This compilation reflects the evolution and future direction of a label with 70 releases under its belt: five tracks by the artists who define Diagonal, exploding with the unique character only Diagonal has — an avant-garde, singular exploration of the boundaries and in-between spaces of electronic/experimental/avant-garde, noise, computer-sound electronic music, and floor-oriented techno. A1, Russell Haswell's "Heavy Handed Sunset (Autechre Form Conversion)," is noisy experimental bass music squirming like a living creature at 90 BPM; A2, Viviankrist's "Creatures," is hypnotic-tinged electronic dance music at 143 BPM; B1, Powell & Tillmans' "Stairwell" (sample2), is sampled-voice, wonderfully oddball, cheesy-cool techno at 125 BPM that pursues Chicago house jack in its own experimental way; B2, NHK's "Binah," is meditative science-minded electroacoustic sound at 125 BPM; and B3, Russell Haswell's "Hypersonic" (sample1), is 4/4 techno-experimental collage dance music at 133 BPM led by vocal minimalism and avant-gardism.
Artwork by Guy Featherstone, mastering by Russell Haswell, and vinyl cut expertly handled by Matt Colton @ Metropolis. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)