DC Recordings has been my favorite label of the past few years. After the early success of label boss J. Saul Kane’s ‘Depth Charge’ alias, the label appeared to go into permanent hibernation mode. Sporadic releases kept the name alive until 2003 when the aesthetics and sound of the label started to shift. The Emperor Machine, White Light Circus, The Oscillation and others seemed to collectively embrace vintage analog synths, psychedelic rock and techno in varying degrees. A string of fantastic, yet hard to classify releases have sadly passed with little or no interest outside the occasional Emperor Machine remix of the flavor of the moment (The Knife, !!!, Black Ghosts).

Richard Sen and Neil Higgins have been making music together as Padded Cell since 2002 but this month they released their first full length, Night Must Fall. Their myspace page name checks Velvet Underground, Prince, Arthur Russell and Carl Craig as influences. Andrew Weatherall loves them, Grand Theft Auto IV features one of their songs. Dennis Young from Liquid Liquid added percussion to the album and the band have even produced a stunning video for the sultry and sinister Word of Mouth single. Check it out!

Bleep has the DC Recordings catalog!