Various Artists
Trust XY.1

For more than twenty years, Roel Funcken has been a cornerstone in electronic experimentation. Alongside his brother Don, this Dutch sound sculptor melted hip-hop, industrial and soundscapes under monikers like Funckarma and Shadow Huntaz. A prolific solo musician and collaborator as well, Funcken teams up with Cor Bolten to revive the Legiac project with the eight tracks of Banisteriopsis Caapi. Keys appear through a sorrowful haze in "Mimosa Hostilis", this machined mist difussing as distorted strings penetrate before a dawning of icy brightness. Modulated forms and shapes billow in the bubble and trill of "Pyschotria Viridis" before the orbiting interference and introspection of "Epicatechine." Percussion is reduced to a texture, the duo finding structure in droplets of water, the stretch of steel and a litany of field recordings. The partnership dive deep into their chosen sounds, elongating and expanding tones to find harmony in the absence and isolation that is their focus. Pieces like "Solanaceae" bristle with an understated elegance, like starlight piercing a brooding night sky, while "Banisteriopsis Caapi" finds an eerie solace in its repurposing of voice as an undulating elegy. Legiac achieve a distant intimacy with their listener, a relationship forged through complex compositions, gentle movements and subtle shifts.

Due to a misspress, this reference has the wrong B-side: the track Mantis Religiosa from the same artist appears instead of Rotom. Mineral Cuts 05Havana - Eclypse © 1995 Pin UpSigmatibet - Mantis Religiosa © 1992 Evolution Records.2 tracks.45 RPM.Compiled by Rey Colino.Mastered and Cut by Marco Pellegrino.Design by AJAM.

Dublin’s Woozy label premieres on wax with Radial, the debut EP from newcomer Coe. 3 dubstep-informed club weapons b/w a percussive rework from Or:la.The title track recalibrates mid-noughties FWD> pressure, suspending us in an E-licked smog before puncturing the rave-lry with thrusting bass stomps and fervorous IDM-adjacent drums for an electro-id crazed stomper. Say (KL Tribute) flexes Coe’s wub mechanics, presenting computerised sound chaos before dropping a half-step hungry wobble fest, mounting the pressure on the ‘floor to a near combustible, skanking peak.On the flip, 403 slightens the pace for a chugging techno/electro zinger with a faint dembow shell, sounding like the soundtrack to a sinister salsa dance. Or:la’s drum-tastic Radial rework sees us out, conducting an orchestra of percussive pistons akin to a ravey engine room for a mid-tempo grooving killer.

The Ossario EP presents four serpentine and labyrinthine techno tracks produced between 2019-20 by Andrea Bonalumi, also known as Big Hands. The title is an homage to San Bernardino alle Ossa in Bonalumi’s hometown of Milan, and personifies the ethereal and opaque atmosphere of his ouevre.Stylistically ‘Girde Maye/Astere’ embodies the interrelation between his Milanese roots and adopted home of London. Recorded one summer evening in Bow, it includes an original vocal by a Turkish immigrant, spoken in Italian - a paean to an unrealised, borderless world. This is followed by the pendulous, mutating bell tones of ’Modulo’, a fragmented and abstract epic of sublime beauty that defies easy categorisation.On ‘Oscillation’ the producer explores polyrhythms, which also functions as a tool for DJs to transition between tempos. The undulating groove of ’Cariatide’ rounds out the EP, a statement from a talented producer who deftly crafts a soundworld which is at once contemporary and historical.

“Let me fly you home. We can talk on the way”Thorn Valley is a 20 song assemblage of various transmissions from the ever diffuse and widening DIY underground, released to mark the four year anniversary of World of Echo. The river ever bends, the valley ever deepens.