German imprint Bureau B (part of the Tapete empire) has a welter of cracking electronica albums due out in the coming weeks so what better time to inform everyone of the delights within.
As if things couldn't get any more musically bizarre, here comes Niklas Wandt with his challenging opus Solar Musli. Jam-packed with sexy overdubs and thumping beats, Solar Musli is something of a revelation. Wo Es War is a superb head-nodding neck-snapping little electro piece that deserves your attention, while Kusnacht is some sort of crazed prog 'n' post-rock journey into final enlightenment that only chemicals or the great outdoors can provide.
Dusseldorf's Stefan Schwander has been carving out a notch on electronica's bedpost of life for some time as Harmonious Thelonious so it's always welcoming to hear another selection of his oeuvre. Instrumentals! does exactly what it suggests - vocal-free tracks that focus on rhythm, atmosphere and soul with an exclamation and a twist. Pulsating tantric instrumentals that touch on jazz, ambient and electronica without frightening but enlightening the senses. Headphones on, you're in for a great ride.
Hard on the heels of HT is the rather splendid cosmopolitan Kiosque Of Arrows 2 compilation. Curated by Dusseldorf's DJ-about-town Toulouse Low Trax (aka Detlef Weinrich), this assemblage draws together a smorgasbord of early-'80s avant-gardeists and recent remixes of Germanic experimentalists beyond the groove. Billed as a homage of Belgium's Crammed Discs and Crepuscule collections, KOA2 doesn't disappoint. It's slightly bonkers but it's also good enough to be revisited for repeated listens. There isn't a duff moment.
Ireland's electronica producer/ musician Chris Ryan began recording as Sorbet in 2020 - "to cleanse the palette". This Was Paradise certainly does that in places with a oddworld concoction of stuttered beats and unworldly ecclesiastical vocals throughout, courtesy of guests. Much of the album owes a debt to Steve Reich, Fennesz and Depeche Mode (see The End Of Time), yet it still strikes the listener as a unique bundle of agreeable post-industrial wonder.
Germany is right on the button with electronica right now. Investigate.