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

Bristol-based American James Ginzberg has masqueraded as 30Hz for the past few years, producing crowd pleasing breakbeat numbers and putting them out on his Vertical Sound label. Given his involvement in the founding of seminal dubstep label Tectonic, however, his interest in fare less likely to hit number one on Beatport has been there to see for anyone who cared to look. His new project, Emptyset, probes a sound most easily described as Monolake gone to Bristol. The first two EPs, released on the Future Days imprint, have so far failed quite to hit the mark, but nevertheless forged a distinctive tone consisting of sparse and monochromatic minimal informed by the ever ebullient voice of Bristol bass.

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Hi there. My name is Colin Shields, and I hope we can be friends through online publishing.

With that out of the way, let me tell you a little about myself. I am American, but for the past five years have lived in England, and am more or less settled here now. Like Nate DeYoung before me, I have come to Little White Earbuds from Resident Advisor, where I am still a contributor. Professionally, there’s not too much more for me to say. I’m not an old hand at this. All those things that LCD Soundsystem was there for, I wasn’t.

What I can say, though, is that after I discovered dance music the honeymoon phase really never ended. My view is that house, techno, and a few other things beside are carving out new and important territory musically, as well as soundtracking a fair few fearsome parties.

It’s not my goal to delve too deeply into scenesterism on these pages. I tend to be pretty oblivious as to what’s in and what’s out, and whether standing is the new dancing this week in any given city. Rather, I hope just to share a few of the things I’m loving, and a few I’m not, and why.

On this front, please let me know if you’re enjoying my posts, or how they could be better, or whether you hate them so much you’re going to burn your Technics and put on a Mike Oldfield CD. For my part I promise that my ever-carnivorous appetite for dance music is unlikely to be sated any time soon, and I will do my best to point out the really tasty bits to you.

Chart courtesy of The Economist.

01. Ricardo Villalobos, “Electronic Water” [Perlon] (buy)
Soon to be the subject of its own review, Villalobos’ “Vasco EP Part 1″ is a stunning addition to his already vaunted discography. The rippling melodies of “Electronic Water” largely stay submerged, only occasionally rearing their heads to roar with blistering intensity at passersby. Thick with the irregular rhythms of a hypnotic cowbell, muffled walking bass and a fiercely slapped belt (or some approximation) and riddled with ear-piercing electric flare ups, “Electronic Water” conjures a daunting swamp alive with robots instead of animals.

02. The Per Eckbo Orchestra, “Beat Bravo” [Oslo] (buy)
Guillaume Coutu Dumont yet again exhibits how he’s earned his buy-on-sight credentials with this new collab with Oslo boss, Federico Molinari. “Beat Bravo” navigates a well lubed jungle lush with rolling hand percussion, wandering vibe progressions and chiding vocal drops. It’s just toolish enough for a long mix and just tuneful enough to stand on its own — exemplary of Oslo’s signature sound.

03. Jim Rivers, “Mirage” (tobias. remix) [Simple Records] (buy)
How this young Bristol-based producer went from prog house to releasing on Simple Records and being remixed by Tobias Freund is a mystery to me. But his colorful and blocky original makes for great remix fodder, as proven by the delightfully thick treatment Tobias metes out. Its buzzing low end aerates the dance floor below as dub upstrokes plant seeds and refreshing torrents of delayed synth soak dancers. A fine introduction to Rivers and a finer remix from one of techno’s masters.

04. Chic Miniature, “Escandalo” [Crosstown Rebels] (buy)
As if there weren’t enough excellent Coutu Dumonts solo and collaborative releases, this one revisits his partnership with Mutek-affiliated producer, Ernesto Ferreyra. The result sounds a bit like My My with more meat on its bones, filling every nook and cranny with a collage of live, sampled and generated sounds. The previously released “Kimono,” in all its badgering poppiness, is sure to rile up dancers and DJs alike.

05. Touane, “Tolousian Duck” [Persona] (buy)
Although his efforts are rarely acknowledged, the versatile Marco Tonni keeps churning out great and impossible to pigeonhole tracks for labels like Lan Music, liebe*detail, MiniSketch and his own Persona. “Tolousian Duck” is perhaps Touane’s most anthemic tune to date, hooking dancers into its ever expanding motif. Highly recommended.

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[Sleeparchive] (buy vinyl)

You have to give credit to Roger Semsroth for the balls to label his austere minimal techno brand Sleeparchive and to categorize his label with the onomatopoeia for sleep (Zzz). It should be easy ammunition, but save for a track or two, like my personal un-fav “Track 4 (Recycled),” Sleeparchive has never been willing to just drift off. Even before the first note of the project, Semsroth knew how to set the tone for his debut, “Elephant Island.” Accompanied by a of a turn-of-the-century crackle, Ernest Shackleton’s description of his South Pole expedition laid out all the foundations of Sleeparchive: clean geometry seen to horizons, melodrama in a lone beep of life and unexpected flurries of white noise.

I’m not going to butter it up, though – the “Hadron EP” is disappointing. Somewhere along the way, Sleeparchive lost the scale of his South Pole. You can hear the same vocabulary throughout – a stomach churn of glissando synths, a stabilizing bleep, and snares filed down by granular shards – but “Baryon” and “QCD” never sound barren or urgent enough. Likewise, the unease of “Meson” is squashed into a quiver. The focus on the micro has some advantages – the locked grooves of the “Sleep Cycles” get their Aphex Twin-like revenge on Buddha machines loops and “Particle” finally comes full-circle to Shackleton’s recording. But hopefully Semsroth doesn’t worry so much about putting people to sleep that he can let his records breath a little easier. (post by Nate DeYoung)

[Dial] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Dial had been releasing its lean and emotive variety of techno/house for nearly seven years before breaking to a larger audience, but the recognition could hardly have come at a better time. Last year the Hamburg-based label, owned and operated by Peter M. Kersten (Lawrence/Sten), Turner and Carsten Jost, cranked out two of their best releases to date — Efdemin and This Bliss by Pantha Du Prince — upon which a great deal of praise were deservedly heaped. With fans and DJs craving minimal techno and house infused with feeling (the harbinger of today’s deep-house revival), Dial and its back catalog proved ready, even prescient. Having seen the future, Dial focuses on the present with it’s first release of 2008, You Are My Mate, which re-introduces the labels’ stars over the course of five all new tracks.

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Anja Schneider slays the crowd. Photos by Nate DeYoung.

After a few days’ rest, LWE’s Nate DeYoung files his report:

In the Sonar coverage I’ve seen over the years, I never read too much between the lines -– the fact is that this is a festival built upon the principle of overwhelming you. Take a couple of sweat-drenched summer days, add four official stages which end only at sunrise, mix with dozens upon dozens of parties happening at night/day/roof/beach/club/bar/stadium and you’ll find a recipe for letting go. And for my first Sonar, I let it wash over me. The only real decisions of the festival could be summed up with a short bullet point list: A. when to go to the next party B. when to eat and C. when to sleep. So with a hyper-saturated Sonar, it’s safe to say that it’s an experience where you drink as much as you can from a fire-hose. No matter how many favorite artists you catch, there’ll be just as many you miss. In my case, big gaps are named Shackleton, Kalabrese and Loco Dice/Luciano -– but spoken without regret. For such a festival, there’s no recap, just a highlight reel. Read more »

It’s been a unusual and busy week here at LWE headquarters, what with random tickets to baseball games and trying to select talented writers to join our ranks. But while reviews are largely on holiday for the week, we’re still committed to providing you thee good stuff. Case in point, this mix by Mr. Villalobos, recorded live at Fabric (where he happens to be playing this Saturday with Seth Troxler, Claude VonStroke, Faze Action and Justin Martin). We don’t have a tracklisting, but please do point out any tracks you recognize in the comments. Thanks to our Fabric friends for this treat. (This post has been edited; please see the comments for more information.)

One of the year’s best albums so far came to us from Andy Butler, the 29-year-old main-brain behind Hercules & Love Affair. We’ve not yet had the chance to sit down with the hugely talented New Yorker ourselves, but we suspect watching this EMI-sponsored video is nearly as informative. Butler more or less interviews himself, candidly discussing each track on the album and offers a bit of story to accompany each. If you dig on this, check out the brilliant retro-chic styled video for the album’s next single, “You Belong.”

Sometimes I think electronic music, especially and techno and house, can be a sinkhole refuge of musical taste for musicians and music fans fed up with pop, rock and rap. Personally, I became increasingly frustrated with the stale state of contemporary rock, rap and soul in 2006 and fell in deep for house and techno. A lot of today’s producers as, well as its founders, were in bands before turning to the dance side.

Paul Frick had already traversed many a genre before releasing his debut, “Do Something EP,” on Kalk Pets. While producing two hip-hop albums and performing in salsa, heavy metal and jazz groups, Frick studied classical composition under Friedrich Goldmann at Universität der Künste Berlin and later composed experimental string pieces. Still, it’s his house material which lead me to investigate beyond the lonesome entries on Discogs. In addition to the tightly-laced and bumping “Got the Blues,” Frick’s house Myspace features three new promising tracks soon to be released on Barcelona-based label, 30porumalinha (LWE highly recommends “Tiki Tiki”). Another tune favorite tune, er, “Favourite Song,” will even be included on a split with Frivilous and our boys, dOP. Keep your eyes peeled for this promising platter at your favorite music retailer.

Frick also compiled a DJ mix which includes a few of his tracks and recent favorites which is quite good, especially for a guy whose other music career is in chance musical experiments. Warning, cuts off suddenly.

Download: Paul Frick, “House Got Soul Mix” (41:26)

Tracklisting:

01. Paul Frick, “Do Something” [Kalk Pets]
02. Curv, “Scrabble” [Vinyl Vibes]
03. DeWalta, “Eftive” [Meander]
04. Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts, “Sous l’arbre” [Circus Company]
05. Soundstream, “Good Soul” [Soundstream]
06. Anna Kaufen, “Who Cares” [A Touch of Class]
07. Rhythm & Sound, “Free For All” (Soundstream remix) [Burial Mix]
08. Wighnomy Brothers, “Guppipeitsche” [Freude am Tanzen]
09. Antislash, “Soloport” [Circus Company]
10. Paul Frick, “Got The Blues” [Kalk Pets]

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[Musique Risquée] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts is a slightly misleading name. The “group” might only have one member, Guillaume Coutu Dumont, but his output of the last year could be described as a one-man Hitsville Berlin (via Montreal). Recording and remixing for no less than nine labels in the past year, Guillaume has spread his wealth by giving strong labels like Circus Company and Musique Risquée some of their biggest hits. In this case, Marc Leclair might be Guillaume Coutu Dumont’s foil. Best known for his cut-up work as Akufen, LeClair was one of the defining voices of micro-house at the turn of the century. And three years ago, he went off the grid. With Coutu Dumont’s latest single, we can finally welcome LeClair back. Read more »