Early-ish 2021 heaterz + February Feathers show

And so 2021 continues to carry on indefinitely. Unlike some countries, Ireland’s vaccination roll out has been at a, lets say, leisurely pace so far so our Longest Lockdown in the World record continues to hold up and it has become quite testing now – is this reflected in the music I’m buying and listening to, I can’t really tell at this stage. This selection  veers from the rowdy, to the wave-y to the uplifting so who fucking knows at this stage. Also, the latest edition of Feathers Glued To Your Face, Bringing Firepower is attached, a 105bpm affair, reflecting the slow pace of life we are all living right now.

Ellll – Housebreaker (First Second label)
Housebreaker is Ellll’s strongest release to date, a vaguely abstract collage of amen breaks and spacious, trippy sound design. I find it pretty hard to get enthused by use of chopped up breaks these days, but there is a great tension and release in the structure of Housebreaker, and it’s woozy uncertainty  has suited my mood of late. Parris’ Slo’Motion remix does exactly that, bringing the bpm down a good 30 or 40 and at first I wasn’t sure what I thought of it but when Shane played it on our show last month, full blast in the studio it made sense.  It carries over the same sense of unease that permeates through the original.

DJ Girl – SLSK (Planet Euphorique)
Keeping the bpms at full pelt is this 4 tracker of bruising, loose-limbed electro / techno from Dj Girl, their first 12″ after a bunch of digital releases. I’ve bored myself in recent years griping about how stiff and dry techno has become but all 4 cuts on here display a proper Detroit-style flexx in the drum programming and also in the rumbling, disjointed bass of The Runaround especially. Tunnel Vision is the strongest of the bunch here for me, which meshes the industrial edge of Birmingham style techno with that old school 313 swing.

Frog of Earth – Frog of Earth (wherethetimegoes)
Wherethetimegoes is an Irish imprint that has been releasing a variety of music across both tape and record since 2017. Leaning into the weirder side of things, it has become a pivotal showcase for a newer generation of Irish producers working outside of the box. Frog of Earth is the latest album and at first I wasn’t sure what to make of the name of the project but in a really fun, odd way the music is perfectly suited to it. There’s a very organic, natural atmosphere generated across all 9 songs, and it does kinda feel like you are wandering around the countryside, picking up random glimpses  of sounds as you pass by them in their natural habitat – except their actual habitat is inside of the machines.  Idiosyncratic without ever feeling novel, its a slow burning wonder.

Endrik Schroeder – Deep Breath (Bordello A Parigi)
I have found myself reflecting far too much on things gone by and the passage of time over the last few months but it does come into play when talking about this latest 12″ on Bordello A Parigi. It has now been over 20 years since the first wave of Italo-influenced electro first started appearing from Dutch artists such as Alden Tyrell and The Parallax Corporation and the genre has been through a few rejuvenations since then so it does take a particularly strong release to perk my ears up these days. Endrik Schroeder’s 2-tracker does absolutely nothing new. It’s the same sounds that have been around since those early Tyrell 12″s but you know what, when the melodies are so perfectly formed and so emotive it was impossible for me to ignore. The title cut is a straight-up Moroder stomper, thumping drums and cinematic synthesisers with their settings aimed straight to the heart, but it’s the B-side, The Quest, that I’ve found myself listening a lot recently. At a slower pace and less histrionic, it’s smooth Jan Hammer influences sit wonderfully over the standard electro-disco backing track. In the depths of an endless February it was a simple, calming tonic.

Konstantin Unwohl – Im Institut Fur Stromungstechnik (aufnahme + wiedergabe)
There was a thread on ye olde Hellscape twitter yesterday or today asking about great pop albums that aren’t in English and while I didn’t put much effort into thinking of any to garner those life-defining likes, it did make me think of this LP from new German artist Konstantin Unwohl. A mesh of cold-wave, EBM, techno and pop this is one of those albums that strikes that tricky balance of retro and modern. Pacey, catchy hooks are combined with some of the most earnest singing I’ve heard on music like this for a time, and it really adds that something special to the whole affair. I also really like the fact that I don’t have a clue what he’s on about either as it’s all sung in German, but it also adds to the romantic earnestness of it all. It also helps that nearly all the songs really slap too.

Tim Jackiw – Algorhythms EP (Physical Education)
Jackiw first came on my radar when a 90s 12″ was re-released back in 2016, and since then he has released a steady stream of superior deep techno, that definitely has a 90s feel to it but unlike many new techno releases referencing that time it doesn’t feel like an inferior product.  Alongside Endrick Schroeder’s The Quest I found myself returning to Bass Equations off this a lot over the last month or so. With a nod to Model 500 it goes less for the melancholy of Detroit, instead pursuing a more clearly euphoric path. Yes, it did have me imagining how much ruckus it could cause in a club but the joy contained within from listening to it at home, or walking along the street was pretty comforting too.

Feathers Glued To Your Face, Bringing Firepower, Slo-mo edition
As mentioned at the top we took it sloooow this month with a selection of 100-110bpm electronix. Tracklist below the mix.

Project Sandro – Blazer
Farah – Law of life (midnight mix)
Memory Control One – Basic
Conrad Schnitzler – Auf Dem Schwarzen Kanal
Carmine – Magic
Naum Gabo – Dimitri’s Darkness
Dj Bert & Eagle – I Am Your Mentor (Savino DJ & DJ Peet Need Remix)
Juan Ramos – Liquid Sky Drone (Kris Baha mix)
Chemical Brothers – Piku
Moken – Ancient ProgLaura Brannigan – Self Control
Ca$hminus – No Satisfaction (Credit 00 Molenbeek Bad Boy Remix)
Om Unit – Lavender
The Valley And The Mountain – Chasing Magnetic Particles
Ellll – Housebreaker (Parris mix)
C2C4 – Specimen 5
Aurra – You & Me Tonight
Jonny 5 – Deja Vu
Dr Freshh – Outlaw’s Dance
Selection – Rebel on the Run
Timothy J Fairplay – Aim for the Yellow Sector (Alessandro Paris Remix)
Credit 00 – Weg Von Diesem Ort (Georgie D Tribute)
Serial Error – Afro Gothic
Cyber People – Void Vision (Slow version)
The Infiltrator – Thought 1
G.J. Lunghi – Acapulco Nights
Detroit’s Filthiest – Baby Makin’ Music
Mark Almond & Bronski Beat – I Feel Love
Anbau – LSD (Hybrid Remix)
Primal Scream – Higher than the Sun