Curator’s Cuts 02: Jordan Rothlein

curatorscutsfinally
Artwork by Rayna deNiord

LWE’s Curator’s Cuts podcast series features our reviewing staff mixing together recent favorites and providing explanations for their selections. Contributing writer Jordan Rothlein steps up to the decks for Curator’s Cuts 02. We will post the tracklist later in the week, as each curator discloses and describes the tracklist as part of the podcast.

Download: Curator’s Cuts 02: Jordan Rothlein (108:47)

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01. Octave One ft. Ann Saunderson & Urban Soul Orchestra, “Black Water”
[430 West]
02. DJ Qu, “Somethin’ Ta Feel” [Strength Music]
03. D. Quin, “At The End Of The World” [Slow To Speak]
04. Patrice Scott, “Excursions” [Sistrum]
05. Schatrax, “Turntribal” [Schatrax]
06. Hieroglyphic Being, “Inconsistent Measure” [Mathematics Recordings]
07. Roska, “Without It (Bonus)” [Roska Kicks & Snares]
08. Soylent Green, “Stay Stupid” [Playhouse]
09. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, “Pattern 1” [Honest Jon’s Records]
10. Appleblim & Ramadanman, “Sous La Sable [Aus Music]
11. Francis Englehardt, “Chernobyl” [Slow To Speak]
12. Levon Vincent, “Solemn Days” [Deconstruct Music]
13. Hunee, “Tour De Force” [W.T. Records]
14. Project Democracy, “Is This Dream For Real” [Under Dog]
15. Quando Quango, “Love Tempo” (Mix) [Factory]
16. Jamie Principle, “Your Love” (Original Unreleased Version – Female Vocal) [Warehouse Box Tracks Records]
17. Matias Aguayo ft. Lerato, “Pata Pata” [Comeme]
18. 808 State, “Reaper Repo” [Tommy Boy Music]
19. DJ Jus-Ed, “Sweetness” [Underground Quality]

Sibonelo  on October 19, 2009 at 1:08 AM

Really liked the Steve’s one—looking forward to this one.

Peder  on October 21, 2009 at 8:28 AM

cool stuff mr rothlein, and a very enjoyable way to spend a dreary monday evening in south london. you don’t need to apologise for playing “black water” though!

DT  on October 21, 2009 at 10:31 AM

Track at 30:00 is possibly the worst track I’ve ever heard.

littlewhiteearbuds  on October 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM

Because….?

DT  on October 21, 2009 at 10:55 AM

Simply: Its basic.

I like basic music but the sound design and groove has to be there too. A basic track with the same drum machine that is used in a million other tunes along with the same bass sounds which have hardly been touched is not the kind of basic track which I like.

Anyone could have made the tune. The notes are cheesy and the drum hits are cliched. There is no creativity or skill in the production (for me).

Perhaps I’m being snobbish because I produce this music, but tracks like this make me wonder why the producer even mixed it down let alone allowed it to leave the studio.

I hate to post on the internet behind an alias and I wrote the above comment on a spur of the moment.

I enjoyed the mix on the whole and there a couple of great tracks which I am a big fan of. But there are also alot of moments where I found myself questioning why I was still listening. In particular the Roland dominated tracks & the repetitive Roska beat which should never have been given more than 1min30s in the mix.

I also really liked your narrative at the end which shed some light on the tunes for me, you are clearly a very knowledgeable person with a passion for music, I guess our tastes differ drasticly in many respects though.

Jordan Rothlein  on October 21, 2009 at 11:35 AM

@DT: I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on the Soylent Green cut you take issue with. I happen to really like it precisely because at first listen it sounds like a whole lot of other tracks made over the last few decades. Flugel makes some playfully subtle tweaks on the sounds and the compositional template, though, and the control he exercises over the arrangement is pretty impressive for me. I think of it more as an acid etude than a brilliant techno masterwork; Flugel has done plenty of those elsewhere.

The Roska cut is admittedly pretty repetitive, and my apologies if I lost you. I wanted to make it to that balls-out key change. As this mix was meant as an exercise in DJing and music criticism, I generally let the tracks play longer than I might have otherwise to give readers/listeners as much of a taste as possible. Hurray for high-speed scrubbing on iTunes, I suppose.

Sibonelo  on October 22, 2009 at 1:03 AM

I am not a music producer or a critic, but I may tend to agree with DT. Nice podcast nonetheless.

krc  on October 22, 2009 at 9:12 AM

I liked the Soylent Green track in this mix. It comes in at a slightly counterintuitive moment in the sequence with an altogether different palette of sounds from the (Rosca?) track that precedes it, and the surprising overlay of the horn stabs and 5 + 6 acid line works well. I think it’s also a nice touch that the two grab-you-by-the-throat acid tracks in this part of the mix aren’t back to back.

I’m glad I saw this round of comments, because it forced me to go back and listen to this stretch again. The Soylent Green may not be a “seminal track,” as the curator himself concedes, and I don’t see myself picking it up on vinyl, but I don’t think it’s facile at all.

littlewhiteearbuds  on October 23, 2009 at 10:18 AM

Here is the tracklist for Curator’s Cuts 02: Jordan Rothlein

01. Octave One ft. Ann Saunderson & Urban Soul Orchestra, “Black Water” [430 West]
02. DJ Qu, “Somethin’ Ta Feel” [Strength Music]
03. D. Quin, “At The End Of The World” [Slow To Speak]
04. Patrice Scott, “Excursions” [Sistrum]
05. Schatrax, “Turntribal” [Schatrax]
06. Hieroglyphic Being, “Inconsistent Measure” [Mathematics Recordings]
07. Roska, “Without It (Bonus)” [Roska Kicks & Snares]
08. Soylent Green, “Stay Stupid” [Playhouse]
09. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, “Pattern 1” [Honest Jon’s Records]
10. Appleblim & Ramadanman, “Sous La Sable [Aus Music]
11. Francis Englehardt, “Chernobyl” [Slow To Speak]
12. Levon Vincent, “Solemn Days” [Deconstruct Music]
13. Hunee, “Tour De Force” [W.T. Records]
14. Project Democracy, “Is This Dream For Real” [Under Dog]
15. Quando Quango, “Love Tempo” (Mix) [Factory]
16. Jamie Principle, “Your Love” (Original Unreleased Version – Female Vocal) [Warehouse Box Tracks Records]
17. Matias Aguayo ft. Lerato, “Pata Pata” [Comeme]
18. 808 State, “Reaper Repo” [Tommy Boy Music]
19. DJ Jus-Ed, “Sweetness” [Underground Quality]

Andi Chapple  on November 1, 2009 at 3:37 PM

hi – thanks for this mix. I’ve enjoyed listening to it, well done, and I especially like that you spoke your thoughts rather than posting them on the web page !

not all these tunes are the kind of stuff I listen to much or enjoy, but your sequencing made it all interesting – I like the ‘critical mixing’ idea as it is much easier to hear an argument about influences etc. than it is to follow it when written down.

extra points for mixing from Soylent Green into MVO Trio! and pointing out the kind of vibe Vladislav Delay’s hi-hat rhythm was derived from.

thanks again, Andi.

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