Mike Dehnert - DICO EP [2010, vinyl, fachwerk]

24 february 2010

lbl: Fachwerk

#: FW 012

electronic

techno

~188kbps

tourmaline [7.3]

A1. Untitled

A2. Untitled

B1. Untitled

note: "Like a baseball bat to the brain, Mike Dehnert's music is an intense physical experience. The Berlin-based producer's records for his Fachwerk label combine classic techno styles with a direct attitude and the kind of harder-edged outlook that's all too rare. Spread across three untitled tracks, Dico doesn't exactly deviate from Mike's recognisable sound, but it does contain a few surprises. Chief among these is the dense glitchy percussion of the first A-side track, which—while not a direct reference to contemporary minimal—shows that like "MD2," Dehnert does not solely favour a straight down-the-middle approach. That said, when the heavy beats and resonating riffs kick in, there can be no doubt who's behind this record.

The second A-side cut features more variations on the Dehnert theme, including wired bleeps and a wall of grating percussion followed by pitch-shifting hats. Once again, his trademark climaxing chords kick in midway through. The sole B-side sees Mike revert to type, but it's also the most effective track here. Heavy claps sweep overh a prowling bass embedded with beads of acid, while the hypnotic chords start the ascent to its denouement. However, just as it seems to be heading to an inevitable finale, even more dramatic chords are dropped and the bass lets off a groaning shudder, as if it can't take the intensity. Control is quickly regained though, and the master builder completes the upwards trajectory with ease." - Richard Brophy.

cubiconnin'

buy it here. [£ 8.5]

Nebraska - A Weekend On My Own E.P. [2010, vinyl, rush hour recordings]

18 january 2010

lbl: Rush Hour Recordings

#: RH-N3

deep house, disco

~200kbps

chrysoberyl [8.5]

A1. Soho Grand

A2. A Weekend On My Own

B1. Time Has Come Pt. 1

B2. Masala Dosa

producer: Ali Gibbs

note: "With Rush Hour repressing three 12-inches of material in the past 12 months, it's obvious that the Dutch imprint has plenty of faith in the back catalog of Ali Gibbs, AKA Nebraska. But while Terrestrial Variations and Satellite Variations seemed like slightly curious tracks to warrant the treatment—chilled out smooth disco and polite raw house of quality, but not exceptional vintage—it all begins to make sense on A Weekend on My Own.

Perhaps it's just the urgency in opening track, "Soho Grand," but there's a certain something here that you couldn't find on the previous EPs. "Soho Grand" is just as polite as anything found on either Variations, but its treadmilling bassline takes things to a higher level. The same goes for the title track, whose guitar is just ethereal enough to retain a sense of wonder, and whose beat keeps things pumping nicely while synths flutter in the distance.

"Time Has Come Pt. 1" is the perfect B-side counter, a pounding tune that only lets up to allow droning deep house chords, a sliver of a piano and a voice that echoes the title wistfully before finding its disco footing. "Masala Dosa" keeps the pressure on with a fat bassline and big beat. But it's the keys that make the song, little beacons of light that play out as if they're permanently caught in a locked groove that bounces every so often...just to make sure you're still awake." - Sam Louis.

buttbouncing!

buy it here. [€ 8.49]

Clara Moto - Polyamour [2010, cd, infiné]

april 2010

lbl: Infiné

#: iF1008

electronic

minimal techno, ambient, downtempo, house, deep house

320kbps

beryl [7.8]

1. Emory Bortz

2. Alma

3. Deer And Fox

4. Glove Affair

5. Song Of Exhaustion And Ivory

6. Goodnight Twilight

7. Joy Of My Heart

8. Threeminutes (Revisited)

9. Silently (Video Edit)

10. Take A Second

11. The Opposite Is Also Wrong

producer: Clara Prettenhofer

note: "Polyamour, which means to love different things simultaneously is the perfect name for the album because all the tracks on it are very emotive and carry this ethereal commonality between them. I would describe the album as trippy, ambient house music that deserves an in depth listen to fully grasp the amount of work and talent that went into this piece of art. Polyamour is a true headphone listening experience. Listening to them on your computer speakers won’t do you justice becasue her production work is so layered and deep. At the root of most of her tracks are deep house beats that kick you into gear and keep you locked in. Next she adds sub bass and synth parts in syncopated, repetitive patterns with tons of reverb/delay to give you the meat of the track. Least not forget the uplifting vocal melodies, courtesy of Mimu. When all these elements are combined you have an album that is different and unique.

Some highlights from the album include “Deer and Fox”, a track that has this soulful house vibe to it (I think it is the stand out track on the album), “Song for Exhaustion” which is a contemplative track that sounds like raindrops falling on gloomy day, and “Silently” which has this really dope bassline from beginning to end.

No matter what track you listen to, Polyamour is sure to take you on a sonic roller coaster ride that transports you out of your body and into your mind." - Boom Boom Chik.

sand digging

Maxime Dangles / Steve Moore - Speicher 67 [2010, vinyl, kompakt extra]

15 march 2010

lbl: Kompakt Extra

#: KOM EX 67

electronic

techno

320kbps
tourmaline [7.3]





A. Maxime Dangles  - Bras De Zi
B. Steve Moore  - Bayern Kurve

note: "The glory days of SPEICHER resound in our ears once again - it's time for techno to take a front row seat in the rave cathedral and we welcome to the alter of sacrifice, one of the most diabolical producers known to man - STEVE MOORE. Known to many as part of the progressive rock act ZOMBI and others as TITAN and LOVELOCK, he offers up "BAYERN KURVE" - a mid-tempo roller that recalls the classic crawl of EBM that has come to the techno intersection - destination: future unknown. This tune is what the disco kids will certainly scream for as they now start to yearn for darkness in their dance. 
Our beloved French maestro MAXIME DANGLES has kept himself remarkably busy over this past year - with breakthrough remixes for Moby and Simian Mobile Disco and a brand new mix CD on LA VILLA ROUGE (with production mate PAUL NAZCA). With "BRAS DE ZIL" has conjures the perfect storm - a cold fusion of peak roar techno that is 100% classic SPEICHER. Bass overdrives pressure with DANGLES epic intensities and withdrawal. Always give and take - as techno should be done. 
" - Kompakt.fm

vkodlak's dejavu

buy it here.  [7,80 €]

LV & Untold - Beacon [2010, vinyl, hemlock recordings]

15 march 2010

lbl: Hemlock Recordings

#: HEK007

electronic

dubstep

320kbps

corundum [9.0]

A. Beacon

B. Beacon [Mount Kimbie Remix]

note: "The much in demand collaboration between LV & Untold finally hits wax, backed with a stunning Mount Kimbie remix. Possibly the most minimal tune to date by either artist, "Beacon" rolls on a bare bones set-up of deep swung bass, barely-there percussion and simple bleep-track melody. In the true spirit of the original dubstep pioneers, making very little sound very BIG. On the flip Mount Kimbie deliver a stunning remix. Layering a heap of their trademark melody onto the intro, following that with an instantly memorable rave hook, then easing us out gently with some sweeeet R&B inflected chopped vocals. Stunning stuff. Big support across the board by Mary Anne Hobbs, Ben UFO, Ramadanman, Gilles Peterson, Brackles & Shortstuff , Rob Da Bank and more."

yt preview:

afro-flexy

buy it here. [£5.99]

SCB - SCB001 [2010, file, SCB]

february 2010

lbl: SCB

#: SCB001

electronic

dub techno

320kbps

topaz [8.0]

A: 20_4

B: 3_5

producer: Paul Rose aka Scuba

note: "Scuba's mnml ssgs mix of August last year, proffered under his then shady SCB moniker, was—and is—rightly regarded as amongst 2009's best podcasts. Betraying an increasingly pervasive techno fixation (inevitable, considering he now lives in Berlin), it nevertheless remained true to the ex-Londoner's dubstep roots, culminating in Joy Orbison's UKG-fuelled "Tentative Bidding" and never quite collapsing into out-and-out 4/4 chuggery. It was there where we first heard the shimmering chords of "20_4," now pressed to wax alongside the equally anonymous "3_5," and much the same ethos is in evidence: It's techno, for sure, but—to coin a term oft employed by his local record store—"subs driven," built as much for spliff-scarred bass bins as hi-tech laser rigs.

It's a dynamic which worked beautifully on Aesaunic, its sprawling title track sitting almost perfectly on the now heavily quarried techno/dubstep interstice. "20_4" is perhaps a little more gung-ho than that, offering swung hats, skittering rim-taps and a lumbering 4/4 thud, and "3_5"—as "nu-Detroit" as anything Luke Hess has ever done—even more so. But the tension remains, perhaps most pointedly in Scuba's increasingly soft-centred melodic touch, which here manifests as a kind of wispful abandon that, for all its hedonistic appeal (and people will get messy to this), can't quite shed that distinctly British sense of post-Rave melancholy so integral to his—and, by proxy, his label's—development. Balearic techno with a rainy soul, SCB001 is yet more evidence of Rose's scene-shaping status—his Sub:stance event sets the standard in discerning bass music—and about the best thing to come out of Berlin's encounter with the Continuum (or should that be vice versa?) since Shed's head-on collision two years back." - Max Bacharach.

being hard boiled

Ikonika - Contact, Want, Love, Have [2010, cd, hyperdub]

rel. date: 6 april 2010

lbl: Hyperdub
#: HDBCD004
electronic
dubstep, wonky
192kbps
tourmaline [7.3]





01. Ikonoklast
02. Idiot
03. Yoshimitzu
04. Fish
05. R.E.S.O.L
06. They Are All Losing The War
07. Millie
08. Sahara Michael
09. Continue
10. Heston
11. Psoriasis
12. Video Delays
13. Look
14. Red Marker Pens




producer: Sara Abdel-Hamid

note: "After a string of 12"s on Hyperdub over the last couple years, at long last we have the debut album from Sara Abdel-Hamid aka Ikonika. "Contact, Want, Love, Have" doesn’t mess around or waste a note as Ikonika colours in and then discards the rulebook. Maybe it’s her background as a drummer in a post-hardcore band, her love of R&B and hip hop that bring in the extra dimensions that makes her music stand out from the legions. Or maybe its just her ear for an odd melody. While on the face of it the album seems to traverse a number of retro-futurist styles, including dubstep, UK funky and garage, 80s synth pop and computer game soundtracks, it remains totally contemporary, coherent and focused, making the idea of restricting Ikonika’s sound to a single genre irrelevant. In its sometimes brash tone clashes, Ikonika has produced an album that feels emotionally powerful and brave. Never obvious, and bordering on the maniacally deranged at times, her hyperactive, tough and sparse drums and bright, citric synthesizers splash new shapes and fizzes of emotion all over the place. From the first woozy breeze of the accordian-like synths of opening track "Ikonoklast", on to the deliriously twisted stomp of "Idiot", the synthetic beauty of "Yoshimitsu", "Fish" and "Heston", the computer love of "We Are All Winning The War", the mutant G-funk half-step of "Sahara Michael" through to the atonal soca-tronics of "Look" and the space funky of "Psoriasis" and "Video Delays", if you listen carefully you’ll hear one of 2010's most original producers at work."

crawling piranhas

[fixed / 24 march 2010]

PRE-ORDER

Dem Hunger - Caveman Smack [2010, file, leaving records]

march 2010

lbl: Leaving Records

#: LR003

electronic

wonky, hip-hop, abstract, experimental, samples

320kbps

chrysoeryl [8.5]

1. Rainwater Tea

2. Nah Teeth

3. Fried Squid

4. Mosque Vibrations

5. Electric Shithole

6. Zebra Skull Made From Smack

7. Horse Stomach

note: "Finally accommodating a home for the eccentric nomad of the blogosphere, Leaving records presents the debut album by Dem Hunger, Caveman Smack. In the recent past, Dem Hunger has been featured on Gorrilla VS Bear, Friendship Bracelet, and Astro Nautico blogs. He has also collaborated with future Leaving cosmonaut RUN DMT.

The songs fester with found sounds and digital beats crackling through light years of space dust. Its a dizzying collage of circus madness, scratchy grooves, and nightmarish boogie, constructed meticulously in the inner lairs of this London producer's beat den. " - alphapuprecords.

mindmachinegun

buy it here. [limited cassette]

Inch-time - Aurora [2010, vinyl, static caravan]

15 march 2010

lbl: Static Caravan

#: VAN201-12

electronic

ambient, downtempo, dub, minimal, acoustic, glitch

320kbps

tourmaline [7.3]

1. Aurora 

2. Crystal Visions 

3. A Handful Of Dust 

4. Suspended 

5. Aurora In Dub

producer: Stefan Panczak

note: "Inch-time is Stefan Panczak, a London-based Australian with a penchant for multi-textured electronica. After a string of releases including two full-length albums, and curating the "Teaism" compilation also on Static Caravan, as well as sound tracking the latest National Express advertisement comes this twelve-inch with five new tracks and a spoonful of jazz-tinged melodic nous. 

The creeping, nocturnal title track bubbles with a dark intensity, its brooding sensibility at odds with the clicks and whirrs which skitter throughout on this stately slice of icy electronica. An echo-laden dub version is even more eerily atmospheric and reminiscent of Robin Saville, if he was organising his garden tools in the shed on the night of a full moon. The sprightly "Crystal Visions" provides contrast, being feather-light and wafted along by crinkled beats, though there’s still an insidious feel lurking in the background, before briefly floating into the realms of exotica in a way that would surely have pleased Martin Denny. Meanwhile, "A Handful of Dust" takes swirling, repeated melody patterns to craft a quietly precise composition, sculpting sounds to form a beautifully layered concoction of rhythms, twanging guitar and a host of otherworldly sounds. "Suspended" twinkles with barely-concealed malice, its minute-long running time feeling like an extended intro to one of Tortoise’s more lugubrious excursions. Pattering rhythms duel with ghostly bass, all anchored by a chiming melody which coils tightly before fading out to reach a hushed climax." - Static Caravan.

so-strongly-inspired by the past

buy it here. [£ 6.49]

Virgo - Virgo [1989/2010, 2 x vinyl, rush hour recordings]

march 2010

lbl: Rush Hour Recordings

#: RH-TX1 LP

electronic

chicago house

320kbps
tourmaline [7.3]





A1. Do You Know Who You Are
A2. In A Vision
B1. Going Thru Life
B2. Take Me Higher
C1. Ride
C2. School Hall
D1. Never Want To Lose You
D2. All The Time



note: "Rush Hour's remastering treatment isn't particularly drastic, but those of you weighing up whether to grab the original issues may be interested to hear that the new version has crisper highs and a slightly punchier low-end, and unlike the Trax originals, the double pack will definitely have been pressed on virgin vinyl. Nevertheless, it's a shame that Rush Hour didn't think to include any extra bonus tracks, such as the vocal versions of "Do You Know Who You Are" and "In a Vision," or their two contributions to 1993's Lost Trax compilation. Radical Records CD issue has proved either difficult or expensive to get hold of in recent times, and if you're a vinyl-buying house music fan and don't already own this seminal body of work, it's a perfect opportunity to pick up a quality pressing. Merwyn Sanders has always maintained that they've continued to produce music, and with this reissue giving him and Eric Lewis the recognition that they deserve, hopefully we'll see more Virgo gems make it to vinyl in the near future." - Richard Carnes.

shake your chic!ago

buy it here. [€16.99]