after well over 3 years of radio silence, cadra once again emerges from his personal dungeon with a new (and partially fresh) bundle of techno tracks.

compared to its predecessor (rtn002):
less synthesized, more sample-driven.
less melody, more effects.
less shine, more gloss.
less force, more power.
less darkness, more gloom. (maybe.)

anyway, yeah, less static, more noise.

as you may or may not know, "prkl" is a shorthand for "perkele". and as you may or may not know, "perkele" is a finnish cussword - according to fins, the most powerful curse known in any language. obviously, most fins don't speak dutch. then again, the dutch take on cursing in the worst possible way is to verbally chuck diseases around, whereas "perkele" may mean "god damn", "devil" or anything in between. it's just a different approach. but enough of that.

to people closer to home, the creator of this release is known as petri laine, a (not surprisingly) finnish student currently located in the uk for study-related purposes. these purposes are partially repressed by the urge to create music and spin the wheels. prkl's debut release (called "first ep" in finnish: "eka ep") appeared on kamikaze records late last year, and now it's subco's turn to spread the noise.

the music in question fits the name behind it quite well. not that it attempts to tear up speakers or eardrums. not that it intends to instill hatred or agression. not that there is anything religious or anti-religious going on (at least, i wasn't told). but we are talking about techno in it's purest form: not necessarily hard, but crude, monotonic and relentless. and if adam beyer and marco carola and a whole bunch of other guys can get away with it on vinyl, than certainly can someone who has the chutzpah to call himself "gddmn" on the interweb.

yes, we're back. back i tell you. and after a 1.5 year-long hiatus, sublogic returns to bring you one of its most experimental releases so far. no manner of comparison can truly be made, but this one manages to supersede 2GI's release in all its oddness.

so are the works of richard sudney a.k.a. monopole. his procedure for musical creation involves such diverse elements as recording sounds in the field on the slightly frayed edges of civilization, manipulation of micro-samples, and abusing ancient equipment not originally intended for use in a music studio. monopole hails from the world techno capital, but has been influenced by more than just the music associated with his geographical position on the globe. all in all, this results in music that is barely describable as anything but indescribable, and simply has to be heard.

the first two tracks are the "floaty" ones: noises and voices in the distance, mixed with eerie strings, accompanied by a minimal electronic rhythm that can hardly keep itself together. it takes some time to get used to (unless of coarse, you listen to this kind of music all the time), but then picks you up and takes you along, borne on its apparent emptiness.

the latter couple are the reasons this release appears on routine instead of flow, as they introduce beats your head can follow. at least "here, once again" features something that resembles a more usual 4/4 pattern, or at least beats that are of equal length. "across the wire" drops this approach, but continues that flow (bad choice of words there, i know) in its own way, and eventually finds itself going silent.

the word "dub" probably ought to be used in this shred of text. so dub. there. dubbity dub. listen without distraction.

oh, and do leave a message, and let the world know what you got from it. also, do check back to see this place brought back to life; more new music is on its way here, hoping to be received with many, many open arms.

it would seem jani rantanen is on a productive roll. under his outgate pseudonym, he treated us to the machinae ep back in january, and now he returns with more -though altogether different- intricate tech sounds.

routine number five is called the mute city ep, and it's a mixed release in a fashion much like yasahi's when earth fell on the moon ep (flw002). having described the whole as "a deep, ambient like dip into tech land", jani starts off at "central" with clicks, pads and noises, and takes us along from there, for a ride that touches down at all points of the compass. like being lost in the helsinki subway system, a 117 bpm laidback urban tech journey ensues.

presuming you have a pulse, you should be checking it out. go ride the tube for a while.

at last some new sounds have arrived. routine release number 4 is this EP from italian duo 2GI, who have elected this spot to release their newest works instead of either of their previous release venues for reasons of this music not "fitting their roster". apparently, these tracks were deemed "too normal" for acedia and inv3rno.

no, but in all honesty. what you will be exposed to upon downloading this release, is impossible to define with one word, or one sentence, or one paragraph. to save myself a lot of trouble, i could go with the first single word that comes to mind: chaos.

all four tracks are heavily electro-influenced and indeed quite chaotic. the first two are full of acid noise next to that, while the latter two are -surprisingly enough- full of guitar noise. providing anything more descriptive would be a waste of time and effort. i might add that this may remind you of jerzz' music, in being part music and part anti-music, and kicking all that is regular in the nuts. i might add a warning, stating that even though subco has something of an undergound legacy to honour, this is "seriously off-beat", to say the least. i might add that there is a decent chance you may not even enjoy this release, but that you'd have to hear it first in order to find out.

i am fairly confident that in putting forth these tracks, subco has once more managed to provide an interesting listen to all of you, whilst pushing the boundaries another notch further into uncharted sonic territories. i dare you to expose yourself to su càrmelo bene.

the third instalment on routine comes from our finnish friend jani rantanen a.k.a. outgate, who returns after a break with more machinated techno material in a style similar to that of his rtn001 contribution "take me back". like said track, the musics on this ep revolve around a similar theme: start with a plain beat, break it down, add wondrous little sounds, make a lot of promises, and cut right back to the plain beat. in spite of what you may be thinking: it works wonders in practice.

first off, "our way" starts with an almost clicky kick that takes a few steps to transform into something a little more robust. the bassline comes along in a similar fashion. the track hypnotises you as it drags you along into the break, in which aforementioned wondrous little sounds are added: a sweet dreamy melody... that ends as the beat reinstates itself.

"less sugarless" is a little less minimal in its approach, starting with pulsating lead bass sounds and and introducing a quasi-melodic drum rhythm before long. however, it is similar to its predecessor as far as its hypnotizing qualities are concerned. and of coarse, the same break structure (this time with a nice ethnic vocal) pops up.

the last track has a slight acid tendency. of all three, "camouflage" has the most pronouncedly melodical main loop (which is, nonetheless, repeated endlessly and relentlessly). moreover, it doesn't really have a break with the absence of a kick drum.

on the whole, this ep is one minimal, yet big, hypnotic trip into outgate's personal twist on machinated music. and once more, it has "routine" written all over it. best played loud, and in complete darkness.

the second release for the routine sublabel features 4 hard-kicking acidish techno tracks, all produced by cadra. 23 minutes of madness follow.

starting off on the a-side, "we've got forever" takes a wobbling acid loop with a pounding beat as a start and slowly builds up tension. cadra's put the compressor to good work, judging by the pounding feel of the bassdrum. the first half of the track is the warming up, after that we're in for some aggressive action, as the wobbling acid loop slowly evolves into a mean juno-like riff.

"talking about" is a true techno-acid hybrid. it is quite monotone and minimalistic in nature, but continues to flow due to the tight percussion lines and good breaks. though i can't really pinpoint why, it has a bit of a haunting mood over it.

the b-side, which gives the ep its name, contains two tracks named "artificial" and "untelligence". they are exactly equal in length, but explore the whole acid-techno thing in different directions. while the first track tends a bit towards ripping acid noise, the second track is taking the 'classic' 303 sound to new levels. both tracks are blunt and minimalistic in their approach, which suits the theme 'artificial untelligence' just fine.

cadra's excursion into the realms of acid-techno (i'll stop using that phrase now) will take a heavy toll on your speakers. not only the production, but also the postprocessing (i.e. mastering) sounds superb.

go check it out and be amazed!

(this description was written by tripwire)

the routine sublabel welcomes you with 4 tracks that honor its name. so as you might have figured, that means techno, mostly.

subco newcomer (but scene veteran nonetheless) rvaggelen opens with a relatively soft and definitely groovy piece of music, "when she". warm pads and gentle leads make this pretty melodic, while the kicks are deep and hypnotising in a way, flavoured with a layer of minimal drumsounds.
the next track was recorded live, pretty much in one go, by jorn-c, in a way that was found unreproducable. it contains some glitches, but since it's good as it is and a studio version wasn't going to happen, it is released as it was made: raw live. it slowly builds up, taking you with it in it's drive.
forcesupreme also returns to this ep with his track "tunnel", that almost resembles the style of his oliver shine moniker. almost, but not entirely as its melodic content is more minimal and monotonous. it does have those magnificent breaks and the vibe we already know that has only been further perfected in the past months.
lastly, outgate's "take me back" for sure has "routine" written all over it. minimal, dark to the point of gloom, slow and incessantly driving, it creeps onward, not toward anything in particular, only to build something up and then slowly take it apart again.

enjoy!

p.s. a big and loud "thank you" to jani (outgate) for his cover artwork.