Future Beat Alliance
Collected Works 1996-2017

LR018Cardopusher kicks off Part Two with the fantastic 'Disobedience' (feat. Lbeeze) a slow-motion drum workout that is like dark disco mangled through a psychedelic filter, with robotic vocals and stiff arp jerking your body. 'Abyss Antidote' is then a flurry of drum breaks and electro bass, frazzled synths and whipping hits that keep you on the edge of your seat. Darkness abounds on the gritty 'Initial Decay' (ft. Lbeeze), which layers up taught drums and hits with spraying synths that come from a dystopian planet.

Hypnagogic Surge by AmselysenHYPNAGOGIC SURGE by AMSELYSEN is a dense setup of signal interferences, of jacked up, spliced, reconstructed digital snippets, of outbursts whose amplitude overcooks the microphone's defenseless circuitry. Anxious with unreleased energy build-ups, the music is always pregnant with a double quality, something like a dagger made from ice, the possibility to shatter or crumble into a thousand shards combined with the looming threat of clean rupture posed by the blade's edge. Digital distortion is used here to unmask materials, to frontally attack them and expose their shimmering metallic face; pitch-time processing dilemmas get dodged by exploding into the high frequency gleam embedded but hidden in their algorithms. Completely removed from the "Lo-Fi" paradigm seeking warmth or nostalgia, the present degradation-reconstructions result in newly audible chirp figures, the sparkle of aliasing and the descent into the grainy territory of microscopic sound events. From a more panoramic perspective, these tracks are continually transforming contraptions, with looping frames accelerating, doubling, halting or stuttering, overloading, seemingly struggling to buffer, sometimes mixing with immiscible materials to form a glistening suspension of new sound material.

Spiral by DARKSIDE

Delsin turns its attention to the archives of one of the great early pioneers of Dutch techno - Eevo Lute Muzique. The label was founded in 1991 by Wladimir Manshanden and Stefan Robbers (who was already recording seminal early techno records as Terrace for Djax-Up-Beats). Channeling the inspiration of the Detroit originators and mixing it up with their own synth pop and new wave influences, Manshanden and Robbers (adopting the Florence alias) forged a bold aesthetic with Eevo Lute, both musically and visually. This was an early iteration of techno as listening music, with an emphasis on expression and narrative over dancefloor functionality, helped in no small part by Manshanden's striking poetry. This double set of remastered, reissued tracks gathers together the earliest Florence and Wladimir M. material, largely recorded between 1991 and 1994, across five discs - the definitive document of a treasured piece of Dutch techno history. Comes with inlay and liner notes by Oliver Warwick.

Originally released in 1987 ‘Pretty Face’ by Stinger J has become highly sought after in recent years,Stinger J was a one time alias used by Detroit Producer Kevin McCord, formerly of legendary American R n B and funk band One Way. As a writer & producer Kevin has had an illustrious musical career working with Alicia Myers (‘I Want To Thank You’), Oliver Cheatham (‘Get Down Saturday Night’) and Mariah Carey (‘Make It Happen’). Featuring the vocals of Jonathan Haywood, ‘Pretty Face’ is a melting pot of Soul, Disco, Garage and Detroit house. B Side ‘Wonder Land’ pairs the vocals of Jonathan Haywood with Kevin himself, a soulful ballad with classic 80’s production and live keys, strings and percussion. ‘Pretty Face’ is a unique example of an intended crossover record from a mainstream producer who soaked up the influences of his home town Detroit around the birth of House & Techno. Self released at the time on Kevin’s own Chance label, it was hard to get momentum without major label backing so the project fell by the wayside. Now officially reissued for the first time in partnership with Kevin McCord with Artwork by Bradley Pinkerton.