Dip Shim
M-Technology EP

emkay debuts on Craigie Knowes after outings on Radiant Love and Post Sonics. The Helsinki resident brings 5 warped electronic beats that span a spectrum of club and come-down sounds.

One of New York's early pioneers of techno and DJ culture, Reade Truth has been an integral part of the cities' techno history. His first of over two dozen releases came out in 1994 on the Brooklyn underground acid label, Direct Drive. Since then, his releases have made many a mark on labels like Planet E, Strictly Rhythm, Sonic Groove, Instinct, Pomelo, Wurst, N-Syde, Path Records and so on. Basic Moves continues the New York vs. Belgium love story with six carefully selected tracks (never released before!) out of Reade his personal archive.(NOTE: original liner notes will be written by his best friend Adam X)

The release feels more like a mini album when listening to all the tracks consecutively as the sounds blend in & out of different arrangements giving you the feeling of a transition between the tracks while allowing them to tell their own unique story.

Om Unit’s ‘Acid Dub Studies’ series continues to unfold. This latest instalment of the project comes in the form of 10 brand new remixes which form the second volume of ‘Acid Dub Versions’, featuring remixes from Yushh (Pressure Dome/Wisdom Teeth), Hodge (Houndstooth / Livity Sound), Double O (Rupture), Amy Kisnorbo (Pineapple), Tapes (Jahtari / Good Morning Tapes) V.I.V.E.K (System), Versa (System / ZamZam), Frenk Dublin (Echo Ltd. / Dub Communication), Surgeon’s Girl (Inside Out / Livity Sound) and Nadia Struiwigh (Nous’Klaer Audio / Central Processing Unit)The eclectic ‘Acid Dub Versions II’ LP comprises of the smouldering cerebral scapes of Yushh’s take on ‘Camo’ as well as Hodge’s own pounding club version. Double O transforms the classic ‘Tempo’ rhythm into a kind of future-retro rave stepper, and Amy Kisnorbo walks the ‘Strange Brew’ track into a eased-back but confident new territory.The dub aspects are also enforced and re-shaped by prolific legend ‘Tapes’ who turns the ‘Tempo’ back towards it’s more dancehall roots, V.I.V.E.K takes the Bristol Theme in to 140 territory featuring System Sound’s in-house MC Dego Ranks. Bristol’s own enigmatic dubwise adventurer Versa turns ‘Valium Tempo’ into something akin to a Cosmic Bridge release, paying homage to the classic tropes of the ‘UK Bass’ sound and Rotterdam’s Frenk Dublin turns in a seriously deep basic channel-esque dub tech take on ‘Ghosts’The album is finished with 2 ambient cuts featuring the beautiful chaos of Surgeon’s Girl’s remix of ‘Tapped’ and the Dusky brooding reflective tones of Nadia Struiwigh’s version of ‘Electroacidspringwater’.‘Acid Dub Versions II’ serves as a logical progression to Om Unit’s best-selling series of well-respected works, allowing for community input on a concept which has of late been travelling far and wide via Om Unit’s live shows and continued DJ support.

Across these 7 untitled tracks (as is the modus of all blundar releases) the producer known as Unfinished Portraits crafts a coherent album experience that is equal parts empty space and density. Working in a seemingly collage-like fashion, the opening track juxtaposes rhythmic elements that just barely fit together; declaring upon entrance that all expectations from here on out are futile. Tension builds through a sparse palette of sounds both tactile and atmospheric. Dry, isolated clicks of digital clean trickling through a humming industrial space. Segments are abstract on their own, but stitched together still form an elegant whole. Just when you think you’re getting lost into avant experimentation, something cuts in to surprising effect. It feels “live” in a way only improvised music can.And there is a conceptual sense of humor in letting the seams of the process lay bare. A string section builds only to be cut short upon completion. A field recording is audibly (i.e. intentionally) looped. The listener is made aware of the illusion and manipulations that ‘music’ creates in the same way Martin Margiela handled ‘fashion’ - with a postmodern kind of wit.Hailing from Cairo but residing in Argentina, Unfinished Portraits could easily exude upon a dual exoticism in nationalities and climates. This is however not on the agenda, as for where this artist truly resides, is in the hypertextual realm of late capitalism. Identity loss, internet culture, the aesthetic of sadness and the Warp Records catalogue all come into play.No matter what city, the urban landscape is always concrete and glass. And as the sleeve photo suggests - a picture of a former park turned to rubble in the process of housing developments - all cities are essentially unfinished.