It is a peculiar relationship I have to some labels and artists, Don’t Be Afraid being one of them. Enjoying most of their releases, I am not too concerned when missing out some of the output. What prevails is a feel of safety, the knowledge they are around and accessibleRead More →
Not as numerous as Underground Resistance’s super group Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Timeline follows the concept of the UR the Band. A project conceived and run by Mike Banks, and uniting artists like keyboardist Jon Dixon, sax player DeSean Jones and producer/DJ Mark Flash, Timeline is a travelling live collective standing for Detroit’sRead More →
Orlando Voorn has been credited for being the first Dutch producer who created the link between techno communities in Detroit and Amsterdam about 20 years ago. Ever since Voorn has been tagged as Detroit producer putting out tunes in the spirit of Motor City. A prolific sound writer under numerousRead More →
Having appeared in Semantica’s Nonnative series, Stockholm Ltd artist S100 revisits the Madrid label with a solo EP. The dance mob gets instant satisfaction in “Revoke”, a floor-testing exercise with droning vibrations and acidic synth stabs, that clearly overshadow “Pygmalion’s” linear simplicity.The B-side opens strong with limping and shaking outdoorRead More →
It seems that artistically MGUN lodges in isolation, to be not distracted by the foodcraft of trendy music caterers. A composer going his own way, MGUN has dropped classy releases on The Trilogy Tapes, Berceuse Heroique, Don’t Be Afraid – all choice labels in 2013 – and has now landedRead More →
Release date is in December 2013 Another outstanding EP by the UK imprint Don’t Be Afraid (DBA), which has found a proper place in Juno’s Top 10 of record labels. Set up and run by Semtek, DBA continues its impressive streak with “Metal Irene EP” by a new signing calledRead More →
Release date is in November 2013 Led by luminaries like Rick Wilhite and Marcellus Pittman, the compilation “In The Dark: The Soul Of Detroit”, paradoxically released on a label from Chicago, was a high-resolution snapshot of Detroit’s deep house in 2005. After last year’s reissue of the album, the fallRead More →
Nordic craftsmanship on the A-side of the Semantica’s fifth Nonnative release. For the start deep bass expert Juho Kusti from Helsinki narrates about “Twin Oaks”, throwing in sprawling dubs of Helical Scan standard and advancing confidently with swinging synth sequences, only distracted by deliberate cacophony at the mid-track.Hailing from the cellars ofRead More →
MGUN’s message is clear: If you are reading, feeling, breathing this EP, don’t be afraid of Detroit’s economical decay spilling over to the city’s musical heritage. Motor City’s MGUN aka Manuel Gonzales is a fighter and proves it particularly with his second release on Semtek’s imprint, after “The Upstairs Apt.Read More →
Intelligent acid is often seen as Tin Man’s signature sound but his output does not always have floor grading and touches experimental spheres (for example “Vienna Blue LP”). However not in the case of sonic statement “Underdog EP Pt. 1” on the Austrian imprint Pomelo, where he has prepared aRead More →