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.

RSS Boys, the enigmatic project emerged last year as part of Mik Musik’s Secret Editions series. Their quirky techno has already caught our ears with their debut release, and recently, their track appeared on a Wire Tapper CD. They revel in cryptic song titles, whilst the music follows in a rhythmic, technoid trajectory to trance-enducing psychotropic effect.

The sophomore release is not as relentless as the first, with introspective and uncanny atmospheres interspersed, ushering the listener into deep, hypnotic territories, let’s be lazy and call it opium techno. There are slower, polyrythmic outings, as well as classic unrelenting RSS material, prominent bass, even oriental patterns. This is experimental techno at its best!

Mik Musik has revamped itself last year with a slew of releases, mysteriously titled, and following in a gritty, psychedelic danceable vein. Mostly part of its super secret anonymous edition, acts like RSS Boys, Mangrove Mangrave or PAWEL PESEL, have pursued a wonky, exploratory techno direction, without utilising many of the usual genre tropes.

The new installment of Mik’s new sonic policy is Wilhelm Bras /Pawel Kulczynski, a musician and sound artist/, an avid analogue synth enthusiast, who builds his own machines, a neo alchemist of sound. His new album - Wordless Songs by the Electric Fire - is a prime example of noodles and glitches sourced from his living and breathing electronics, a result of years of DIY nerding and sonic research. Danceable, bubbling analogue beats and trippy atmospherics make it as apt for the dancefloor, as for your home listening. The warmth of analogue and the weird sounds conjure a world that’s playful and utterly likeable /in our universe, that is/.

Find out more about Wilhelm /Pawel/ on Wednesday on our regular weekly show for Radio Wave, live stream at 11:20 and 16:20 /CET/.

You can listen to our interview for our weekly Radio Wave show Vychodiska below.

Two new videos have arrived via the reliably ace Mik Musik contingent, for their brilliant Secret Editions series. One of my last year’s favourites, Mangrove Mangrave, and RSS Boys - who are releasing an album at the end of February, steeped in some woozy technoid outerspace, menacing, claustrophobic, but utterly grooving.

Mangrove Mangrave - Looker Fight - Bella Bliss

RSS Boys - 0MG

November is a good month to make paranoid, haunting music. The liminal, doom-mongering are prone to merge with the greying skies, winter melancholy and mild seasonal depression. Somehow, Mangrove Mangrave do not seem to be exploiting this omnipresent sonic fashion for all things dark in a commercial, teleological way /at least I hope so/.

There is inner hope, of course of a more “fallen angel” kind unveiling elegies for the lost souls who yearn for a bit of redemption. “Cuts Too” breaks down, as if clouds suddenly let the feeble rays of sunshine through, a scant rhythm emerges. “Looker Tree” is a mirror-like tunnel, a reverbed fairytale. With its cryptic song titles, Mangrove Mangrave doesn’t offer resolutions, just a hypnotic stream of sound, deep, melancholic.

The release is part of Mik Musik’s Foucauldian nameless
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Sonically, all the releases under this umbrella - such as RSS Boys /read our review here/ or PAWEL PESEL /our review/, have embraced the odd, strange and mangled rhythms, a sonic stamp that has emerged with the greatly resurrected Polish imprint.