily life and yet another example of Felix Kubin’s skills as a composer, placing him in the field of orchestral music.

Digital Album