La Soul - What Is Love EP

Release Date: 04 April 2018

"La Soul - Kirill Zubachev is a musician from St. Petersburg. In music for about 10 years, since his childhood he was drawn to electronic atmospheric music. It all started as a child: first releases, support from famous musicians. He has come a long way and recently realized that he wants to live music. After 2 years of creative crisis, he returned and began to make atmospheric bass music."

Tracklist:

1. Warm 05:00

2. What Is Love 04:09

3. Madness 03:34

Paide & Fischerle presents Doubts 2

Release Date: 4 April 2018

Label: Pawlacz Perski

"Doubts is a compilation, whose guiding principle is searching for new solutions for a selected musical genre. To this end, artists and music producers unrelated to the particular music genre are invited to participate in the compilation. In the first part of Doubts, the main topic was dub techno. The second edition of Doubts is an attempt to reinterpret Chicago Footwork and the pace of 160 BPM. As a result, works were created loosely referring to selected formal aspects of footwork (Ceglarek & Dybała, Maciej Maciągowski, Hubert Zemler), or radically atomizing its structure (Freeze, Genetics & Windsurfing, Micromelancolié), and in some cases works arisen that have chosen the 160 BPM rate as the starting point while placing it in dub (Sarmacja), techno (Mech) and psychedelia (Mchy i Porosty). Doubts vol. 2 is an attempt to answer the question whether since 2012 and the first Polish footwork compilation Ghosts Traxx (which was co-created by one of Doubts curators - Paweł Paide Dunajko), there is a chance to repeat this creative situation, while refreshing and exploring the framework of the genre anew."

Tracklist:

1. Ceglarek & Dybała - Patchwork 05:31

2. Maciej Maciągowski - Ronard 03:43

3. Mchy i Porosty - kkkakka 03:06

4. Genetics & Windsurfing - Acoustic Facts 03:15

5. Sarmacja - Cynaderki 03:57

6. Freeze - Rekursio 04:27

7. Hubert Zemler - Rat Patter 04:55

8. Mech - Fitness 06:24

9. Micromelancolié - Mystics in Silesia 04:14

Micromelancolié - Niwa

Release Date: 5 April 2018

Label: Nona

"Micromelancolié is Robert Skrzyński, a Polish ambient/experimental musician whose discography counts a few dozens of releases on various respectable independet labels. As well as many other of Micromelancolié releases, Niwa is being released as a tape, and according to Skrzyński's words it's been planned as one of the parts of his record series referring to “changes in human understanding of reality, concept of true, and information overload caused by internet as a basic part of everyday life.” 

Skrzyński here once again continues in his proved practice of sound collaging, creating an adventurous ambient world made from pieces of manipulated found sounds, field recordings, static glitch, somewhat disquieting spatious pads and sound objects. As a result he brings us an album that is fragile yet exciting, adventurous and fairly daydream inducing."

Tracklist:

1. Niwa A 06:58

2. Niwa B 02:22

3. Niwa C 04:07

4. Niwa D 04:27

5. Niwa E 04:52

6. Niwa F 04:12

Shoreline - Marauder

Release Date: 28 March 2018

Tracklist:

1. Adamant 03:00

2. Anomalies 03:09

3. Anemones 03:23

4. Cultivate 03:07

5. Surreal 03:45

6. Marauder 03:00

7. Foresight 03:30

8. Haze 03:18

9. Defect 03:54

10. Introspect 03:20

11. Sophomore 03:13

12. Persuasive 03:07

r.roo - schizo romance

Release Date: 3 April 2018

Tracklist:

1. glade where secrets blossom flowers 06:05

2. schizo romance 07:28

3. dance with your tragedy 07:36

4. dim the lights 09:25

5. chords in your mind 09:50

6. hallucinogenic cowboy 05:24

7. Im afraid of you 06:37

8. do not dare 05:28

9. to the ground 07:49

10. diaphanous 07:17

11. epilogue 05:49

Phelian - Quadrivium

Release Date: 31 March 2018

Tracklist:

1. Ainemra 02:56

2. Forbidden 05:20

3. Liturgy 05:28

4. Amour 05:17

5. Grimoire 05:22

6. Interlude 03:18

7. Frozen 05:04

8. Perpetua 04:32

9. Adrift 04:48

10. Quadrivium 03:49

11. Komorebi 04:56

Michel Lauriola - No Balance EP

Release Date: 26 March 2018

Label: Animal Farm

"Michel Lauriola returns to Animal Farm Records after making his European debut with us in Glasgow last year. ’No Balance’, his latest EP for the label, shows why he continues to flourish in the South American scene - with a European tour already under his belt and an always prolific studio output. 

Title track ‘No Balance’ is a typically well crafted roller from Lauriola, with woozy production details & an air of layered hypnotism - a supremely effective textural workout. ‘Zero Humility’ boasts a tight percussive groove, with cacophonous auras keeping things firmly steeped in the darkness. 

‘Close To Parabola’ sees him stepping into the peak time zone with, again, dense production - but a powerfully crafted low end. Unnerving synth tones and tense breakdowns make this the obvious selection for heavy ‘floor damage."

Tracklist:

1. No Balance 06:34

2. Close To Parabola 06:31

3. Zero Humility 06:03

Blut Own - Somnambula EP

Release Date: 27 March 2018

Label: IMMINENT

"Blut Own, whose credits include productions for Russian rappers Slim and Centr, introduces an atmospheric side of his music with a debut EP on IMMINENT titled Somnambula. 

Stylistically this release offers you a particularly well-crafted magic of the future garage sound, which despite a cold outlook gives you a vivid feeling of searching for your own place in this digital city of futuristic aesthetics. 

Opening track on this release is a stellar cinematic piece called Endless Space in Mirror. This track paints expansive landscapes and three-dimensional figures, emerging from a mixture of soft piano tunes, atmospheric synths sounds and tangible percussion patterns. The next track called Ghosts combines all the finest bits from the garage music, dubstep and ambient influences by bringing together sudden vocal samples, lush synthesizer patches, subtle transitions and urban aesthetics. This texture is augmented by the following track called Obscurity, which changes the pace making it softer and slower. True to the high bar of production set by the previous pieces, the track after called Paint Your Future is improving upon atmospheric side of sound and introduces bits of pleasant nostalgia and melancholia. The release ends with an ethereal ambient soundscape called Awaken, changing the focus of music visualization from a digital futuristic cityscape to starlit skies above, away from the earthbound fires and noises."

Tracklist:

1. Endless Space In Mirror 04:06

2. Ghosts 03:51

3. Obscurity 03:30

4. Paint Your Future 04:34

5. Awaken 03:59

Phattcut - Cosmic Hand EP

Release Date: 20 March 2018

I heard about Phattcut in 2014 for the first time thanks to 5:55 netlabel. I still like to listen to the raices ep. I posted about this material on my blog. Next i/o vert last year but it was not my style.
Few days ago Phattcut self released his new EP called Cosmic Hand. It starts quite slowly with weird chords and glitchy beats in Hadrons, then we have Elephant Walk with amazing ethnic percussions and flutes. My favourite track Etna is a trip from downtempo to deep house music. It was a cooperation with Essex. I also recommend his album 'Dualizm' which was released in a digibook with a special story written to his music. I'd really like to hear a whole material like 'Etna'. It remainded me of Cotton Claws 'Elusive' EP which I bought last year from Cascade Records bandcamp page.
Kalimfa slows down for a moment just to drop dubstep like drums onto these ambient, orchestral bells (or whatever they are) used in the song. In Kambo we can hear again some ethnic broken beats with flutes and vocals that sounds like taken straight from the hearth of Africa.

Highly recommended. I hope we will see a physical version soon.

Tracklist:

1. Hadrons 03:13

2. Elephant Walk 03:29

3. Etna w/ Essex 03:56

4. Kalimfa 02:59

5. Kambo 03:37

Lore - Down The Well EP

Release Date: 23 March 2018

Label: Kokeshi

Review from Juno : 

"Release 13. Unlucky for some but not for Kokeshi as they unearth a new name; Lore. Little is known about him besides that he's from Manchester and he's sculpting some seriously singular beats. "Down The Well" calls on us with a familiar vocal, subverted to smithereens over a spaced-out two-step, "Lillies" sweeps us away with strange rubber ball bass jitters and an alien drum arrangement that hypnotises at first click, finally "Many Faces" adds a little glam-swamp to the mix with its swaggering tripletty rhythm and eerie textures. Some Lores are made to be broken."

Tracklist:

1. Down The Well 04:09

2. Lillies 03:30

3. Many Faces 03:50