Listening to “Lonely One,” the latest single from Motor City Drum Ensemble, I found myself focusing on the artist’s name more than his music. In all likelihood the Stuttgart-based producer (nee Danilo Plessow) picked the moniker as homage to Detroit’s many pioneering artists or as an unacknowledged nod to his hometown’s manufacturing claim to fame, but I can’t help feeling suspicious of his choice. A bit more than a year after minimal’s popularity bubble went bust, many producers and fans have found comfort in the “realness” seemingly innate in Chicago house and Detroit techno. Plessow’s music is likewise influenced by Detroit sounds; but as the press material for “Lonely One” admits, his is an outsider’s take that aims for more than emulation. Why then opt for an alias so tied to that ethos?
review
Tobias. & Efdemin, Phantasma Vol. 1
To anyone who’s been following house and techno recently, a split EP by Efdemin and Tobias. sounds like a sure shot. The former has delivered several years of ceaseless quality, while the latter had an especially impressive run in 2008. Both are at a point where it seems they can do no wrong. Unfortunately, “Phantasma Vol. 1” disproves this notion. As the first installment in a series on Diamond & Pearls Music, it’s decent at best — more than can be said for plenty of releases in general, but much less than we’ve come to expect from these two.
Brendon Moeller, The Big Thrill
Moeller’s latest takes the echoey atmospheres from last year’s “Electricity” EP and injects them with some big-room steroidal girth, resulting in muscular late-night dub techno. Besides flushed and sweeping filters, the means to providing the “Big Thrill” in question seems to be a very prominently mixed low end, particularly the bass, a face-slapper rough with grizzly saturation. It’s thunderous bass that yearns to be free, a brown-note floor-rattler so forceful that home listeners (who will doubtlessly enjoy “The Big Thrill” there, as well) will have to acknowledge they’re missing the full experience imparted in a club.
Martyn, Great Lengths
After notching up a slew of killer cuts last year and an equally impressive array of remixes, ears have been pricked in anticipation of Martyn’s full length debut. Originally a drum and bass producer, it seems the Dutchman (real name Martijn Deykers) has all but defected to dubstep, rapidly cultivating himself a sterling reputation over the last year and a half for his impeccably turned out sound. Alongside Romanian peer TRG, Martyn’s productions map some of the most easily assailable crossover points between the dubstep and techno divide. Typically more clubby than the likes of Shackleton and Pangaea, yet no where near the raved up wonk of pundits like Skream, Benga et al., Martyn has managed to forge himself a neat little niche in the dubstep realm.
Shake, Levitate Venice
Anthony “Shake” Shakir told Detroit’s Metro Times in 2002 he sometimes felt “like the invisible man of techno.” This rueful admission may well be partly true. While Shake’s first track was included on the compilation that coined the genre name (Techno: The New Dance Sound Of Detroit), he’s never had the high profile other Detroit first wavers have enjoyed. This outsider status is in some ways self imposed. Shake’s music has always been too idiosyncratic, too eclectic, too damn futuristic to fit in with any hype, trend or zeitgeist. Compare this to the single-minded approach of peers such as schoolmate Mike Huckaby or fellow drumming student Robert Hood, and it’s apparent that maybe a lack of a signature sound resulted in this long-term under appreciation. A typical Shake release, if there is such a thing, traverses genres, tempos and moods without even blinking. So it is with “Levitate Venice,” his first record for some four years.
Wareika, Ascending, Descending
Wareika have chalked up some impressive releases since they first appeared in early 2008 “Men Village.” Their organic deep house and slightly more tech related fare has found its way in to many a discerning jock’s box, and they even managed to make a half respectable go of The Door’s “Riders On The Storm.” With all three members being rather accomplished musicians as well as being involved in other notable projects my own expectations were rather high for their new EP.
Matt John, Radio Self
It’s been a quiet beginning to 2009 for the esteemed Perlon label. In fact, they haven’t been heard from since the October 2008 release of the CD version of Ricardo Villalobos’ Vasco project, itself made up mainly of material previously released on vinyl. Blame it on the economy if you must, but there’s no questioning the musical landscape has shifted during Perlon’s silence as the dance universe moves further and further away from minimal tech-house of the last few years in favor of other sounds: dubstep, deep house, and others. While the label’s (and Matt John’s) first release of 2009 certainly won’t bring about any sort of widespread revival, it slips on like a comfortable old shoe or worn-in sweatshirt and reminds us what a reliable and quality label Perlon is.
Various Artists, Secret Weapons EP (Part Three)
Innervisions made its name on records from its close-knit family of Âme, Dixon, Henrik Schwarz, Tokyo Black Star et al., so the label’s “Secret Weapons EP” series has acted as its window to the rest of the house and techno world. Combining Dixon’s voracious A&R appetite, the label’s esteemed reputation and a host of overlooked gems, “Secret Weapons” allowed Innervisions to release tracks it believed in without enlarging its roster. Although recent 12″s from Lil’ Tony, Boola and Culoe De Song suggest a softening of this attitude, Innervisions’ taste-making ears prove as sharp as ever for “Secret Weapons EP (Part Three).”
Ben Klock, One
The early bird hype on One hinted it was very self-consciously an “album.” Some suggested Ben Klock had discarded the Berghain-tested stompers that made his name for a more mature sound, perhaps even an attempt at a grand artistic statement. Alarm bells rang: What this often means is an album with a couple of killer tracks at best and a lot of filler. Surely Klock hadn’t gone soft and released an album of downbeat noodlings and scrappy experiments?
Download this: WhoMadeWho, The Plot (The Mole remix)
Although The Mole’s productions rarely step outside the comfy confines of house and techno, his often loop-centric style seems at home with less electronic source material. So our ears perked up when we heard he was joining French merrymakers Nôze and Discodeine in remixing the latest from Danish dance-punks WhoMadeWho. His thick and hoary take plays up the track’s foreboding mood with scores of textural elements: shards of metal percussion, hollowed out vocals, sucked in breaths, and tense melodies whining in the background. You might not hear this one caned in clubs near you, but don’t be surprised if you get sucked into its sonic cyclone for a few repeat spins.
Jitterbug, Raw Winter EP
It’s taken London-based label Uzuri only six releases to define its coherent signature sound. 12″s from Cassy, Lerosa, Move D, Vakula and DJ Aakmael have cast Süd Electronic’s sister imprint as purveyor of raw house cuts conspicuously influenced by the genre’s American forefathers. Uzuri’s latest is also Jitterbug’s artistic debut, and its three original cuts and attendant DJ Qu remix fit easily into the mold set out by its predecessors.
Stefan Goldmann, Art of Sorrow
After a year that saw Stefan Goldmann in top form with “Radiant Grace” and the issue of his collected singles as the album The Transitory State, 2008 ebbed with “Wolverine,” a slightly lackluster affair that failed to deliver the same punch as the string of previous impeccable releases. Goldmann’s first offering of 2009 will address that balance with a startling double header on the new Victoriaville imprint, a mixture of melody and mayhem that is setting alight techno and dubstep camps alike.
Cage & Aviary, Television Train
Disco might have regained lost popularity in the last couple years, but more often than not, it’s still a collectors’ game. Take Cage and Aviary (Jamie Paton and Nigel Hoyle), a partnership which began on the super-vogue Dissident Distribution label. Releasing one-sided and ultra-limited edition singles, Cage and Aviary’s 200 copies per record would almost surely lose money for Dissident — if the label cared about promotion or profit. Instead, Dissident has become a means to an end, letting Cage and Aviary to, as they describe it, “win the cosmic lottery” and begin their recording careers.
Henrik Schwarz/Âme/Dixon, The Grandfather Paradox
This seems to be the learned lesson of the Innervision team’s stunning 2-disc comp The Grandfather Paradox. Their laser-focused curatorial skills deftly traverse a musical history so broad that we’re left with a series of epiphanies about form and genre that taken together read: we were minimal, even when we didn’t know it.
Kromestar, Alien
Over the past few years Kromestar has emerged as one of London’s most prolific and creative dubstep producers. Real name R. Kalsi, he also goes by Iron Soul when making grime and Droid for a kind of hybrid sound. Using a sonic palette similar to last summer’s “Attenshun,” he channels Lil’ Jon and bangs out another crunkstep classic with the release of “Alien.” A pumping bass note, as though driven by servos, chugs along under what can only be described as machine gun laser synths.
Black Jazz Consortium, New Horizon EP
Fred Peterkin’s chosen moniker for this and many other releases seems to take for granted a point that, for some critics and listeners in the world of dance music, remains controversial. Even more so than your average deep house record, the “New Horizon EP” has a lot more to do with jazz, particularly jazz fusion, than it does with European electronic music.
Even Tuell, Workshop 07
“Workshop 07” marks Even Tuell’s first solo EP for Workshop (profiled last year on this site) and known for its left-of-center output. From what we’ve heard in his mix for LWE and his own Airbag Craftworks compilations, Paul-David Rollmann seems to have just as much of a penchant for balm as he does for the sparse beats released on Musik Krause and Broque. In comparison to standout tracks like “Pretty Bonita” and his contribution to “Workshop 04”, “Workshop07” comes as a disappointment.
Luke Hess, Dub For Love EP
[Modelisme Records] Luke Hess has shown signs of huge promise as a producer for a while now. As a Detroit native, he’s charged with the difficult task of balancing that city’s rich musical history with his own artistic voice, which is influenced by a rare (for a techno producer) focus on the spiritual. Hess’ latest […]
Shed, Remixes
With an album as critically lauded and widely admired as Shed’s debut, Shedding the Past, it’s expected that DJs and fans alike would clamor for an EP of remixes. The only question remaining is, what took so long? Of course, simply enjoying Ostgut Ton’s consistently top notch releases has always been more rewarding than second guessing; this well considered “Remixes” platter is certainly worth the wait.