Echovolt notch up their 8th release with a fine offering by R-A-G and Crystal Maze member, G-String. G-String delivers two delicately rough dance music delights, effortlessly marrying tripped out emotive ambience to the essence of jack. The 12” is topped off with a wonderfully blurred out remix of ‘Ghoul’ by D’Marc Cantu!
Finally we are at the last part of the 2012 review. In the first part of our review, the preferences of our followers are shown, according to the number of click and stars. Top 3 albums of the years, top 3 EPs, compilations and mixes loved by our followers can be seen here.
In the second part, I presented some of my favorite events and performances from last year. For more details go here.
Recorded live using: Samples (808,505), ER-1, Poly 800, FX, MicroKorg, and several Horror movies playing through fx pedal running through a mixer to the ER-1 as additional samples.
Not long after his debut full length, Michigan resident D’Marc Cantu serves up his next album on the ever-excellent MOS Recordings. Though essentially a house and techno producer, American Cantu often goes further than most, calling on a world of influences to ensure his jacking productions are as far away from standard as possible, yet still do damage on the right dancefloors as have previous EPs on this label, Nation and Crème Organization. His latest offering, A New World, aims to capture, detail and relay many different stories from within the re-born city of Detroit. Across the course of eight tracks, many different moods and styles are explored from dark and abstract to more synth lead and serene. There are plenty of squelchy acid lines and frantic percussive workouts, but so too are there pockets of slower, deeper, dubbier introspection that speak of mystery and intrigue as does the city of Detroit itself.
Killer release on New York’s Sequencias label. Powerful and hypnotic Chicago acid inspired cut on the A and a cool slow building chord driven track layered over raw drum rhythms on the b-side. A pair of artists from two different points along Interstate 94, who have a reputation for the very same. The main body laid down by VILLan X is tight metallic percussion underpinned by solid kicks and a stream of robotic filtered bass, containing unexpected shifts within the frequency register. Foreboding tones and feelings drift towards us across which the disembodied voice of Kold is able to find a platform from which to shudder into our consciousness and pose questions from across the galaxies about the nature of our very being. dcantu carries on the feelings of space, with protracted white noise shots and stabby modulated organ chords, but doesn’t leave it long before setting the pace with solid drums and shifting keyboard funk aimed squarely your body and the dance floor as octave changes force you up and then down again to a backdrop thick with texture. This provides for the body and the mind.
After several releases on Creme and M>O>S, Nation as well as collaborations as 2AMFM, Saturn V, X2 etc, here is D’Marc Cantu’s debut Album on Creme JAK.
Next up in the 10” series on MOS_deep another heavy 2-tracker of D’Marc Cantu, which will be followed by a (mini)-album later this year. The opening track is a fierce Chicago-styled banger kicking off with an extremely solid and frantic bassline while D’Marc’s low-pitched voice asks us “How Are We Doing?”. “A Second Earth” is a laid-back and emotional retro-futuristic techno track overflowing with sadness and melancholy, echoing the sounds of the artificial-intelligence era.
X2 Members: Traxx, D’Marc Cantu & JTC drop a three track V.A. EP on the burgeoning Lux Rec imprint. Each artist delivers, with some pretty signature styles on display. A great EP showcasing these maverick sickos.
Next up in the 10” series on M>O>S Deep is a solo-project of D’Marc Cantu. D’ Marc delivers two surprisingly melodic, sexy and hypnotizing house tracks. “Set Free” opens with a hard-hitting flanged bass-sound and a devastating kick and slowly evolves into a dreamy and atmospheric track full of mystery. “Tonight” is a hypnotic and haunting latenight-dancefloor track, combining long stretched melodic stabs, an ultra-deep bassline and D’ Marc’s whispering vocals taking you down deep in the uncanny and eery underworld of his soul.
New release on Nation, the “Rhythm Relics” EP is an approach towards the beginnings of an evolving acid-driven Dance scene in the UK two decades ago. Stemming ideas from that era, Saturn V and X2 came up with a testament of evolutionary ideas and musical shape-shifting to bring our influences to the audiences of today.
When it hits there is no escaping this deeeeeep creepy crawly Mind Meld. It engulfs you, then sucks you into a womblike state, only to spit you back out onto the dancefloor where you’ll be JAKKING your ass off!
After their collaboration with Traxx on a previous MOS-release, James T. Cotton and D’Marc Cantu team up as 2AM/FM for more serious Chicago House roughness. ‘Desolate Cities’ has all ingredients we love to hear in proper dark house track, this very reminds us to the best works by Phuture. ‘Give This World’ goes more on the melodic tip, and reminds to classic tracks by Virgo, Ron Trent and G-Strings.
Nation is On The Move! The tracks for this release are unique and striking that their specialness is undeniable. D’Marc Cantu and The Maniacs are particularly compelling.
The Hipodrome Of Music 