RSS Boys linger in secret, though they recently appeared on the Wire Tapper CD, their identity or whereabouts remain cloaked in a veil of mystery, aside from the fact that they release their prolific output /their latest album proper appeared in March/ on the acclaimed Mik Musik! and are part of their Secret Editions, alongside artists like Pawel Pesel /whose great release Ekscentryzm was released last year/ or Mangrove Mangrave whose release is equally pleasing the adventurous ear. All of them share a certain kind of sonic aesthetics taking its cues from slow, mangled techno and psychedelic atmospherics. Something that would fit well at 7am in a dark, spartan-like venue, where bodies writhe with amphetamine comedown, devoid of basic humane functions, responding to primordial elements of music, the kick, the bass.

Though it is not to say the music is simple, it just emanates from those corners of the dancefloors that eschew the testosterone like relentlessness in favour of the chimerical, opaque and sometimes, as is evident in these two reworkings, which were released as part of the Record Store Day on Saturday, 20 April, even ethereally cheerful. The RSS Boys remixes is an ongoing project that keeps expanding, so follow their Bandcamp page for further additions.

Samčo, brat dážďoviek is a peculiar phenomen on the Slovak sonic scene, an epitome of weirdness that is not a try-hard, but rather a genuine expression of artistic intention. His March EP, entitled Európske hlavné épéčko kultúry /European Capital EP of Culture/ is a pun on the increasingly controversial European capital of culture project in the eastern Slovakian city of Košice. Brimming with various field recordings, recorded in various locations, including Brno “ghettos”, Košice streets, samples and whatnot, it drawing parallels from Negativland and People Like Us mash up sonic activism.

The Timisoara-based duo Makunouchi Bento make soundtracks for their imaginary movies. At times opulent, adventurous sonic textures are woven into a tapestry of imagination, transporting the listener into non-descript moments in time, a gentle, fragile odyssey that is peculiarly haunting, playful and dreamlike. It’s not a placid lullaby throughout though, there are more uptempo songs in there, too. They have assorted their unreleased tracks, collaborations, and whatnot into two “compilations” so far, a personal retrospective with tracks spanning a decade. 

Route 8 emerged from the sprawling Hungarian lofi scene that mostly encompassed guitar-driven and quirky electronic acts. Route 8’s sonic trajectory verged towards the dancefloor, the dancefloor of slow, hypnotic tunes made on analogue hardware. This was already apparent during his live set we put on for him in Budapest a year ago, and comes more pronounced on his latest EP, out on the great Budapest label Farbwechsel.

Mental Murder is almost raw, jacking house music, with lofi hisses and atmospherics, but remains quirky enough, just check the ending of the title track. This is not clean-cut house for yuppified dancefloors, but rather a hazy, melancholic exploration of the fringes of 4/4. And then there’s that remix, yes Miguel Flaco nailed it.