While it’s at times painfully monochrome, Dettmann certainly succeeds both as an expansion and as a fine-tuning of Marcel Dettmann’s aesthetic.
album
Aybee, Ancient Tones
May 27, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Despite its inauspicious beginnings, Aybee ends up making one hell of a statement on his cassette tape-only album, Ancient Tones.
Roska, Rinse Presents Roska
May 18, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Despite warnings that he was jumping the gun, Roska releases his debut full-length on Rinse with nary a concern for how well ten of his tracks can sit side-by-side.
Various Artists, 2010
May 13, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Dial’s core aesthetic of chic but understated deep house remains present on 2010, with contributions from label founders Lawrence, Pantha du Prince and Efdemin that stay true, occasionally too much so, to the label’s sound when it was first birthed in Hamburg 10 years ago.
STL, … And His Quest For Sound
April 29, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Every producer wants to make records that set themselves apart from other records. You’d think this would have to be true, right? Otherwise, why would anyone take the time and considerable cost necessary to create a piece of dance music? Practically every producer I hear strives to differentiate him or herself by way of the sounds — to get them as far away from the presets as possible; to design the presets of tomorrow, perhaps. Yet so many of the best moments in house and techno are those when the music itself fades away into a feeling. You can tune your drum machines all day, but if you can’t get something more out of them than soundwaves — if you can’t tease out that hypnotizing x-factor that makes certain dance records good beyond words — then you’re missing something critical.
BBH: Anthony Rother, Sex With The Machines
April 28, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Growing up listening to the sounds of Kraftwerk, there was one thing in the forefront of Anthony Rother’s mind when he started producing music: introducing others to the chilling machine funk of electro. Through his own Psi49Net label and on others like Kanzleramt he pushed his mechanical, dry take on the genre, proving himself a vital part of an electro revival that was also being championed by people like Drexciya, Aux 88, and latterly the Interdimensional Transmissions crew. Later work on his Datapunk imprint has explored further reaching territories, angling more towards the grey area between electro and techno, but at Rother’s roots lie the bone dry communications of a supposed future in which man is surpassed by machines of his own making.
F, Energy Distortion
April 22, 2010 – 10:01 AM
French producer F (born Florent Aupetit) works in the broadly defined dubstep-techno crossover zone inhabited by artists like Dave Huismans (2562 and A Made Up Sound), Paul Rose (Scuba and SCB), Martyn and René Pawlowitz (Shed, STP, and EQD). Energy Distortion, his debut full-length for 7even Recordings, bundles three prior EPs (Energy Distortion Parts 1-3) with several bonus tracks, and while this somewhat characterizes it as a compilation there’s a crystalline coherence throughout. There are no superfluous forays into new genres, nor are there moments that depict a relatively young producer still finding his footing. Each track tightly rolls, containing the sort of intensity that increases tenfold when played loudly. Brimming with confidence, it’s the product of an artist with a refined vision and an instinct for crowd-moving structures.
Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City
April 20, 2010 – 10:01 AM
If you’ve followed this website even casually, it won’t stun you to read that I consider Entropic City an exemplary album from one of the most vital voices in techno today. LWE dubbed Brussels’ Peter Van Hoesen one of 2008’s “Breakout Artists” and, for his lengthy run of singles last year, we heralded him as one of five “Artists Who Defined 2009.” With quicksilver bass lines coursing beneath their rough, brambly surfaces, Van Hoesen’s shadowy warehouse tracks have long capitalized on an air of urban dystopia. The ten tracks grouped here, though, show off the producer’s experience in sound design better than ever, and the neglected Gotham skylines and abandoned, lightless interiors evoked prove vivid sonic descriptions of the title chosen for his first album under his own name (though the producer seems to have additionally mined the less figurative, thermodynamic definition for inspiration).
Martin Buttrich, Crash Test
April 16, 2010 – 10:01 AM
When was the last time you thought about Martin Buttrich? The German studio wiz and producer (occasionally for hire) just isn’t blowing up on my radar like he used to a few years back, when his Seeing Through Shadows 12″ with Loco Dice for Minus and, of course, “Full Clip” were properly demolishing superclubs and underground parties alike. Ultra-detailed and hugely accessible, Buttrich was an ace in the studio by practically every objective measure. I’m personally surprised that I, a huge fan of those 2006 records and someone who thought Loco Dice’s 7 Dunham Place album from 2008 totally killed it, let him slide so far off my “to check” list. Chalk it up to his relative silence on the release front — Stoned Autopilot and its remix 12″ and a handful of remixes comprise his recent eponymous output — or to his brand of alternately C2-vampy and vaguely tropical digital house more or less falling out of favor, but as someone who follows dance music pretty well, I just haven’t had Martin Buttrich on the tip of my tongue for a few years.
Various Artists, The Blank Generation
April 15, 2010 – 10:01 AM
The Blank Generation sounds less like a collection of tracks than it does the words of a storyteller, an account of historical events related by someone who was there. The witness is producer Bob Blank, whose narration is captured by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton. The DJ Historians, in their first collaborative release with Strut, have anthologized 13 tracks that Blank helped commit to tape between 1971 and 1985. The resulting album is both an essential document of cultural history and, as one of its tracks puts it, a better than good time.
Donnacha Costello, Before We Say Goodbye
April 1, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Travel seems to always conjure mixed feelings. We travel with friends and loved ones on holiday but we also travel for work/commute. The ease and relative affordability of flight means we’re sometimes quite a ways from home, while anything less than a thirty minute commute is a luxury most don’t have. As a much loved producer, Donnacha Costello, then, finds himself in an odd relationship with travel, often on the road due to a mixture of work and pleasure. On, Before We Say Goodbye, his fourth album and first since 2003’s Isol on Rastor-Noton, Donnacha mulls over his time spent at the gate and on the train, expressing these thoughts through a small collection of analog gear (only four instruments in total).
Scuba, Triangulation
March 30, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Paul Rose has undoubtedly proved himself to be one of the great dance music triple threats of the moment. He’s flexed his mighty A&R muscle at Hotflush, which in the past year helped launched the careers of next-gen buzz magnets like Mount Kimbie and Joy Orbison. (His forward-thinking Sub:stance nights at the Berghain have surely bubbled up from a similar impulse.) He’s emerged as one of the world’s most impressively dexterous DJs (see his Sub:stance mix or, better yet, his latest podcast for RA for proof), dropping dubstep and 4/4 with equally sure hands. And bass sides as Scuba and a recent foray into techno as SCB have been among the underground’s most beloved records as of late.
Tevo Howard, Crystal Republic
March 26, 2010 – 10:01 AM
When I think of adjectives to describe acid (the music), words spring to mind that could just as easily describe acid (the solution): “Harsh,” “coruscating” or “abrasive,” all words I associate with the fierce 303s of Phuture, Sleezy D’s “I’ve Lost Control,” Mike Ink, Dr Walker, Unit Mobeius or more recently, Legowelt and Bunker Records. Rare is the track written with a 303 drum-machine that merits the descriptive tag “beautiful” or “graceful.” Marshall Jefferson and Larry Heard are among the talented few who have achieved this (the latter with the peerless mega-hit “Sun Can’’t Compare” a couple years ago), and now Tevo Howard joins their illustrious company with his latest doublepack Crystal Republic on the Rush Hour sub-label Hour House Is Your Rush.
Conforce, Machine Conspiracy
March 25, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Boris Bunnik’s music may well have been inspired by the wind swept scenery of the tiny island of Terschelling in the Netherlands where he grew up, but more likely it was the random cassette his father found on a beach one day that shaped his penchant for discerning, electronic music. The faceless, black cassette Bunnik played was full of Detroit techno and it was to be the start of a love affair with those sounds that further developed when he moved to the city of Leeuwarden and forged friendships with both Mohlao and Delta Funktionen. After a short run of acclaimed EPs for Rush Hour, Modelisme and Curle, Conforce’s full length debut, Machine Conspiracy appears on the Meanwhile label. It’s a studied, polished exercise in deep and dubby techno from the young Dutch producer.
Seth Troxler, Boogy Bytes Vol.05
March 17, 2010 – 10:01 AM
After four homegrown installations of their Boogy Bytes mix series, BPitch Control broke free of their own roster, judiciously offering the fifth chapter to Berlin’s beloved “baller by definition,” Mr. Troxler. Voted one of the top ten DJs of 2009, it’s comes as no surprise that Troxler’s track selection is as eclectic, varied, and charming as his character is memorable. The mixing is careful and colorful, and the narrative grows more enticing with each end-to-end listen.
Lindstrøm & Christabelle, Real Life Is No Cool
March 4, 2010 – 11:01 AM
At this point in Hans-Peter Lindstrøm’s musical career, audiences know he can go the distance. The Norwegian producer first cruised over the ramparts of Oslo’s relatively small music scene and into DJs’ crates on the backs of lengthy, interstellar disco grooves made for heaving dance floors. Collaborating with compatriot Prins Thomas on their self-titled and II albums, the pair refined extended jam sessions into still sizable explorations of the spaces between funk, prog, and Kraut rock at Balearic tempos. And then there was Lindstrøm’s 2008 opus, Where You Go I Go Too, whose three elongated movements streamlined into one epic excursion through the hyper-colorful depths of his creative vision, rendered with a grandiosity redolent of Vangelis. Going long has its drawbacks as well, like relegating Lindstrøm to niche markets too narrow for such a multi-talented musician. The dilemma he faces, then, is showing he can be concise while maintaining the appealing traits teased out of his lengthier tracks. With long-time collaborator Christabelle by his side, Lindstrøm tackles that challenge on their new full-length, Real Life Is No Cool.
Pawel, Pawel
February 25, 2010 – 11:01 AM
Among the trio of friends — Lawrence, Carsten Jost, Pawel — who founded the Dial label in Hamburg 10 years ago, the latter, Paul Kominek has probably kept the lowest profile, despite being the more senior in terms of release history. Recording as Turner for the defunct Ladomat 2000 since 1998, he received remixes from the likes of Robert Hood, Isolée and Freaks, as well as recording four albums worth of curate’s eggs: Lukin Orgel, Disappearing Brother, A Pack Of Lies and 2005’s Slow Abuse. While Turner albums are characterised by often effete vocals and a home-listening aesthetic, Pawel is the first long-player recorded by Kominek for his dance floor alias.
Scuba, Sub:stance
February 18, 2010 – 11:01 AM
It’s hard to resist beginning any discussion of an Ostgut Ton release — be it a single, album, or mix compilation — without discussing the room from which its artist ostensibly drew his or her inspiration. Berghain, with its veritable pipe organ of Funktion One stacks pushing sweaty air into lofty post-industrial buttresses, is particularly susceptible to this line of thinking. As evidenced by the sandpaper highs and sucker-punch lows adopted by just about anyone who’s been at (or looking to get their records to) the club’s helm, Berghain begs producers to push its acoustic buttons in extremely particular ways.
Reagenz, Playtime
February 11, 2010 – 11:01 AM
Improvisation. In house? Sure, DJs do it every night. Move D did it before with Benjamin Brunn on Songs From The Beehive, creating sketches beforehand but recording everything in more or less real time. Plenty of parallels exist between that record and Playtime but none are quite so telling as this. To be frank, I don’t know if the recording of Playtime was actually in real time or improvised, but this is a release whose unfolding seems so natural and human it seems unlikely that it’s the work of automation. Many complain about the lack of musicianship in house and techno, and Playtime serves, in part, as a solid response to such silly claims.