XOSAR 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Bay Area producer and acclaimed live act Xosar returns with her fifth album, which follows up last year's Xymeria and 2015's Holographic Matrix. Named The Possessor Possesses Nothing, it was composed in a state of optimistic nihilism and draws inspiration from themes as diverse as alchemy, Kundalini yoga, fractals, DNA structure, the Golden Ratio, biofeedback, quasicrystals.. and stand up comedy! Moreover, her relocation to techno capital Berlin a few years ago has definitely made its mark on her sound here: dark ambient ("Transmogrification"/"The Video"), contorted techno ("A Heart Encircled By A Serpent"/"Pikachu Police State") and EBM ("Heavens Gate") are all apparent on this wild excursion through the underworld.

Review: Mind melting techno from Xosar on her new new label Gyrocyre!!! "When people on our planet hold built up psychic tensions under the skin, the energy gestates in a womb-like growth until it's ready to burst through the flesh manifest as a creature called a Gyrocyre. Many people opt out of ever letting the beast emerge, happy to function at levels they can predict without having to face the challenge brought on by the Gyrocyre. It grows heavy and bloated with untapped potential. Those who embrace the change slice through the flesh and let it out. It fuses with the host, covering his or her skin like a mask. Depending on the nature of their heart, it gives them tools to save or destroy the world. We invite you to embrace the change and let your Gyrocyre out."

Review: Following the release of her brilliant - if a little too intense - debut album, Let Go, on Black Opal, Sheela Rahman pops up on eccentric Dutch imprint Pinkman with more house/techno hybrids and vintage synthesizer love. While the surging, hypnotic, raw and unflinching flipside "Phasers of Eden" - hissing analogue techno in the truest sense - will arguably ruffle most feathers, it's the softly-lit dreaminess of sparkling A-side "World of Illusion" that most impresses. Blessed with her usual top notch synthesizer work, bubbling electronics and exotic melodies, it sounds a little like Legowelt on one of his happier days. That, of course, is no bad thing.

Review: Synthesizer and drum machine obsessive Xosar (AKA producer Sheela Rahman) has enjoyed a productive few years, building a formidable reputation via releases on Rush Hour, L.I.E.S and Creme Organization. Here she delivers her first full-length for Opal Tapes' occasional vinyl offshoot, Black Opal. It's perhaps a little less colourful and synthesizer-heavy than previous excursions, instead focusing on dark, fuzzy, heavily percussive takes on acid house and techno. Of course, there are curious interludes - see the wonky industrial IDM of "Prophylaxis" and the beatless synth madness of "Gnome Circle" - but it's the more floor-friendly excursions (and most profoundly the bleak and intense "Hades Gates") that really stand out.

Review: Xosar established herself with an infectious live show, on display at regular appearances throughout the world, and with releases on labels like Rush Hour, Creme Organization and L.I.E.S.

Xosar's new release for Valcrond Video marks the onset of a darker, more dungeons & dragons oriented point of view. The four tracks feature both propulsive, doom-laden beats and expansive drum-free dream spaces. These sounds, appropriate for perved-out DJs and depressed teens alike, trace a narrative of pursuit, captivity, and erotic exsanguination.

Held in a stone tower, a prisoner's fluids are harvested for carnal application, before he is finally allowed to drain and find release in euphoric fields: bare dead trees, empty veins.

Review: Emerging from the intermittent Brussels party of the same name, the ensemble label kicks off with an EP from Xosar, whose releases on Rush Hour and L.I.E.S. have made her one of the analogue house realm's most exciting producers. The Retreat to Rapture EP provides another highlight for the producer, with the "X(osar) Files" offering an opening track full of sci-fi melodies that sees her continue to indulge in her obsession with extraterrestrials, something also touched upon in the melancholic hazy Chi house of "Paranormal Detective". San Soda also appears to offer his bleepy take on "Gone Is Yesterday", but it's the original track "Lycropolis" that offers the highlight, a stripped back track full of booming toms and a psychedelic Eastern-inspired melody.

Review: Creme Organization's imperious year continues apace with Wildlyfe Genesis, the solo label debut from Xosar! Increasingly regarded as Legowelt's muse, Xosar of course has previous on DJ TLR's label, debuting the Trackman Lafonte and Bonquiqui 'surfer house' project shared with Danny Wolfers on Creme last year. Eagle eyed XOSAR followers will undoubtedly realise that the title track has been listed on the artist's own website under the unreleased tracks section, and the label state B Side accompaniment "Eye Of The Wavestorm" is of a similar vintage, dating back to the time of her debut release on L.I.E.S. Regardless of their age, both cuts have that timeless mystical quality that all Xosar material comes soaked in and the cover art for Wildlyfe Genesis features a further demonstration of Xosar's visual talent.

Review: Sheela Rahman's third 12" release for Rush Hour arrives in the shape of The Calling and its another killer! Preceded by one of the best music videos in some time (spot the Ron Morelli cameo) both the title track and "Rays of Babylon" originates from the period Rahman was living in Los Angeles and were made as "accurate reflection of the fun, upbeat vibes" in the city. They still fit snugly in the ever increasing pantheon of Xosar material, with "The Calling" a particularly sumptuous example of jacking analogue techno, it continues to build on the work she's done alone, and across her raft of collaborations with fellow analogue enthusiast Legowelt under the Trackman LaFonte & Bonquiqui and Xamiga monikers.

Review: The guys over at Rush Hour release Xosar's third EP - two, crispy-as-hell floor punishers with lethal doses of drum machine action. Both her previous EP for the label as well as that hot little number on L.I.E.S have turned some heads in the house/techno domain, and Nite Jam prolongs her fine form in 2012. The title track on the A Side is an incredibly chuggy slice of deep techno, complete with a hearty, pounding kick drum and a beautifully delayed set of chords which morph and sway uncontrollably. Over to side B, "Elixir Of Dreams" is one for the percussion maniacs, with those relentless snares cutting fervently through the muffled, haunting vocals which glide below it. Xosar's work just keeps getting better! TIP!

Review: Following swiftly on from her thrilling debut release for L.I.E.S. the talented Xosar arrives on Rush Hour with the equally enthralling Ghosthaus. The first thing you notice here is the effort that's gone into the release visually, with a clear red twelve housed in a transparent sleeve and complemented by a smartly designed insert. Musically, Xosar matches if not surpasses these artistic standards, continuing the foundations laid down on Tropical Cruize with two productions that are complemented by an equal amount of Legowelt remixes! The title track is suitably spectral, gradually flushing the straight up dusty kicks with spooked out analogue flourishes tinged with sadness and complemented by Xosar's own guttural moans. A similar downtrodden sensation runs through "Rainy Day Juno Jam" which obviously features plenty of brooding Juno flourishes over a sparse downpour of percussive hits. Both tracks are edged towards danceability by Legowelt without losing the elements of Xosar's production that make them so bewitching.

Review: As usual, the arrival of a new 12" from Ron Morelli's Long Island Electrical Systems imprint is greeted with a sense of excitement here at Juno, and in LIES 008 the label introduces us to a producer whose name will become ever more recognisable as the year veers onwards. The clearly quite talented Xosar is wrapped in the sort of nautical intrigue Drexciya invested heavily in, however her three productions here on the first release of the year for Ron Morelli's LIES imprint demonstrate there is a prowess to justify the mystique. "Tropical Cruize" sets the tone, ascending to the misty heights of your full appreciation via the lofty synths, rippling tom patterns and heavily opiated vocals that smudge the lower recesses. It sounds perfectly at home on LIES, as does the accompanying B Sides, with the wonderfully creepy "Voodoo Castle" bristling with vaguely camp Giallo energy and powered by those stabs of various texture, whilst "Xephyr" adopts a more streamlined rhythmic jakkers approach which is embellished with lovely dubby puddles of synths.