Articles
2009 Artists' Picks
Lymbyc Systym

Albums
Cory Allen
aus
The Bird Ensemble
Canaille
Catlin & Machinefabriek
Greg Davis
Loren Dent
Dirac
Drafted By Minotaurs
Flica
Sarah Goldfarb & JHK
Gown
John Hollenbeck
Viviane Houle
I/DEX
Akira Kosemura
Andrew McKenna Lee
Le Lendemain
LRAD
Lymbyc Systym
Melorman
Muskox
The Mercury Program
Nikasaya
Northerner
nörz
Noveller / Aidan Baker
Redshape
Marina Rosenfeld
Stripmall Architecture
Sturqen
Wes Willenbring
The Tony Wilson Sextet
Julia Wolfe
Peter Wright
Zelienople

Compilations / Mixes
Blackoperator
Glimpse Four:Twenty 03
Kod.eX
Portland Stories

EPs
Molnbär Av John
Tommi Bass & B.B.S.C.
Julian Beau
Colours-Volume 5
Dalot
Echologist
Simon James French
Geiom & Shortstuff
General Elektriks
Geskia
Ernest Gonzales
Gradient
Jacksonville
Joker
Ann Laplantine
Loko
Machinefabriek
Stefano Pilia
Damian Valles

VA: Kod.eX
Kodex/Brume

From the darker end of the electronic spectrum comes this twenty-six-track collection of exclusive and unreleased cuts from twenty-seven artists with ties to Hymen, Ad Noiseam, Ant-Zen, and Brume. As selected by DJ Kyronn, the collection's intended as a tribute to artists of the hard electronics-industrial scene who've enabled Kod.eX, a Paris-based, event-hosting organization, to reach four years of age (as of December 2009). The collection serves up two hours of viral settings teeming with subterranean bass throb, heavy breakbeats, and menacing electronic atmosphere.

The opening tracks set the scene: in a patiently executed and effective slice of cinematic mood sculpting, Empusae establishes the album's brooding tone with nightmarish gloomscaping and propulsive beats in “Morbid (Ex-Koded)”; Dither's “D10526” combines King Crimson-oid, John Wetton-esque bass lines with aggressive beats and synth atmospheres; and “Did I Just Eat a Stripper” serves up five writhing minutes of trademark Cdatakill slither. Variations on the general theme follow: goth-punk electronica (replete with harpsichord) from Sonic Area (“Nevermore”), banging hip-hop with shredded vocals and a horror show edge from Le Diktat (“Ennemi Intérieur”), and locomotive industrial-techno by Casual Violence (“Self (Element Abuse Remix)”). Industrial electro-funk (LITH's “Embryo”), fidgety breakcore (Fractional's “Pharsedic”), and pounding paint-peelers (Cenotype's “Unearth Me (Iszoloscope Mix),” Flint-Glass's “Incantation,” Mono No Aware's “As an Intro,” Roger Rotor's “Codeine”) also appear, with the nadir reached in Imminent's squealer “Samba Mit Mir.” While much of it's in a similar industrial-electronic vein, some tracks—not as many as we'd like—offer a refreshing respite from the style: Oil 10's “Solid Sun” ends disc one with a refreshing dose of melodic electro-pop, while Detritus's “Watching the Watchmaker” is a memorable slab of piano-laced gothtronica.

January 2010