CRISTIAN VOGEL Crunching Vogel
Interview with Cristian Vogel
Chilean-born, British brought-up and now resident in Barcelona, Cristian Vogel is emblematic of the internationalist nature of techno. He is often seen as a 'producer's producer' - although his public profile has never been particularly high (at least in the UK), his music is passionately loved by 'those who know', with his allies and supporters ranging from Andrew Weatherall to Detroit legends like Claude Young, James 'Suburban Knight' Pennington and Blake Baxter. While his musical partner in the criminally under-rated Super_Collider project, Jamie Lidell, has branched away from purist electronic music with his Multiply album on Warp, Cristian's latest solo record - Station 55 on NovaMute - is defiantly true to his techno roots. That's not to say, though, that it is relentless single-tempo pounding; it is full of melody, looking back to electronic pioneers like Kraftwerk and Vangelis whilst having a true futurist sheen that could only come from someone who is at one with their digital devices (it is telling that Cristian has a tattoo of a MIDI socket on his arm). It has more vocals than any of Cristian's eight previous solo albums, with guest appearances from underground individualists like Max Turner of the Meteorites/Puppetmastaz, Kevin Blechdom, and Franz Treichler from the Young Gods, all stitched into an abstract narrative which is sci-fi in the hallucinatory, riddle-like, exploratory William Burroughs sense of the term. Station 55 flies the freak flag high for techno as it was originally formulated - rebellious, dense, hyper-intelligent and disconcerting but above all very, very funky.

BIOSPHERE Dropsonde
Follow up to last year’s austere Autour De La Lune, Dropsonde sees Biosphere’s Geir Jenssen returning to richer and more luxurious soundscapes and injecting jazz-inspired beats.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Feels
The sixth album from Animal Collective shows once again the band, here in full, applying their psychedelic tones onto a wide range of acoustic and electric songs.

BAÏKONOUR For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos
First opus for French-born and Brighton-based Baïkonour, For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos is an impressive effort.

DEVENDRA BANHART Cripple Crow
Free folk oddball Devendra Banhart returns with his fourth album in three years. More sophisticated than its predecessor, Cripple Crow shows Banhart’s songwritting under a new light.

BOARDS OF CANADA The Campfire Headphase
The eagerly awaited third Boards Of Canada album is finally upon us, and sees the duo venturing into new territories while firmly reclaiming their original ground.

HAUSCHKA The Prepared Piano
For his second effort as Hauschka, Volker Bertelmann continues to combine delicate piano, lightly strummed guitar and electronic textures.

JACKSON & HIS COMPUTER BAND Smash
Jackson delivers his long-awaited debut album on Warp and justifies the hype that has surrounded his earlier EPs.

THE LAPPETITES Before The Libretto
The Lappetites is the collaborative project of Eliane Radigue, AGF, Kaffe Matthews and Ryoko Kuwajima, and Before The Libretto is a platform for them to experiment with each other’s usual sonic scope.

ANDREW PEKLER Strings + Feedback
Andrew Pekler’s third album revisits piano vignettes from Morton Feldman. The original work is here entirely recontextualised and given a totally new structure.

PORN SWORD TOBACCO Explains Freedom
Porn Sword Tobacco’s second album hints at the sonic ambiences of the likes of Colleen or Susumu Yokota.

THE BLACK DOG The Remixes
ZAINETICA People More Fuel
RUSSELL HASWELL / HECKER Revision
BENOIT PIOULARD Enge