#7 Feat. Staff Picks in Electronica

Noumen returns to Central Processing Unit after a six-year absence with Altum. This bumper record, the Ukrainian artists fourth release for the Sheffield label and first since 2019 double-LPObscurium, serves to remind us all why Noumens music has been lauded by the likes of Mixmag and Resident Advisor in the past.Altumis a consummate piece of contemporary electronic production, a technoid exploration of outer-edges electronica that nods to genre greats like Autechre while still maintaining its own unconventional charm. Across well over an hour of music here we find Noumen repeatedly playing punchy mid-tempo beat work off of some more cerebral tuned synths.Altumkicks off with the epic Oion - beginning in that Autechre/AFX mid-tempo zone, full of deep-sea bangs and whirrs, the track slowly builds to a final stretch of delay-drenched keys which set us free amidst the outer cosmos, almost Sun Ra-style. Its a perfect liminal-space roller and an apt scene-setter forAltum. Oion provides a blueprint for several of the albums other highlights - plenty of the joints here adopt that same approach of hitting hard with the drums and soft with the synths. Second track Splitter takes on the baton from Oion while souping up the kick to warehouse levels; the beats in Far Wind splutter like a needle skipping on a mid-90s Tresor drop; Fate Carette, all eerie looped synth leads, is a highlight as the album enters the home straight. The rhythm production (which, it should be noted, is exemplary throughoutAltum) is ratched up in intensity on a handful of numbers. Telemask displays a delightful breakbeat - if youd told me this was sampled from golden age A Tribe Called Quest, Id have believed you. Mid-section anchors Awe and Axis are glitchers in the Mike Paradinas mould, with the latter showing off some pleasing steel pan-esque synth leads for good measure. And whileAltumgenerally maintains a processional pace throughout, there are points where Noumen toughens up the drums for club deployment - Unveilness shows off a real chunkiness in the low end, closer Spurling Sign plays a satisfying rolling groove off of ever-layering synths, and the title-track is an alien machine-funker in keeping with fellow CPU electronauts like Silicon Scally and Cygnus. Noumens third album for Central Processing Unit is a pleasingly hefty double-LP which builds on the zany invention of acts like Modeselektor and Autechre to delightful effect. FFO: Autechre, Aphex Twin, Modeselektor, Bochum Welt, LFO

Noumen

#94 Feat. Staff Picks in Electro (Classic / Detroit / Modern)

In recent years, Blackploid has come to be one of Central Processing Units signature artists. The German producer has averaged more than a record a year for the Sheffield imprint since he first landed on CPU in 2021. This prolific run continues withCosmic Drama, Blackploids second LP for the label. The album takes the baton from its predecessorEnter Universein style, delivering twelve tracks of top-quality machine-funk that draw down from electros classic artists while also imbuing proceedings with a playfulness that very much gives things a signature Blackploid-ish flavour. Cosmic Dramasets its stall out from the off. The opening run of Alien, World Construction and Virtual State all deliver piston-snapping beats which anchor pleasing melanges of B-movie synth lines. Alongside this, Blackploid adds little flourishes which add buoyancy to each joint - a syncopated bassline reminiscent of I-fs late-90s classic Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass, crackling robo-voiced commands, skittering synth chords which wash across the mix and so on. Its the work of someone completely at ease with their craft, comfortable enough to take risks without upsetting the apple cart of their sounds core appeal. Blackploids idiosyncratic approach to synth work is something which distinguishesCosmic Dramafrom the pack. Electro has long been a genre which prides itself on innovation on the keys, but few producers are willing to push their sonics as far as Blackploid does - take the seasick churn of pads and processors on Multiverse, for instance, or the way John Carpenter-esque single-note lines dovetail with gurgling synthetic pulses and eerie, spacious chords on The Lab, a highlight ofCosmic Dramas midsection. Cosmic Dramaskips along at club tempo throughout - every one of these joints will get bodies moving in dark rooms across the galaxy. However, even when tracks maintain their single-minded pursuit of machine-funk perfection, they never forget to deliver on the hooks. Blackploid has lead lines (and counter-melodies) to burn here, and each track knots them together in ever-more intriguing ways as they plough onwards. Drexciyan heads will be thrilled by the sci-fi delights of Species, for instance, while Blackploid brings melodies as cold as they are catchy on the aptly-named Polar Dunes. By the timeCosmic Dramahits upon the vroom-vrooming bassline line of closer Contact, youre fully enthralled to the albums combination of broken-beat heft and synthetic melodiousness. Central Processing Unit mainstay Blackploid comes through with another delightful dozen of electro heaters for the Sheffield label. RIYL:Drexciya, I-f, Cygnus, AFX

Blackploid