Here are the artists I’ve been covering recently on RCRDLBL.com. Most posts include free downloads or at the very least a stream. Check them out.

Leonid

Burger/Voigt

Paul Frick

Kelley Polar

Beat Pharmacy

Diskokaine

[Wagon Repair] (buy vinyl) (buy CD) (buy mp3s)

The adjective I keep reaching for when describing The Mole’s debut album, As High as the Sky, is “minimal,” even though I feel guilty of a misnomer. There’s nothing sparse about it; and even though the changes are slight, there is definite forward movement coursing through many of its 11 filled out tracks. So why am I stuck on the word?

I’ll admit that I’m still sorting through Colin de la Plante’s seven-year-deep back catalog, but what I’ve heard backs up my seemingly incongruous word choice. De la Plante’s talent is carving out flexible and compelling loops to serve as the foundations for his tunes. And while they’re often furnished with enough ornamental sounds to give the feeling of development, there’s a certain austerity about his relying on so few sounds for the basis of an entire track. Take his 13 minute long barn-stormer, “Baby, You’re the One,”  which jumps rope around a frantic flurry of three notes and goes double dutch to avoid stepping on the sugary patchwork of vocals chirping the title. It’s nothing if not fun, but de la Plante’s clever editing and impressively drawn out arranging disguises just how reduced its contents truly are. (Granted the album version is greatly pared down, but the effect is much the same.)

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[Something] (buy vinyl) (buy vinyl)

It’s a somewhat rare feat for a producer’s high output to be matched with high quality, let alone stylistic depth. Stephan Laubner, better known as STL, is one of the few who pulls it off. Already this year he has six new releases to his name, ranging from techno and deep-house to field-recorded soundscapes. It helps that majority of his work needs only to meet his (admittedly high) standards to be released on his own Something Records. His recent single, “Musik 4 Life,” keeps with the trend, and has quickly become perhaps my favorite STL release so far.

Laubner’s productions often straddle the line between DJ tool and simply minimal and this 12″ is no different, as all three tracks surpass 10 minutes and are pocked with quiet valleys for mixing. The careening progressions chirping cheerfully between the edges of STL’s famously razor sharp hi-hats make “Zeitsprung” immediately engaging. Next to its peers the tune is positively upbeat, with only a hint of melancholy afforded by warped strings. Conjuring a foggy road at dusk, “Mulland Drive” coasts through morose plumes of shaded melody on its way to pads on the distant horizon. The title “Under the Sea” also informs its swirling sound: hi-hats and minor key organ progression dissolving languidly; the edges of overcast synth line bubbled with sub-aquatic wear; and tweeting pitches circling aimlessly overhead. “Musik” also includes six new loops, whose sounds are sinister and vaguely dubstepping (”Two”), arabesque (”Three”), on edge (”One”), deeply introspective (”Five” and “Six”) and deeply uplifting (”Four,” my personal favorite). Versatile and hugely satisfying, “Musik 4 Life” is a far cry from the personality-bereft music many prolific producers foist upon us. With any luck Stephan Laubner’s reign of fairer releases will continue unabated. (post by Steve Mizek)

[Lick My Deck] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s tk)

As a producer with roots in industrial music, Mikael Stavöstrand has a knack for negative aesthetics. His tracks are lean and mysterious, painting bleak landscapes by means of sinister basslines, urgent beats and glistening found-sounds. Though Stavöstrand is impressively creative and capable as a solo artist, he reaches full potential when in the company of a talented vocalist. This first became clear on the Thema-released “Please My Pain,” when Big Bully provided a dose of warped R&B to make something weirdly soulful out of Stavöstrand’s minimal beats. On “Die A Little,” our man teams up with the sultry and insidious Katou. The result is a brilliantly drab EP of seductive house noir that would darken up any DJ set while remaining firmly in the groove.

Both sides of this EP on Lick My Deck make use of the same formula: Katou’s perverse sensuality compliments Stavöstrand’s grit and gloom to create something as erotic as it is menacing. The drums are thick and murky, the basslines heavy and smudged. Katou moans with snide apathy, lending the tracks a hint of No Wave attitude, harkening back to femme fatales like Lydia Lunch or Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. On “Dark Eyes,” her voice is breathy, disaffected and sarcastic as she repeats the mantra, “I love you, I love you, I love you so much….” Her tone makes the trite lyrics sound vulgar, especially as Stavöstrand’s beat slithers and bumps. “Die A Little” feels a bit more fleshed out, with perkier high hats and synth wails that rise and descend, giving the track more foreword momentum than its clunky partner. Katou’s lyrics are a bit less kitschy, but still tainted by irony. “Dark Eyes” is the stronger of the two tracks, but both demand attention, if for no other reason than because they are decidedly songs. The sexy lyrics and post-punk vibe give these tracks too much life to be considered DJ tools, despite their clubbability. For my money, that makes this EP as refreshing as it is sexy and sinister. (post by Will Lynch)

Photos by Drury Brennan

Throughout this past work week, an especially arduous and stressful one by my standards, the light at the end of the tunnel was the weekend’s three day Pitchfork Music Festival. It promised sun, relaxation, friends, music, intoxication and a chance to unchain myself from the computer. What else could I ask for? So it’s with some surprise that I find myself chronicling my fest-going experience. Each year the festival’s line up has offered fewer and fewer reasons for electronic music fans to get excited, in no small part because the Biz3 stage, which played host to Matthew Dear, Dominik Eulberg and Matmos in years past, no longer exists. Last year’s biggest consolation to techno fans was The Field and Klaxons — not much, in other words. Initially this year’s line-up seemed equally bereft, and yet several subtle nods to electronics emerged that could not be discounted. Read more »

[Holographic Island] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Matt and John are the two of the most common names in America. Matt John really deserves to be a pseudonym; remaking “faceless techno bollocks” for the Google age, there are a billion and a half results when searching for one “Matt John.” Even when you dig deep enough, the most common result is a publicity one-sheet as delirious as Matt John’s compositions. With asides to “holographic thinking,” and “green waves splitting into the petty confetti of yellow and blue,” the overview ends with the nod to Matt John’s potent musical libido — “he will spread holographic music all over.”

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Whether as a studio hand, engineer, remixer, producer, collaborator, or source of inspiration, Tobias Freund has been deeply involved in the music business for nearly 25 years. And where other veteran musicians might have been content to rest on their laurels, Freund is hungrier than ever, pursuing the depths of aural experimentation as one half of NSI. and crafting some of the best techno and house around as tobias. We can only hope younger generations look to the man as an exemplar of how to age gracefully. Mr. Freund was kind enough to enlighten us about his stance on computers in music, to explain how he stays prolific, and to offer advice to the next crop of would-be producers. (interview by Steve Mizek) Read more »

[Sandwell District] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

The label Sandwell District has always been a mixed bag. In an RA profile, label keystone Function, (or Dave Sumner of NYC if anonymity’s not your thing), explained that Sandwell release are selected by any of the artists involved. So the aesthetic values put forward can therefore have as much to do with high concept as with pushing a consistent label sound. This seems like a blessing with the arrival of Function’s “Anticipation” single, as it sounds a little different from the rest of Sandwell’s catalog and must also rank as its strongest output to date.

Both cuts here are stripped down, hypnotic, and more trancey than chugging. Dettmann, Fengler, and Redshape are the obvious contemporary references for this sound, and A-side “Disaffection” shares more than a little in common with the previous Function release on Sandwell, “Isotope.” “Disaffection” feels more fully matured, though. Each little snare seems to be crossing a “t” or dotting an “i,” and in this sense seems to form a perfectly self-contained sonic world. “Burn” is better still. It stretches out sinuously over the leisurely length of ten minutes, which makes it one of the longest Sandwell tracks; but “Burn” has, indeed, more than enough sizzle to hold attention across its length. About six-and-a-half minutes in, just when things might have wound down, a welcome breath of life comes into the tune: no profound change, but the longer time gives the track room to lose the listener in its languorously paced smolder.  If you’re feeling the mojitos and BBQ and want something to suit the sunshine, maybe look elsewhere. Neither “Disaffection” nor “Burn” are exactly breezy and summery, but it’s a good bet they’ll still be brightening many a playlist come winter. (post by Colin Shields)

[Wave Music] (buy vinyl tk) (buy mp3s)

John Daly has quickly proven to be one of the most promising new producers to emerge over the 18 months. The young Irishman’s productions are as deep and elemental as they are anachronistic, recalling a simpler era of electronic music dominated by artists such as Klaus Schulze (Tangerine Dream), Manuel Göttsching (Ash Ra Tempel) and Cluster. His stylistic ties to electronic music’s roots are what set him apart from his deep-house contemporaries, as his tunes bear the warm and full-bodied mark of analog synths VSTs still struggle to properly emulate. So far this year he’s released a double LP on Plak rounding up his singles for the label and the debut single for International Records Recordings, Areal’s new sub-label. The “Atlantis EP,” Daly’s third for Wave Music, splits the difference between deep-house movers and serene electronic numbers.

“Atlantis” opens the EP with a sense of wonder, both in its gradually unfolding arrangment and its soft spoken, wide-eyed choice of pitches, which gently oscillate and drone under the ribbed texture provide by a fingerpicked guitar line. While Daly follows a more traditional blueprint for “Count Down to Zero” — delayed aquamarine synth jabs and a tightly looped clavichord bass line — the curious nature of its synth lead and subtle effects patterns leave it anything but average. “Don’t Look Down” also hews closely to standards, but its drippy synth line and glinting metallic percussion are genuinely propulsive and catchy. Capping off the EP is its most relaxed tune, the lush and acqueous “Gabriel.” “Atlantis EP” is not John Daly’s most original release, but working with a historically rooted aesthetic always runs that risk. What Daly offers is easy on the ears and well executed, which makes the “Atlantis EP” a success in my book. But here’s hoping his forthcoming album for Wave Music eclipses it with ease. (post by Steve Mizek)

Just a quick note to alert readers about a new gig I (Steve) am about to start this week. In addition to keeping LWE humming, I’ll also be writing about techno and house for always enterprising RCRD LBL. It actually brings me back to the olden days when I could give away tracks, as most posts will also include (legal) downloads from the artist I’m spotlighting. My tenure begins with this capstone post featuring a brief interview, five artists I love already featured on their blog and five LWE posts/subjects from I’ve especially enjoyed. It’s a great site in general, so I hope you find time to check out it and take home some goodies.