Little White Earbuds » year end list

The Year In: “Records”

Jordan Rothlein — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:01:53 +0000

Forget the rise of mnml, the revival of deep house, the Berghain, civil rights vocal samples, the very existence of Richie Hawtin — was there any more rift-causing development over the last couple of years than the ascendence of digital technology in dance music production, dissemination, and DJing? While the vast majority of club revelers probably couldn’t have cared less what was happening behind the DJ booth, DJs and the journo-bloggers who obsess over them spent the years after Serato Scratch Live (the hardware/software package that most successfully merged a ones-and-zeros music collection with the technique and physicality of spinning real vinyl) debuted in 2004 wringing their hands over what this all means for dance music. We wouldn’t have the word “techno” without “technology,” but is soul not an equally weighty part of the equation? And isn’t vinyl culture a pretty big part of techno’s soul? To paraphrase what practically everyone inclined to grapple with such a thing grappled with: When we put the quality of the tunes aside, can a 300 gigabyte drive stuffed with ID3-tagged files not too fundamentally different from Word documents begin to approximate, to use Dapayk & Padberg’s phrase from their 2007 album of the same name, the indominable “black beauty”?

I think about this decade’s format war a lot, probably to the point of obsession. Perhaps it’s because I stand in a funny spot. As the younger brother of two music-obsessed and much-older siblings, I tagged along (before I could bike or drive there myself) on myriad trips to my hometown record shop, foisted myself upon its staff, and eventually landed a summer job there as a used vinyl restoration tech. Needless to say, my love for these places runs deep, and I have a difficult time separating the experience of acquiring music from the experience of browsing through physical rows of physical product, asking spontaneous questions of physical employees, and trying to parse the clerk’s expression for some sign of how many cool points my purchase was earning me. At the same time, my first weekly gig as a budding DJ — my humble, relatively short-lived WNYU show — coincided with my being a broke-ass student in New York City. I had to play new music every week without being able to afford new wax every week, and that now-ubiquitous, USB-fired black box, coupled with a Beatport account, just made too much sense. When Todd Hutlock wrote pejoratively in a 2Q report for this website of “a whole generation of club-goers and music fans out there who think nothing of seeing a DJ work on CD decks or a laptop,” he was ostensibly pointing his finger straight at me. But he was letting his “disconcert,” to paraphrase him, lead him to the conclusion that we kids were being lazy. I, along with probably the vast majority of laptop-toting kids, was just looking for a way into this astounding world. Whether because of financial concerns or because they didn’t have parents or older siblings making vinyl relevant for them, the kids went digital. I can’t speak for the format favored by youngsters like Joy Orbison or Joker or Kyle Hall, but if their 2009 output has proven anything at all, it’s that you really want to give youngsters a way into this music.

Officially a degree-bearing, paycheck-receiving denizen of the real world (and thus a possessor of insanely good luck in these hard times), I’m not quite as broke as I used to be. And if you’ve been following vinyl, you’ll know that 2009 was a very good year not to be broke. As the New York Times recently noted, it was something of a bumper year for vinyl: retailers recorded a 35% increase in sales over last year, making 2009 the best year for vinyl since at least 1991. The article makes use of statistics that likely don’t include the sorts of records we’re most interested in, and vinyl’s renewed relevance in mainstream music circles seems like much more of a fluke or gimmick than it would in dance music, where the 12″ was the style’s bread-and-butter pretty much through the advent of downloading. But anyone following new releases has surely collected enough anecdotal evidence pointing to something curious — and depending on your vantage point, maybe even exciting — being afoot. I’m certainly not saying that “vinyl kills the mp3 industry”; it ain’t scientific, but I’m pretty sure I’m saying something like the opposite, that digital music has finally made vinyl its bitch. To put it a bit nicer: the ubiquity and growing acceptance of the digital download has given vinyl a new lease on life, but it’s also caused us to look at vinyl through a digital lens. In 2009, vinyl has been forced to embody that which a computer file absolutely cannot be.

And what better defines vinyl in 2009 than the small-press, occasionally hand-stamped white label? While hardly a new development in techno, these tiny releases exercised an oversized influence on the imaginations of critics and DJs alike this year. They also managed to turn the front page of the website for Hard Wax, Berlin’s legendarily taste-defining record shop and the distributor responsible for a sizable handful of these releases, into something closer to an ultra-relevent mp3 blog than a straight mailorder destination. Whether cut with the tracks of famous producers operating under thinly-veiling aliases (Rene Pawlowitz’s Wax and EQD projects; Actress’ Thriller series), of potentially famous producers staying relatively well-cloaked in a fog of their own making (Traversable Wormhole; Frozen Border/Horizontal Ground), or of named artists intent on self-releasing their sounds (New York’s Halcyon-related labels like Novel Sound and Deconstruct; Do Not Resist The Beat!; Hauntologists/Cheap and Deep Productions), these records all shared a musical and physical aesthetic hellbent on emphasizing the rawest iterations possible of house, techno, or dubstep. Production-wise, analog hardware-derived sounds (whether spit from real or feigned analog hardware) dominated stylistically, and high fidelity — traditionally one of vinyl fanatics’ biggest talking points — often went out with the trash. What resulted were sonics whose modus operendi was roughing you up. “Raw,” taken literally, implies touch, and every white label release I can think of this year, by way of sound and form, just begged to make real human contact.

Dance vinyl reasserting itself in this way and in this year seems like no accident: we’re witnessing the format stripping itself down to a curious set of constituent parts — namely, those traits (save being cut with a tune) that are mutually exclusive from a digital file. When I pull out my vinyl copy of Levon Vincent’s “The Medium Is The Message” (Marshall McLuhan reference 100% intended), released on Vincent’s Novel Sound label this year, I hold in my hand a white paper sleeve and some rubber-stamped information in as simple a font as possible (shit ain’t even serifed!) on an otherwise matte white label. It takes up space on my shelf; it requires that I take time out to put it in my record bag if I want to play it at a gig; it cracks and pops when I put the needle down if I don’t first give it a brush; it slams just a little bit harder than a WAV would when I play it on a good system.

But really, what does it or any other white label released this year offer that a digital file doesn’t? “The Medium Is The Message” provides me with no more information than a properly tagged and sorted digital file does. I’m not getting any cover art or other physical adornment (another ever-popular pro-vinyl argument); I’m not getting an object that’s likely to last any longer (techno critic and mnml ssg Peter Chambers has talked fondly about vinyl records “needing our care” and these sassily cardboard-sleeveless releases almost dare you not to scuff them); and if I’d ordered it from a site like Juno, whose vinyl [http://www.juno.co.uk] and digital [http://www.junodownload.com] sites feature nearly identical interfaces, I wouldn’t be getting a more tangible or personal consumer experience. But I’m getting something that absolutely requires an entry fee, something that can’t be turned into an infinite number of identical copies. The object carries with it the thrill of making me one of only four or five hundred people carrying it. I’ve bought a lot of these white labels this year — it’s how a good deal of house music from my neck of the woods has been released, and the Hard Wax records have made for some of the best techno on the market this year. But what are these limited run, hand-stamped white labels but ultra-authentic mp3s?

It’s not as if these white label tracks can’t exist in the digital domain, and a fair number of them have eventually been released that way. I had my first contact with Milton Bradley’s “Dystopian Vision” on Do Not Resist The Beat!, one the rawest and most underground techno records released this year (if not this decade), as a digital file — a WAV purchased from a commercial download site, if you must know — and its ear-splitting physicality was hardly lost on me. I played it at my DJ residency at Manhattan’s Club Love this spring, and its punishing low-end and no-fi brutality still took the booth’s space shuttle-style meters dangerously into the red. Unable to justify spending nearly $15 on a 12″ I might never find a context for at the sort of gigs I get (and which hardly makes for home listening), I opted to download Marcel Dettmann’s “MDR 06″ and put the $5 or $6 I saved toward something I could. Though the physical music white labels have offered in 2009 finds parity with the physical product on which it’s primarily delivered, I’ve found it pretty difficult to argue seriously for format precluding the use or enjoyment of a fantastic tune. Everyone who’s likely to care about this sort of thing has a nightmarish laptop DJ story (“The DJ hadn’t mastered her record rips correctly and her set was too quiet!” “He looked like he was just playing FreeCell back there!”), but look at Surgeon: he made a thrilling comeback this year playing white-label-y stuff, and he did it on Ableton. The Sandwell District guys, proprietors of something not too far removed from a white label, have also grabbed the digital bull by its horns, interestingly and inspiringly blurring the line between DJ set and live performance. There’s tradition in vinyl, and I’m a huge fan of the sort of DJ sets two 1200′s, a mixer, and nothing more breed. But we’d be fools to deny the future that lies beyond them.

The greater concern, one I’d imagine keeps serious producers up at night, is how format shapes music collections. Any digital DJ worth his or her salt will pay a premium to download uncompressed digital files — mp3s just don’t sound good enough — and coupled with the proper organizational and exploratory ethic, such a collection doesn’t have to be soulless in and of itself. Techno fandom, of course, isn’t made up solely of such types, and the right price easily erodes good habits. In the context of an Internet-derived (read: ganked mp3) collection, you can afford to freak out, to get behind the hype without thinking too much, because you can cull it as consensus shifts seemingly by the hour. Should you want it back one day (or even later that day), it’s easily accomplished. You can share it with friends; you might even share it with total strangers. It requires a minimum of space, and thusly compressed, it sounds somewhere along the spectrum of utter shit. Forget about not having paid for it: it’s probably not worth having a stake in anyways.

No one has elicidated this better, albeit veiled in mega-irony, than Hipster Runoff douche-blogger Carles, whose subtly brilliant skewering of the mp3 has made for some of the most relevant and insightful music criticism out there of late. “Is Atlas Sound (ft Panda Bear),” Carles asks with his reliably deadpan naivete in the title of a blog post from this summer, “the MP3 we have been waiting 4 all year?” Insert practically any artist (“bloggable,” to use Carles’ terminology, or not) in at the start of the sentence, and his thesis remains intact: there’s something intrinsically ridiculous about getting excited over a non-object, a pseudo-thing so expendable. The kind of recorded music culture Carles chides doesn’t breed collections; it breeds holding pins for half-tastes. White label releases take pains not to let you live like this, but just barely. A few extra steps (or an errant mp3 promo) can throw vinyl-only releases into this cesspool, of course, but on principle they stand apart, a bulwark against the decade’s worst excesses of music dissemination — things you can’t acquire and be rid of in an instant, a “serious option for serious DJs.”

But in 2009, we’re not really talking about vinyl vs. digital, object vs. pseudo-object, soul vs. chilly ones and zeroes. Aren’t we just talking about how best to present this stuff to ensure that it’ll matter? Vinyl forces this music to matter; it forces the consumer to literally take ownership of their music, to find a place for it in their lives. But all this heroism can cost a lot of money, especially if you live on the wrong side of the Atlantic, and I’m not sure that in this year of all years it’s at all appropriate for authenticity come only in the form of a luxury item. If this music can be procured fairly and legally in a form that costs a bit less money, who can criticize? And if you can’t bring yourself to love your music files, to have some kind of meaningful relationship with them, then who’s really being lazy?

I realized I needed to recalibrate my “record”-buying habit after I interviewed Marcel Dettmann, that most dedicated of vinyl buyers, this past July. When I asked him what new producers excited him, the first name out of his mouth was Levon Vincent, a dude I’d been sleeping on for months because I couldn’t buy his tracks digitally. When Marcel Dettmann tells you to check someone out, you check him out, so later that weekend I rode my bike across Brooklyn to Halcyon in DUMBO, ground zero for Levon Vincent releases. It was the first time I’d set foot in a dance record store since a disappointing trip to Halcyon nearly a year before, back in those dark days when Hutlock had offered his lamentation on the purported death of vinyl culture. Grabbing a stack of records, I saddled up at a listening station, just like old times. I brought my selections up to the counter and had a nice conversation with the clerk before checking out. I walked out of there with her party flier, her assurance that she’d stick new records aside for me if I started making regular trips to the shop during her shift, all the Vincent records they had in stock, and a few other slabs I might not have thought to download (if they’d even been available for download). As a techno writer, I get a fair amount of music sent to me digitally for free, and all these effortlessly-attained promos make my WAV collection feel not so special sometimes. Visiting Halcyon felt a bit like coming home, and I’ve started making record store trips as often as time and my wallet allow. It’s not a matter of saving vinyl or saving record stores or staying true to techno soul. Frankly, it’s personal: I do it because I live in a borough of a city with a few really fantastic record shops, and not many people can make such a statement at the end of 2009. And I do it because I grew up with these places. Though they are for me, real live records aren’t intrinsically a part of this music anymore. At the end of the day (or, if you’d prefer, at the end of this year or this decade), every fan of this music — be you a DJ, a promoter, a producer, or just a serious listener — needs to find the relationship that keeps him or her, and only him or her, living and breathing the stuff. Forget about mine or anyone else’s; what’s yours?

LWE’s 5 Artists Who Defined 2009

Anton Kipfel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:01:34 +0000

Artwork by Corey Helms

For our final year-end list feature, LWE correspondent Anton Kipfel highlights five artists who defined 2009

It’s likely we all know the events and stories for which 2009 will be remembered: global recession, the first year of Obama’s presidency, a seemingly endless stream of celebrity deaths, the stolen Iranian and Afghani elections and Japan’s historical shakeup, and Twitter’s penetration into almost everything. But when we look back at the year and remember the dance music artists whose significance was widely felt in 2009, whose faces and vinyl sides will spring to mind? This is tricky territory to parse while still standing inside its confines, but a worthwhile pursuit nonetheless — if for no other reason than to see how accurate I am a few years down the line. The producers I chose made artistic decisions whose deep impact is still creating ripples now, perhaps into 2010. My list overlooks many influential artists (special apologies to STL, Fred P., Moritz Von Oswald, Appleblim, et al.) and shouldn’t be seen as necessarily an endorsement of each selected, but rather acknowledgment of their importance to the dance music climate created this year. Together yet apart, these individuals contributed to the broader narrative none of us can yet decode; here’s my attempt to make some sense of it.

Levon Vincent
If you think back a couple years to the mnml boom, one common trait among the bulk of on-trend tracks defining the sound was clean, almost too perfect sounds which seemed fresh from the Ableton box. For all its claims of being “soulful” or full of emotion, much of the “deep house” which followed in its wake in 2008 was hardly different. In this musical climate, the first time I heard a Levon Vincent track left me a bit confounded: his percussion timbres were almost too rugged, his synth tone austere, and the track’s peculiar structure was anything but predictable. What began with “Invisible Bitchslap” was the rise of America’s next techno star, a position Vincent earned twice over in 2009. As the Underground Quality crew’s gruff techno representative, he’s pushed a decidedly ragged but ready sound through PAs around the world this year, often playing the flipside foil to the similarly coarse house tunes of UQ founder, Jus-Ed. He’s also the first American to have a track released by Ostgut Ton — the tense call to arms (in the air), “Late Night Jam.” He’s built tracks like “Solemn Days” which seem ready to swallow clubs whole inside prodigious riffs, tinkered with metallic brain bubblers like “Early Reflections” and cocked a snook at the seriousness of dance music with his irresistible “NY Basement” remix of Mike Dehnert’s “Umlaut2.” Opting for textures which no preset can conjure, Vincent offered more proof that rougher, more personally made sounds stand tall among so many plasticine clones.

Luciano
It seemed to come from everywhere: Record after record of hand-drummed, vaguely Latin-flavored house music landed in record shops like a plague of locusts, clogging up many clubs’ sound systems for much of 2009. I believe this shift in the tides of house music has roots in the sudden reactivation of Luciano’s label, Cadenza, in the latter half of 2008, when 12″s steeped in Latin vibes began to flow effusively from its relatively new crop of artists. Luciano’s DJ sets shed their legendary dynamic nature to become completely immersed in the style, spreading the Latin bonanza across the world. Ricardo Villalobos and Matt Edwards (aka Radio Slave) also earned their share of the blame by perpetuating what’s turned out to be the year’s most tenacious trend with their DJ sets and personal releases, not to mention the output of their respective labels. Together, they’ve all spurred producers from around the Spanish-speaking world and all across Europe to offer their iteration of the form with few thoughts for quality control. It’s tempting to peg Luciano, however, as this movement’s ringleader: Beyond running rallying point Cadenza, he also released his talented but tame treatise on Latin minimalism to surprising fanfare, complete with eye-watering cover artwork and an accompanying tour documentary DVD — hot on the heels of a documentary on his amigo, studio wizard Villalobos. This was to be Luciano’s year, even if many of us are keen to forget the results of his concerted Latin blitz.

Floating Points
Loping through the dance music galaxy somewhere between Planet House, Planet Boogie and the nebulous UK Bass Music constellation, is Samuel Shepherd, one of dance music’s brightest new talents. The London-based producer writes his nominally dance-oriented tunes through the lenses of jazz and classical composition yet without their stately air, cramming rather gorgeous melodies and harmonies which swirl ’round your head inside slinky, whimsical rhythms. His youthful earnestness pours fourth in prismatic colors, whether draped over the 2-stepping “K&G Beat/J&W Beat” 12,” emanating from inside swinging deep house and boogie of the Vacuum EP, or the result of morphing Real 2 Reel’s “Love Me Like This” into one of 2009′s catchiest singles. His multifarious skill-set and penchant for performing his work as part of full band afford him the room to expand confidently in so many directions while keeping engrossed adherents orbiting close by. The only sad note in Shepherd’s meteoric rise is how it coincides with increasing numbers of amateur producers who feel sanctioned to make loop-heavy edits of cheese-laden funk/soul/jazz records and call them their latest single — a phenomenon which certainly has echoes in house music as well. What people should take away from Floating Points is how fully conceived and thoughtfully executed his compositions can be, even in the case of one his popular edit.

Peter Van Hoesen
I think it says a lot about Brussels-based producer Peter Van Hoesen that he made LWE’s Top 5 Breakout Artists of 2008, only to end up a defining figure in 2009. After many years toiling in relative obscurity, PVH has continually exhibited how he’s built for the big time with one brawny slab of techno after another. Yet even his fiercest productions are imbued with the sort of studious sound design he’s lent to theaters and art installations; it’s a level of aesthetic control few bother to exercise — and it shows when comparing his releases with his peers’ less carefully groomed material. His time spent at the helm of LWE’s podcast series is proof of this writ large and loud. When he wasn’t delivering surgical solo strikes for Morse, Komische, or his own Time to Express imprint, he was collaborating to great effect with Yves De Mey as Sendai and shepherding a mind-boggling record from Donato Dozzy & Cio D’or into the marketplace. Taken together, PVH has exhibited how considered rough body music can be, giving audiences more reasons to love his work than back-cracking riffs. If his creative vigilance persists, Peter Van Hoesen is likely to end up on lists like these for years to come.

René Pawlowitz
“Now wait a minute,” you might be thinking, “how are you going to bestow this honor on Pawlowitz the year after Shedding the Past put the dance music world on notice?” It’s a fair enough concern, but it misses the point: Since releasing his debut long-player (which continues to inspire artists and admirers), Pawlowitz has been on a restrained tear of creativity wherein the Berlin-based producer has put a fresh, forward-thinking face on some of techno, house and breakbeat’s best ideas, splintering their boundaries with each new release. As Wax, he captured the lush levity of summery deep house and acerbic charms of serrated techno. As EQD, he scrambled over the ramparts into effervescent, stepping territory with no clear name, underlining his broad aesthetic scope. With Marcel Dettmann as Deuce, Pawlowitz mined the most astringent depths of Ostgut Ton’s catalog, setting eardrums ablaze wherever the platter was spun. And he flexed every last creative muscle when amalgamating his pseudonyms on the “Dub Shed Sessions I” 12″, a record whose stellar STP remix offers perhaps his most beautiful, shimmering melodies compounded by earth-shaking bass maneuvers. With only a few releases to his name this year, Pawlowitz’s genre-splattering influence reminded producers they need not be fenced into traditional rhythm structures or sounds to satisfy audiences, but that they must keep pushing into the unknown, using the past as stepping stones instead of a convenient home base. I can hardly wait to see what kind of mark he’ll leave on 2010.

LWE’s Top 20 Singles of 2008 (Part 4)

littlewhiteearbuds — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:14:40 +0000

05. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal”
[Kompakt] (buy)
In the year that minimal either went cynical or cyclical, or simply gave its critical audience more to harp about than usual, Matias Aguayo played devil’s advocate with “Minimal.” Aguayo’s late-night lover-man persona can be hard to read, so who really knows if this is smackdown or pisstake (I daresay it’s both at the same time), but it’s the groove that carries the track, a bumptious, licentious shake and slide. File it next to Barbara Morgenstern’s “Come To Berlin” (its sister track) as polemic you can party to. (Jon Dale)

04. The Mole, “Baby, You’re The One”
[Wagon Repair] (buy)
The Mole really out-did himself with this towering monster of a track, finding the perfect intersection between poppy house music and forcefully looped production. Whirling onto dance floors like a cyclone, it was near impossible not to be ensnared in its hopscotched rhythms, chanting along to fiercely cheerful vocal samples, heads thrown back, faces plastered with smiles. Some of my favorite moments while dancing this year involved this song and massive amplification, and I think I know why. (Steve Mizek)

03. Dave Aju, “Crazy Place”
[Circus Company] (buy)
It’s hard not to think of “Crazy Place” as epic — all slow motion build, a wobbling warm siren against a landscape of percussion. But even though “Crazy Place” might’ve been built from Aju’s mouth, what really mattered is how large he could make it sound. Open wide, indeed. (Nate DeYoung)

02. DJ Bone, “No Sleep (True To Da Roots)”
[Sect Records] (buy)
In a year where the influence of the Motor City was proliferate in house and techno, one of its native sons effortlessly showed the rest how it’s done with this jacking, emotive firestorm of a track. With its tough, raw proclivity and yearning, melodic soul all filtered through a mesmerizing key line “No Sleep” made itself a 2008 essential. This faultless stripped back funk served as reminder that sometimes it’s the simpler things that pack the most heart. (Per Bojsen-Moller)

01. tobias., “I Can’t Fight The Feeling”
[Wagon Repair] (buy)
2008 will be remembered as the year Tobias Freund struck back. Whether it was a tirelessly excellent stream of remixes or his work for Wagon Repair and Ostgut Tonträger, Freund was at the top of his game and a resurgent master of techno. The year’s best song was also his, the hypnotic “I Can’t Fight The Feeling.” Freund coaxes such sympathetically savage patterns from his synths which grow more potent each time the sultry vocals crawl up your spine and into your brain. Connecting with body and soul, “I Can’t Fight The Feeling” is the deepest and most heartfelt piece of techno I’ve heard all year. (Steve Mizek)

Read individual staff lists after the jump.

Staff Singles List:

Per Bojsen-Moller:
01. Vladislav Delay, “Recovery Idea” (Andy Stott remix) [Semantica Records]
02. DJ Bone, “No Sleep (True To Da Roots)” [Sect Records]
03. Claro Intelecto, “Operation” [Modern Love]
04. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, “Serenity” (Soundstream’s Dusty Machine Mix) [Ostgut Tonträger]
05. Force Of Nature, “Sequencer” (Stefan Goldmann Macro Version) [Mule Musiq]
06. Bvdub, “Vermillion” [Millions Of Moments]
07. Shackleton, “Death Is Not Final” [Skull Disco]
08. TRG, “Broken Heart” (Martyn’s DCM remix) [Hessle Audio]
09. Silent Servant, “Lo Profundo” [Historia Y Violencia]
10. Black Dog, “Train By The Autobahn” (Robert Hood’s DJ Mix)
[Soma Quality Recordings]
11. Headhunter, “In Motion” [Tempa]
12. Sascha Funke, “Mango” (DJ Koze’s Pink Moon remix) [BPitch Control]
13. Santiago Salazar, “Santuario” [Historia Y Violencia]
14. Simon Flower, “Still Here, Still There” [Curl Curl]
15. Miss Fitz, “Drifting On” [Contexterrior]
16. Sami Koivikko, “Sapphire” (Daso & Pawas remix) [Spectral Sound]
17. Deadbeat, “Deep Structure” [Wagon Repair]
18. Nicolas Jaar, “The Student” [Wolf + Lamb]
19. Kenny Larkin, “Glob” [Planet E]
20. Morgan Geist, “Detroit” [Environ]
21. Seth Troxler & Patrick Russell, “Love Spray” [Circus Company]
22. DJ Koze, “I Want To Sleep” [International Records Recordings]
23. Wareika, “Belonging” (Vocal Mix) [Eskimo Records]
24. 2562, “Channel Two” [Tectonic]
25. Mikkel Metal, “Lumever” [Echochord]
26. Appleblim & Peverelist, “Circling” [Skull Disco]
27. Slowhouse, “Slowhouse 2 A1″ [Slowhouse]
28. Loco Dice, “Black Truffles” [Desolat]
29. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar” [Perlon]
30. Move D, “Drøne” [Modern Love]

Jon Dale:
01. DJ Sprinkles, “Ball’r (Madonna Free Zone)” [Mule Musiq]
02. Barbara Morgenstern, “Come To Berlin” [Monika Enterprise]
03. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal” [Kompakt]
04. Ricardo Villalobos, “Enfants” [Sei Es Drum]
05. A Guy Called Gerald, “In Ya Head” [Perlon]

Nate DeYoung:
01. Appleblim & Peverelist, “Circling” [Skull Disco]
02. Paleface feat. Kyla, “Do You Mind” (Crazy Cousins remix) [Maximum Bass]
03. Omar-S, “Psychotic Photosynthesis” [FXHE]
04. DJ Koze, “Zou Zou” [Kompakt]
05. Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind” (Frankie Knuckles remix) [DFA]
06. Zomby, “Liquid Dancehall” [Ramp]
07. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal (DJ Koze Remix)” [Kompakt]
08. Move D, “Drøne” [Modern Love]
09. The Mole, “Baby, You’re the One” [Wagon Repair]
10. Dave Aju, “Crazy Place” [Circus Company]
11. D1, “I’m Loving” [Tempa]
12. Matthew Styles, “We Said Nothing” [Diamonds & Pearls Music]
13. Seth Troxler, “Doctor of Romance” [Circus Company]
14. Sascha Dive, “Deepest America” (Moodymann remix) [Ornaments]
15. Mugwump, “Boutade” [Misercord]
16. TRG, “Broken Heart” (Martyn’s DCM remix) [Hessle Audio]
17. Laughing Light of Plenty, “The Rose” [Whatever We Want]
18. Adriano Celentano, “Prisencolinensinaincuisol” (GW Ruff Edit) [Ruff Edits]
19. Darkstar, “Need You” [Hyperdub]
20. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar” [Perlon]
21. Sety, “Mogane” (Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts remix) [Circus Company]
22. Chymera, “Ellipsis” [Figure]
23. C.B. Funk, “Subway to Cologne” [Story]
24. Joker, “Snake Eater” [Soul Motive]
25. The Juan Maclean, “Happy House” [DFA]
26. Afefe Iku, “Mirror Dance” [Yoruba]
27. Loco Dice, “Pimp Jackson is Talkin’ Now!!!” [Desolat]
28. Richard Bartz, “Diamond Girl” [Kompakt]
29. Theo Parrish, “Love Triumphant” [Sound Signature]
30. Andomat 3000, “Vertical Smile” [Cécille Records]

Todd Hutlock:
01. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar” [Perlon]
02. Marcel Dettmann, “Lattice” [MDR]
03. Intrusion, “Tswana Dub” (Beat Pharmacy Dub) [echospace [Detroit]]
04. Sascha Dive, “Deepest America (Moodymann remix) [Ornaments]
05. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal” [Kompakt]
06. Dave Aju, “Crazy Place” [Circus Company]
07. Kevin Saunderson, “Good Love” (Luciano’s Good Love remix) [KMS]
08. Pacou, “Sound of Thought” (DeepChord Mix) [Cache]
09. Mikkel Metal, “Frico” (Pole remix) [Echocord]
10. A Guy Called Gerald, “In Ya Head” [Perlon]
11. DJ Bone, “No Sleep (True To Da Roots)” [Sect Records]
12. Petar Dundov, “Oasis” [Music Man Records]
13. tobias., “I Can’t Fight The Feeling” [Wagon Repair]
14. John Roberts, “Hesitate” [Dial]
15. Stimming, “Una Pena” [Diynamic]
16. Portable, “Release” [Perlon]
17. Rhadoo, “Slagare” [Cadenza]
18. Super Flu, “Rattelschneck” [Traum]
19. DOP, “I’m Just A Man” [Eklo]
20. Model 500, “Starlight” (Mike Huckaby SYNTH remix) [echospace [detroit]]
21. Dave Aju, “Crazy Place” (Luciano’s “Likuid” remix) [Circus Company]
22. Omar-S, “The Further You Look – The Less You Will See” [FXHE Records]
23. Francesco Tristano, “The Melody” (C2 remix) [Infiné]
24. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, “They Only Come Out At Night”
[Musique Risquée]
25. Invisible Conga People, “Cable Dazed” [Italians Do It Better]
26. Melchior Productions Ltd, “Choir” [Cadenza]
27. The Mole, “Baby, You’re The One” [Wagon Repair]
28. Cassy, “A Plea For Me” [Cocoon]
29. Efdemin, “America” [Curle Recordings]
30. STL, “Lost In Brown Eyes” [Perlon]

Will Lynch:
01. Move D, “Jus House” [Uzuri]
02. Melchior Productions Ltd, “Who Can Find Me” [Cadenza]
03. Deepchord Presents Echospace, “Untitled” [Modern Love]
04. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli Feat. Elif Biçer, “Turn Around” (Cassysmoothmix) [Ostgut Tonträger]
05. Ricardo Villalobos, “Enfants (Chants)” [Sei Es Drum]
06. Mikael Stavostrand, “Dark Eyes” [Lick My Deck]
07. The Mole, “Baby, You’re the One” [Wagon Repair]
08. Four Tet, “Wing Body Wing” [Domino Recording Company]
09. Matthew Styles, “We Said Nothing” [Diamonds & Pearls Music]
10. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, “They Only Come Out At Night”
[Musique Risquée]
11. Lowtec, “Untitled A1″ [Workshop]
12. Bruno Pronsato & Daze Maxim, “Take 1″ [Musique Risquee]
13. Toby Tobias, “The Feeling” (John Daly remix) [REKIDS]
14. Shed, “Another Wedged Chicken” [Ostgut Tonträger]
15. Shackleton, “Shortwave (Pole remix) [~scape]
16. tobias., “I Can’t Fight The Feeling” [Wagon Repair]
17. Bruno Pronsato, “Nobody Calls” [Hello? Repeat]
18. Kassem Mosse, “578″ [Mikrodisko Recordings]
19. Gabriel Ananda, “Mahatma Regatta” [Platzhirsch Schallplatten]
20. Efdemin, “The Pulse” [Curle Recordings]
21. Radio Slave, “K-Maze” [REKIDS]
22. TRG, “Soho Girls” [Naked Lunch]
23. Forsaken, “Boat Noodles” [Punch Drunk]
24. Adam Beyer & Agaric, “California Gold’ [Mad Eye]
25. Move D, “Drøne” [Modern Love]
26. Pigon, “Kamm” [Beatstreet]
27. Radio Slave, “Tantakatan” (The Drunken Shed Mix) [REKIDS]
28. Claro Intelecto, “Rise” [Modern Love]
29. Peverelist, “Gather” [Punch Drunk]
30. Martyn, “Natural Selection” [3024]

Steve Mizek:
01. tobias., “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” [Wagon Repair]
02. DJ Bone, “No Sleep (True To Da Roots)” [Sect Records]
03. Osborne, “Ruling” [Spectral Sound]
04. Ben Klock, “October” [BPitch Control]
05. Sound Stream, “‘Live’ Goes On” [Sound Stream]
06. Niggemann & Poppke, “L’aurora” (Agnes Chicago Take) [Moonpool]
07. Henrik Schwarz, Ame & Dixon, “D.P.O.M.B.” (Version 2) [Innervisions]
08. Dave Aju, “Crazy Place” [Circus Company]
09. Ricardo Villalobos, “Electonic Water” [Perlon]
10. Lee Jones, “As You Like It” (Recloose remix) [Aus Music]
11. The Mole, “Baby, You’re the One” [Wagon Repair]
12. DJ Sprinkles, “Midtown 120 Blues” [Mule Musiq]
13. Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind” (Hercules Club Mix) [DFA]
14. Mixworks, “Berlin Dub” [Mixworks]
15. Scott, “Memory Core” (Paul Frick remix) [My Best Friend]
16. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal” (DJ Koze remix) [Kompakt]
17. Kevin Saunderson, “Good Love” (Luciano’s Good Love remix) [KMS]
18. SIS, “Nesrib” [Cecille Records]
19. My My, “Everybody’s Talkin” [Playhouse]
20. dOP, “Cum With Me” [Milnor Modern]
21. Intrusion, “Intrusion” (Phase 90 Reshape) [echospace [detroit]]
22. STL, “Zeitsprung” [Something]
23. Melchior Productions, “Who Can Find Me (I Can’t)” [Cadenza]
24. Luke Solomon, “People, Places, Thoughts And Faces” (Ajello Remix) [REKIDS]
25. John Roberts, “Hesitate” [Dial]
26. Matthew Styles, “We Said Nothing” [Diamonds & Pearls Music]
27. Burger/Voigt, “Wand Aus Klang” [Kompakt]
28. Cassy, “A Poem For You” [Uzuri]
29. Brendon Moeller, “N-Train” [Third Ear]
30. Francesco Tristano, “The Melody” (Carl Craig remix) [Infiné]

Colin Shields:
01. Shackleton, “…But The Branch Is Weak” [Skull Disco]
02. Move D & Benjamin Brunn, “Radar” [Smallville Records]
03. Wax, “Wax 10001 A” [Wax]
04. Andy Stott, “Hostile” [Modern Love]
05. Luke Hess & Omar-S, “Renewal Part II” [FXHE Records]
06. tobias., “I Can’t Fight The Feeling” [Wagon Repair]
07. Slowhouse, “Three B1″ [Slowhouse]
08. Lawrence, “Miles” [Dial]
09. Shed, “ITHAW” [Ostgut Tonträger]
10. Move D, “Sisters and Brothers” [Uzuri]
11. Marcel Fengler, “Friction” [Ostgut Tonträger]
12. Sebbo, “Watamu Beach” (Moritz Von Oswald remix) [Desolat]
13. Vladislav Delay, “Recovery Idea” (Andy Stott remix) [Semantica Records]
14. Shackleton, “…But The Branch Is Weak” (Geiom Mix) [Skull Disco]
15. Luke Hess, “Believe and Receive” (Shed’s Deepanddubbydub remix)
[Kontra Musik]
16. Kevin Saunderson, “Good Love” (Luciano’s Good Love remix) [KMS]
17. Model 500, “Starlight” (Mike Huckaby S Y N T H remix) [echospace [detroit]]
18. Omar-S, “The Further You Look – The Less you Will See” [FXHE Records]
19. Radio Slave, “Tantakatan” (The Drunken Shed Mix) [REKIDS]
20. Silent Servant, “Violencia” (Function remix) [Sandwell District]
21. Sven Weisemann, “Slices” (Boris Hotton remix) [liebe*detail spezial]
22. Toby Tobias, “The Feeling” [REKIDS]
23. Sound Stream, “‘Live’ Goes On” [Sound Stream]
24. Martyn, “Vancouver” [3024]
25. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar” [Perlon]
26. Radio Slave, “K-Maze” [REKIDS]
27. Marcel Dettmann, “Plain” [Beatstreet]
28. 2562, “Channel Two” [Tectonic]
29. Kassem Mosse, “578″ [Mikrodisko Recordings]
30. Cassy, “Idle Blues” [Cassy]

Read the rest of our Top 20 singles lists:

20-16
15-11
10-6

LWE’s Top 20 Singles of 2008 (Part 3)

littlewhiteearbuds — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:45:04 +0000

10. Sascha Dive, “Deepest America”
(Moodymann remix) [Ornaments] (buy)
Building up from a classic Motor City stomp into a looped-out masterpiece with energy to spare, Moodymann’s frenetic take on Sascha Dive’s “Deepest America” was a timely reminder of Kenny Dixon, Jr.’s mastery over the sampledelic end of the spectrum. Tastefully limiting the now-cliched Afrocentric speech of the original, Moodymann let the soulful vibes speak for him instead, with ridiculously catchy vocal clips (“Music! Music! Ain’t no soul no more!”), propulsive congas, and a massive breakdown doing the heavy lifting. (Todd Hutlock)

09. A Guy Called Gerald, “In Ya Head”
[Perlon] (buy)
Gerald Simpson moves into his third decade of production with two aces up his sleeve -– the reissue of his Black Secret Technology, which is still the finest album jungle ever coughed up, and “In Ya Head,” his first single for Perlon. Shacking up with the redoubtable German imprint makes perfect sense; like sometime Perlon peers Villalobos and Pantytec, Simpson keeps things moving even as he’s scratching details into the track’s furthest nooks and crannies. Both sides are great, but while “Moon Jelly” might have the edge texturally (its opening volley of eight-mile-high chords is delicious), “In Ya Head” is so much about the Guy Called Gerald hive mind, it’s quintessential. (Jon Dale)

08. Kevin Saunderson, “Good Love”
(Luciano’s Good Love remix) [KMS] (buy)
Luciano’s 2008 DJ sets were flavored with more deep house sounds than ever before, and his remix of Kevin Saunderson/Inner City’s “Good Love” showed that influence in spades. Looping and layering Paris Grey’s sultry vocals over his trademark percussion and a sleek one-note riff, Luciano created the perfect universal tool for jocks of all genres. Deep, soulful, and infectious, “Good Love” was very good indeed. (Todd Hutlock)

07. Vladislav Delay, “Recovery Idea”
(Andy Stott remix) [Semantica Records] (buy)
Talk about your slow burners. Andy Stott turns his masterful Mancunian hand to the already seriously deep “Recovery Idea” resulting in unchecked subterranean bliss. There’s an almost ethereal air to Stott’s remix; the ascendant strings alone could easily be mistaken for a heavenly choir. The bass is blurred and burrows towards the center of the earth as an intergalactic typewriting pool reels off accompanying effects. Dub techno re-proved itself a major force in 2008 and in no small part because of Andy Stott. (Per Bojsen-Moller)

06. Ricardo Villalobos, “Enfants (Chants)”
[Sei Es Drum] (buy)
The first and only time I went been to Fabric was about a year ago, when Ricardo Villalobos’ popularity was reaching new heights. Fabric 36 was still sinking in, “Sei Es Drum” was hot off the press, and now this weird tool that could only be Ricardo’s was popping up in clubs and on YouTube. Craig Richards and Âme seemed no less enamored than the rest of us, as “Enfants” got at least two healthy rinses that night. No one knew quite what to make of that epic piano line and galvanizing chant, but somehow it was clear that whatever we were hearing would go on to become one of the definitive tracks of the approaching year.
(Will Lynch)

Read Part Four of our top singles list here.

LWE’s Top 20 Singles of 2008 (Part 2)

littlewhiteearbuds — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:29:27 +0000

15. Melchior Productions Ltd, “Who Can Find Me (I Can’t)” [Cadenza] (buy)
“Who Can Find Me (I Can’t)” has to be one of the best emotional minimal tracks of 2008. It’s brittle structure and softly plodding drums are classic Melchior, but something about the shimmering arpeggios and mournful vocals make this one especially heavy-hearted. “Choir” makes the EP worth buying on its own, but “Who Can Find Me (I Can’t)” shows a prolific artist at the top of his game. (Will Lynch)

14. Osborne, “Ruling”
[Spectral Sound] (buy)
With so many of this year’s “deep-house” releases sounding more like kiddie pools, it was an absolute joy to dive into the depth of Osborne’s “Ruling.” Making no bones of its touch stones, the track interprets Chicago/Detroit house through its composer’s equally earnest and brainy production style. Hugely soulful and musically bold, “Ruling” was one of the year’s early hits that’s just as striking today (and will remain so in years to come). (Steve Mizek)

13. Matthew Styles, “We Said Nothing”
[Diamonds & Pearls Music] (buy)
Matthew Styles set a time-release bomb with “We Said Nothing.” Originally slated for fall of ’07, it opened to little fanfare in February and as 2008 progressed, it eventually became “impossible to ignore” (noted by LWE’s own editor-in-chief). If Petre Inspirescu’s “Sakadat” had the best detuned drums of last year, “We Said Nothing” takes the cake in ’08 with a fine acid rub to boot. (Nate DeYoung)

12. Matias Aguayo, “Minimal” (DJ Koze remix)
[Kompakt] (buy)
It was somewhat ironic for a producer like Matias Aguayo who’s more than dabbled with minimal techno to release a rather stripped back single which lyrically castigates minimal music. Thankfully the ever reliable DJ Koze was there recast the tune as a breezy summer affair thick with lush pads and tied together by ribbons of guitar licks. Best served chilled, at pool party, along side a raft of DJ Koze’s other brilliant moments from 2008. (Steve Mizek)

11. Ricardo Villalobos, “Minimoonstar”
[Perlon] (buy)
“Minimoonstar” is sinewy, percussive, and yet still laid-back as can be. The grooves and beats interact in ways that beggar belief, but somehow feel like more natural combinations than ninety-nine percent of what else is out there. “Minimoonstar” is a club dream, a politico-sexual poetics of beats and bass, or pretty much any other damn fool thing you want to call it. It deserves to be remembered long after 2008′s ups and downs have faded from thought.
(Colin Shields)

Read Part 3 (10-6) here.

LWE’s Top 20 Singles of 2008 (Part 1)

littlewhiteearbuds — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:45:15 +0000

In the face of critical malaise, 2008 was a great year for techno and house singles. As the landscape shifted further from minimal, deep-house (already as broad a term as “minimal”), dub and tribal sounds came back strong, joined by brand name Berghain techno, dubstep and its techy (as of yet unnamed) brother. There was certainly no shortage of great singles crowding shelves (physically and digitally), and these twenty, as selected by LWE’s staff, represent our favorites from this year. This is just the first slice, with Tuesday through Thursday hosting the rest, and our albums list will cap off the week. Enjoy!

20. Shackleton, “…But The Branch Is Weak”
[Skull Disco] (buy)
Choosing a Shackleton track for which to vote in year end polls is a chore because they’re all so good. “…But The Branch Is Weak,” though, has something of everything Shackleton. There are the drums that sing of the netherworld made with devilish skill, bass that’s only halfway part of the music but wholly essential to it, as well as the breathless sonic space at the core of the track, with an unsettling voice saying bleak things to fill it. Soundboy, it’s a shame you couldn’t stick around longer. (Colin Shields)

19. Move D, “Jus House”
[Uzuri] (buy)
“Quit Quittin’” was the first of nine records Move D released this year, and in some ways it was his best. All four tracks are modest and charismatic, but in the countless spins I’ve given this EP, “Jus House” has emerged as the cream of the crop. With its echo-laden percussion, syrupy break down and crayon colored chords, “Jus House” is a simple and flawless deep-house track. (Will Lynch)

18. DJ Sprinkles, “Ball’r (Madonna-Free Zone)”
[Mule Musiq] (buy)
Should you be surprised that politics and dance music are infrequent bedfellows? Some producers might consider the connection an afterthought, but for DJ Sprinkles (aka Terre Thaemlitz), it’s the fundamental property from which his gorgeously translucent tracks develop. “Ball’r (Madonna Free Zone)” is about the reification of house music, but it’s also about redress, taking key deep-house signifiers and making them so unbelievably lustrous and luscious that the groove’s undeniable. This is one of Thaemlitz’s canniest moves, and one of his most potent productions on every level imaginable. (Jon Dale)

17. Sound Stream, “‘Live’ Goes On”
[Sound Stream] (buy)
Frank Timm took his sensuous, loopy productions to the next level with “‘Live’ Goes On” by breaking his samples into vibrating pixel-sized sounds whose larger picture radiate with hushed energy. From the chunky piano chords to the undulating string samples, “‘Live’ Goes On” finds Sound Stream magnifying and perfecting the DNA of dance music. Easily this pioneer’s finest work to date. (Steve Mizek)

16. Appleblim & Peverelist, “Circling”
[Skull Disco] (buy)
If there was a running meme of the techno-dubstep hybrid in 2008, “Circling” was the first to organically complete the cycle. Appleblim and Peverelist created a track with both the sensual space of Berlin with all the tickling Bristol bass. Defiantly soothing, “Circling” is the perfect twist to the cartoonishly aggressive dubstep scene. (Nate DeYoung)

Read Part 2 (15-11) here.

LWE’s Top 5 Worst Ideas of 2008

Todd Hutlock — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:58:13 +0000

For our final year-end column, LWE staff writer Todd Hutlock takes to task the top five worst ideas of 2008.

Pundits can argue back and forth all they like about whether 2008 was a good year for music — that’s a matter of taste. What can’t be argued, however, is that for any and all of the highlights of the year that was, there have to be some low points to balance out the scale. From a magical flashing box to the ongoing war between vinyl and online buyers, these were the five worst ideas of the year.

01. The Cube
Richie Hawtin still commands much love and respect from me personally for his pioneering DJ skills, his large and generally excellent body of recorded work, his fantastic Detroit warehouse parties in the early 90′s, the visionary labels he founded, and, of course, the mighty and untouchable “Spastik.” But The Cube? Those of us who thought it was a joke to be played on too-stoned club kids soon were horrified to learn that, yes, M_nus was in fact serious about the thing, and subsequently became the butt of many a joke throughout the year. About the only good thing you can say about The Cube is that it distracted people from the equally ridiculous 10 Weeks of Silence (um, except for a few parties and these couple of releases that didn’t come out on time before — OKAY WE’RE REALLY BEING QUIET NOW) stunt at the beginning of the year. Come back from Mars and make a new album, Richie. We miss you.

02. Booka Shade’s Album Releases
After a massive 2007 and several years of acquired goodwill from the dance community, Booka Shade dropped the eagerly anticipated The Sun & The Neon Light on an unsuspecting world who met its release with shrugs, confused looks, and generally dismal reviews. By book-ending the year with the equally terrible Cinematic Shades (The Slow Songs), Booka Shade proved they still had a bit further to fall before they hit bottom. The duo have too solid a pedigree to be counted out entirely at this point, but they certainly have a long way to climb back up to the summit. To make matters worse, they were also involved in…

03. Remaking/Remixing Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman”
Fucking with the classics is always a dangerous proposition, and Get Physical showed everyone why when they solicited two singles worth of remixes of M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade’s version of Laurie Anderson’s classic ode to Massanet. While Reboot managed to not embarrass himself with his remix, the rest (including normally reliable names like Matt John and Audiofly X, as well as, erm, Felix Da Housecat) missed the mark dramatically, managing to insult Anderson’s lovely, sensitive tune by bleaching every interesting thing about it out in the wash. Please, please, Get Physical, stay away from Japan’s “Ghosts” and the entire recorded works of Brian Eno in the new year. Thanks in advance.

04. Beatport Drops Its Affiliate Program
When all-powerful online music broker Beatport abruptly dropped its affiliate program with little explanation and no warning, it was the final straw for some who were already skeptical of the whole online music thing. After reaping the many benefits of links and publicity from hundreds of smaller sites (including LWE), the move said, “Okay, thanks for building us up into a giant; we don’t need you anymore!” It didn’t help that more information came from a news item on Resident Advisor than Beatport itself. And while it seems to have affected Beatport’s reputation a tiny bit, few can walk away from the biggest outlet for techno/house mp3s and their many exclusive releases. Careful, Beatport — karma may come looking for you sooner than you think.

05. The Botched Release of Ricardo Villalobos’ Vasco EPs/CD
I’m just not sure exactly what Perlon were thinking on this one, as it seems to have issued these releases in the most backwards manner possible. First, Perlon released a double-pack “Part 1″ with fantastic remixes (to say nothing of the stellar originals), and then waited several months before releasing “Part 2,” this time only a single piece of vinyl, not nearly as stellar. The “complete” CD release which followed contained none of the remixes, a 32-minute version of the mighty “Minimoonstar,” (more than twice as long as the vinyl edit) and one brand new track. So if you bought the vinyl versions, you were still missing the new track on the CD. If you bought the CD version, you didn’t get any of the remixes. And no matter what, if you wanted to hear it all, you just wasted your money on tracks you already had in some other format. And by the time the CD arrived, two of the tracks were months old — a lifetime ago in this genre — which led to middling reviews of the album when some of tracks had been justifiably raved about just a few months earlier. An artist and label of this caliber should really have been smarter about this.