Mick Wills: M.W.Cuts

Rude 66 is back with an EP on Berlin based Russian label Arma. <iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/630458058&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/armalabel" title="Arma Records" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Arma Records</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/armalabel/sets/arma019-rude-66-the-witch" title="ARMA 019 / Rude 66 / The Witch Trials EP" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">ARMA 019 / Rude 66 / The Witch Trials EP</a></div> The latest release on Arma comes from Dutch legend and devoutly deviant underground operator Ruud Lekx, aka Rude 66. With a legacy that reaches back to the early 90s and the rough and ready Dutch electro sound of Bunker Records and The Hague, he’s maintained a distinctly non-conformist approach that touches on acid, Italo, techno and more besides, all finished with the punky attitude that sets him and peers like Unit Moebius and I-F apart.The tracks gathered together on The Witch Trials EP come from throughout Lekx’s career. As the artist himself says, “tracks from wildly different eras and sessions suddenly can combine to form one coherent EP. It’s almost like the A-side tracks were waiting for 20 years to be combined with the B-side tracks.”The overriding theme that binds together these timeless machine excursions is that of medieval witch trials – a global phenomenon that peaked in the 15-1600’s. Considering the suspicion, propaganda and mass moral panic involved in this strange curio of distant history, Lekx points to the parallels with the current age, “of political polarization and fake news accusations flying all over.” The EP title is also a tribute to two records close to his heart: The Fall’s Live At The Witch Trials, and the one-off Witch Trials project by members of the Dead Kennedys, Adrian Borland and Christian Lunch.“Werewolves & Poisoners” and “The Crusade Against Idolatry” are both archive tracks from the 1994-5 period when Lekx made his first albums for Bunker Records. The first track’s charging arps, rugged kicks, nagging acid lines and discordant paranoia all speak to that trailblazing period, while “The Crusade…” revels in canny programming of interwoven synth lines feeding into an unhinged, psychedelic rampage that reflects the righteous fervour and spiritual confusion of the EP concept.“The Absence Of Diabolism” opens up the B-side with a different tone, having been produced in 2016 and demonstrating the deeper acid undulations Lekx has become known for in more recent years. Still delivered via the same trusted tools he was using in the 90s, the sound feels like an extension of the Rude 66 vision rather than a separate entity. “Envious Are All The People, Witches Watch At Every Gate,” a cut from the late 90s, closes the EP out in a spacious, snarling exploration of broken acid electro laden with cinematic sweeps of synthesizer and a constant sense of unresolved tension.Across these four tracks, Lekx displays the scope of his craft as Rude 66 while also proving that timeless music can make sense in any context, and that the threads of inspiration in an artist’s journey can be followed, explored and even resolved 20 years later, when you least expect it.Cover artwork by P.Kuznetsov

The latest from the Berlin based Russian label with a four tracker of experimental electro, including a JASSS remix. <iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/976591033&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/armalabel" title="Arma Records" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Arma Records</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/armalabel/sets/arma-021-ena-wired-ep" title="ARMA 021 / Ena / Wired EP" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">ARMA 021 / Ena / Wired EP</a></div> For the new Arma release Ena explores different, distinct facets of his sound across three productions. “Pale” distills his vision of techno as a minimalist, repetitive construct. Working around non-standard time signatures, he creates a densely woven lattice of percussive pulses, which cut a polyrhythmic path through nightmarish sheets of noise. “Secondary Color” uses a broader palette that opens the Ena sound up to the light,,, “Wired” heads further away from the grid in pursuit of sound design exploration, as a rack of pipes and chambers strike, boom and chime against artful distortion and cavernous reverb. While Ena has historically been hesitant about remixes of his material, he warmed to the idea of long-time Arma friend JASSS reworking “Wired”. Taking the track into her own fiercely individual sound world, she uses the harmonic tonality of the original as a jump-off point for an epic, emotionally forthright chiller loaded with coldwave bombast, trap hats and Silvia’ own voice.Coming from entirely different angles of approach, Ena and JASSS are bound together by their fearless individuality. You can sense the slithers of pre-existing music somewhere in their constructions, but such familiarities are no more than faint echoes of places they passed through on their way to somewhere new.Cover artwork by Judex Franju

A split between Lvrin and Maoupa Mazzocchetti on Arma Records. <iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2798395436/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=e32c14/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="http://armarecords.bandcamp.com/album/arma-020-lvrin-maoupa-mazzocchetti-split-ep">ARMA 020 / LVRIN / Maoupa Mazzocchetti / Split EP by ARMA</a></iframe> Following releases from Rude 66, Vakula and Mick Wills, Arma continues to explore the dark and wild corners of contemporary machine music via a new split 12” featuring LVRIN and Maoupa Mazzocchetti.LVRIN is a Russian producer entrenched in the guttural thrill of distorted hardware techno. His previous releases have surfaced on Pinkman, Crimes Of The Future (alongside Dmitry Distant) and Sign Bit Zero, while his A Bleak Reality alias landed on Lux Rec sublabel Mrt. These reference points make clear the sound world LVRIN occupies, where blown out boxes spit out gnarled beats and slimy basslines through an overdriven desk. The entwined scepters of post punk and industrial loom over his nocturnal incantations, the clamour of the melodies bleeding into the hiss of the reverb for a gloriously deviant end result. It’s no surprise to learn these vibrant pieces were captured in one take – the impulse and energy of the performance supersedes the need for nitpicking and refinement in the mixdown.Brussels-based Maoupa Mazzocchetti has been weaving defiantly unconventional strains of electronic music since first emerging on Unknown Precept and Mannequin. From the acclaimed Laugh Tool LP to last year’s Gag Flag on Editions Gravats and an essential leftfield reggaeton collaboration with Clara! on Les Disques De La Bretagne, Mazzocchetti’s path has been wildly unpredictable and highly original. This non-trend continues with the vivid shapes he marks out on the B side of this record. There’s a rugged, body-poppin’ thrust to the grooves that power all three tracks – all the stronger to carry the madcap sampling and mischievous synth splashes that shape out the music’s identity. These are short, sweet blasts of ideas dripping in personality and originality – equal parts deadly serious and deliriously flippant, and essential listening for anyone who enjoys straying from established paths while still rocking to the beat.Cover artwork by P.KuznetsovRelease Date: 22 March 2019