Following his critically acclaimed “R.I.P.” album on Honest Jons, Actress returns with 3 new tracks on his own Werkdiscs imprint.
001.Features
Albert van Abbe – Sugar Lobby Series [CURLE042]
VA – Praterei 006 [PRATEREI006]
Austrian label Praterei kick off 2013 with a various artists EP. Mysterious jack lovers Snuff Crew take the lead with an unsurprisingly old school flavored slice of house. Raw and unpolished, classic hi hats and sturdy kicks set the tone beneath colorful stabs and increasingly wild percussion. 7 Citizens ́s ‘Perse’ is darker and deeper, a nagging hook snakes about menacingly as a starry night sky of melodies reveals itself above. Esteemed Chi Town man Chicago Skyway’s track ‘Shy Girl’ is anything but, instead it’s a gauzy and derelict house track with scattered drum hits caked in dust and grime. Ethyl closes out a dark and delicious EP with a feels-like-you’re-floating, dubby house track.
Bad Cop Bad Cop – Wings Of Techno [POM032]
Bad Cop Bad Cop are underground veteran Alex Cortex (XX Badcop) and glam-tech-hero Lopazz (ZZ Badcop). So different they are in their respective solo-projects, so indistinguishably they melt their unique visions into one flow of effervescent creativity when they hit the studio or stage together. Bad Cop Bad Cop’s music is deeply rooted in early to mid-nineties techno, house, and electronica but at the same time peeps through wormholes into the future. Driving, roaring, epic, and cosmic are all apt descriptions of their sound, but so would be jacking, funny, surreal and -above all- alien. A typical trip to Bad-Cop-Land is a full on crash through a psychedelic wall of sound that has to be experienced rather than understood. Now, Pomelo label brings Bad Cop Bad Cop’s debut album “Wings of Techno”. It’s a trippy puzzle of styles and moods that blends the most absurdly divergent tracks effortlessly into one coherent piece of intriguing musicality.
Marco Bernardi – Motorways [FBR014]
Mark du Mosch – Freewind EP [TABR017]
Mark du Mosch’s second Tabernacle release exemplifies his trademark sound with tracks that overflow with goodness and surprise.
Juan Atkins – Archiv #07 [TRESOR258]
This winter Tresor dons hardhat and flashlight once again to exhume more lost treasures from its stated past. Under the guise of it’s own 10-year dormant Archiv Series comes a reissue EP straight from the heart of the club’s former Wertheim department store days, courtesy of long-time resident Juan Atkins.
Terrence Dixon – Life Events [10050681]
Commanchee’s Revenge – Tetrahedron [CR1262]
New release of Creme Organization. These amazing Jam & Spoonesque Proto-Trance Electro Jams have been turning dance floors inside out since their inception.
Caio – Arcane EP [MDT001]
The first release on Mental Distortion is coming from Caio, featuring four raw house/techno tracks.
Hakim Murphy – Analog Schema EP [INST001]
Instruction is a new label based in Rome. ‘Analog Schema’ is a trip into industrial Chicago Hyperspace gate. Side A is a mix of deep and techno Chicago sound with space pad and amazing drums. Bumps (b1) is more static, perfect for a sound dark and full. Throuw Up (mapleAve) B2 has a more minimal sound, good for an after-hours psychedelic session.
Alis – Azimuth EP [DBA010]
The tenth release on Don’t Be Afraid is coming from Alis. Alis is the new project from Italo-Bulgarian Londoner, Sabina Plamenova. Azimuth EP showcases this producer’s fresh take on electronic music across a range of tempos. The influence of acid house on Alis’s music, and the influence of cities like Detroit and Chicago, are pronounced. In addition D’Marc Cantu remixes the EP’s most dancefloor-friendly track, Azimuth, lending it a deeper and more brooding edge.
Samo DJ – Tai Po Kau [LIESBLK003]
More twisted dome-wreckers from Samo again surfacing on the L.I.E.S.-BLK sublabel. One track throws down a Latin vibe somewhat in keeping with his first effort for the label, while the other two deploy sample-heavy, smoked-out production over slamming bass for something that goes a bit outside of the norm.
Randee Jean – You Got It [ROYAL014]
Clone Royal Oak and Chicken Lips present Randee Jean. A new project by Dean Meredith and Andrew Meecham (Chicken Lips, Bizarre Inc) delivering some classic jazzy rhodes driven UK house vibes! Classy production and some fine recorded instruments and vocals on the original mix. Dexter & Awanto3 teamed up for the occasion and deliver two fresh and sharp remixes. Arttu,the Finnish boy wonder played around with the recordings too and came up with a heavy 4/4 thump with layers of samples that let the funk out.
Nicholas – Things Of The Past [4LUX1301]
4lux’s first offering in 2013 comes from the mind of Italian wonderboy Nicholas. Here he hooks up with singer Stee Downes. Things Of The Past is a mesmerizing deep house track with laid back vox and moody instrumentation. The NYC Club Mix has a great Jersey vibe and makes a great alternate version of this beautiful song. Forever Feel It is built around a great string sample taken from a famous funk and soul album from the 70’s. On this track the bassline nicely develops along the way and Nicholas cleverly added loose drums, vocal bits and funky stabs making this a smooth floor burner.
Nina Kraviz – Marcellus Pittman and Urban Tribe Remixes [RKDSXFIT313]
Rekids have teamed up with Detroit’s Fit Distribution and enlisted the services of motor city locals Marcellus Pittman and Urban Tribe to put the 313 sound on ‘Working’ and ‘Taxi Talk’. On the former, Marcellus Pittman lays down his trademark blend of mechanical yet jerky old-skool drum machine rhythms and disorientingly dissonant, tripped-out synth chords – creating a somewhat eerie atmosphere that evokes images of Detroit’s manufacturing plants of yesteryear. On the flipside, Urban Tribe transform ‘Taxi Talk’ into a big room monster, using rumbling synth bass, electronic bleeps and laser gun snares to transport us back in time to a dark and hazy 90s warehouse rave.
Santiago Salazar – Rise EP [FS013]
Santiago Salazar the UR DJ, Ican co-founder goes deep after releasing a slew of tracks on Historia y Violencia, Seventh Sign, & our own label in recent years. Lush moods with lots of strings & pads on this 3 tracker.
Toto Chiavetta – Become One [YSD050]
Hailing from Catania, Sicily Toto Chiavetta has a long standing relationship with house music. Here with his debut release on Yoruba, Toto offers up an EP full of deep, acid, techno fueled gems. Percussion Suite is just that, a sweet percussion entry. Mother Acid Land takes us back to the basics of acid house with flares of a next step to its evolution, not yet realized. The title track Become One is simply deep and techy in its approach, with tribal drums and moody chords, this tune is destined to dominate the dance floors.
Volta Cab – Strange Days EP [ILL006]
For Illusion Recordings 6th edition we travel across Europe to the current deep house mecca of Russia to present Volta Cab for his Illusion debut. This is not your typical house release and that’s the way we like it. This eclectic EP crosses many genres from Soul to Hip Hop to Deep House and shows off a dexterity of sound Illusion has been building towards since its first release. Featuring remixes by Trus’me and Creative Swing Alliance.
Generation Next – Lamborghini Dreams [7DAYSENTGN1000]
Generation Next has appeared on some of the Big Strick cuts like Alpha & Omega and Resivior Dogs. The 17 year old is the newest addition to the 7 Days Ent. camp and he brings his first self titled E.P. A four song masterpiece that is sure to move the dance floor.
