Author: hipodrome
Gherkin Jerks – Alleviated presents The Gherkin Jerks [ML9016CD]
The original 12” vinyl releases of Stomp The Beat and 1990 were two “Holy Grail” releases of Chicago House as they were only available for a short time before Gherkin Records went into inactive status in around 1991. At the time Larry Heard chose to not disclose the fact that he was the producer behind the Gherkin Jerks EPs. The two releases were a concept of experiments where he dove deeper into the equipment and do some creatively different tracks from his Mr. Fingers sound. These two legendary EPs have been heavily influential on other artists to this day. Often sampled or referenced they are true house classics and still amaze 25 years after their creation. Also on this album three bonus tracks, which are from the same Gherkin Jerks sessions but never released as such. Psychotic Fantasy was on the Dance 2000 pt. 2 album and Ecstasy is the full original take which makes its first appearance here. Reznaytor is an exclusive track for this release, never available before.
John Heckle – Back Alley Terminator [TABR023]
Recently acclaimed for his high quality remixes, this time it’s John Heckle’s turn to be remixed. Back Alley Terminator is a menacing and industrial single, accompanied by three suitably dark reworks from Andreas Gehm, Mick Wills and Valanx.
Crime Scene – Jam The Box [CC04B]
Crime Scene kicks the geez out of the backyards of Crime City with 3 dirty street trax. CC 004 is a real underground oldschool jam. Tracked and recorded on real analogue hardware – no plugin fake! houze musique – straight to the ghetto of our heart!
JTC – People Mover [ANSATZ1001]
With the exception of the title track, People Mover EP is comprised of new tracks recorded by JTC especially for Ansatz. The tracks here represent JTCs ever expanding repertoire. Live synth and vocal work dance above solid rhythms which JTC is known for. The result breaks new ground for JTC as an artist, and dance music as a genre. People Mover is anthemicthe perfect ethereal intro to the EP and Ansatz as a label. Solutions is a solid mellow dance floor track with subtle build. Banter Block is a chaotic Afro-jazz carnival ride. Juvenile Conversation highlights some live synth work over a techno Roland rhythm.
Sixth June Interview
VA – Trevor Jackson presents Metal Dance 2 [STRUT107LP]
Strut present ‘Metal Dance’, a new compilation from one of the UK’s most respected DJ / producers, the man behind Playgroup and original founder of the legendary label Output Recordings, Trevor Jackson. Echoing elements of his renowned DJ Kicks mix from 2003, Jackson draws here on specials that have peppered his DJ sets for almost two decades. ‘Metal Dance’ mines deep and hones in on the more underground and danceable side of industrial, post-punk and EBM (Electronic Body Music), a phrase coined by Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk but honed by later bands like DAF and Front 242 as socialist realist aesthetics were dragged onto the dancefloor during the mid-’80s. Jackson cherry-picks classics and rarities from this era, including a new edit of Nitzer Ebb favourite ‘Control I’m Here’ (sampled on Quartz’ rave classic ‘Meltdown’), the cold dance of Analysis’ ‘Surface Tension’, Neon’s dark ‘Voices’, re-interpreting a Master C&J riff from the early days of Chicago house, and hard-hitting dubs from Pete Shelley, Alien Sex Fiend and more. Herein lie sounds that have heavily influenced today’s crop of artists – from LCD Soundsystem and The Knife to Factory Floor and Hot Chip. Elsewhere on the album, Jackson brings in unexpected gems – a track from cult John Carpenter film ‘Escape From New York’ re-edited by Klein & MBO’s Mario Boncaldo, a lost album track by avant garde Spanish artist Diseno Corbusier and a UK promo-only mix of Yello’s ‘You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess’.
Tropic of Cancer – Restless Idylls [BLACKESTLP005]
Restless Idylls is the first full length album from Tropic of Cancer, the solo project of Los Angeles-based Camella Lobo. Lobo debuted in 2009 with ‘The Dull Age’/’Victims’, a 10” single on Downwards and the first of three collaborations with Juan Mendez (Silent Servant). Two years later came a second Downwards release (‘Be Brave’, remixed by Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H. Kirk), followed soon after by The Sorrow Of Two Blooms on Blackest Ever Black – the label’s third release and one if its most cherished. Since then there have been 12” releases on Mannequin, Sleeperhold Publications, Ghostly International (a Part Times Punks Sessions live split with HTRK) and a limited edition compilation, The End of All Things, compiling singles and unreleased recordings. Restless Idylls marks ToC’s return to BEB and consists of eight new recordings written in Los Angeles, with additional production from Karl O’Connor (Regis) in New York and London. Its themes? The usual: romance, devotion, pain and helplessness. Mixed up mortals struggling against the brute mechanics of fate, and proving unequal to the task. A forced retreat into private, precious idylls of longing, faith, mystery, even misery. The urgent motorik of lead single ‘More Alone’ is perhaps a misleading foretaste of the full-length, which is more lush, languid and extravagantly despondent than previous TOC material. Troubled hymns from an empty room, in a drowned world. A sensual and sepulchral psychedelia.
Factory Floor – Factory Floor [DFA2392]
The band drop their highly anticipated album debut on NYC post-punk stalwart DFA. Tracks from both of their singles appear alongside a slew previously unheard synth-wave / EBM gems. A vivid snapshot of a progressive band, still in the ascendant, smashing through yet another ceiling.
Traxx – Slowboat To Corellia – PHNCST122
Barbiturates – Shades 10″ [LRR007]
Lost Race Records presents Shades 10” the new album from Barbiturates, featuring 8 synth-pop & new wave tracks.
VA – Halha (20 Years Of Downwards) [DN02020]
Downwards Records present a full circle label showcase featuring the noisier, leftfield end of Techno.
Mika Vainio – Kilo [PTYT076LP]
Finnish experimentalist Mika Vainio always continues to surprise and amaze with each new release, managing to always re-invent hi sound and go beyond his peers. Kilo comes courtesy of Blast First Petite and goes through ten tracks of Vainio’s finest drone manipulations via way of complex beat-driven machinics. Everything from the opener “Cargo” to tracks like “Cranes” or “Sub-Atlantic” and even “Wreck” display a a more aggressive side of Vainio that harks back to his classic work with Pan Sonic, albeit with a more explicit industrial techno fury
Massprod & Herva – Technology Fail As A Birth Control For Unnecessary Recordings [KMWL006]
“As a label manager a lot of music reaches you ears. Some you get especially attached to. This release is one of those. The two Italian producers Massprod and Herva has together produced some music that feels very unique and different. The EP that goes under the wonderful title Technology Fail as a Birth Control for Unnecessary Recordings, contains a set of songs that blend distorted funk, lo-fi tape recordings, noise and ultra minimal electronica. Titles like ‘Mike vs Speak and Overdub as a Weapon Against Modern Laptop Wanking’ and ‘Fourth Dimension Opens Up to Show Invisible Boogie Maze’ might even open up for new horizons for our label, the label with no set goals. We hope you like this one. We do.”
Helm – Silencer [PAN043]
Helm’s Impossible Symmetry was one of PAN’s most far-out musical transmissions of 2012 – something that was no mean feat – and on Silencer, Luke Younger continues his exploration of sound’s darker corners with four equally as nuanced productions. The title track seems to tap into the similar rhythmic zone as Demdike Stare’s recent Testpressing releases, combining noisy textures with clattering rhythms, while “Mirrored Palms” creates something more meditative altogether, as a drawn out drone creates images of a scorched wasteland, and “Bergamo” and “The Haze” comes across as more elegiac in their approach, despite their lumbering Emptyset-style rhythms.
Jeroen Search – Audiokraftpodcast #25
Terrence Dixon @ Boiler Room (NYC) 07.05.2013
Marcman – Teleleu EP [SAVOR006]
New release by Romanian talent MarcMan on Savor Music. Four slamming house-techno cuts for peak time action.
Kyodai – Moving (Basic Soul Unit Remixes) [LTX002]
Toronto’s Stuart Li aka Basic Soul Unit has made not one, not two but three interpretations of Kyodai’s Moving. Some deeper & dark electronic house biz. Basic Soul Unit’s ‘BSU Basement Mix’ is a typically taut affair with the rhythm swinging, great panned synth hissing, compressed piano lines and a rumbling bassline. Flip for the ‘BSU Attic Mix’ which swings less, nailing everything to a wobbling sound system bassline and stiff rhythm track.
Andy Vaz – Bicycle Love [YORE006LTD]
Limited 12” with some sweet gently and jazzy Detroit influenced house tracks. Come with unique handmade red paint bicycle wheels patterns on the front record sleeve – each a unique individual piece, sleeve backside handstamped.
