Tag Archive: steve

Art Department, The Drawing Board

Art Department expand on their retro-informed sound with The Drawing Board, an album that appeals to wider audiences even as it reveals the limits of their approach.

Curator’s Cuts 15: Steve Mizek

For this edition, LWE’s editor-in-chief, Steve Mizek, mixed together Curator’s Cuts 15. We will post the tracklist later in the week, as the curator discloses and describes the tracklist as part of the podcast.

Hercules & Love Affair, Blue Songs

On Blue Songs, Hercules & Love Affair tackled a broader range of styles tied together by Andrew Butler’s canny songwriting and the guidance of veteran producers and instrumentalists.

Kevin Reynolds, Favis

Kevin Reynold’s second vinyl release on his Todhchai Records puts on display both his attention to detail and the off-the-cuff nature of of his live performances.

LWE Podcast 71: Spinoza & Eric Cloutier

In anticipation of their performance at Oktave’s Smart Bar party on January 15th, where they’ll provide support for Bunker favorite Donato Dozzy, Spinoza and Cloutier put together LWE’s 71st exclusive podcast as a mouth watering appetizer.

Obsolete Music Technology, Relapse EP

Obsolete Music Technology’s Relapse EP for the latter suggests that while he’s ready for a change of venue, the aesthetic he’s built up remains more or less the same.

LWE Podcast 67: Gerd

Despite his long career there’s little info available about Gerd on the web so LWE had to grab him for an interview and our 67th exclusive podcast: a toasty 71 minutes of lush house music fitting of an artist with his reputation for excellence.

Sound Stream, All Night

Those who wondered if Sound Stream would be different after two years of silence will be pleased or disappointed to find not much has changed on All Night.

John Roberts, Glass Eights

On his debut album, Glass Eights, John Roberts embodies the unrestrained creativity of house music progenitors while offering an aesthetic that is wholly his own.

LWE Podcast 59: John Roberts

Since first piquing our interest in 2008 with quirky, intricate rhythms and demure melodies, John Roberts’ has only grown more apparent in his confident offerings for Dial and Laid. In our interview, we discussed how his album took shape, the environs that influence his music, and what the future holds for him. He was also kind enough to compile LWE’s 59th exclusive podcast, more than an hour of propulsive vintage and contemporary house.

Little White Earbuds Interviews Dexter

If the press put as much store in quality as we do in stylistic consistency, Remy Verheijen might well rank among dance music’s upper echelons. But the Dutch producer is only now garnering the reception an artist with his talents deserves. We chatted with the man best known as Dexter in anticipation of his September 3rd appearance at Public Assembly for The Bunker in New York City.

Various Artists, New Recruits EP

The New Recruits EP previews tracks from Smooth Agent Records’ next three EPs, gathering contributions from Nebraska, James Blakstar John, and Blaq Soul.

LWE 2Q Reports: Top 5 Overrated Tracks

For this column I’ve endured a great deal of popular dance tracks from the first half of 2010 to pick five whose acclaim seems most at odds with their merits. Most of them are not intolerable and some of them you might even enjoy — all the more reason to figure out why they punched above their weight.

LWE 2Q Reports: Top 5 Labels

Six full months into 2010, the record labels that have impressed me the most have one thing in common: from record to record, their releases are as varied as they are superb. Here are five record labels, in no particular order, that stood tallest in my memory and heaviest in my collection.

Melchior & Pronsato, Puerto Rican Girls

Throughout Puerto Rican Girls it’s evident Pronsato and Melchior have musical chemistry, yet at times their sonic revelry comes across as hubris and a lack of editing.

DJ Sprinkles vs K-S.H.E., A Short Introduction To The House Sounds Of Terre Thaemlitz

Culled from her 2006 Routes Not Roots album as Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion K-S.H.E (“B2B”) and the digital-only A Silence Broken compilation (“Hush Now”), this release hosts two of Terre Thaemlitz’s most potent and timely dance floor tracks on vinyl for the first time.

Unknown artist, The Freeze/The Melt Down

The latest record to receive Juno’s largess tries to seem anonymous in spite of its striking, purple marbled vinyl and a garrulous press sheet that makes The Freeze/The Melt Down seem like a blind item: Which boldfaced U.S. house producer drew dancers to the booths at Panorama Bar and Fabric with this incognito platter?

Kyle Hall, Kaychunk/You Know What I Feel

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.

LWE reviews Speaking In Code

For many Americans, most electronic dance music lacks the overt personality they demand from music, as it carries on without an obvious beginning or ending and can be reduced to an easy to mock “oontz oontz oontz.” Aware of this popular perception, Amy Grill placed the focus of her documentary, Speaking In Code, on contemporary artists and important figures in techno and house scenes rather than examining their history or the finer points of sub-genres. Early on, Grill (who narrates the film) states that her hope is to rehabilitate electronic dance music in Americans’ eyes. But given the difficulty of their task, it’s easy to forgive them for doing more to contrast the tribulations of passionate American techno fans with the wealth of choices and opportunities open to artists and their fans across Europe.

Lindstrøm & Christabelle, Real Life Is No Cool

At this point in Hans-Peter Lindstrøm’s musical career, audiences know he can go the distance. The Norwegian producer first cruised over the ramparts of Oslo’s relatively small music scene and into DJs’ crates on the backs of lengthy, interstellar disco grooves made for heaving dance floors. Collaborating with compatriot Prins Thomas on their self-titled and II albums, the pair refined extended jam sessions into still sizable explorations of the spaces between funk, prog, and Kraut rock at Balearic tempos. And then there was Lindstrøm’s 2008 opus, Where You Go I Go Too, whose three elongated movements streamlined into one epic excursion through the hyper-colorful depths of his creative vision, rendered with a grandiosity redolent of Vangelis. Going long has its drawbacks as well, like relegating Lindstrøm to niche markets too narrow for such a multi-talented musician. The dilemma he faces, then, is showing he can be concise while maintaining the appealing traits teased out of his lengthier tracks. With long-time collaborator Christabelle by his side, Lindstrøm tackles that challenge on their new full-length, Real Life Is No Cool.