There is a whole stack of stuff that I've yet to get through. I can now add to that the new albums from Claude Speeed and The Focus Group - both of which ship this Friday.
Metro Riders - Europe By Night
July 03, 2017
An artist recommended to me by a friend. Metro Riders is the project set up by Stockholm producer, Henrik Stelzer.
The album shares quite a bit in common with artists like 1991 and Sand Circles - it has that same dreamy lo-fi quality that I like very much.
Metro Riders Bandcamp:
Europe By Night is the gripping and intoxicating debut album by Stockholm, Sweden based Metro Riders (real name Henrik Stelzer) and the first release on newly minted contemporary global imprint Possible Motive. Employing outdated software and now obsolete analogue recording equipment, Metro Riders conjures a suspenseful and gloomy, true to the era re-imagining of lost sounds. A real labor of love, Europe By Night encompasses a very niche palette, everything from the prophetic visions of John Carpenter, to the warbled world of Troma films, to Italian horror flicks, euro-crime and the cybernetic sewers of The Skaters.
The album can be found here.
Nadia Struiwigh - Lenticular
July 03, 2017
This is a great album of quite varied electronics that spans a variety of styles, calling to mind quite a few artists. Lenticular arrives from the Central Processing Unit and is totally recommended.
Bleep:
Central Processing Unit have a claim to being the label with the strongest identity in British electronic music at the moment. Each of their fifty-odd releases provide variations on classic acid and techno stylings. They never fail to deliver in sound and style, and each comes wrapped up in that pleasing white and black package. On Lenticular, Nadia Struiwigh softens the edges of the CPU sound while remoulding the core components into an LP of great deftness and beauty. Recalling Aphex’s best ambient works as well as top-of-the-range Boards of Canada, the tracks here mould well-worn analog stylings into the sort of late-night ditties that will bring wistful smiles to ravers of every generation.
Vinyl, Cassette and Digital Editions are available here.
July Releases
July 01, 2017
There have been so many new albums lately that I don't have time to listen to them all. However, in the next few days I will be taking a listen to Lenticular by Nadia Struiwigh and Life of Love by Moon Diagrams. There is also a new Richard H Kirk album that I have yet to look at.
Michael Crichton - Dragon Teeth Review
June 29, 2017
I recently finished reading Dragon Teeth and enjoyed it. Micheal Crichton has been a favourite author of mine for many years. His blend of technology and thriller has proved remarkably successful over the years, in particular Jurassic Park. This tale of genetically-engineered dinosaurs roaming a theme park has been remarkably successful, spawning a sequel, The Lost World as well as a number of movies.
Dinosaurs are still very exciting but long-dead ones - not so much. What I also found slightly disappointing was that the sections devoted to fossil-hunting were few. For much of the novel, it felt like nothing more than a slightly unbelievable western.
Of course this was an unfinished novel so it's more than likely Michael Crichton would have spent a lot more time on it before publication.
If you like Michael Crichton's books, you'll enjoy this but be warned, it's not the work it probably could have been.