Nick Storring
Music From Wéi 成为

boomkat: ...Smiling C have us beaming again with ambient house treasure from a lesser-hailed node of the early ’90s UK house and rave sceneDancing between the lines of jacking Chi-house, psychedelic bleep techno and ambient house, the ‘Mad Vibe’ EP is the sole output by DJ Mad & Dr. Stevie The Ambient Guru, who, if we’re not mistaken, hail from the raving outpost of Middlesbrough on England’s North East coast - a sorely overlooked bastion of the original northern UK rave circuit. This level of detachment from the UK rave scene perhaps explains the offbeat formulation of the ‘Mad Vibe’ EP, which clearly echoes the styles of Yorkshire bleep ’n bass an hour south, but with a rawer, radgy, playful edge.A-side sports ‘Northern Echo’ with its properly charming mix of palm wine or Hawaiian guitar and simmering, latinate machine rhythms in deliciously woozy style, while ‘Communication’ hops around on a sparky jack attack with tumbling toms, nagging bleeps and catty psych guitar licks in the last third. B-side only gets ruder with ’System Shock’ working on the cusp of New Beat and some other strain of quintessentially UK rave nuttiness, and ‘Levitating Pharaohs (Full Frontal Spacehead Ambient Mix)’ wraps up in the barminess in balmy ambient guitar, sweet synth chords and rustling NYC deep house rhythms.

hellosQuare: ...Pushing further than his initial beat scene influences with a sharp focus on strong songwriting, LP's marriage of punchy edits and sonic detail weave the analog melodies and sampled sounds around the structures to create a beautifully textured production.Conceived and recorded in various spaces around Canberra before being brought to life by guitar'n'glitch musician Reuben Ingall, LP also features the saxophone sounds of free improvisor Andrew Fedorovitch (Splinter Orchestra) while label boss Shoeb Ahmad provides vinyl textures and additional production across the record.

Just in time for the Aussie summer PS001.2 highlights the sound of the new generation of electro and broken-beat producers emerging from the Australian east coast. On the A-side Point Guard returns to the label with his razor-sharp electro outing ‘Odyssey’. An emotional expedition that harnesses dance floor euphoria with a powerfully burning bass line. Joining forces to complete the A side is Melbourne producer Disrute and label head Andy Garvey. Here an ever-evolving synth propels you forward throughout the track that builds infinitely but pauses just to release Garvey’s mesmerising vocal, ‘NRG’. Flip the axis and you will find swirling synths and scattered percussion that creates the murky club weapon that is emerging Sydney producer PMA’s ‘Hek’. Completing the release, Roy Mills brings you to a full rotation with ‘Aquatic Pressure’. His jittery breakbeat cut that slows to a half step mid way and returns with odd-ball synth mayhem.

Following two excellent singles, Jake Robertson finally gets serious with the ALIEN NOSEJOB solo series with this, his debut LP. While those two stuck relatively close to the rock’n’jerk’n’pop that we’ve come to enjoy over the various bands Jake has been a part of, this LP is a whole new beast (alien?). Taking a notable step to the side, off the path, and into the brush, this album sees Robertson flirting with calypso and goofy pop. It rules. We finally have our punk Paraiso, and who better to bring it to us than the man who brought us other Fox Network Specials such as “The Five Fabulous Weeks of the Chevy Chase Show”.Alien Nosejob is Jake Robertson (of Ausmuteants, Hieropants and Frowning Clouds) and the four songs are bedroom recordings, augmented by a full-blown horns section in one instance. Sounds like early Devo on a meth trip with its stuttering guitar and jerky rhythms fitting perfectly.