 7 months on from TP#4, Demdike return with the 5th instalment in their ongoing research and development series - a double-headed monster split between gnarly reductions on the A-side, and industrial strength edits on the flip. ‘Procrastination’ edges through Grimey detritus and gunshot snares within a vast open space perfectly primed for that Demdike slow build. ‘Past Majesty’ on the flip offers up a feral take on some kind of cyber-industrial insanity, somewhere between Ministry and Powell - with a denouement which should probably come with a public health warning attached to it. All we’re saying is - watch yr eardrums.

Past Majesty

Digi + vinyl available to buy:
https://ellll.bandcamp.com/music

ROMANCE

ROMANCE EP

Physical: geographic-north.com/#/GN40-detail
Digital: https://geographicnorth.bandcamp.com/album/love-is-the-capital
Catalog #: GN40
Limited to 300 LPs on clear vinyl
Mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering

'Love is the Capital' the debut LP by Hiro Kone, the recording alias of Nicky Mao. The album is a follow-up to the incredibly well received 'Fallen Angels' cassette, bringing with it some of Mao's most emotionally and politically driven work yet. It is Hiro Kone’s long coming opus, examining a number of all-too-relevant themes: capital, the state, egoism, anxiety, and steadfast optimism. 

The eight songs on 'Love is the Capital' highlight Mao’s austere, politicized techno battling for the greater good. Songs are visceral meditations of rhythm, noise, and melody in the vein of Pan Sonic, Chris & Cosey, Muslimgauze, and Kangding Ray.

The sounds were often recorded in scenes of isolation, whether physically or emotionally. “Infinite Regress” was during a trek with Roxy Farman (Wetware) up to the sleepy, upstate NY town of Palenville. There, frozen in a cabin with the most DIY of recording booths, Mao recorded Roxy’s vocals and what would be the track that would put into motion the entire album.“Less Than Two Seconds” was written in a single afternoon in late December 2015 when it was revealed that the grand jury had declined to indict the police officer who shot to death 12-year old Tamir Rice.

The taut techno, industrial minimalism, and aural upheaval is embedded in tracks “Rukhsana” (featuring Drew McDowall, formerly of Coil & Psychic TV, on modular synthesizer), “The Place Where Spirits Get Eaten,” and “Less Than Two Seconds,” an emotionally wrought blitz of serrated Monomachine tones flanked by timeless recordings of essayist, poet, and social writer James Baldwin. Mao ventures deep into heady, prismatic runs of hypnotic techno, on “Don’t Drink the Water” and “The Declared Enemy.” On opener “Being Earnest” and “Love is the Capital,” foreboding motifs brood their way back into the narrative.

Still, the album maintains a sense transformation, burdened with an alien tension– the awareness of an impending and necessary collapse. And what may come next.

Hiro Kone - Rukhsana (Feat. Drew McDowall)

Title track from the new LP, 'Insignia', out in Japan-only on cassette for Ryo Murakami's Depth Of Decay label.

https://depthofdecay.bandcamp.com/album/insignia

Insignia

Music composed and produced by Caterina Barbieri between September 2015 and January 2016. Mixed at Elektronmusikstudion in
Stockholm (SE). Composed with an ER-101 Indexed Quad 
Sequencer and a Verbos Harmonic Oscillator. 
Images by Giovanni Brunetto 
Photography by Angelo Jaroszuk Bogasz 
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi 
First edition pressing of 500 double LPs packaged in a gatefold jacket. An edition of 200 sets on transparent blue vinyl is available for Important mailorder customers: http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec449
Bandcamp: https://caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/patterns-of-consciousness
"...has an imperial, exacting beauty." (The Wire)
“…few albums have hit us as hard as Caterina Barbieri’s 70-minute opus, Patterns Of Consciousness. On her debut full-length, Barbieri commands tsunami-height waves of arpeggiated analog synths." (Fact Mag)
"Patterns Of Consciousness finds Caterina Barbieri at her best, elegantly moving between melodically pleasant yet twisted sequences and comforting, reassuring sonic spaces. Every piece, while given a singular identity, is part of the bigger picture: a work of art that will push you, pull you, and then eventually leave you with your back against the wall once you get to the last track. " Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails)

Scratches on the Readable Surface

SOTRS

Taken from Stroboscopic Artefacts' first compilation, Flowers From The Ashes: Contemporary Italian Electronic Music, out April 13th, 2018 on 2x12" / CD / Digital.

Order: https://stroboscopicartefacts.com/shop/flowers-from-the-ashes-salp006-sacd009/



Flowers From The Ashes is the latest multi-artist project to bear the acclaimed Stroboscopic Artefacts imprimatur. There is a sensibility of decadence and corroded grandeur etched within its four album sides, reminding us that historically “decadent” times have nonetheless resulted in some of the boldest acts of individual and collective creativity. Like the "floral" theme that has remained a consistent feature of S.A.’s graphic presentation, the music here equally presents fragility and intensity in a way that really drives home this visual metaphor for good, while still holding out the promise that similar creations will be seeded in the near future.

Though many of the artists involved have set of residence outside of their native Italy, all contribute here to make a captivating portrait of a shared spirit and cultural memory. The album opens with 'Errori', deceptively fragile sonic ornaments crafted and suspended in space by Blackest Ever Black artist Silvia Kastel. This is followed closely by the mellifluous, warming glow of percussionist Andrea Belfi’s 'Spitting & Skytouching', and then by the resolute electric bass patterns and luminous fog of 'Lux et Sonus', from Eeri label head Marco Shuttle. Hospital Productions alumnus Ninos du Brasil open the B-side with a similarly dense, amorphous construction built from tribalistic chants and rhythmic patterns, to be followed by Mannequin label boss Alessandro Adriani’s 'You Will Not Be There For The End', showcasing his distinctive take on the "paranoiac breakdance" aesthetic of classic EBM. S.A. veteran Chevel rounds out the first record in the program by interlacing several percolating synth lines together into a richly conversational piece.

The journey continues with 'Starving The Mind', an undulating mini-epic from S.A. founder Lucy that is animated by his signature balance of seductiveness and concentration. The bright, biting acid synth tones of 'PRV-HH3-X', by Lory D, then takes a sharp right turn into an invisible metropolis ruled by reflective high fashion and hidden intrigue. The imposing architecture of 'Virgo Rebellion', designed by modular synth futurist Caterina Barbieri, acts as an excellent companion piece, and sets up the closing '4G' from Spazio Disponibile co-founder Neel - a crepuscular serenade that accurately sums up much of the foregoing activity.


All tracks (w)&(p) by Silvia Kastel, Andrea Belfi, Marco Shuttle, Ninos Du Brasil, Alessandro Adriani, Chevel, Lucy, Lory D, Caterina Barbieri & Neel.
Graphic concept by Ignazio Mortellaro [OA].
℗ & © Stroboscopic Artefacts 2018.
Cat. No SALP006 / SACD009 - all rights reserved.
www.stroboscopicartefacts.com
info@stroboscopicartefacts.com

Order

D1 - Caterina Barbieri - Virgo Rebellion [SALP006/SACD009]

vinyl:   https://honestjons.com/shop/label/Mana      
digital: https://manarecs.bandcamp.com/album/de-leon     
info:     http://manarecords.com/004 

Gamelan and capoeira in dub. The collective behind this doesn’t like to talk much but their music is beautifully conversational. De Leon is the most organic and percussive of their shifting identities, developed on their Aught project in small-run, clear-shell cassette tape releases over the last few years.

They've appreciated a cult interest for their takes on outernational rhythm, field recording, and the tension and relief on the knife-edge of dance music; all delivered with an impressive commitment to anonymity and clarity of vision through cut-and-dried aesthetic minimalism.

These six pieces of music seem formed from wood, metal, air. Dramatic, balletic flourishes and tightly woven interlocking patterns are embedded in slowly changing and "live" atmospheres. The shadow of a hand over the mixing desk makes gradual adjustments to alter the pressure and dimension of the space.

A number of tracks first appeared on De Leon's set for Blowing Up The Workshop in February 2016.

Mastered and cut at D&M.
Distributed by Honest Jon's, London.

Art by Gustavo Eandi

De Leon

De Leon - B1

Taken from th album 'Ecstatic Computation' releasedas LP and Download

Ecstatic Computation

Caterina Barbieri 'Fantas' (EMEGO 259)

Pre-order/save https://idol.lnk.to/laurel-halo-possessed

Music by Laurel Halo
Additional production by Paul Corley
Mixed by Paul Corley
Mastered by Noel Summerville
Published by Decca Publishing, a division of Decca Music Group Ltd.

P&C Vinyl Factory, 2020

Hyphae

Taken from the album Caterina Barbieri - Fantas Variations released as 2LP and Digital

Fantas Variations

Bendik Giske 'Fantas for Saxophone and Voice' (EMEGO 279)

Back in 2009, Italian DJ and producer Luca Mortellaro - better known simply as Lucy - established the Stroboscopic Artefacts label. And over the last 14 years, the imprint has nurtured a reputation for its line-blurring electronic abstraction and dancefloor experimentation, releasing influential material by artists like Speedy J, Kangding Ray, Donato Dozzy, Paula Temple, Rrose, Ben Klock, Wanton Witch, and of course Lucy themselves. Naturally following the label's ten year threshold, the pandemic pause and Mortellaro's subsequent artistic re-evaluation, OTHER FACTS emerges as a fresh entity, fully unplugged from Stroboscopic Artefacts' dancefloor mainframe, with its gaze pointed on widescreen cinematic sound design and audio-visual art.

D1 - Caterina Barbieri - Virgo Rebellion [SALP006/SACD009]

Other Facts (fka Stroboscopic Artefacts)

Recent comments

Lorenzo Schetter Li Greci

Lorenzo Schetter Li Greci

User 208019679

Parxidice

Related tracks