Morrow Choral Orchestra

"There aren’t many compilations like this one. The Designed Disorder follow-up to last year’s Autonomous Addicts continues to spread the IDM word. Being as eight artists are returning, it’s doubtful Morrow Choral Orchestra will have the same impact worldwide as its predecessor, but the quality of those returning is not up for debate. Richard Devine’s serrated “KEK-P2” sees the electronic everywhereman still in top form, edIT’s short but sweet “Southern Belle” stands out as glitch-post-rock, and the power oozing from Deru’s elegant remix of Yasume’s “Rengoku” cannot be denied. Though few, contributions from the likes of glitch-hop king Machine Drum and Mr. Projectile extend the breadth and quality of this small but passionate scene. The only thing I could ask for is more. Keep it coming." - Tiny Mixtapes

Morrow Choral Orchestra

"They're takin' a chance, but I'll be damned if it's not for nothing. Morrow Choral Orchestra drop some minimal future techno that touches on everything from the atmospherical circuit-board downbeat crackle to the broken rhythm of an industrial complex ambushed by semi-conductors on acid..." - Kitori Magazine

Morrow Choral Orchestra

"The Designed Disorder follows its Autonomous Addicts compilation with a perhaps even better one, the oddly-named Morrow Choral Orchestra which counts a front-line crew of electronic alchemists amongst its players, including Machine Drum, edit, Richard Devine, Deru, Mr. Projectile, Logreybeam, and Eight Frozen Modules, all of whom drop exclusive tracks. In vitro label head Deework gets things moving with some sweetly sliced'n'diced arcade-inflected hip-hop "Signs Reorder" before Machinedrum's funkily loping "GCel" gets spattered by a bass undertow and eventually swallowed by a cacophonous noon-time traffic jam. On "Plug", dD label partner Anon embeds her strangulated voice rivulets within a slippery funk groove while Mr. Projectile drapes waves of galaxial synth shimmer over trademark slippery breaks in "Rapture". Richard Devine's humongous "Kek-P2" machinery writhes with as much pulverizing determination as we've come to expect from the Schematic scientist, and clouds of smeared synth blisters detonate over double-time electro locomotion in Ben Milstein's "Neglnvfac W/ Logreybeam" The collection moves into quieter, emotive territory during its final third. Deru's atmospheric, vocodered interpretation of Yasume's "Rengoku" and RD's equally dreamy "Ribbon" lend the comp an attractive downtempo dimension, while Eight Frozen Modules confounds expectations with a lovely piano-synth setting of sparkling placidity "Hello Harold". Partnered with Ginormous, Deru returns under the name Sympathy Belated for an entrancing excursion of haunted voices and spectral ambiance "Get Well". With its processed string plucks, the closing "Le Perdita Della Notte" finds Logreybeam (with Linkophi) echoing Marsen Jules' shuddering style. What considerably boosts the hour-long disc's appeal is its electro-hip-hip and beat crunch emphasis over conventional IDM, plus its gradual shift from aggressive beatsmithing to downtempo atmospheres." - Textura Mag

Autonomous Addicts

"Normally, this kind of compilation is dead on arrival. Instrumental electronic music? Coldly geometric artwork? Glitchy sounds so current that they're automatically dated? These are ingredients for instant bargain bin status, yet Autonomous Addicts, the inaugural release for Los Angeles label The Designed Disorder, transcends its limitations. The label does a fine job of A&R, stocking the compilation with both marquee names and rising studio boffins. Nearly every track is full of the crushed, stretched, and otherwise mutilated audio so popular with plug-in jocks today. But there's surprising variety here. Noted sound designers Twerk turn in a Richard Jamesian beat workout with icy, wispy melodies. Anon's "String Theory" sounds like a 23rd century Kronos Quartet, replete with drum machine kicks and large chamber reverb. Tipper contributes his signature tweaky breaks and mammoth low end, while Richard Devine's "Per-Cer" wreathes emotive pure tones around unruly shuffling beats. The compilation's best moment is its most difficult; Hologram's "Earthsong" begins almost unlistenably, with hyperspeed beats and synths triggering heart palpitations before succumbing to celestial ambience. Don't let the tech-y facade here fool you -- there's soul in these machines." — Pop Matters

Autonomous Addicts

"Deru's Trying to Remember is one of my favorite recent IDM records and it is with some eagerness that I bite into Designed Disorder's first netlabel release, Autonomous Addicts. Deru opens the compilation with "Blackboard," a restless exploration of dusty spaces and noisy ducting. A slow melody echoes over a bed of writhing glitch and uncoiling static pops as if we were eavesdropping in on a tiny orchestral rehearsal of the chamber orchestra being put together by the macheriny down in the basement of the local elementary school. Eight Frozen Modules contributes a surprisingly sedate breakcore track with "Table Faith." The recognizable scattershot beats are all there but the surrounding melodic elements are more sonorous and temperate, making the track more downtempo than 8FM's usual hyper-kinetic pace. Anon's "String Theory" is a warbling concerto of synthetic stringed instruments gyrating back and forth across a spattering drum loop while eDit offers "Crashes," a gin-soaked melody propped upright against the bar by heavily DSP'ed drum programming. Ben Milstein's "Squeezah" somehow mashes cut-ups, a bit of jungle's freneticism and a whole mass of glitch into something floor-friendly without requiring ADD on the part of the dancer. L'usine's "Breed" slices down the vocal track from a wayward chanteuse and scatters it across a skipping, sputtering uptempo track, making a dance number riddled with hiccups of human voice. Richard Devine rounds out the collection with two tracks that show off his sample collection, though neither really have any sort of persistence in your head after they're gone. As an intial foray into the world of digital music distribution, Designed Disorder accounts well for themselves with Autonomous Addicts. The artists on the compilation, for the most part, do what they do best, and the result is a solid release that will do nicely to introduce these programmers to new audiences while not scaring off the old fans." - Igloo Mag