In this scene, our hero, Laica awakens on a strange planet, what adventures await?

2012 seemed to be a year in which Techno (Not Techno) became the soundtrack to many late nights. Gone are the smoke filled nights listening to the chillout mixes of old. This is music for lone listening; late nights on trains, last bus home music, sparse, haunting and yet linked directly to the heavy 4/4 throb of Techno. Music that is as much Throbbing Gristle as it is Jeff Mills.

One of those albums from the latter part of 2012 was Isolatarium by Charlatan. By day Brad Rose, who runs the Digitalis label and records under a whole list of names.

Isolatarium may not be as heavy as some albums, but it stands head and shoulders above some simple synth albums that have appeared over the last couple of years in that it has a grittiness and a brute strength about it that demands your attention.

Kinetic Disruption has that 4/4 that I spoke of earlier, but the rest of the album is way more abstracted. It has an Ekoplekz on morphine feel; 60s sci-fi with a modern flair for the desolate.

Album closer, Terminal Zero combines all of the above. Immediately reminding me of Forbidden Planet had it been based on the works of Ballard or Burroughs rather than Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Grab

Charlatan – Codex
Charlatan – Kinetic Disruption
Charlatan – Anti-Crash Device
Charlatan – Electronic Horizon
Charlatan – Cruiser
Charlatan – Terminal Zero
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