Spain’s A Harmless Deed label announce the release of its first artist album. DJ and producer DJ F, who up to now has also produced a sleek brand of airy dub techno and house on labels like Frigio and Semantica, drawing on everything from lo-fi Detroit techno to vintage electro.
Leigh’s second part in his chapter on For Those That Knoe starts with the blissful house moods of Cresnet. A punchy kick and modulated bassline provide a weighty bottom end, complementing lush pads, sweeping FX, percussive stabs and ethereal strings. Ion is a track that is hard to pigeonhole, Leigh casts all preconceptions aside by creating a grooving piece of dance music that sounds as forward thinking today as I would have when it was written. At One on the flip is a little burst of funk with snappy beats and crisp percussion a fuzzy bassline. Closing out the EP is a previously unheard and unreleased extended version of the timeless electro classic, Praise. Keeping all the elements of the original, this uncovered version has a new beat intro and longer arrangement.
Nebulous ambient electro. This isn’t a time-lapse,’ he said, breathlessly. ‘This is time…collapsed.’ His eyes glazed over for a moment as he retreated deep inside himself. ‘Don’t you see’ He exclaimed, wild-eyed, looking as though possessed by some silent anomaly of his own making. ‘Don’t you see what this means.
Launch of a new record label hailing from Warsaw. First one is drexciyan-inspired, subtle crafted underwater trip from a man called Ever Moving.
French producer Voiski returns to L.I.E.S. with another 12 inch of his diverse and refreshing style of techno. Spanning across the board we get epic dramatic builds, post shuffle headnodders and floor crushing sub-bass grooves over these three tracks. Guaranteed to cause major damage wherever and whenever this record is played.
Planet E is debuting the so far unknown Korrupt Data with a three-track 12″. Entitled Cryogene – cryogenics being the study of the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures – the sounds here match such a description. The title-track is a highlight and it’s a great electro production made at a speedy house tempo that brims with all the Detroit goodness of an Interdimensional Transmission record. “Drifting Vessels” is a little more broken in rhythm and has that deep sea searching vibe of a chilled out Drexciya track, while “Shimmer” is a reflective, sombre, but also hopeful and cosmic piece of electronic music brilliance.
Secretsundaze fave Youandewan (AKA producer Ewan Smith) forged his reputation by delivering house and techno cuts that defied easy categorization. Over the years, he’s variously released robust analogue jams, woozy deep house and wonky late night tech-house. There’s plenty of that variety on this first EP for Will Saul’s Aus imprint. The four tracks variously touch on sparse, soul-flecked deepness (“FM Jam”, which is also impressively remixed by the ever reliable Andres), spaced-out acid (the relentless 303s and late night textures of “Tino”), and Mr Fingers-influenced analogue deep house (the excellent “Alright Son”).
The 18th installment from Aesthetic Audio brings together four deep architects to form a collective that methodically articulates a symphony of sublime textures, lush chords and unique musical visions. Tracks by Keith Worthy, Miruga, Jose Rico and Michael Zucker.
LAB.OUR 04 sees the return of Torontos own Maxwell Church with 3 raw techno cuts. When not busy as one of the founders of Torontos techno night The Deep North, Max releases music as a solo artist and as one half of The Hermans. Doldruks driving rhythm is anchored by percolating synths and ever changing, melodic patterns. Faxnews is a dubby stomper with synth stabs and vocal snippets. Geosynchronus Orb shows us what acid sounds like on Saturn.
Labelboss Steffi hooking up with long-time buddy and musical boy wonder Dexter again. Over 15 years ago they started the Klakson label and the rest is history. Sounding more fresh than ever Steffi & Dexter deliver 3 razor sharp dancefloor bombs that will unite dancefloors worldwide. All the elements are there: aquatic electro arpeggio’s, jacking 808 beats, bouncing analogue strings and basslines, all topped off with that euphoric Detroit techno feel.
Beautiful house, techno and electro in the deep aesthetic that we know for the For Those that Know label. First of 2 ep’s coming summer 2014 kicks off with Chimera; a soothing and warm electro cut with soft pads and twinkling lead lines. Aerobatics, originally released on Qube in 2002 slots onto the A2; it meanders into darker territory with saw tooth synth basses, squelchy acid and industrial break beats. Sketch Form on the B-side is a slow tempo house track with chunky distorted rhythms and percussive driven bassline, complemented neatly by swooping square pads and a delicate lead. The Closed Box rounds off the EP with its stripped electronic break beat and late night harmonies.
Long time colleagues David Sumner (aka Function) and Ed Davenport (aka Inland) have teamed up to relaunch Sumner’s esteemed imprint, Infrastructure. They kick things off with a collaboration under the guise Function/Inland with this new EP, Odeon/Rhyl.
The Monkey Bar has proved to have no boundaries music-wise. This composition of tracks pictures a state of mind, a bridge between the past and the future. A selection made by producers that can speak with the heart, the mind and the soul. The Primates #01 is a great techno EP with tracks by Eduardo De La Calle, Hinode, 333 aka Alfonso & Diego Gamez and a Marco Shuttle remix.
Datura Dilema with the second installment on Drama Universal label. Out with a bang and staying tuned to the already known repetitive sweeping electronics that his sound embraces. Addicted to hardware, bringing deep and dark euphoric modular techno trance type excursions reminiscent of the early Ambient Techno days. Heavy synth lines, flowing patterns, running baselines and solid rhythms suited for the night or early morning.
Last Known Trajectory proudly presents reinterpretations of In Sync’s undisputed UK techno classic, namely ‘Storm’, alongside new versions of accompanying tracks, ‘Warm’ and ‘Subway Route’. Split over two separately available twelve inch EPs. Here, lovingly reinvented by E.R.P. (aka Gerard Hanson), Maarten van der Vleuten (Evo-Lute Muzik) and Ramjac (of Irdial vintage).
‘Our time is now’ and ‘Extra credit’, are two detroit-flavoured house tracks with sequences coming from Mars and melancholic keys with the unmistakable Marcellus Pittman mood. The release is closed by ‘Happy to be here’, a gloomy downbeat-Hip hop track made with MPC.
After a successful year for both Big Strick and Generation Next, they come with the CD album titled ‘Like Father Like Son’. Four months after they collaborated on the ‘Like Father Like Son’ EP , this 10-track masterpiece shows off skills from two eras of dance music on one platform with an array of styles and versatility. Big Strick’s latest full-length offering on his own 7 Days Entertainment label is a family affair, mixing tracks from the veteran Detroit producer with similarly deep and woozy jams from his 16 year-old son Tre Strickland, aka Generation Next. The father-and-son team’s approach to house – wringing atmospheric soul from bubbling rhythms, warm chords and blazed melodies – is surprisingly similar, as shown by the two deep, jazz-flecked collaborations showcased here. Elsewhere, both impress with their individual contributions, with Strickland Junior’s slap bass-infused deep head-nodder “Flynn’s” and sweet, winding “Mo Money” standing out.
Alex Omar Smith drops another bomb via his always-solid FXHE label. True Detroit Techno, blazing House jams and prickly acid cuts, as always in the inimitable Omar S mould.
