Inigo Kennedy
$urrender / Castles In The Air

On their self-titled debut album Etienne Jaumet and Fabrizio Rat, both trained pianists, re-invent their favourite instrument to make us hear it in a totally new way. While the former creates unusual sounds thanks to the rhythmic machines that accompany his piano, the latter uses this classical and romantic instrument par excellence to explore the techno sphere."The basic idea of our duo is to confront the harmonic richness of the piano and the synthesizer through rhythm. To explore our interactions through live music. To develop new atmospheres thanks to the evocative power of unusual sounds. Somewhere between ambient and sound experimentation…'

The Irresistible Force is underground legend, ambient dj, writer, critic of corporate dance business (thanks for that) and producer Mixmaster Morris. He became involved with the emerging UK acid house scene, touring with The Shamen and releasing his first and still outstanding album "Flying High" on Caspar Pound's great Rising High Records (to be reissued on WRWTFWW with that classic T-Shirt "I Think Therefore I Ambient"). He played all raves, clubs, radios and festival, all around the world, did so many mixtapes and compilations and more albums, always so enjoyable and and still is one of the most truly enthusiastic DJ around. He's currently preparing 3 new albums to be release on Ninja Tune.

After four technically and aesthetically impressive salvos of eclectic electronics, the 5-year anniversary compilation from Stroboscopic Artefacts reaches its terminus with this new release. Worrying about whether or not the series ‘goes out with a bang’ seems unnecessary, since the series has always felt pleasingly unconventional, and thus not too concerned with the conventional act of providing listeners with a grand finale. Simply put, this high-quality ‘retrospective’ series has been more about challenging the S.A. constellation of artists to forge new paths than it has been about nostalgically revisiting the past, and so it’s better to approach this last installment as a statement on the past informing the future. Donato Dozzy, Lucy, and the Sendai duo are the parties responsible for bringing us the final report of the series. Those already familiar with these artists’ past works for S.A. will understand immediately that these artists are not all cut from the same cloth, and those who didn’t know that will soon find out. As with the previous ‘anniversary’ records, the intent here is to synthesize significantly different sounds into a uniform or seamless listening experience, to the point where the record seems more like a genuine collaboration between the artists than a mere ‘sampler’ record offering eclecticism for its own sake. Donato Dozzy’s entry here is very much in keeping with the spirit of his S.A. release Terzo Giorno. It is as propulsive as any of the best techno music of past decades, exhibiting a marked indifference to the inessential and a knack for smashing together percussive atoms of a thick and bombastic quality. To do so without punishing speakers completely into submission or turning everything into a fatiguing mess is more difficult than it sounds, but Dozzy is certainly up to the task here.

Digging deeper into rescued attic-material, Telephones offers even more genre-wobbly, and inspired sounds, featuring bipolar detroit techno/bongo-disco, stuttering warehouse-atmospheres and a failed attempt at making Speed Garage (without ever really knowing what that was) - instead ending up somewhere, which can best be described as balearic techno with a dutch twist, hyperactive steroid-disco and degenerate house. Originally conceived and programmed by a juvenile Mr Telephones on ancient PC-software at the turn of the 90s/Y2K - 20 years later, salvaged, exported and meticulously overdubbed, re-recorded and edited to current high standards of Telephonic Communication. Another vibey one for the heads and dancers!

Composed, arranged and produced by Humble Brother at B&W StudioMixed by Kai Dub at Dub Forward Studio (Bristol)Mastered at Pressure Mastering