Welcome to the tenth edition of our series of short interviews affectionately titled Talking Shop. The majority of media and fan attention gets showered on the artists who create the music we love to listen to/DJ with/dance to, and for good reasons. But without the hard work, keen ears and business savvy of label staff, we’d be stuck only streaming tracks on Myspace. Number ten brings us to the cold and soulful sounds of Berlin’s Workshop. Headed by Jens Kuhn, known to many as Lowtec, Workshop is as much a label as it is a series of EPs. Since 2006, Lowtec and crew have put out a new EP every few months, each comprising three untitled tracks. Some showcase a single artist (Move D, Kassem Mosse and Lowtec have each commandeered one), while others feature a handful at once. LWE’s current favorite is Workshop 004, a collection of shadowy house tracks by Move D, Even Tuell and Sascha Dive. With its gray aesthetic and cryptic design, Workshop has chiseled a distinct identity and landed a distribution deal with Hard Wax, arguably Berlin’s most respected record shop. Lowtec gives us the lowdown on the snacks that inspired the label’s creation, their stratified demo system, and how smaller release runs could save the vinyl business. Also, an exclusive mix from Even Tuell inaugurates our Talking Shopcast series after the jump. Read more »

[Circus Company] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

San Francisco sound merchant Dave Aju has had the world waiting for Open Wide since his summertime smash “Crazy Place” was issued as a taster a few months back. Aju has always blended his house/techno with a smattering of outside influences, from funk to jazz and all points in between, and those styles are all on display here. Oh, and in case you hadn’t already heard, the one and only sound source used for the LP is Aju’s mouth. The mouth gimmick added some otherworldly sounds and timbres to “Crazy Place,” helping to make it the huge hit it became, but does it hold up for an entire album? Well, yes and no.

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[Vidab Records] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Wouldbenice, or if you prefer, Andre Goc, from Berlin, appears for the second time on the year-old Vidab imprint with the three-track “Backlash” 12″. Though it’s still young, Vidab has been making a splash. With a spiritual home at the Golden Gate Club and label nights at Panoramabar, Vidab would seem to earn plenty of cool points based on pedigree. Wouldbenice has been has been playing live shows since 2004, but “Backlash” is only his second release. Based on the high degree of polish on display in these three tracks, it’s not difficult to imagine that Goc has been producing for a while. And “Hallschlag”, the fantastically controlled A Side, persuades that Vidab has earned its cachet. Read more »

Art by Liu Bolin

[Beatstreet] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s tk)

In Marcel Dettmann’s rather enigmatic Discogs bio, we read that he sees techno as “a determination of both his life and music” which continually leads him on a “quest for the optimal track.” It’s a touch ridiculous in its overstatement, but it’s the kind of hyperbole that sheds a very bright light on Dettmann’s productions: he’s a purist and it shows. He avoids clichés, trends and any other kind of excess in his music, continually streamlining his vision in his productions (see his “Scenario EP” with Klock and recent “MDR 04″), remixes (like his work on Ellen Allien’s “Go”) and even his DJ sets, like the excellent Berghain 02 released earlier this year. His very distinct style provides an interesting contrast to the work of Pigon (aka producers Efdemin and Rndm), who have a more sample-based but no less fascinating approach to their brand of minimalism. Read more »

[Sound Stream] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Whether as Soundhack, Sound Stream or half of Smith N Hack with Errorsmith, Frank Timm’s steady hand with an editor’s razor has been in great demand since the late 1990’s. But like a surgeon, Timm knows it’s not the number of cuts you make, but how well placed they are. His house/disco moniker, Sound Stream, has only two remixes and four releases to its name, the majority of which transcend their source material to take on dazzling and simple lives of their own. “‘Live’ Goes On,” his latest (and first since 2006), finds Timm taking more stylistic risks than on previous platters. But the plangent payout is plentiful and casts it as perhaps Sound Stream’s most accomplished release to date. Read more »

The hard work and excellent tunes of Mladen Solomun and his cohorts have made Diynamic Music a do-it-yourself success. They’ve developed a potent niche of melodically colorful and highly textured tech-house — with an emphasis on all things plucked, including heartstrings — that resonates strongly with dancers and critics alike, one whose foundation rests on Solomun’s solo and collaborative releases. He’s also wowed with 12″s for Sonar Kollektiv, Four:Twenty, Dessous, Compost and liebe*detail. Although he DJs as Play, we hoped his signature Solomun style would shine through on this exclusive new mix. We were only left dancing, not disappointed, by his nearly 60 minute mix of sunny house and techno.

Download: LWE Podcast 08: Solomun (59:04)

Tracklisting:

01. Solomun & Stimming, “Lemniskate” [Diynamic Music]
02. Amelie vs Audiofly, “Move” [Supernature]
03. Robert Dietz, “Shunsower” [Cécille Records]
04. Butch, “About This Time” [Great Stuff Recordings]
05. Tigerskin & Benno Blome, “Heather” [Sender Records]
06. Rauwkost, “Unsere Liebe” [Thirtyonetwenty]
07. Roland Clark, “Black In My Soul” (Tiger Stripes remix) [King Street Sounds]
08. D-Nox & Beckers, “Beefcake” (King Roc remix) [Sprout Music]
09. Solar & Poppcke, “Night Train” [Diynamic Music]

Read an interview with Solomun after the jump. Read more »

[Dial] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

“Hesitate” is in the running for the most ironic title of the year. As John Roberts’ debut on the frequently great label Dial, the single begins with a hiccup of a listless groove that quickly fades as a facile tribute to the title — there are few actual hesitations on “Hesitate.” Roberts can afford to lean heavily on the merits of his music, offering a low-key biography that reads like a friendly cliché (e.g. another producer from New York turned Berlin) and interviews that do little to either justify or dispel how assured his debut sounds. Although technically Roberts traffics in the sounds of house -– minor-chord stabs, warm smudges of bass, splatters of hand claps –- he never seems fixated on the feeling, the groove. Instead, “Hesitate” bursts with little moments of rearrangement, where changes aren’t dramatic but manage to re-orient the flow of the track under your nose. Read more »

Photo from Club Transmediale

Fabric sure knows how to spoil you Londoners rotten. This Saturday they play host to a jealousy-enducing line up of legendary DJs and legends in the making: In room one you’ve got Craig Richards, Cabanne (live), Jus-Ed and Cassy. In room two is Terry Francis, Chicago’s own Kate Simko (live), and Mike Shannon. And just in case that’s not enough, they’ve also The Amalgamation of Sounds and Larry Heard — Mr. Fingers himself — headlining room three. If you’re in the UK and want a crack at enjoying the show with a friend for free, simply answer this trivia question: On what label and in what year did Larry Heard make his solo debut? Email your answer to editor[at]littlewhiteearbuds.com by Thursday, 10 p.m. CST. One winner will be selected at random from the correct responses. Good luck and enjoy the show!

Update: Congratulations to Gwenan Spearing for winning with the correct answer, 1985 on Alleviated Records. Thanks to everyone for entering and stay tuned for more contests like this.

Also, a head’s up about the following weekend at Fabric, its birthday weekend. ROOM ONE: Craig Richards, Terry Francis, Luciano, Shinedoe, Martin Buttrich (live), and Ralph Lawson. ROOM TWO: Robert Hood, Baby Ford, Mark Broom, and Soul Designer (live). ROOM THREE: Omar-S, Patrice Scott, and Keith Worthy.

[Dial] (buy CD) (buy mp3s)

Dial co-founder Peter M. Karsten is better known under his more prolific Lawrence alias, but his recordings as Sten are just as worthy of attention. His second full-length album, The Essence, compiles (on the CD version, at least; the LP version varies slightly) three previous singles (including his most recent, “Way To The Stars” and its two b-sides) alongside a handful of new tracks, resulting in one of the deepest long players of 2008.

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[Monika Enterprise] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s)

Barbara Morgenstern has always been an elusive artist. She’s flirted with the world of techno in tantalizing ways — working with producers as varied as Thomas Fehlmann, DNTEL and, on this set of remixes, Hefty’s Telefon Tel Aviv, Kompakt standouts The Rice Twins and French DJ Chloe — without ever fully giving into it, choosing instead to infuse electronic elements into her productions while maintaining pop structures and instrumentation. In 2002, she produced a high profile remix of DNTEL and Ben Gibbard’s “This Is the Dream of Evan Chan” and in 2006 she released the gorgeous, frantic “The Operator” single to much critical acclaim. But at the heart of it all, Ms. Morgenstern is a pop singer with an ear for many genres, which is why it feels slightly strange (if a propos) to be reviewing her latest single on a website dedicated to electronic music. Read more »