Various Artists
Breaks Away

It's hard to keep up with the hugely prolific output of UK don Burnski and his several different labels these days but one thing is for sure - Pilot keeps on serving up the goods. For its 15th release, the tech and minimal focussed label welcomes Robin Graham who opens up with the lively and colourful synths of bustling groover 'Check Me Out'. 'Spark Plug' is more business-like - the dry drums and hits overlaid with retro chord stabs that amp up the crowd and 'For You' then gets loose and funky with some twisted and sugar synths over garage-flecked beats and 'What's That' (Refix) offers a jumbled percussive sound full of dynamism.

The talented Greek duo, Artificial DRM - who have already shown quality samples in their contributions on Koslif, De Stijl and Semantica - are responsible for this sixth Alpengluhen release.Enigma is a homogeneous collection of five ethereal, deep and heart-warming tracks; each with intricate rhythmic sequences, layers of emotional pads and synthetic melody. Neither techno nor ambient, but something else - in between. Intelligent dance music from the heart, that goes directly to the brain - exploring the thin line between light and darkness.As usual, 200 copies pressed.

Originally released digitally in August 2020 and supported by DJ Stingray, Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Manni Dee, Rommek and Tapefeed, OBSCUUR is thrilled to present the vinyl issue of Catartsis & Otone's split EP "Mechanical Gesture". Catartsis and Otone explore, both in their collaborative and respective work, a wide spectrum of electronic and electroacoustic music with the practices of field recording and attentive listening at the core of their creative process. Inspired by musique concrete and electroacoustic sonic manipulations, they combine and alter sounds from the real, from their surroundings and from found (mainly metallic) objects. Stemming from this approach, they engage in rhythmical and textural research to elaborate a - peculiar, acousmatic and almost tangible - percussive and club-oriented music. With "Mechanical Gesture" Catartsis & Otone bring us an EP that is the very definition of the word "groove" while investigating rhythms and timbres from various mechanical apparatuses. Press, slice and carve your way through this assortment, it's guaranteed to get you moving.

"‘Beneath the beauty’ Transparent Sound inbound on PTX028 with Freddie Fresh on the cut."

Panic Mode EP by Frequency on Repetitive Rhythm Research.

In 2011, Ard Janssen was one of the first musicians to grace Shipwrec. Now, some eleven years later, the sound sculptor returns for a full album on Phainomena. Music for Delirious Episodes brings together eleven compositions. Ard Bit is known for his delicate, almost brittle, works. This collection focuses on that same fragility that fascinates Janssen. From the first steps of "Troubled Veil", the listener is absorbed into a digital weave of field recordings, everyday undulations, other day modulations and loose harmony. Traditional instruments, string and wind, are filtered and re-imagined. The mundane echoes of routines are reborn as the percussive hum of pieces like "Stripped" and "Broken Respirator (White Funnel)." Behind the shifts and shuffles lurks something triumphal. Memories are given new form through audio carvings. Birdsong is handcrafted through knob tweaks, elephant trumpets bellow past swells of electronic insects as a glowing sun rises through the speaker. Hazes of static are shorn back, as in "Seppuku", to allow moments of intense focus and reflection. And then we return, to that ephemeral beauty that permeates this record, with the final embrace of "Awakening Delusion". An artist who finds the extraordinary in the often overlooked, or unheard.