Today we bring you a series of EPs recently released by four of our favourite Spanish labels. They range from hidden eighties treasures featuring the voice of the singer of Liaisons Dangereuses to new big thing in New Beat and a couple of compilations full of interesting names.
The latest release from Barcelona’s Italo Moderni label, run by Adrian Marth (whom we interviewed last year) is a tremendous EP with three lost tracks by legendary Krishna Goineau, famous singer of the German band Liaisons Dangereuses. These three compositions were recorded with German act Micro Chip League between 1985 and 1986. In them we find Krishna’s peculiar and histrionic way of singing. The music could be described as EBM, a bit of a precursor of future MCL productions. We remind you that in MCL, at that time, we could find Ralf Henrich and Andreas Tomalla, who would later form the also legendary Robotiko Rejekto. On the flip side, there are four edits, with such interesting names as Silent Servant and Curses. It is surprising that three tracks like these have not seen the light of day on vinyl until now.
The new release from Valencia-based label Frigio will surely please our readers. The first EP from Zurich-based producer Scannoir, a member of ½ GOTT, moves between New Beat and deep synth pop. Through My Silence includes five dark and mostly danceable tracks with a pleasant eighties flavour. The EP starts with “Industrial Technology”, a powerful modern New Beat track perfect for DJing. “Get Ready (but sorry)” is a bit different with samples that urge you to change and a haunting melody. On the B-side we have the melancholic “Through My silence,” the other gem of the EP, dark, sad and with powerful synthesizers. The second track, “Why Old News” presents a melancholic melody, but accompanied by an imposing rhythmic forcefulness. Finally, the haunting, “Alles Wind Gut” adds more facets to the album. Highly recommended.
Distrito 91, dedicated to electro and run by Fabio Vinuesa, is another label we follow, but we haven’t written about it yet. After dedicating EPs to artists as interesting as Hoax Believers and the boss’s own productions, they are publishing their first various artist release, which has caused a stir on the scene because Madrid’s UHF are making a foray into EBM. Our Own Algorithm contains four tracks and begins with Sound Synthesis, a producer from Malta who creates some interesting electro. It continues with Dark Vektor, who we’ve talked about quite a bit in El Garaje for his releases on Industrias Mekanikas and Hypnotica Colectiva. Here he presents a frenetic track with crazy synths and his trademark robotic vocals. Quite fast is also TR-9009‘s track with almost 140 BPMs, a more robotic electro composition. And we get to UHF’s track, powerful and hard, more EBM than electro, but evidencing the links between both styles. Highly recommended as well.
And we return to UHF to recommend the latest compilation of various artists of their label, entitled The Analog Theory. On side A we have two well-known names: the French Jauzas The Shining, who released an EP this year on Valencian label Soil, and the Spaniard Univac. We have been following Rafael Martínez Espinosa’s music, either as Univac or with his darker AKA Geistform, and here we have another great example of his talent. For his second collaboration with Gladio Operations, he has composed a track with some aggressive beats and a fair amount of darkness. On the B-side we have the playful electro of Dutch Lloyd Stellar and German Martin Matiske (who also released on Femur) who here surprises us with the beauty of the sounds he brings out of his synthesizers. Finally, Valencian producer Uranio Empobrecido puts the icing on the cake with a quite original track.
