Press Info:
Time for New Frames, time for their latest 12”: Mathis Mootz and David Frisch come up with four tracks that, again, defy categorization and chronological classification. From the rave nostalgia of their Continuum Series project to the neo-industrial sound of The Panacea, New Frames tackle a broader scope: “Mumiae” opens the EP with a bang, a functional track with a metallic drive, followed by the strongly EBM-tinged “The Last Ones” with its meaty sequence and vocal sample hook. “Grond” is a cutting edge industrial techno masterpiece with evil washes of noise and a menacing sequence of bleeps, and label mates ONTAL contribute a hard-hitting remix from the duos 2017 “Resistance through Rituals” debut album. Variation and steady onset, the requirements of an EP met in full!
Press Info:
When Wrangler first formed like Voltron a decade ago, they had a very simple modus operandi. The clue was in their name. Ben ‘Benge’ Edwards (The Maths), Stephen ‘Mal’ Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire) and Phil ‘Phil’ Winter (Tuung) would get together with a very select kit list of careworn analog synthesizers and vintage digital sequencers. Their task? To wrangle new music from the ancient equipment. These self-imposed restrictions helped produced two classic long players: LA Spark (2014) and White Glue (2016).
However the times have changed and so have Wrangler. The coming decade, which looks set to be dubbed the Terrible Twenties, may be the last time that bands actually get to release albums. Ecological collapse, climate crisis, food shortages and the disintegration of the fabric of society will mean that the slow devolution of the music industry isn’t even one of the main things that musicians (or anyone else) should be worrying about. So the trio have thrown everything into their third (but hopefully not their last) album. The result – A Situation out this month on Bella Union – is simultaneously their bleakest and funkiest release to date.
This collection of warm, reverberant, amped up tracks, that land somewhere between future music, synth pop, industrial dance, classic techno and rigid electro, captures the ambiguities of the group perfectly. Just as they use the ageing outmoded equipment that other people once chose to throw away in order to make tomorrow’s music, they are the paranoid group who (just about) dare to hope that things still might turn out OK. They cast a doleful eye across the hellscape of 2019 and state, if the end is truly nigh, then it’s never been more important to celebrate the little time we have left. And if a revolution to save ourselves is possible then we’re all in need of a revolutionary party, with a revolutionary soundtrack to match.
Even though their first two albums were released on Benge’s own MemeTune label he was unsure that he had the time and energy to release A Situation. The solution was staring them in the face however. In 2018 the members of Wrangler along with revered American musician, John Grant released Mr Dynamite on Bella Union, their debut as Creep Show. Label boss Simon Raymonde heard the tracks and loved them: Wrangler now had a new home. For Mal it almost feels like a family affair: “I was best friends with Robin [Guthrie] and Liz [Fraser] of Cocteau Twins and when Simon joined the group I got to know him really well. I was more from a club music background but I loved what the Cocteaus did.”
Phil adds that there’s no real need for them to define the difference between Wrangler and Creep Show, as the chemistry is completely different: “It’s not just John’s vocals but the way he plays synths and programmes rhythms is unique, so that music can’t help but have its own character. It’s the result of a four way democracy instead of a three way democracy.”
The album title A Situation is purposefully ambiguous perhaps referring to a job that needs doing or a nettle that needs to be grasped; perhaps referring to an unspecified event that is potentially either an opportunity or a threat. The mood is set by ‘Anthropocene’ which concerns the collapse and fall of human civilisation. As Mal points out: “If a future archaeologist digs down into the rocks they probably won’t find any human fossils, just a very thin layer of plastic and some rust patches. There’s an inevitability because the wheels have already been set in motion but that doesn’t mean we should ignore what’s going on, we should be taking care of things regardless. So this is about reaching out to other people before it’s too late rather than building walls.They’re the first fucking things that are going to fall down in the Anthropocene!”
‘How To Start A Revolution’ contains a different kind of warning. Mal says: “There was originally a little bit of irony in this track but if anything the world has become even scarier in the last two years. If you keep on pushing people there will come a tipping point and it will come back to bite you. There’s no irony left any more.” ‘Machines Designed (To Eat You Up)’ is about the fully-automated AI state surveillance that threatens us all. It looks like the future that Cabaret Voltaire warned us about over four decades ago is now finally here. Mal says: “It’s not my fault! I take no satisfaction at all in this stuff coming true. If it felt dystopian then, it feels more dystopian now. Wrangler are still questioning power but some of the tools of power have changed. I’m now fearful of Google in the same way I was fearful of Thatcher in the 80s.” Phill adds: “In the 70s and 80s if you wanted to have a go you could any weekend of the year but nowadays it’s harder to see who the enemy is and where they are. Come on out and have a go. Where are you hiding?” Benge concludes: “People are aware of the problems with Google, Facebook, 5g, social media, etc. but they’re woven into everything we do, so impossible to deal with.” Addressing the multiple failures of the internet ‘Mess’ originally had the more prosaic title ‘It’s A Fucking Mess’ which just about says it all. ‘White Noise’ is perhaps the bleakest track of all, based round a spoken word piece by Mal, inspired by a reflection on JG Ballard’s notorious and transgressive experimental novel The Atrocity Exhibition.
But Wrangler refuse to ignore the possibility of hope. The mirror image of ‘Mess’ comes in the shape of the copper-bottomed Kraftwerkian techno pop banger, ‘Rhizomatic’. In 1980, French philosophers Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze came up with the idea of complex connectivity between “nodes” which eerily predicted the way the internet would work. As Mal says: “It’s an uplifting song, simply because the decentralisation of technology is the one aspect of the internet that might save us.” On the track ‘Anarchy Of Sound’ the group call up perhaps their most unlikely influence to date: the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid Of Athens. Benge explains: “We’ve built weird things into this track called Euclid patterns.” Mal, who studied the history of rhythm for his PhD concludes: “They’ve been part of culture for millennia and explain African drumming as much as Elvis Presley.” But perhaps the most positive aspect of the album is hardwired into the DNA of the track ‘Slide’ simply because it stands on a continuum with the most uplifting of jacking Chicago house and the most utopian of New York garage.
Both sides of the coin – the dystopian and the utopian – are necessary for Wrangler to work. Phil sums it up the most succinctly when he says: “The heavier things get, the more I just want to jump around and have some fun.” John Doran, Wiltshire, 2019
Snippets:
Videos:
“Anthropocene”
“Machines Designed (To Eat You Up)”
Special:
Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire, Wrangler) – “FBRGuestMix5”
Press Info:
HANDS is over the moon to announce a club-shattering, EBM flavoured industrial techno 4-track 12“ and digital EP by French pioneer Maxime Fabre. With his Crystal Geometry alter ego, he has caused quite a stir, churning out gritty tech tracks on labels such as SONIC GROOVE or TRIPALIUM, inspired by various dark music genres, produced with a modular system and thus resounding with hands-on analogue impact.
This release truly reflects the state of play concerning industrial-flavoured warehouse techno, historically aware and yet totally up-to-date. The musical DNA of Crystal Geometry is a perfect match with that of HANDS: Resounding with a post-punk darkness, driven by irresistible kicks and commanding vocals and propelled by sturdy EBM sequences, all wrapped up in state-of-the-art production. “State of Play” contains four hit tracks that never lose their riot-rousing, raving momentum – but let’s not forget this is not only about hedonistic enjoyment, but also conveys a clear political message.
“State of Play” accordingly comes in a limited numbered edition of 200 copies in red vinyl with art print, with an unlimited run in black also available, as well as the digital version.
Release Date:
24th July 2020 (CD)
07th August 2020 (digital)
Format:
CD & digital
Tracklist: 01. Bullet Proof
02. Stop The World
03. No Shade In The Shadow
04. Unnatural Bodies
05. Eyes Wide Open
06. God Is Your Shield
07. Fake Empire
08. Already There
09. Crawl Back
10. Melting Mountains
11. Redemtion
12. The Flood Is Coming
Press Info:
An album every two years – Eric van Wontherghem continues his creative streak since joining HANDS in 2014. And surely the audience is well up for the refill: In just under an hour, “Unnatural Bodies” demonstrates Monolith’s mastery of his signature sound, a seamless merger of rhythmic electronic styles, a vibrant and energetic rush affecting body and soul, provoking, but never assaulting.
Avantgarde artist Jim Whiting brought his mechanical theatre “Unnatural Bodies” to public acclaim in the 1980s and continues to exhibit constantly updated versions of it. By all means comparable is the art of Eric van Wontherghem: Industrial and EBM pioneer in the 1980s, tribal rhythm noise innovator in the 1990s, embracing the techno groove ever since: The result being an irresistible fusion, made for the stage – tested positively on many performances throughout the years. “Unnatural Bodies” carries the peculiar Monolith style, an album as a tight entity, with the individual tracks epitomizing its root sources: Consider the techno drive of “Stop the World”, the earworm hook line of “Unnatural Bodies”, the EBM-ish DNA of “God is your Shield”, the heavy industrial atmosphere of “Already there”, the distorted belligerence of “Redemtion” or the nimble melodic relief of “The Flood is coming” – diversity in unity, an album the way it has to be!
Press Info:
The LA based ambient/electronica artist «Foam and Sand» crafts his hazy and deeply textural music with a variety of sonic sources, including tape loops, modular synths and acoustic instruments.
The project started during the recent quarantine. Confined to his home studio, the artist who releases music under different monikers, started creating self soothing ambient music, for his own peace of mind and as a form of musical therapy first. These new pieces were only shared on Instagram, along with visuals the artist created himself as well: a confluence of colours, shapes and sound. Much like planets circling each other, or cells exchanging molecules, they express the interconnectedness of all things. Soon a following for the project started to grow on social media and after remixing a «Dreaming of Ghosts» track on Robot Koch’s label «Trees and Cyborgs», Foam and Sand now presents his first solo single on «Quiet Love Records».
“Circle 10” is based around a tape loop which goes in and out of phase, revealing its imperfect beauty through the unsteadiness of the old tape. A xylophone, sometimes bowed or hit with a mallet creates a dreamy and film like atmosphere all glued together by analog synth clouds which were also recorded to tape and slowed down, creating a subtle, warm and deeply calming piece of music.
