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Artist Profile: Loefah

ARTIST PROFILE

Peter Livingston, better known as Loefah, grew up in the shadow of pirate radio towers and basement clubs in his native Croydon. There, the thrum of the UK garage, the chaos of the jungle, and the grit of grime converged into something uniquely British.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON December 3, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: DEADLETTER - Hysterical Strength (So Recordings)

ALBUM REVIEW

DEADLETTER’s Hysterical Strength captures the dissonance of cherry trees in full bloom against a grey, brutalist skyline. It is an album that bruises and blossoms in equal measure. The Yorkshire sextet, led by Zac Lawrence, wields music that tears through the contradictions of modern life with pointed guitars, motorik rhythms, and dusky saxophone.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Mother's Cake - Ultrabliss (Embassy of Music)

ARTIST PROFILE

Mother’s Cake revels between precision and abandon. With Ultrabliss, the Austrian quartet strides into territory that feels untamed. If their previous works hinted at rebellion, Ultrabliss is the revolution fully realized.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 25, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: DVS1

ARTIST PROFILE

Zak Khutoretsky, known as DVS1, is a cultural advocate whose career epitomizes the ethos of the underground—marathon DJ sets, an unrivaled vinyl collection, and a fierce commitment to the purity of techno culture. Through a variety of activities, the last two decades have seen him establish himself as one of electronic music's most important people.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 21, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: JakoJako

ARTIST PROFILE

Even with Berlin’s scene, where the boldest and wildest survive, few artists have carved a presence as compelling as Sibel Koçer—aka JakoJako. Through technical skill and an intuitive touch, JakoJako has reshaped how people experience modular synthesis.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 19, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Marie Pravda

ARTIST PROFILE

Marie Pravda treats her music as more than just dancefloor fodder. Czech-born and fiercely dedicated, Pravda’s (aka "truth" in Czech) psychedlia-laden techno sets that drift beyond conventional club experiences.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 19, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Bo Ningen - The Holy Mountain Live Score

ALBUM REVIEW

Known for their live intensity and aurel alchemy, London-based Japanese psych-rock group Bo Ningen’s The Holy Mountain Live Score provides a striking, layered reinterpretation of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. The 23-track album is a sonic commentary on Jodorowsky's magnum opus that mirrors its relentless deconstruction of identity and spirituality, transforming its iconic visual intensity into equally visceral soundscapes.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 19, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: VIL

ARTIST PROFILE

Over more than a decade, VIL has shaped Portugal’s electronic identity from the dark, bass-heavy roots of dubstep to the precision of techno. On Friday, November 22nd Control Club will team up with Supersanity to welcome VIL to Bucharest.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 18, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Villagers - That Golden Time (Domino Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

Conor O’Brien’s latest album as Villagers, That Golden Time, feels like a soft sunrise. Where his previous full-length, Fever Dreams, was all bold colors and kaleidoscopic sonorities, his sixth pulls things back. O’Brien uses his love for the lush sparingly, each note and lyric placed with care.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 12, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Roman Flügel

ARTIST PROFILE

Roman Flügel has spent over three decades carving his space in electronic music by following his instincts. A celebrated DJ, producer, and co-founder of multiple influential record labels, Flügel has earned a reputation for reshaping electronic music from the inside out. His sound is as versatile as it is distinctive, evolving with—and sometimes ahead of—the genres he moves through.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 12, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: The KVB - Tremors (Invada Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

The ninth album from The KVB, Tremors, is a gem of “dystopian pop,” an artfully constructed landscape of looming dread and bleak allure. The album brings Southampton's Nicholas Wood and Kat Day’s project to new depths, charging its coldwave and post-punk foundations with the anxieties of the present moment—societal decay, collective unease, and the ever-relentless march of time.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 10, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Legowelt

ARTIST PROFILE

Legowelt is only one of the many identities Wolfers has donned over the years. Under 20+ aliases like Smackos, Gladio, Nacho Patrol, Polarius, and Franz Falckenhaus, he’s inhabited a range of musical personas. By constantly shifting his artistic identity, Wolfers has crafted an eclectic and extensive discography—a treasure trove for those seeking something familiar and refreshingly strange.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 7, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: La Fleur

ARTIST PROFILE

La Fleur, known offstage as Sanna Engdahl, is a Swedish DJ and producer whose style merges technical mastery with raw emotional pull. It is a style that has brought her around the world, and on November 9, she comes to Room 1 of Control.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 5, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: The Telescopes - Halo Moon (Tapete Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

The early records of The Telescopes were driven by an interest in noise rock, psychedelia, and shoegaze, particularly seen in Taste (1989). Following a hiatus, Lawrie returned with Third Wave (2002), an album that marked a shift into ambient and noise territory. This genre-blending approach has only deepened on Hidden Fields (2015) and Stone Tape (2017). Halo Moon feels like a culmination of this evolution.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 31, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: E.Lina

ARTIST PROFILE

E.Lina's story starts in Kharkiv, Ukraine, where hip-hop was her first love. She spent her teenage years immersed in freestyle dance battles, beat-making sessions, and rapping. But sometimes, life has plans that you can't see coming. On Friday, November 1, those unexpected twists will lead E.Lina, now one of the most compelling new voices in Europe’s electronic scene, to the booth at Bucharest’s Control Club, as part of ctrl x Personnal series.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 28, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Perc

ARTIST PROFILE

From his earliest demos to his current standing as a techno icon, Ali Wells—better known as Perc—has followed a path defined by grit, authenticity, and a constant desire to push boundaries. Hear for yourself as Perc arrives in Bucharest at Control on Saturday, November 2.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 28, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: DJ Nobu

ARTIST PROFILE

You can feel something unmistakably rebellious in how a DJ Nobu set unfolds—sometimes slowly, like a rolling thunderhead, and other times with a punch of industrial noise that rattles your core. But to understand Nobu, you have to go back, not to Tokyo’s sleek nightclub scene, but to Chiba, a coastal Japanese city known more for its many fish markets than for underground culture.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 18, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Jakuzi - Hata Payi (City Slang)

ALBUM REVIEW

Jakuzi’s Hata Payı descends into the muddy waters of human vulnerability. Released in 2019, the album’s title translates to “a part of the mistake,” suggesting imperfection is both embraced and scrutinized. Jakuzi doesn’t pretend to offer solutions. Instead, Hata Payı sinks into the uncomfortable reality of the mistakes that shape us, the regrets that bind us, and the distance that forms when relationships deteriorate.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 15, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U

ARTIST PROFILE

¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U is far from your average DJ. In fact, calling him a DJ at all feels like a gross understatement. Born out of the underground clubs of Osaka and now performing at some of the biggest festivals around the globe, his work is a visceral dismantling of genre boundaries that leaves audiences disoriented, exhilarated, and asking what the hell just happened.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 8, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: J. Bernardt - Contigo (PIAS)

ALBUM REVIEW

J. Bernardt, aka Jinte Deprez, steps away from his role as frontman of Belgian Indies' Balthazar and dives into the labyrinth of personal loss with the confessional, Contigo. The name means "with you" in Spanish and is the compass that guides through the tumultuous seas of a breakup.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON October 7, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Interview: LALALAR

INTERVIEW

From the buzzing rhythms of Istanbul, LALALAR has been reshaping the boundaries of Turkish sound for nearly a decade. Formed in 2015, the trio initially entered the music world with a dreamy, reflective, and distinctly indie-pop sound. But what began as a subtle, ethereal act has since evolved into one of Türkiye’s most electrifyingly diverse forces.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: KOKOKO! – BUTU (Transgressive)

ALBUM REVIEW

KOKOKO!’s sophomore album, BUTU, is a wild journey through the streets of Kinshasa, DRC. As the follow-up to their 2019 debut, Fongola, BUTU merges upcycled instruments with cutting-edge techno and synthwave, making it one of the most innovativew releases of the year.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 29, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Miley Serious

ARTIST PROFILE

Miley Serious, a Paris and New York-based DJ, merges punk’s spirited energy with the rhythmic complexity of electronic sounds. Raised in Toulouse, Miley first forayed into music in the hardcore punk scene, playing bass in a band before transitioning into DJing.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 26, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Mathew Jonson

ARTIST PROFILE

A Canadian-born artist now based in Berlin, Mathew Jonson is a study in balancing precision with unpredictability. He represents a space where the inherent chaos of improvisation meets the disciplined structure of house and techno, built via a mastery of analog hardware.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 24, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Dr. Rubinstein

ARTIST PROFILE

Since her move to Berlin in 2012, Dr. Rubinstein is one of the most recognizable personalities in the global electronic music scene. Without the conventional support of a label or self-promotion, her rise is wholly due to the subversive energy she brings while behind the decks.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 24, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Squid – O Monolith (Warp Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

In O Monolith, Squid transcends the avant-garde claustrophobia of their critically acclaimed debut, 2021’s Bright Green Field, with the 2023-released sophomore album offering something more contemplative and unpredictable.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON September 23, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: The Underground Youth – Nostalgia’s Glass (Fuzz Club)

ALBUM REVIEW

The eleventh studio album from The Underground Youth, Nostalgia’s Glass, invites listeners to peer through the prism of nostalgia, where the past scintillates with deceptive allure.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON June 13, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Ben Sims

ARTIST PROFILE

Transitioning from DJing to production, Sims began releasing music that mimicked his sets’ raw energy. Tracks such as Manipulated and Way Back Then combined thick basslines with intricate rhythms. His productions quickly garnered attention and resulted in a discography as extensive as anyone’s in electronic music.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON June 4, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Loxy

FIVE QUESTIONS

Loxy emerged in the early 1990s through his involvement with London’s pirate radio stations like Eruption FM and Underground FM. He quickly became a mainstay at pivotal London raves such as Desire and Thunder & Joy, where he was celebrated for his sets that featured darker, heavier dubplates.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB May 31, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

ARTIST PROFILE: ZEBRA KATZ

ARTIST PROFILE

Zebra Katz, the genre-defying alter ego of Ojay Morgan, has carved a path in the music industry with his audacious style and provocative sound. Despite his growing success, Zebra Katz remains committed to his independent roots. Operating under his own label, ZFK Records, he maintains complete creative control over his work. This work, marked by its doomed future and left-of-center nature, continues pushing the boundaries of what art and music can be.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON May 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Puma Blue – Holy Waters (Blue Flowers)

ALBUM REVIEW

Strolling through the twilight of an abandoned mega city, where the air vibrates with the hushed, anticipatory white noise of liminal space, you may find yourself contemplating the ebb and flow of life and death. In this moment, Holy Waters emerges as a singular soundtrack.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON May 24, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Julia Govor

ARTIST PROFILE

The artistic narrative of Julia Govor, a revered figure within the global underground techno scene, is one of relentless ambition. Born in Abkhazia, Georgia’s tumultuous yet culturally rich backdrop, Govor’s initial foray into music was shaped by a stint singing in a band.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON May 13, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Dombrance

ARTIST PROFILE

Dombrance, born Bertrand Lacombe, has built a formidable bridge between electronic music and the pulsating dynamics of political history. His sound—a confluence of synth-pop, electro-funk, and disco—does more than make people move; it makes them think, reflect, and occasionally, revolt. I

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON May 8, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Whispering Sons – The Great Calm ([PIAS] Recordings)

ALBUM REVIEW

There is a sense of shifting landscapes in The Great Calm, the latest album from the post-punk outfit Whispering Sons. Since their inception, the Belgian quintet have crafted a mélange of darkness and distance that echoes through the abandoned hallways of post-punk’s vast castle. Yet, in this, their third full-length, a discernible pivot suggests a band grappling with their past while courting the uncertain future.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON May 8, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Strawberry Guy

FIVE QUESTIONS

Alex Stephens, also known as Strawberry Guy, initially made his mark as a keyboardist in a band . However, he soon felt the need to explore his own musical path, leading him to embark on a solo career in Liverpool. His 2019 debut EP, Taking My Time to Be, featuring the viral hit Mrs Magic, amassed a staggering 350 million Spotify streams, largely thanks to its immense popularity on TikTok.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB May 8, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Thomas Simon

FIVE QUESTIONS

New York City based artist Thomas Simon does a lot of film work, so it’s no surprise that his shows have an enveloping, cinematic quality…Simon pulls you in with a swirling vortex of a million guitar, keyboard and percussion textures.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB April 27, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Σtella – Up and Away (Sub Pop)

ALBUM REVIEW

Σtella‘s Up and Away, her debut with the esteemed Seattle imprint Sub Pop Records (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Sleater-Kinney), marks a turn in her artistic trajectory, deepening her engagement with her Greek roots while expanding her palette with broader, more eclectic musical influences, including threads of mid-century Americana and candid lyrical introspection.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON April 16, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Ozric Tentacles – Lotus Unfolding (Kscope Records)

ARTIST PROFILE

Marking their 40th anniversary, Britain’s pioneering festival band Ozric Tentacles returned in 2023 with Lotus Unfolding, a full-throttled encapsulation of their decades-long interstellar journey through space rock. This album isn’t just a career milestone—it is a highlight of their discography, which has evolved from the cassette-only release of Erpsongsin 1985 through the heights of Strangeitudeand Jurassic Shift and continues from the revitalized energy of 2020’s Space for the Earth.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON April 12, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – Heaving (Unique Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

In the ever-so-monochrome palette of contemporary music, where echoes often drown originality, Lucy Kruger & The Losy Boys’ 2023 album, Heaving, is able to cast shadows and illumination in equal measure. This audacious departure from the band’s acclaimed, albeit more traditional, pen-and-paper songwriting style of its Tapes trilogy, unravels as introspection under the influence of existential dread under a gothic, moonlit sky.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON April 2, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Jadu Heart – Derealised (VLF Records)

ALBUM REVIEW

Derealised from Jadu Heart unfurls like a lucid dream, tailored for the contemplative soul navigating the early 2020s’ emotional labyrinth. This album is a Nordstar for the introspective wanderer, a soul-stirring third act from the London-based dream pop/shoegaze duo Diva-Sachy Jeffrey and Alex Headford, a duo known for their mask-donning enigmatic presence and genre-blending soundscapes.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON April 1, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Album Review: Pip Blom – Bobbie (Heavenly Recordings)

ALBUM REVIEW

With their third studio album, Bobbie, Amsterdam-based indie rock band Pip Blom embarks on a synth-pop odyssey, diverging from the guitar-driven roots of previous offerings—the fuzzy riffs of Welcome Break (2021) and the easy charm of Boat(2019). Distinguished by their jangly pop hooks and earnest lyrical delivery, the quartet has steadily risen through the ranks of the indie scene, with Bobbie signifying an adventurous leap into electronic pop yet still underscored by an inherent indie rock ethos.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON March 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Ada Oda

FIVE QUESTIONS

Ada Oda, a fixture within the Brussels music scene, embodies the synthesis of raw post-punk energy and the melodious essence characteristic of Italian variety music. This eclectic band, initiated in 2020 by César Laloux—a figure known for his tenure with The Tellers, BRNS, and Italian Boyfriend—has crafted a refreshingly novel and deeply nostalgic sound.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Meule

FIVE QUESTIONS

Comprising Valentin Pedler, Dorris Biayenda, and Léo Kapes, France’s Meule brings a unique configuration to the stage: a phalanx of modular synths, dual drum kits harmonizing around a singular kick-drum, and a guitar that acts as a conduit for their sprawling sonic landscapes.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 30, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: PLANT

FIVE QUESTIONS

Emerging onto the Bucharest music scene in 2021, the trio PLANT, sometimes stylized as plantplantplant, has quickly made a mark within the local underground community. Emerging onto the Bucharest music scene in 2021, the trio PLANT, sometimes stylized as plantplantplant, has quickly made a mark within the local underground community.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 29, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Sugar For the Pill

FIVE QUESTIONS

In the heart of Greece’s musical renaissance, amidst the shadowy lanes of Athens, emerges Sugar for the Pill—a band that masterfully intertwines the raw essence of post-punk with the ethereal layers of shoegaze. Formed in March 2020, the ensemble quickly established itself with a sound that reverberates with the overdriven angst of guitars and the delicate, almost celestial cadence of vocals, presenting a modern homage to the iconic sounds of the ’90s.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 27, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Kadjavsi

FIVE QUESTIONS

Emerging from the ambient shadows into the bright lights of the alternative pop-rock stage, Kadjavsi, the brainchild of Nikita Dembinski, has swiftly evolved from a solo endeavor into a dynamic ensemble that is stirring the Bucharest music scene. Since its inception in 2017, Kadjavsi has been a melting pot of eclectic sounds, seamlessly blending ambient, electronic, and jazz influences under the banner of modern pop, with a distinct nod to the emotional intricacies of love, deceit, and youthful turbulence.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 27, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Tasha Safari

FIVE QUESTIONS

Tasha Safari, originally from Ganja, Azerbaijan, has built a career as a techno DJ and producer in Berlin, drawing on her background in a culture that blends Eastern and Western musical influences. From the traditional melodies of Azerbaijani folk music to the experimental edges of psychedelic rock and post-punk, her broad base of influences led to a style incorporating various techno subgenres.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB March 15, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: REKA

ARTIST PROFILE

Few electronic music artists blend scientific inquiry’s rigor with sound’s expressive capacity quite like REKA. Characterized by an exploration stretching from techno’s dystopian depths to its most illuminating peaks, REKA’s journey represents intellectual curiosity, auditory artistry, and a conscious awareness of what is important outside the industry.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON March 6, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

5 Questions For: Ioana Iorgu

FIVE QUESTIONS

A polymath hailing from the eclectic streets of Groningen, The Netherlands, Ioana Iorgu is a self-taught guitar, bass, and drums maestro. Her musical journey, originating from the stages of Malaysia, has traversed a space from school band performances to the architecture of her distinctive current soundscapes —immersive experiences that envelop listeners in an atmosphere where dissonance meets lyricism.

WRITTEN BY CONTROL CLUB February 27, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Axel Boman

ARTIST PROFILE

Stockholm’s Axel Boman pirouettes on the edges of the musical multiverse with an eclectic flair that’s deliberately off-kilter. Whether through his enigmatic DJ sets, vibrant productions, or the avant-garde label he co-pilots with Kornél Kóvacs and Petter Nordkvist, Boman has painted his career with broad strokes, dabbling in the soulful echos of Americana and threading through the pulsating thump of European House.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON February 26, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Artist Profile: Arnaud Rebotini

ARTIST PROFILE

Arnaud Rebotini embodies the versatility and depth that have come to define the vast spectrum of French electronic music. His transition to electronic music was marked by the release of Organique(Artefact, 2000) under the alias Zend Avesta. This groundbreaking album melded everything from pop to jazz, using an eclectic mix of analog synthesizers, wind instruments, strings, and electric guitar, showcasing Rebotini’s early passion for synthesizer-based music.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON February 20, 2024 ADD TO READING LIST

Interview: Timo Maas

INTERVIEW

Timo Maas has more than earned his title as a dance music legend. But he’d rather you forget that and connect with who he is right here, right now. And that’s someone who never repeats the same trick, someone never happy to rest on his reputation or copy his early career success. He is really only happy when he’s breaking his own rules, subverting expectations and exploring new musical ground.

WRITTEN BY STEVE RICKINSON November 18, 2023 ADD TO READING LIST

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