Central Processing Unit Techno | Minimal | Tech-House 3 Items

German electro producer Martin Matiske has recently breathed new life into his Blackploid alias. The project's revival continues to bear fruit with the Strange Stars EP, Matiske's third Blackploid release of 2021 and second for Central Processing Unit after issuing March's Cosmic Traveler EP through the Sheffield label.
Blackploid's two CPU drops have more in common than just stargazing titles. Those who enjoyed Cosmic Traveler will find plenty to like again in these four tracks, with Matiske serving up another quartet of snappy machine-funk joints this time around. However, while there is certainly a throughline between Cosmic Traveler and Strange Stars, this EP also finds Blackploid pushing the envelope at points by taking risks with his synth tones which thrill and enliven the record.
In keeping with the cosmic theme of Blackploid's recent output, Strange Stars kicks off with 'Star Patrol'. While this opening cut is full of the same needle-gun basslines and dinky synths that characterised Cosmic Traveler, the drum programming eschews the broken beats favoured by many in the scene for a straight house/techno snap. It makes for a very groovy jam, one with Drexciya, Computer World-era Kraftwerk and a pinch of Space Dimension Controller in its mix.
Indeed, the only track on Strange Stars which skips along on a broken beat is second entry 'The Signal'. 'The Signal' also features some of Blackploid's most impressive electronics programming to date, announcing itself with a brilliantly unusual synth that sounds like an old video game unit which has just gained sentience. When this alien tone is combined with another precision-engineered bassline the track invokes the grizzly bangers of the L.I.E.S. label, though the keyboard stabs which enter periodically also hint to the funkier electro of, say, Egyptian Lover.
'The Unseen', the first B-side of Strange Stars, finds Blackploid bringing together many of the things which made the two previous tunes such standouts. A steady four-on-the-floor and a slightly haunted feel to the synth choices casts back to 'Star Patrol', but much like 'The Signal' this joint also features some rather weird tones which are a hair's breadth away from machine malfunction. It's a feeling which runs through to closing cut 'Light Corridor', a number where melodies and anti-melodies zip around an array of gurgling electronic cells.
Martin Matiske's fine run of Blackploid EPs continues with the intergalactic electro stylings of Strange Stars.
Riyl: Drexciya, Cardopusher, Legowelt, Beau Wanzer, Jensen Interceptor

With '100% Dope' we find Central Processing Unit bringing up their hundredth catalogue number, and you'd struggle to find a more fitting artist to ring in a century of releases for the label than Cygnus. The one born Phillip Washington has been with CPU since the very beginning, his 2012 LP 'Newmark Phase' representing the first record ever released on the imprint. That album's combination of textured techno and grizzly Drexciyan electro set the tone for CPU perfectly, and it's no surprise that Cygnus has returned to the Sheffield imprint several times down the years.
While '100% Dope' is an expert demonstration of what Cygnus and CPU do, this EP also shows just how much both artist and label have grown over the past nine years. At its heart '100% Dope' is a set of prime machine-funk from a master of the form, but these are also some of the most daring and innovative tracks that Cygnus has ever produced.
Take opening cut 'Bad RGB Controller'. In the undulating synth lines we have a ghost of grime as well as Drexciyan drive, and as such the track reminds one as much of Mr. Mitch or Last Japan as it does, say, Dopplereffekt. Furthermore, 'Bad RGB Controller' shifts gear around the halfway mark into a highwire electronica mode which has the wit and spark of prime Bogdan Raczynski. Entries like 'Float Back To The Surface' are similarly unpredictable. There's some lovely industrial techno bite to this one - the snare drum will echo in your head long after the party's died down - but Cygnus periodically pulls out the rug from underneath us with passages of impressionistic texture that almost border on sound art.
'Float Back To The Surface' is one of a trio of vocoder-led jams here. On 'Throwing Shade' we hear I-F and Egyptian Lover, with Cygnus' vocals clattering around like pronouncements from some funked-out robot overlord atop hissing-piston drums. Then there's the enticingly-titled 'cpu Records'. 'cpu Records' delivers all the crisp electro snap we've come to expect from a record emblazoned with that signature black-and-white artwork, yet this thing is also widescreen and cinematic in ways that demonstrate the maturation of the Cygnus sound. With a wicked vocoder vocal that celebrates the label's many achievements, 'cpu Records' is a victory lap tune if ever we've heard one.
Central Processing Unit keep it 100 on for this new EP. '100% Dope' by Cygnus is CPU's 100th catalogue number, and the Texan producer delivers on the promise of the record's title with a collection of brilliantly unique electro joints.
Riyl: Bogdan Raczynski, Mr. Mitch, I-F, B12

Who is Bit Folder? There have been whispers about the identity of Central Processing Unit's latest signing, and many theories have been presented as to who's behind the project. Some say it's a young upstart fresh on the scene, others insist that this is the work of an old head. Either way, initial investigations have proven inconclusive, and the Bit Folder project remains shrouded in mystery.
There may be a way to untangle the Bit Folder riddle through listening to the artist's new EP Silicon Frontier. There is classic early Warp in here, a dash of Rephlex too. More contemporary styles also come to mind - FireScope, the label helmed by B12's Steven Rutter, and Analogical Force are two of the imprints recalled, and Bit Folder also shares some space with fellow CPU artists Datassette, Noumen and the aforementioned B12.
What's for sure is that Silicon Frontier is a futuro-rave adventure that conjures up the brave new world hinted at by its title. Like the classic 90s techno/IDM that it channels, this record gleams with the sounds of the android future. Keyboards glisten and shimmer, their tones at once stargazing and hallucinogenic; hi-hats open and close like steam valves; synth lines move in and out of each other to create all these lovely little cells of melody. Some tracks even play with tempo itself, beats glitching or slowing down completely as if you've just dropped a dose of (electro-)soma, but Bit Folder always manages to snap them back into place just as they seem to be breaking apart. For an artist's debut release it is very deft production - but then again, could it be that we've heard from Bit Folder before?
Silicon Frontier kicks off with 'Youka', a 150-bpm IDM-techno number that squiggles and squirms like AFX in Analord mode. The title-track follows, its beautiful opening zooming out into a unique melange of wobbling bass and final-frontier keyboards. 'The Tritan Cord' pushes us further out into deep space - there's something very Drexciyan about this track, though rather than pure revivalism 'The Tritan Cord' in fact displays the kind of dense worldbuilding we see in the work of Gerald Donald and James Stinson, its dinky synth lines and whirring drums sliding and out of one another to create a cinematic dancefloor trip. Silicon Frontier closes out with 'Legs Akimbo', a speedy number that injects those same chirruping drums/synths with the playful energy of DMX Krew and Squarepusher.
Even while it channels the sounds of some of electro's most important sites - Detroit, London, CPU's native Sheffield - Bit Folder's debut EP Silicon Frontier still manages to sound fresh and new. Now, if only there was some way to discern the man behind the mask…
RIYL: B12, DMX Krew, Datassette, D'Arcangelo, James Shinra