Kirsty’s Recommendations

2nd November

Monoloc – Drift (CLR)

Born and raised in Frankfurt, Monoloc started his production career in 2001 and by 2010 he had been snapped up by Chris Liebing’s CLR label. Two years later he is preparing to release his debut album “Drift” in November. According to the press release, the CLR family was instrumental in shaping the sound of the record: Chris Liebing assisted in the mixing process, Brian Sanhaji, a label affiliate, mastered the album and Daniel Wilde, another CLR signee, lends vocals on three of the “Drifts”‘s tracks. Listeners should expect grooving, atmospherically rich pieces of techno with dreamy, retro-inspired touches.

13th November

Ital – Dream On (Planet Mu)

His second album this year, Ital’s “Dream On” will be released on Planet Mu. The Brooklyn-based artist has over the past two years reinvented himself as a house and tech2no producer with a steady stream of EPs on labels like Not Not Fun and its clubbier subsidiary, 100% Silk. As with his five-track debut “Hive Mind” from earlier this year, “Dream On”‘s track list is skimpier than is normally expected from a full-length—seven tracks this time—though it’s reportedly “much more substantial” than “Hive Mind”.

19th November

Sigha – Living With Ghosts (Hotflush Recordings)

Sigha is an English techno artist with a soft spot for swathes of ambient textures. Inspired, in part, by his recent relocation to Berlin his debut album “Living With Ghosts” will be out on Scuba’s Hotflush Recordings, the same label that released his debut EP in 2009 and most of his records since then. “Living With Ghosts” shows his understated approach to techno continuing to develop while mixed in with swathes of enveloping ambience. Stream Sigha’s track ‘Self Improvement’ to get a taste of what to expect:

Liam’s Recommendations

5th November 2012

Offshore – “Bakehaus” (Big Dada)

The debut album from Offshore aka Ewan Robertson comes with much expectation after the producer has built a reputation as the successor to fellow Scottish electronic music producer Rustie and Hudson Mohawke. Robertson stands apart from his contemporaries by both uses a wider range of emotional triggers and taking from genres outside of electronic music such as post-punk and hip-hop. This mini album is well worth through investigation.

12th November 2012

Hello Skinny – “Hello Skinny” (Slow Foot)

Hello Skinny is a new project from Matthew Herbert and Mulatu Astatke drummer Tom Skinner. His debut album is bring released this October on Slowfoot Records and he has track on the new Brownswood compilation from Giles Peterson’s label of the same name. Hello Skinny mixes up live instrumentation with samples and genres such as jazz, dub and hip-hop into a heady brew. Check out Hello Skinny’s “Smash & Grab” mixtape here for a taste of what’s to come.

Holly Herndon – “Movement” (RVNG INTL)

The debut album from Herndon sits somewhere between the world of Berlin techno (she was a DJ in the German capital for five years) and experimental music Mills College (a liberal arts college in California). Herndon separates herself from other artists in these respective fields with her extensive use of her own heavily processed vocals, these often become so abstract its hard to tell what’s a synth sound and what’s Herndon’s voice. Herndon is a perfectly fit for RVNG INTL who also straddle the experimental music and dance music worlds.

19th November

Adrian Younge and Ghostface Killah – “Twelve Reasons to Die” (Soul Temple)

“Twelve Reasons to Die” is the result of an unlikely collaboration between producer and film score composer Adrian Younge (most famous for his work on the brilliant blaxploitation homage “Black Dynamite) and Wu Tang Clan MC Ghostface Killah. The album is executive produced by RZA (Wu Tang Clan) and comes with a comic book written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon of Ashcan Press.

19th November 2012

Raime – “Quarter Turns Over A Living Line” (Blackest Ever Black)

After the release of critically acclaimed 12″s and an EP Raime are preparing to release their debut album featuring seven brand new tracks, the sees the band moving away from sampled based music to an approach dominated by live instrumentation and heavy processing. Their dark sound combines elements from jungle, industrial and gothic post-punk music and this album promises to be truly bewitching.

26th November 2012

Container – “LP” (Spectrum Spools)

Container follows up last year’s impressive noise-techno album “LP” with another album also entitled “LP”. Spectrum Spools press release says the album keeps “… the classic Container sound..in tact” but “this album offers a look into a previously closed door in the Container sound world. LP, like its predecessor LP, is recorded in mono and its cuts right down the middle of your skull, and doesn’t float around in imaginary room, these new tracks are immediate and heavy.” Sounds like a release we’ll be enjoying on Sonic Fiction.

Zombie Zombie – “Rituels D’un Nouveau Monde” (Versatile)

French horror film music obsessives Zombie Zombie return with their second album of original material. First single “Rocket Number Nine” is electro par excellence  and promises great things for the album. 

3rd December

Nils Frahm – “Screws” (Erased Tapes)

The new album from experimental pianist Nils Frahm came about through an unfortunate accident that saw him fall from a bunk bed and break his thumb. Four screws were surgically placed inside his thumb leaving him with 9 playing fingers. Frahm decided to deal with this injury the only way he knew how by playing his piano and this resulted in the 9 intimate piano tracks that make up “Screws”.

10th December 2012

Big Boi – “Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours”

Big Boi is excitedly tweeting about progress on this new album and its seems that the follow up his great 2010 album “Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty” isn’t far away. He recently said it features collaborations with UKG, Kid Cudi and man of the moment Big K.R.I.T. Check out first single “Gossip” here and view the artwork here.

17th December 2012

Missy Elliott – ‘The Block Party’

After overcoming her health problems Timbaland now claims that this album could finally be released in 2012. In meantime Missy Elliott has announced the release of two new singles ’9th Inning’ and ‘Triple Threat’ this coming weekend (Saturday 1st September & Sunday 2nd September), this is the surest sign yet that “The Block Party” is finally on its way!!!

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