The duo of Kolorit are probably best known through their respective solo careers - Jens Kuhn under the guise of Lowtec and Gunnar Wendel as that of Kassem Mosse. That the two would have a duo together should come as no surprise, as Wendel has had numerous releases on Kuhn’s label Workshop through the years.

The Kolorit project took shape sometime in 2017 following a night in Bristol where they were both booked for live shows and - on a whim - decided to combine them on stage and see what happened. This laid back and playful attitude would later manifest into the Workshop-released debut album the following year. Crafting unclassifiable mutations of house and techno through live improvisations, the two could join the dots between experimental urges and a dancefloor potential into a vision of crisp drum machines and wobbly melodies.

Lowtec being no stranger to the blundar label (his untitled album of 2015 would be the label’s first,followed by a 12” and a cassette in 2020) it would seem fitting that the duo would continue their journey here with a 2-track 12” further exploring their work. Both tracks here are proper club tools, making this a more compact and focused release than its predecessor. Yet the improvised flavors are present: on the A-side propelled by a jazzy keyboard jam that explores the room like a dancer loosening up their joints. The B-side, while maintaining a crisp motorik beat, bubbles with flourishes of synthesized flutes - somehow both euphoric and unhinged in direction - pierced by the steadfast punctuation of a Brazilian cuica.

It is evident that Kolorit are playing with the color palette of deep house, yet taking things just a notch further with a dry European sense of humor. Exuding humidity and pulsing with heat, these jams utilize the inherent qualities of the right machines without the need for an abundance of filters - making for a stripped down yet fully fleshed out aural experience. More

Across these 7 untitled tracks (as is the modus of all blundar releases) the producer known as Unfinished Portraits crafts a coherent album experience that is equal parts empty space and density. Working in a seemingly collage-like fashion, the opening track juxtaposes rhythmic elements that just barely fit together; declaring upon entrance that all expectations from here on out are futile. Tension builds through a sparse palette of sounds both tactile and atmospheric. Dry, isolated clicks of digital clean trickling through a humming industrial space. Segments are abstract on their own, but stitched together still form an elegant whole. Just when you think you’re getting lost into avant experimentation, something cuts in to surprising effect. It feels “live” in a way only improvised music can.

And there is a conceptual sense of humor in letting the seams of the process lay bare. A string section builds only to be cut short upon completion. A field recording is audibly (i.e. intentionally) looped. The listener is made aware of the illusion and manipulations that ‘music’ creates in the same way Martin Margiela handled ‘fashion’ - with a postmodern kind of wit.

Hailing from Cairo but residing in Argentina, Unfinished Portraits could easily exude upon a dual exoticism in nationalities and climates. This is however not on the agenda, as for where this artist truly resides, is in the hypertextual realm of late capitalism. Identity loss, internet culture, the aesthetic of sadness and the Warp Records catalogue all come into play.

No matter what city, the urban landscape is always concrete and glass. And as the sleeve photo suggests - a picture of a former park turned to rubble in the process of housing developments - all cities are essentially unfinished. More

From Raster-Media; Frank Bretschneider as Komet on Side I, & Olaf Bender as Byetone on Side II - revised versions of tracks from Benjamin Brunn 2019 BLUNDAR7 LP. More

STL machine groove strikes back “blundar” imprint: 180g 12” EP, dub and house rooted cuts, and the expected locked surprise. More

A sacred grove is a place in a forest thought to hold spiritual powers. Throughout history, these sites have been places of worship and ritual. Since the rave boom of 89’ - a new generation has found an alliance with nature steeped in hedonistic abandonment. So it is a befitting alias for the Malmö-based producer Teodor to use in order to serve us these spiritual excursions into ‘open air’ territory. While he has previously donned this mantle to provide atmospheric lo-fi techno on the Japanese label City-2 St. Giga (then as a duo with his friend DJ Natto) - here he hits closer to the deep house palette of his 2017 album ‘Neo Geo’ under the alias Fyodor The DJ.

For the 8th instalment on blundar, the artist has worked closely with the label in picking out the right tracks from his vast archives. While the tempo sometimes staggers well towards BPM levels of hardcore techno, the touch remains gentle and soft. This genre-defying characteristic owes a lot to video game music, and especially Japanese games, where Teo finds a lot of his inspiration.

The first track bathes us in tropical field recordings before tripping off into a relentless tribal groove - countered by meandering new age flutes. A2 is a fluid and complex piece, vibrating with a warm tenderness all the while maintaining a minimal progressive path. A3 deals in crunchy breakbeats and layers upon layers.

On the second side, B1 builds through a hazy fog of tape hiss, pierced by the bouncing thud of sped-up bongos and an arpeggio that escalate it all into transcendental euphoria. B2 goes ‘off the grid’ for a heady trek of slippery beats that spill out into small flecks of breaks, all the while gleaming through the doorway to a sombre ambient jazz score. Closing off this 12” is a chilling high-speed chase through a neon-flashing night, propelled by a numbingly hard hitting drum machine sequence.

The artwork for BLUNDAR8 is as always photographed by mutantexture. The photos - which were taken during a hot summer by the Western Harbour of Malmö - were picked out by Teo as this is a place of great significance for him. A place for the daydreams of sun-dazed ravers More

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After Lowtec, Alex Cortex, STL and iridescence; Swedish label ‘blundar' presents Benjamin Brunn 11th solo album, 20 years after his debut.
BLUNDAR7 comes as a 10 tracks / 38 minutes long-player, coloured cover on a 180g black vinyl. Artwork by ‘mutantexture’

Brunn wrote and produced all tracks between 2017 and 2018; In contrast to most releases that were limited to one or two synthesisers, this time a whole array of instruments was used: tELHARMONIC, Music Thing Modular Chord Organ, Doepfer A-111-3V Precision VCO, 4ms STS, Yamaha DX7, Clavia Nord Modular G1 & G2. The long-player comes after a collaborative album with Dave Wheels out on Sushitech early this year, and will be followed by one together with Move D, via Smallville in 2020. More

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German techno champ Alex Cortex hasn't released an album since 2011's Kihon on Pomelo, but the prolific and long-serving artist is rarely resting on his laurels. Having released just one other EP from Lowtec, Blundar now presents a new untitled LP from Cortex that should satisfy fans of his leftfield approach to techno in all its forms. "Track 2" is a masterclass in how to work breakbeats into techno without sounding forced or false, while "Track 4" blooms from delicate ambience to snagging broken beat with the grace you can only find with such a seasoned vet. Spanning many moods, tempos and rhythms, this is a perfect demonstration of the many engrossing approaches Cortex can attempt and succeed at within the many-sided realm of techno. More

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STL's dream-state modulations, arhythmic takes and that machine groove signature strikes #mutantexture imaged blundar third release.
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Recorded at Wania#1 and Neues Deutschland studios. DJ Sotofett ( Wania, Sex Tag Mania) on Side I, and SVN ( Sued, Acido) on Side II, revised BLUNDAR2 and BLUNDAR5 respectively. 12” 180g 45 RPM, 500 copies.

TRACKS
UNTITLED (DJ Sotofett's Subcortex Mix)

UNTITLED (DJ Sotofett & E-GZR's Subcortex Mix)

UNTITLED ( SVN’s Total Tape Mix) Clip 1

UNTITLED ( SVN’s Total Tape Mix) Clip 2
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Workshop's Lowtec with a stunner for blundar! 12” 180g 33? RPM 300 hand numbered copies. More

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After 19 years in the game, techno veteran Jens "Lowtec" Kuhn is still going strong. While he's recently been in a nostalgic mood - as reissues of early material prove - Kuhn is still capable of producing fresh, high quality material. There's much to enjoy about this first EP for new Malmo label Blundar, from the loud tape hiss, spooky melodies and weirdo ambient dub intent of "Track 2", to the moody, early Autechre throb of Skam-ish closer "Track 4". Dancefloor-minded thrills come in the shape of hypnotic opener "Track 1" - all unsettling, one-note chords, restless rhythms and distant electronics - and the hard-to-pigeonhole madness of the schizophrenic "Track 3".

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Pev swiftly follows up the Pulse EP with another four tracks of sprightly club gear that continue to shape out his current areas of exploration in the studio. As ever, there are no fixed concepts or approaches - just an instinct for energising, inventive tracks taking in a range of tempos and rhythms.

The first half of Pulse Modulation EP is marked out by linear rhythms which showcase the most techno aspects of Pev's sound. 'Pulse V' is charged with the kind of alien synth lines which could only come from his studio, but also draw a line to the hi-tech soul of foundational Detroit techno. 'Pulse VI' has a starker, bleep-led sound pitched towards tougher dancefloors.

'Pulse VII' strips things back in comparison, leaning in on a blanket of bass and keeping the drums sparse and to the point - a study in soundsystem pressure. Widening the spectrum of the record, 'Pulse VIII' sees Pev make a rare push up into 160+ territory - something normally reserved for his DJ sets. Swerving obvious break edits, his take on jungle is lean and crisp, delivering a fresh slant on the sound while maintaining the sharp focus of his current output.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground electronic music.
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The Brighton-based producer and creative mastermind, Caldera, lets us delve into his multi-faceted personality with his new EP, 5D Worlds. No VR set needed, Caldera follows the chant of the sirens and the shamanic incantations but never directly references them: a psychoactive journey without the psychedelics. Caldera’s 5D Worlds is a hyperreal ride, from his signature dubby grooves to his lesser known Tech-Trance whopper fantasies – As the BPM evolves, the sound designs morph and the gentle percussion give way to sonar-like synths and binary rhythms. Are you finally hearing the sirens ? Good, you have arrived at your destination. More

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2x 12” 180g black vinyl
gatefold cover
mastered by Noel Summerville
original artwork by Theo Ellsworth.

A year on since the collaborative Mystic AM project in 2022, Rod Modell returns solo to Astral Industries with AI-35. The album - entitled 'Ghost Lights' - comes as a gatefold 2x vinyl LP, showcasing the latest epoch of Modell's signature soundscapes. Spread across four parts, 'Ghost Lights' draws out a wide, cinematic sound - with long arching contours, rippling textures and cavernous sound design.

Woven with layer upon layer of hidden fragments and supernal transmissions, each chapter takes the listener successively deeper into the twilight zone. Harking to dramatic off-world topographies and interstellar spaces, the work glistens with opulent sound treatment and monumental grandeur. Dense pulsations move with oceanic force, marked by washes of celestial light and subterranean drones. Exercising another side to Rod Modell's typically atmospheric productions, this album comes with an ambitious framework and a more assertive sound. Featuring some of Modell's most epic storytelling to date, 'Ghost Lights' delivers a powerful immersive experience.
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Dez Andres must have had a busy year in the studio because he has a few new joints dropping at the moment. Beretta Music has his latest and it comes in the form of a 7"to follow up his 'Back in My Space' from back in Spring. Once again here the Motor City native, former Slum Village DJ and house maestro dips into his more soulful side with some fresh breakbeat tunes that are sure to get the floor popping. Yelping vocals and some signature Andres basslines finish it in a fiery fashion. Fellow Detroit talent Brian Kage steps up with a booty-shaking remix that gets even heavier on the drums to make for another fine 7". More

Balmat co-founders Philip Sherburne and Albert Salinas have been fans of Shy Layers’ lilting, Balearic pop for years, so when Shy Layers’ JD Walsh asked us to listen to a set of demos he was working up with fellow Atlanta multi-instrumentalist Jeff Crompton, we jumped at the chance. And once we heard their work in progress, the decision was almost immediate: We have to release this.

Together, Walsh and Crompton are Anagrams, and their debut album together, Blue Voices, might initially seem like a departure from Balmat’s habitually electronic terrain. It’s not ambient music, but it’s also not not ambient music, at least to listeners in the right frame of mind. The two musicians, who met when Walsh moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta in 2016 and began collaborating a few years later, see the music in similarly ambiguous terms. “I like it because it’s not jazz,” jokes Crompton, a veteran and credentialed jazz player. “And JD likes it because it’s jazz.”

Crompton is a musician (and former high-school band teacher) with deep roots in Georgia’s improvised and experimental music scenes; his credits include shows with Eugene Chadbourne, a guest appearance with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and a collaboration with Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel’s 12-hour drone performance at Knoxville’s Big Ears. On Blue Voices he plays alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet, electric piano, and organ. Walsh has been releasing music as Shy Layers since 2015, when he started self-releasing on Bandcamp; the following year, Germany’s Growing Bin packaged his first two EPs as a self-titled album, and in 2018, Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space label put out Shy Layers’ sophomore album, Midnight Marker. Where those records channeled Walsh’s playful harmonic instincts into wistful songwriting with tropical overtones, on Blue Voices he lets his experimental tendencies take the lead. Playing acoustic and electric guitars, electric lap steel, bass, Moog Matriarch, modular synth, and programmed drums, he concentrates his energies on richly textural layers and abstract assemblages of tone color.

Across the album’s 11 tracks, there are faint echoes of familiar touchstones: the atmospheric twang of Daniel Lanois’ pedal steel on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks; the mercurial modal runs of Ethio- jazz; the late-summer calm of Fuubutsushi; the versatility of players and composers like Patrick Shiroishi and Sam Gendel, who are asking similar questions about where jazz ends and some other, nameless territory begins. Mostly, though, what Blue Voices captures is the quixotic sound of two restless musical imaginations making it up as they go along, two voices discovering a shared language in a hitherto unexplored shade of blue. More

UK Garage producer located near Portland, Oregon is one of the new-age international producers of UK Garage. Tanyn brings a 4x4 vibe reminiscent of that of garage royalty MJ Cole, although developed and updated since original 90s releases. The name of the EP was inspired by the Cascadia movement, a bioregional independence movement based in the Cascadia bioregion of western North America. More

Although inspired by the legendary cartoon, Spyro the Dragon, this fantastic EP has nothing to do with dragons. Hailing from Birmingham, although now residing in East-London, Dr. Shemp provides three speed-garage future classics are accompanied by a weekend 2-step gem (What Must I Do) which will guarantee packed dancefloors and selectors pulling for these gems for months to come. My Selecta has been lauded for its re-imagination of the jungle classics Mutant Jazz and Demon’s Theme. More

‘My Noise is Nothing’ is the collaborative LP between Lord of The Isles and Scottish poet Ellen Renton, set for release on the 29th September 2023.

For the pair, both the poems and music came to them in a quick and concentrated period.

Renton's poems were written during 2020 and capture something of that time- that feeling of having no obstacles between ourselves and our emotions. Especially the feeling of anger, which is expressed by Renton as a feeling that is not wholly negative but complicated, necessary, unifying and even joyful.

Likewise, Lord Of The Isles’ dusky and unfurling production refuses obstacles- embracing experimental live recordings using pedals and vintage synths. It is warm and fuzzy, but most importantly organic, with all the imperfections and character of a living entity.

A1 - Let the Colours Flood In
A2 - A Discovery (feat. Ellen Renton)
A3 - For a Burning World (feat. Ellen Renton)
B1 - A Portrait (feat. Ellen Renton)
B2 - Last Day
B3 - Don’t You Ache (feat. Ellen Renton)
B4 - My Noise is Nothing (feat. Ellen Renton) More