Category Archives: New/Reviews

New/Reviews

Top stuff 2011

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Many apologies for the disservice here. Fatherhood and the rest of life have taken precedence over writing about music. It’s probably going to stay that way, although I have actually been buying a lot of music, and really spending time taking it in. Some updates on this flow from @phonopsia.

By inserting some distance between myself and the pressures of keeping up with new music, I’ve found myself drawn to albums, which has resulted in a long-overdue engagement with my musical past. To this end, back in January I filled loads of holes in my music collection along the lines of The Pixies, Tom Waits, Joy Division, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock; but I also started exploring a load of things I’d intentionally overlooked forever, which is an impulse that’s stuck with me throughout the year. I say, “intentionally” because I prioritised purchasing new music pretty much non-stop for the last twenty-five years and it now feels like the right time to start spending more time looking back.

I haven’t forgotten the present, and a few things will pop up here from recent months, but this is largely a view of the old stuff that caught my ears, as inspired by brelson’s top 10 albums of 2011. This is a selection of YouTube clips and is taxonomically muddled but I think this is the easiest way to present my interests these days and hopefully an easy way for you to consume it. So, without further digression, here’s some stuff I’ve been listening to.

His Name is Alive

I first rediscovered His Name is Alive via the Brothers Quay’s video for “Are We Still Married”, which I vaguely remembered from when it used to get play on MTV. They were also one of the miriad bands that I overlooked in my late teens, as I developed a short-lived aversion to everything without synths, which is something I’ve been trying to rectify by revisiting this period in particular. At any rate, I was reminded of His Name Is Alive after plundering a load of Brothers Quay short films.

Here’s a few other examples of the variety of their sound:

The first few albums have really clicked with me. It’s somewhat irritating that a lot of material reappears on subsequent releases – sometimes in new versions – other times the same. But that shouldn’t scare anyone off. The early releases are full of ideas and maintain an exceptionally high level of quality as individual tracks and as proper albums. Their newer works are more variable.

Mark Seven’s Salute 2

The Mark Seven “Salute 2” mix probably did more to kick-start my drive to explore the past than anything this year (it came out late 2010 but I only got to it early in 2011). I know I should know more of this stuff better, but I didn’t and the mix did precisely what a good mix should do, insofar as I rushed out to buy the key tracks that I was missing. They were:

Gene Chandler’s “Does She Have a Friend”

Hi Gloss’s “”You’ll Never Know”

Heaven 17 “Let Me Go!”

There’s loads of other great music on these three discs (or free downloads from the link above). A track list can be found over here.

Grizzly Bear/Department of Eagles

I’m not sure when I first started paying attention to Grizzly Bear. I certainly never realised they were massively popular until recently. I think it was probably when my high school friend Ben who mentioned them to me a couple of years ago. At the time, I listened, thought, “this is alright”, and then moved on. For whatever reasons I went back again and bought Veckatimest, perhaps buoyed by the fact that it’s been released on Warp Records in the UK. I love this album, but I’ve also visited their earlier works since then, which are probably just as good. For whatever reason, I’ve particularly clung to the Department of Eagles side project, for which I cite “Around the Bay” here. I’d recommend it all. It’s not the sort of thing I’d normally listen to, but it’s so well written, arranged and coherent, there’s not much to dislike. And it is all very well produced by band member Chris Taylor, for people who geek out on such things.

Scott Walker

I’m late on the Scott Walker boat, but I suppose there’s a lens through which everyone getting to him after 1965 is late. The dude is a genius, although I find his hit/miss ratio a bit unfavourable. That said, I’ve bought nearly every Scott Walker release and some of the Walker Brothers releases to boot. In fact, my favourite Scott Walker tune, “The Electrician”, is drenched in his influence, but was released as part of the 1978 Walker Brothers album Nite Flights.

If you’re looking for a good place to start with Scott Walker, look no further than the 30th Century Man documentary.

Stevie Wonder

Am I the only person alive who didn’t know that Stevie Wonder did Pastime Paradise? How many other tracks had unimagined Stevie Wonder beginnings? I decided I wouldn’t live any longer without knowing and started plundering the back catalogue, specifically Songs in the Key of Life and Secret Life of Plants. I actually know some of the other 70s albums reasonably well, but these two are huge and so important. On these two albums I think it’s the synths and the wild inventiveness that do it for me most, but of course his music wants for nothing.

Back to Pastime Paradise… just imagine hearing this in 1976.

Africa Hitech

Steve Spacek and Mark Pritchard sounds too good to be true if you look at my music collection, but this puts their talents together in a way that makes sense, while moving in to new territory for both. It’s probably the freshest dance music I’ve heard in 2011. It’s a rare collaboration that lives up to its promises on paper. I’d recommend the album, 93 Million Miles, as the singles in advance of it didn’t do as much for me. This is “Light the Way”.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

A work colleague who plays in a metal band recommended these guys. I’ve known the name for ages but never seriously sought out their music before he sent me some clips. At any rate, I was missing out, and it’s prompted me to check out Kranky in more detail to boot. Great stuff. This track, Gathering Storm, from the Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven! album is the second part of a 22 minute song, which cresecendos ridiculously.

I would literally recommend  buying all of their music. And their A Silver Mount Zion project. If you get impatient with this clip on the first listen, skip to about 4:20. The impatience will not persist.

Reflection Eternal

Talib Kweli is an MC I’ve never given enough time. I’ve bought some of his singles, I have a Black Star album and I’ve always liked him, but I’ve never sought out his albums. Late this year I sought to rectify this, purchasing the Reflection Eternal album Train of Thought, produced by Hi-Tek. I also bought the first two Hi-Tek solo albums, because the beats are as good as they get. It’s very difficult to choose a single track to highlight here, as the lyrics, delivery, beats and production are all so good. This is “Too Late (feat. Res)”.

Franco Campanino

This is a track that I first heard on the superb Noctambulo mix. I bought it late this year and listened to it loads again. Huge tune. Immense strings. Italian disco rather than Italo disco I suppose.

nb: that Noctambulo mix (track list here) got me interested in Goblin as well, who are definitely worth a mention here, both for their tunes and the far out Dario Argento films that they scored.

Dario Argento with knife

Billy Ocean

“Nights” is a track that I’ve known for a few years, but I don’t think I really knew it was Billy Ocean. At the same time, I had a notion that he made some amazing tunes, but didn’t know where to start. Eventually I started with the “Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)” album, rediscovered this song and found an album that has few equals from this style/era. Really listenable stuff that should stay in rotation for a long time, and a rare dance music album that holds together properly.

Six or Seven HonoUrable mentions

There’s loads of other stuff to mention, but I need to save on words, actually finish this post and properly get ready for the beginning of a new year, so hopefully this fairly succinct list will serve as a pointer or a starter for discussion.

Twin Shadow

Twin Shadow’s is my favourite new 4AD artist. The debut album is very good throughout, with only one song that I can do without. “When We’re Dancing” is probably my favourite, and you can fit it in a mix! Lots of 80s references on this album, without sounding regurgitated.

Deep Chord presents Liumin

I have no particular tracks to mention, I just haven’t stopped listening to this album since it was released 18 months ago. Worth a listen or fifty for any “dub techno” sceptics. The ambient second disk is good as well. It’s worth mentioning that it took a few listens to really grab me and at first I actually thought some of the effects were a bit crap, but since getting inside this music all reservations have been left behind. “Maglev” is one of the murkier examples:

Mara Carlyle

I bought Floreat for my wife just a few days ago, but I strongly suspect this will get routine play for many years to come. You may remember Mara Carlyle from her Accidental Records album, The Lovely (produced by Plaid), or the tracks on Plaid’s Not For Threes which she contributed vocals to, like Rakimou.

Floreat was actually finished in 2008 but it only got a release in mid-2011 after getting shelved by EMI. It’s coming from a similar musical place to The Lovely. I’d be very surprised if people who liked that album didn’t like this one. It oozes auteurship, as she handles nearly everything herself on the album, and with a voice like hers it’s a very complete package. Probably should be in the top 10 were it not for the fact that I’ve only heard it twice so far!

Dimlite

Dimlite has been probably my favourite left field hip hop producer for some time. This year’s Grimm Reality reaffirms this view with tracks like, “One Of Uh Infinity’s Countless Uh Tiny Cycles”, which scarcely resembles hip hop at all any more.

Damu

Damu’s debut album took some time to sink in, but having done so, it feels like a keeper. “Plasm” is a great introduction. One review I read likened it to a pastiche of everything that’s happening in London at the moment, which isn’t too far off the mark I suppose, but I certainly don’t read that in a negative way.

Siouxsie and The Banshees/Cocteau Twins

Lastly, I’ve bought nearly every album from Siouxsie and The Banshees and the Cocteau Twins. There’s not much to say other than that I’m kicking myself for not moving from dabbler to obsessive sooner.

That’s it I reckon. Hopefully I’ll finish some tunes and post them up here this year!

New/Reviews

Oversteps

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It probably goes without saying that the release of each Autechre album is a listening event for me and many like-minded music nerds, but for Oversteps this is more true than it otherwise might be after the London gig in support of Quaristice (one of the best musical experiences of my life), and all the variants on that album, which sat very well with me. It’s definitely one of my favourite Autechre albums, if not top of the list (controversial, I know).

Oversteps feels like a logical follow-up to Quaristice. It sounds very Nord heavy to my ears, as was Quaristice, but you can also hear the digital elements that they’ve reintroduced here. If I had to sum up the production in a word, it would be “crunchy”. You first notice this on the second track, ilanders. A lot of sounds decay or release in to bit reduction, which gives them an explosive sound and is quite disorienting over the first few listens. This is a part of a sound which normally creates ambience rather than demanding our continued attention. By creating in this typically-taken-for-granted space, they define a really unusual, demanding acoustic space. I certainly wouldn’t be averse to hearing other people exploit this approach. It’s probably strange to focus on the production so early in my comments, but it really is definitive of the album. It’s an essential part of what they’ve created.

I prefer the second half of the album, or basically everything from track 7 forward. I think the first half establishes the mood/palette well and holds the whole thing together as an album, but the individual tracks don’t do as much for me in isolation. Put another way, I think the first six tracks set out the boundaries of the album and the rest of it is the identity, if that makes any sense. Somehow I don’t have a great deal to say about those first tracks, so forgive me if I focus on the stuff that I find most compelling. If you’re interested to read more about that part of the album, my friend Kent focused on it in his review.

My favourite track is Treale. This feels like the full realisation of the Oversteps sound to me: heavily composed but rooted in repetition. Competing melodies jostle for focus while politely sliding out of the way when they’ve said their bit. The production is amazing. The resonance on the edge of one of the main melodies feels like a razor through the brain. This happily carries along for just under four minutes when it suddenly comes together as a single melody across five or six instruments. This sneaks up for a couple of repeats before taking a completely sensical but unexpected turn. This all sounds very much like Autechre and no one else. It’s everything I like about their music and precisely what I look for in music more generally.

The eighth track, os_veix3, sounds like Flutter part II to me. Again, this track is pure Autechre idiosynchracy, which leads nicely in to O0, which is distilled Autechre melody left to its own devices.

I think it would be a better album without track 10, d-sho_qub. It starts out with a distressingly happy tone. I’ve tried very hard to like this track and I just don’t. It completely interrupts what is the best part of the album for me. The beat is cool (huge) and they do some wicked effects fuckery around it, but that melody ruins it for me. That said, it wouldn’t be an Autechre album if you weren’t thwarted in a few places. Also, the end of the track with the crazy 2001 voices (Jacob Arnold beat me to this description) is sweet. It really leads on to the end of the album well, but that first four minutes of it is a blemish.

If d-sho_qub was Autechre at their most twee and melodically indulgent, then the 11th track, st_epreo is them at their most rhythmic. It definitely brings things back on track, and showcases their production skills more than any other track on the album.

If it weren’t already obvious, the melodies can’t be easily categorised. The 12th track, redfall starts out sounding like classic Plaid, but with an utterly immense resonant reverb beast that pops in and out of the mix on the periphery of what can be considered melody. On the Warp cousins tip, the fifth track, qplay, starts off sounding a lot like Boards of Canada. They’ve definitely explored melodically on this album more than on any of their earlier releases.

From the tail end of the twelfth track through the end we’re in beatless territory again. There’s a whole lotta big melody. In these tracks you can hear how they’re often using release or reverb where others might use pads. This is done throughout the album but is most noticeable at the end. It’s an unusual approach that works very well in this case.

In short, as an album it’s pure win. As Jacob Arnold said in the link above, it’s worth spending a month of your life listening to this album and not much else. It’s fantastically rewarding. Given that there’s only the one track that I wish I could remove this is a probable album of the year. Now on to that 12 hour radio show!

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Hip hop catch-up

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Got some new loot from the home of the Lootpack:

DOOM – Unexpected Guests [Gold Dust Media]
J Dilla – Donuts [Stones Throw]
Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol 1-2: Movie Scenes [Stones Throw]
Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol 3 & 4: In India [Stones Throw]
Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol. 5: Dil Cosby Suite [Stones Throw]
Madlib – Beat Konducta Vol. 6: Dil Withers Suite [Stones Throw]

It’s criminal that I haven’t bought Donuts yet.

Concerts, Film/Video, New/Reviews

Vladislav Delay stuff

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I’ve been meaning to write up this album for a while now, as it’s not leaving my mp3 player any time soon, but I’ve just caught up on some reading and noticed that it’s already received an excellent treatment from Toby @ Bleep 43.

In case you missed my tweet the other day, there’s also a fantastic video for Toive up on Vimeo that is totally worth checking.

I’ll surely have more to report on Vladislav Delay later this month, following their gig @ Union Chapel on 12 November (tickets still seem to be available).

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Wish list clear-out and some new bits

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This week’s purchases:

Complete releases
Juzu aka Moochy – Re Momentos Introduction [Crosspoint Japan]
Wladimir M – As The Leaves Fall From The Trees (restored & remastered) [Eevo Lute]
DOOM – Born Like This [Lex]
Pearson Sound – PLSN [Hessle Audio]
Mount Kimbie – Sketch On Glass [Hotflush Recordings]
Madvillain – Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix [Stones Throw]
A Made Up Sound – Archive [Clone Basement Series Holland]
Tom Trago – Voyage Direct (remixes) [Rush Hour Holland]
Tha Lady Blacktronika – Cocaine EP [Deep Explorer Spain]
Vladislav Delay – Tummaa [Leaf]
Blonde Redhead – Misery Is A Butterfly [4AD]
Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship [Thrill Jockey]
Tortoise – A Lazarus Taxon [Thrill Jockey]
The Sea and Cake – Car Alarm [Thrill Jockey]

Individual tracks
Duminie Deporres/Theo Parrish – Bi Location (part 1) [Submerge]
Prosumer/Murat Tepeli – The Jam [Ostgut Ton]
Juzu aka Moochy – Bounty (original mix) [Crosspoint Japan]
Andy Vaz – Hurry, Hurry (Lerosa mix) [Yore]
Move D & Benjamin Brunn – In The Beginning [Smallville]
Lawrence – Friday’s Child (Koss remix) [Mule Electronic]
Atjazz – Looking Glass (dub) [Reincarnation]
Rustie – Tar [Wireblock]
Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes [Thrill Jockey]

I also bought some older stuff that I’ve lost or was stolen.

The Cure – Disintegration [Fiction Records]
New Order – Movement [Factory]

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Juno downloads and customer service

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It took me a while to notice, but it turned out my last order from Juno was missing a number of tracks. All were available for download individually but in the zip files (which appear to have been automatically split at 2.5 GB) a number of the tracks/art were missing. I detailed this for Juno customer service and they reinstated my order so that I could download the missing stuff. I’m totally pleased with the response but it was a bit of a hassle figuring out what wasn’t there.

I e-mailed them again to find out  how this could happen and they said it hadn’t been reported before, but they are upgrading the download system and it will be faster and more reliable in the future. Anyway, I thought I’d pass the info along so that people check their zipped downloads if they pull them down this way.

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A Fine Line between Wagon Christ and God

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From Luke Vibert’s early productions on Rising High, Mo’ Wax and Ninja Tune through his reinvention in nearly every form imaginable since the early part of this decade, he has always remained resolutely idiosyncratic and recognisable while adapting himself to changing genres and technology. He’s also turned in some excellent DJ sets which display the same sense of quality and eclecticism.

Despite this reliability and novelty regeneration I seemed to loose track of him over the last few years, so he was one of the artists that I made an effort to catch up with. Setting the time machine back to August 2007 I found Chicago, Detroit, Redruth on Planet Mu and his collaboration with Jean Jaques Perrey, Moog Acid On Lo recordings. Both albums sounded interesting enough, but Vibert’s faster acidic side is a bit hit and miss for me. I picked up God from the former and Vision For the Future from the latter. Both albums as a whole were too acid-indulgent for me, which isn’t really a fair assessment of the whole, but I’ll stand by mu clip-based judgement that they aren’t his best work in their totalities. That said, God is exactly the kind of hip hop that only he can pull off, with lush choral samples over rudely distorted toms. It also has some of the best deitic samples aggregated in one place. Vision For the Future is reminiscent of his Lover’s Acid record or Kerrier District from a few years back. In that way it’s a useful sort of track for me, as I don’t buy a lot of house that sounds like this. Hell, not much house sounds like this. It’s just good with an unusual feel and mood to it.

Fast forward to last month and the release of his Rhythm album. From the first bar I was fondly reminded of Tally Ho! Indeed this album reminds me more of that release than anything he’s done since then, in that it’s mostly instrumental hip hop and it’s full of surprises (and ridiculously creative song names). When shopping I tried to dissect it unsuccessfully. While I could have probably lived with only two or three of the tracks, I really wanted the whole album, as it clearly deserves that monicker, despite its actuality as a repackaged collection of Japanese 12″ releases in an affordable release.

That said, one track stands out because it’s so unusual and good. A Fine line is another track using choral singing in hip hop to mad effect. I don’t know how it works, it just does, and it’s successful enough that it’s been swimming around in my head for a couple of weeks now.

The title track Rhythm didn’t leap out at me until I’d heard it a few times (probably because it takes a bit to get going). It’s all about the claps and reggae samples that come in about half way through. They’re huge. If anything I just wish this track was longer.

Concertina Turner, James Bond in a Jimmy Hat and Harmonica Sellers all have a classic funk feel to them, which will definitely appeal to fans of the classic Ninja Tune sound. Simultaneously it reminds me of DJ Premiere’s production on Moment of Truth. Same era(ish) I suppose.

But as I say it’s mostly just an enjoyable straight-through listening experience for the oddity of his orchestrations and left-field sample sources, which arrived right on time for me. I think this one has some shelf life in it.

To top this off, I’ve just noticed a second album in as many months called We Hear You on Planet Mu. I’ve not yet had a chance to check it but will endeavour to report back following the next batch of purchases.

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Hessle -> Hemlock -> Hotflush

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While lots of fans of the dubstep fringe have heaped praise on Martyn and 2562 (myself included, and Burial before them), I reckon Hessle Audio deserves more attention than it’s already got, if nothing else as a gateway to what the Hessle artists are doing elsewhere. TRG and Pangaea were two of the first dubstep artists I took an interest in beyond Burial, on a tip from Ali Wade. Both artists have a dark, sparse ethereality which is what first drew me in and distinguishes them from the thin and generic synthesis that first defined dubstep. Since then Hessle has been my first port of call for the new school sounds from South London Holland wherever they may originate. Ramadanman’s Blimey is similar to what you’d expect from the early TRG and Pangaea releases with some fairly creative beat work and Joe’s Grimelight/Rut drops big unabashed classic synth flavour that makes Detroit techno fun again.

The Hessle discovery I’m most excited about is Untold and his own Hemlock Recordings. His shit is on a different vector. Not only does it take more chances than most music I hear anywhere, it does so with the right ingredients, restraint when it’s needed, and a good deal of variety. The only thing I can really compare his sound to is the all-over-the-shop remix of Modeselktor’s ‘Black Block’ that Rustie turned in last year, but even that can only serve as a marker for the care that goes in to each measure. I’ve come across four of his releases digitally so far and the only track I haven’t bought is Discipline – not because I didn’t like it but because I didn’t feel like I really needed it when I was getting Bones (from the Discipline release) and all of I Can’t Stop This Feeling, Kingdom and Sweat. Basically all of this is essential. One thing I particularly like is that he knows when to turn the bass off. That’s something that turns me off less mature dubstep. He has a great sense of how to avoid the low bass drone that eventually loses its impact and takes on the characteristics of seismic white noise. He gets away with some pretty crazy things with bass, managing fairly active sub-bass, tight, punchy kicks and resonant basslines simultaneously, without inducing suffocation. It’s fairly remarkable stuff.

I also found James Blake’s Air & Lack Thereof on Hemlock. The title track most reminds me of Dimlite, which is a similarity that’s pretty difficult to pull off. Those who’ve checked my mixes in recent years will know how highly I regard that comparison. The B-side Sparing the Horses is a new level of madness. Galloping (geddit?) kicks lead in to bass and synth enormity of heretofor unknown size, punctuated with huge air gaps of elephantitan ball massivity. This is futurity today.

According to RA, James Blake runs with Mount Kimbie – which brings me to Hotflush Recordings. The Maybes EP is a lovely collection of the sort of scratchy synthesis that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Vladislav Delay record. I could see these guys on Warp before too long actually. I’m finding it really difficult to describe this stuff, probably because it’s just different. Is it really even dubstep? Experimental dubstep I guess. Just give it a listen.

Also in the dubstep/not-dubstep category we find SCUBA‘s recent material (not to be confused with King Britt’s SCUBA). Klinik is basically a mnml minimal percussive techno track with some atmosphere. The only thing remotely dubsteppy about it is the unusual placement of the beats. At any rate, it’s good minimal percussive techno. It’s not surprising then that Marcel Dettmann remixed From Within last year. It’s throbbing deep, dark techno with a nearly industrial edge. Actually it reminds me a bit of Studio Pankow’s Zoologischer Garten (which I opened this mix with a while back) – one of my favourite ever tracks. On the virtual flip side SCB removes the vowels and remixes his own Hard Boiled, which transforms an atmospheric, technoey dubstep track in to an acidic, spacey and somewhat dubby techno track. Anyone maintaining an aversion to dubstep that’s stuck with me this far should definitely test their resistance to this.

Rounding out my recent Hotflush purchases, I picked up Jazzsteppa‘s Jakin/Two, which puts the dub back in dubstep. I’d assumed the dubby bits were sampled but when I just visited their discogs page I noticed that BarBie plays the trombone. Impressive stuff. I also got Pangaea’s Mosaix, which does some very cool things with an upright bass.

So set your label search to H, filter by dubstep and find good shiz.

New/Reviews

Try (313), that’s correct!

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It’s in no way peculiar to electronic music that most artists fail to find ways to stay fresh. It may seem an apt critique due to the reduced bureaucracy between making music and getting it in to the hands of music buyers, but this again maintains in all forms of underground music. Prolific artists can be found everywhere. Some like Madlib find ways to marry that output with impeccable quality. However, he’s blatantly an exception that proves the rule. Point being, it can get difficult to overcome the cynicism that builds up when once-adored musicians seem to lose the plot. I’m by no means the most cynical music buyer I know and I made a conscious effort to put my open mind where my ears are with this last shop, revisiting many of the artists I’ve lost track of over the years. What came of it? Mostly disappointment with a few nice surprises – so not a lot different than any other arbitrary segment of what I sought.

Having said all this I think it will be clear how refreshing it is to see Mark Pritchard reinvent himself yet again as Harmonic 313. As  part of Reload, Jedi Knights, Secret Ingredients and Global Communications (with Tom Middleton) and as Link and N.Y. Connection solo, he was responsible for a huge swath of my favourite ’90s house, techno, electro and ambience. Then they suddenly fell off the map towards the end of the ’90s. A couple of years later he re-emerged as Troubleman on a downtempo/broken tip, which was nice stuff but not really that exciting. When you stack up the breadth and consistency of his work in the 90s; when you consider what he’s been doing relative to the route that Tom Middleton’s taken; when you consider that the Troubleman stuff was yet another new style to add to those he’s mastered and when you consider that most people would just repeat a “working” formula ad nauseum, he was doing alright in my book. I just wasn’t blown away.

Last year Harmonic 313 arrived. I loved Dirtbox and with the addition of When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence I was sold. At face value Harmonic 313 sounds like the new school of post-Jay Dee stumbly massive-bass synthetic hip hop like Flying Lotus – which ain’t exactly wrong, but probably insufficient. There’s a great deal of musicality that isn’t typical in hip hop and while the template would be this new style of hip hop there’s loads of more traditional music merged therein. Dirtbox clearly owes a debt to dubstep, No Way Out almost sounds like a resonant analogue take on slow Detroit house, Word Problems is pure Speak and Math sinister analogue hip hop, Battlestar is hip hop for MC’s sake, Flaash squeezes the Harmonic 313 sound in to an early Chicago house context and the rest of the album seems to bring the Warp heyday up to date, tapping in to Boards of Canada or Plaid  styles with some simple but beautiful baselines that lend themselves perfectly to the size of his base.

If this weren’t enough, I highly recommend his remix of DJ Mujava’s Township Funk, which hints at how Harmonic 313 could squeeze itself back in to the Global Communications and Jedi Knights sounds of old. The baseline is pure dub and the beats are basically house but this track can’t be pinned down as any one thing other than a master’s synthesis of multiple styles in to a new, perfectly sensible thing. It’s brilliant. Mark Pritchard is back (if he was ever really gone).

New/Reviews

Massive haul

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I should be just about caught up after this. Some of this stuff had a delayed digital release, which I am only now realising is fairly common (or this could be down to my over-reliance on Juno). But I also made an effort to check out artists that I’ve lost track of recently, which is the major contributor to the amount of music found here. Referencing blogs, e-mail lists, mix track lists and message boards is excellent for finding tips but if you really want to find stuff there’s no substitute for mining every artist and label that you can think of. It’s gotta be done periodically, even if it does require a monumental investment of time.

I’m determined to actually write some reviews of this stuff and you can expect some mixes before too long. There’s some fantastic stuff in here.

Complete releases
2562 – Embrace
2562 – Love In Outer Space
Black Jazz Consortium – Dark Points EP
Burial – Ghost Hardware EP
Dam Funk – Rhythm Trax Vol 4
Dam Funk – Let’s Take Off
Harmonic 313 – When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence
Ismael Pinkler – Trote
James Blake – Air & Lack Thereof
Joe – Grimelight
Kai Alce – Disillusionment EP
Luke Vibert – Rhythm
Monolake – Atlas-Titan
Mount Kimbie – Maybes
Norm Talley – The Journey
Ramadanman – Blimey
Reggie Dokes – Chicago Pimp
Reggie Dokes – Spectacle Of Deepness EP
Scuba – From Within
Sigha – On The Strip
Untold – Kingdom
Untold – I Can’t Stop This Feeling
Untold – Sweat
V/A – Viewpoints: Chapter One

Individual tracks
Alton Miller – Inner8 (Gerd’s No vox mix)
Andre Zimma – Music (Atjazz remix)
Benjamin Brunn – Im Kaufhaus
Bernard Badie – Truth Hurts (dub mix)
Black Jazz Consortium – Deepness
Bodycode – Hands Free Computer Interface (The Mole remix)
Burial – South London Boroughs
Chateau Flight – Instant Replay
Chateau Flight – Rituel
Chez Damier – Why
Clyde – Roll Of The Beast (original mix)
Cro Magnon – Eclipse (DJ Mitsu The Beats remix)
Cro Magnon – Time Flies (feat Steve Spacek – original)
Cyrus/Random Trio – Indian Stomp
Daniel Meteo – Pure I (James T Cotton remix)
Daniel Meteo – The Beat Of The Heart
Dave Aju – Weebles
Delano Smith – Hystery
Deuce – Guttering
Dimlite – Quiz Tears (instrumental)
Dimlite – Ravemond’s Young Problems
Diverse – Against Me
Diverse – Beyond Beyond (feat Madlib)
Diverse – Escape Earth
DJ Aqua Beat – Our Transition
DJ Gregory/Gregor Salto – Con Alegria (main mix)
DJ Marin – Love Fantasy (Rondenion mix)
DJ Mujava – Township Funk (Mark Pritchard’s version Excursion)
DJ Sprinkles – Brenda’s $20 Dilemma
DJ Sprinkles -Grand Central (Deep Into The Bowel Of House)
DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 (blues)
Domu – Dubs Journey
Domu – What’s Your Number (original mix)
DXR – Wonka
Ferdinand Fehlers – Hearth
Fred Everything – Elevate (Maurice Fulton mix)
Hakan Lidbo feat Emma Astram – El Presidente
Hanna – Perfume
Hanna – The Clown
Hanna – The Race
Home & Garden with Chez Damier – In & Out (JT Donaldson dub)
Hudson Mohawke – Root Hands
Ill Suono – Angel Beat (Dabrye remix)
ISoul8 – Free
Jacek Sienkiewicz – Connections
James Kumo – Space Dancer (Planetary’s What Happens In Orbit Stays In Orbit remix)
Jared Wilson – Bangkok Four Seasons Hotel
Jark Prongo – Helios
Jazzsteppa – Two
Jean Jaques Perrey/Luke Vibert – Vision For The Future
Jori Hulkkonen – Fermi Paradox
Joshua Iz – Get To Know (Latin)
Kai Alce – Kzr Gruv
Kai Alce – Smoov Bumps
Katalyst – Dedicated (feat Diverse – album version)
Katalyst – How Bout Us (feat Steve Spacek – album version)
Katalyst – Non Stop (feat Supernatural – album version)
King Midas Sound – Lost (Flying Lotus remix)
King Midas Sound – One Ting (Dabrye remix)
King Midas Sound – Too Long Dub
LAL – Saturn (Dimlite remix)
Laurent Garnier – Back To My Roots (Panoramix)
LD – 2 Bad
LD – Traumatic Times
Legowelt – Loverstory SH21
Linkwood – Hear The Sun
Linkwood Family – Piece Of Mind
Lowtec – Chord Memory
Luke Vibert – God
Manuel Tur feat Blakkat – Golden Complexion (Papa Bradock’s Minnie Mouth remix)
Marco Bernardi – Mystery Of Nazerus (2562 remix)
Mark Pritchard/Om Mas Keith – Wind It Up (instrumental)
Mass Prod/Jus Ed – Mass Prod (Jus-Ed Soul Stir mix)
Matt O’Brien – End Of The Beginning
Matt O’Brien – Serotone (version)
Mr G – Makes No Sense (Radio Slave’s Shaking The Tree remix)
Mr Oizo – Positif (LFO remix)
Mr Oizo – Z (album version)
Nigel Hayes – Back Together (Abacus remix)
Nutty – Mdali (Brooks mix)
Opolopo/Amalia – I Do (Domu’s Discotech mix)
Orphx – Threshold (Substance remix)
Osborne – Wait A Minute (extended)
Ost & Kjex – Have You Seen The Moon In Dallas? (Maurice Fulton remix)
Pablo Bolivar – Into The Televerse (Andy Stott remix)
Pangaea – Mosaix
Patchworks feat Darius Rachaud – Celebration (Slight Return)
Patrice Scott – Azteck
Patrice Scott – Nuonce
Pierce & Twirdy – Cuaba (Babicz Style In Full EFX mix by Robert Babicz)
Pinch – Lazarus (original version)
Randolph – Lonely Eden
Robert Babicz – A Night In Melbourne
Ron Trent feat Robert Owens – Deep Down (dub mix)
Rondenion – Tokyo Deep! Love Is Like A Diamond
Sam & Gigi – Bau Au (Patchworks remix)
Scuba – Hard Boiled
Scuba – Hundreds & Thousands
Shed – The Lower Upside Down (Surgeon remix)
Skream – Percression (original version)
Sleazy McQueen & the Nasty Fruits – Let’s Try To Love ($tinkworx remix)
Stephen Beaupre – Les Filles (The Mole remix)
Steve Oh – In My Zone
Sven Weisemann – Trackz
Tensnake – Holding Back (My Love)
Tensnake – TheThenUnknown
Titonton Duvante – On Top
Titonton Duvante – R U N Trouble
Titonton Duvante – Unzip!
Trinidadian Deep – Future Sonic
Untold – Bones
Version – The Brighter Side (Atjazz instmix)
Wyndell Long – Deep-Deep