[Modern Love]

Both Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell have kept themselves very busy since the release of the last Deepchord presents Echospace album on Modern Love, 2007′s The Coldest Season, and the evidence of their individual journeys is writ large all over the grooves of Liumin, the duo’s latest collaborative effort. If The Coldest Season was the soundtrack to a deep-dive into the sub-oceanic space beneath the largest glacier imaginable, Liumin warms things up considerably with much more active and aggressive grooves built on top of field recordings made on the streets of Tokyo (the field recordings themselves are available on a bonus disc, Liumin Reduced, included with the first pressing of the CD). The results are definitely still informed by dub — Modell and Hitchell aren’t making a complete 180 here — but are distinctly updated, conjuring aural images of rolling through the world’s most high-tech city at night, still full of old-world wonder but hypermodern all at once.

Opener “In Echospace” sets the tone with nary a beat in earshot, as deep, rolling waves of sound splash by in slow motion, peppered with sharp bites of static and disembodied voices cutting through the ether, ghosts of old radio broadcasts pulsing their way to the surface. The track melts away into the bullet train-intro of “Summer Haze” and the beats make their appearance at last. Percolating and lively but just shy of aggressive, this is the classic Echospace sound perfected, with swirling, looped chords and layers of echoing percussion fading in and out of the mix in a hypnotic blend that Modell and Hitchell must be thinking about copyrighting by now. Aside from the organic feel of the field recordings, that percussive base is the other way in which Liumin sets itself apart from its predecessor: where The Coldest Season was content to move in giant, monolithic swathes of rhythm, Liumin is active, even danceable.

“Sub-Marine” thumps along at a pretty good clip with some insistent rattles and funky low-end notes thrown in to move some asses, while “Maglev”‘s bass bubbles and snapping hi-hats are deep house played through a busted-ass speaker cone to surprisingly great effect. “BCN Dub” on the other hand, shambles along like an outtake from Hitchell’s stellar Intrusion project, wearing it’s Jamaican influence proudly as a spectral horn melody drifts through on a distant transistor box that just gets dirtier and dirtier as it repeats. Lesser artists may have reduced dub techno to its base elements and produced cookie-cutter tracks that ape the style set forth by Echospace and their sonic predecessors, but with Liumin, Modell and Hitchell prove that they are no one-trick ponies, evolving musically just as surely as they have maintained their distinctive sound. If you think you’ve heard everything that the dub techno genre could possibly throw at you, Liumin will prove you ain’t heard nothing yet.

01. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, Serenity
[Ostgut Tonträger] (buy CD)
On Serenity, Achim and Murat deftly avoid the pitfalls of making anachronistic music while crafting stylistically faithful floor jackers. I’m enthralled with its full-bodied, Chicago-styled intonation and true emotional depth; it’s all too rare to personally identify with a house track these days. Remind me to take those guys out for deep dish pizza when they finally make it to the Windy City.

02. Lee Jones, “Aria” (Tiger Stripes remix) [Aus Music] (buy)
So glad that one of my favorite producers is back and being remixed by another favorite. Jones taps into the minimalized deep palatte which made Gaiser’s “Withdrawal” such a winner, and dots this tune’s subtle ideas with perfect chiming pitches. Tiger Stripes streamlines “Aria” from there and the end results lands right in my crate. Why it’s taking so long for this gem to hit stores on our shores, I don’t know, but I’m absolutely clamoring for a copy.

03. Basic Soul Unit, “Tunnels” (Sebo K & Metro remix) [Mule Electronic] (buy)
Further confirming my suspicions that Sebo K’s remix and DJ skills greatly surpass original production skills, his and Metro’s tidying revision of “Tunnels” evokes subterranean deep house motifs with modern fixtures. Because the pair produces with the DJ in mind above all else, “Tunnels” glides perfectly in and out of mixes — a welcome balance of floor-filling melodies and utility. However Sebo K does it best, I’m with him.

04. Marcel Wave, “27 Holton” (Serafin’s Back To New York Re-interpretation)
[Freerange Records] (buy)
Whether as part of Mountain People or solo, Serafin has had quite a streak of powerful releases of late, and his remix of Marcel Wave is no exception. This one works a pumping house rhythm brushed in a muted tonal slate, reminding me of 2000 And One’s “Work” and Kerri Chandler, if a bit more warped. Now for him to release those tantalizing tracks up on the Mountain People Myspace.

05. DeepChord Presents Echospace, “Untitled” [Modern Love]
Leave it to Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell to put a spacey dub opus gleaming with only the edges of dulcet resonance on a single-sided 12″ limited to 500 copies. In a maelstrom of humid static clouds pulses amorphous dub patterns flush with warm tones. Its human touch stands out in delayed tambourine samples among Modell’s distorted field recordings. “Untitled” might not want to make much of its existence, but its aural embrace is hard to forget.

06. Matthew Dear, “Sunday Adventure Club” [unreleased]
Now that he’s shown his rocker side, Matthew Dear is ready to infuse minimal techno with a searing, highly filtered 303 vamp that recalls the blistering leads of Funkadelic visionary, Eddie Hazel. The Bar25-referencing “Sunday Adventure Club” is lean enough to be layered with other tracks and compelling enough to blaze its own trail. How long we’ll have to wait before it see official release is to be seen, but I’ll be wearing it out in the meantime.*

07. Brendon Moeller, “One Man’s Junk…”
[Third Ear Recordings] (buy)

08. Jimpster, “Dangly Panther” (Joris Voorn remix)
[Freerange Music] (buy)

09. Luke Hess, “Believe & Receive EP”
[Kontra-Musik] (buy)

10. Francesco Tristano, “The Melody” (Carl Craig remix)
[Infiné] (buy)
With pianos once again en vogue only a truly well written chord progression stands out from the pack of rudimentary exercises. Tristano’s rambunctious lead on “The Melody” is infectiously catchy while maintaining a sophisticated air. Carl Craig’s remix is shockingly gentle, its singular patterns and hushed drones simply adding texture for the sparkling chords to poke through. Bonus points for the beatless version as well, a tool I plan to employ often.*

*Borrowed from my Get the Curse playlist.

02. Ricardo Villalobos, Fabric 36 [Fabric] (buy)
Fabric 36 was not an easy sell for me (and many others), at least partially because it wasn’t meant to be. You have to bend your framework for what an album or mix should be, how it should develop, how it should flow. Villalobos hits the reset button on these expectations and offers one of his most creative statements to date — oh yeah, and some killer tunes. “Won’t You Tell Me” and “4 Wheel Drive” are future classics, weaved into a dense web of exuberant rhythms and movements. Artists and fans will be reacting to this for some time to come.

03. Efdemin, Efdemin [Dial] (buy)
Efdemin’s debut album meticulously and gracefully re-interprets deep-house with a minimal lens in a manner unmatched in 2007. Phillip Sollmann utilizes his musique concrete/sound design knowledge to construct stunningly melodic movers and challenging experimental cuts still capable of wonders on a dance floor (“Acid Bells”). Together, its 10 tracks form a compelling and cohesive statement. Those who argue against the long-player format as it pertains to dance music should stick this in their pipes and smoke it.

04. Melchior Productions Ltd., No Disco Future [Perlon] (buy)
Thomas Melchior’s first full-length since his stellar 2004 album, The Meaning, is even more demanding of listeners with a similarly sweet payoff. Favoring tight loops of atonal textures and samples over past colorful patterns, Melchior invites the audience to revel in the tiniest of details while reserving a great deal of utility for the dance floor. Still more proof after two decades in the biz that he’s sharp, that micro-house isn’t dead, and that new listeners will soon be digging through his back catalog. I know I have.

05. Henrik Schwarz, Live [!K7] (buy)
Though Henrik Schwarz’s productions stand up well on their own, Live suggests they’re best heard sewn together into a gorgeous and flowing document of his talents. But the most stunning facet of Live is how human and alive the tunes feel. It’s evident in the loose jangle running through his Kuniyuki remix, the calming marimba pattern and rootsy upstroke of “Stop, Look & Listen” and the busted, live band funk of “Leave My Head Alone Brain.” It’s the refreshing sound of people outnumbering computers.

06. Panda Bear, Person Pitch [Paw Tracks] (buy)
Looking back, only one new rock album actually impressed me this year, and its source was quite unexpected. Panda Bear’s Person Pitch is the joyful intersection of techno (the liner notes, which list some of Noah Lennox’s influences, start with Basic Channel, Luomo and Wolfgang Voigt) and experimental rock — an euphoric, encompassing experience you won’t soon forget. Its loop-based construction brings Panda Bear’s Beach Boys influences into the 21st century, stretching the walls of more traditional rock arrangements nearly to their breaking point. As important of a record for dance music as it is for rock.

07. DeepChord Presents Echospace, The Coldest Season
[Modern Love] (buy)
Perhaps the best way to describe The Coldest Season is immersive: music to let seep into your brain while laid out flat, used to wash away worry or conjure a contemplative atmosphere. You can feel the icy wind creep across your body as the album unfolds and take comfort in the scant blanket of melody draped across the glacial movements. Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell’s desire to make something new (and largely influenced by the latter’s experience of becoming a father) results in a truly innovative hybrid of dub techno, ambient and experimental sounds that defies obvious influence or reference points. Chicago’s oppressive winter meets its match on this album.

08. Burial, Untrue [Hyperdub] (buy)
If dubstep ever does crossover into the pop realm, Untrue will likely be the first to crack its rarely porous shell. At first I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of vocals which distinguishes the album from its predecessor, and ultimately perches melodic halos on Burial’s urban phantom rhythms. In his rather revealing interview with The Wire, Burial admits the final version of Untrue was composed in a scant two weeks, a baffling fact to consider when basking in the depth of its tunes, the murky landscapes from which they crawl out — not to mention when “Archangel” gets caught in your head. Untrue gives me the good shivers.

09. Tiger Stripes, Safari [Nite Grooves] (buy)
If there’s one house record I neglected to tout enough, it’s certainly Safari, Mikael Nordgren’s first compendium of Tiger Stripes tracks. Though many of these tracks were previously released on King Street Sounds, they hang together remarkably well in the long player format. Here Nordgren’s palatte leans towards classic elements of house through live instrumentation, recruiting Swedish Hitmusic Strings, Kerri Chandler’s keys and Rasmus Faber’s marimba. If mnmlzd house is too emaciated for you, stick on Safari and climb through some meaty rhythms.

10. Gui Boratto, Chromophobia [Kompakt] (buy)
Boratto is particularly apt at sculpting big, bold and beautiful melodies which resonate across genre lines; and with Chromophobia (Kompakt’s best release this year, don’t let The Field fans fool you), the Brazilian producer adds “cohesion” and “diversity” to his list of talents. Lush, hovering ambient tracks like “Acrostico” and “Malá Strana” fit snuggly between big room bangers (“Terminal”) and future stadium anthems (“Beautiful Life”) while providing plenty of fodder for remixers (Babicz’s remix of “Mr. Decay” has been a big local favorite). A very 2007 album for a very 2007 year.

Honorable mentions:

11. Various artists, Soundboy Punishments [Skull Disco] (buy)
12. Justice, † [Vice Records] (buy)
13. Various Artists, Shut Up and Dance! Updated [Ostgut Tonträger] (buy)
14. Pantha Du Prince, This Bliss [Dial] (buy)
15. Thomas Fehlmann, Honigpumpe [Kompakt] (buy)
16. Simian Mobile Disco, Attack Decay Sustain Release [Wichita] (buy)
17. False, 2007 [M_nus] (buy)
18. Dettmann & Klock, Scenario [Ostgut Tonträger] (buy)
19. Cobblestone Jazz, 23 Seconds [Studio !K7] (buy)
20. Petre Inspirescu, Tips [Cadenza] (buy)