pondlicker
Soft Focus

Returning to his roots in live production, OTON shares the 4-track EP Aurora on his imprint Alliance Club. Following his previous neo-rave stylings on the label, Aurora is the product of hours spent in OTON's Brussels-based studio, where he worked with a DAW-less setup and a newly acquired tangle of gear. Such tools remained instrumental in crafting the sonically rich textures of Aurora and OTON's forthcoming album, New Forms Of Silence, drawing from a palette of mental techno, hypnotic tribe, and psy tek. Two tracks from the album—due for release in spring 2025—feature on Aurora, comprising the title track and 'Voltage Controls'.

Omg, Plata is hosting a colouring contest! Diligently cut out the template, colour it to your best ability and deliver it to the rainbow club in Maastricht (just follow the goddamn rainbow, ok?!). By doing so, you will make a chance at winning a copy of the new slab-o-electro by Perill on Plata Morgana. Stay artsy, stay fab, colour fast and party hard. You know the drill.

Fever AM presents Xen Chron with his label debut“Deleted Vapor”. Based in Weymouth, Massachusetts,Xen Chron is the most recent alias from a produceractive at varying levels of obscurity for over 20 years.This EP consists of five tracks of forward thinking, psy-chedelic, broken techno that lean into “sci-fi sounds & atonalities, a sense of fun, & head nod factor” in hi own words. At a time where clubs and dancefloors are almost completely absent worldwide, this EP captures current moods and feelings while insisting for us to keep moving.

Peer-reviewed electro theory by Obergman. Pentaquark is pure plug n’ play technology to bump in your UFO as you conquer the cosmos. Endless bouncing electro rhythms for those that want the power to control dancefloors. Embrace the power of the atom!

A polymathic affair spanning the broadest musical bandwidth, French outlet Lowlife Cartel resurface with ‘Vuota Beatitudine’ - a fresh 8-track VA extrapolating their eclectic approach to contagious effect. Draped in surreally murky cover art courtesy of Paris-based artist Léa Bouton alias Absolemabsoluxe / graphic design by Metaphore Collectif affiliate Nicolas Guillerminet, this new release features contributors from distinct mental and geographical regions alike: French-American chopped-and-screwed shock outfit HERNVNDEZ ft. MXSTVH, a hi-tech DnB / raging electro crossover from Mexican producer Jegsaha, BFDM & Tresor alum Jean Redondo on duty, junglistic jazz stunts by Chicago’s KSETDEX, German ambient voodooist Lorica, spectral post-indus from PRESENTE, Italian vibist Alec Pace up with a ragga-informed vengeance and Memphis-via-Mexico style slowed-’n-throwed madness from MVRKMVCHINX. Lovers of Southern lo-fi rap narratives will find in both HERNVNDEZ ft. MXSTVH 'Artes Oscuras' and MVRKMVCHINX ‘Shutter' the kind of lo-slung gangsta heat to wake up both grillz-teethed zombies and have these gold-felloed Cadillacs’ afterburners flaring. Hailing from the Mexican capital city, Jegsaha fires off a barrage of breaks-laden fire, processed vox menace and frantic bass onslaughts that go straight for the jugular. Fragmenting the groove down to molecular abstraction, Redondo treats us to a mischievous hybrid of ghetto-tech’y jack and discombobulated post-pop experiment with ‘You!’, whereas US producer KSETDEX welds a smokey jazz piano onto a muscular UK bass chassis on the addictive ‘Gemini’. Flip it over and there’s Frankfurt-based producer Lorica dishing out a hypnotic slice of atmospheric electronics, both immersively brooding and unimpeachably uplifting in equal measure. ‘Vuota Beatitudine’, the track that gives its title to the EP, works a distinctively paradoxical strain of rattling floor rhythms and zero-G escapology, in limbo betwixt heaven and hell. Conjuring up an infectious palette of ragga-infused maneuvers and packing massive bass and snare-heavy punch, Alec Pace’s fiery ‘Mantra Separation’ is prototypical dancehall arson rolled into a steely techno membrane. A wide-ranging display of explosively diverse, satisfyingly weird sounds to keep minds and bodies on the edge.

“Chop chop chop” – Fast At Work returns with the emergence of the HOVER CAPSULE – the first of many sub-discs that expand upon the fast-not-hard gospel, through a divinely anointed group of master apostles. On the A side, three separate offerings point to an originalist form of heli-dogma (chop, chop, chop, indeed!), led by first chosen FAW matriarch Carré and her elected counterpart, the legendary phonic guru Addison Groove. Joining them in spreading this up-tempo vision of sonic prayer are rising duo Baalti, and London underground priest Adam Curtain. On the B, the deeper potential of higher tempos displays in its purest and most tangible form. While Ruby May Moon & Emanuel showcase an offering chock full of emotional, poetic intensity, Introspekt churns and chops it up a notch, infusing dissonance with her signature two-step religiosity. Data Plan & 11:68PM round things out, en(capsule)ating the true musical connotation of an ethos that continues to expand and spread – well, hover.