01. Axel Boman, “Purple Drank”
[Pampa Records] (buy)
“I woke up with your name on my lips,” intones the lightly pitched down narrator of “Purple Drank,” and with any luck this statement might be true for Axel Boman. Until now the young Swedish producer has largely been confined to Ourvision Recordings but DJ Koze wisely scooped him up for an EP on his recently launched Pampa Records. The entire Holy Love EP is worth owning, but “Purple Drank” is the tune I’ve returned to the most. Combining an instantly memorable phrase and an infectious organ line that rises and falls, it barely needs the pointed bass line and clanking, milk bottle percussion to insure residence in dancers’ memories. Another excellent signing by Koze and a potential catalyst for a stellar musical career for Boman.

02. L.B. Dub Corp, “It’s What You Feel”
[Ostgut Ton] (buy)
It was only a matter of time before the unrealistically high expectations pinned on Ostgut Ton led to a minor backlash against the critical darling imprint. For me, this moaning about mediocrity doesn’t quite square with reality, and their single from Luke Slater’s L.B. Dub Corp offers evidence in the contrary. The brightest point of Slater reviving the sparingly used pseudonym is the B-side, “It’s What You Feel,” a track which brings his intensity to relatively lo-fi house aesthetics. Sweeping synth chords and pebble-size percussion set the stage for a slightly sinister piano progression that, combined with Slater’s gravelly utterances, feels not unlike a 2010 update of Carl Craig’s Tres Demented project. More useful for turning up the heat on a simmering dance floor than bringing down the house, “It’s What You Feel” is a valuable track which, to some extent at least, puts Ostgut Ton haters in their place.

03. Walt J, “Reborn 2″ [Petite] (buy)
One of the highlights of the last couple years in dance music has been the crush of reissues which have allowed the current crop of admirers to go beyond listening to obscurities on YouTube and actually own them. Curle’s Petite sub-label exists for just this purpose, following last year’s essential reissue of Thomas Brinkmann’s “Isch” with one of Walt J’s “Reborn,” first issued on the Detroit label Dow Records. While many will rightly focus on DJ’s Qu’s update of “Reborn 1,” the second B-side cut, “Reborn 2,” seems the most relevant for and compelling in 2010. Sprinting along in the mid-130s to the beat of kick drum triplets and tight hand drum rolls, the track has as much in common with contemporary bass music as late 90’s house. Yet its wafting chords trail behind like steam from a locomotive, evoking the past in the same breath. DJs learning to straddle the line between 4×4 and stepping dance music should grab this limited edition record and make it their latest touchstone.

04. Oskar Offermann & Moomin, “Hardmood”
[Aim] (buy)
One of the pitfalls of our fast paced dance music culture and the technology that enables it is how easily we end up dismissing subtler music. Those first few airings are often not enough time to live with subtle music to absorb its charms. Although I sensed potential in the debut single from Tristen’s Aim label I quite nearly ignored it in favor of keeping up with a growing stack of releases. Now I’m glad I put the time into soaking up Oskar Offermann & Moomin’s “Hardmood,” which takes great relish in placing its lustrous melodies under thick aural glass and never gives too much away. Careful listening reveals a mosaic of soul samples whose beauty recalls the grain in a hardwood floor. I’m a bit curious whether these microscopic details come across in a club setting versus the pleasures of home listening, but after spending so much time taking in its riches I’m more than ready to give it, and the talented producers behind it, the benefit of the doubt.

05. Luv You Madly Orchestra, “Moon Maiden” (12″ Mix) [Strut] (buy)
It’s so easy to take for granted the genre conventions of dance music that producers and DJs had to build with their own hands. Without pioneers like Greg Wilson and Walter Gibbons we would lack the long, extended versions that allow dancers and DJs to get into the groove rather than jump from track to track at a frenetic pace. The latter pioneer most recently received a two disc retrospective of his edits and productions which served as these crucial building blocks. As much as I admire the disco tunes of the first disc it’s disc two, which chronicles his later and more experimental work, that keeps me engrossed. His 12″ mix of Luv You Madly Orchestra’s “Moon Maiden” manages to be loose to the point of near disorientation, held together with a spider’s web of whirlwind string runs and goopy pumps of bass guitar. With compilations like Jungle Music streaming from the vaults of Strut and others, more and more admirers will eventually know where their endless grooves originated and dance in communion with the potent past.

06. Nebraska, “Green Marimba”
[Smooth Agent Records] (buy tk)
07. Gold Panda, “You” (Osborne Remix)
[Ghostly International] (buy)
08. Shed, “44A (Hard Wax Forever!)”
[Ostgut Ton] (buy)
09. Kidkut, “Lilt” [Apple Pips] (buy)
10. The Lady Blacktronika, “Another Man (You’re On the DL II)” [Untitled & After] (buy)

Staff Charts:

Per Bojsen-Moller
01. Jazzmoon, “Fancifulness” [Playtracks]
02. Mr. Raoul K., “The African Government (Piano Influence Mix)”
[Mule Musiq]
03. Dee Edwards, “Why Can’t There Be Love” (Pilooski Edit) [Originals]
04. Sascha Funke vs. Nina Kraviz, “Moses” [BPitch Control]
05. Four Tet, “Nothing To See” [Soul Jazz Records]
06. Milton Jackson, “Beat Talk” [Dark Energy]
07. Anton Zap, “Fascinated” [Story]
08. Id1ots, “In The Gold Room” (DJ Koze Instrumental Mix) [LoEB]
09. Mano Le Tough, “Baby, Let’s Love” [Dirt Crew Recordings]
10. Benjamin Brunn, “My Heart (Ada Remix)”
[International Records Recordings]

Chris Burkhalter
01. Kassem Mosse, “Hi Res” [Nonplus+]
02. Hyetal, “Phoenix” [Orca Recordings]
03. Mark E, “Nobody Else” [Running Back]
04. Automatic Tasty, “I Can See Your House From Here” [Lunar Disko]
05. Cosmin TRG, “See Other People” (FaltyDL Remix) [Rush Hour]
06. Kenton Slash Demon, “Sun” (Portable Remix) [Tartelet Records]
07. Gunnar Jonsson, “Massagerutin 1″ [Kontra-Musik]
08. The Godson, “Analog Love” [Rush Hour]
09. San Soda, “Middelmatig in 1993″ [We Play House]
10. Arto Mwambe, “Duster FC (12″ Studio Mix)” [Live At Robert Johnson]

Peder Clark
01. Jitterbug, “Dune Buggy” [Uzuri]
02. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled” [Laid]
03. Walt J, “Reborn” (DJ Qu’s Journey Towards Birth Remix) [Curle Petite]
04. Head High, “It’s A Love Thing (Piano Invasion)” [Power House]
05. Thomas Fehlmann, “Softpark” (Move D Remix) [Kompakt]
06. DJ Mode, “This Music Part 2″ [Stilove4music]
07. Smallpeople, “The People” [Underground Quality]
08. Moody, “It’s 2 Late 4 U And Me” [KDJ]
09. Axel Boman, “Purple Drank” [Pampa]
10. Chemise, “She Can’t Love You” [Emergency]

Luke Hawkins
01. Shed, “No Way!” [Ostgut Ton]
02. Roof Light, “Face Up (To Your Sensibilities)” [Highpoint Lowlife]
03. Hieroglyphic Being, “Bathroom Sessions: Gargle” [Morphine]
04. Soul Designer, “Soul Is Back” (Luke Slater Remix) [Third Ear UK]
05. Conforce, “Insecure” [Delsin]
06. Jason Fine, “Colors” [Kontra Musik]
07. Ohrwert, “Proprioception” [Field]
08. Jared Wilson, “Jupiter One” [Lux US]
09. Traversable Wormhole, “Superluminal” (Sleeparchive Remix) [CLR]
10. Skudge, “Overture” [Skudge]

Anton Kipfel
01. K-S.H.E., “Double Secret” (Dub) [Skylax Records]
02. Shed, “Mayday” [Ostgut Ton]
03. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled” [Laid]
04. Ron Deacon, “Tune In” (Ingo Saenger & Henry L Remix) [Falkplatz]
05. Chaton, “+91 Ahead” (Quarion BKLYN Version) [Plak Records]
06. Urban Tribe, “Program 5″ [Mahogani Music]
07. Ramadanman, “Work Them” [Swamp81]
08. James Teej, “Seven Day Mend” [REKIDS]
09. Anton Zap, “Pain (Love and Distance Mix)” [Underground Quality]
10. Langenberg, “Past Present” [Dessous Recordings]

Kuri Kondrak
01. Gegenheimer, “21:4 (The IPS Prayer)” [Ratio? Music]
02. Unknown Artist, “Hinterland” [Numbercult]
03. The Godson, “Analog Love” [Rush Hour]
04. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled” [Laid]
05. Kenny Dixon Jr., “Emotional Content” (TP’s Emotionally Deep Remix)
[Not On Label]
06. The Mole People, “Break Night” [Decks Classix]
07. Move D, “Lush Summer Rain” [Shanti]
08. TR – One, “Shit Ain’t Worth It” [POGO]
09. Urban Tribe, “Insolitology” [Planet E]
10. Soft House Company, “What You Need…” [Irma CasaDiPrimordine]

Chris Miller
01. Shed, “Keep Time” [Ostgut Ton]
02. Ramadanman, “Grab Somebody” [white]
03. FaltyDL, “Endeavour” [Planet Mu]
04. Fred P, “It Is What It Is” [Strength Music]
05. Foxy Brown, “Love Is Where You Find It” [Dug Out]
06. Cosmin TRG, “Tower Block” [Hemlock]
07. Peverelist, “Better Ways Of Living” [Punch Drunk]
08. Demdike Stare, “Eurydice” [Modern Love]
09. Horizontal Ground, “HG05 A1″ [Horizontal Ground]
10. Hauntologists, “EP3 A1″ [Hauntologists]

Braden Pemberton
01. Wasserfall, “Steam” [Greta Cottage Workshop]
02. Donato Dozzy & DJ Say, “Your Eyes” [Attic Music]
03. Shed, “44A (Hard Wax Forever!)” [Ostgut Ton]
04. Giorgio Gigli, Obtane, nAX_Acid, “The Moon That Was Watching The Child” [ZAltd]
05. Perc, “Mandrake” (Metalogic Remix) [Nachtstrom Schallplatten]
06. Paul Loraine, “It Matters To Me” [FourTwenty Recordings]
07. Xhin, “Mutate” [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
08. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled” [Laid]
09. Skream, “Reflections (feat. dBridge & Instra:mental)” [Tempa]
10. SP-X, “SP17″ [Komisch]

Jordan Rothlein
01. Matthew Dear, “Little People (Black City)” [Ghostly International]
02. Walt J, “Reborn” (DJ Qu’s Journey Towards Birth Remix) [Curle Petite]
03. Shed, “No Way!” [Ostgut Ton]
04. Anton Zap, “Pain (Love and Distance Mix)” [Underground Quality]
05. Cooly G, “Phat Si” [Hyperdub]
06. Sepalcure, “Feeling That I Know So Well” [LWE Exclusive]
07. Stingray313, “Sphere Of Influence” [[NakedLunch]]
08. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled” [Laid]
09. Luv You Madly Orchestra, “Moon Maiden” (12″ Mix) [Strut]
10. Future Beat Alliance, “Cross Dissolve” [Tresor]

Andrew Ryce
01. Peverelist & Hyetal, “The Hum” [Punch Drunk]
02. Shed, “Leave Things” [Ostgut Ton]
03. Darkstar, “North” [Hyperdub]
04. Downliners Sekt, “Selfish G” [Disboot]
05. Traversable Wormhole, “Superluminal” (Sleeparchive Remix) [CLR]
06. Magnetic Man, “Perfect Stranger” [Sony]
07. Marcel Fengler, “Enigma” [Ostgut Ton]
08. Commix, “Japanese Electronics” (Instra:mental Remix) [Metalheadz]
09. Conforce, “Shade” [Delsin]
10. Discreet Unit, “Shake Your Body Down” [Prime Numbers]

[Planet Mu] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

The influence of video games on the current crop of electronic artists is undeniable. There have long been artists purposely emulating the 8-bit sounds of classic video game soundtracks, first as the gaming systems were just becoming popular in the late 80s and early 90s and later as musicians exercised their nostalgia by modding and using their Game Boys to compose music. But the majority of this second wave seemed more interested in replicating that sound rather than taking its influence and pushing forward with their own sound. Recently, grime and skweee producers have been using 8-bit sounds in their compositions and working to incorporate it in interesting ways. Ikonika is one of the most prominent producers right now who brings her love of video games into her compositions, with her full-length album for Hyperdub, Contact, Love, Want, Have having been just the first step. The Dckhdbtch 12″ for Planet Mu is her latest exploration of the dance club as video game level.

The title track opens on a simple but pounding drum beat before suspenseful and spiraling synths wind in with heavy low-end. As each successive layer of sound appears dancers are drafted into their own private video game where the higher-pitched synths signal heroic moments and minor orchestral layers, which seep in during the track’s climax, send the song off with a “Success!” atmosphere. One can imagine the euphoria that a moment like this elicits in a dancer. “Ingredients” is more subtle, with a shifting and sliding bass line paired with a pensive melody that recall those puzzling moments where the player is unsure where to go or what to do next. A feeling of sadness pervades the opening of “Shouldn’t Be Here,” with an echoing dramatic vocal snippet and bed of orchestral washes. There is a reverent atmosphere to the song, as if the title is suggesting the place at which the listener has arrived is too personal to witness. The melody comes in distorted and reminiscent of the previous tracks, like memories of journeys past. On these three tracks, Ikonika has imbued her game level inspired tracks with a sophistication that was only hinted at in prior work.

[A Made Up Sound] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

The crossroads between dubstep and techno have been the site of some of the most exciting and interesting music of the past few years. The Hague’s Dave Huismans’ music as 2562 has been perhaps the most effortless and natural invocation of techno through dubstep and bass music, and his other alias A Made Up Sound is an inversion of this approach. Viewing dubstep from the perspective of techno and especially house, A Made Up Sound is a essentially a metaphor for current trends: if techno/dubstep was the sound of 2008, dubstep/house is the burgeoning sound of 2010, with Scuba remixing Will Saul & Mike Monday (and vice versa), Lee Jones reworking Komonazmuk, and so forth.

The third twelve on A Made Up Sound’s eponymous label comes at the absolute perfect time to capitalize on this move, or at least push it in the right direction. Both tracks carry that digitally-aged, rickety sound of most of Huismann’s productions, but here it’s reconfigured into a less explicitly dubstep sound into something more relaxed, tempos hovering in the techno friendly territory of 125. The heaving forward swing of dubstep is replaced by house’s steady drive; even when the kick isn’t exactly 4/4 it sounds like it’s desperately trying to approach that sort of rigidity. “Alarm” is sped-up acid house left out so long that the acid has all but evaporated, leaving tiny craters and faint stains behind as its only traces. Even more intriguing is “Crisis,” which sounds like recent Martyn productions as it marries a dubstep bassline with staccato shards of percussion and musty clouds of digital wind. These are some of Huisman’s most understated yet complex compositions, and they’re helping to spread dubstep forward into appealing new territories.

The Amsterdam-based producer Kabale Und Liebe seems most comfortable making house music based on a foundation of vocal samples. Alternating releases between 100% Pure and Remote Area after helping launch Area Remote on the back of his Daniel Sanchez-voiced 2007 smash, “Mumbling Yeah,” Liron van Daalen selects narrators and variables that often fit but are a cut above the current milieu. “Since You Looked Into My Eyes,” laden as in The Fog’s almost rap-like cadence, is unexpectedly close to 2010’s take on hip-house. Even the dessicated pitches and vacant chords squishing between words equal some of rap’s most queasy progressions. Exhortations to “just uh, breathe, and give it what you got” similarly hook “Improvised Love” into the hip-house sound, although its delicate arrangements seem inconsistent with the rhetoric. Kudos to Van Daalen for venturing into foreign territory on Since You Looked Into My Eyes but the space he’s claimed isn’t particularly appealing.

If the press put as much store in quality as we do in stylistic consistency, Remy Verheijen might well rank among dance music’s upper echelons. But the Dutch producer, who has produced in a wide breadth of styles as Beserk, The Noodle Project, Skindeep, Butterfly Kiss, and most famously as Dexter, is only now garnering the reception an artist with his talents deserves. Those who have been clued in have found much to enjoy in his catalog which stretches back to the mid-90’s: Rich in melodic hues and scored with texture, his tracks for Clone, Rush Hour Recordings, and his own Klakson imprint, as well as remixes for everyone from Ellen Allien and The Hacker to Fischerspooner and Alton Miller, are strong because they’re all in the service of masterful songwriting. Lucky for us, it seems Verheijen is prepared to keep delivering the goods now that more have caught on. We chatted with the man known as Dexter in anticipation of his September 3rd appearance at Public Assembly for The Bunker in New York City.

Since you started making music you’ve been present in a variety of sub-genres, from electro and trance to house and techno. Would you say you’re adaptive to the musical climate you’re in or do you produce what interests you at the time?

Remy Verheijen: Not trance. I just produce what interests me at the time. I have a very wide taste in music and when I listen to a certain kind of music I think, I’m gonna make something like that! Or it’s a new piece of equipment that sets me in a mood to produce a kind of genre. I was in Berlin for gigging and some studiowork for a few weeks ago, that made me want to do house/techno stuff. And after that I was playing at an electro party in London and now I’ve just finished four new electro tracks. I just making everything I like if it’s in my reach.

It seems the Netherlands really grabbed on to electro back in the day and still holds tightly to the sound. Why do you think electro resonates so much with Dutch producers?

I don’t know really. I know that electro was quite big already in the past. In the bigger cities you had these radio pirates who played electro and the early hip hop. I remember that a lot of us were taping all these shows. We called it “space” and we knew about it because of older friends who were really serious in breakdancing and even became Dutch champions. So we were kids, around 12 years old, all listening to Kraftwerk and Egyptian Lover, et al. I know from guys from The Hague that there was a really big Italo scene and I think maybe that had something to do with it as well.

How does electro music inform your productions now?

Well at the moment I’m in a kind of “electro modus” if you mean that by inform? But it’s not the purist electro that’s out there. I’ve heard some 808 electroish kind of stuff with dubstep from the UK that really inspired me. In the UK they are mashing up everything at the moment and that’s something I really like.

Listening to some of your more recent productions, especially your remix of Midland’s “Play The Game,” it seems like you strive to make your productions accessible and catchy in a way some might deem “poppy” (not that it’s a bad thing at all). I’m curious what influence historical pop music has played on your music making sensibilities? Do you feel more comfortable making accessible music now than you did in the past?

I want to do both. I want to do more accessible music but also more experimental/underground stuff. Historical pop music influenced me more than I realized. Well, maybe more funk and hip hop than pop music. At the moment I’m working together with two guys who are kind of musical geniuses and that’s gonna be more “poppy.” They play a variety of instruments and we have this incredibly talented singer who is actually my neighbor in the building were my studio is. So this is gonna be more accessible and poppy.

Although you’ve made a bunch of solo records you’ve also done a lot of remixes for a very varied bunch of artists. What do you enjoy most about remixing? What least? How important is it for you to retain the original elements or their essence?

With remixing I like that you get to do to very different kinds of music and reach people who normally wouldn’t buy your music. The Midland remix was a dubstep track that I turned into a rave kind of track, it’s stuff like that I like to do. I mostly like to remix vocal tracks. With instrumental tracks it’s important to use original elements but with vocal tracks I almost never do. For me it’s important to really turn it into a new track and not like a lot of remixes with some snippets of the original vocal with delay and most of the time isn’t even in tune. What I enjoy the least is when people try to get me in a certain direction. Remixing for me works the best if you leave me completely free.

Many producers take comfort in the fact that even if their tracks are NOT very complicated musically, they are effective at keeping dance floors moving. When you’re making your tracks, are you thinking about what would be effective on a dance floor, what you’re trying to achieve musically, or some combination of those? What factors are most important in how your music takes shape?

A bit of both I think, but I think more effective on a dance floor. At the moment I’m finishing a track that’s mainly a vocal sample with a beat and bass line. Other tracks I’ve put in more chords and melodic progressions and stuff, but it’s not necessary for me. It just depends what works.

What inspired you to start Klakson?

To put out music that we couldn’t buy at that moment, but also just the love for music and releasing it.

How did you meet Steffi? I noticed you were a co-producer on her excellent track, “Kill Me.” What is it like working with her in the studio? Do you have plans to work on more music with her?

We meet through Steven the Peven, a mutual friend of ours, who was also part of Klakson. We were on the same level right away and been friends ’till this day. Working with her goes really smooth, I must say. She’s really becoming a very good producer and really gets the sound that she wants to make and that can be a struggle. We just did a track together for her album on Ostgut Ton and we are going to work on a release of us together, I think next month.

How did her Klakson sub-label, Dolly, come about?

Dolly is for more house-y/techno/deep stuff, I think, and Klakson for funk electro and stuff.

I know you started out as a DJ but these days you only do live sets. Why have you opted to stop DJing in favor of live PAs?

I just get a bigger kick out of playing my own music. And everybody is a DJ these days. I just think it’s a bigger challenge to keep people dancing and having a good time with my own music.

So far you’ve only released singles; do you have any desire to release an album?

YES! 2011.

What is coming up from you and from Klakson?

The album and more releases than I did the past few years. More collaborations. More genres. More gigs. I’ve left Klakson to focus more on my music, it’s in good hands with Steffi.

[Ghostly International] (buy mp3s)

Most electronic music lovers are probably not familiar with the work of Justin Broadrick under his older incarnations as the guitarist for one of Birmingham’s heaviest metal groups, Napalm Death or his own band Godflesh. Over the years Broadrick’s work has become increasingly focused on drone and shoegaze, leading him to completely forego the guitars for his most recent project and fix his attention on the synths. This release comes from the remix album of an earlier work as Jesu, the album titled Pale Sketches Demixed. Broadrick’s “Gone Version” of “Can I Go Now” finds him playing about with a saccharine laced, Autotuned, vocoded vocal over hot, fuzzy, concentric keys. There is a certain amount of pleasurable hypnosis to the layering of melodies and blurred lines of the statically charged percussion, but those vocals almost presage the onset of an unchecked electro-pop track.

Donnacha Costello drags the track back through the heyday of 90’s ambient electronica, mixing equal parts Boards of Canada with Aphex Twin to come up with a dreamy, fantastical rendering of “Can I Go Now.” He polishes up the synths until they are gleaming chrome, and subdues the vocals, masking the Autotuned pop with sepia tones. It’s the most engaging of the three mixes here, though falls short of Costelllo’s usual high quality when making his own tracks in this vein. Danish duo Syntaks, a Ghostly label-mate of Pale Sketcher add their own slant on the track, stretching out the vocals with that of their own Anna Cecilia and floating them up to the heavens on a bed of strings and pads. Some downtempo drums add the heartbeat to the remix, though they mix these up with cheap Casio tone presets for a nice contrast of plastic and authentic. A soft, reassuring bass swells over the melodies like cresting waves adding to the fluid nature of this mix. The three different options of “Can I Go Now (Gone Version)” all contain within them apparent beauty, but listening to them side by side feels a bit underwhelming, and like a dream, the feeling of beauty it inspires soon subsides.

Having provided three labels with four very different singles, it’s not surprising Mano Le Tough has yet to be pigeonholed. But whether you’ve heard his synthy disco for Mirau (Eurodancer), sample-centric house for Dirt Crew Recordings (Baby Let’s Love), or whatever “Warhorn” qualifies as (for Internasjonal), chances are quality is the overarching characteristic you’ve noticed. This is especially true for his second Internasjonal single, Oblique, a spacious techno thriller falling somewhere between James Kumo and Delta Funktionen. Blanketing listeners in atmospheric minor chords as a sharpened bass line maintains movement, it reveals unexpected sweetness in bell melodies before slamming the beat back into place. While less spacey, Chateau Flight’s remix is also less focused, caking its immediate synth progressions and sonorous percussion in movie dialogue and offhand vamps that prove distracting. So far Mano’s experiments have been listeners’ gain, but more tracks like “Oblique” would be the most welcome here.

[Ostgut Ton] (buy vinyl) (buy CD) (buy mp3s)

Consider Rene Pawlowitz. Under one name or another, he’s produced some of the most innovative genre music of the last decade. Instantly recognizable sonically yet wholly committed to and camouflaged by whatever style he chooses to inhabit, Pawlowitz balances reverence to dance music with a fierce individualism. As he showed on his classical techno treatise, the Shedding The Past LP as Shed, he can simultaneously innovate while sliding seamlessly into a genre’s continuum. His other musical projects — Wax for house, STP and Panamax for dubstep-esque beats, and Equalised and Deuce (with Marcel Dettmann) for Berghain-ready techno — only confirm his deftness with form. Able to act as both a student and leader in his field, he’s so far been the best, or at least most generous, sort of genius: rather than reinvent the wheel, he puts his own indelible squeak on it.

Pawlowitz’s commitment to working within the confines of genre has been anything but a crutch for him. But I’d imagine a producer of his stature might be curious what “Shed music” might sound like, not just how “Shed making house” or “Shed making dub” sounds. Thus, on his latest full length, The Traveller for Ostgut Ton, he’s more or less pulled the floor out from under his productions. Where past Pawlowitz records have fit beautifully into a straight line, the fourteen tracks on The Traveller tie the filament in knots or scramble it in nearly inscrutable code. Whichever metaphor you prefer, you’re likely to spend your first dozen listens just untangling this music. But should you decide to make that commitment, you’ll be amply rewarded.

The Traveller is that rare difficult electronic album that’s neither headphone-friendly nor abrasive. Your first mistake upon hearing this ultimately strange music would be to switch off your speakers for a closer listen. A much better strategy would be turning them up. From the early metallic slam of “Keep Time” to the laser experiments of “No Way!” and “HDRTM,” Pawlowitz pushes air as forcefully as he ever has. He does it by coaxing as accurate and direct sounds out of his machines as any producer is likely to. Beyond hints of delay and reverb and extreme fine-tuning, I sense very little engineering ornamentation on these drum machines and synthesizers. That clean, to-the-point, nearly pure sound Pawlowitz has been pushing for the last year (use the STP remix of Wax’s “Dub Shed” as your reference point) comes fully into bloom here, oddly sounding both exquisitely handcrafted and itinerantly devoid of nuance.

Yet for all these direct sounds, the compositions they bring to life feel intentionally stunted. Musical ideas begin but don’t resolve, or resolve without ever really beginning. The set’s longest number, “The Bot,” hardly goes anywhere at all. When tracks do develop, they follow mutant logic. “44A (Hard Wax Forever!),” for example, begins sweetly and softly, its synthetic bells shimmering on a wide plain, before thick, grinding drums and heavy dub pads send all that gorgeousness fleeing. This pacing extends to the album itself, letting fast numbers bump up against dirges, and placing ambient interludes where they’re likely to build more tension instead of opening up the air vents. Still, the album does divide roughly in half, with a more formless and exploratory beginning that ends with “Mayday” and an energetic, nearly thrilling ending starting with “No Way!” But it’s obvious Pawlowitz wasn’t looking to create a standard, linear album narrative. One almost wonders if he spent hours paging through M.C. Escher image searches before going into the studio every day.

The Traveller quickly got me asking more questions about our own listening habits than about Pawlowitz’s intentions. Is it producers who cling to genre, or do listeners? We use all the music we’ve ever heard as a filter for all the new stuff that’s coming in, so when we hear music basically unfettered by all the usual reference points, it’s bound to be a bit jarring. Only at “Leave Things,” the album’s beautiful jungle-referencing closer, is it immediately apparent (from a compositional standpoint) we’re even listening to a dance album. But is there not something moving — physically and, on occasion, emotionally — about the thirteen tracks that precede it? I think we’ve caught Shed in the process of truly shedding the past this time, and his confidence and continued excellence in the studio bode well for wherever he’s headed. We’re likely to be debating this beguiling roadmap until he gets there.

[Caravan Recordings] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Obviously it’s very trendy to release anonymous dance records. As much bandying as there is about “letting the music speak for itself,” the format often affords producers a personality they might otherwise lack, the ability to be some menacing unabomber type holed up in a metal cabin, inexplicably releasing music to party to. In other cases, though, the anonymous 12″ lends itself to statements that are less formulated or more experimental than one might want to release under a principal project. The Oops 12″ on Caravan Recordings pairs sides that, while basically tools — blank and ambiguous enough to fit into a variety of sets — nevertheless display a lot of character.

On the A-side, clanging, pitchbent gamelan elements are constantly tweaked atop steady 4/4 kicks and rattling woodblocks, among other rhythmic tinges, and this lively motif remains pretty much the same for the track’s eleven-plus minute duration. The use of otherworldly, organic sounds ensures that DJs can bend this one to suit the mood of a set, and their placement on a lengthy synthetic grid recalls the future primitive jam-outs of Ricardo Villalobos, Oni Ayhun, and Four Tet — the kind of track that could continue on indefinitely. The B-side is more uptempo and ultimately more restrained than the flip. Again, there is a steady 4/4 underpinning, this time coupled with splintery acidic blips and a hiccuping, squashed semblance of a bass line. Although it’s another solid effort, it’s quite sparse and lacks the vibrant personality of its counterpart. One feels less of an urge to let it play out, and it’s perhaps best used as a bridge between tracks Like the A-side, though, its versatility lies in its ambiguity — Oops is simply meant to spice up a set.

That Fabrice Lig is only now releasing a single on storied Belgian label R&S Records is surprising. Digital Forest follows shortly after the prolific Belgian producer’s third album, Genesis Of A Deep Sound for Fine Art Recordings, finding a connective thread in their boundless energy and enthusiasm for densely layered arrangements. “Digital Forest” takes its name seriously, thrumming like electricity through an urban fauna of cables into perky, interwoven synth lines blaring to life. Recalling 2007’s tech-house yet largely his own vision, Lig’s R&S tie-up is momentous and immense to behold. It seems Space Dimension Controller knew the best compliment for exhaustive music is a subtle, twilit version, and his remix is consequently gentle. The UK-based producer’s synth lines twinkle and pulse but cause few ripples; the percussion is cleverly varied but unobtrusive. R&S have proven once again well equipped to delight record buyers three decades on.