If you missed out on Hunee’s debut 12″, the “Tour de Force EP,” and judged his output solely on this release you may not fully believe what I am about to tell you: this man is an artist to be reckoned with. Those three tracks of stunning house screamed quality, from the stutter-scat deep house jack of “Rare Silk” to the Jus-Ed-sampling monologue featured on “Cut Down Trees,” they confirmed he had something new to bring to the table. Nothing could be closer to the truth when you look at his recent 12″ under the Hunch moniker for John Daly’s Feel Music imprint. “Travel The Earth” may not be contain the same enviable balance of DJ-ready rhythms and melodic fulfillment, but does reach for a mysterious blend of organic and electronic abstraction.
Author Archive: Kuri Kondrak
BBH: Joe Louis, Back To The Beginning
When I bought this 12″ back in 1996, I had no reason to believe it was anything other than a release by early Chicago house producer Joe Lewis. He had already released under that surname variation on his own Target label a decade earlier and had accumulated three releases on Relief. What I didn’t know was that Lewis had come into possession of these four tracks by way of a trip to the UK, during which Jaime Read gave him two DATs of music with the understanding they would be handed to Relief on his behalf. The truth of which was never widely recognized, allowing further releases of more of that music on Basement 282 and a retrospective album on Peace Frog years later. I had heard rumors of this fact for several years but never got full confirmation until researching for this review. In addition to a thorough telling of its history on Discogs, Read has made his regrets and frustration known publicly: “I gave Joe Lewis my DATs when I was young and naïve, so there is an expensive lesson learnt. Shame there’s no music journos with any bollocks.” But if you can put this release’s ignominious underbelly aside, there is music contained within that deserves celebrating.
Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash LP
It’s widely known that pulling off a dance music full length is a difficult proposition. The cards are inherently stacked against a genre that is dictated by the quick fix that fits neatly in the mix. Juju & Jordash’s music, however, seems to be tailor made for the album format. Their productions are based ostensibly in the house/techno arena but the Amsterdam-based duo’s background playing in jazz bands and predilection for several other genres heavily inform the outcome. Live instrumentation gets mixed with keyboards, laptop and psychotropic effects resulting in unpredictable variations. In other words, what passes for a Juju & Jordash house track nary sounds like what falls under the Beatport house charts. You only have to listen to one of their Off Minor radio shows to get a feel for what goes into their own blender and comes out in a refreshingly new shape.
Mike Dehnert, Umlaut 2
When the Clone label announced it was turning the lights out earlier this year it was a sad day for techno/electro obsessives like myself. But as it turns out the label’s death has been greatly exaggerated, or at least has pumped creative spirit into other, more focused areas. The result so far has been a steady stream of releases on what might be called “boutique” sub-labels such as the Club Series, Loft Supreme Series, West Coast Series and the Jack For Daze Series; all fall under the Clone banner while each concentrates on a specific style of electronic music. Confused yet? Well just this past month they unveiled one more imprint called the Clone Basement Series, keying in on hard-boiled dance tracks. Based on that criterion it makes sense to find Tresor resident Mike Dehnert in charge of the first release.
Kirk Degiorgio, Mass
With a techno revival in full swing, most of the attention has been lavished on the re-emergence of Luke Slater. However Kirk Degiorgio’s role in the early UK techno scene and beyond shouldn’t go unnoticed. Alongside Black Dog Productions, B12, Steve Pickton and others, he helped to develop a uniquely British take on what Detroit had introduced them to. What set Degiorgio apart from his counterparts was an upbringing and deep found appreciation for black music forms extending beyond the solely electronic dance format and into the jazz and soul landscape. His encyclopedic knowledge and deep love of older jazz, funk and boogie informed much of what came after his initial techno releases and allowed him to explore those influences in more honest ways. Degiorgio’s multiple albums under the As One alias have provided thrilling moments exploring modal jazz arrangements fused with electronic elements (Planetary Folklore, Elegant Systems and The Message In Herbie’s Shirts), while he hasn’t shied away from song based soul excursions either. His recent influx of releases, starting with “Jitter World” on Abstract Forms and now Mass (the first new material on his newly re-launched ART imprint in 15 years), sees Degiorgio returning to his production roots in prime techno terms, plain and simple.
John Tejada, Vertex
Since its inception, John Tejada’s Palette label has focused primarily on techno but over recent years has concentrated on the tracky form of the genre. His own work has veered towards that same path at times, with several releases that bore more than a passing resemblance to new school minimal. But 2009 has seen a return to the form of old. This year’s earlier release by Tejada, “Fractals,” affirmed an interest in re-exploring overtly melodic themes with nods to early UK techno and even a jungle reference peaking its head through the techno rhythms. Tejada’s latest, “Vertex,” finds him reaching for a similar trajectory while also keeping the dance floor in his sights.
BBH: Teste, The Wipe
Looking back at Teste’s limited output, it would easy to write the Canadian duo off as a minor footnote in the history of techno’s early years. Their discography never extended past two official releases, but with their debut 12″ known as “The Wipe” they left an indelible mark on the techno landscape.
Tony Lionni, The Games People Play EP
Tony Lionni’s involvement in the Manchester dance crews scene of the late ’80s/early ’90s is a known entity now, but at the time he revealed the fact it was nothing short of revelatory. Here was an artist coming out with serious house and techno records without any solid threads to his origins, to the experiences that brought him to the here and now with what seemed like such unfettered ease. Once you understand how Lionni’s connection to music formed through the club culture of the Hacienda, jazz house dance battles and his own self-confessed study of “black music in all its forms” you realize that this is no passing fancy for him. And the fact that Lionni is a former dancer doesn’t hurt his chances of getting asses moving either.
Adam Marshall, Vespers EP
If Adam Marshall’s latest EP, “Vespers,” is to be interpreted as an evensong, it should be played in a house of worship most fitting its utilitarian nature: a night club, warehouse or anywhere a thick bass bin beckons. The Christian iconography depicted on the record’s inner label art speak to the EP’s titular concept but the two tracks featured here will most assuredly not be getting air time in any Sunday school classes. After DJing and producing from a Toronto base for nearly 2 decades it seems that a re-location to (surprise, surprise) Berlin has brought new attention his way. Last year’s “Chord Tracking” turned heads with its punchy, inspired tech-house and as evidenced by his LWE Podcast (precise mixing and a taste for house and techno that runs wide and far), the man knows a thing or two about what will work for the dance floor.
$tinkworx & Kinoeye, MKB / Mean Old World
William Burnett is an unlikely Williamsburg renaissance man, but with the litany of pies in which he has fingers it’s hard to argue. When he isn’t releasing albums under the nom de plume Grackle, collaborating with Eliot Lipp as Galaxy Toobin’ Gang or recording ghetto house as Smackulator, he’s also known to be DJing sick dance music eclecticism on the Short Bus Radio program. And now Burnett has managed to cram one more achievement onto his resume by starting W.T. Records. For the first release he hasn’t held back, roping in North Carolina based $tinkworx and Kinoeye (a new alias for Datahata) for an auspicious split 12″ debut. But according to Burnett these tracks were the whole inspiration for W.T. Records’s inception in the first place. After hearing them posted online he hung onto the MP3s and later noticed they were never released, prompting him to take matters into his own hands.
Cobblestone Jazz, Traffic Jam EP
After what seems like a lengthy hiatus (at the current release rate, two years in the house/techno 12″ market feels more like 10) and lukewarm reviews of their debut album, 23 Seconds, Cobblestone Jazz’s return makes no apologies for directness. The band’s penchant for improvisation is a driving force in their creative process and always features heavily in their live performances, but with the “Traffic Jam EP” there is less jazz spontaneity on display and more techno fundamentals at work. The trio makes use of programming assistance from occasional band partner, The Mole, from The Modern Deep Left Quartet. Where their previous collaboration resulted in raw house experimentalism, this EP doesn’t pussyfoot around.
Anton Zap, Outside EP
There was a time you had to keep your ear close to the ground to get an accurate read on the whereabouts of true deep house. That is no longer the case as more labels have recently emerged to help push the sound to the foreground. And with that are pushing artists who are dedicated to keeping the deep house revival moving in the right direction. Anton Zap is one such artist. The Moscow-based producer earned instant street cred with just a handful of releases on Underground Quality and Quintessentials over the past two years. With his latest release, the “Outside EP” for Uzuri, Zap reveals a growing confidence and development of his own sound.