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After 30 years working on their respective ongoing music projects, Vince Clarke (Erasure / Yazoo / Depeche Mode) and Martin L. Gore (Depeche Mode) come together for the first time since 1981 as VCMG to release a brand new album preceded by a series of EPs.

VCMG is the fruit of initially tentative discussion and subsequent enthused collaboration where Vince and Martin, both influential as pioneers in electronic music, get to exercise their lifelong love of the genre as the techno inspired VCMG.

The first release is an EP entitled Spock.  EP1 / SPOCK will feature remixes from Edit-Select, aka Tony Scott, the UK DJ / producer and founder of EditSelect Records whose previous remix credits include Speedy J, Death In Vegas and Gary Beck; Regis, British techno musician Karl O’Connor, member of the Sandwell District collective and co-founder of Downwards Records); DVS1, Brooklyn based producer Derek VanScoten (Radiohead / Sleigh Bells / Emancipator); plus XOQ, the alter ego of Californian Überzone / Q, who mixed the VCMG album.

https://www.facebook.com/VCMGofficial


VCMG - Spock

VCMG - Single Blip (Album Version)

Buy the metal tin CD version here http://perctrax.bandcamp.com/album/labour-division

FACT review http://www.factmag.com/2012/05/24/forward-strategy-group-labour-division/

Juno Plus review http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2012/05/23/forward-strategy-group-labour-division-review/

Forward Strategy Group present Labour Division, their debut album that follows a string of releases on Perc Trax, their own eponymous label, Stroboscopic Artefacts and Dynamic Reflection. Since their early days releasing on net labels to their current position amongst Europe's most respected techno outfits the Leeds/Edinburgh duo of Al Matthews (Smear) and Patrick Walker have always done things their own way. Drawing on their vast knowledge of electronic music's history Patrick and Al produce music where notable reference points are fused with new ideas to create their own distinctive sound.

Labour Division finds the Forward Strategy Group at their most melodic but also their most brutally uncompromising. Throughout the album the tracks shift between a range of atmospheres and timbres which in turn guide the listener though a number of different listening states, holding their attention and encouraging active listening rather than the passive, barely-there engagement often induced by less adventurous electronic albums.

The first five tracks aim to grab the listener's attention from the very first bar, whilst the tracks making up the second half of the album go deeper the listener, introducing more immersive sounds that hint at influences far beyond the realms of dancefloor techno.

Album opening 'Ident' surprises from its opening moments, being more melodic than you have ever heard the Forward Strategy Group before. The track harks back to the synth workouts of the 1980's but coated in a layer of industrial grime that sets out an aesthetic that runs through the rest of the album. Mandate and Elegant Mistakes both revolve around the kind of semi-broken rhythms which have been a characteristic of both the Forward Strategy Group's output and that of the Perc Trax label of late. The former track builds up layers of delayed stabs and whilst the latter has echoes of classic UK hardcore as the distinction between drum sounds and processed human voices begins to blur.

From then on the duo serve up a blend of metallic percussion and reverberant stabs, effortlessly switching from widescreen soundscapes to razor sharp exercises in minimalism. Metal Image and Industry & Empire trade on their depth whilst Cultivar rounds off the album hinting at post-punk guitar textures without you ever being sure if your ears are hearing live instrumentation or not.

As you reach the end of the album it is clear that this is one of the rare occasions when a collaboration is exactly that, a meeting and melding of the history and skills of two individuals to create a cohesive album that is the key moment for the Forward Strategy Group so far and opens up endless possibilities for their work after the album.

Metal Image

VCMG - Lowly  (Ssss)

Out now on vinyl. Digital release 23rd November.

A1) Mirv7
A2) Grid 
B1) Grid (Mondkopf Litanie Remix)
B2) Alpha

D1) Erase
D2) Grid (Mondkopf Elegie Remix)

Blawan (She Works / R&S) ‘Very interesting and pounding! Can’t wait to play some of these out!’

Luke Slater (Ostgut Ton / Mote Evolver) ‘Love Mirv7.nice release. 4/5’

Adam X (CLR / Sonic Groove) ‘This is a very well crafted mix of industrial and techno. Definitely liking the entire release. Hard to pick a favorite here.’

Drumcell (Droid / CLR) ‘5/5 fucking brilliant!’

Tommy Four Seven (CLR) ‘Great direction from Bobby! Particularly into Alpha and Mirv7 plus the Mondkopf remixes. Thanks.’

The Black Dog (Dust Science / Soma) ‘Fucking wonderful, dark wave techno with industrial flavours and a hint of pop, brilliant.’

Smear (Forward Strategy Group) ‘All excellent, about time, cheers! 5/5’

Truss / MPIA3 (R&S / Avian) ‘This is wicked. Original or Grid and Mondkopf Litanie Remix for me. Thanks.’

Go Hiyama (Stroboscopic Artefacts) ‘Beautiful bit crush....Perfect. Thanks!’

Moerbeck (Vault Series) ‘Heavy metal!’

Perc Trax is proud to unveil the debut EP by Pinion, known in a former life as US-based producer Bobby Dowell. Pinion is the sound of a man with his own vision of music, sitting somewhere between classic industrial and contemporary techno without slavishly bowing down to either discipline.  Where the likes of Ancient Methods and Perc are the sound of metal on metal, Pinion is more like wood on leather, a ceremonial throb that switches in an instant from tightly locked grooves to more freeform rhythmic patterns. 

Equally at home serving up percussive workouts as he is crafting dense, atmospheric soundscapes the release of Pinion from his underground lair is a major coup for Perc Trax. 

Bolstering the percussive attack is the enfant terrible of the Parisian techno scene Mondkopf, a man who is been on Perc’s radar for a few years now. Mondkopf’s two remixes of Grid, float ethereal pads over a slowed down, metallised version of Pinion’s original groove to provide the perfect accompaniments to the lead mix’s ritualistic beating.

Buy at bandcamp

Pinion - Engage (Perc Trax)

Today, The Knife unveil Full Of Fire from their forthcoming album Shaking The Habitual, and premier a short film by Marit Östberg, watch it here: http://youtu.be/DoH6k6eIUS4

This April The Knife release their first studio album since Silent Shout seven years ago. The album, Shaking The Habitual, is now available to pre-order here: http://theknife.net

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