Private press labels — those insular imprints built primarily to house an artist’s own work — offer something akin to a Fortress of Solitude for their owners. When Shed, Swayzak, Villalobos or Levon Vincent wants to release a record unbound by the expectations of label owners and their bean counters, they retreat to their respective private press labels and turn their unadulterated visions into a vinyl realities. So when such a label invites an outsider into their hand stamped fiefdom it can be interpreted as a sign of great respect towards the invitee. If most label additions are unsurprising (Reboot and Los Updates on Sei Es Drum, Norman Nodge on MDR), the name emblazoned on “Klockworks 05” is sure to raise eyebrows. The first outside artist released on Ben Klock’s self-styled Klockworks label is the virtually unknown DVS1, a Russian born, Minneapolis-based producer most often affiliated with his Hush promotion company. Any concerns about letting an American (and a Midwesterner not from Detroit, to boot) take the reins will surely be allayed by caliber of “Klockworks 05.”
review
BBH: Steve Bicknell, Lost Recordings Number 1: Why? & For Whom?
It was 1996. The UK’s techno scene was reaching the tail end of its “golden” period. By 1998, the landscape would have changed irrevocably, with the one-note loop dullards dominating, flooding the scene with cheap knock-offs of Purposemaker’s dynamism. However, just as the lights started to fade, Steve Bicknell, the resident DJ and promoter at London techno mecca Lost stepped up with the Lost Recordings series (confusingly, on the Cosmic label).
A Made Up Sound, Rework/Closer
After falling under dubstep’s spell, Dave Huismans was, like a lot of people, eager to get his hands dirty and produce some tracks of his own. However, situated as he was in the Hague — well outside the South London epicenter of the day — he was hesitant to jump into a genre whose impact, at that time, had a lot to do with the insular vitality of its scene. He finally gave in, though, by embracing his outsider status. Banking on differences in background, geography, and taste to, in his words, “add a different sound to the spectrum,” his early forays into dubstep found a distinct voice that, among other things, drew heavily on techno. In turn, the more overtly techno productions he’s recorded since then for his A Made Up Sound project have tended to sound gripped by an enthusiasm for dubstep, which, interestingly enough, has made him something of an outsider in techno as well. It’s a status he seems comfortable with, allowing the AMUS brand to operate outside any scene narrative or, for that matter, pat auteurist line. It hasn’t stopped these records from finding an audience, either. Indeed, there’s been enough interest that Huismans has dedicated a new label to A Made Up Sound. “Rework/Closer” is its first release.
Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, U & I/The Jam
Touching hearts is only half of the Prosumer & Murat Tepeli experience, as evidenced once again by their first single since 2008, the rousing “U & I/The Jam.” Setting aside emotional themes to reach for their dancing shoes, Prosumer and Tepeli have crafted an irresistible call to the floor.
Roska, TWC EP
To put it nicely, garage MC turned funky functionalist Roska isn’t exactly what you’d call a home listening guy. While his super-percussive tools work perfectly in the club, they hardly evolve enough to maintain your headphoned attention. Even in their intended environs, a DJ has little reason (aside from track length, which can occasionally push a tedious eight minutes) to choose one Roska track over another; they’e all basically some iteration of the same kicks-and-snares (plus supermassive bass) patterns for which the man born Wayne Goodlitt named his label. Admittedly, Roska’s jams have become slightly more intricate and interesting with each release, and his recent remix of Untold’s “Just For You” hinted more than ever at broader compositional horizons for his pitch-perfect drum samples. But the quality of the tunes found on the “TWC EP” — while falling far short of stone-cold classics — still comes as something of a shock. It’s as if this guy woke up one morning, ate Sven Weisemann for breakfast, made an appointment with Efdemin’s tailor, and became a fully-fledged dub house producer by midday. Behold the first 100-percent recommendable Roska record.
Vladislav Delay, Tummaa
When we last left Sasu Ripatti he was serving as the all-important drummer in Moritz von Oswald’s trio of electronic-jazz explorers. Before that he was serving up another slice of experimental-techno-poetry-pop with partner AGF in the form of their debut album, Symptoms. And in late 2008 we received Luomo’s Convivial, his fifth album which was noteworthy for its numerous collaborators and vocalists. See a trend? The man I’ve always pictured a loner, producing during cold, lonely winter nights, has proven to be quite the collaborator. Luckily for us, this has proven to be a welcome development. Not only is his name popping up more often than ever, but Mr. Ripatti’s projects have evolved and new ones have been born, and old standby Vladislav Delay, his main and perhaps most critically acclaimed identity, has not been spared. In a first, the new Vladislav Delay album is partially the work of a trio: Ripatti, Lucio Caprece on clarinet and saxophone, and Craig Anderson on the Rhodes. The final product, however, is all the doing of Ripatti, who manipulated and rearranged recordings of Caprece and Armstrong as the basis for Tummaa.
Still Going, Spaghetti Circus/Untitled Love
On July 12, 1979, during the intermission of a doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, rock radio DJ Steve Dahl hosted an event called Disco Demolition Derby at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Amidst cries of “disco sucks!” a seething army of Middle America, fifty thousand strong, participated in the destruction of disco records, culminating in a near-riot and prompting the appearance of police on horseback. Though the myopic, racist, homophobic nature of such an event should be glaringly obvious, the likes of Dahl have had a lasting effect on popular conceptions of dance music, and particularly of disco. Since then, the efforts of those who produce and play disco are often branded with the faddish tag, “revival,” invoking the “day disco died” as an actual fact and a possible recurrence.
Rainer Trueby, To Know You/Ayers Rock
Rainer Trüby’s name (slightly misspelled) is the one on this record’s label, but he is not the only person responsible for the music in its grooves. There is a whole cast of characters to go through, but since Trüby is not exactly a household name himself, it might as well start with him. A key player in the nebulous “future jazz” sub-genre, Trüby titled his 2003 debut album Elevator Music, cheekily anticipating the criticisms most likely to be leveled at his smooth, mellow music. Danilo Plessow, better known by his production alias Motor City Drum Ensemble, is a collaborator on these two tracks. Equally crucial, however, are certain other collaborators unaware of their own involvement: Roy Ayers, Syreeta Wright, and Stevie Wonder. Ayers is mentioned by name on “Ayers Rock,” based on an uncredited track (tracks?) by the legendary soul-jazz vibraphonist. It is reminiscent of one of Plessow’s edits as MCDE: a chiming Rhodes, snatches of a soulful female vocal, and real hands really clapping. You’ve heard it all before, but you rarely hear it done this well.
Delta Funktionen, Electromagnetic Radiation Part 2
One of the great things about electronic music is that it constantly allows new producers the opportunity to shine. Despite the increasingly high volumes of music released, it is still possible — arguably the high proportion of substandard work makes it even easier to get noticed nowadays, but that warrants another piece, hell, even a thesis — for talent to get noticed. Before last year, Niels Luinenberg couldn’t get arrested, but after two after two releases in 2008, the deep dubbed out “Electromagnetic Radiation Part 1” and the sinister and more satisfying “Silhouette” for Ann Aimee, the latest release under the Delta Funktionen pseudonym is eagerly awaited.
DJ Hell feat. P. Diddy, The DJ (Radio Slave Remix)
When I read in July that Radio Slave would be joining hands with DJ Hell and P. Diddy on a 28-minute remix of the latter pair’s recent collabo, “The DJ,” I felt as though I had finally found the master plan behind my existence. “Go forth,” God seemed to be saying from between the lines of this bizarre Resident Advisor news blurb, “and review this record.”
Stream an exclusive track from Model 500
Juan Atkins and his Model 500 project are at the cornerstone of what we know as Detroit techno, so finding out there’s a new song from this legendary group is like a religious adherent realizing their holy book has a previously unknown chapter (or something close). The fine folks at Fabric nightclub have made this a reality in anticipation of Mr. Atkins playing there on September 26th. “Huesca,” previously released only with a magazine comp, features a warped electro gait encircled by flowing strings and twinkling keys. LWE is your exclusive authorized provider of this little gem, which you can snap up below.
The Mountain People, Mountain008
In the span of seven releases, André Schmid and contributors Serafin and Roman Bruderer have charted a wide-ranging course for the Zurich-based Mountain People label. But whether the records paid homage to seminal house tunes (“Mountain001”) or helped spark the return of tribalized minimal house (“Mountain005”), their impeccable construction was conspicuously identifiable as a Mountain People production. Schmid (better known as Rozzo or Peter Dildo) imparts a certain snappiness, a sexy gait such that even the label’s lowest points (the threadbare “Mountain006″) are far more palatable than the majority of house singles I receive. While the eighth Mountain People 12” is equally surefooted, the record’s droning arrangements are more aligned with those of Schmid’s other guises than its predecessors. The results are less compelling than one might imagine.
Floating Points, Vacuum EP
To say it has been a good year for Sam Shepard, aka Floating Points, is a gross understatement. He started 2009 as a relative unknown, but thanks to four faultless releases has quickly become an exciting new talent keenly watched by all manner of musical enthusiasts. His debut 7″ release, “For You,” quickly pricked up the ears of purveyors of chalky hip-hop and squashed funk before he grabbed the listening cavities of house heads with the endless cresting waves of sunshine on wax via “Love Me Like This.” Left-footed dubstep pundits were also sated with his “J&W Beat” twelve on Mu and now he returns with possibly his best work yet on his own imprint with the “Vacuum EP.”
Ike Release/Hot City, Ike Release vs. Hot City
I think we can pretty much all agree that when we’re talking about dubstep these days, we’re only nominally talking about dubstep. Like the theorized supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, that anemic, bass-powered sound of South London constituting dubstep in the strictest sense keeps a nearly infinite cosmic soup of highly disparate sounds in constant motion without registering much of a blip on its own. High-profile podcasts like The Village Orchestra’s “Blank Page” mix (moving from Boards of Canada to Zomby to Drexciya) and mnml ssgs’s recent SCB mix (in which Paul “Scuba” Rose finds parity between headfucker Donato Dozzy and funky drummer Roska) ostensibly rep dubstep in 2009 as much as DJ Hatcha’s “Dubstep Allstars: Vol. 01” mix comp did in 2004. It’s not uncommon in dance music for the signifier to lose its signified (see: minimal techno), but it’s perhaps rare for a genre or sub-genre to improve as its title becomes diluted to the point of possible meaninglessness. While the line between Horsepower Productions and the Hotflush roster might not be yardstick-straight, but how brilliant is it that such a line exists in the first place?
Mike Dehnert, Umlaut 2
When the Clone label announced it was turning the lights out earlier this year it was a sad day for techno/electro obsessives like myself. But as it turns out the label’s death has been greatly exaggerated, or at least has pumped creative spirit into other, more focused areas. The result so far has been a steady stream of releases on what might be called “boutique” sub-labels such as the Club Series, Loft Supreme Series, West Coast Series and the Jack For Daze Series; all fall under the Clone banner while each concentrates on a specific style of electronic music. Confused yet? Well just this past month they unveiled one more imprint called the Clone Basement Series, keying in on hard-boiled dance tracks. Based on that criterion it makes sense to find Tresor resident Mike Dehnert in charge of the first release.
Motor City Drum Ensemble, Raw Cuts #5/#6
I don’t have strong feelings either way about Motor City Drum Ensemble’s “main line” releases for Four Roses or, most recently, 20:20 Vision. But I can’t help but adore his off-the-cuff “Raw Cuts” records. Hastily produced by design, Danilo Plessow tries not to over think the music. His goal is to take just two hours to assemble a track from samples of soul, funk, and disco and his own custom beats, slam down the hood, and put them on the road. If it’s just mucking about in the shop for Plessow, though, last month’s Resident Advisor charts indicate DJs are all too happy to field test the results. And it’s easy to see why — these deep, soulful tracks are hugely infectious, backing uptempo immediacy with what seems (at least so far) to be a lasting shine. Though the “Motor City” of his chosen moniker also refers to the German auto mecca Plessow calls home (that’s Stuttgart), there’s no denying a certain Detroit classicism on these records. From the well-insulated thump of the kick drum to the velvety organ chords, Plessow certainly isn’t hiding his Moodymann CDs in the glove box.
BBH: Cluster & Eno, Cluster & Eno/Eno, Moebius & Roedelius, After the Heat
Here’s a proposition, possibly reductive, probably true: the German duo Cluster (Dieter Moebius and Hans Joachim Roedelius) were the only Krautrock act to make the usual artistic trajectory, from incipient experimentalism to more approachable, populist moves, without trading in one iota of their humour or their peculiar genius. Can and Tangerine Dream lost it; Faust and Ash Ra Tempel watered down most of their ideas (Faust’s “Krautrock” and Manuel Gottsching’s E2-E4 notwithstanding); Amon Duul II aren’t worth mentioning; perhaps only the other great Krautrock duo NEU!, of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, made it to the late 1970s with their aesthetics intact. Tracing Cluster’s history is a grand thing to do. Starting as Kluster, with third member Conrad Schnitzler, they released several albums of hard-nailed, formless analogue electronics, Klopfzeichen (Schwann, 1970), Zwei-Osterei (Schwann, 1971) and Eruption (1971), which were as vast and cold as the Arctic tundra, forbidding and steely in their gravity. After losing Schnitzler, the first two duo Cluster albums, 71 (Phillips, 1971) and Cluster II (Brain, 1972), explored similar terrain — an improvised meta-music that satellites out from the big bang of late ’60s counter-cultural disruption, where academic electronic music and the freedoms of rock at its most structurally footloose met on even terrain.
Aroy Dee, The Planets
Originally released six years ago by Jochem Peteri (aka Newworldaquarium) on the NWAQ label — which also featured a co-production by Peteri under his other, less-known 154 guise — this limited edition re-release now boasts a remix from Vince Watson which dates back to 2004. Maybe the post-minimal landscape has made listeners and DJs more receptive again to warm, rich sounds, but speculation aside, there is no doubt that in the past few years the small group of producers that release on the Dutch techno/house stronghold of Delsin, NWAQ, M<O<S and Ann Aimee has enjoyed a golden run of form, consistently releasing great deep dance floor music. Clearly, ignoring trends and sticking to what they know best has paid off in recent times, but the magic was always there — and six years since it first appeared, “Planets” has lost none of its charms.
Silent Servant/Santiago Salazar, La Noche/La Minoria
The second installment from the vital Historia Y Violencia label tracks two further impeccable emissions from Messrs Mendez and Salazar. For “La Noche,” Silent Servant again digs deep into the vault of Basic Channel rhythms, weighing in with a concrete textured, knuckle scraping journey through some very gritty terrain. Obviously Silent Servant’s Sandwell District camp buddies have been rubbing off on him; the punishing, cruel as winter tones matched with luckless, dead end chords sounding every bit as menacing as an early Downwards release. While there is an ascendant trajectory propelling the chords, their path is narrow and ultimately circuitous, destined to travel the same bleak pathways time and again.
Ancient Methods, Fourth Method
Rough, in your face techno has made a resurgence this year with big labels like Ostgut Ton and Sandwell District leading the onslaught. Further in the back but no less vital is Ancient Methods, a duo based in (where else?) Berlin who specialize in techno so rugged it sends the Deuce record running for cover. Much about Ancient Methods defies expectations for imprints with similar aesthetics: Rather than hand-stamped white labels we receive beautiful marbled vinyl emblazoned with the horns of Jericho on their labels. Instead of obligatory 4/4 rhythms, most of the beats feel broken (though not crushed), and the industrial noises Ancient Methods coerce from their machines give the delightfully dark impression something went terribly wrong (yet oh so right).