Phantasy Sound At Juno Download

Review: Emerging on Erol Alkan's label Phantasy Sound, it would be hard to know what to expect from Babe, Terror, but enter into his longest release to date with an open mind and you shall be rewarded. The Sao Paolo based producer finds a laconic slow house groove upon which to place his music, which takes the shape of a comforting fog scattered with samples, snippets of music, speech and drone, coming in and out of focus like a constantly detuning radio. It's a rich and moody end result that could fall into self-indulgence in the wrong hands, but here the whispers of melody on tracks such as "Savagestic" enthral just as you love yourself in the murk.

Review: Bringing a truly garbled approach to Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound stable, BTU is Brazilian artist Babe, Terror and the mysterious Man Make Music contributor U working together on a mission to disorientate you through their fearsome application of sample science. "Government/Swordbeerfish/Ugly Sneakers" comes on like Musique Concrete pasted to the wall of a pulsing warehouse, as splintered fragments of detuned vocal, jazz wig outs and countless other minute details flurry around that muffled kick. "Breathe Awesome/Blueen" is a slightly less manic affair, allowing a bit more space for reversed guitars and other off-kilter noises to drift around in a more considered kind of madness. It's a bold record but still accessible in its own, broken way.

Review: Occasionally a remix comes along that just seems perfect. This remix of Connan Mockasin's "Faking Jazz Together" by Michael Mayer most definitely falls into this category, the Kompakt boss expertly retaining the idiosyncrasies of Mockasin's track but melding them with a truly sumptuous arrangement. At eight minutes long it still feels like it could go on forever without losing any of its enchanting warmth and impact. The Phantasy Sound label has scored some really interesting releases and remixers to date, but Mayer's remix can be considered a true highlight. Worth the price alone, Phantasy include an extended version of the original's psychedelic cocktail jazz refrain on this release along with a remix from The Horrors' Tom Furse. Whilst not close to the heights of Mayer's remix, Furse does a fine job of retaining the rattling sensation of the original whilst rewiring the mainframe with EBM overtones.

Review: Daniel Avery was one of 2012's most refreshing success stories; his Fabric mix and two EPs for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound may not have slotted comfortably into any of the current flavours of the month, but they shone through thanks to their singular approach to techno. "Drone Logic" was one of the highlights of his second Phantasy release, where an old school progressive house bassline is chewed to pieces by bursts of electronic feedback, and this single release sees Factory Floor's Gabe Gurnsey provide a fine remix that sounds remarkably restrained for a member of the inheritors of Throbbing Gristle's throne; like Avery's original Gurnsey keeps things mid-tempo but strips everything back to basics, with a simple analogue arpeggio which adds an early industrial quality.

Review: An ironic title if ever we saw one; man-of-the-moment Avery doesn't need electronics... This cat's wired for sound every which way but loose! And we mean wired; every cut here is created using classic analogue gear and comes with all the warmth and electronic soul you would expect. With a very linear, stripped back approach throughout, each track comes with its own distinctive character. The title track is almost "Erotic Discourse" flavoured in its ever-developing tweaks and phrases. "Taste" comes complete with an edgy vocal refrain that unnerves and pleases at the same time. "One In The Wave" is just one long wondrous drone while "The Eagle" finishes the set with a sexy, low-swung groove that just won't quit.

Review: Having been welcomed into the Phantasy Sound fold earlier this summer with the excellent Need Electric EP, Daniel Avery's musical tastes are further represented with this one sided white label brandishing a rather excellent, knackered pirate radio remix of "Taste" from Paul Woolford under his recently established Special Request alias. Supposedly the first of several such releases (Photonz are also due to be involved) Woolford brilliantly messes with Avery's programming here, transforming one of the oddest tracks made for dancefloor purposes into a constantly spiralling array of busted up, recycled drum breaks. It's all expertly edited by Woolford and the merest hint of the original's slightly unnerving guttural analogue thrust remains intact. A quite superb DJ tool that sets the standards for who the label looks to next!

Review: This young DJ /producer is one of 2012's most promising new artists - take one listen to Water Jump and it's clear why he is so hyped. "Reception" uses a mutant, noisy take on Chicago house basslines to brutal effect, while "Drone Logic" also revisits the past to create a new vision for the future. There, heavy drums roll in and an old school progressive house bassline - one that sounds more Guerilla than Digweed - is chewed to pieces by bursts of electronic feedback. But it's "A Quiet Life" that really stands out. Underpinned by a splurging bass, haunting angelic voices breeze in as psychedelic drums that have little bearing to traditional house / techno structures explode through the speakers.

Review: The spirit of rave and 'ardkore is alive on Future Four. "Gwad Bwash" (a reference to ragga jungle?) rolls out a low-slung bass to support reconstituted hard-core riffs and insane piano vamps. "Phase 2" approaches the old school from a different perspective; this time the focus is on the insane hoover riffs of Belgian nosebleed and the "Mentasm" style bass that powered so many early 90s tracks. The proximity to this defining era for electronic music is also audible on "Into Orbit". The groove is slamming and the kettle drums are borrowed from Chicago house, but the joyous piano line sounds derived from the classic hardcore tune "40 Miles".

Review: Anyone who sees a DJ set from Phantasy boss Erol Alkan on the reg will probably recognise this Switch collaboration "A Sydney Jook" which has been kept as his secret weapon of dancefloor degradation, with the two having completed the track all the way back in 2009. Despite it's vintage, there's little doubt as to it's potency and there's something poetic about Alkan waiting some three years to release the track, given the ADD centric, next big thing obsessed nature of those who adore him so much. Of much more interest, however, is who the label looked too for remixes, with Night Slugs co chief Bok Bok and WT Records boss Willie Burns both offering expert revisions which demand your attention. Few people could hear Bok Bok's remix and try and pin the "Bass" tag on him, this is pure, sweat inducing ghetto techno that kind of sounds like MMM let loose on the Dance Mania back catalogue. The Freedom Mix from Willie Burns takes the track in a whole other direction too, with reversed Miami electro rhythms streaming out over a rib tickling bassline and spectrally charged synth work.

Review: Tom Rowlands is the spectacle-wearing-half of the Chemical Brothers and he debuts his solo work on Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. Rowlands merges new school styles of throbbing and jacked-up house - replete with marching snares, curdling cow bells and cut vocals - with powerful stylings of EBM. Pitch that against a synthesiser that sounds like its being hung, drawn and quartered and you have Rowlands' title track "Through Me". Meanwhile, the chainsaw synth of "Nothing But Pleasure" dominates the track, which builds into a druggy drop made for party-harder dancers moshing like they were at a Rage Against The Machine or Justice concert - harking back to the days when French electro labels Institubes and Ed Banger ruled.