Tripalium Corp was originally founded in 2014 as a series of events in Paris that were meant to shake up the local clubbing and dance music scenes by introducing screwy styles into a monoculture of cookie cutter, four-to-the-floor techno and house. While their operations had later evolved into a booking and management agency, what remains today is a label devoted to out there electronic music, including braindance, electronica, acid house, techno, gabber, jungle and wild combinations thereof. Run by founder Benjamin Dierstein from his home in Rennes in eastern Brittany, the past few years have been particularly exciting as the label tapped into Eastern Europe, South Africa and South America in search of “less serious, more second degree and more fucked up” musics.

Borusiade
“Purge”
From Purge (2021)

With Purge, Bucharest born, Berlin based DJ and producer Borusiade aka Miruna Boruzescu represents the dark, seductively dangerous side of Tripalium. On the album’s title track, she conjures neon lit, industrial and techno tinged darkwave soundscapes haunted by slowly pulsing basslines and a mangled monotone instructing us to “listen carefully, don’t exaggerate”. Like the cold wave minimalism of Marie Thompson and Pierre Guerineau’s Essaie Pas but embellished with a subtly threatening edge and somehow even cooler.

Re:drum
“Acra”
From New Folk (2023)

Re:drum’s New Folk is a prime example of the blending of cultures that Tripalium is particularly interested in these days. The producer, currently based in Poland but originally from Odessa, Ukraine, layers folk chants over gnarly drum ’n’ bass and raw rave energy. “Acra” is the most successful among the EP’s four varied fusions, with splintered vocal lines that make their way into a busy mix of deep bass detonations, nervous hi-hats and ear-razing synths, only for the concoction to explode into thrashing breakbeats.

darkitecture
“Return Of Athena”
From Recluse (2023)

With Tripalium’s focus on underrepresented and unconventional musicians and scenes, the appearance of producers from the UK and the US is somewhat rare, yet the idiosyncratic take on pop adjacent, dancefloor friendly electronica purveyed by Columbus, Ohio’s darkitecture fits right in. His debut Recluse is characterised by an intricate sound that stretches in all dimensions, as exemplified by “Return Of Athena”. Here, lush arps and textures drape over softly shimmering disco beats reminiscent of Moloko, before finding themselves pressed between propulsive, dramatic synths.

Ani Klang
“God Complex”
From Tripalium Fucked​-​Up Squad Vol 2 (2023)

Released in March 2023, the first volume of Tripalium Fucked-Up Squad was a compilation meant to introduce the then new sublabel Tripalium Mind Fucked! with a dizzying selection of 14 tracks “from ghetto rave to breakcore, from hard braindance to loony chiptune, from freaky gabber to noisey [sic] ravecore”. The second release in the series compiles a new set of 14 varied pieces from as many producers that serve as an excellent entry point into the world of Tripalium. The punk energy, hard concussive rhythms and ragged drilling textures of Ani Klang’s “God Complex” are a particularly compelling feature of a generally well-curated compilation with very few fillers.

Viner
“Naubat”
From Navro’z (2024)

Viner slows down his breakcore and gabber influenced style to make space for textural and vocal elements from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian traditions on one of 2024's more unique and engrossing electronic music releases. “Naubat” opens with the collapsing scream of a zurna that quickly transforms into a swinging rhythm propelled by feverish claps and hand drum patterns. After finding a pocket of heady atmosphere in its middle section, the cut returns to full force, erupting from behind clashing polyrhythms with filtered vocal fragments and harrowing woodwind yelps.

Bound By Endogamy
“Acid Tears”
From Acid Avengers 028 (2024)

Acid Avengers is a series of split releases started in 2016 with the idea of highlighting and bringing together producers from the French acid scene, but has since evolved into a more idiosyncratic and diverse sublabel. Shared between Swiss duo Bound By Endogamy and Italian artist Antonio Barbetta aka Raw Ambassador, the 28th edition of the series embodies a dark, punkish soul. While Barbetta channels this spirit into crepuscular, percussive synthwave and 1980s style proto-techno, Bound By Endogamy operate in full industrial rave and hardcore mode, lacing phase shifted, slithering pads and stabs with distorted shouts.

Karsten Pflum
“Hornfish Acid”
From Acid Avengers 029 (2024)

Meanwhile, the 29th edition of Acid Avengers feels emblematic of Tripalium’s original ethos, dedicated to mind-melting IDM and electronica but with a nostalgic hint towards the utopian ideas and unfettered joy of 1990s rave. Here, Italian duo D’Arcangelo and Danish musician Karsten Pflum start from opposing sides – the former delve deep into liquid, blissful expressions and acid forms, the latter bounces along on broken breakcore rhythms – but end up in the same spot of weightless euphoria.

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