[Musique Risquée]

In his slow, nearly annual trickle of records, Boris Steffen has shown relatively little interest in how his tracks are received by a dance floor audience. It’s arguable the Munich-based producer, best known as Jichael Mackson, has turned out more compelling music because he’s freed himself from those expectations. At the very least his tracks are stranger for it; Steffen’s records for Phictiv Records and liebe*detail through to Musique Risquée and Hartchef Discos have been heavily rhythmic but rendered through a cracked prism of oblique structures and abstract melodies. After nearly two silent years — three since his unusually soothing hit “The Grass Is Always Greener” — Steffen follows his single for Ilian Tape with another for Musique Risquée, Just In Time. Although uneven, it finds Jichael Mackson untamed and confounding as ever.

“Locus Pocus” has more in common with the aesthetics of mid-aughts minimal techno than the rest of Steffen’s discography. While hinting at the dub sonorities that find their way into many of his tracks — mainly through the bent knee throb and heavily filtered upstroked samples — it hustles to the beat of an endlessly plucked pulse favored by scads of producers during minimal’s dying days. But with Steffen behind the controls the nuances of its frantic, chugging loops and dessicated pings go some way towards redeeming the worn out trick — if not far enough. Familiarity never enters the picture on the flipside, however, as “Sugar Hill Mountain” tunnels through techno and house to arrive in uncharted territory. Light percussive touches contain a pearly, two pitch melody rolling over all in its path with a few distorted snags along the way. As more dreamy layers snowball inside, the percussion grows more persistent to keep up, pushing the track to a cliff’s edge and triggering a huge, grinding breakdown stoner metal fans could admire. It’s an entrancing experience that more than mitigates the mediocrity of “Locus Pocus,” a fantastical sonic voyage that the bravest selectors will use to melt minds regardless of the setting.

For our fifth report, LWE correspondent Colin Shields offers his top 5 singles (from the first half of 2008) that suggest minimal isn’t dead, actually.

It’s a familiar story: Life seemed so good in 2006. Minimal, a genre that had simmered along in dance since its conception, had hit the mainstream in a big way. A whole slew of chefs had set out to reduce the sounds of house and techno, and found in their pots a sauce that could instill in beats flavors that ran the gamut from psychedelic to block-rocking. The minimal scene felt like it had discovered both a music and a lifestyle that were a paean to sensual opulence. What came up has come down: faddishness and mediocrity infected what in Rob Hood’s time had been a style too off the beaten track to lure pretenders.

In 2008 a craze for all things minimal has been replaced by an Oslo-associated house revival on one hand and a fascination with the Berghain sound of techno on the other. While these scenes prosper, the creative underbelly of minimal has also flourished. At the same time, the deep-house and Detroit revivals have often been little more than uninteresting minimal with a new haircut. This means the (supposedly) pernicious influence of vapid minimal trendiness is probably far from over, but rather just rolls on in a different guise. If all this is true, though, one simple question remains. Since (what’s made out to be) the blood sucking parasite of trendiness is gone, shouldn’t minimal be in rude health now? Here are five to show it is.

01. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar” (Shackleton remix) [Perlon] (buy)
No surprise at who tops my list. Villalobos is certainly one of the minimal producers who needs no defending to anyone. “Vasco EP Part One” has had us bloggers going gaga, but it’s also worth noting again how effective Shackleton’s mix is here. Berlin minimal techno has had a huge influence on the side of dubstep worth listening to, at least if my ears are any judge, and this is just one more reminder of that ever fertile interchange. After the opening vocal, the feeling of spaciousness and depth developed are really otherworldly. This would be a sublime track to which to die.

02. Ruede Hagelstein, “The Modest Theme” [Souvenir] (buy)
This one distinctly isn’t crossover. Instead, it’s all about delayed gratification. The soft footed opening is modest indeed; but as the end nears, the bursts of horn that have made a statement of intent since the beginning come back in a brash, proud way. The combination of floor-thumper with intricate long player Hagelstein has pulled off here is deft in the extreme.

03. October, “Go Outside” [Perspectiv] (buy)
Frayed edges and misbegotten elements stitched together insouciantly here. The frequent breakdowns only make the listener pay closer attention; this creates a feeling of surface tension as the track nevertheless builds smoothly in intensity. There’s never quite a kick drop to mark the peak, but rather just a feeling of climactic energy that arrives most of the way in before subsiding again. Add to that the lovely, harmonic warehouse-tinged tones and “Go Outside” has found something winning as well as distinctive.

04. DJ Koze, “Zou Zou” [Kompakt] (buy)
Many people might not call this minimal, but if that’s your reaction, let’s argue about it later. The more important fact: “Zou Zou” is really stunning. As usual, Koze has made a track that feels like a tangle of hirsute limbs, leaving the vocals and the beats and some chords to rub up against each other in a very prickly way. “I work it” is the lyric and I imagine that’s just what this would motivate you to do on the dance floor. Even at home, though, the exhortation to movement is immense. For such a melodic track, there’s also a sense that every single bit of sound adds something percussive, too. Each element here surprises afresh when the dynamics of the track alter, which they do frequently, and they never sit together fully naturally. They do combine into one beautiful monster, though, and yet again most other producers look like spring chickens next to Koze.

05. Jichael Mackson, “Flatscreen” [Stock5] (buy)
Mackson is never an easy one to pin down and “Flatscreen” is as slippery as he is. A long, lean, sometimes faltering drum voyage is the name of the game. This is another track that creates its own language by hesitating now and again, leaving the listener to swirl in an eddy before being spat back into the rapids. After a few minutes, the mellifluous progress made by the intricate beats begins to be absorbed very deeply, and by the end of fourteen minutes the Beatport version at double that length doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

[Gumption Recordings]

Listening to “Tillmans Uninfluence/Apples,” the latest release from London-based producer Ed Davenport, I can’t help but think he’s the UK’s fresh-faced answer to Boris Steffen, better known as Jichael Mackson. They share an affinity for producing tracks which jauntily tread the fine line between functionality and bedroom listening, and both utilize odd samples (vocals, usually) to keep things quirky. In fact, each of their biggest tracks to date — Steffen’s “The Grass Is Always Greener…” for Musique Risquée and Davenport’s “Eyespeak” on liebe*detail — layered affected vocals against a straightforward backdrop for an unmistakable edge. “Tillmans Uninfluence/Apples,” which arrives on Gumption Recordings (one of only two labels for which Davenport has recorded under his own name), finds Davenport climbing out onto the wire yet again; the results are pleasantly mixed.

“Tillmans Uninfluence” is a complex tune which only grows more so with each passing minute, representing some of Davenport’s most compelling and thoroughly produced work to date. Thrumming with static electricity and punctuated by hand claps, the tune raises eyebrows with a mutant organ/piano riff rolling forward with an asymmetrical gait. The tension builds further, recruiting swaths of backwards male vocals of increasing volume and knifing upstrokes. The DJ who pulls this off will be rewarded. “Apples” is also a dense thicket of sound, but it grows wobbly, even unwieldy as it stacks layer of warped vocals and whirling, sub-aquatic pings atop an undulating Silver Apples-evoking melody. The digital version of the single includes “Quest For Kicks,” which emulates the Jichael Mackson sound to a fault. A long, detuned and mildly amusing lecture on the pleasure-seeking tendencies of hippies narrates an otherwise vacuous track, leaving its synth line and percussion feeling diminutive in the cavernous sound design. While Mr. Davenport is still working the kinks out of his otherwise engaging productions, releases like “Tillmans Uninfluence” suggest there’s a bevy of strong material forthcoming to test the skills of DJs and dance floors. (post by Steve Mizek)

01. Ben Klock, “October” [BPitch Control] (buy)
No rest for the wicked, it seems, as Ben Klock drops another heavy one on fans with “October.” Like a ghost in an aggressive, pounding machine, the title track’s melody billows upwards and is zapped into place by laser precise synth strokes. “Similarity” relishes its unadorned percussive charges, awaiting another record to double its size. Snap this up.

Listen to “October”:

02. Bruno Pronsato, Why Can’t We Be Like Us
[Hello?Repeat] (buy )
It’s going to be difficult for me to concisely articulate how much I love this experimental house album and why, but suffice it to say it surpasses, nay, decimates all my expectations of what Steven Ford’s songwriting capabilities. Unlike This Bliss or Honigpumpe, let’s keep this one floating down a stream of praise until year end list time comes around again.

03. Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind” (Hercules Club Mix)
[DFA] (buy)
“Blind” is such a ridiculously well crafted, memorable tune that I can already imagine this being crowd surfed into a crossover crowd and yet not being shunned by first adopters. Andrew Butler gets Antony to perform at his troubled soulful best as the diva icing on his gorgeous arrangements. Frankie Knuckles remix womps as well. Future ubiquity.

Listen:

04. Andreas Heiszenberger, “Perfect Moment” (Efdemin’s Creme de Cramant Mix) [Brut!] (buy)
I find myself drawn even more to Efdemin as his love for repetitive dub techno grows more evident in his tracks and remixes, and this one is especially easy to be enamored with. Crisp drum work, ear-hooking dub peals and Efdemin’s enviable sense of order and structure make this one a must buy for his growing league of admirers.

Listen:

05. Daso & Pawas, “KKB” [Spectral Sound] (buy)
Only available on Spectral’s Dintf iEP, Daso and Pawas’ “KKB” stands out from the rest by being decidedly maximal to his peers’ minimal and a touch grand without taking itself too seriously. Built on the back of an old acid house groove and crammed full of struck melodic strains and regal pads, the track manages to be compelling while refurbishing some already popular sound sources — not an easy task.

Listen:

06. Efdemin, “Lohn & Brot” (tobias. remix) [liebe*detail spezial] (buy)

07. Jichael Mackson, “Piepe” [Hartchef Discos] (buy)

08. Andomat 3000, “Cognitive Dissonance” [Cécille Records] (buy)

09. Roland Appel, “Unforgiven” [Sonar Kollektiv] (buy)

10. Chevy & Lemos, “Woman’s Key“ [Be Chosen] (buy)

[Hartchef Discos]

Much of the attention Boris Steffen (aka Jichael Mackson) earned in 2007 was focused on his “…Wasn’t Me” EP on Musique Risquée, and for good reason. Its “The Grass Is Always Greener…” precariously balanced eccentric samples and dubbed out arrangements such that they elicited smiles of comprehension and shaking hips rather than guffaws or upturned noses — his tactic didn’t seem like a gimmick. Jichael Mackson’s follow up release, “Baff,” which quietly arrived on the like-minded and increasingly hip Hartchef Discos, takes the strategy for another spin with fortuitously enjoyable results.

“Schnurz” sounds as if it’s creeping from a subterranean studio, its motley percussion steeped in swampy effects (excepting the piercing hi-hats) without much else to soak them up. What little melodic color Steffen injects is warped and indistinct, as if heard through the speaker of an archaic answering machine. A female vocal hisses, “C’mon, Charlie,” adding to the ominous atmosphere. Taken together it’s a haunting and bumpy ride for the darkest of clubs.

Listen to Jichael Mackson, “Piepe”

Its B-side companion is more upbeat and daring. “Piepe” finds Steffen melding the drive of buoyant, babbling rhythms with sweeping string swells, euphoric pads and manipulated samples to a compelling, not histrionic, effect. Of particularly interest are the samples: manipulated beyond easy comprehension, they ring out like the metallic upstroke groove fostered by the Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel family, occasionally borrowing the string swells’ melody for added impact. Clocking in at just under 14 minutes, “Piepe” is an immense track ready to swallow club-goers in its many layers. Don’t be surprised if artists from the Diynamic roster start slotting this one between their own signature slabs. If this is how Jichael Mackson closes out his year, I can hardly wait to see how he opens 2008.