SECURE SHOPPING
Everyone knows New Years Day is the new New Year’s Eve, and the folks at Manchester clubbing institution Warehouse Project have put on a January 1 lineup to reflect that. Better still, we’ve got two tickets to give away to the event.
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In a year when the more adventurous minds have conjured up the term ‘witch house’ to differentiate between a generation of bedroom producers with a penchant for internet unfriendly symbols, Demdike Stare have provided more than a genuine scare or two with a sonic fog of unease wrapped in mysticism integral to their every moment.
Voices Of Dust sees the Lancastrian duo of Sean Canty and Miles Whittaker deliver the final and much anticipated chapter in their trilogy of albums for Modern Love this year. Arriving in strictly limited quantities and adorned with suitably cryptic artwork from Mr Andy Votel, this is a collection of tracks that chill and delight in equal measures. Proceedings commence in suitably menacing fashion with creeping drone frequencies twisted into the unnerving three minutes that make up “Black Sun”. This seeps into “Hashshashin Chant”, a frenetic collision of eastern discothèque percussion, heavily treated chants, fractured metallic abrasions and cold war submarines. If Maya Arulpragasam did a career swerve towards dub techno it might sound like this.
“Repository Of Light” represents this album’s longest arrangement at eleven minutes, and with it Demdike Stare provide perhaps the most fulfilling moment. Senses are lifted with gratifying ease out of the preceding viscous sonic mist of all encompassing claustrophobia to a delightfully floating point via the gradual ascent to prominence of crystalline Detroit synths that shimmer with ethereal intensity.
“Of Decay & Ecstasy” marks a swift plunge back into the machine made mist of unease which seeps into proceedings on the flip with the spectral fog of “Rain & Shame”. A concluding descent towards the darkness of finality is heralded by murky nebula of distant horns that punctuate “Leptonic Master”. By the time the coarse grains of “A Tale Of Sand” reach the run out groove, you are left with the thrilling sensual juxtaposition of craving more despite yourself.
Tony Poland
The organisers for Sonar Festival have announced that Steve Reich will open the 2011 edition of the long running Barcelona based electronic music and arts festival which will take place on the weekend of June 16 -18.
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It’s fair to say that Leeds via London Hessle Audio co-founder David Kennedy has had a pretty outstanding year. This year alone, he has released a collaboration with Midland on Will Saul’s Aus imprint; “Glut” on Untold’s Hemlock; the Ramadanman EP on Hessle Audio and “Work Them” (the ubiquitous summer anthem, and arguably the new “Hyph Mngo”) on Loefah’s Swamp 81. Earning the respect and admiration of every DJ and tastemaker worth their salt, plus a legion of loyal followers, twenty one year old Pearson Sound (aka Ramadanman) has blown the music industry away with his sophisticated production, devastating DJ sets and creative prowess. And make no mistake, his next 12” on the Hessle imprint is no exception to the rule.
For anyone who heard Kennedy on Benji B’s Radio One show a few weeks back, you will know of his current interest in Chicago Juke, and it is from this sonic palette that he paints his picture here. A gorgeous, hazy atmospheric intro with a shimmering glow grows as the beats begin to patter with increasing insistence in “Blanked”. Building the atmosphere like a master craftsman, he sculpts and moulds the sounds around one another adeptly, like a potter working clay, or an artist sketching a drawing. As the track moves along, a warm hum of bass, sonorous organ-like instrumentals and chopped up future garage style vocals lead into a drop around the midway point. The progression and development continues right until the end, as the tune disappears into a crackle of background noise, hums and whirs.
It’s a hard act to follow, but “Blue Eyes” on the flip makes a sterling attempt to live up to its counterpart. Tuning into a less brooding sensibility, Kennedy lets the tension build in a gently nudging, hissing intro before flurrying bleepy ripples reign free with cooing female vox. These chirrups are no sooner articulated then they are drowned out and disappear; the ticking beats and percussion return to the fore, but then again, teasingly, the vocals return, only to be towed away on a tidal wave of synth work and sobriety. So we are drawn into the world of Pearson Sound with a superb release and another gem in Kennedy’s ever-expanding musical canon.
Belinda Rowse
Brackles & Shortstuff feat. Terrible Shock – Good Foundation review
by Juno Plus on 30.11.2010 at 09:28am
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Celebrating a storming first year, the Blunted Robots crew release their fifth single, resplendent with their wicked trademark cover art, and more importantly with some of the freshest beats available on the planet. Following awesome tunes like “Citizens Dub”, Mickey Pearce’s “Innami” and Martin Kemp’s “No Charisma”, Kemp’s brother Brackles joins forces with Shortstuff and Nottingham mic-wielder Terrible Shock on “Good Foundation”.
Only 24 years old and already something of a UKF veteran, Brackles’ way with a beat is well known, but this collaboration really adds a flavour hitherto unheard before. With crazy repeated chords pile-driven into each other, the thin, off-beat style reminds heavily of the original 80s tape-edit kings, The Latin Rascals. The early 80s flavour is also added to with some crashing Linn drum fills, but this isn’t a kitsch/retro piece at all – the sequencing is hyper-modern and Terrible Shock’s MCing is treated with a phalanx of effects as verses turn into choruses. It’s infectious stuff – fidgety and soulful at the same time – and with an instrumental and acapella included, is bound to get rinsed pretty sharpish.
A true king of funky, Ten Thousand Yen boss Doc Daneeka gets involved on the remix front and delivers a nice contrast, smoothing things out a little and going for an almost exclusively percussion-filled mix, all of which lets the vocals shine through nicely and as always, DD’s kicks, snares and claps are peerlessly arranged.
Oliver Keens
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It’s testament to the regard with which Adam X’s side project is held that it can attract the calibre of artists that have remixed Traversable Wormhole material to date. However, perhaps the most positive outcome from the hook-up with Chris Liebing’s label is that it gives a wider public the chance to hear the original tracks. Certainly, the Traversable Wormhole music on this release is essential listening. “Exotic Measures” manages to effortlessly combine the abstract and the real. Like the space motif the artist name references, the track features a black hole of abstract noise, given dancefloor appeal thanks to staccato percussion and drums. The end effect is like tapping on the window of a space station as a meteor shower approaches.
“Spacetime Symmetries” is more immediate and upfront, with Adam’s avalanche of dark sounds met head on by swathes of rippling sub-bass. Despite the fact that they are compelling piece in their own right, maybe they needed a more defined dancefloor sound, and on this front both Terence Fixmer and Tommy Four Seven’s respective takes on “Exotic Matter” and “Spacetime Symmetries” deliver. Fixmer’s remix owes a debt to Plastikman’s classic remix of System 7, its droning rhythm panning to infinity to beyond, while Tommy brings the package back to earth with splurging granite beats – but also makes a nod to TW’s ethereal leanings by finishing the remix with a few minutes’ worth of eerie, dead-paced ambience.
Richard Brophy
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A long time coming, Braiden’s debut release finally arrives on Doldrums and it’s mark of just how accomplished “The Alps” is that the accompanying release of DLDRMS002 from Joy Orbison – released in the same week – in no way overshadows the track. Indelibly shrouded with keen anticipation since Braiden debuted the track on his summer mix for Mary Anne Hobbs, it marks another reason to be more than a bit jealous of someone who is already an accomplished photographer, DJ and presenter for Rinse FM.
In syncopation with the aforementioned twelve inch from Orbison, “The Alps” is Doldrums realigning themselves towards a proper house and techno sound. By the time the end arrives your senses have been treated to a deeply pressurised amalgamation of raw throbbing house rhythms and metallic UK funky patterns which presents itself as an auspicious debut for Braiden. Just as exciting is the accompanying remix from Kassem Mosse that nudges the track further towards permaretro surroundings, flipping a tinny jacking beat over Basic Channel style dubbed keys before opening out in glorious fashion into a hypnotic acid house pulse reminiscent of “Blackout” from Lil Louis. This twelve aligned with a recently announced remix for Jacques Greene’s LuckyMe release mark Braiden as one to watch next year.
Tony Poland
We recommend you check out this video for Kollektiv Turmstrasse’s “Kontakt” single, plucked from the German duo’s startlingly good debut album Rebellion der Träumer.
Horsepower Productions – Quest For The Sonic Bounty review
by Juno Plus on 29.11.2010 at 12:49pm
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Notorious dubstep progenitors – the once eight-strong, now four man Horsepower collective return to the airwaves ten years after they first emerged from the murky depths of Croydon. Benny Ill, the long-serving lynchpin of the group, teams up with Nassis, Lev Jnr and Jay King for the third Horsepower album, Quest For The Sonic Bounty on Tempa Recordings. Much has been written on their enduring legacy and the recent re-emergence of Horsepower Productions after a five year hiatus has reminded us all of dubstep’s origins at a time when perhaps we most need to be.
From listening to cuts from the album such as “22″ and “Water” with their conversational narrative, snippets of dialogue and documentary samples, you can see these genes passed on into the DNA of Skream’s Human Traffic sampling “Rutten”, Rock Master Rock referencing “Midnight Request Line” and the work of Benga, Mala, Coki and more. Elsewhere on Quest For The Sonic Bounty the beautiful, atmospheric intro, crisp percussion and dubbed out soundscape of entrée “Rain” sets the tone for the journey, with ricocheting beats recoiling from the sheer pressure of the bass. A moody malaise seems to hover in the background throughout the album which is strangely enthralling. “Mexican Slayride” brings in the ghosts of tribal calls, pattering breaks and jungle style SFX, weaving the story in crackling film sampled snippets around these textured layers. Special edits of last year’s release “Damn It/Kingstep” bookmark “18th Special” where a more intricate, bordering on frenetic, interplay of rhythms come into semblance.
As we near the end, we are treated to a remix of Lee Scratch Perry’s “Exercising” – an evocative interpretation of the classic – before final flourish “Poison White” brings us to the end of our journey, with a wailing vocal, blissed out atmospherics and tribal rhythms dancing and pattering around deep, hypnotic sub bass. Quest For The Sonic Bounty reaffirms once again that Horsepower are one of the most important and genre defining acts of our generation. A must have album.
Belinda Rowse
Designer, label owner, producer, DJ, possessor of a finely crafted moustache.
All of the above can be used to describe Alex Bok Bok Sushon, co founder of the Night Slugs imprint along with James L-Vis 1990 Connolly which has enjoyed an imperious first year of business since launching with some white label action from the latter in January . In the months that have followed Alex and James have introduced the world to a cast of production talent from both sides of the Atlantic with essential releases from Mosca, Egyptrixx, Kingdom, Girl Unit, Cubic Zirconia, Velour and Jam City.
Equally integral to the Night Slugs success story is the distinctly neon tinged art work that adorns every release courtesy of Bok Bok, whose design work has been matched by production and remix output this year with a handful of pristeen productions for Monkeytown, Enchufada and Blunted Robots complemented by remixes of Modeselektor, Scratch DVA and Chrissy Murderbot amongst others.
Already proclaimed by many to have released the track of the year in Girl Unit’s “Wut”, Night Slugs are set to end 2010 on a high note with the soon to drop All Stars Vol 1 compilation and vinyl sampler featuring that Jacques Greene track, along with the long awaited debut release proper from Jam City, so it seems an almost too perfect time to tap Bok Bok for ten of his best right now.
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R&S has been in resurgent form in 2010, releasing crucial output from James Blake, Pariah, Space Dimension Controller and Model 500. Untold, equally, is no stranger to hype. While he’s not busy running his own Hemlock imprint, he’s lapping up critical and fan-boy praise for remixes as well as original tunes for the likes of Hessle, Soul Jazz, and Hotflush. This EP is the culmination of both their powers and the results are fantastic.
While Untold is lumped into the dubstep genre, his sound has always been hard to pin down. His tunes always exist with a distinct feeling of darkness, augmented by slams of percussion and healthy servings of bass. “Stereo Freeze” starts off with gut-busting subs and heavy breaths and maintains a relentless pace, locking into a groove reminiscent of Egyptian Lover or Cybotron, with snappy snares and toms similar to Ramadanman’s “Work Them”. The track might be breaking new ground for Untold but it’s a natural progression, building on everything that has made him so excellent thus far.
The flipside “Mass Dreams Of The Future” doesn’t start off as dark and brooding as its brother, instead teasing the listener with some plucky and dreamy synths before dropping into a deep bass groove. When it does drop it quickly shifts back to an expanded version of its intro, playing back and forth with the elements and the groove. It’s a constant shift between light and dark, as if London was a city located between Detroit and Chicago and the musical scenes all converged. Once again R&S and Untold live up to their hype and praise and together released one of the most forward thinking EPs of the autumn.
Markus Garcia
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For their most anthemic outing yet, Drumpoet Community have turned to the most unlikely of sources: former Compost Records nu-jazzer Bernd Kunz, better known as A Forest Mighty Black. When Compost boss Michael Reinboth decided to launch his Munich-based downtempo/nu-jazz imprint in 1994, it was Kunz who provided the first release – the decidedly trip-hop-ish “Do-Ba-Ye”. In the early days of Compost, A Forest Mighty Black releases were a regular occurrence, but Kunz disappeared from view in 1999. While nerds will point out that he moved on to Detroit-influenced deep house sometime ago (he was part of the Lost Men, who released a trio of releases on Drumpoet Community in the late noughties) it’s still a surprise to hear him laying down such an unashamedly ‘big’ slab of uplifting, piano-centric late night jack.
With liberal use of cut-up vocal samples, soaring strings and dense percussion, it has a real classic New York house feel – albeit with a big dose of Underground Resistance thrown in. It’s undoubtedly the best thing Kunz has done yet. The more hypnotic “Nasty Imposition” continues in this vein, building a pleasingly trippy groove around dubbed-out electronic riffage, dense drums and delay-laden vocal snippets. While it doesn’t have the unashamedly euphoric feel of the A, it’s perhaps closer to what you’d expect from Drumpoet Community. It’s certainly wonderfully deep.
Matt Anniss
Yet more reason to feel excited about music in 2011 comes in the shape of new material from Bristolian Julio Bashmore with his Everyone Needs A Theme Tune EP the inaugural release on fledgling imprint PMR Records.
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Nothing really beats the first few seconds of this startlingly original debut from Germany’s Brandt Brauer Frick. The rest of it is great too of course, but it’s during those very first 30 seconds that you immediately get where this album is coming from. As opener “Corky Prelude” is slowly faded up, the rumbling percussion part and distant bass sounds (which could easily be just another ordinary techno tune) reveal themselves to be a piano and blocks being hit, both clearly being played live.
BBF clearly approach techno (or indeed all dance music) with more than an awareness of jazz and classical modes. And so, over “You Make Me Real”, they set about making techno, but with live drums, treated pianos, trombones, harp, marimba and a host of other treated live sounds. The results go beyond the obvious Steve Reich/70s minimalist precedents and genuinely create their own deep, nuanced and, ultimately, fun sound. “Mi Corazon” is as playful as it is intense, while the slight Latin lilt to “Bop” makes sure this isn’t just a po-faced, overly-earnest project – the songs here live and breathe.
While this was clearly not meant to be a very conventional source of DJ fodder, songs like “RW John” could definitely be slipped into a melodic house or techno set by a crafty mixer. Minimal fans, as well as progressive jazz and classical listeners simply have to listen to this record. After the dominance of the drum machine and the 303, perhaps this kind of project will serves as a catalyst for a new wave of live techno.
Oliver Keens
This week Juno Plus kicked off its (un)official Theo Parrish month with the arrival of the first of a slew of 12″s bearing the name of the deep house don.
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Everything Ramadanman touches at the moment invariably becomes a must have for DJs, be it a remix – his Burial beating Woon effort for example – or original production such as the recent contribution to Soul Jazz’s Future Bass compilation. Simply put the (still very) young man is a genius, constantly pulling from various genres to keep his work new and exciting yet somehow retains a large amount of consistency and class. This release sees the Leeds based producer return to Will Saul’s classy Aus imprint for a second time, on a collaborative effort with Skull Disco founder and Apple Pips head honcho Appleblim.
Together, Ram and Blim deliver a monster of a track in “Void 23”, which carries your senses on a journey down a deep dark tunnel of thumping basslines pressured against snares that collapse on top of the galloping percussion. It’s pitch black, 4am techno. It’s also heavily full of vibes and clocks in at a little over nine minutes. This alone is reason enough to purchase the 12” but Aus deliver a real treat in securing the services of golden era techno don Carl Craig to provide an edited version on the flip.
On his re-edit, the Detroit producer gives the track just the right amount of tweaks, using all his knowledge of how to build a groove and maintain the vibe. The little changes Craig implements in the rhythmic structure succeed in embellishing the overall feel with more urgency. This is yet another chapter in the bulging scrapbook of brilliance that has documented Craig’s career as a producer and demonstrates his consistent importance amongst the DJ community. The release marks another A+ outing from Aus Music as well as Ramadanman and Appleblim, which effortlessly joins the canon of music that will be played in clubs for many years to come.
Markus Garcia
Joining the likes of Discodeine, Egyptrixx and James Blake as artists with rather exciting debut albums set for release in the virgin months of 2011 is Nicolas Jaar, with the young New York dwelling Chilean prepping Space Is Only Noise for a February release.
If you’re still undecided about how to spend your New Year’s Eve this year let Juno Plus make it easy for you with chance to win a pair of tickets to the Eastern Electrics Back To The Tunnel Party.
The Disco 3000 nom de plume of Holloway’s finest has been revived with a brace of superlative edits due for release next month.
Panorama Bar resident Steffi will release her debut long player, entitled Yours & Mine, in February 2011 via the club’s in-house label Ostgut Ton.
