Curved Needle - Rain Of Molten Iron (Broken English Club Remix)
Artificial Dance 2021
AD013

Nearly twenty years on from his last solo sortie, Tommy Gillard reemerges as Curved Needle with “Rain Of Molten Iron” - a new six-tracker scoping out the confines between hi-octane body music and FX-riddled experimentation.

After spending most of the decade working in the studio with Oliver Ho alias Broken English Club as Zov Zov, the West London-based producer reignites the flame of true-school horror electronics with five cuts heaving us into a furnace of post-apocalyptic machine talk by the scruff of the neck, complimented by a remix from Broken English Club.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/curved-needle-rain-of-molten-iron-broken-english-club-remix-ad013

Curved Needle - Rain Of Molten Iron(Incl. Broken English Club Remix) (AD013)

Curved Needle - Rain Of Molten Iron
Artificial Dance 2021
AD013

Nearly twenty years on from his last solo sortie, Tommy Gillard reemerges as Curved Needle with “Rain Of Molten Iron” - a new six-tracker scoping out the confines between hi-octane body music and FX-riddled experimentation.

After spending most of the decade working in the studio with Oliver Ho alias Broken English Club as Zov Zov, the West London-based producer reignites the flame of true-school horror electronics with five cuts heaving us into a furnace of post-apocalyptic machine talk by the scruff of the neck, complimented by a remix from Broken English Club.

artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/curv…emix-ad013

Curved Needle - Rain of Molten Iron (AD013)

For his first release with Artificial Dance, Black Merlin aka George Thompson takes a departure from the hard-wearing techno and intricate field recording work that he has come to be known for. Scape One is a fifteen-minute psychedelic diversion recorded in one continuous live session. While the track’s sonic characteristics may echo dance music from the turn of the millennium, its pulsating rhythm is more suggestive of the slowly evolving landscapes seen outside of a train window as opposed to raves from the late ‘90s. 

Appearing on the B-side is Gordon Pohl’s remix of Scape One. Like its source material, this track is long and subtle in the way it develops over time, but Pohl dissects the most salient elements of the original to construct a new rhythmic urgency. The high frequency accent that guides the remix does so at a speed that recalls the rotations of Brion Gysin’s stroboscopic Dream Machine, which taps into your brain’s alpha waves, aiding drug-free hallucinations. 

Pohl and Thompson are frequent collaborators and release music together as Karamika. While Scape One is not a collaboration in the strict sense, there is plenty of crossover in the working methodology of the two musicians, especially when it comes to constructing uncomplicated arrangements. 

The repetitive nature of their respective tracks locks the listener into a contradictory sensation of travelling whilst staying seemingly motionless. This sensation is not altogether uncommon, but in this instance it’s not quotidian either. The result is a record that unravels slowly, leaving space for the listener to home in on all the available information and, in the process, discover elements that can be just as unnerving as they are satisfying. 

Records purchased from the Artificial Dance Bandcamp page come with a further two remixes by Pohl as digital-only bonus tracks.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/black-merlin-scape-one-incl-gordon-pohl-remixes

Black Merlin - Scape One (Incl. Gordon Pohl remixes) (AD014)

For his first release with Artificial Dance, Black Merlin aka George Thompson takes a departure from the hard-wearing techno and intricate field recording work that he has come to be known for. Scape One is a fifteen-minute psychedelic diversion recorded in one continuous live session. While the track’s sonic characteristics may echo dance music from the turn of the millennium, its pulsating rhythm is more suggestive of the slowly evolving landscapes seen outside of a train window as opposed to raves from the late ‘90s.

Appearing on the B-side is Gordon Pohl’s remix of Scape One. Like its source material, this track is long and subtle in the way it develops over time, but Pohl dissects the most salient elements of the original to construct a new rhythmic urgency. The high frequency accent that guides the remix does so at a speed that recalls the rotations of Brion Gysin’s stroboscopic Dream Machine, which taps into your brain’s alpha waves, aiding drug-free hallucinations.

Pohl and Thompson are frequent collaborators and release music together as Karamika. While Scape One is not a collaboration in the strict sense, there is plenty of crossover in the working methodology of the two musicians, especially when it comes to constructing uncomplicated arrangements.

Records purchased from the Artificial Dance Bandcamp page come with a further two remixes by Pohl as digital-only bonus tracks.

Artwork: Steele Bonus
Mastering: Gordon Pohl
Text: Ilia Rogatchevski 

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/black-merlin-scape-one-incl-gordon-pohl-remixes

Black Merlin - Scape One (AD014)

Gordon's Pohl remix of Scape One by Black Merlin.

Black Merlin - Scape One (Gordon Pohl Remix)(AD014)

Artificial Dance is very happy to announce that we’ve spent a wealth of time going through the archived recordings of Richard Zeilstra, AKA Genetic Factor. Richard was a pivotal figure in the Amsterdam new wave and avant-garde pop music circles. Besides hosting the ever-influential Spleen and Radionome radio shows on the VPRO he also found time to conduct his own audible experiments. As a firm believer of music by non-musicians Richard has made the effort throughout the last decades to keep on recording in a variety of different guises on different parts of the planet. In these different times and places, the genetic factor was always there. We are happy to announce that we will release a limited edition sampler 12” vinyl before the end of the year. The sampler contains 2 songs from a forthcoming 2x12" full-length archival compilation and 2 exclusives. The archival compilation will see the day of light in 2022. Fully endorsed and in collaboration with Richard, compiled by Olf van Elden & Robert Bergman.

Genetic Factor - Sampler 12" (AD015)

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/june-window-of-time-ad017

June - Window Of Time (AD017)

Genetic Factor
In Deadly Wet Dreams
AD016
2x12"

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/in-deadly-wet-dreams-ad016

Artificial Dance is very happy to announce the full archival compilation of work by Richard Zeilstra A.K.A. Genetic Factor. Recorded in different parts of the world, at different times - we hope this will give the world a glimmer of the mind of Genetic Factor. A mind that has been behind a variety of very influential operations during the years; including a string of radio programmes (Radionome & Spleen a.o.), working at Boudisque and running Barcelona’s first compact disc store!

A double disc affair housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve that is only bleak in comparison with the musics featured on the discs. With songs taken from a wealth of recordings (and we’re only touching the surface!) that were safely locked in the Lab’s vaults.

The songs featured are not an attempt of making a coherent ‘album’ but much more trials of interpretation of his world into ‘music’. His strong believe in non-musicianship makes it more thrilling than conventional musics, yet these recordings are not result of amateurism - they form a consistent reality of what excites him. Take a dive in the realm of the Genetic Factor…

Genetic Factor - In Deadly Wet Dreams (AD016)

Artificial Dance founder Interstellar Funk releases Live At The Rest Is Noise - Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. Limited to 150 cassettes, the recording documents Interstellar Funk’s performance at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw concert hall in October 2021.


The 45-minute set ebbs and pulses, leaving behind Interstellar Funk’s penchant for hard-wearing club sounds in favour of melody and texture. Some passages mirror elements from the studio album Into The Echo (Dekmantel, 2022), but the live setting allows Interstellar Funk to expand and explore richly detailed sonic spaces that highlight his skills as a composer-performer.

Download card included.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-muziekgebouw

(AD018) Interstellar Funk - Live at Muziekgebouw

Artificial Dance founder Interstellar Funk releases Live At The Rest Is Noise - Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. Limited to 150 cassettes, the recording documents Interstellar Funk’s performance at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw concert hall in October 2021. The 45-minute set ebbs and pulses, leaving behind Interstellar Funk’s penchant for hardwearing club sounds in favour of melody and texture. Some passages mirror elements from the studio album Into The Echo (Dekmantel, 2022), but the live setting allows Interstellar Funk to expand and explore richly detailed sonic spaces that highlight his skills as a composer-performer.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-muziekgebouw

Live at Muziekgebouw (AD018)

Never Been is the first collaborative release by Loradeniz and Interstellar Funk, who produced the EP at a Volkshotel artist residency in Amsterdam, in 2021. The record examines the interplay of synthetic melodies and Loradeniz’s vocals, which are underpinned by meticulously crafted rhythms. Steeped in melancholy, many of the tracks on Never Been evoke the essence of departure, complex emotions and fading memories. 

‘Freefall’ – which has already been played by DJs last summer – opens with a solid bassline and crystalline melodies. An urgent kick and racing hi-hats intensify the composition, while the dominant topline brings to mind a rapturous dance at twilight. An allegory of communication, ‘Hidden Tongue’ has Loradeniz pronouncing splintered vowels, like a malfunctioning public service recording, over a reverberated snare, deep kick and repeating glockenspiel figure. 

‘Fly Me In’ begins with an arpeggiated melody, before slowly combining multiple electric accents and delicate vocals with spoken word passages exploring notions of escape. The heroic overtones of ‘Situational Lullaby’ develop subtly with layers of synths reminiscent of mid-90s soundtracks, while ‘Lurking Orange’ closes the release with its listless refrain and snake-like percussion.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/never-been-ad019

Interstellar Funk & Loradeniz - Never Been (AD019)

Never Been is the first collaborative release by Loradeniz and Interstellar Funk, who produced the EP at a Volkshotel artist residency in Amsterdam, in 2021. The record examines the interplay of synthetic melodies and Loradeniz’s vocals, which are underpinned by meticulously crafted rhythms. Steeped in melancholy, many of the tracks on Never Been evoke the essence of departure, complex emotions and fading memories.

‘Freefall’ – which has already been played by DJs last summer – opens with a solid bassline and crystalline melodies. An urgent kick and racing hi-hats intensify the composition, while the dominant topline brings to mind a rapturous dance at twilight. An allegory of communication, ‘Hidden Tongue’ has Loradeniz pronouncing splintered vowels, like a malfunctioning public service recording, over a reverberated snare, deep kick and repeating glockenspiel figure.

‘Fly Me In’ begins with an arpeggiated melody, before slowly combining multiple electric accents and delicate vocals with spoken word passages exploring notions of escape. The heroic overtones of ‘Situational Lullaby’ develop subtly with layers of synths reminiscent of mid-90s soundtracks, while ‘Lurking Orange’ closes the release with its listless refrain and snake-like percussion.
credits

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/never-been-ad019

Interstellar Funk & Loradeniz - Lurking Orange (AD019)

B1. Job Sifre - Element

A3. Job Sifre - Rock Bottom

A2. Job Sifre - Intex Excursions

A1. Job Sifre - Worries

A1. Dr. C. Stein – La Bombe Plastique (Original)

B1.  Dr. C. Stein – La Bombe Plastique (Edit)

Earlier in the year, Red Light Radio co-founder Hugo van Hejiningen and Identified Patient joined forces to debut their new musical project, Stallion’s Stud. Artificial Dance is ready to release the first fruits of the duo’s studio collaboration.

The four-track EP digs deep into their shared love of off-kilter electronics, post-punk era experimentation, DIY music culture and dubbed-out drum machine rhythms. The results are undeniably dark and intoxicating, with former punk singer Hugo fronting proceedings via mind-altering vocals and twisted lyrical flows.

Opener “Promising Promises” sets the tone for what follows, with Hugo’s spoken vocals wrapping themselves around ricocheting industrial dub rhythms and raw, delay-laden electronics. The delay trails to oblivion remain a force to be reckoned with on the creepy, fuzz-fuelled cold-wave doom of “Instrumental Aria”, while the throbbing and clanking “Unpredictable” and “The Voice of No” ratchet up the intensity by several notches via heavyweight bass, face-melting percussion and Hugo’s vocals.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/stallions-stud-stllnsstd-ad006

Stallions' Stud - STLLNSSTD (AD006)

OPPOSING CURRENTS – MIRAGE INFORMATION
Artificial Dance 2019
AD007

Jason Letkiewicz has always swum against the musical tides, flitting between different solo pseudonyms (including Steve Summers, Death Commando and Alan Hurst) and collaborative projects (most notably Mutant Beat Dance) in order to explore different aspects of his leftfield inspirations. With his latest release, a first full-length outing for Artificial Dance entitled Mirage Information, the Chicago-based artist is operating under an alias that celebrates this approach: Opposing Currents.

It’s an alias he’s used once before – for a track featured on Chronditic Sound’s 2015 cassette compilation Non-Christian Referent – but Mirage Information sounds like an artistic rebirth. Densely layered, mind-altering and often intense, the album’s seven tracks update the Cold War paranoia and pulsating electronics of EBM and industrial music for today’s complex and chaotic political climate.

Throughout, Letkiewicz smothers off-kilter drum machine rhythms and throbbing, body-jacking synthesizer basslines in untold layers of hazy audio detail, creating a dystopian sound soup out of which alien electronic melodies, psychedelic acid lines and barely audible vocals emerge. At times, such as on angry opener “Lying Awake”, the extra-terrestrial “Dissolve” and foreboding “Shallow Grave”, we’re invited to dance in the darkness in celebration of impending doom. On other occasions, such as the poignant and melancholic closing cut “It Awaits”, Letkiewicz simply seems exasperated at the chaos that is life in the 21st century. It makes for a genuinely arresting and thought-provoking listen.

https://www.rushhour.nl/record/vinyl/mirage-information

Opposing Currents - Mirage Information (AD007)

Hypnobeat - Forbidden Plant 
Artificial Dance 2019
AD005

Spearheaded by James Dean Brown (also known from Perlon’s Narcotic Syntax) and Victor Sol, and featuring other rotating members, Hypnobeat is a true product of the open-ended spirit of DIY music that proliferated in the 1980s. The prescient project championed deft, machine-powered rhythm programming as its modus operandi long before the practice would become a dominant global cultural form. Since Hypnobeat was revived in 2012 with Helena Hauff joining JDB on stage for improvised live performances based on one 707 and three 808s, there have been a string of archival releases shining a light on the early and more recently recorded works of this forward-thinking venture.

This latest collection for Artificial Dance comprises three freshly unearthed iterations. Long-form A-side track “Polychrome Desert” is a pure percussive exercise, programmed and recorded by JDB in 1986 with a chain of three 808s filling out a stereo panorama. The intention was to create a pure, meditative rhythm drawing on African influences and reinterpreted through what was then the music technology of the future. “Spies In Malaysia” is a live recording from a concert Hypnobeat performed in 1985. Its lurid melodic passages and crunchy percussive blasts formed the closing track of the set, which was met with rapturous response. Recorded in the same year, “Sumatra Railway” was the product of an impromptu session between JDB and Victor Sol. The song finds the pair exploring a more shadowy, surf-inspired sound, laden with echo and freewheeling through seven minutes of sun-kissed, subtly tropical subversion.

With each successive release, the plot surrounding Hypnobeat thickens in a tangle of 1/4” jack cables and ancient effect pedals. From its shifting line-up to the diverse sonic repertoire, it remains one of the wondrous plants of German electronic music in the pre-techno era.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/hypnobeat-forbidden-plant-ad005

Hypnobeat - Forbidden Plant (AD005)

Sebastian Melmoth - The Dynamics Of Vanity
Artificial Dance 2019
AD008

Since forming in 2006 post-punk experimentalists Sebastian Melmoth have been on a thoughtful and adventurous musical journey. In a constant state of aural evolution, the London-based four-piece has a delivered a string of albums and EPs that variously touch on everything from garage-rock, grunge and lo-fi pop, to electro, new wave, dark ambient and music concrete, all the while drawing on a myriad of literary and artistic influences.

The band’s first release for Artificial Dance digs deep into their admirable and eye-opening catalogue and draws together some of the Amsterdam-based label’s favourites from the more electronic end of the band’s output. Entitled “The Dynamics of Vanity” – a comment on Western culture’s obsession with rehashing the past and the band’s own in-built distrust of artistic naval-gazing – the set is not a ‘best of’ retrospective but rather a ‘sort of’ selection of stylistically interconnected cuts that gives a very specific snapshot of the band’s work.

Check for example “Icarus”, a drowsy, hypnotic and sample-laden soundscape that effortlessly joins the dots between post-rock, pitched-down electronica and early morning ambient, or the slowly unfurling throb of thought-provoking opener “The Engineering of Consent”, a swelling, melancholic post-jazz meditation on propaganda and governmental mind control featuring spoken word samples from William S Burroughs in conversation with Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine and Robert Anton Wilson. 

The showcased songs are typically hard-to-pin-down, too, with the re-imagined gothic horror break-up cut “Prosopagnosia’ and slow-burn audio addition of “Waiting For Godot” being joined by the wide-eyed morning dream-pop hallucinations of “Seeds (Descent Into Decadence)”.  It all adds up to a collection that expertly showcases one engaging thread – of many – running through Sebastian Melmoth’s esoteric body of work.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/sebastian-melmoth-the-dynamics-of-vanity-ad008

Sebastian Melmoth - The Dynamics Of Vanity (AD008)

Trenton Chase - Planar Array
Artificial Dance 2020
AD009

Following his debut LP in June 2017, Trenton Chase returns with “Planar Array”, a 7 track LP on Artificial Dance. As half of Manie Sans Délire and the co-owner of June records, he’s known for his uncompromising sound that touches a wide range of genres. The release is heavy-hitting with distorted vocals, industrial textures and dagger-like synths, a satisfying array of wave, EBM and experimental music. From Transit Decay with the clunky bassline and depth at its core to the aggressive electronics in Narked. From the title track, Planar Array’s melodic high synths to the dreamy contracting offbeat of Doppler Shift. Trenton Chase brings the smoke out of the machine, progressively getting harder, faster and more destructive.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/trenton-chase-planar-array-ad009

Trenton Chase - Planar Array (AD009)

Interstellar Funk & Robert Valera - Devil's Juice
Artificial Dance 2020
AD010

Interstellar Funk & Robert Valera roll out a wealth of EBM, darkwave and acid leaning electronics in a new instalment for Olf van Elden’s (Interstellar Funk) label Artificial Dance. Devil’s Juice is a split twelve and the result of two analog recording sessions that took place in New York and Amsterdam in 2019.

Van Elden and Valera met each other through mutual friends, sharing a love for deep and twisted bassline explorations, visceral melodies and analog machine funk. Interstellar Funk has been releasing music through labels like Rush Hour, Dekmantel, L.I.E.S. and Berceuse Heroique, Devil’s Juice is a premiere for releasing his personal productions on his own imprint. Robert Valera is a seasoned live performer but this will be his first release. Devil’s Juice is a testament of Van Elden’s and Varela’s fascination for analog instruments and how they are able to communicate in spontaneous and unpredictable ways.

With its punchily sluggish bassline and churning synth-wave action, ‘Serge’ is straight up dance floor material boasting a contemporary take on early eighties darkwave esthetics. ‘Devil’s Juice’ taps in on an equally slow(ish) tempo, a highly infectious melody fluttering playfully over raw, machine driven rhythmic patterns.

On the flip, the two producers switch it up a gear, going full throttle on ‘North Sea’, unleashing a torrent of virtuosic acid-esque synth tweaks and proper percussive fury, strapping arps and moody pads. ‘Klangin’ ignites the jack firing shrapnel snares and ruffed-up bass with rotor-jawed atmospheres, serving up a gloomy anthem inked with swirling arpeggios.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/interstellar-funk-robert-valera-devils-juice-ad010

Interstellar Funk & Robert Valera - Devil's Juice (AD010)

Stephen Huss - Galaxy
Artificial Dance 2020
AD011

To honor Stephen and his impressive career as musician with Psyche (together with brother Darrin Huss) and as a solo artist, Artificial Dance decided to release his solo work on vinyl for the very first time. The Galaxy LP is a collection of 6 tracks recorded between 1983 - 2005 selected together with Darrin Huss. Belial, Quest 6 and Eternal City will be familiar to fans of Psyche as bonus tracks on the CD version of “Daydream Avenue”. Marooned In Step Time, Galactic and Rattlesnake are discoveries from solo archives that are being made available on a physical release for the first time.

Stephen’s music was featured on the Artificial Dancers compilation earlier this year and after discovering all the great music he has made as a solo artist Artificial Dance contacted Darrin to work on a compilation. Stephen’s music as the foundation of Psyche is known worldwide, but he kept his profile as a solo artist relatively low. 

Together with Darrin, Artificial Dance selected 6 tracks that give a complete overview of Stephen as a solo musician. These wide-ranging synth instrumentals were recorded between 1983 and 2005 and you can clearly hear the range of talent through the early Psyche influences to his further experiments in the electronic genre. Let Galaxy be your guide into this unique musical experience created solely by Stephen Huss. All tracks are remastered by Darrin Huss, artwork by Steele Bonus.

This compilation is a dedication to Stephen Huss and all the great music he has done.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/stephen-huss-galaxy

Stephen Huss - Galaxy (AD011)

Interstellar Funk & Robert Valera - Devil's Juice
Artificial Dance 2020
AD010

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com

Trenton Chase ‎– Planar Array
Artificial Dance 2020
AD009

artificialdance.bandcamp.com

Trenton Chase - Wind Shear (AD009)

June - Horizons
Artificial Dance 2021
AD012

Following up to his studio companion Trenton Chase’s latest LP ‘Planar Array’ released earlier in 2020, half of Manie Sans Délire June turns up on Artificial Dance with his anticipated new mini-album, ‘Horizons’. True to the signature synth-splattered sound of his and his duo, June’s newest wave-imbued manifesto has us swimming amidst an organized chaos of roughly extruded keyboard wizardry, punk-minded drum programming and a retro-futuristic headspace.

Scanning out the gap between Italo, new wave, EBM and new beat, ‘Horizons’ shifts seamlessly from forward-moving, arpeggio-laden circuitry (‘JW’, ‘Infinity Room') to hi-intensity body music (’New Horizons’), through ambientoid spaced-out sonic explorations (‘Uncharted Territories’) and quirky downtempo chuggers (‘Reverie’, ‘Psychic Process’). A kaleidoscope of rhythmic tricks and shape-shifting mirages, June’s scope-expanding six-track voyage vows to play mind games with its listener till all lights have gone off.

https://artificialdance.bandcamp.com/album/june-horizons

June - Horizons (AD012)

June - Horizons
Artificial Dance 2021
AD012

artificialdance.bandcamp.com

June - JW (AD012)

June - Psychic Process

Artificial Dance is an independent label from Amsterdam, founded in 2017.
Exclusively distributed by Rush Hour Music.

Popular tracks by Artificial Dance