The first extracts from Len Faki’s curate’s egg of a mix CD showcases an established figure, and a relative newcomer. Radio Slave falls into the former category (if you haven’t heard one of his pounding remixes in the last couple of years, you haven’t been near a nightclub), while Tony Lionni is the fresh face in the Berghain finishing school.
review
Andy Stott, Brief Encounter/Drippin
May 19, 2009 – 9:15 PM
When LWE interviewed Shlom, manager of Manchester’s Modern Love imprint, he described Andy Stott as “one of the most musically hungry people I’ve ever met.” It’s an apt characterization of a producer who gobbles up dance music sub-genres and spits back potent hybrids with little concern for which camps might enjoy them. Last year’s Unknown Exception compilation capably documented his approach by collecting wide-ranging singles such as the serrated dub monster “The Massacre” and bass bin-rattler “”Handle With Care.” Stott and his fans have worked up quite an appetite for fresh material after all this looking back, but whether his first single of 2009, “Brief Encounter/Drippin,” will leave listeners satisfied is open for debate.
Santiago Salazar, Arcade
May 18, 2009 – 10:40 PM
If Salazar turned in his needles today he’d leave sporting a first-class resume: member of the legendary Underground Resistance, core contributor to live acts like Los Hermanos, and steady recording mercenary for Carl Craig’s Planet E. So it’s not like S2’s aching for a new belt-notch. If anything, his latest on Macro proves that he’s still out busting his hump like the rest of them to turn out quality music.
Osborne, Hovercrafting EP
May 18, 2009 – 12:43 AM
Osborne’s “Hovercrafting EP” picks up where his Spectral Sound-released debut album left off last year, offering a breadth of styles rendered in characteristically bespoke timbres. The EP revisits “Wait A Minute Now,” first included on the free Ghostly Swim compilation, with two new versions and a potent Arto Mwambe remix. Osborne also slakes his thirst for crossing genre borders on two new tracks that deliver on the promise of his 2008 releases without simply reshuffling the deck.
Peter Van Hoesen, Attribute One EP
May 13, 2009 – 10:24 PM
Whether by coincidence or design, Peter Van Hoesen seemed blessed with good timing in 2008. After spending the better part of the decade producing as Object and Vanno to little fanfare, the Belgian producer suddenly found an enthusiastic audience for the brawny techno cuts released under his own name on his own label, Time to Express, and Lan Music. Berghain residents Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann and Norman Nodge were all noted fans, the audiences they decimated with his tracks were just as keen, and he easily topped LWE’s breakout artists list. Van Hoesen seems poised to leave his mark on 2009 as well, starting with the “Attribute One EP.”
Wolf + Lamb, Brooklynn EP
May 13, 2009 – 10:39 AM
For the past couple years or so, Gadi Mizrahi and Zev have been two of Brooklyn’s key house entrepreneurs. Under the moniker Wolf + Lamb they DJ parties, produce tracks, and release records by themselves and some close friends, all from a dingy art space in Williamsburg known as The Marcy Hotel. Their most recent release, the aptly titled “Brooklynn EP,” finds Wolf + Lamb poised for a breakthrough as a production team and label.
Bloody Mary, Black Pearl
May 12, 2009 – 9:39 PM
Much is made of producers who craft their tracks with a little help from their friends, as if the quality of the track somehow hinges on the authenticity of it being a solo effort. Loco Dice and Timo Maas both produce with Martin Buttrich, though their records sound nothing like each other, and Buttrich’s sound different again. French born Bloody Mary has been releasing some impressive minimal gears for the past couple of years, first with Tassilo Ippenberger and more recently has done so with the help of Sam Sierra. Her debut album, Black Pearl, will be out the first of June on Contexterrior (also their first artist album release) and will feature guest production appearances by Sam Sierra, Argenis Brito, Danton Eeprom, Jay Haze and Jona.
Culoe De Song, The Bright Forest
May 11, 2009 – 11:16 PM
The back story to Culolethu Zulu’s debut release reads like a (energy drink sponsored, house music) fairytale. An eighteen year old kid who had previously never traveled outside his native South Africa, Culoe rocked up to the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona with a bunch of his Afrobeat-infused deep house tracks, blew the competition away and returned home with a contract with one of Germany’s premier house labels.
Jeff Mills, The Good Robot
May 11, 2009 – 9:38 AM
Like death and taxes, Jeff Mills is something of an inevitability. Restlessly creative and prolific even now, more than 20 years after his first release, Mills shows no signs of slowing down, and may just be learning some new tricks at this late stage in the game. Always a vinyl purist — Mills’ famed three-turntable DJ sets are legendary — the Axis and Purpose Maker label boss has recently signed a deal with Beatport to make his tracks available digitally for the first time, even taking the opportunity to issue unreleased bonus tracks (somewhat irking his fellow vinyl purists, of course). With his embracing of today’s technology at long last, Mills’ legendary obsessions with sci-fi and futurism are appropriately on full display on his first release of 2009, “The Good Robot.” Which, of course, is not available digitally.
Kontext, Convex Curved Mirror/Hometown Swamp
May 10, 2009 – 9:38 PM
Kontext is fast emerging as one of those artists who, like Pangaea, have very few titles to their name, but the astonishing quality of the few jewels they’ve dropped place them in a slightly different echelon to the majority. Also akin to Pangaea, Martyn, 2562 and Ramadanman, Kontext takes a wholly un-blinkered view of the music he produces. While journalists and bloggers scramble for suitable pigeon holes the producers set about crafting further genre-defying treats.
Donnacha Costello, The Only Way To Win Is Not To Play the Game
May 6, 2009 – 10:30 PM
With his Minimise label laid to rest before it reached its tenth birthday (Costello felt the name had become almost cliché considering the last few years’ obsession with the genre) the Irishman returns for 2009 on his brand new Look Long imprint, the name reflective of its ethos. After ending 2008 with “It Simply Is” — the emotionally rousing swan song for Minimise — we find Costello in a pensive mood for his new label’s first release.
Alex Cortex, Non-Rigid Designator
May 5, 2009 – 10:48 PM
With a discography dating back to 1996, Alex Cortex already has several tremendous records to his name on Out To Lunch, Ann Aimee, and Platzhirsch Schallplatten. Though probably a favorite of several of your own favorite artists, this discretely prolific Heidelberg resident’s name isn’t one that gets bandied about much. His latest, lane-shifting EP for Pomelo probably won’t change that, but that’s no reason for you not to get familiar.
Âme, Setsa/Ensor
May 5, 2009 – 8:40 AM
Unlike many contemporary producers, Karlsruhe-based duo Ame do not seem particularly attached to the methods and aesthetics that have brought them critical and popular acclaim. There have been no variations on their international breakthrough, “Rej,” or retreads of “Where You At” territory, even though doing either could have meant them broader notoriety. Rather, Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann are committed to not repeating themselves, which means each new platter is a stylistic surprise. Their principled approach has not come without a few puzzled looks — “Fiori” in particular caught some listeners off guard with triplet clusters and lush, proto-techno orchestration — but it’s certainly solidified the group’s fan base and positioned them at the cutting edge of electronic dance music. Yet even those who welcome their curve balls may be surprised by the organic rawness of “Setsa/Ensor,” Ame’s challenging new single.
Sevensol & Bender/Brotherhood, 00 Remixed
May 4, 2009 – 11:15 PM
Leipzig’s Kann Records, masterminded by Bender, Sevensol, and map.ache, kicked off last year with the first of several unremarkable releases drawing mainly from the productions of the label owners. Daniel Stefanik and Sven Weisemann have fashioned remixes of two tracks from that debut 2X12″. Both are frustrating studies in how easy it is for tracks from talented producers to slide into gooey bland ignominy.
Jason Fine, Our Music is a Secret Order Remixed
May 3, 2009 – 10:26 PM
Delivering on the promise of a heavily tipped 12″ for Omar-S’s FXHE label, Jason Fine’s 2008 double-pack for Kontra-Musik, Our Music Music Is A Secret Order, was a remarkably confident collection of understated, soulful techno with vintage Detroit flavor. Owing perhaps to the secrecy of its order, Our Music wasn’t much discussed, but perhaps these reinterpretations from a pair of rising stars will help that.
Various Artists, Pespectiv Family Tree 2
April 29, 2009 – 10:19 PM
Ripperton and Sam K have run a pretty tight ship the past couple of years with the Perspectiv label. They’ve given exposure to the audible charms of their Swiss compatriots and helped push a deep, emotive flavor of techno at the same time. Family Tree II is the second full length artist sampler for the label and with any luck it will become an annual event.
Anstam, Cree
April 28, 2009 – 9:26 PM
Anstam are apparently a pair of brothers from Germany who seem to value anonymity and quality control, infrequently releasing the austere records bearing their name. “Aeto” and “Brom,” their first two 12″s, are notable for industrial atmospheres featuring beats familiar to fans of Warp, Skam, Rephlex, etc. However, Anstam’s music isn’t wholly encompassed by a 90s sound, as they’ve been likened to contemporaries like Distance and Vex’d. The similarities are cosmetic though, as the records aren’t specifically operating within the constraints of dance-oriented music. Nonetheless, they do tap into nostalgia of bygone electronica and encourage sound system brutality.
October, My Left Tool EP
April 28, 2009 – 9:24 PM
Caravan’s dependable Julian Smith follows last year’s dark, bumpy “Say Again” with a second package for Perspectiv. Don’t let the title’s “Tool” cool your interest, though. While this may well be a brilliant record for brokering transitions in your next set, “My Left Tool” is also an autonomous pleasure and evocative journey of a record in itself.
STL, Silent State
April 27, 2009 – 11:03 PM
As the owner and sole driving force behind the label Something, the enigmatic Stephan Laubner manages to freely indulge his prolific nature without sacrificing quality. In 2008 alone he notched up six well rated releases, three of which could be considered albums, only one arriving on another label (“Lost In Brown Eyes” for his friends at Perlon), and he’s already released a new 2×12″ in 2009. Laubner’s efforts also seem immune to easy characterizations. They stretch from massaged field-recordings to wistful deep house, caustic techno to more chipper tech-house treats, and that’s ignoring the many loops etched into most STL releases. What’s surprising, then, about STL’s debut for Smallville Records is not that it turns the page in the self reliant producer’s catalog, but rather its potential to loom large over what came before it.
LoSoul, Slightly/Gridlock
April 26, 2009 – 10:46 PM
“Slightly/Gridlock” is the first of two new LoSoul singles released in anticipation of his third album for Playhouse. If this release is anything to go by, Care will have an enormous range. A-side “Slightly” is a swirl of fat, bright and wet minimal house elements anchored by idiosyncratic drum programming. Like most successful minimal house, “Slightly” combines melodic and rhythmic components seamlessly. A stuttering, filtered, and oddly unrecognizable noise that forays into the track’s third minute, playing with the central riff before switching its focus towards some lonely snares that enter the fray. It always seems to me this quality –- the slippery wrestle of movement and tone until they become indistinguishable — gives the most reduced music its unique charm. “Slightly” affords that sensation generously, and LoSoul seems to have gone one step further by imbuing into his sounds a gregariousness that gives each a little personality unto itself.