released January 27, 2023

[Review by Igloo Magazine, January 2023)
Amighty compilation of darker electronic threads—coming from the all-too dependable Section 27 digital imprint—returns like a howling locomotive at 3am. 35 tracks and over 3 hours, there’s enough content to keep listeners curious and anxious for more. Some familiar names and some not-so much; yet they all deliver uniquely deformed audible shivers. Although alphabetized by artist, don’t let that deter you from carefully digesting each selection offered. ADJ, known for his abstract electro-assaults, opens with “Natural State,” a baffling, acid-drenched, bass-infested, and robotic synth behemoth that sets the stage.

A variety of electronics from across the globe showcases Section 27’s top-tier roster presenting their mission of “mangling ears and brains” since 2009. DasF’s crunchy and eerie industrial jaunt on “Bordata” is counterbalanced with Weldroid’s fiercely calm glitch world tagged as “Epsilon Grove.” There are somewhat calmer yet peculiar ambient and grit elements exposed on tracks by fencepost (“Sadako Configuration”), Audraulic (“Pneuma”), Datolar (“Rewop”), Ciya (“Flawless”), Dissolved (“Gazing Signal”), and especially Michael Valentine West’s powerful and engulfing “One Day Too Late.”

Raw electro shenanigan’s are also articulated with utter perfection thanks to Inoperative System’s “C121bb,” Ufologist’s “Protoflight,” and Hatch’s swelling acid groove on “Hatch It Up (Lunatic Soup Clan Mix)” which could have made a nice EP compilation with ADJ’s “Natural State.”

The trove of musicians found here can be daunting ::
And yet, as these tracks generate their own inertia, the trove of musicians found here can be daunting. The multi-talented and prolific exm flexes his slow-motion minimalist glitch fragments with ease on the 11-minute “loeides”—carefully exploring the outer edges of our galaxy. Brightly polished braindance gems take shape courtesy of artists like Nefon Tapes, Johnny Jitters, Mint Deluxe, and Potential differenSe. MTCH’s “Penrag Conreg” contains more than enough shuffling glitch slivers to power Autechre’s machinery as Panopticum’s “Inventory of Memories” is a mesmerizing and surreal glitch-industrial dreamscape. Let’s not forget the riveting soundtrack provided by Anastasia Davydova; their downtempo bliss’n ambient-electronica wonder titled “Second Star” is remixed by Backdoor Beauty.

Section 27 unequivocally pulls all the stops with artists AtOm_AnT, epiromeZero, Polydus, Christopher Lombardo, illocanblo, DrOwl, csum, Alya Alex Sobrio, Foresense (sounding quite like Plaid), Floating Spirits, Peltiform, and orl.akh (feat. KS) generating their own gravitational pull worth investigating further as their individual contributions provide robust and ethereal landscapes from out of this world. And as the mechanical clanging and industrial noises coalesce on Metalogue’s “Scalar Fields,” Stormfield + Mitoma combine forces on the abstract rip-current smorgasbord that is “Nrmn.”

Section 27 easily catapults itself early in the new year as this locomotive just keeps chugging along well into the night and through the early morning hours. Catch it if you can.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part II of a series. Part I of the compilation can be found here: nenormalizm.bandcamp.com/album/human-is-humans-master

Compiled by DrOwL & S27
Cat No [S27-195]