Various Artists
Neptune Discs Vol.9

Maja Pa presents the third and final installment in the Casting Shadows series with five tracks showcasing her unique style.The EP opens with "A Perfect Day" by Art Teachers, an excellent example of their distinct synth punk sound, providing the perfect introduction to the Veveo-verse. Next up is Vastechoses associate Brique Corps, who delivers the jagged body music of "Has Yo For All4,". On the B-side, Czech duo Kontrajas contribute "Lunt," a circuit-breaker from their self-released Laguna EP. Label regular Rory McPike returns to his post-punk persona 2200 for the goth-infused Outlaw. The record concludes with Geoid Color Circle’s mournful "Adieu Trois Mort En Juin”, taken from their Six Sad World tape.

Green VinylRhythm Section welcomes Nicola Cruz to the fold with his debut EP on the imprint - “Subtropique”. Inspired by an Ecuadorian upbringing, percussion is at the heart of how Nicola operates. His rhythmic style finds a natural home on the London label - which presents 5 expansive efforts equally indebted to traditional drumming as they are to contemporary club sounds. Remaining sonically cohesive without feeling the need to settle into a definable style - the tracks are tied together by a lucid psychedelic thread which, despite challenging the expectations and fundamentals of electronic dance music - demand movement at a time where we yearn for it.

The seventh series of OLO Records by Miroloja and Janeret.

"Naive overlooked New Beat / New Age project from 1989"Sometimes in life, a certain incentive is needed to convert talent into productivity. As for the case of MKS, the enigmatic and musical disguise of Nicolas Aubard, it was a merely coincidental encounter at the end of the 80s that set the stone rolling. For Nico, it all began in his hometown of Saint-Quentin in Northern France. At a young age, he got obsessed with Japanese and American cartoon culture. Being a devoted collector of cartoon-related toys and widgets, he spent hours watching anime series on TV and creating scale models of science fiction and horror-related sceneries. Growing up in a musical household, young Nico took on stringent training in classical and jazz piano. But, frustrated with the fact of not being the technical virtuoso he wanted to be, he turned away from his training at the age of 16. “I had no choice, as I felt as if my creativity got limited by my piano. That’s when I got drawn into the world of synthesizers.” Not long after, Nico put together a home studio and started to experiment with ambience and sound-inserts. Despite years of experimentation and music making, all Nico’s productions stayed between the 4 walls of his modest home studio. Something that would change in 1988, when Nico bumped into Emmanuel “Manu” Prevost.“We met on a night out in Lille”, Nico recalls. “I usually just stood by the dj booth, as I wasn’t a good dancer. So instead of throwing shapes at the dancefloor, I started a conversation with the dj, who happened to be Manu. By the end of the night, I handed him a demo tape of the album I was wanting to do.” Propelled by good fate, a fruitful collab happened between Nico and this dj. For Manu, everything also fell in place: “At the time, I was looking for a composer to work on producing a new beat record. As a dj, I often crossed the Belgian border for gigs and this new style was in full explosion over there. I heard Nico’s songs and naively told him: “Let’s make an album”, without knowing how.” Despite the high hopes for the new alliance, the project turned out to be a shot in the dark. “I assumed Manu already had some experience, as he proposed to do the mastering himself. But funnily he only told me after the release of the record that it was his first time too. But you know, we managed.” Not willing to release under his own name, Nico came up with Musical Keyboard System, abbreviated as MKS. The alias was born and the journey ready to take off.The album finally released in September 1989. After the release, Nico went on a low-key promo tour together with Manu in Northern France. “We aired a video clip on FR3 for two songs, together with a short interview. In their studio, we created a scrimpy décor with some green plants to resemble the Vietnam jungle (as for the track Nam Revelation) and we shot the clip. Manu even lay down behind a screen operating the fog machine.” As a live act, MKS’ career was rather short-lived, with a first and final gig in the Theatre of Saint-Quentin a few months after the release. “In France, we would remain illustrious strangers. Yet in the meantime, our music got played on new age radios in the USA.” After the end of MKS, Nico moved to Paris and Manu took on his military duty. In the army, Manu met movie animator Jacques Rouxel (the man behind French cult series Les Shadoks) and got him in touch with Nico. The duo collaborated with Rouxel on some compositions, before they went their separate ways at last. Nico went on to pursue his childhood dream, as a pioneer in France for integrating 3D animations into classical cartoons. Manu in turn became a producer for feature films.

Having released his own music for several years on his self-titled label, Berlin-based DJ/producer Amotik presents AMTK+, a new extension of the imprint focussed on featuring other artists via split-EPs. Leading this new series is an EP from Italian-born producer Deluka and Amotik himself, a four-track offering of stripped-back, hypnotic, driving and meditative techno from two artists at the top of their game.

Iro Aka are back on Hivern with the last installment of the trilogy that started back in 2020 with "El Passatge de les Ombres". The present album, "Planet Earth", which will also be released on CD, showcases a new side of the catalan duo. The seven songs share a clinical approach in sound design of both percussion and ambiances. Cuts like the opener "14.696" build up slowly while "Aquamarine", one of the singles, showcases a more euphoric side of the project. This combination of tension, spaced out beats and hypnotic cuts reflects Iro Aka's commitment to creating a cohesive and immersive work that rewards thorough listens. Illustration by Vica Pacheco and design by Eenyakee.