Bleep

Khan - Lost Acid Tapes II

Lost Acid Tapes 2 is another collection which simultaneously presents both the playful and more hard-edged sides of Khan’s sound. There is something mischievous to cuts like ‘Acidonia’ and ‘Fatty Acid’, the squiggling 303 grooves and dinky synth leads intermingling IDM and braindance influences with more straightlaced acid tones. ‘Fatty Acid’ also has some real heft to its groove, and other cuts on Lost Acid Tapes 2 - ‘Heartache’, ‘No. 2’ - run with that stomping club sound. This is also an LP of quietly ambitious productions, something hinted at by the lengthy runtimes of many numbers here. Closer ‘We're Alone (Slow And Long Mix)’ runs to over twelve minutes yet never feels overlong, its lilting beat avoiding downtempo for a meditative acid burble with some UNKLE in its DNA.

The Exaltics - II Worlds

II Worlds, the seventh LP that Robert Witschakowski has released under the moniker of The Exaltics, also sees the Solar Music One boss back on Clone West Coast Series - the label that issued The Exaltics’ pair of Some Other Place EPs back in 2014. It also sounds like something that’s been cooked up in a laboratory by an evil scientist who is attempting to clone Drexciya. The classic Detroit electro sound is all present and correct on II Worlds. 808s snap at your heels, chunky synthetic bass lines barrel ever onwards, and reedy keyboard tones occasionally arrive to augment the tunes. Anyone who has dug recent electro full-lengths like Cygnus’ Deep Analysis should definitely give II Worlds a spin.

RX-101 - Dopamine

Though Dopamine is officially the illusive RX-101’s debut LP, these tracks were actually cut years ago. Towards the end of the 90’s, RX-101 - known to his friends as Erik Jong - would produce ambient techno and electro tunes for private use. A chance discovery by the folk at Suction Records (D’Arcangelo, June) has led to a run of archival RX-101 releases. All of the RX-101 EPs have been superb, and the first full-length is no different. The obvious comparison for these gentle, pretty tracks is Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92.