X-Plode
The Psychotronic EP

Balmat is a new label with a cloudy outline.Jointly shepherded by Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas, two friends living in Cardedeu, Catalonia, and on the Balearic island of Menorca, Balmat grew out of Lapsus Radio, a weekly show on Spain’s Radio 3. Balmat’s mission is simple: to foster new ideas, expand upon personal obsessions, and put enveloping sounds out into the world.“Balmat” means “empty” or “void” in Catalan. But quite apart from any negative connotations, we prefer to think of it in terms of possibility: a space waiting to be filled.Balmat’s first release comes from Luke Sanger, a Norwich, UK-based artist whose two decades of electronic music making have encompassed a range of tools and techniques, from MaxMSP to modular synthesis. Along the way he has built an extensive catalog encompassing ambient atmospheres, abstract soundscaping, and more. With Languid Gongue, he puts multiple approaches into play. Experiments in microtonal composition balance out pieces in standard tunings, while esoteric electronic machines merge with familiar acoustic treatments and microphone techniques.The result is a constellation of his signature sounds: freeform new-age fantasia; spring-loaded toytronic arpeggios; quartz-driven braindance clockworks. Drifting between consonant, almost lyrical compositions and shape-shifting textural sketches, the album drifts with the nonchalance of a sky-high cirrus cloud, and it glows as if illuminated from within. When we heard the material, we knew that it was the perfect choice to launch the label. To us, it sounds like a roadmap for points unknown.

Sushitech is back with another of its sublime vinyl-only projects and this one focuses on the work of Dexter. There will be three 12"s in all that draw together some of the producer's finest moments. He is a truly cult figure amongst those who know and he served up a fresh take on tech, acid, dub and house between 1997 and 2004 when these tracks were first made - if you can find any of those original records prepare to pay loads for them, or else dive into Past Moves I. It has a brace of slick, tightly programmed cuts underpinned by rolling pads with lovely lo-fi pads up top. Heady stuff.

‘Albino Sound concocts textual delights in shades of metal on his forthcoming EP for Turnend Tapes.The ‘Metallurgy’ EP forthcoming on Turnend Tapes sees Japanese artist Hirotaka Umetani transmit four club orientated tracks through a UK bass lens, delineating from past musical excursions and so marking a turning point of his works.Indicative of this shift is the vast and varied sources of inspiration Hirotaka has tapped into in creating ‘Metallurgy’. Translating visual into sound through Hirotaka’s own experience, bare witness to granular detail made macro through swathes of sound design kinetically akin to the flurry of mineral-rich hot water springs, seething in chemical harmony.Entwining impressions of the past with forecasts of the future Hirotaka deftly connects the dots between the sounds stemming from the alchemy of metal and it’s interplay with the natural environment as we proceed ever closer to organic-synthetic assimilation.’

6th Hypnus record by Birds ov Paradise.Early support from Dorisburg, TM404, Brando Lupi, Abstract Division, Arnaud le Texier, Ben Buitendijk, Felix Lorusso, Mosam Howieson, Samuli Kemppi, Takaaki Itoh, Hydrangea and Forest on Stasys to name a few.Love and light

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.