Stenny
Sharp Fragments LP

"The next level beat maker and sound designer that is Skee Mask returns to long-time home label Ilian Tape with another bold and brilliant album, Resort. It's an album that expands on the artist's usual sound with fusions of celestial ambient, IDM sound design and lithe, rhythmic techno drums. There are breakbeats on 'Reminiscrmx' backlit by heavenly pads, 'Schneiders Paradox' is marbled with zippy pads and raw drum hits, 'BB Care' glistens with a futuristic glow and 'Holzl Was A Dancer' slips into a shuffling, UKG tinged dub house pumper. It's a wild, wonderful ride that reaches all new levels for this already accomplished producer" Джуно Ревю

Just because you pretty much know what to expect from a new release by See Mask on Munich label Ilian Tape - which in fact has its own 'Skee Series' sub-label dedicated to this artist - doesn't mean it is n't well worth having. This ninth volume in the on going project is another full of innovative breakbeats and stylish techno. 'UWLSD' is rather deft and delicate in the way it pirouttes around shuffling drums. There is also the raw slap funk of 'Studio 626' and bulkier, more shadowy breakbeats on 'Reviver'. 'Bandprobe Dub' closes in lithe and thrilling fashion. (Juno Review)

The first in a proposed series of transmissions, Surface Detail's mystifying debut introduces an incorporeal body that exists only through sound and sensation, prompting listeners to discern a spiritual realm beyond the physical. Its surging electro-acoustic compositions push past the material world to plunge into deeper sonic dimensions, slowly revealing a philosophy borne of near-death and out-of-body experiences that challenges perception itself.Overhauling vintage experimental techniques with their bespoke modern methodologies and processes, Surface Detail rearrange the musical timeline, merging vastly different concepts to hint at questions rather than provide solid answers. Their uniquely immersive soundscapes use texture, rhythm and tonality to help brush away the superficial and contemplate the unknown, approaching its delicate, controversial subject matter with sensitivity and sensuality. Not just an auditory experience, 'Surface Detail' tests the potential of sound itself, eliciting visceral physical reactions with its uncanny subtleties.Those principles are divulged immediately on opening track 'Marée Noire', as breathy saxophone notes loops and swirl over cosmic oscillations and microtonally tuned drones. It's music that cracks open a passage that snakes through various genres, suggesting silhouettes rather than affirming banal musical preconceptions. Skeletal rhythms appear in the ether for only a moment, disappearing into the sonic landscape, and Surface Detail's bespoke instrumentation materializes just to bring out the cellular intricacy of the music, concentrating the gaze on microscopic textures and irregularities that discompose the senses. As the album drifts forward, it bends material reality even further: on 'Southern Breach', warm, lower-register organ tones intermingle with sinewy guitar twangs, evaporating into warped, hypnotic oscillations and eerie echoes; and by 'Superbook of the Dead', the conspicuous details have almost disappeared completely, replaced by subterranean clangs, industrial ambience and other-worldly electrical interference.It's in this way that Surface Detail softly assert their convictions, insinuating a narrative that subliminally ushers listeners down an hypnagogic River Styx by removing all traces of the familiar. On closing track 'Broken Silicates', distant lullabies, dissociated stutters and ghostly woodwind sounds blot fractal patterns on the wide open space, reincarnating the album in a liminal zone that's not constrained by somatic logic. Whisper quiet and utterly beguiling, it transcends material existence, dissolving barriers between surface and depth.

Sunrise Beams Through Orbital Mist

Ilian Tape welcomes long-time Swiss mainstay Deetron here returning to an old project, Soulmate. It finds the veteran in top form from the off with 'Monophone Dub' taking off at real pace. The techno drums are overlaid with jumbled percussion and underline with sleek bass, then 'In Main' gets even heavier but no less funky. The tunneling techno vibe continues on 'Reflection' with its thumping kicks and more layers of toms, hits and shakers and 'Tribe One' closes with another upright, linear, pumping percussive techno groove for the peak time. This EP shows a different and equally compelling side to Deetron's sound.

Deetron's been turning out serene house and techno for many a year but he changes tact here and presents Soulmate on Ilian Tape. It's an EP with a wide array of influences and kicks off with 'Path' which is bright, melodic, electric house music with cow bells galore. 'Zoom' is tightly coiled, loopy, dusty, turbocharged tackle with a warming intensity and then 'Screen' pairs more balmy and blissed-out chords with hurried beats and layers of FX and percussion. Last of all is the best of the lot - 'Blade'. It's a tribal, percussive cut that cannot fail to sweep you off your feet. (Juno review)