Old school minimalsynth, nostalgic but with a glimpse of the future from Swedish band Kinder Aus Asbest.
001.Features
Mi Ami – Decade [SILK020]
Mi Ami is the five year old project of exotic punk-gone-House types Daniel Martin-McCormick (Ital) and Damon Palermo (Magic Touch). ‘Decade’ signifies a suitably decadent sea-change to their sound in keeping with respective solo projects. Basically they’ve ditched the guitars and drums for a hypnotic, electronic blend of Deep House and Disco filtered through their sly post-punk sensibilities, stretching their svelte, club-and-gig-toned laptop muscle over four extended groovers aimed squarely at the more misty, pie-eyed ends of the night. On ‘Horns’ Daniel’s snotty no-wave vox jar very nicely against cocoa-buttered Chicago simulations, while the luscious ‘Time Of Love’ coolly sidesteps their punk roots with smoothly tucked-in disco bass and a sense of debonaire, balearic Dub romance. Deeper yet, ‘Free Of life’ meditates on rippling congas and hyperreal reverbs looking for that Panorama Bar booking while ‘Bells’ sounds something like a long lost Virgo dub starring a cameo vocal from Zed off of the Police Academy films.
Ed Davenport – Counterchange [NRKCD046]
Berlin based Brit Ed Davenport presents his debut LP on NRK Music. Counterchange has plenty of concessions to filmic home listening rather than straight up dancefloor fodder. Notably, breakbeats feature heavily up the spine of the album, as does subtle vocal sampling and plenty of atmospheric tension. Starting with the brooding drums and moody voices of “Of Light & Shade” the album unfurls through the barely restrained rave euphoria of the title track, the beautifully re-worked melodies of “New Yorkshire” and “More Red Lights” as well as touching on some sombre downbeat bleakness, bold concrete funk and under-lapping deep techno. The penultimate track, “Somewhere,” is to be the album’s forceful first single: an obvious choice for its deeply hypnotic rhythms and train-track grooves.
Aubrey – Den Fjarde Farden [FARDEN004]
The fourth release on Farden from Sweden who keep on pushing the boundaries of pure and relentless techno. This time two funky ’90s inspired tracks by techno legend Aubrey.
Trevino – Derelict [NL012]
Great Detroit Techno inspired trax by UK drum and bass head Marcus Intalex under his Trevino monniker.
Gerry Read – Yeh Come Dance [DSRH001]
Delsin launches of a new house-focussed series and the first release is from the mysterious and 19 year old Gerry Read.
“Yeh Come Dance” explores dusty and rusty loops of drums, vocals and wooden hits all of which are held together with a knackered jazzy glue. ‘Crawlspace’ on the other hand is a foggy gaggle of kicks, drums, hi-hats and cowbells coated in plenty of hiss and crackle. ‘Bozza’ again demonstrates Read’s ability to produce something that sounds two decades old yet wholly contemporary at the same time. Chord prods here, raw hits there, jazzy motifs buried within – it’s house music designed for cosy little basements in the dead of night where ‘Crooked’ is more in yer face. The loops in this one are more exposed and loud in the mix, but still feel unmistakably elliptical and raw.
Nicholas – Still Playing House [4LUX007B]
Italian producer Nicholas serves you his debut album for 4lux called Still Playing House, showcasing his love for the earlier USA house sounds in 14 original deep house tracks. The album includes also 2 remixes by Hunee and label head Gerd.
Yør – Modern Slaves Of Contemporary Contexts EP [MAZE003]
Expect to get lured into the Purple Maze with this third release by the Dutch imprint, once again by mysterious producer Yør with his “Modern Slaves Of Contemporary Contexts EP”. The EP starts with ‘ABCM’, a dystopian landscape of buzzing machines, ticking percussion and raw drums that builds and builds until eventually coalescing into a foreboding and roughshod house groove. ‘Dystopia’ continues in Yør’s tradition of contrary titles, because it’s in fact a soothing cut doused in ambiance that relaxes you after the agro ride that went before. ‘Fear And Desire’ comes over like a deep cut, with searching synths, a fine grain texture and plenty of disheveled Detroit vibes. Closer ‘Phaedra’s Love’ is a scuffed deep house kicker with delicate tambourines, somber buried melodies and a only the faintest sense of optimism muffled in its concealed core.
San Laurentino – Forbidden Fruit [PLAYRJC017]
It’s still relatively early days for Lóránt Talpai aka San Laurentino, whose sensitive take on deep house is imbued with the mystique of early braindance material streets ahead of cookie-cutter pads and chords. The beats are most certainly Chicago-indebted on his EP for Robert Johnson, not least on the title track, but the atmosphere created by the intricate melodies of his synths are the real stars of the show. If you miss the soothing embrace of nineties back room ambience, then head straight for the massaging bass tones of “Rainforest Hunters” and get ready for the bliss-out.
Rio Padice – Moon Phases EP [HOUSEWAX003]
Rio Padice is back with some assured groovers for Housewax. On the Moon Phases EP the ghost of deep Chicago house looms heavy, not least in the opening track. It’s deliberately naive, easy-going music perfectly pitched to worm its way into a warm-up scenario, but with enough grit in the production to avoid the trap of background fodder. The B-Side is a touch wilder, as the syncopation of “Track 3” does damage with a sumptuous square wave bass while “Track 4” bumps on a nasty garage shuffle.
Boddika – Acid Jackson [SWAMP019]
Trackman Lafonte & Bon Qui Qui – Desert Flight EP [CR1256]
Creme Organization presents the Trackman Lafont & Bon Qui Qui EP, a raw banging surfer house EP from the No-Cal beaches by Legowelt & Xosar. The real tracks from the tube!
Fat Bastian – What Is Love EP [G2G001]
The debut release for Got2Go Records, with a banging and jacking house EP. This first release is definitely dedicated to the dancefloor heads, raw oldschool house/techno with a touch of vintage, including Snuff Crew and Affie Yusuf remixes.
Shifted – Crossed Paths [MOTECD01]
Shifted’s ‘Crossed Paths’ is a record which pushes the formal possibilities of techno and is the first full length work to be released on Mote-Evolver. On ‘Crossed Paths’ the breadth of Shifted’s ideas is both subtle and devastating. As a producer Shifted’s methodology is like that of a sculptor, he works principally with textures knowing precisely when to leave edges raw and fault lines exposed. ‘Crossed Paths’ is constructed of 11 ominous cuts carved with precision and poise.
Gonzalo MD – Cosmic Gate EP [KW004]
Debut release on Knotweed by Gonzalo Medina, is a young producer coming straight from Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Cosmic Gate” features three hypnotic dub techno with a touch of darkness & Detroit.
Unbalance – Fluid EP [MUX005]
Mutex Recordings are back on wax with Fluid EP from Unbalance. His music is an incredible collage of everything you love in techno: thick groove, Detroit-styled chords and spooky futuristic effects. Jonas Kopp and Manzel, on remix duties, complete the release.
Martyn – Hello Darkness [BF028]
Martyn presents an exclusive addendum to his all-taking ‘Ghost People’ album, backed with remixes of LP tracks by Redshape, and L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok. ‘Hello Darkness’ is Martyn at his most shark-eyed and deadly, and possibly his most blatant Burial tribute. Hovering ’98 Tech-Step bass sets the vibe, while bony 2-step woodblocks and chiselled Techno drums keep the motion locked-on and hard swinging, all counterbalanced by a bittersweet rave melody and bubbling electronics. Next, L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok rework ‘Bauplan’ according to an Eski-schematic; sparse percussion and wide-gauge sound design set a minimal and precariously balanced Techno structure ripe for crafty DJs. Redshape concludes with an ominous, driven Breakbeat Techno remix of ‘We Are You In The Future’.
Subb-An feat. Beckford Ryan – Take You Back [SPC108]
Subb-an blesses Spectral Sound with another breathtaking tech-house monster.”Take You Back” wastes no time establishing itself. An uptempo, swinging bassline is soon met with claps, utterances from Beckford, metallic synth washes, snares and echo effects. And from those spare elements rise a dizzying track loaded with tension, longing and desperate hope. The flip side finds Spectral stalwart Ryan Elliott’s remix subverting the sweat and sex of the original by uncoiling “Take You Back” into a minimal techno territory. Beats rush by as Beckford’s once-soulful vocals are spliced and backtracked into mesmerizing, abstract tone poems. A radical but wholly satisfying counterpoint to the original.
VA – Emerging Elements [aDEPTH007]
‘Emerging Elements’ is aDepth’s new EP of diverse, quality electronic music produced by talented Dutch artists. It’s aDepth audio’s seventh release and showcases the work of four of these artists and producers.
Grand Prix – Mach 1 [SF67987]
Reissue for this super-rare space funk album from 1983, one of the holy grails of the Cosmic scene. Extremely expensive and hard-to-find in the original, this LP was created by legendary French producers Jean-Pierre Massiera and Bernard Torelli (listed here as Areisam and Bernie) and released on French label Savoir Faire. It is a superb example of the duos innovative electronic disco madness, always pushing boundaries while remaining supremely funky. Stand-outtracks are the Italo classic “Challenger” – heady synths, tough bass and astronaut vocals combine in a strange space odyssey, “Cruisin”, a superb electro-boogie style cut with a hypnotic driving bassline, and the fantastic “On The Border”, a tight funky percussive workout whipped by wild space-rock guitars.
