an ardent heart is a focused techno mini album that brings forward stefan goldmann’s most dancefloor-centered material in a decade. the tracks push and pull relentlessly. despite their linear appeal, there is an intricately balanced interplay between the heavy-handed kicks, the bouncy bass accents and the sizzling, yet clear-cut details whipped up by the rallying drums. the peculiar, seemingly “vocalised” mode of synthesis is maybe the most unifying sonic characteristic of the six tracks and one coda. formant shaping, vowel filters and airstream perturbations let a wide range of sounding elements speak in the tongues of a cybernetic babylon. layered polymetric patterns perforate the aural plane with alien scripts. clearly structured, yet opaque messages that seem to have traveled for aeons emanate from the red-hot circuitry. they spill into a network of delays, channeled down into labyrinthine corridors, enveloped in electrostatic noise. most tracks build on chance patterns evoked with hardware sequencers and freeform modulation sources. the resulting synthetic systems are as cohesive as they exhibit vast internal variation and range. thus balancing simplicity and complexity right in the middle, the results are just as immediately gripping as they can feed sustained attention. a wide palette of distortion and overtones mark the contours of individual elements that seem to have near-physical qualities – as if there were metallic strings, thick membranes, a resonating sphere, all struck by electric mallets, caused to vibrate by mechanical bows and sung by silicone lips.

repress - without fullcover - none other than tensnake is the host of phillip lauers album debuts (aptly titled phillips and soon available in all formats including gatefold double vinyl) inauguration party. delivering not one but two remixes and a barrel of laughs, hamburgs happy man smears thick red lipstick on lauers bittersweet trainmann symphony. his franceman mix does exactly what it says on the tin. a long intro gets rouled up into a fierce dancing school contest. speaking of nomen that are omen, youll find the tranceman mix on the flip side going the whole nine yards: marimba magic, hard trance breaks, deked drum rolls and early morning glory moments. its impossible to defang that snake.

torontonian quartet, azari & iii have announced their debut self-titled album on turbo recordings / loose lips records / modular. it follows the release of the single >hungry for the power<, which erupted a storm of awe on the underground music scene, and a collaborative track >stay here< with friendly fires in 2010. the record is set to become the sound of a dystopian summer with their innately brooding beat and sordid-pop edge.
azari & iiis unique blend of moody electronica, dark yet hooky vocal choruses and analog-thick rhythms has earned them a hardcore following and sees this album as one of the most-anticipated in the calendar. the four-piece, consisting of producer/musicians dinamo azari and alixander iii with vocalists fritz helder and starving yet full, have crafted a defining sound that relishes in its references while maintaining a future perspective.
from the velvety refrains of >reckless with your love< through to the creeping melancholy of >manhooker< and the unhinged technopera of >undecided<, their album possesses an individual classic-future feel, with trademark lush synthesizations, biting soulful choruss and ominous overtones.
double heavyweight 180gr vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.