Kaxtelian – Ghetto Cyberpunkers [HC Records]

We can talk about Hypnotica Colectiva as a long-lived project involved in the Spanish avant-garde scene, but we wouldn’t be sufficiently objective because this platform encompasses much more. As they say in their press release: “Hypnotica Colectiva celebrated in 2020 XV years of lifestyle, musical resistance, raves, club management, record shop management, radio programmes, record label and above all of the genuine spirit if what there is you don’t like, do it yourself”, but to this we would have to add other conditions that they treasure, as well as working to keep the Valencian scene healthy and active, they have operated as an entity where numerous artists have taken refuge, DJs who have seen in Hypnotica Colectiva an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and also to be able to access a circuit with very limited proposals.

In May last year, HC Records released the first of four references in a series of releases commemorating the platform’s 15th anniversary. These four albums summarise the concept and identity of Hypnotica Colectiva. 50 artists have joined this collaboration, authors who at some point have been part of this project or who still continue to play vital roles. These four volumes have been released digitally, so for this new compilation HC Records has selected 12 tracks to be released on double vinyl.

The release opens with Endless Illusion, a track in which Madrid’s UHF exhibit an elegant and volatile electro. On Silent Love, the second cut on the B-side, Mutant Cassette combines harmonic spatiality with a considerable dose of energy. Argentinian DJこれからの緊急災害 takes it up a notch with Brooklyn Bootleg, his forceful breaks making up the essential part of a complex structure that mutates with each beat, accompanied by vigorous vocals and other melodic patterns.

We turn the vinyl around and continue with high-octane electro with Tanzliebe, this time it’s the Catalan Dark Vektor who opts for a classic sound design. Large-Scale Aggressor continues in the same vein of broken beats, with a punchy punch and voluminous synth lines. In the third and last cut of the B-side Filmmaker delves into a style that perfectly gives him away, Galactus is compact, with hardly any free spaces and with excellent dynamics.

Side C opens with the first artist of the Hypnotica Colectiva family, the Valencian Daniel Kyo collaborates with his aka CØRE with Rifaximin, a bubbling techno cut with an atmospheric melodic base. Negocius Man is another specialist of electronic and electrifying textures, Embrace The Dark Side is a flamboyant ode to synthesised sound and vocoders. Group has established itself as the industrial project of unknown origin that labels like this one adore, as they have their own style, with a very particular sound treatment, and although this time their track 200713_0677 is oriented towards crushing techno, its lack of brightness and corrosive texture clearly identifies them.

Side D opens with another of the most active artists of the Hypnotica Colectiva lineage, Domingo Dark Vinyl from La Mancha under his alias Kaxtelian, who makes a nod to the Valencian route of the 90s with Ghetto Cyberpunkers, a cut in which he mixes powerful breaks with mythical synthetic patterns and sampled voices, one of them belonging to Ah Ah Mix by Shuilem from 1993, a record that reminds us a lot of this great scene of the last century. The second cut belongs to the Serbian artist Alavux, Time Shifter 03 is developed with breaks and a great battle between the bass and treble lines. The compilation closes with another of the eternal components of the collective, the Valencian Raszia with his pseudonym The Lost Boys also evokes this Valencian past with a cut commanded by breaks and with a synth line very representative of the last stage of the current that continued in just a few rooms that continued with a hard and obsessive temperament.

Release date: August 23rd, 2021.