rough and ready machine tracks from brazilian producer/december collaborator innsyter (la club resource). cyn002 picks up where coletivo vandalismo left off, channeling that same wild, diy bedroom studio spirit across nine individual recordings. opening with sprawling synth motifs fighting against a steady rhythm track, desintegrado sounds like an industrial dub punk trying to channel early cluster or moebius and strangely succeeding. the rest of the lp treats us to vaguely drexciyan, subaquatic electro (bries) and twisted lo-fi minimalism with bonus eerie monologue samples (superficial love). the one recurring theme on magnetic healing is innsyter s clear love for mournful, post-punk inspired melodies. it comes across loud and clear on almost every track yet never sounds tired. things eventually draw to a close with the hopelessly romantic new wave instrumental forest shaman - a short ballad for all those weary-eyed party-goers who stuck around til the sun came up!

contort yourself continue to widen their scope of operations with this, their first dedicated reissue, and they ve come in strong. eschewing the grotty industrial tones of many earlier releases, the label have turned their attention to dutch curio muziekkamer, who self-released a small clutch of cassettes at some undisclosed point in the past. the unthinking experimentation contained within these tape jams is shockingly prescient - jagged rhythms, surreal sampling, techno atmospheres and more from a period well before such tropes became common tools for electronic expression. take a trip into the vivid, imaginative and utterly unpredictable world of muziekkamer.

coletivo vandalismo kick-start a new 12inch series for the contort yourself label. hailing from the city of porto the duo also dj under the name gam and released their debut lp on lake haze s eye for an eye label. their music has an immediacy that seems to stem from a background in live performance as opposed to polished studio sessions - an improvisational punk aesthetic that manages to carry this ep so strongly. wild, crashing fx and unrecognisable vocal distortions layer atop wonky 90bpm drum machine grooves and the pair even show off what may be their turntablism skills on zombie zombie. theres a nod to early concrete on the closing track black suns demise with whirring, mechanical noise motifs suddenly jolting us into punishing gabber-at-33-minus-8 territory. the diy spirit is alive and well here and the feeling that things could fall apart at any minute just adds to the tension.

contort yourself continues to explore the crossover between decrepit 80s industrial and the modern artists drawing inspiration from those heady, experimental times, and the results are as thrilling as ever. haydees no gouvernance is a brutal charge of drums and distorted yelps, while 1983 jam de omnibus dubitandum by hunting lodge fuses layers of distortion and proto acid with live bass and brittle drums. catriel lays out a sinister but seductive message on nbdymksmefeellowlikeudo, giant swan bring their raucous avant-techno styles to dare and then gotshell remix hunting lodge into a thunderous industrial techno charge.

the 1980s. neo-liberal excess. crumbling communism. military juntas ruling with an iron fist. and of course, freaked out music. contort yourself are turning back the clock and returning to an unholy fount of inspiration with -80s underground cassette culture volume 1. a buffet of beaten up and brutalised tracks are on offer from unknown outfits and respected experimenters. across two lps expect to find noise reductions, post punk bitterness, no wave grunts, distortion soaked strings and vocals lost in a hail of pain. a road map into the weird and wild world of diy back alley artists who, armed with only a tape and an idea, gave the established music norms a sharp fist to the throat.

latest in the run of downright deviant activities from the contort yourself camp is this new collection of old and new industrial tinged bangers, leading in with the excellent noirish heat of eindkrak s slow-stepping -shawarma-. andromeda complex s mid-90s rhythm-fest sits in stark, functional contrast before gdl s own contemporary rhythm science sends the record spinning in a reverie of surprisingly light-footed percussion. circling vultures are too enjoying the mean tempered intensity of focused drum machine programming before klankman rounds the record off with a slightly squelchy remix of andromeda complex s -the servant-.

the sixth compilation of mutated machine music from contort yourself centres around british industrial pioneers nocturnal emissions. the group hack out two thick cuts of oil soaked savagery. gears crunch and chains clatter as drum machines are minced and mangled for demon circuits bloodbath before the reduced and removed bitterness of even the good times are bad. l.i.e.s. main man ron morelli under the guise of u-202 takes on the static of the 83 original, lonesome rhythms fired into a gaping hollow of echo and decay. there is brief respite, very brief, coming in the haunted strings of penelope s fiance. torrent grinds this short break into dust with exe 2 blueprint, a sludge stomper drowned in distortion and dripping with distress. innsyter (l.a. club resource), aka seixlack, calls time with the hazy house bottle smasher, think fog machines and bodies in the dark and youre getting close. off-kilter madness all-round!

continuing their uncompromising fusions of artists new and old, contort yourself return with a punishing array of industrial thuggery from hardware manipulators you wouldn t take home to your mother. novacom were last seen on slumdiscs back in 2014 and here bring a fast and gnarly rhythmic tryst to bear before jk flesh do their own snagging dance with oppressive synths and drums twirling into a heavyweight whole. french brutalists le syndicat then dominate the b-side with their confrontational bastardisation of techno and industrial, making the perfect source material for ekman to get nasty with on his remix of -maximalist-.

the contort yourself tradition of electronics pioneers, modern masters and new names continues into cy003. enrique comes under that latter banner. the hot releases alumnus introduces the ep with the piston pounded belligerence of dissociate. l.i.e.s. and nation veteran beau wanzer continues this stroll into aggression. weasels is an upturned work of techno. nuts, bolts and the grisly inner workings are on show for this fast paced floor mangler. spain s industrial stalwarts esplendor geometrico open the flip. from 1988 the grit of the factory floor is carried into rotor. a touch of the mystical is injected, chants looped through the hypnotic rhythms in this simmering classic. broken english club is on hand to rework rotor into a guttering piece of electro tainted machine music. if youre hoping for some respite, think again. prostitutes (diagonal) closes with the cruel pummelling percussion of cuyahoga frankenstein. a brutal, beefy and brilliant 12.

a industrial callous, caustic and fervently cruel ep. contort yourself has once again gathered the best and boldest from past and present for its fourth ep. to begin with we have the grimacing visage of volition immanent, an intense live act made up of parrish smith and mark van de maat (knekelhuis). behind rawkish distortion, splintered beats and acrid bars screams a boiled anger, a track spitting on the divides of punk and electronics. nastiness is taken up a notch as noise ne er-do-wells zombies under stress take over. static is bent and doubled across thick chords and collapsed clap in the 1986 -maan zal zijn before the raw and raging battery of in onze tijd. l.i.e.s. regular svengalisghost grapples with maan zal zijn, channelling the originals rage into a mechanical monster. the 12inch is bookended with bite as mark forshaw (tabernacle/berceuse heroique) closes with the tortured and torrential thump of submission.

parrish smith s debut of dystopic forbidding sets the tone of this label s impressive first release with a superb stark, acid ridden slab of body music. helena hauff adds to the proceedings with her remix of pankows >das vodkalied< taking no prisoners and using heavy percussion in contrast to a wonderfully tense set of arpeggiations, which all descend into skull crushing pressure. carrying over to the flip side are pankow, pioneers of the italian industrial/ebm scene, with two tracks from their legendary first tape -throw out rite- from 1983. with das vodkalied disembodied vocals are cut up and come from every direction driven by a raw, off-kilter energy and pounding beat. i m food for you cranks up the drive and anxiety to create a killer track based around stark arpeggiation. last of all, perseus traxx provides an acidic stripped down venting of frustrations which he spits out with vehemence.