28 December 2008
pic: Pekka FinlandCars and music, I love them both but there's only one of them that ever lets me down, cars - can't live with them, can't live without them. The supercharger belt on my Mini has gone and snapped causing some serious damage, most upsetting, but I suppose it'll teach me not to rev the nuts off it all the time :(Ever reliable though, here's some quality music in the shape of some alienesque sounds courtesy of Luke Vibert's Kerrier Disct alias, an absolute stunner from Stimming and a glorious lo-fi electro pop nugget from Ghostape.
Mix time. This is something I put together the other day, an hour and ten minutes of lush techno through bonafide classics and experimental wizardry. The Patrice Baumel remix of Marc Romboy is really something else.
Mix DownloadDOP - Blanche NeigeAudion - Fred's Bells (Onur Ozer Remix)Marc Romboy - Sonora (Patrice Baumel Remix)Phil Kieran - Pinhole Of LightRyan Davis - Clouds Passing By (Moonbeam Remix)Extrawelt - Im Garten Von Eben (Max Cooper Tensor Mix)Matzak - African Roots (Rodriguez Jr Remix)Robert Babicz - Basic (Sonic Me On Acid Remix)Stimming - Una PenaSascha Funke - Mango Cookie (DJ Koze's Pink Moon Remix)Hobo - Occam's PhaserLo-Fi-FNK - Change Channel (Danton Eeprom Remix)Arcadion - ArcJames Holden - IdiotRicardo Tobar - Voy A Buscar1hr 10minDOWNLOAD
22 December 2008
pic: Miniature MouseA Matter Of Scale by
Secondo passed me by until recently.
Secondo’s love of disco and minimal European electronic music produces a unique funky-electronic cut up style that shows his close links with the micro-house sound of Germany’s
Kompakt label as much as that of the New York disco labels of the late 70s and early 80s. Secondo’s music features thousands of micro-samples, the music successfully reflects his aim of reconstructing these minute sonic fragments into new compositions that somehow maintain the atmosphere of the originals as well as creating new worlds.
Superb track from Parisian duo Pleinsoleil taken from the Parau Api split with Lopazz.
17 December 2008
pid:
Space CollectiveAt 73 years of age Hans-Joachim Roedelius can certainly be counted as a living legend when it comes to ambient and experimental compositions. His work with Tim Story early on this year on the album
Inlandish is a real gem. Member of Cluster and Harmonia, Roedelius here shows his flair is still there when it comes to producing something timeless while Story really brings it all out with his sumptuous electronica overtones that took months of tweaking to perfection. Really quite stunning.
Available here.
Pilooski's latest edits on
D-I-R-T-Y come in the shape of '80s experimentalist Holger Hiller and a take on Elvis' track Crawfish. Ltd edition vinyl now sold out.
Massive thanks to
Beat Electric for this track, just can't get enough of it. 1979 electro-pop produced by the
KLF's Bill Drummond.
12 December 2008
Lexy is Berlin techno producer Alexander Gerlach.
Get Down With The Trachtenvogel is his latest release, and along with the murderous Trachtenvogel there's a remix by
Metope and a tech-house treat in the track Get Down. Really good stuff.
Mugwump - Ignored Folklore (alt link)Kompakt goes disco.
Mugwump turn out some heavily disco influenced deep techno on the
Meditation EP. I'd like to think it works throughout, but i'm really only feeling the high energy of Ignored Folklore so far.
An assuredly dark and heavy track that you've come to expect from Perc. Throbbing bass and a host of weird noises all there set to send you off the edge.Expect a leaning towards the more easy-listening/ambient side of electronic music in the coming days. And maybe a list of some kind if I can get my brain in gear, i've been really out of sorts lately. ta ra.
8 December 2008
pic: Antoine + ManuelThis needs to be played everywhere, thumping, viciously austere beats that'll take your breath away. Taken from
Veros Artis Volume 2, yet another fine quality compilation.
24 November 2008
Typically outstanding work from
The Field on this remix of
Popnoname's new track
Touch, that's taken from his latest LP
Surrounded By Weather. A great follow up to last years
White Album.
Ost & Kjex seem fuelled by cheese. They put some Scissor Sisters-esque vocals to the
Solomun track
Federgewicht and the result is actually quite satisfying given how cheesy it is. Then they turn their hand to some killer techno on Foodchild, a track which has been embedding itself in my head at various times over the last few months.
To stray off electronic music for a moment. Proof that seeing a band live can change your opinion of them was had when I saw
White Denim on Saturday, having not reckoned that much to them on record I bore witness to a great show. Their drummer is seriously good. Further pleasant surprises were had when it turned out there was a Justice, Busy P etc after party also at Korova too which was pretty wicked in spite of stolen drinks, lack of money, and friends not lasting the distance :( amazing scenes nonetheless.
Sad fact: If you think you've got enough money to last the evening, you are wrong.
11 November 2008
Warp records rarely go wrong, and they certainly haven't in the acquisition of Glaswegian dubstep and grime titan
Rustie who has produced some sterling remixes of
Warp acts
Jamie Lidell and
Pivot in recent months. Looking forward to seeing him on Saturday in support of Proxy. Rustie destroys what was my favourite dance track of 2007 on the latest
Bpitch Control release,
Modeselektor Remixed. With the other track here take from his killer debut EP
Jagz The Smack. Heavy stuff.
Morgan Geist remixed by
Carl Craig. Two legendary names. Taken from the
12" Detroit EP released on
Environ back in September.
Might I also point you to the incredible piece by
Carl Craig & Moritz Von Oswald where they take on the classical works of Maurice Ravel and Modest Mussorgsky. It comes in 6 movements with interlude and to be fully appreciated probably should be listened to in full, not just a snippet, it's mesmerising as each movement builds on the last. That and
Optimo's Sleepwalk compilation have served me well in the recent late nights.
7 November 2008
It's always a risky thing doing a cover of an artist or song that is highly regarded. But if it comes off well, then it was totally worth it. It's a couple years old now, but
Plantains take on the all-time classic I Feel Love by Moroder and Donna Summer works just beautifully.
Belgium is a hub of goodness when it comes to the cosmic/disco thing.
Rubber Room are sounding very promising, their track Cockroach is featured on the new
Eskimo Compilation and will surely appeal to fans of Lindstrom et al.
A Mountain Of One have this way of putting me at ease when I listen to their tracks. This remix of a
Takahashi Kuniyuki song is no exception, there's always an air of nonchalance about their productions, effortlessly cool or something. A collection of
Kuniyuki remixes are available
here.
Check out
Booooooom! for some nice things to look at.
3 November 2008
pic:
Hannah StoufferDroid is the new 12" release by
The Idjut Boys. Two unnamed tracks. Simple, dark, percussion filled disco killers. Grab the vinyl from
here.
Check out
Civil Music. They've recently released what could possibly be the best track you will hear for some time, i've been playing it pretty much all weekend when i've had chance and can see it setting dancefloors alight. Track in question?
Drums Of Death and his mindblowing re-work of
Escort's track Starlight. The
Drums Of Death vinyl is limited to 500 copies and you can grab your copy or lossless download
HERE.
Civil Music also has a lot more coming up too. I'm particularly looking forward to an EP release from experimental pop wizards,
Javelin.
22 October 2008
pic
Today And TomorrowSome easy midweek listening. No techno, electro or disco in sight.
Wermland is the new release from Gothenburg's
Detektivbyran. I can't believe it's been 2 years since their debut EP Hemvagen, a release which sent me into raptures with its
Yann Tiersen-esque melodies. Lovely stuff.
Question Mark were around in the mid '70s, hailing from Kenya, they released '
Be Nice To The People' in 1974. It was a very western influenced psychadelic record.
Shadoks have subsequently re-released it.
He's possibly best known for creating the Miami Vice theme tune, but 10 years prior to that
Jan Hammer produced a concept album entitled
The First Seven Days. It's got some lovely moments.
Experimental folk man
David Thomas Broughton teams up with Chris Casati for this dreamy electronic gem that is available as an EP on
Plug Research.
Fordlandia is the follow up to the superb IBM 1401 A User's Manual by
Jóhann Jóhannsson. It is contemporary classical at its very finest.
Then there is
Treny by
Jacaszek. It sounds pretty close to what you would hear on one of Kompakt's annual
Pop Ambient compilations, or perhaps more specifically,
Klimek. A great album.
20 October 2008
pic
Axel PeemoellerTwo Over The Eight by
Skoozbot saw a digital release at the back end of last year, now it's had a vinyl re-release. Remixes come from
Paco Osuna and
JPLS, with the latter bringing maximum effect out of utter simplicity. You can get the vinyl
here.
I took a look at
Stephan Hinz's latest release '
Bacala' because I saw it had a remix by New York's
Adultnapper. The title track release a superb piece of minimal techno. Get the vinyl
here.
Photonz are totally great, and they're in and around London this weekend. I'd go see them but i'm a northern monkey who works weekends (for 2 more weeks anyway). Catch them if you can, otherwise make do with these below and maybe buy
these.
13 October 2008
pic:
SozyoneThe standard of compilations this year has been incredibly high, i've lost count of the ones i've thoroughly enjoyed. And now I can add another one to that list.
Mmm, Betty! is a compilation by Betty Botox (aka JD Twitch of
Optimo), it is a compilation of super rare and long forgotten grooves. I cannot stress how good this is. You can get the vinyl from
HERE.
Munk's Galactic Dancing is another compilation i've really been enjoying. This track by
Ben Mono and Georg Bär is a joy to the ears, reminiscent of contemporary sounds from the likes of
Holy Ghost and
Aeroplane. Nice
I'm a big fan of piano music,
Maxence Cyrin is a pianist of the highest quality....but what makes him better is the material he plays. Aphex Twin, LFO, Carl Craig, Depeche Mode, Justice and others. Just wonderful. I want to have a dinner party just to play his music in the background. You can get his
Modern Rhapsodies HERE.