Ilian Tape Germany 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: In recent times the Zenker Brothers seem to have spent more time running their inspired Ilian Tape imprint than they have producing music. While we'd hardly criticize their choices - Ilian Tape goes from strength to strength - it's certainly good to have them back. The Munich-based siblings begin their first outing of 2020 with the melodious, far-sighted electro shuffle of "Shaketown", before wrapping mangled, mind-altering electronic riffs around a crunchy techno groove of "Chi Boost". "Bengel Mode" sees the siblings successfully combine alien-sounding riffs with a denser techno rhythm track, while closing cut "Outside" is a sparkling trip into hypnotic, slow-release ambient techno territory with nary a kick-drum in sight.

Review: Turin techno stalwart Andrea has been serving up slabs of goodness on Ilian Tape since way back in 2012, though "Ritorno" is remarkably his very first full-length excursion. The 12 track set is far more varied than his fine club-focused singles, with the Italian variously turning his hand to swelling, Global Communication style ambient techno ("Attimo"), ultra-deep breakbeat dreaminess ("SKLYN"), melodious, jungle-influenced IDM ("LS September"), bassbin rattlers ("TrackQY", the skittish brilliance of moody roller "Reinf"), dreamy soundscape techno ("LG_Amb"), angular fusions of bass music and dark Italo-techno ("Drumzzy") and picturesque ambient dub slow jams ("Twin Forests").

Review: There's an undeniably far-out feel to the Zenker Brothers' second album, Cosmic Transmission, which adds further layers of trippy textures, hallucinatory sounds and smoky intensity to the aural blueprint first explored on their 2015 debut full-length Immersion. There's much to admire throughout, from the mind-bending ambient weirdness of opener 'When Nothing is Safe', and the slipped dub haze of 'Whose In Control', to the drug-addled IDM of 'Natural Connection', and the polyrhythmic techno trip of 'Divided Society'. Most striking of all is the trio of tracks that close the album, all of which are powered forwards not by heavy techno beats (or even their usual crunchy, off-kilter breakbeats) but rather a series of ear-catching, fuzz-soaked synthesizer arpeggio lines.

Review: Since he started producing music, Berlin-based American sound artist Jake Muir has been obsessed with sampling. His 2018 album "Lady's Mantle" was based on manipulated chunks of vintage Californian surf rock, and its follow-up, 2020's midnight symphony "The Hum Of Your Veiled Voice" was sourced from a wide variety of old records, and inspired by the work of experimental turntablists like Marina Rosenfeld, Janek Schaefer and Philip Jeck. On "Mana", Muir looks back to a misunderstood musical movement. Around 1995, a group of New York producers and DJs - including DJ Olive, DJ Spooky and Spectre - pioneered a genre-dissolving sound by unifying hip-hop techniques with ideas pulled from dub, jungle, ambient music and industrial noise. Badged "illbient", it was a short-lived genre that felt like a high-minded psychedelic cousin of the UK's trip-hop. Muir uses illbient as the springboard for "Mana", utilizing a selection of samples to inform his frothy drones and foreboding atmospheres. He ushers the material into 2021 by diverting it through his own contemporary worldview, attempting to recreate the hyperreal fantasy histories of Japanese RPGs (think "Dark Souls" and "Final Fantasy") and nod to sensual, tactile soundscapes of European industrial labels Staalplaat and Soleilmoon. The result is a magickal, sensory journey that's as physical as it is representational.

Review: DJ Plant Texture is Donato Basile, a diverse producer from Bari. He returns to Munich-based Ilian Tape to follow up 2017's The Bongoman Archive with four slamming cuts on his latest EP. Whether it's pummelling, bass-driven ruckus of 'MPC Jam 1' (Breaks mix) or the off-kilter slam of MPC Jam 2' (Saturator mix) on the A side, to the proper, peak time heads-down stomp of 'MPC Jam 3' (Exp Forever mix). Finally, the early '90s zeitgeist of 'Ciao Ragazze Jungle Style' goes out all guns blazing. On the MPC Thangs EP, this talented Italian producer is at his most fearsome yet.

Review: Fifteen years after first starting out, Munich's masterful Ilian Tape is still finding plenty of fresh new ground to explore in its niche world of scuffed-up and broken-beat techno. The latest to do so is KW, who nails the vibe perfectly here with futurist loops 'Source Mag', hefty minimalism on 'Rats Mixing', deeper linear techno on 'ZFGT0505' and a rhythmically playful thinker in the form of 'One Day.' A superbly stylish and perfectly functional EP, as ever, from this crew.

Review: One half of the former Ilian Tapes fixture The Zenker Brothers, Marco Zenker continues his solo adventures with 12 tracks of idiosyncratic techno productions. If you're looking for a comparison it's perhaps worth looking over the border to Vienna and the two fingers to convention shown by Cheap Records at their height. In similar style, the tracklisting sees lithe, dancefloor pleasers like 'Carefree' and edgily distorted 'Switch Stance' rubbing shoulders with the vintage drum machine-led dubbiness of 'The Tibet Terrier'. So, whether you're after maverick beats or something renegade and yet playable, it's all here waiting for you.

Review: Mariachiara Troianiello, the Milan-based sound artist behind the moniker Katatonic Silentio, works at the crossroads of electronic music, performing arts and sound studies. Acting as a live performer and an independent researcher, she seeks to bridge different spheres and approaches to sonic production. Now, the ever reliable Ilian Tapes have gave her free reign to use her 15 years in the game to create some exquisite, atmospheric sonic shapes that melt the barriers between genres. Across four sides of vinyl she brings us everything from totally wigged out ambient sounds to lively, bubbling electronica and sub bass-enhanced rhythmic assaults. Her world is a bewildering, sometimes disorientating one at times, downright beautiful at others, but one in which you'll want to hang around in for more than a little while.

Review: Andrea opened this sophomore album Due In Color mostly during 2020 and 2021. You may reverb that those times were slightly crazy due to the small matter of a pandemic which is what lead the artists to explore a world of more hazy and experimental jazz sounds. That in turn inspired him to use more acoustic sounds in his music and so this is a record that turns its back on dark and booming club spaces and heads instead towards blooming fields of expansive downtempo, textured ambient and dreamy soundscapes.

Review: Those renegades at Ilian Tape are back once again with another forward-thinking album of fresh and potent techno, this time from Packed Rich. His long player "depicts the journey of an individual traveling through a field of energy that connects different locations in space," we're told, and along the way, it warps space and time to leave you spellbound. Punchy broken beat drum programming, hyper-real synth lines and cosmic colours all bring this record to life. It's a psychedelic mix that sometimes sounds like an MPC jam amongst the stars, at others like you're in freefall through the cosmos and sometimes laid back, stoned as can be gazing off into the heavens. Lush.

Review: KW has long been a talented producer who has operated in the shadows. He emerges from them now with another EP on Ilian Tape only six or so months after his last standout effort. Altgr is another fine one that opens with 'Midnight Run', a skittish flurry of breakbeats and snares, grumbling bass and kinetic energy that never lets up. 'Paste' is just as rhythmically inventive, this time lurching backwards and forwards but with more pensive pads and 'Copy' keeps up the leftfield inventions that make this return so welcome. 'Lastmin_Res' closes out in head-spinning fashion.

Review: Jameszoo and Niels Broos are Rolrolrol and Music is their first album. They describe it as "a puttylike exercise in pop, modern jazz and electronica" and it builds on many years of working together on the likes of Brainfeeder and Alpha Pup. The whole thing is doused in vivid and vivacious synth work that brings life and colour to every groove, whether a broken beat or a future hip-hop workout, an experimental cosmic house cut or an infectious bit of boogie. Amongst the magnificent melodies are guests like Jamie Woon who bring real soul to 'Surprise', and it all makes for a playful but triumphant record of brain-cleansing electronic sound.

Review: The ever-excellent Ilian Tape label regular Stenny's 'Onda' comes as a limited one-time pressing "square wave homage" on 180g vinyl and as ever with this artist both tracks are devastatingly heavy and perfect for ultimate dance floor destruction. The title track takes up the A-side and is a crisp and snappy breakbeat underpinned by vast plunging bass notes and detailed with subtle electric fizzes and fills that are all-conquering. 'Quadra' is no less direct with its mix of physical low ends and microscopic details all warping mind and body in equal measure. Do not sleep on this one.

Review: Munich's mighty Ilian Tape is the next label on which Laksa impresses with this new Voices 12". First out of the blocks is the sound system bothering 'Tech Steppas' with its wobbly low end and percolating dark drum funk. 'LEO' brings a more brutal broken beat with elastic bass that makes you move in many different directions at once while 'The Art Of Slip' is a pounding mix of thudding kicks, tripped-out vocal loops and moody synth menace that never lets up. Last but not least is 'Enjoyment' which rides on a thrilling and airy half-speed percussive rhythm that has plenty of height to it. Another inventive EP from the Ilian crew.

Review: "Drone Destructing Body Slams" says Ilian Tape of their next genre-defying offering, this time from the long-time Swiss underground mainstay that is Deetron. More normally known for this smooth and seductive deep house and techno sounds, here he presents Soulmate which is about much more edgy and textural techno stompers. 'Filter' comes as two mixes. The Body Mix is a turbocharged cut with dense layers of grime, synth and percussion and powered by some Shed-style piano stabs. The Broken mix cuts looser and has broken beats down low while 'Drone' gets the head up with its brighter synths swirls up top. The loopy, rusty low end is no less physical however then 'Bourg' brings some celebratory energy with its light chords and rousing sense of joy throughout.