They may not happen with the greatest frequency but one thing is assured upon tracking down a new Robag Wruhme release — you will be entertained. The veteran producer has a knack of injecting his tracks with a certain buoyancy and mirth that few others manage to conjure with each successive release. The latest on Vakant, “Abusus Adde,” finds Mr. Schablitzki in top maniacal form, with three cuts that not only prove to be weighty peak time contenders but also remind you dance music is meant to be fun.
review
Various Artists, All Night Long EP’s 1 & 2
June 30, 2009 – 10:03 AM
Dubstep may have found a novel approach to its inherent darkness and sparseness in techno; might there be an alternate path, though, one in which dubstep finds less subterranean manifestations in the dapper grooves of house? Aus Music, the debonair and slightly experimental tech-house imprint founded by Will Saul and Fin Greenall, answered in the affirmative with its recent and astounding Appleblim & Komonazmuk rework of (Greenall-fronted) Sideshow’s “If Alone.” The label continues its genre-melding trek with two new EPs of exclusive tracks from All Night Long, Saul’s new mix celebrating Aus’s twentieth release. Though never quite reaching the sublime heights of “If Alone,” Saul has curated four generally strong sides of house music in flux.
Gravious, Futurist EP
June 29, 2009 – 11:46 PM
An aptly titled release for Glaswegian Ali Jackson on his début for the always interesting Highpoint Lowlife label out of San Francisco. Inspiration for the EP apparently came after Jackson read William Gibson’s The Gernsback Continuum, a sci-fi short set in the 1930’s whose protagonist experiences fractured glimpses of an improbable, far off future. Suitably the sounds employed on the “Futurist EP” take this past-looking-forward approach to heart, some sounding as kitschy as UFO movies looked in the 1950’s.
Holger Zilske, Holz
June 26, 2009 – 10:48 AM
If you figure in Holger Zilske’s release history as Smash TV, Mindlab and Acrid Gain then his debut solo album has been a long time in the incubation chamber. Fifteen years after the German appeared as Acrid Gain on an old hardcore mix (incidentally available on cassette at the time) we receive the long player Holz, which translates in English as timber. Of course we’ve heard a full length from Zilske before under the Smash TV moniker, but that was with then production partner Michael Schmidt and sound wise the two outfits are definitely their own entities. Stylistically, his Mindlab project (also featuring Schmidt), which only released one twelve on the now defunct Salo is the closest link to the recent solo material from the Berlin based producer.
Sendai, System Policy
June 25, 2009 – 10:09 PM
Peter Van Hoesen is a very busy man, releasing a whirlwind of records in the past year. At a time when uncompromising techno has been all the rage, Van Hoesen has been exploring the area where the dark sounds of Berghain meet the atmospherics of dub techno. He’s been shaping Time to Express into one of the premier techno labels around with killer records such as this year’s “Attribute One,” and continues the label’s ongoing run of quality releases with Yves De Mey as Sendai.
Luke Hess, Light In The Dark
June 25, 2009 – 10:03 AM
Luke Hess is apparently determined to escape any and all pigeonholing that may come with his being a techno producer from the fabled city of Detroit. By infusing his streamlined Detroit techno with various elements of dub, field recordings, and, ahem, Jesus, Hess shows it’s possible to emerge and flourish from under the mighty shadow (and baggage) of the Motor City.
Norm Talley, The Journey
June 24, 2009 – 10:25 PM
Norm Talley, along with “Beatdown Brothers” Delano Smith and Mike “Agent X” Clark, has been waiting a while for the world to catch up with him. Inspired and mentored by legendary Detroit disco DJ Ken Collier, Talley and his friends started spinning in the mid-80s, but somehow remained unknown outside the Motor City until the early 00s, when London-based label Third Ear Recordings released a compilation of their productions under the iconic title Detroit Beatdown (Volume One). Of course the remix package that followed spawned the massive Carl Craig remix of Theo Parrish’s “Falling Up”, but it also resulted in a Wax Poetics feature, appearances at Fabric, and influential European DJs such as Efdemin repping the warmer, slower Beatdown approach to house music.
Untold, I Can’t Stop This Feeling
June 23, 2009 – 11:30 PM
Untold, aka producer Jack Dunning, released his first record a little over a year ago on Hessle Audio (the fabulous “Kingdom”), and soon after started Hemlock Recordings, specializing in his own brand of experimental dupstep. Now he’s back for more on Ramadanman and Pangaea’s label with “I Can’t Stop This Feeling,” pushing his sound, and indeed the sound known as dubstep, further into uncharted waters. That Untold’s music sounds unlike most of his peers is a given, but on “I Can’t Stop This Feeling” he manages to surprise even those who’ve followed his releases, turning in two absolutely mad tunes bursting at the seams with creativity.
Various Artists, Dérive Vol. 1
June 23, 2009 – 8:25 AM
One of my very favorite records of last year was the fifth transmission from Workshop, anchored by an incredible standalone Benjamin Brunn track and earning its keep with complementary stunners from Da Halz and Rising Sun (names then unknown to me). So I felt a little quickening of the heart as I scanned the tracklist of this, the first release from the new Diamonds & Pearls-distributed Dérive Schallplatten. This record, too, is headed by an outstanding Brunn track, and offers the mystique of a pair of new names in Achim Maerz and Christopher Rau. The comparisons more or less end there, but this Hamburg-centric platter is nevertheless an exciting, sonically eclectic collection.
Brackles/Shortstuff, Broken Harp
June 22, 2009 – 9:58 PM
A true rising star of the dubstep scene, Brackles is already a frequent fixture at London’s Sunday night Fwd sessions and as his recent FACT mix testifies he knows how to put the tunes together. Sharing a double headed winner late last year with Shortstuff on Geiom’s Berkane Sol label, the pair team up proper in 2009 for “Broken Harp” on Pollen.
Various Artists, In Loving Memory 4:4
June 19, 2009 – 8:31 AM
The title of Styrax’s In Loving Memory series is both intriguing and provocative. Is the compilation intended as the final epitaph on techno’s gravestone? A nostalgic tribute to the pioneers of all things deep and dubby? A signpost to the mournful nature of much of the music contained in the four volumes? Or just a Moodymann reference?
Efdemin, Métisse 2.5
June 18, 2009 – 9:59 PM
Some two years after the original release of “Acid Bells,” Efdemin’s subtle and refined piece of minimalism, Martyn gets his hands on it and takes it to a whole new level. This had apparently been in the works for some time but was held off until Martyn’s full length was released. While you can hear the unmistakably bold drums employed by the Dutchman in his “Dark Mix,” there’s not a lick of the sweet pads and soothing textures that proliferated Great Lengths. Instead, Martyn heightens the percussion, adding densely packed tribal elements on top of the metallic bells from the original and fires up a barely contained bass line, like a monster come down from the hills to frighten the poor village folk. Uneasy strings are drawn out and just seem to hang in the air, adding tension to the track, playing off the brash sound of the bells.
Various Artists, Enjoy the Silence Vol. 1
June 18, 2009 – 8:20 AM
Back in the summer of 2007, Chris Mann began his review of the Soul Jazz Box of Dub with the following statement: “Most compilations are like group photos: someone always has their eyes closed.” I find this usually tends to be true, and never more so than on Mule Electronic’s Enjoy The Silence Vol. 1. This collection of ambient music by house and techno producers ranges from excellent to completely boring, with typically impressive names falling into both camps. All in all, it is a pretty dull release, despite a few strong moments.
King Midas Sound, Dub Heavy-Hearts And Ghosts EP
June 17, 2009 – 10:25 PM
Truly deserving of the tag future dub, the music created by Kevin Martin of The Bug and vocalist Roger Robinson sits somewhere to the left of dubstep entirely, occupying a cavernous chamber of otherworldly bass and washed out soul stylings. With only two original tracks to their discography, it may seem a tad early in their history to be releasing an EP of versions, though I suspect any new King Midas Sound material will be welcomed by fans ahead of their hugely anticipated debut full length.
BBH: DJ Jasper, Automation EP
June 17, 2009 – 8:27 AM
The end of the nineties was a very interesting time in techno for America. While the focus had squarely been on Detroit for some years, people like Damon Wild, Freddy Fresh, Joey Beltram, Steve Stoll, Woody McBride and Frankie Bones were already highlighting other pockets of forward thinking synthetic electronics. Few though factored in San Francisco as a hotbed of techno activity; its name synonymous with tripped out house and the warehouse parties that made use of the cheap space in the Soma area. Two labels went a long way to dispel this generalization of the city though — Organised Noise and Cytrax. The latter was set up by Kit Clayton, Steve Tang and John Mendez. The label was host to a small like-minded group of friends — among them Sutekh, Markus Miller, Twerk and DJ Jasper. Their releases were undeniably influenced by the tracky style of Chicago’s Relief Records but with a nod to electro; they were also infused with a more experimental flavor, which Kit Clayton especially would go on to explore further via his output on Pole’s ~scape imprint among others.
Urban Tribe, Social Engineering
June 16, 2009 – 9:11 PM
Under the Urban Tribe moniker, Detroit’s Sherard Ingram quickly built a following for his quality down-tempo fare with help from labels like Mo Wax and collaborators such as Kenny Dixon Jr., Carl Craig, and Anthony Shakir. Since then, and under a variety of guises, he’s increasingly trended toward sped-up, acid-inflected electro and, in the process, conspicuously added James Stinson to the above list. Social Engineering is one of the more feverish entries to Ingram’s catalog, and surely one of the best.
Kassem Mosse, Workshop 08
June 16, 2009 – 8:15 AM
Workshop releases only a few records a year, emphasizing quality over quantity. Luckily for buyers this means each new Workshop record can be bought without hesitation, as there hasn’t been a dud in the bunch. They turn away from whatever may be popular at the time and shoot for longevity, opting for records that reveal themselves over time. After what was, for my money, the best record in the series (the sometimes ethereal, other times ghastly “Workshop 03”), Kassem Mosse steps up once again and give us “Workshop 08,” a contender for the label’s standout release.
The Chain, Letting Go
June 15, 2009 – 11:40 PM
London’s Dan Foat and Nathan Boddy released “Droidnosh” on Mule Electronic last year as Foat & Boddy. But just because they’ve named their new project after a song on Rumours doesn’t mean the newly resurgent R & S has gone soft on us. If the pounding rhythms and undulating synths found on the first release since their rechristening are any indication, The Chain wish to have their name taken quite literally. “Letting Go” contains the sort of well-oiled machine music you’d expect from the Belgian, home-away-from-home of Detroit techno. Can The Chain take the label’s classic rave style and, like Radio Slave and Shed (remixing Steve Lawler) on its last two slabs, give us a reason to buy off the new release shelf instead of digging through the used bin for the classics?
Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre Du Printemps (Stefan Goldmann Edit)
June 11, 2009 – 7:45 PM
Writing in 1626, Francis Bacon described “…sound-houses, where we practise and demonstrate all sounds and their generation… we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds… We have all means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances.” (The New Atlantis).The manipulation of sounds, found or manufactured, into the futuristic and new is an impulse that has accompanied the musical urge, it would seem, for hundreds of years. It motivated Luigi Russolo to build his intonarumori at the turn of the last century: these were huge horns attached to boxes, the full set of which would fill a large room. In performances with classical orchestras after the first World War, Russolo elevated his mechanical tinkering into something that might have been the first true electronic music. Around the same time, Igor Stravinsky released his “Le Sacre Du Printemps,” a piece widely thought to be a cornerstone in musicological development.