
Traxx @ Plastic People (London) 19.09.2013



Three tracks of techno funk straight from Saturn on Hakim Murphy’s label. Classic Jamal Moss harsh raw Chicago tracks.

Having established Optimo Music as a truly eclectic label more than worthy of the Optimo (Espacio) night it grew out of, JD Twitch and co. expand operations with the launch of the club specific Optimo Trax label. The all encompassing approach of Optimo Music remains the driving force behind this new offshoot, with the label apparently taking in both current artists and excavated “forgotten classics” and it’s with the former that they launch. Little is yet to be known about the London producer L/F/D/M, credited as R. Smith, who was apparently encouraged to pursue music production while studying art with Factory Floor’s man on electronics, Dominic Butler. Taking Butler’s advice, L/F/D/M delivers a strong five track of EP of deep, analogue-fueled acid techno which simultaneously draws upon the influences of the motor and windy cities, while also incorporating the more sinister strands of European techno.

After totally missing the incredible CCCP 01, we are happy to have finally tracked down some of this illusive heat.. get it quick. blistering tracks from Chicago’s Beau Wanzer and Svengalisghost.

18 Months after serving up his debut LP ”Fallen”, D’Marc Cantu returns to his other home from home, Crme Organization. He’s back with a six track EP, Alternate Frequency, that sees him explore the same prickly analogue house and techno that has made him into the revered producer he is today. The title track opens up the EP with fizzing analogue synth lines and a nervous, howling melody before acid, muffled vocals and coarse claps all get chucked into the dense sci-fi mix. ‘Size And Shape’ is a more propulsive and dancefloor facing track. Surfing along on a lively kick drum, repeated vocal phrases interact with choppy percussion, glowing pads light up the backdrop and a delightfully lively melody runs amok at the centre of it all. Like an old school garage house track in overdrive, its full of charm. ‘Straight Shooter’ is then a zithering, 100 mile an hour piece of skeletal acid techno that grows ever more frantic and ‘Tazakuro’ is a lively analogue brew of cowbells, freewheeling synths and tumbling drums. Titanium Control Arms lurks deep in outer space with the humdrum of intergalactic space travel gurgling all around the central melodic motif and ‘Speed Freak’ is just that, a hyper-driven bit of electro with frantic percussion and riddled with unnerving synth lines that makes you want to jiggle every bone in your body.

Chicago’s Beau Wanzer known for his work with Mutant Beat Dance and Streetwalker makes his debut on L.I.E.S. with his first solo EP. Wanzer who has been involved in the underbelly of American electronic music for many years, cut his teeth working at Magas’ now defunct Weekend Records and Soap. Through that time Wanzer constantly worked on music amassing a sizable studio where he worked in various electronic strains creating an impressive body of work. These tracks come from different points of his career and are stripped down functional pieces made for the dj even if that was not their initial intention.

Dance Mania presents a collection of 6 classic Jacking Chicago tracks from the legendary Robert Armani.

Mysterious producer Gerstaffelen here debuts on Dutch label MOS Deep with The Old Villagers, a four track EP of grainy analogue house. The title track opens things up at a mid tempo house pace. It’s a dense, multi-layered track with plenty of squiggly synths, bobbling analogue basslines and radiant pads. ‘Game On Major’ is slightly more frenzied, with dusty hi hats looping over fairly frenzied synth sounds and some hints of acid are buried deep within this hazy sound world. ‘Little Green Munchkin Men’ gets even more unhinged and techno leaning with the sounds of various analogue machines all meshing together into a nebulous brew of off killer melody and curious metal hooks, before last track ‘When The Mind Stops’ brings a bit of raw old school house flavour to the table. The beats jack, some muffled vocals add an important human element and like everything on the EP the track invites you to lose your shit in the most beguiling of ways.

FunkinEven’s Apron imprint next release will be the first not to come from FunkinEven himself, and will be sourced instead from 19 year-old Miami producer Greg Beato. “Respect The 78″ pairs crunchy kicks with a noisily filtered arpeggio, “Let Em Know” delivers some smudgy yet powerful deep house, while “3″ finishes off with an abstract techno jam with all the rough sound of a badly scratched Chicago house 12″.

This is a piece of Estonian underground music’s history. More than 20 years ago, in Estonia, Hypnosaurus were pioneers of deep house and techno, the first ones to have gone with this new strange rhythmic music into the studio and into the dark basements of Tallinn. The remix is by the strange and wonderful Chicago producer Hieroglyphic Being. This is soul music of rusty funk-robots. For this remix he is said to have tried out new methods of dealing with sohttps://hipodrome.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpunds, switching them on and off.

Echo 106 debuted with the well received Broken Hi-Hat Machine and returns with this masterful full length. He grabs influence from classic electro, Chicago house, Detroit tech and throws down a distinct sound and flavor true to his own. 17 tracks in total, and some beautiful pieces on there.

Hank Jackson is from Southern California, but he calls Brooklyn home. This is his debute release for Mister Saturday Night, raw jacking and raging Chicago rooted techno tracks.

Unlike most other labels, Future Flash is identified by a medieval style wax seal bearing the label’s logo, meaning the records can only be played on one side. As such they are highly sought after collectors items and vanish from the market place very quickly. All vinyl comes stamped with the wax seal, and an ink stamp detailing the Artists and tracks, all contained within a paper sleeve and a disco bag. The fourth release includes two tracks by mysterious Operator Tracey and label man Perseus Traxx.

Audio atlas with some deeper and trippy acid and techno tracks on Mathematics. Sometimes remeniscent of the early Fnac/Fcom days, sometimes going towards a early Chicago vibe. Nice one!

Hieroglyphic Being with The Electronic Belt, his second release for Alter, and perhaps his most dancefloor orientated release for a good while. The EP is made up of three choice cuts from last years Man With The Red Drum transmission with each track bearing the signifiers of Jamals rough and distinctive production; melodies twisting themselves into psychedelic wormholes, raw kicks and toms that hit as hard and tight as walnuts. Yellow vinyl edition in 5 different coloured disco bags, mastered for vinyl by Stephen Bishop