Paul Rose has undoubtedly proved himself to be one of the great dance music triple threats of the moment. He’s flexed his mighty A&R muscle at Hotflush, which in the past year helped launched the careers of next-gen buzz magnets like Mount Kimbie and Joy Orbison. (His forward-thinking Sub:stance nights at the Berghain have surely bubbled up from a similar impulse.) He’s emerged as one of the world’s most impressively dexterous DJs (see his Sub:stance mix or, better yet, his latest podcast for RA for proof), dropping dubstep and 4/4 with equally sure hands. And bass sides as Scuba and a recent foray into techno as SCB have been among the underground’s most beloved records as of late.
review
Black Van, Yearning
March 29, 2010 – 10:01 PM
2010 looks like it will be a big year for DFA with the hotly anticipated final album from LCD Soundsystem due out in the next two months. Already they’ve been warming up their release sheet with Yacht, Michocan and Ray Mang featuring a vocal comeback of sorts for Lady Miss Kier. Black Van have also presented their debut on the label, which on closer inspection reveals two veteran producers collaborating on a new disco project. Oliver Kowalski from Hamburg duo Moonbootica and French producer Kris Menace who has remixed everyone from Robbie Williams to Tracey Thorn have come together with ongoing aspirations, Yearning being the first fruit of their labor.
Tevo Howard, Crystal Republic
March 26, 2010 – 10:01 AM
When I think of adjectives to describe acid (the music), words spring to mind that could just as easily describe acid (the solution): “Harsh,” “coruscating” or “abrasive,” all words I associate with the fierce 303s of Phuture, Sleezy D’s “I’ve Lost Control,” Mike Ink, Dr Walker, Unit Mobeius or more recently, Legowelt and Bunker Records. Rare is the track written with a 303 drum-machine that merits the descriptive tag “beautiful” or “graceful.” Marshall Jefferson and Larry Heard are among the talented few who have achieved this (the latter with the peerless mega-hit “Sun Can’’t Compare” a couple years ago), and now Tevo Howard joins their illustrious company with his latest doublepack Crystal Republic on the Rush Hour sub-label Hour House Is Your Rush.
Tolga Fidan, Gaijin EP
March 25, 2010 – 10:01 PM
With the swelling tide of deep house washing over the landscape of electronic music many techno producers have been turning out tracks in this vein as well, whether in order to keep their style current and on-trend or just because they have fallen under the influence of the sound themselves. Others, like Tolga Fidan have continued exploring their signature style, albeit with strains of house creeping in around the edges, evident on his latest release for Vakant.
Conforce, Machine Conspiracy
March 25, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Boris Bunnik’s music may well have been inspired by the wind swept scenery of the tiny island of Terschelling in the Netherlands where he grew up, but more likely it was the random cassette his father found on a beach one day that shaped his penchant for discerning, electronic music. The faceless, black cassette Bunnik played was full of Detroit techno and it was to be the start of a love affair with those sounds that further developed when he moved to the city of Leeuwarden and forged friendships with both Mohlao and Delta Funktionen. After a short run of acclaimed EPs for Rush Hour, Modelisme and Curle, Conforce’s full length debut, Machine Conspiracy appears on the Meanwhile label. It’s a studied, polished exercise in deep and dubby techno from the young Dutch producer.
Kirk Degiorgio, Membrane
March 24, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Back in 1992, Kirk Degiorgio’s first ART EP (originally released by R&S Records) found itself getting licensed to Planet E, albeit in a slightly paired down and remixed form, but nonetheless giving two of productions front and center billing. He returned the favor soon after, providing a home for some of Carl Craig’s finest work under his Psyche and BFC monikers on the ART 3 EP. Fast forward 18 years and Degiorgio has returned to Planet E with his latest 12″, Membrane. With Degiorgio reviving his ART imprint and catching his second wind on the techno front, this would seem a perfect fit if not somewhat of a homecoming.
BBH: Groove Committee, I Want You To Know
March 24, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Nu Groove, perhaps the most famous name in New York house after Strictly Rhythm, is an infamously difficult label to assess. Frank and Karen Mendez had originally started the imprint in 1988 as an outlet for Rheji and Ronald Burrell, former R&B producers (and twin brothers) who had recently parted ways with a major label. But by the time they pressed their last slab in 1992, the label had released over 100 records in seemingly as many club music subgenres. While the Burrells’ early singles remain fresh (especially Rheji’s, in this reviewer’s humble opinion), and the label provided a crucial early home to the likes of Frankie Bones, Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez pre-Masters At Work, and Victor Simonelli (see below), not all of the mélange holds up so well. Despite Nu Groove’s status as a completist’s worst nightmare, its pervasive underground-ness — disco soul emanating from brittle, staunchly low-tech sounds; a reputation built on a minimum image — manages to tie this behemoth of a catalog together. And as Underground Quality sends similar backroom ripples through the house music universe from the Tri-State Area once more, Nu Groove 12″s will undoubtedly wiggle their way out of dusty used bins at a somewhat faster rate.
DJ Bone, Sunday Morning/Sunday Night
March 23, 2010 – 10:01 PM
If you’re an avid LWE reader you may remember DJ Bone’s debut for then unheard of Sect Records that arrived mysteriously in a plain white CD sleeve, which had staff and readers alike speculating over its provenance. Nearly two years on, Sect has introduced the wider world to aspiring techno artists such as Grovskopa, Jolka and even Bone’s own daughter, Aleckxis Jaina — -as well as serving as a reintroduction to the underrated D Knox. Bone, on the other hand, has been keeping steady with his own Subject Detroit label, almost single-handly keeping techno (in a purist’s sense) alive in his hometown.
Kyle Hall, Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel
March 23, 2010 – 10:01 AM
In a city with a rich and diverse cultural heritage like Detroit, it’s not difficult to understand how so many of its native electronic music producers have avoided being penned into a single genre like techno. Following in the footsteps of artists like Kenny Dixon Jr. and Anthony “Shake” Shakir, Theo Parrish and Omar-S, young turk Kyle Hall is the latest to throw off the yoke of listener expectations and create without concern for categories. Hall was raised by a creative clan who engulfed him in house music at an early age and fostered his innate talents with an education at the Detroit School for the Arts. Add to that unfettered access to a world’s worth of music care of the Internet (something his predecessors could only dream of) and you’ve got a free-thinking, well-equiped producer for whom genre boundaries are as outmoded as landline phone service. So far in his relatively brief discocraphy he’s offered everything from delectable house melodies and grinding techno grooves to loose-limbed hip-hop beats and sprawling jazzy excursions. The genrebusters at Hyperdub proved keenly aware of his capabilities when they asked him to remix Darkstar’s “Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer” and positively prescient in nabbing him for his own 12″, Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel. It’s easily his most accomplished release to date.
Abe Duque, Following My Heart/Disco Lights
March 22, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Some artists have the luck of being in vogue innumerable times in their career. This can be said especially for the acid loving techno chap Abe Duque. From his brief time as a keyboardist for NYC techno group Program 2 with Gene LeFosse and Victor Calderon in the early ’90s, through to his explosion into the clubs with oft acid soaked solo productions such as stone cold classics like “Champagne Days, Cocaine Nights” on his eponymous label and most notably the 2004 EP What Happened. Indeed, the latter EP was so influential that all three cuts (including “Disco Lights” which gets a retouch on this recent EP), tend to reappear in sets and mixes with an eerie regularity. This EP is simply an extension of his dumbfounding omnipresence.
Oni Ayhun, OAR004
March 18, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Sometimes you just need to let shit get out of hand. Oni Ayhun seems to understand this perfectly as nearly everything on his fourth record dives right off the deep end. The text accompanying the record on his site discusses both acid and music, but laden with chemical formulas and instructions it’s difficult to decipher. Even the record’s center label is a skewed picture of which might be clearer had I held on to my Avatar 3D glasses. Needless to say, those looking for a return to the melodic stylings of OAR003 should immediately accept that any traces of melody here are accidental: incidents arising unexpectedly from mixing “alkaline component(s), one or more acid salts, and an inert starch.”
Tensnake, Coma Cat
March 18, 2010 – 10:01 AM
Despite what seems like a rapid ascent for Hamburg’s Marco Niemerski, the man best known as Tensnake has been honing his craft for over a decade. His breakout Keep Believin’ EP for Endless Flight and 2009 smash hit, In The End (I Want You To Cry) on Running Back sounded so fully realized because he’d worked out the kinks on one-off singles for smaller labels like Trax of Interest, Various Delight Recordings, and Players Paradise, as well as releases on his own Mirau imprint. With the Coma Cat EP, released by nu-disco hotspot Permanent Vacation, it appears Niemerski’s sound has crystalized even further around the neon tone palatte and taut arrangements that brought him many plaudits on In The End.
Tom Trago, Voyage Direct Remixes Part 2
March 17, 2010 – 10:01 PM
Last year’s Voyage Direct album saw Amsterdam’s Tom Trago manipulate his disco-house to fit a variety of templates, establishing himself as a producer unafraid to cross genre boundaries for dance floor success. The first edition of remixes for Voyage Direct
Seth Troxler, Boogy Bytes Vol.05
March 17, 2010 – 10:01 AM
After four homegrown installations of their Boogy Bytes mix series, BPitch Control broke free of their own roster, judiciously offering the fifth chapter to Berlin’s beloved “baller by definition,” Mr. Troxler. Voted one of the top ten DJs of 2009, it’s comes as no surprise that Troxler’s track selection is as eclectic, varied, and charming as his character is memorable. The mixing is careful and colorful, and the narrative grows more enticing with each end-to-end listen.
Matt O’Brien/Peter Van Hoesen & Donato Dozzy, Into the Red/Talis
March 16, 2010 – 10:01 PM
The Belgian label Curle Recordings continues its impressive release schedule with a pan-European heavyweight techno line-up. Representing the UK is the refreshingly unorthodox Matt O’Brien. Favouring a quality over quantity approach that has not yet projected him into the limelight, O’Brien’s selectiveness is nonetheless admirable. Last year, he delivered two of 2009’s best remixes — the eerie take on The Subliminal Kid on his Offkey Industries imprint, and the insane bell chiming cacophony-led reshape of Roberto Bosco on Mowar — along with the excellent From the Periphery EP. While “Into the Red” marks a fresh departure for O’Brien, it sees him maintain the same high standards.
James Blake, The Bells Sketch
March 16, 2010 – 10:01 AM
I’m not exactly sure how to peg James Blake. But if dubstep professes to be music made for dance floors, then the young British producer almost certainly isn’t making it. His proudly unquantized beats (throbs of crunchy sound more than proper drum-hits) skitter in and out of the mix like confused cockroaches; his melodies, while warm, soulful, and usually ripped from records made in far simpler musical times, float over the proceedings like a minute-old ganja cloud — still pungently present, yet barely there. Despite sounding more than a bit like Untold, who’s championed his productions as labelhead at Hemlock, refashioned as a sleazy lounge act, Blake brings a strangely anthemic quality to productions which otherwise would probably be too experimental (or just downright blazed) for club consumption. Indeed, his latest offering, The Bells Sketch for the seriously in-bloom Hessle Audio label, has already attracted the attention of adventurous jocks like Dub War residents Dave Q and Alex Incyde, who managed to move floors (while simultaneously weirding them out, in a good way) when they each closed out recent sets with the A-side. It’s Blake’s most sophisticated record to date, but that doesn’t mean his dance floor credentials make a whole lot more sense.
Red Rack’em, All I Ever Wanted
March 15, 2010 – 10:01 PM
I read a review recently that took issue with a release not treading new ground, of sticking to familiar pathways within its genre. Like rock music with all of the best chords already used up, there will always be a certain amount of familiarity within electronic music. The 808 and 909 drum sounds are an instantly recognizable feature within the medium, while there are a plethora of production tricks and sounds that are aped, rehashed and re-molded by the bulk of producers. Red Rack’em may not be breaking new soil with his latest twelve for the coveted Untracked label, but through employing some of the classic deep house sounds and themes on the release he also touches on that vital quality of creating a classic vibe.
Elektro Guzzi, Hexenschuss/Elastic Bulb
March 11, 2010 – 11:01 PM
Three or four dudes hunched over laptops, MIDI controllers, and a tangle of cable — is that a band? With relatively few exceptions (the Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Theo Parrish’s Rotating Assembly, and Innerzone Orchestra all come to mind), that’s about as close as you’ll get to one in club music. Plenty of red-blooded guitar wielders have owed a massive debt to house and techno; some, like Animal Collective or Hot Chip, owed one massive enough to make us reconsider the genre to which we’d had them pegged. But has a power trio — the “rock band” in its most elemental form — ever tried to straight-up play techno? On their 12″ debut for eternally unpredictable Macro imprint, Elektro Guzzi do just that, and they claim to do it without overdubs, loops, or laptops.
Falty DL, All In The Place
March 11, 2010 – 11:01 AM
The music of New York based producer Drew Lustman, best known as Falty DL, could lazily be described as dubstep, in part because his records have found homes on Planet Mu and Ramp Recordings, two labels that have pushed a sound which could also be imprecisely termed dubstep. So does his appearance on Rush Hour, an old house standby, mean he’s gone and made a house record? No, the All In The Place EP still contains his characteristically fragmented two-step seen through a kaleidoscope of sounds.
RezKar, Cosmos
March 10, 2010 – 11:01 PM
Rezenio Kariem may not be a name that rolls of the tongue but the reclusive South African producer is slowly building a name for himself under the RezKar moniker. Until last year his output had mainly arrived by way of little known net labels such as Jon7.net Microlabel and Mixomat Recordings, and he may have languished under the radar if not for a stunning contribution to the Meakusma Rüts 2/3 compilation and a couple releases for Altered Moods Recordings. 2010 will very likely see RezKar’s profile heightened with an upcoming release on Running Back and this Cosmos 12″ (also released as 7-track digital release) already out at of the tail end of last year.