When LWE started its podcast series back 2008 it was impossible to tell how the series would progress; but its basis was in providing our readers with quality music, not just the handouts of the biggest names we could find. Now that we’re about to reach our 100th regular podcast it seems safe to say we achieved this goal, pleasing and challenging listeners and occasionally landing a few big name podcasts as well. In celebration of our fast approaching 100th exclusive podcast, LWE’s staff has taken a look back at the first 99 and showcased some of our favorites so far. What’s more, we’ve made all of the podcasts featured here available for download for one more week, so you can grab the archived mixes one more time. Because of the limits of the article we couldn’t possibly cover all of our favorite mixes, so we look forward to discussing your favorites in the comments as well.

LWE Podcast 01: Terrence Dixon
For me, Little White Earbuds’ first trip into the now-overfished seas of podcasting remains one of this site’s most memorable. Appearing at a time when “raw” and “Detroit” emerged as critical buzzwords in electronic music journalism, Terrence Dixon presented a spin on midwest retro that wasn’t dogmatic, but doggedly individual. Lo-fi and often abrasive, this tough, edgy mix sprawls from timeless cosmic techno to date-stamped acid house (see D-Mob’s “We Call It Acieed”). Uniting the selections is a snarling machine funk that mirrors Dixon’s own often-aggressive production work. Befitting an artist tipped by Clone as “maybe the last real Detroit techno innovator,” and whose track “Rush Hour” inspired the name of one of dance music’s most crucial institutions, Dixon’s LWE mix didn’t sound at all rote or trendy then and, even though melanges of prickly house and flickering techno are a dime a dozen today, this mix throws quite a few punches that still surprise. [Chris Burkhalter]

LWE Podcast 05: Tama Sumo
When LWE launched its podcast series, Tama Sumo was one of the first people I approached about doing a mix. Having seen her play the Panorama Bar garden not long before, I knew she was an ideal candidate for the task. But even that preview couldn’t prepare me for the mix she turned in. Weaving between multiple eras of house, silky deep joints (Agnes’ remix of “L’Aurora”) and more banging tech turns (Kerri Chandler’s “Hexadecimal”), Chicago jack tracks (DJ Funk’s “House The Groove”) and new wave torch songs (the “Innovative Mix” of Dee D. Jackson’s “Automatic Lover”), Podcast 05 is a thrilling ride that hits all the pleasure centers. For my money it’s an even better mix than her Panorama Bar 02 CD, even if the mixing is not machine tight. It’s one I’ve played when getting ready for parties, when I need cheering up, and when I’m just craving a reliable listen — because it’s just as fresh and enjoyable today as when it first hit my inbox. Tama Sumo quickly set the bar for LWE’s Podcast series as high as it could go, a benchmark only our best mixes since have been able to touch.
[Steve Mizek]

LWE Podcast 29: Black Jazz Consortium
“I woke up out of a deep sleep and started mixing out of a pile of records.” This is how Fred Peterkin begins to describe the recording of LWE’s 29th mix, and given his role as one of contemporary deep house’s foremost authorities it’s as fitting a situation as any. While deepness for deepness’ sake can seem to come out of one’s ears after awhile, with Fred it’s a different story all together. This mix is deep but never stagnant, slowly emerging out of REM cycles and perfectly escalating energy over its two hour runtime. The inclusion of movie quotes put it over the edge, turning an excellent mix into something truly special: a mix that stays with you past subsequent mixes and long after the unreleased material has been released. The era between its release in 2009 and now has seen house music become increasingly focused back to its roots (both geographically and temporally), and while Fred holds high the traditions of New York house, he makes pushing music forward a priority. Fred has only improved as a DJ since this mix emerged (indeed, his recent set at the Bunker remains a very bright highlight of the year so far), but I keep coming back to LWE’s 29th podcast and suspect that I will continue to for years to come. [Chris Miller]

LWE Podcast 42: Anthony “Shake” Shakir
For his fans, Shake just has the Midas touch. His mixes distill the same unstable, incandescent energy that inhabits each component in his own productions. How does Shake pull this off time and again? Within the last ten or twelve years, during which the dominant clubland aesthetics have called for mixes to have fabric-style edgeless polish, or Panorama Bar-esque unassuming functionalism, Shake has stuck to his guns. He revels in what can be created by jamming two partially compatible tracks together in a brightly kinetic collision. LWE 42 furnishes several good examples: exuberant mixing forces the bleeps and other midrange elements of the first three tracks to talk to one another – even though the frayed textures created when some of the other components combine would have dissuaded a DJ more obsessed with showman-like precision from hurtling them together. Perhaps even more importantly, Shake, like few others, creates mixes that work as a whole. Peven Everett’s “All The Time” is not a track I would reach for as a DJ, or even one for which I might muster much enthusiasm if it landed in my in-tray for review; and yet as the giddy counterpoint to the murkily psychological fare that entangles it on both sides in Shake’s mix, it works great. It’s these ecstatic moments that elevate Shake head and shoulders above the fray, and the fact that LWE 42 wonderfully conveys the rare (as hen’s teeth!) mix of physicality and narrative sensibility needed to create such moments makes it one of my favorites in the series. [Colin Shields]

LWE Podcast 59: John Roberts
Casual listeners to John Roberts’ debut album Glass Eights might have been surprised to hear the lascivious come-ons of KC Flight’s “Summer Madness.” But beneath the buttoned-up, wallflower appearance of Roberts’ own music is an house badass just dying to flex his muscles. The point is proved by his LWE mix which ploughs a furrow I’d like to christen “sensitive thug”: the aforementioned “Sex For Daze” mix rubs up against Robert Owens wittering on about how he’ll be your friend, while “Jack Your Big Booty” is frottaged by the DJ’s own elegant composition “Porcelain.” By the time Italo tearjerker “On and On” brings the mix to a close, one realises that it is in fact merely an extension of Roberts’ own perfect synthesis of rough-house drums and Dial aesthetics: this is what happens when thugs cry. [Peder Clark]

LWE Podcast 62: DJ Qu
While we’ve written countless words on this site about DJ Qu’s inimitable production style, we tend to gloss over the fact that DJing is no small part of what this guy does. And his Little White Earbuds podcast proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the front end of Ramon Lisandro Quezada’s production alias is no false signifier. Dude can mix, but what we got here was a good deal more interesting: where plenty of other producer-DJs let their club sets bolster their 12″ output, Qu’s beats on our 62nd podcast sound very much in the service of his obsessions as a house-head. Those beats — then-exclusives which would go on to assume highlight status on Qu’s long-in-the-works Gymnastics album — mostly rub shoulders with a tightly interconnected circle of like-minded producers, from globetrotters like Jus-Ed and Nina Kraviz to unsung Exchange Place heroes Joey Anderson and Nicuri. But rather than simply restate Underground Quality, this podcast traveled truly recast these now-familiar sounds: New York house found its dark side, and Qu’s signature swirling rhythms (to borrow his words, “Thump and Vibe”) emerged from their cocoons as the stuff of anthems. [Jordan Rothlein]

LWE Podcast 63: Silent Servant vs DVS1
I’ve been listening to techno for over twenty years; my musical education and explorations included huge doses of the purist Detroit and German variety, so it has always held a special place in my heart and ears. I frequently used to listen to a tape of Jeff Mills live at Liquid Room to lull myself to sleep in my mid teens and even though my tastes have mellowed slightly from the hard-as-nails techno I used to prefer, I love hearing techno played properly. Silent Servant and DVS1 bring all the right ingredients to this mix that make techno such a joy to listen to. The mixing is tight, the tracks sound both timeless and futuristic (classic techno like this could have been made any time in the last 15-20 years and still sound like it’s fresh out the box), and there is a raw, tribalistic energy conveyed that keeps things moving and interesting. I love how Silent Servant mixes up the old and new, introducing old cuts to new ears and vice versa, while DVS1 goes mostly for cold, steely look at more recent releases. To me this epitomizes late night, heads down techno and it’s my favorite in our series. [Per Bojsen-Moller]

LWE Podcast 70: Elgato
I’m not sure what it means that my favorite mix in the podcast series is one composed entirely of old tracks; a determinedly “retro” mix seems the kind of musical dessert that shouldn’t be held above perhaps more “adventurous” endeavors. But really, fuck it. Just listen to this mix. Maybe it’s the novelty of a podcast by one of 2010′s most audacious and universally acclaimed new kids on the block making deeply experimental house music turning out to be an orthodox set of old garage from both sides of the Atlantic. Maybe it’s the fact that the selection is unparalleled, mixing both realms of garageland into one cohesive singularity that feels as deeply, intrinsically UK as it worships at the altar of classic American house. Maybe it’s because it capitalized on what seemed like a looming trend of incorporating house and classic garage into bass music, predicting what would soon become the overarching theme of 2011. Maybe it’s… fuck it. Just listen to this mix. [Andrew Ryce]

LWE Podcast 72: Aroy Dee
Too often when a DJ uses their podcast to spotlight their own label/productions, it distracts from what could be a satisfying mix. And although Steven Brunsmann aka Aroy Dee’s podcast from early this year starts and ends with his own R-A-G trio and features several other M>O>S recordings, it never feels like he’s doing listeners a disservice. Brunsmann’s podcast, taken from a Panorama Bar DJ set late last year, offers a stirring journey through Chicago house and Detroit techno alongside equally significant modern productions. Pulling out lesser known older tracks from The H-Men, MD III and Reel by Real, he slips in and out of textured, moody techno from the likes of Soulomon, Paul Bennett and even the gloriously off-kilter “Bowls” by Caribou. Even when he groups two unreleased (at the time of publishing) tracks from M>O>S together, D’Marc Cantu’s “Set Free” and Brunsmann’s own “Beauty,” the quality of the tracks dispel thoughts that their placement is merely a sales pitch. This podcast is just what it is, a snapshot of Brunsmann’s DJing on one killer night. [Kuri Kondrak]

LWE Podcast 76: Anton Zap
I’ve been through probably 10 to 20 variations on “buses at dusk” trying to describe this Anton Zap podcast. That’s basically the wave it’s on. The Russian producer put together a bunch of unreleased (at the time, anyway) material from his Ethereal Sound label and a few other odds and ends, but the end result is a lot less about singular tracks than fluid, drifting atmosphere. It’s casually engaging but never boring, just subtly switching moods and shades — the BPMs are steady, there are lots of soothing pads — it’s like some kind of deep blue motor. Maybe try thinking of a ride down a post-twilight boulevard: blocks of muted light in apartment windows, closed businesses where the front is neon-lit and then fades off into blackness in the back, faceless people doing that downcast end-of-the-day trudge. It’s one of our moodier, more evocative editions. [Steve Kerr]

[Soul People Music]

One thing the nominally New York house scene does better than most is various artists 12″s. Often you will find Jus-Ed sharing a side with another kindred spirit on UQ, or the whole crew assembled for a remix project. DJ Qu’s Strength Music imprint issues various artists comps with aplomb, and Fred P’s Soul People Music jumped in the game with the Earth Tones series. Last year’s Earth Tones could have been one of the biggest records of the year, with quality cuts from Black Jazz Consortium, newcomer Steve Oh and a killer from Move D. The line-up for Earth Tones 2 is equally stacked, with the aforementioned BJC and DJ Qu, as well as the return of Levon Vincent, who spent most of 2010 DJing around the world.

Vincent is predominantly known for his dusty warehouse jackers, but “Tyner” is most certainly not one of them. Its sluggish, cut time feel lends the track a pensive mood, and its strong melodies and a sense of instability make it one of his more experimental moments, which, in case you were wondering, is a good thing. The flip side will likely be more useful by DJs with two dark and deadly cuts: “Everybody’s Dark” from DJ Qu and “Stay” by Black Jazz Consortium. The former creates a heads down, pitch-black groove while the latter tempers the darkness with some bright pads. As a whole, Earth Tones 2 works precisely because it mixes lights and darks — the smart and refined with dusty grit. Released at major points in all three artists’ careers — with Vincent about to make his 2011 comeback, Qu about to drop his first album, Gymnastics, and Fred having just released his third CD — this EP is a combined reminder of the high caliber at which they operate, one that seems to get higher with each release.

For our 29th exclusive podcast, NYC’s Fred P (aka Black Jazz Consortium) mixed together a two-hour odyssey of deep house and techno. This one cannot be missed — grab it before it returns to the ether this Friday, November 26th at 10am CST.

[Laid]

In only a handful of months the still fresh Laid imprint has made quite a name for itself. Despite being born in the shadow of its older brother label, Dial, Laid has quickly established its own area of expertise, pummeling record buyers with five solid singles of dance floor-primed house music while Dial vascilates between floor friendly and leftfield sounds. The sixth record to don a lux Laid sleeve is the first showcasing multiple artists’ originals, for which they’ve collected some of the freshest names around for a survey of the current state of deep house on both sides of the Atlantic. Hamburger Christopher Rau and New Yorker-cum-Berliner John Roberts are both members of the extended Dial family while New Yorker Fred P. has earned well deserved heaps of praise for his work as Black Jazz Consortium. It’s perhaps no surprise that Laid006 is about as solid a record as you can get, throwing three distinctive and in vogue sounds on one wax slab.

A new tune from John Roberts is always welcome, but “White” just might be his best yet. Deviating from the hushed Hammond organ tones found on many of his tunes, Roberts shapes his characteristically audacious drum programming to hit the dance floor running behind gorgeous synth leads. The sturdy yet fractured slate of hand drums, snare hits and springy claps always feels ripe for a perfect collapse, teasing dancers and DJs alike with fickle kick drum patterns. Gilded with tickling piano licks, suffused in evocative pads, the tune is imbued with a sense of longing and tension that give it much greater heft than many of its contemporaries and offers further proof that Roberts’ grip on his aesthetic only grows stronger as his profile continues to rise.

Someone had to have the unenviable task of following “White,” but luckily the two tracks on the B side form a formidable pair. Christopher Rau, whose name seems to pop up more and more these days, comes through with “Soulful,” a dreamy reduced tune that shifts from “White”‘s intensity to more late night vibes. Aside from a nibbling bass line and crisp hi-hats the track is mostly a droning pool of tones with various melodies sloshing to and fro, in and out of focus. Black Jazz Consortium provides the perfect bookend to the set, combining the rhythmic complexity of “White” and the slow burning trajectory of “Soulful” in his own signature style. “Applied Vibes” lures curious listeners inside with soft organ chords and more defined synth strings. Swirling spectral sounds whip around like leaves in a strong gust of wind, leaving the tune feeling lonely and hollow, yet ultimately quite fulfilling. The word “deep” may not have the descriptive power it once did, but like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous definition of hardcore porn — “I know it when I see it” — Laid006 certainly fits my description for top notch deep house music.

10. Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras, Catholic
[Macro] (buy)
Re-issues are already the perfect gift from record labels to collectors. They don’t appear on the horizon like new releases but sneak up unexpectedly from behind, pleasantly spinning the focus around for a moment. Like mortar, they put that elusive and essential brick firmly in place, or they fortify that worn and weary copy ensuring both the completeness and endurance of a collection. As a previously unreleased collaboration between Jorge Socarras and disco demigod Patrick Cowley, Macro’s impressive gift of Catholic in 2009 does so much more. Not only inspiring re-appreciation of one of disco’s legendary auteurs, it calls for a reassessment of what we know about Cowley, deepening our understanding of an already rich musical endowment. The surprising stylistic scope of Catholic only adds to its charm, demonstrating the underlying musical promiscuity of the late 70′s and early 80′s and allowing new lines to be draws in the lineage of electronic and dance music. It’s not often that something this new, unanticipated, and exciting comes up from the past, but when it does, you really appreciate the present, bow and all. (Andrew Clapper)

09. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
[Domino] (buy)
Merriweather Post Pavilion is undoubtedly this list’s most controversial entry, but what’s less certain is why it’s earned such notoriety. Too close to indie rock for some, sure; too rapturously embraced by indie music press/audiences, true, but hardly Animal Collective’s fault. Although there’s no accounting for taste, I’d aver the apprehension has much to do with jealously guarding the electronic realm from arriviste experimental rockers, even if they crafted one of the year’s most striking electronic albums that offers nothing to fear. The jaunty, hook-filled tunes leaping from Animal Collective’s latest LP are often the product of synths, sequencers, drum machines and voices, with guitar and bass licks providing texture instead of leading the way. But their gear choices are only means to a colorful, densely packed end: Ragged tones and twinkling loops enrich and balance tunes that skirt the borders of pop and experimental abstraction with apparent glee. They’ve created a deeply personal album whose sentiments resonate as strongly as its clever arrangements, inviting listeners into the comforting arms of “Also Frightened,” to consider their natural urges on “Guys Eyes” and artistic proclivities on “Taste,” to cheer up family and friends alongside “Brother Sport” and sing oneself hoarse to Recession-era anthem “My Girls” as the guys channel Frankie Knuckles. Taken together, Merriweather Post Pavilion is a complete package of dazzling sounds, excellent songwriting and personality to spare. In a year crammed with rock-oriented artists trying to incorporate electronics into their sound, Animal Collective have emerged as plugged in friends, not foes. (Steve Mizek)

08. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger] (buy)
“Ain’t no happiness, ain’t no sadness” was the Elif Bicer-vocaled refrain to the catchiest moment on Ben Klock’s debut album, One. Bicer might as well have been describing the album, which went beyond simple black and white emotions with its many different shades of gray. If this makes One sound dully monochrome, then the description is misleading. Possibly the most varied full length to come out on Ostgut Ton thus far, it nonetheless pulled reduced techno, Chain Reaction dub, flecks of house, and a sprinkling of dubstep into a unified, distilled and purified whole. In a record so consistently excellent it’s tough to pick out highlights, but the relentless early morning kick of “Gloaming,” or the brutal organ stabs of “Grip” offer easiest access for the uninitiated. Eschewing such “obvious” feelings as happy or sad, One offered far more complex and enthralling sensations to be a good deal better than “OK.” (Peder Clark)

07. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin] (buy)
Right from the very first burst of jangling percussion and mysteriously icy, Amber-era Autechre inspired chords of “Seduce Me,” it was obvious the mysterious techno producer had successfully managed to translate the brooding sensibilities underpinning his deep techno EPs to the album format. However, there were two crucial differences between The Dance Paradox and Redshape’s back catalog. The first was that the producer worked with a drummer throughout the recording process, and flowing from this method, the album was more varied sounding than Redshape’s singles. While these traits are most obvious on “Rohrschach’s Game,” where drums tumble through a textured fog, bringing chaos to the textured ambience, the standout cuts sound more like a woozy combination of Redshape’s established sound. “Garage GT” unfolded to the sound of traffic noise and police sirens as the author laid down gloriously warm jazz keys, set to the ever present lumbering bass. “Dead Space Mix (Edit)” meanwhile, was an updated version of the B side from the first Present release, and saw Redshape go back to the bleep meets Detroit techno of Nexus 21, while “Man out of Time” was like a typical dance floor focused Redshape track dissected and re-imagined for home listening, its sprawling chords and rumbling bass flowing through a freeform prism. Despite this approach, there were other moments when Redshape reverted to type. “Bound (Part 1 & 2)” was like a successor to “Blood into Dust,” its buzzing bass line and crystalline synths building to a dramatic denouement, while “Globe” burnt brighter and went deeper than all the producer’s other brooding moments. If there’s one complaint about Paradox, it would have to be its brevity. At just eight tracks, it feels like Redshape was hitting his stride as it finished. Maybe it’s more to do with the fact that this writer would be happy to listen to the richness and depth of sound and prevailing mood, somewhere between miserabilism and euphoria, ad infinitum. (Richard Brophy)

06. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel] (buy)
Juju and Jordash are not your average dance producers. Accomplished guitar and keyboard players, respectively, the Israeli-by-way-of-Amsterdam duo defies expectation in origin and outcome. Their first widely released full-length presents their unique style as well as or better than their previous records have, permitting stomping dance anthems, like the mischievous single “Deep Blue Meanies,” to exist alongside intricate instrumental explorations like “Jugdish,” which sounds something like the Bill Evans trio on mescaline. Though that jazz influence is clear, from both their sound and their no-samples approach to production and performance, their cosmopolitan sound doesn’t stop there. Jamaican dub, Italian disco, American house, and German experimental rock also figure heavily into their work. Juju and Jordash have been bubbling under the surface of recognition for the past five years — earlier releases have appeared on Keith Worthy’s Aesthetic Audio, Reggie Dokes’ Psychostasia, and Jus-Ed’s Underground Quality — and with this remarkable LP, they are bursting through.
(Shuja Haider)

05. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound] (buy)
After last year’s “Release,” we were primed for a meal-size helping of Alan Abrahams’ lush, sophisticated, abstracted vocal house. A well-sequenced selection of his dance-oriented new work would’ve done the trick. And we certainly got choice tracks — from “Hyperlight”‘s deep house debris to the burrowing reproach/plea of single “What Did You Say” to rattling anthem “Imitation Lover” — but Abraham did us one better, delivering an honest-to-god album that engages the length and concentration of the LP as house music seldom has. Immune‘s tracks drift into and echo off of one another, merged into a viscous and seemingly indivisible whole. Abrahams’ instantly recognizable compositional style and, yes, voice are crucial to this unity, but Immune‘s true bonding tissue is its pervading mood. The course of its human dramas already set, this is a music of introspection, reflection, regret, and melancholy. And somehow, Immune pronounces these feelings rhythmically, its poignance bound to the jack. Who knew that disappointment could move so seductively?
(Chris Burkhalter)

04. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024] (buy)
Some of the most talked about, ground-breaking and over-hyped records in 2009 all came from the dubstep camp. Martyn fit snuggly into the first two of these descriptives with his mind blowing Great Lengths album that marked out its own territory in the ever expanding dubstep universe. Any hype surrounding his debut full length though was duly earned; the Dutchman’s unique take on the narrowing divide between techno and dubstep was embodied with tough, embossed percussion, rarefied techno chords and heavy, rounded bass lines that never laid a foot wrong. While many artists now inhabit the neutral zone unoccupied by either dubstep or techno exclusively, few have managed to do so with an effortless grace as Martyn. Whether tooling with takes on deep house, chord heavy breakbeat or post-garage pressure, Martyn kept the balance between beauty and melancholy throughout the album’s entirety, adding to its appeal with a cohesiveness and digestibility often disregarded by electronic artists in album form. (Per Bojsen-Moller)

03. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon] (buy)
Even at Sam Shackleton’s most kinetic moments of dub-based munitions deployment, there has existed a fervent experimentalism in everything he has undertaken. Whether it has been the laissez faire approach to making his productions palpable club successes or a casual disregard for the very structures of what may deem a track to be called dubstep, it has been obvious from the first that inherent in Shackleton is to forge his own unique path through his music. His first proper artist album was no exception to his maverick style, giving us an aureate, densely layered work that doesn’t so much require repeated listening as demands it. For those familiar with Shackleton’s productions, Three EPs was no departure from anything he has done, but as a whole showed a much grander ambition. From the cohesive flow of the nine tracks to the locked grooves on the vinyl, Three EPs was been designed to be a listening experience and proved to be one that yielded further curiosities upon each listening. In its experimental regard it can be loosely likened to another of 2009′s stand-out releases, the Moritz von Oswald Trio’s Vertical Ascent. Though Three EPs may outwardly be more easily approachable, both are fashioned from recondite percussion programming and spend long periods of time teasing out central themes and ideas from studied, repeated rhythms. Shackleton’s album however is saturated with the deep thrum of bass patterns, the prevailing essence of dubstep that has stayed with him while he has gradually started erasing the lines between it and other genres. However this doesn’t equate to any of the tracks being suitable for club play, but then that is hardly the point here. Instead this is the result of a producer displaying the mastery of their unique sound and further setting themselves apart from their rivals, creating in the process an album that is timelessly classic. (Per Bojsen-Moller)

02. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent
[Honest Jon's Records] (buy)
Do you remember the first time you really heard techno? Not just let it drift passively through your ear canals, but heard it, felt it like you’d been waiting to feel it your whole life but are caught completely off-guard by it in the instant. I can remember my moment (or moments, rather: classics like Hawtin’s Decks, EFX & 909 and Luomo’s Vocalcity thumping on repeat in my sophomore year dormroom), and while I’m not sure I’ll ever plunge quite that deep again, the Moritz Von Oswald Trio’s Vertical Ascent takes me back to the excitement of elemental, expectation-defying sounds about as much as any record has since. Over just four ultra-extended deep grooves, Von Oswald, Max Loderbauer, and show-stealer Sasu Ripatti travel a veritable universe of alien, quasi-melodic landscapes: they give us abstract anthemics on “Pattern 1,” slasher movie moodiness on “Pattern 2,” gravity-defying tropicalia on “Pattern 3,” and the druggiest Rhythm & Sound side of all time on “Pattern 4.” It’s a record that doesn’t sound like techno so much as it fully embodies it in ways you never thought possible, reaffirming what got your brain racing and ass shaking in the first place. And nearly three decades since George Clinton and Kraftwerk met on that fateful elevator ride, it’s nice to know there are still a few stones left unturned. (Jordan Rothlein)

01. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure
[Soul People Music] (buy)
From Underground Quality, to Third Ear, to Uzuri, one of 2009′s resurgent aesthetics was stripped down, analog house — a sound no one pulled off better than Fred P., best known as Black Jazz Consortium. When Structure was released last March, hardly anyone had gotten over his seminal New Horizon EP, and the appearance of almost a dozen new tracks was virtually overwhelming. But while that EP focused on accessible, romantic house, Structure finds Fred P going much deeper and darker, experimenting with clunky rhythms, stark arrangements and odd time signatures. “New Horizon” may be his best song ever, but more austere tracks like “Tea-Pot Science,” “Something Old” and “I Want That” reveal how subtle and refined Fred’s technique really is. Using little more than perfectly constructed bass kicks, hand claps and a fistful of simple synth sounds, Structure outperformed every other album that came out this year. (Will Lynch)

++

Staff Lists:

Per Bojsen-Moller:

01. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
02. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
03. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
04. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger]
05. Holger Zilske, Holz [Playhouse]
06. John Daly, Sea & Sky [Wave Music]
07. Intrusion, The Seduction of Silence [echospace [detroit]]
08. Linkwood, System [Prime Numbers]
09. V/A, 5 Years of Hyperdub [Hyperdub]
10. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]

Richard Brophy:

01. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
02. Legowelt, Vatos Locos [Crème Organization]
03. Traxx, Faith [Nation]
04. Demdike Stare, Symbiosis [Modern Love]
05. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
06. Cio D’or, Die Faser [Prologue]
07. Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras, Catholic [Macro]
08. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger]
09. Pendle Coven. Self Assessment [Modern Love]
10. Planetary Assault Systems. Temporary Suspension [Ostgut Tonträger]

Chris Burkhalter:

01. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
02. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
03. SND, Atavism [Raster-Noton]
04. Broadcast and The Focus Group, …Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
[Warp Records]
05. Atom™, Liedgut [Raster-Noton]
06. 2562, Unbalance [Tectonic]
07. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
08. Junior Boys, Begone Dull Care [Domino]
09. Tevo Howard, Dreamer’s Reason Café [Beautiful Granville Records]
10. Cio D’or, Die Faser [Prologue]

Andrew Clapper:

01. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]
02. Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras, Catholic [Macro]
03. Linkwood, Systems [Prime Numbers]
04. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
05. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
06. Dam-Fun, Toeachizown [Stones Throw Records]
07. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger]
08. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
09. Maayan Nidam, Nightlong [Power Shovel Audio]
10. Bottin, Horror Disco [Bear Funk]

Peder Clark:

01. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger]
02. Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras, Catholic [Macro]
03. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
04. The Whitest Boy Alive, Rules [Asound/Bubbles]
05. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
06. Mountains, Choral [Thrill Jockey]
07. Andrés, II [Mahogani Music]
08. Planetary Assault Systems, Temporary Suspension [Ostgut Tonträger]
09. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
10. Christian Naujoks, Untitled [Dial]

Shuja Haider:

01. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
02. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]
03. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
04. Linkwood, Systems [Prime Numbers]
05. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
06. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
07. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
08. Black Meteoric Star, Black Meteoric Star [DFA]
09. Ron Trent, Dance Classic [Prescription Classic Recordings]
10. Hieroglyphic Being, So Much Noise 2 B Heard [Mathematics Recordings]

Todd Hutlock:

01. Intrusion, The Seduction of Silence [echospace [detroit]]
02. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
03. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
04. Matias Aguayo, Ay Ay Ay [Kompakt]
05. Etienne Jaumet, Night Music [Versatile Records]
06. Lawrence, Until Then, Goodbye [Mule Electronic]
07. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
08. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
09. The Field, Yesterday And Today [Kompakt]
10. Brock Van Wey, White Clouds Drift On And On [echospace [detroit]]

Anton Kipfel:

01. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
02. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
03. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
04. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino]
05. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas, II [Eskimo Recordings]
06. SND, Atavism [Raster-Noton]
07. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
08. 2562, Unbalance [Tectonic]
09. Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras, Catholic [Macro]
10. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]

Kuri Kondrak:

01. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]
02. Agore, Memories [4 lux]
03. 2562, Unbalance [Tectonic]
04. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
05. FaltyDL, Love Is A Liability [Planet Mu]
06. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
07. Future Beat Alliance, Patience and Distance [EeevoNext]
08. Reagenz, Playtime [Workshop]
09. Linkwood, System [Prime Numbers]
10. Aybee, East Oakland Space Program [Deepblak]

Will Lynch:

01. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
02. Reagenz, Playtime [Workshop]
03. Whitest Boy Alive, Rules [Asound/Bubbles]
04. Losoul, Care [Playhouse]
05. Vladislav Delay, Tummaa [Leaf]
06. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, Marlone [Kranky]
07. STL, Dub Techno Explorations [Something]
08. Kurt Vile, Childish Prodigy [Matador]
09. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
10. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]

Chris Miller:

01. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
02. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
03. Reagenz, Playtime [Workshop]
04. Ben Klock, One [Ostgut Tonträger]
05. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion [Domino]
06. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
07. Cio D’or, Die Faser [Prologue]
08. Vladislav Delay, Tummaa [Leaf]
09. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
10. Falty DL, Love Is A Liability [Planet Mu]

Steve Mizek:

01. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
02. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
03. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
04. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
05. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion [Domino]
06. Bodycode, Immune [Spectral Sound]
07. Redshape, The Dance Paradox [Delsin]
08. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]
09. Trus’me, In the Red [Prime Numbers]
10. Planetary Assault Systems, Temporary Suspension [Ostgut Tonträger]

Jordan Rothlein:

01. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Vertical Ascent [Honest Jon's Records]
02. Shackleton, Three EPs [Perlon]
03. Brock Van Wey, White Clouds Drift On And On [echospace [detroit]]
04. Martyn, Great Lengths [3024]
05. Atom™, Liedgut [Raster-Noton]
06. Stimming, Reflections [Diynamic Music]
07. Fever Ray, Fever Ray [Rabid]
08. Fuck Buttons, Tarot Sport [ATP]
09. Black Jazz Consortium, Structure [Soul People Music]
10. Juju & Jordash, Juju & Jordash [Dekmantel]

09. LCD Soundsystem, “45:33″ (Theo Parrish Remix)
[DFA] (buy)
The first time I (unknowingly) heard Theo Parrish’s remix of LCD Soundsystem’s “45:33″ was in July almost two years ago in London’s Plastic People at one of Mr Parrish’s monthly residencies. Frankly bizarre, even by Parrish’s standards, it had a stumbling, drunk groove, only held together by a chorus that I thought went “Feels so gooooood, when your body’s loose” (let’s just say my body was pretty loose). The next day, mindblown and hungover, and assuming it was an old disco tune, warped and welded to Theo’s template by his extreme EQ-ing, I turned to the famed truffle pigs at the DJ History forum, but even they couldn’t help out. I put the record on the mental pile marked “amazing but forever lost.” Fast forward to September this year, and I was idly listening to new stuff on Honest Jon’s website when I heard something familiarly unfamiliar. Turns out I completely misheard the lyrics (“Feels so flyyyy, when you’re out in space”) but this interstellar jam was no less brilliant than when I first heard it. Opening with steady snares, Theo’s ten-minute “Space Cadet” discombobulation of James Murphy’s Nike-sponsored work-out never stops sounding extraterrestrial. Echo, keys, stubby synths, a rambling monologue, hell, I think I even heard the kitchen sink make an appearance towards the end. The weirdest and wildest of Theo’s weird and wild oeuvre, it’s also one of his most anthemic. Well worth the wait. (Peder Clark)

08. Rainer Trueby, “To Know You” [N/A] (buy)
Long ago, re-edits were relatively simple, cut-and-tape, studio operations that put the good times right where the DJ needed them. Circa 2009, things aren’t as straightforward. In the Ableton age, edits are technically simpler to make, making them theoretically more difficult to pull off. The original and its merit are undercut as often as they’re overstepped, proving the effortless balance of Rainer Trüby and Danilo Plessow’s “To Know You” all the more impressive. Their elegant use of such a simple sample satisfies the aficionado’s concern for contextual constraint, while the complex accompaniment implies a theoretical commitment to the edit you know we’d all love to hear more often. (Andrew Clapper)

07. Walter Jones, “Living Without Your Love”
[DFA] (buy)
Walter Jones may not have had a prolific 2009, but by my count one for one is still a 100% success rate. That an artist could release a single EP and still stand out among the unremitting flow of new records that managed to take up browser and shelf space this year is something of an accomplishment. I had a tough time picking between both sides of this record, and although “I’ll Keep On Loving You” and I go way back (to when it was just a demo on Jones’ Myspace page years ago and he was kind enough to send me low bit-rate version to tide me over), “Living Without Your Love” connected on more levels with less resources. It manages to freely maneuver within disco and house idioms without seeming overly derivative. Contrary to some stories, Jones did not sing on this song, instead employing a fellow art school student to sing the lyrics. Never mind that it doesn’t have a chorus or that there’s only one lyric (“Live without your looove”) repeated throughout; it’s the phrasing placed on the words and the placement within the song that give it currency. Jones lays down a bass line dripping with funk while the lead synth dictates a moody and yet uplifting melody, finished off by rhythm guitar from Juju of Juju & Jordash. It all came together to form a song that left disco-fetishists drooling for more, but as the rest of the year would show it never came. A sign of Jones’ extremely high level of quality control, saving us from a string of merely good releases, and allowing us to savor one helluva great song. (Kuri Kondrak)

06. Joker, “Digidesign” [Hyperdub] (buy)
Even Joker’s most rabid champions must’ve been taken aback when Hyperdub left this brash trunk-rattler on the doorstep. A sizzling reunion of electro and hip-hop, DJ Quik and Timbaland both figured into the “Digidesign,” but this was no pony ride. The kicks, clacks, and boings moving at a stop-start jerk, numb bass lines pursued darting surges of what sounded like a bug-zapper while, overhead, swirling video game trills battled for space with inebriated wails of pitch-bent pads. And then there was that bratty keyboard melody, the sort of chorus audiences couldn’t help but sing along with. If it burst out the speakers as the Bristol boy wonder’s most distinctive creation, only a few months later we’re casually calling it a masterpiece. (Chris Burkhalter)

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For many listeners, Fred P. was one of 2009′s major discoveries. Less a young upstart than a veteran finally getting his due, Fred Peterkin has become one of the key players in New York City’s resurgent house scene. His affiliations with Jus-Ed and Move D — both of whom are contributors to upcoming releases on Peterkin’s Soul People Music imprint — hint at his elegant deep house style, but his releases for the past two years as Black Jazz Consortium have established his unique voice. Fred took off from working on his ever-expanding label and his own productions not only for an in-depth discussion, but to provide us with our 29th podcast as well: an exclusive two hour journey through the deepest house — including some unreleased cuts.

LWE Podcast 29: Black Jazz Consortium (117:33)

Tracklist:

01. Patrice Scott, “Excursions (Reprise)” [Sistrum Recordings]
02. Leonid, “Never Mind, Use The Moon” [CDR]
03. Black Jazz Consortium, “Steps Beyond” [Soul People Music]
04. Ernie, “Soul Of The Night” (Ordell remix) [Minuendo Recordings]
05. Rick Wade, “The D” [Laid]
06. Imugem Orihasam, “Weather Report” [CDR]
07. Brawther, “Endless” (Deep Mix) [Balance Alliance]
08. Deymare, (unknown) [CDR]
09. Chaton & Ripperton, “+91 Ahead 2″ (Ripperton’s Los Barrios Mix)
[Plak Records]
10. DJ Spider & Lola, “Haarp Storm” (Spider’s Alternate Mix) [Plan B Recordings]
11. Substance, “Relish Loops 1-6″ [Chain Reaction]
12. Joey Anderson, “Untitled” [CDR]
13. DJ Qu, “The Zones” [Strength Music]
14. DJ Jus-Ed, “Getty Up” [CDR]
15. Levon Vincent, “The Medium Is the Message” [Novel Sound]
16. Damon Bell, “Banyana” [Deepblak]
17. Fred P., “Open” (Mars Mix) [Soul People Music]
18. Move D, “Drøne” [Modern Love]
19. DJ Jus-Ed, “Step Up 2″ [Underground Quality]
20. Black Jazz Consortium, “The Om” [Soul People Music]
21. Levon Vincent, “Invisible Bitch Slap” [Deconstruct Music]
22. George & Andre Hommen, “Marashi” [Objektivity]
23. Leonid, “Sadim” [Sistrum Recordings]
24. Sterac, “Rond” [Delsin Records]
25. DJ Qu, “Somethin’ Ta Feel” [Strength Music]
26. Fred P., Untitled [CDR]
27. Dub Poets, “Black + White” [white]
28. Hayden Andre presents Subculture, “The Voyage” [Strobe Records]

How was this mix recorded?

Fred P.: I woke up out of a deep sleep and started mixing out of a pile of records I’ve been playing out over the past few months. I used a Technics 1200 MK2, a Stanton S550 Dual CD Player, though only one player works, a Numark Pro CM-1000R Mixer Rotary, an old and beat down Pyle Pro PYX-3X Crossover, and a Roland VS840EX for effects only. Clips and blips are taken from the movies “The Secret” and “Beat Street.”

You’ve put out tracks under both your own name and as Black Jazz Consortium. Is there a difference?

Yeah, to a certain degree. The stuff I do as Black Jazz Consortium is a bit more consistent, as opposed to Fred P where I’m experimenting a little bit. If I’m compiling or something like that, outside of me being creative, I’ll probably just be Fred P. An exception would be the upcoming Earthtones collaboration on vinyl, which is myself, DJ Jus-Ed, and Move D. That’s probably the only compilation where I’ll be Black Jazz Consortium.

How do you approach a collaboration like that? How did it come together?

Well, I’ve been on Underground Quality on a few outings already, and I met Move D my first time in Germany. Basically, he knows my work and he likes my work, and I respect him a lot; I think he’s a great artist. The music I did with Move D I’ve had for a while, like a year. The original idea for the Earthones collaboration was to be a CD, but seeing what’s going on with technology now, what goes on with CDs when they come out, I feel it would be better to respect the work put into it musically by doing it on vinyl.

Do you stick to vinyl as a DJ?

Yes. I’d like to exclusively play with vinyl, though it’s kind of difficult. When I have some promotional stuff that’s on a CD, or something deep in my collection that’s on a CD, then whatever, but I like to play with vinyl. In a perfect world, it would be all vinyl.

Where did the name Black Jazz Consortium come from?

The name Black Jazz Consortium came from a project I did about 10 years ago. The original name of it was Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, because I was living in Brooklyn then — Bed-Stuy, to be exact. I told a good friend of mine by the name of Jay Locke about it and he was like, “Yeah, that’s a cool name,” but the project never went anywhere and it went into the closet for eons. 10 years later, I did a couple releases digitally, and I needed a name. I came across one of my CDs at the time that said Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, but I wasn’t living in Brooklyn anymore and it wouldn’t have made sense. So I just said, I need a quick name, and came up with Black Jazz Consortium. Slapped that on it, and off to the races. It seemed to catch on, and as time went by I started to define what that actually meant, and it took on a deeper meaning.

What is that deeper meaning?

I love jazz music, basically the idea of it, because it’s so closely related to dance music. If you really look at it through the history, jazz music at its inception was the dance music of its day. Now it’s really no different, it’s just electronic, and it’s more about artists themselves as opposed to a trio or quartet or whatever the case may be. But to me, it’s free-form music.

Name some jazz musicians who have inspired you.

Chick Corea, Groove Holmes, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Tom Scott — there’s a whole bunch of ‘em actually.

Do you have any experience playing jazz, or any other kind of musical training?

Nah, I play by ear. If the vibe is good, and I can feel it, I might be able to scratch out a little something. I’m not a traditional musician by any stretch of the imagination, so I couldn’t tell you a note if you asked me. I play both black and white keys though, it’s not like I only play black keys!

How did you first get into making tracks?

I started making tracks when I was like, 15 years old. What happened was, I was into hip-hop back then, beatboxing, cutting and scratching, breakdancing — you know, pseudo-b-boy stuff. Someone saw me rhyming with a friend from school and said, “Hey, I wanna make a demo.” I didn’t know the first thing about that, but I saw it as an opportunity. So I pretended I had some knowledge of what that was about. That was my first opportunity to see a studio, and once I got in the door, forget about it. It’s been on ever since. After that experience, I started to collect cassette decks, and tried to learn what multi-tracking was about. Even though the sound quality was terrible, it taught me the concept of sound design. Some of that stuff I still do in my tracks, with some of the weird noisier sounding things. “Levels” is a good example of that, you have the layered noises bouncing around within it as a rhythm. That’s a piece of that concept.

What inspired you to move from hip-hop to electronic music?

When I was in high school, I used to go to clubs to dance. I hung out in high school with a friend whose family members were actually in the scene and were able to get into clubs for free. It was always about dancing, I didn’t really have anything to do with collecting records or wanting to DJ. I just loved to dance to the music. That’s how I got into house. It was definitely about the vibe, the energy, the whole nine. I did that from about ’88 to about ’90 — three years’ worth of going to clubs and dancing, back before I even collected a record. Then when I stopped; I missed the music, so I would go to the record stores and buy the records.

So even though I got into hip-hop and was doing hip-hop production and all this stuff, behind the scenes I was still listening to house music. It never really left; it was what I would listen to when I didn’t want to hear anything else. It was always there, and when I got my first studio set up, the first tracks I produced were house tracks. No one ever heard them, but I produced them. They came to me easier than hip-hop at the time. I actually had to learn to put a hip-hop track together, whereas a house track kind of came easily to me. Not to say it’s easy to do, but the idea, the form, was a bit easier to wrap my mind around. To make a long story short, when I stopped doing hip-hop I stopped creating music altogether for about two years. When I got back into it again, my good friend Jay Locke inspired me to get back into making electronic music.

Who were the key dance artists for you when you started collecting records?

In the very beginning it was like Todd Terry, Masters At Work, anything that was on Strictly Rhythm, Nervous, Right Area — those were the main labels. That was in the early days. Fast forward, say to about 1999, 2000, it was basically Bugz in the Attic, 4Hero, IG Culture — the whole West London crew. They’re the ones who re-inspired me to really go hard and make some music, because they were using all the elements I liked from all electronic music, not just house or broken beat. They were utilizing everything and putting it into a danceable form, and that’s what made me really want to make music again. So I was collecting that stuff from about 1999 to about 2003, and then I switched. I started getting into deeper house, like real deep house, which is where the association with Underground Quality comes from, because Ed has been producing just some of the deepest stuff from then until now. He’s still bringing out some bangers — he’s the man for that! That’s really what I’m playing now, with little nuggets from other places, but it’s mainly Underground Quality, Strength Music, Novel Sound, Deconstruct. I mean, I’m not shirking anybody, that’s just what’s going on right now!

Has the scene in New York changed much since you got involved with it?

I have to be perfectly honest with you. I’m a bit of a hermit. I mean, when I used to go out way back in the day, the scene was different. New York was different. We didn’t have all the restrictions we’ve got now. Back in like, ’87, you could really party in New York from sunup to sundown and it really wouldn’t be any problem. Now the club scene is so constricted, it’s crazy. It’s difficult for underground guys to really get something started in the clubs because there’s so much on the back end you have to worry about, monetarily and logistically. So you don’t get to see much about that anymore. Especially since 9/11, it changed the scene a lot, because of the laws and all that different stuff.

Today, to be real with you, I only come out to parties where I know I’m going to hear what I like to hear. But now music is being presented in different forms. For instance, House-n-Home is done in a loft as opposed to a club, which is genius because it takes the club aesthetic out and leaves the house party in. That place is incredible and every party I’ve attended has been a stellar event. That’s my reason for going out. Otherwise I might step out here or there but I’m not really out in the scene like that because that energy I like about the scene isn’t really there. I mean, don’t get me wrong, everybody’s doing stuff. I could talk about it more on a musical tip than about the scene. Musically, there’s a definite shift going on because really, this kind of stuff might have been there but it hasn’t been put on the forefront. All credit goes to DJ Jus-Ed for putting it on the forefront. For instance, that Unity Kolabo Ed set up, if you listen to that, everyone on it is absolutely amazing! And I’m not saying that because I’m on it. I haven’t seen a record like that in years. Musically, there’s definitely a paradigm shift happening in dance music in New York.

Do you get to play in town much? Where do most of your gigs happen?

What’s funny is that my first major gig was overseas. I played at Hafen 2 in Offenbach and Cube in Heidelberg a year ago or so, and those were the first major clubs I’ve ever played in. I couldn’t get arrested here, actually. Then I went back for an Underground Quality night in Berlin with DJ Jus-Ed and DJ Qu, and then when I came home I started to get more gigs. So I was gigging about every month for like six months or so. Which was cool, because I wasn’t exactly used to it. I’m more of a production guy. Ninety percent of the time I’m in the studio, and it’s different world getting out and performing with records. I’m still actually getting a feel for it.

Is music a full-time thing for you?

Yes it is. It is doesn’t pay as much as commercial music, not remotely. It’s only because of the economy, I mean jobs are tight now. But I definitely need another hustle to go along with this, because I’m truly independent, man. I gotta work it for what I can.

Soul People Music has focused on putting out your own productions. Do you plan on adding other artists in the future?

Soul People in the very beginning was digital, and there was a whole roster. There were eight or nine releases. Then we lost our digital distribution, which happens if you don’t release something like, every week, to keep up with quotas. Then I started producing vinyl, which is a difficult medium to build on since the record stores started closing. So I’ve been putting all my effort into the Black Jazz Consortium project, to build it up so I can start presenting other artists on vinyl. That way it’s not so much a roll of the dice. I’m starting to do it with the Earthtones project. Maybe three or four records into that series I can start bringing out some artists who I already have on the roster who have gotten released digitally. You’ll start to see more artists digitally, but in the future you’ll see them on vinyl as well.

How has digital technology affected what you do, not only terms of distribution but production as well?

The only piece of computer software I use is Cubase, and I use it for recording purposes only. I’m old school when it comes to making music. I need the equipment right in front of me. I need knobs. I need to be able to turn things on and off with my fingers, instead of a mouse. I need to slide things. So I use a keyboard, I use a sampler, and I use a board to make my thing happen. Nothing against digital studios, at some point I will have to get with the technology of the day and try it out. But what I know is analog, and that’s how I get down. The only problem I have with digital music is that if you have a lot of artists using the same program, most of the time a lot of their music tends to have the same feeling. You get a lot of the same sounds, so they basically all sound like the same song! With time, you can freak anything and make it a little bit different, but for me, I live in an analog world. There’s more feeling to it, and you can hear everything, right or wrong. Whereas with digital, it’s so clean. There’s no room for anything else! That’s cool too, and I do have some of that music. I don’t hate on it at all. But I like the analog environment.

Does having those knobs and sliders affect how you produce tracks? How does your creative process work?

I don’t know, man. That’s a touchy subject! I don’t particularly have a theory for making music. Maybe that is my theory.

One of the great joys of going to your local record shop (or, er, scrolling through menus of WhatPeoplePlay) is the anticipation, nay, expectation of discovering something or someone you had never hear of before. As Innervisions boss Dixon says of their bright young hope, Culoe de Song, “Sometimes tracks appear from somewhere you would never expect.” So far, 2009 has been no different, with a host of fresh and (more often than not) astonishingly young talent breaking through. Narrowing it down was a tough job, but here are five artists that have sent our radar haywire in the last six months.

01. Kyle Hall

The definition of a wunderkind, 17-year-old Kyle Hall has a resume most producers twice his age would die for. Nurtured by a who’s who of contemporary Detroit legends, (Rick Wilhite, Omar-S, Mick Huckaby) Hall released records on FXHE and Moods & Grooves last year. This year, two releases on his own Wild Oats label have further underlined his bountiful potential. Jazzy, frayed-at-the-edges pieces that are nonetheless held together by a thumping low-end, Hall takes the innovations of his Motor City elders and runs with them. Startlingly mature (except for the track titles — “I <3 Dr. Girlfriend” anyone?), his “Worx Of Art” EP is the best introduction to the young man. His recent mix for FACT magazine shows he’s no slouch behind the decks either.

02. Mount Kimbie

Most records released on dubstep imprint Hotflush are defiantly urban, but South London based duo Mount Kimbie stands apart from their label colleagues. The clue’s in the name — Mount Kimbie paint woozy pastoral aural sketches as opposed to the grimy, paranoid sound of Scuba, Boxcutter et al. Mushrooms instead of skunk, you might say. Debut release “Maybes” was nigh-on perfect, particularly the Basinski-referencing “William,” and follow-up “Sketch On Glass” (due shortly) should further cement their place in your heart. Lazy journalists will tag Mount Kimbie as Boards of Canada for the dubstep generation, but they’re better than that. Look forward to a further EP on Hotflush later this year, and a debut album early next.

03. Wbeeza

Every other man and his dog in South London is cranking out increasingly derivative dubstep with a cracked copy of Ableton in a never ending how-low-can-you-go bass war, but 24 year old Bermondsey resident Warren Brown goes his own way. Although he’s also credited with producing Giggs’ grime smash “Ummm!”, Wbeeza’s main concern is house music; as he says, “Everything comes from the kick drum.” Last year’s “Heavy Stuff EP” was picked up by a number of influential DJs, including Panoramabar’s Tamo Sumo, who included “Disco Dayz” on her LWE podcast. This year, he did one better with the outstanding “New Skank” EP. Again played all over the world by DJs including Delano Smith, Sascha Dive and Efdemin, all four bass-heavy tracks repay the faith that Third Ear Recordings have placed in him. As the back cover of the record proudly proclaims: “THIS IS THE HOUSE SOUND OF LONDON.”

04. Dplay

Dplay, aka Dirk Gottwald, has been putting out records with his production partner Manuel Tur for some time now on house labels like Drumpoet Community and Compost Black Label. This year they’ve been badged as going solo, despite still sharing production duties. Confusing, eh? Anyway, Tur released his unripe debut album 0201 for Freerange Records, but it’s Dplay’s productions that have been putting his buddy’s in the shade. The debut solo release “Huub Sand” (oddly still with Tur credited on production duties) is one of the year’s best: a varied three tracker that we declared “the best techno record about football since Reinhard Voigt’s banging ‘Robson Ponte.’” Another strong release “Browse” (with a great Ribn remix) followed, and while the production credits remain confusing, the quality level is clear enough.

05. Black Jazz Consortium

While everybody else on this list is barely in their twenties, New Yorker Fred P(eterkin) has had to wait for his time in the spotlight. He’s released plenty on Jus-Ed’s Underground Quality and his own Soul People Music imprint, but 2009 has been the year his Black Jazz Consortium project has really taken off. The sublime CD album Structure is the place to start, with a smooth, deep house sound that is not without its melancholy moments, akin to some fantasy scenario in which Larry Heard remixes Lawrence. Those of a vinyl persuasion would do well to check the “New Horizons” EP with its standout “Watching You Vogue,” which makes explicit the “jazz” part of his moniker explicit.

[Soul People Music]

As “deep house” overtook “minimal” these past couple years as dance music’s catch-phrase du jour, a certain formula has become apparent. Slow down the tempo, loop a bass line, throw some jazzy pads on top, and add an intermittent sample of an African-American male voice saying “yeah.” Though there are some great tracks fitting the stereotype, it is hard not to crave some greater inventiveness. Fortunately, Fred P, a.k.a. Black Jazz Consortium, brings precisely this to his production work, of which 11 remarkable examples are collected on Structure. Throughout this CD, rhythms are complex, instrumental elements shift and alter themselves, and tracks otherwise develop over their durations.

“Deep Love” introduces the compilation with a seemingly simple three-note bass line, ethereal chords, and a beat. But listen closely — the hi-hat never sits still, constantly adopting new patterns, while the timbres flow and mutate. The experimental spirit of this work can be disarming –in fact, the unorthodox timing of chord changes on “Teapot Science” sounds downright frustrating on first listen. But this kind of risk mostly pays off; a similar technique on “I Want That” transforms a Robert Hood-esque stomper into a melancholy, unsettling exercise in atmospherics, with one of the few vocals on the disc exhaling the titular phrase. Similarly, “The Title” transforms a dubby bass line and wordless vocals with the introduction of harmony halfway through. An “improvised” conga part in the first half and a insinuating keyboard melody in the second maximize the track’s complexity.

The non-repetitive aspects of Fred P’s work are effected in unusual, contemporary ways. The only “solo” on the disc, a keyboard on “Watching You Vogue,” is — to this listener anyway — more about atmosphere than melodic teleology, something like a blues guitarist adding punctuations to a riff or a vocal. A melody on “Living the Dream” seems to be locked in a race with the beat, falling behind, catching up, and taking the lead in a head-to-head showdown that commands attention. Even a DJ tool like “Tribal Dance,” a spare collection of percussive rhythm patterns and oceanic waves of synth-noise, invigorates in the unpredictable way its few elements combine and separate over seven minutes.

Whether or not Fred P used analog instruments to produce these tracks, the sounds are gritty and raw, imparting a visceral punch to the glacial, flowing nature of his harmonic approach. On “Levels,” a seemingly random noise track sneaks in and out of the contours of an insistent beat under a cloud of poignant strings. The most “traditional” moment, a piano melody on “Something Old,” is propelled into the present by its relentless bass line. “What’s Up With the Love” — LWE’s chart-topper last month — sounds both glitchy and smooth, with a gorgeous vocal inquiry. “New Horizon,” from his EP of the same name, alternates lead instruments as though members of this imaginary Consortium are stepping up for solos. And yet, there are few sounds on Structure that sound like “real” instruments, save a couple piano parts, hand claps and aforementioned vocals. This is music that does not concern itself with the artificial genre splits engendered by music industry trends, seeing the emotion in techno and the futurism in house in a way partisans of either often miss.

01. Black Jazz Consortium, “Whats Up With the Love” [Soul People Music] (buy)
Fred P brings Structure, his second album as Black Jazz Consortium, to a close with the question, “What’s up with the love that you’re giving me?” Without any other lyrics to provide context for who he’s asking or why, listeners are left to drawn their own conclusions on the basis of the luscious instrumental sweeping beneath Fred’s filtered vocals. Sustained minor chords hover like looming interpersonal tension and interlock with a doleful synth progression to create sensual new harmonics. Whether it’s a significant other, family member, friend or fan he’s questioning, Fred seems resigned to reality and pours his feelings into this personally resonating tune. Perhaps his next album will provide an answer. In the meantime, show him some love and pick up this spectacular album.

02. Planetary Assault Systems, “Temporary Suspension” [Ostgut Tonträger] (buy)
2009 seems like a year in which techno will pound dancers into the ground like rows of nails, and “Temporary Suspension,” the first single from Planetary Assault Systems’ new album of the same name, seems a likely hammer of choice for many DJs. Constantly intensifying and reshaping an oft bludgeoned note, Slater uses it to batter a synthetic bees’ nest, grinning with maniacal glee as they exit the hive to invade the stereo spectrum, stingers poised. Despite its simple aims, you can tell “Temporary Suspension” was meticulously labored over for maximum impact, from the use of space to the tightly assembled blitz of percussion. We expect this track to ignite many a dance floor this summer.

03. 100 Hz, “Tension” [Bosconi Records] (buy)
Given the many gaps between their successive records and dance music’s long held propensity for focusing only on latest releases, it’s only somewhat surprising 100 Hz isn’t better known. That hasn’t stopped them from turning out quality house tunes when they do arrive, and 2009 looks set to host another prolific cycle. As with many 100 Hz tracks, “Tension” (from their Bosconi Records-released “Mila EP”) is briskly paced and laden with live vocals (while sampling the end bits of Peech Boys’ “Don’t Make Me Wait”). Its melodies streak by like headlights at night and on film, underpinned by an assertive bass riff and techy arpeggios. So while “Tension” is certainly a product of its time, one can’t help but hear 90′s motifs comparable to the ones the group used during its first heyday. If they keep turning out tracks like this, a second heyday may be in order.

04. Peter Kruder, “Visions Ltd.”
[International Deejay Gigolo Records] (buy)
Most folks remember Peter Kruder as half of the legendary downtempo duo Kruder & Dorfmeister or one third of the Voom:Voom power trio with Cristian Prommer and Roland Appel. But if Kruder has his way, a slew of new records, starting with “Visions Ltd.,” will underline his solo production prowess. The A side makes floor-filling sense of a diverse web of elements — divebombing synth lines, a fluttering flock of flute licks, shimmering strings and bounding tom patterns — as only experienced hands could. Simultaneously hard charging and sensually detailed, “Visions Ltd.” proves there’s much more to Kruder than his past. Next up, a quality 12″ for Stefan Goldmann’s Macro label.

05. Dapayk & Padberg, “Sugar” [Fenou] (buy)
Some people have a sweet tooth, others crave the savory, but combining those two flavors often draws admirers from both camps. “Sugar,” the first new solo record from Dapayk & Padberg since their hit 2007 album, Black Beauty, falls into the latter most category. This syrupy, romantic jam, in which Padberg encourages her man to take care of himself, too, is garnished with surprisingly minor vocal kernals that set it apart from most house tracks of this nature. The contrast provides a great counterweight to the silky blanket of electric piano trimmed with incisive viola runs and her coy delivery, which might otherwise make it too precious. Add an unexpected dash of sweet/savory to your sets, that is, if you can find one of the 500 copies of this limited 10″ from Fenou.

06. Âme, “Ensor” [Innervisions] (buy)
07. DJ Koze, “Mrs. Bojangels”
[Circus Company] (buy)
08. Baby Ford, “No Day” [Perlon] (buy)
09. Jason Fine, “Half” (Anton Zap remix)
[Kontra-Musik] (buy)
10. Peter Van Hoesen, “Attribute One”
[Time to Express] (buy)

Just a note that we are switching And Charts For All to a quarterly schedule to provide more accurate results of what you really like and save on chart fatigue. They will return at the end of June.

Staff Charts:

Bill Bearden:

01. Slaughter Mob, “Techno Skank” [Halo Beats]
02. Starkey, “Creature” [Planet Mu]
03. Various Production, “Bside” [Various Production]
04. Ginz & Joker, “Purple city” [Kapsize]
05. Benga, “Buzzin” [Tempa]
06. MRK1, “Kill Zone” [Contagious Recordings]
07. Joker, “Untitled_Rsn” [Tectonic]
08. Cluekid ft. Arorah, “Soul Vibe” [Soul Jazz Records]
09. 2nd II None, “Waterfallz” (Peverelist remix) [Heavy Artillery]
10. Current Value, “You Need A Therapist” [Guerilla Recordings]

Per Bojsen-Moller:

01. Holger Zilske, Holz [Playhouse]
02. Moderat, Moderat [Bpitch Control]
03. Efdemin, “Acid Bells” (Martyn’s Bittersweet Mix) [Métisse]
04. Gravious, “Jupiter Jazz” [Highpoint Lowlife]
05. Hector & Bryant, “Tension” (Appleblim & Al Tourettes remix)
[Phonica Records]
06. Luciano & Guy Gerber, “Arcenciel” [Cadenza]
07. King Midas Sound, “Ting Dub” [Hyperdub]
08. Brackles & Shortstuff, “Broken Harp” (Geiom remix) [Pollen]
09. Pantha Du Prince, “Behind the Stars” [Dial Records]
10. Sigha, “Remembrance” [Hotflush Recordings]

Chris Burkhalter:

01. Scott Grooves, “Detroit 808″ (Delay Dub Panther Mix) [Natural Midi]
02. Benjamin Brunn, “Developers Live” [Dérive Schallplatten]
03. Peter Van Hoesen, “Attribute One” [Time to Express]
04. STL, “Six In a Row” [Smallville Records]
05. Santiago Salazar, “Arcade” [Macro]
06. Bsmnt City Anymle Kontrol, “The Perfekt Sin” [Wild Oats]
07. Tony Lionni, “Found a Place” [Ostgut Tonträger]
08. E.S.O.M., “Life Form” [Emphasis Recordings]
09. Levon Vincent, “Polar Bear Make Night With That Sea Lion”
[Deconstruct Music]
10. Burial & Four Tet, “Moth” [Text]

Peder Clark:

01. Tevo Howard, “Without Me” (Boogiedisco Mix)
[Beautiful Granville Records]
02. STL, “Silent State” [Smallville Records]
03. Norm Talley, “The Journey” [Third Ear Recordings]
04. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled B2″ [Workshop]
05. Actress, “Ghosts Have a Heaven” [Prime Numbers]
06. Rick Wade, “The D” [Laid]
07. Anton Zap, “Mon 16.46″ [Uzuri]
08. DJ Koze, “Mrs. Bojangels” [Circus Company]
09. Arthur Russell, “This Is How We Walk On The Moon” [Slow To Speak]
10. Mike Huckaby, “Love Filter” [Deep Transportation]

Todd Hutlock:

01. Linkwood Family, “Miles Away” (Intrusion Sunset Dub [Firecracker]
02. Carl Craig, “Angel” (Jerome Sydenham’s Vocal Dub) [Planet E]
03. DJ Koze, “Mrs. Bojangels” [Circus Company]
04. V/A, Picking O’er the Bones [Mordant Music]
05. Theo Parrish, “Space Station” [Sound Signature]
06. Son’s Of the Dragon, “The Journey Of Qui Niu” (Sqx Reconstruction) [echospace [detroit]]
07. The Field, Yesterday and Today [Kompakt]
08. Deuce, “Twerp Wiz” [Ostgut Tonträger]
09. Wareika, “King’s Child” (Ricardo Villalobos remix) [Motivbank]
10. Luciano & Guy Gerber, “Arcenciel” [Cadenza]

Kuri Kondrak:

01. Santiago Salazar, “Arcade” [Macro]
02. Scott Ferguson, “Dump Days” [Ferrispark]
03. James Kumo, “Space Dancer” [Metamorphic Recordings]
04. Quince, “For My Mr” (Sterac AKA Steve Rachmad remix) [Delsin]
05. DJ Daw, “Crystal” [Manuscript Records]
06. Ican, “Make It Hot” [Ican Productions]
07. Lowtec, “Stamping Ground” [Styrax Records]
08. Tony Lionni, “Found a Place” [Ostgut Tonträger]
09. Kai Alcé, “Ooohhh!” (Dubbyman remix) [Deep Explorer]
10. Florence, “The Vineyard” (Beat Pharmacy Dub) [Eevo Lute Muzique]

Chris Miller:

01. Kassem Mosse, “Untitled B1″ [Workshop]
02. DJ Koze, “Mrs. Bojangels” [Circus Company]
03. Donnacha Costello, “Fathoms Deep” [Look Long]
04. STL, “Silent State” [Smallville Records]
05. Planetary Assault Systems, “Temporary Suspension”
[Ostgut Tonträger]
06. Untold, “I Can’t Stop This Feeling” [Hessle Audio]
07. Appleblim & Ramadanman, “Sous Le Sable” [Aus Music]
08. Sendai, “System Policy” (Peter Van Hoesen remix) [Time to Express]
09. N/A, “Variance IV” (Regis Edit) [Sandwell District]
10. Pantha Du Prince, “Behind the Stars” [Dial Records]

Jordan Rothlein:

01. Untold, “Anaconda” [Hessle Audio]
02. Milton Bradley, “Dystopian Vision” [Do Not Stop the Beat!]
03. EL-B, The Roots of El-B [Tempa]
04. Santiago Salazar, “Arcade” [Macro]
05. Planetary Assault Systems, “Temporary Suspension”
[Ostgut Tonträger]
06. Hector & Bryant, “Tension” (Appleblim & Al Tourettes remix)
[Phonica Records]
07. Uncle Bakongo, “Afar” [Roska Kicks & Snares]
08. Efdemin, “Acid Bells” (Martyn’s Bittersweet Mix) [Métisse]
09. Stimming, “The Loneliness” [Diynamic Music]
10. Anstam, “Cree” [Anstam]