An aptly titled release for Glaswegian Ali Jackson on his début for the always interesting Highpoint Lowlife label out of San Francisco. Inspiration for the EP apparently came after Jackson read William Gibson’s The Gernsback Continuum, a sci-fi short set in the 1930’s whose protagonist experiences fractured glimpses of an improbable, far off future. Suitably the sounds employed on the “Futurist EP” take this past-looking-forward approach to heart, some sounding as kitschy as UFO movies looked in the 1950’s.
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Holger Zilske, Holz
June 26, 2009 – 10:48 AM
If you figure in Holger Zilske’s release history as Smash TV, Mindlab and Acrid Gain then his debut solo album has been a long time in the incubation chamber. Fifteen years after the German appeared as Acrid Gain on an old hardcore mix (incidentally available on cassette at the time) we receive the long player Holz, which translates in English as timber. Of course we’ve heard a full length from Zilske before under the Smash TV moniker, but that was with then production partner Michael Schmidt and sound wise the two outfits are definitely their own entities. Stylistically, his Mindlab project (also featuring Schmidt), which only released one twelve on the now defunct Salo is the closest link to the recent solo material from the Berlin based producer.
Brackles/Shortstuff, Broken Harp
June 22, 2009 – 9:58 PM
A true rising star of the dubstep scene, Brackles is already a frequent fixture at London’s Sunday night Fwd sessions and as his recent FACT mix testifies he knows how to put the tunes together. Sharing a double headed winner late last year with Shortstuff on Geiom’s Berkane Sol label, the pair team up proper in 2009 for “Broken Harp” on Pollen.
Efdemin, Métisse 2.5
June 18, 2009 – 9:59 PM
Some two years after the original release of “Acid Bells,” Efdemin’s subtle and refined piece of minimalism, Martyn gets his hands on it and takes it to a whole new level. This had apparently been in the works for some time but was held off until Martyn’s full length was released. While you can hear the unmistakably bold drums employed by the Dutchman in his “Dark Mix,” there’s not a lick of the sweet pads and soothing textures that proliferated Great Lengths. Instead, Martyn heightens the percussion, adding densely packed tribal elements on top of the metallic bells from the original and fires up a barely contained bass line, like a monster come down from the hills to frighten the poor village folk. Uneasy strings are drawn out and just seem to hang in the air, adding tension to the track, playing off the brash sound of the bells.
King Midas Sound, Dub Heavy-Hearts And Ghosts EP
June 17, 2009 – 10:25 PM
Truly deserving of the tag future dub, the music created by Kevin Martin of The Bug and vocalist Roger Robinson sits somewhere to the left of dubstep entirely, occupying a cavernous chamber of otherworldly bass and washed out soul stylings. With only two original tracks to their discography, it may seem a tad early in their history to be releasing an EP of versions, though I suspect any new King Midas Sound material will be welcomed by fans ahead of their hugely anticipated debut full length.
BBH: DJ Jasper, Automation EP
June 17, 2009 – 8:27 AM
The end of the nineties was a very interesting time in techno for America. While the focus had squarely been on Detroit for some years, people like Damon Wild, Freddy Fresh, Joey Beltram, Steve Stoll, Woody McBride and Frankie Bones were already highlighting other pockets of forward thinking synthetic electronics. Few though factored in San Francisco as a hotbed of techno activity; its name synonymous with tripped out house and the warehouse parties that made use of the cheap space in the Soma area. Two labels went a long way to dispel this generalization of the city though — Organised Noise and Cytrax. The latter was set up by Kit Clayton, Steve Tang and John Mendez. The label was host to a small like-minded group of friends — among them Sutekh, Markus Miller, Twerk and DJ Jasper. Their releases were undeniably influenced by the tracky style of Chicago’s Relief Records but with a nod to electro; they were also infused with a more experimental flavor, which Kit Clayton especially would go on to explore further via his output on Pole’s ~scape imprint among others.
Little White Earbuds Interviews Swayzak
June 12, 2009 – 9:09 AM
With a minimum of fanfare, Swayzak released and album of sly, deep techno called Snowboarding In Argentina in 1998. For several years previous James Taylor (not the reformed junkie folk singer) and David “Brun” Brown had been working on their particular brand of late night electronics, releasing a few pieces of vinyl on their own self-titled label, including the now classic “Speedboat/Low Res Skyline.” Since then they’ve released a further four studio albums as well as two highly revered DJ mix comps, all under the banner of a not so subtle bastardization of Patrick Swayze’s name. With the other half of Swayzak now living in France, Little White Earbuds caught up with Brun at his local pub in London to talk about the re-release of Snowboarding In Argentina, Paul McCartney CDs and their new Serieculture DJ night.
Scuba, Klinik/Hundreds and Thousands
June 4, 2009 – 8:25 AM
Hot on the tail of his remix packages from A Mutual Antipathy, Paul Rose has started the year with two killer remixes for Alpha Rhythm and Fever Ray. Following on from those is his new twelve on Hotflush which will further cement his status as one of the most compelling producers out.
Actress, Ghosts Have A Heaven
May 26, 2009 – 1:00 PM
Releasing a gem of an album in Hazyville at the end of 2008 saw Actress (nee Darren Cunningham) passed over for the end of year accolades. But with several tracks from the album turning up on recent releases, the Werks Discs label manager is now receiving some overdue attention. His remix of Various Production’s “Lost” was a gobsmacking foray of compressed, blunted house music while the reappearance of album cut “Crushed” on a recent Prime Numbers sampler drew rave reviews from all who encountered it. Combining a touch of the new with further material lifted from Hazyville, “Ghosts Have A Heaven” will only further the reputation of the less than prolific producer.
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.
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.
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.
Martyn, Great Lengths
April 19, 2009 – 8:30 PM
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.
Wareika, Ascending, Descending
April 15, 2009 – 2:29 AM
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.
Stefan Goldmann, Art of Sorrow
April 4, 2009 – 5:28 PM
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.
The Future/The Foster Kidz, They Call Me
March 24, 2009 – 7:56 PM
It was pretty easy to spot the kids at school whose parents helped them with their homework. You’d be standing in front of the class proudly displaying your latest portrait of a family member, your sister’s limbs appearing miraculously from her amorphous blob of a body, her hair five shocked strands of pencil colored wire. Then one of the so-called wunderkinds steps up with a perfectly executed scene of their entire family at the dinner table, lounging with some air of ethereal pre-Raphaelite grace, their togas delicately draped to preserve their modesty. And so it is with the latest from Sect Records, whose third release is supposedly the result of the pre-pubescent offspring of two of techno’s finest producers.
Intrusion, The Seduction of Silence
March 16, 2009 – 8:30 PM
Certain schools of thought believe the highest achievements of dub techno have been long ago attained by the likes of Maurizio and his Basic Channel/Chain Reaction cohorts. However there is no denying the stunning addendums from the likes of Quantec, Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell et al. have furthered the legacy of the deep, dubby sound. Hitchell has been carving out a name for himself since the early days of the millennium with his stunning twelves and EPs under various guises and now marks his debut foray into the full length album stakes as Intrusion.
LWE Podcast 16: Mike Shannon
March 12, 2009 – 11:23 PM
For the latest LWE podcast Mike assembled an exclusive mix of forthcoming and never released tracks in the old fashioned, two turntables and a mixer way he describes as “a little raw (no effects or edits), just the way I like it…” Help celebrate the tenth anniversary of one of Canada’s vanguard techno labels by peering into this sonic crystal ball of up and coming Cynosure exclusives.
Andre Kraml & Heiko Voss, Unreachable Girl
March 10, 2009 – 8:45 PM
[Firm] There’s something to be said for a sultry, disaffected German vocal electronic tune. The first time they won me over was back in 1983 when Nena’s “99 Luftballoons” filled my ears with its soft yearning incoherence. One year earlier Falco did the same thing when he cooed cool warnings about cocaine excess with “Der […]