For The Beneath, his latest 12″ on his own Strength Music label, once again pitches that signature DJ Qu sound — dark melodies always in the service of off-kilter yet hard-hitting percussion — for the bleakest, sweatiest, most subaltern dance floors imaginable. Should you, fair record buyer, take the plunge yet again?
review
Jimmy Edgar, Hush
May 4, 2010 – 10:01 PM
As is perhaps expected from a multi-alias producer who started releasing music in his teens, Jimmy Edgar’s catalog has variously shifted styles, ranging from glitchy instrumental hip-hop to sleazy electro funk/IDM crossovers. Now in his twenties, Edgar seems to be attempting to subdue his manic tendencies.
Redshape, Red Pack
May 4, 2010 – 10:01 AM
To these ears at least, Redshape’s debut album was one of the best techno long players of ’09, so the appearance of Red Pack so soon afterwords is a pleasant surprise. While not intended as a follow-up to The Dance Paradox, this double pack performs an equally important function, neatly encapsulating the disparate dance floor styles that now fall under the masked one’s widening palette.
Space Dimension Controller, Journey to the Core of the Unknown Sphere
May 3, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Jack Hamill can be forgiven for his cosmically comical references, from the outer-planetary names he gives his music to the cover art that looks like it was beamed direct to Earth some time in the early 80’s. He can be forgiven these things because it doesn’t hide any of his incredible talent, which becomes very clear upon first listening to one of his releases.
DOTW: Gadi Mizrahi & Soul Clap, Beautiful Thang
April 30, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Download of the Week is a new feature on LWE in which we showcase the best MP3 giveaway we snapped up in the last seven days. Things kick off with a free track from Gadi Mizrahi & Soul Clap.
Stimming, Ben Watt & Julia Biel, Bright Star
April 29, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Coming on like some kind of disparate super group, the Bright Star EP brings together Hamburg-based producer Stimming; the owner of Buzzin’ Fly, producer for ’90s act du jour Everything But The Girl and man behind legendary London party Lazy Dog, Ben Watt; and the vocal talents of jazzy singer Julia Biel. With this much talent you might expect sparks to fly — or fizzle.
STL, … And His Quest For Sound
April 29, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Every producer wants to make records that set themselves apart from other records. You’d think this would have to be true, right? Otherwise, why would anyone take the time and considerable cost necessary to create a piece of dance music? Practically every producer I hear strives to differentiate him or herself by way of the sounds — to get them as far away from the presets as possible; to design the presets of tomorrow, perhaps. Yet so many of the best moments in house and techno are those when the music itself fades away into a feeling. You can tune your drum machines all day, but if you can’t get something more out of them than soundwaves — if you can’t tease out that hypnotizing x-factor that makes certain dance records good beyond words — then you’re missing something critical.
Floating Points, People’s Potential
April 28, 2010 – 10:01 PM
By now the name Floating Points probably rings a bell even for those living under rocks. Within a year of arriving on the scene he’s been feted by music fans and critics of all stripes, storming best of lists with four spectacular releases for R2 Records, Planet Mu, and his own Eglo Records. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Sam Shepherd’s first record of 2010 has admirers drooling. People’s Potential first appeared as a single-sided white label earlier this year, but those who waited (myself included) have been rewarded with full artwork and a second track, “Shark Chase.”
BBH: Anthony Rother, Sex With The Machines
April 28, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Growing up listening to the sounds of Kraftwerk, there was one thing in the forefront of Anthony Rother’s mind when he started producing music: introducing others to the chilling machine funk of electro. Through his own Psi49Net label and on others like Kanzleramt he pushed his mechanical, dry take on the genre, proving himself a vital part of an electro revival that was also being championed by people like Drexciya, Aux 88, and latterly the Interdimensional Transmissions crew. Later work on his Datapunk imprint has explored further reaching territories, angling more towards the grey area between electro and techno, but at Rother’s roots lie the bone dry communications of a supposed future in which man is surpassed by machines of his own making.
David Keno, Snatch001
April 27, 2010 – 10:01 PM
For a couple weeks now my friends and I have entertained ourselves on the cheap by playing stacks of 45s at 33, giving into the well worn truth that almost everything sounds better slowed down. Not surprisingly, producers reach for the technique regularly, whether to fit a sample into the groove or in efforts to impart an androgynous “soul” sound unachievable at full speed. On the off chance it’s done well, it can transform whole tracks into something worth hearing time and time again. David Keno tried his hand at the Slowed Vocal Slot Machine for “Upside Down” on his new EP; and while it’s certain to be popular I’m less sure about its playback value.
Mount Kimbie, Remixes Pt. 1
April 27, 2010 – 10:01 AM
As befits two records firmly entrenched in the avant garde, the contributions to these two follow-up remix EPs are pure class, with some of Mount Kimbie’s closest contemporaries on the first and a few Berlin mainstays on the second.
KiNK, Rachel EP
April 26, 2010 – 10:01 PM
After listening to the track “Existence” from KiNK’s Rachel EP for Ovum Recordings, I found myself slightly appalled. Essentially it’s a rework of “Changes of Life,” a 1992 cut by Jeff Mills, done as a tech-house wind up. Fitted with a new set of filters, delays, and freshly phased drum rolls, “Existence” dices up that signature piano riff to closely resemble its exemplar but remain just different enough to warrant being called its own.
Ninca Leece, Feed Me Rainbows
April 22, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Only two releases old, Thesongsays has already accrued an interesting profile. It was initially a platform for Bruno Pronsato’s own productions, chiefly LWE’s number four tune of 2009 “The Make Up The Break Up,” a druggy 38-minute trip through his soundbank. Yet release number two was penned by the hitherto unknown team of Benoit & Sergio, featuring the lovely, saccharine “Full Grown Man.” The third single from Thesongsays is equally unexpected, arriving under the auspices of Franco-German producer Ninca Leece who released an album titled There Is No One Else When I Lay Down And Dream earlier this year. Feed Me Rainbows certainly piques my interest like its predecessors and has me wanting to know more.
F, Energy Distortion
April 22, 2010 – 10:01 AM
French producer F (born Florent Aupetit) works in the broadly defined dubstep-techno crossover zone inhabited by artists like Dave Huismans (2562 and A Made Up Sound), Paul Rose (Scuba and SCB), Martyn and René Pawlowitz (Shed, STP, and EQD). Energy Distortion, his debut full-length for 7even Recordings, bundles three prior EPs (Energy Distortion Parts 1-3) with several bonus tracks, and while this somewhat characterizes it as a compilation there’s a crystalline coherence throughout. There are no superfluous forays into new genres, nor are there moments that depict a relatively young producer still finding his footing. Each track tightly rolls, containing the sort of intensity that increases tenfold when played loudly. Brimming with confidence, it’s the product of an artist with a refined vision and an instinct for crowd-moving structures.
Andrea, You Still Got Me/Got To Forget
April 21, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Popular music has always flirted with the idea of gender ambiguity. David Bowie and indeed much of the glam rock scene supposed flouncy gender-bending alter-egos and it has been a theme employed time and again by many an artist, finding its way into dance music probably first through people like Brian Eno and Throbbing Gristle. Having followed the releases on Modern Love’s offspring imprint Daphne with some fervour, I was surprised however to find out that the Millie & Andrea duo who had been issuing blunt, dreadnought dubs, were in fact not studio-wise ladies with a penchant for bum-worrying bass, but MLZ and Andy Stott. Going it alone for this one, Andrea (Stott) marks the change with two tracks considerably more “feminine” by nature, instilling measured doses of honeyed vocals into both “You Still Got Me” and “Got To Forget.”
Jamie Read, Never The Future EP
April 21, 2010 – 10:01 AM
After digging into the origin of the Joe Louis’s Back To The Beginning release for last year’s BBH review, I realized Jaime Read hadn’t fallen off the face of the earth after a few solid releases in the ’90s and a trickle of collaborative material with Felix Dickinson as L.H.A.S. Inc. (short for Larry Heard Appreciation Society). Contrary to my speculations, he hadn’t given up producing after a few frustrating encounters with the shadier side of the music business so much as fallen into the obligations of domesticity and let music take the backseat. So it came as quite an exciting discovery to learn he was working on new material to be released on UK label Elektrosouls Recordings.
Various Artists, Halal Prepared Vol. 1
April 20, 2010 – 10:01 PM
In Islamic parlance, food that’s been prepared in accordance with Sharia law is designated as halal, similar to the Jewish distinction of kosher foods. So by naming its seventh release Halal Prepared Vol.1 London-based Boe Recordings sends a strong signal regarding the level of respect it affords to house music’s underground fore-bearers and traditions. Yet the three tracks on offer here from KiNK, Iron Curtis and Ladzinski are reverent rather than than obedient — clearly influenced by seminal house releases but more than devotional works of blind faith. It’s likely the critical difference that could earn this EP a place in record buyers’ baskets while its strictly traditional peers huddle on the shelves.
Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City
April 20, 2010 – 10:01 AM
If you’ve followed this website even casually, it won’t stun you to read that I consider Entropic City an exemplary album from one of the most vital voices in techno today. LWE dubbed Brussels’ Peter Van Hoesen one of 2008’s “Breakout Artists” and, for his lengthy run of singles last year, we heralded him as one of five “Artists Who Defined 2009.” With quicksilver bass lines coursing beneath their rough, brambly surfaces, Van Hoesen’s shadowy warehouse tracks have long capitalized on an air of urban dystopia. The ten tracks grouped here, though, show off the producer’s experience in sound design better than ever, and the neglected Gotham skylines and abandoned, lightless interiors evoked prove vivid sonic descriptions of the title chosen for his first album under his own name (though the producer seems to have additionally mined the less figurative, thermodynamic definition for inspiration).
Morphosis, Musafir
April 19, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Rabih Beaini, better known as Morphosis, is the head of the impossibly but irresistibly erratic Morphine label and was responsible for one of my favorite releases of recent years, the moody, reverberations of Dark Myths of Phoenicia Part 2. Given that he also records more freeform music as Ra.H and began his public engagement with electronic music with his own radio show 20 years ago in his native Lebanon, it is no surprise that Beaini’s latest missive doesn’t follow a formula.
Martin Buttrich, Crash Test
April 16, 2010 – 10:01 AM
When was the last time you thought about Martin Buttrich? The German studio wiz and producer (occasionally for hire) just isn’t blowing up on my radar like he used to a few years back, when his Seeing Through Shadows 12″ with Loco Dice for Minus and, of course, “Full Clip” were properly demolishing superclubs and underground parties alike. Ultra-detailed and hugely accessible, Buttrich was an ace in the studio by practically every objective measure. I’m personally surprised that I, a huge fan of those 2006 records and someone who thought Loco Dice’s 7 Dunham Place album from 2008 totally killed it, let him slide so far off my “to check” list. Chalk it up to his relative silence on the release front — Stoned Autopilot and its remix 12″ and a handful of remixes comprise his recent eponymous output — or to his brand of alternately C2-vampy and vaguely tropical digital house more or less falling out of favor, but as someone who follows dance music pretty well, I just haven’t had Martin Buttrich on the tip of my tongue for a few years.