Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Monday, January 30, 2023
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Track Of The Day: Television - Prove It (Elektra)
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Friday, January 27, 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Inigo Votier - Setsi EP (Optimo Music)
Title: Setsi EP
Artist: Inigo Votier
Label: Optimo Music
Cat Number: OMDD47
Genre: Chug
1: Setsi
2: Weirdo
3: Oh Yeah!
4: Mental Yetal
Inigo Votier keeps it simple on the title track. Various drum beats, low end which comes in and out of focus and a cowbell. There are other smaller building blocks involved, but these are the foundation of the track’s momentum and, as such, deliver. ‘Weirdo’ is similarly stripped back, but not as fast and with an industrial edge to it. ‘Oh Yeah!’ has similar sharp edges to ‘Weirdo’, but is more intense and with an eponymous vocal sample not a million miles away from one much better known. Finally ‘Mental Yetal’ is a wobbly voyage into the dark realms of the disco, featuring a fluctuating bass that alongside a more stable battery, manages to create a feeling of dislocation very convincingly. “Everyone’s a winner baby, that’s the truth.”
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Unloved - I Did It (Heavenly Recordings)
Title: I Did It
Artist: Unloved
Label: Heavenly Recordings
Cat Number:
Genre: Disco If You Feel Like It
1: I Did It
2: I Did It (Manfredas Remix)
3: I Did It (Instrumental)
In it’s original form, ‘I Did It’ is a wall of sound – inspired piece of left field, throwback 60’s – inspired pop. It’s only just over 3 minutes long and is crying out for an elongated remix. Manfredas duly obliges with a piece of work that almost quadruples listening time and, not surprisingly, starts off just a little bit like something more in tune with Villalobos. Low key percussion which is paired with snippets of the original’s vocals. Problem is that’s it. It works very well as a dub, and also as a layer. However, as a stand alone track it lacks backbone and, if a used condom could make a noise, it would sound like this. It never really gets out of second gear, which is a pity.
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Monday, January 23, 2023
CYRK - Attack Of The Blow Up Dolls (Cultivated Electronics)
Title: Attack Of The Blow Up Dolls
Artist: CYRK
Label: Cultivated Electronics
Cat Number: CE043
Genre: Electro
A1: Attack Of The Blow Up Dolls
A2: Tsikey
B1: Ahemait
B2: Needler
Are blow up dolls still a thing? I’m thinking back to when they were, the 1970s, 80s maybe. Not that I would know anything about such things you understand. In any case, the fact that CYRK has chosen to name their latest release in the manner they have has brought back all manner of previously discarded memories. As usual though, titles have ambiguous relations to what they name. So the title track is a piece of pounding electro which could indeed evoke an attack, but of blow up dolls? ‘Tsikey is slightly toned down by comparison and is a subtler, more insidious beast. The bests are still razor sharp and don’t slack though. ‘Ahemait’ uses a descending, low end melody to probe the innermost depths of the shape-throwing mechanism, and ‘Needler’ utilises an understated snarl to emphasise bass and synth which coalesces in some sort of intergalactic robofunk. It’s all good.
Sunday, January 22, 2023
ALFOS EBS38 - Sean Johnston (20-01-2022)
1 This is Something (Rico Conning mix) Summerisle Six
2 SpyWorX Cohuna Beatz
3 Bad Blues Mike Misiu Edit
4 Ashram Temple La Mverte
5 O Signe Des Temps - Original Version Bernardino Femminielli
6 Edwin Starr-Get up whirlpool (EP dub re-edit) L'ILLUSIONISTA
7 The Ancient One Vitorijoski
8 That Sample Cohuna Beatz
9 All The Fellows In The House (ODC Edit) Cohuna Beatz
10 Call In Blue Bunzinelli
11 Neon Buddha Bolis Pupul
12 Tushen Raï _ Neskeh - Tsé Tsé - Kaputt.wav
13 WEDGIT003_Macho_Cutie_-Vice(Original_Mix)
14 Captain Attractive - Makin_ Love
15 Billy Mike Misiu Edit
16 Dj Steef & Mr. Bard - Love To Fly
17 MANIFESTO EDIT
18 Alex From Utopia - Spanish Guitar Tune ('87 Love Dub)
19 Egbert (Acid Pauli Remix) Amount
20 ORGANIC Moritz
21 Whirlybyrd Hustle Manakinz
22 XYXYXX (Original Mix) Heidenreich
23 Take Me Out Rework
24 Loverde-Iko-Iko-Pee-Play-and-CLAWS-Edit-
25 Nova Bunzinelli
26 Roaming Acid Tech Support
27 Device Kabinett
28 Simple Cat Tegel Boys
29 Red Axes - take it away
30 Blavatsky & Tolley - Gaslighting (Jack Butters Remix)
31 B1 - ASHRR - Fizzy (Felix Dickinson Remix)
32 Cthulhu Macula Unknown Genre
33 romeo rodent Pete Bones
34 Rules Roman Flügel
35 Cortical (Fat&Bald Remix) Alberto Melloni
36 Deserto Azaria & Hoochie Coochie Papa
37 Marshall Brill - Thessalonians
38 Hysteric - Pleiades
39 Feon_Round Earther
40 Someones Lifetime - Peza
41 Coyote_Baka
42 Clockwork [Daniele Baldelli Remix] Antenna!
43 Destination One Joal
44 Hold Me Emmet Read
45 Turkish Kebab Jesus & Genius
46 Boy Division - The Disco With No Name
47 Yovav - short
48 Diario Superpitcher
49 Facciamo L'Amore (Scorpio Twins Remix) Rheinzand
50 Fernandez (Red Axes Remix) Moscoman
51 Fjordfunk - Astronaut from Dubai (Lazy Dub)
52 Gamma Ray (Pete Herbert Remix) Martin Brodin & Dumb Dan
53 Guardian Marching Machines
54 POPULAR TYRE - FEEL LIKE A LAZER BEAM Popular Tyre
55 Three Nights In A Row Chloé
56 Why Is That AckerMan & KUSHITZ
57 Eltanin (Mollono.Bass Remix - Instrumental Version) Norlyz
58 MoLove - Ridiculous Body - Each Other Remix
59 Peak High - Was That All It Was Hardway Bros Remix
60 GMT (Jamie XX Remix) Oliver Sim
61 Train Ride To The Middle East (Marvin & Guy Remix) SHMLSS
62 All Together DJ Ino & MC Johnny Def
63 Drums Of Steel Kenneth Bager, Jez Phunk
64 It's Over If We Run Out Of Love - Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub David Holmes (ft Raven Violet)
65 Phoenix ft. Arâm Xinobi
66 Spinning Out Of Control (DOBIE'S SHINY GLITTER BALL REMIX) ANDY & SASA
67 Holiday (Erol Alkan OOO Dub Rework) Confidence Man
68 Club Dz Acid Arab
69 More Acid Leonor
70 Synth Queen Renato Cohen
71 Eden Burns - Choir Song
72 In Chicago K'Alexi Shelby
73 Only For Tonight Terr
74 HOUSE NATION-MARTIN DOORLY FEATURING HOUSE MASTER BOYS TRAX Records
75 Boys' Shorts - Everybody (Boys' Shorts Edit)
76 Multi Beam (Dam Swindle Remix) Jungle By Night
77 RICHARD SEN - My Definition Of Funk
78 Jupiter's Back
79 Domino (Pedro's Dub) Myd
80 FADE AWAY ALT MIX (MASTERED-MIAMI-TAPE)
81 Smoove Smokebelch/Leader Of A New Age Faith eLBee BaD
82 We Gotta Expand Spooner
83 I Get Deep (Roland Leesker's Come Into Our House Rework Rework) Roland Clark
84 Love Desire DJ Pierre
85 Take A Trip Alan Dixon
86 Go (Moby's Trophy Remix) Moby
87 PK & GV Enjoy The Day (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Downtown Remix)_
88 Pacific Symphony Transformer 2
89 Too Late Now (Soulwax Remix) Wet Leg
90 Paper Charms (Original Mix) Luca Morris, Mozzy Rekorder
91 The Loop (The Extra-Vaganza AF Mix) Aubrey Fry
92 Waiting (Paul Woolford x Special Request Rework)
93 We Are Phuture (Sidney Charles Remix) Phuture
94 RADIATE LOVE (CROOKED FLEX) AIFF
95 FUN 4 FUN - RELAX YOUR SOUL
96 Rich in Paradise (Original Mix) FPI Project
97 Love Happy (dub) Danny Kane
98 Waterfall (Original Mix) Bicep
99 Happiness (M Mayer Remix) Pitch down Superpitcher
100 A New Home In The Jungle Pitch Down Giraffi Dog & GF Rich
101 Sunshine Dub Hifi Sean feat Jean Honeymoon
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Friday, January 20, 2023
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Man Power - Wallsend's Finest (Nocturne)
Title: Wallsend's Finest
Artist: Man Power
Label: Nocturne
Cat Number: NOCTURNE10
Genre: House Innit
A: Full Body Gurn
B: Overbite
It’s been a long time since I experienced a full body gurn. It has happened though and now, as I approach death, I feel I should try and knit it into my daily routine more. How to do that though? The track of the nostalgia-evoking, corpus contortiounous could point the way forward . . . ? Relying on military percussion to make it’s point, there are samples from ‘Dub Be Good To Me’ to contend with which float it close to a cosy familiarity that could be viewed as cheese, intentionally I guess. It’s anything but though. We’re merely dipping our feet in a hallucinogenic past that will always occupy a level of the flagrantly physical subconscious. ‘Overbite’ is moodier, but comes from a place of similar purpose. It’ a throbber and is heavier, steam hammering its merry way along a lateral line of 303 flange funk. When its disparate elements combine, its objective is obvious. Nothing but fun to be had with this pair.
Monday, January 16, 2023
Decius - Roberto's Tumescence (The Leaf Label)
Title: Roberto's Tumescence
Artist: Decius
Label: The Leaf Label
Cat Number:
Genre: Sleaze Rock
1: Roberto's Tumescence (Extended Mix)
2: Roberto's Tumescence (Radio Mix)
Apparently ‘Roberto’s Tumescence’ “pays homage to the fertile Belgian discos of the 70s and 80s - built on a sample of Transvolta's 'Disco Computer'. So that’s what I’m reminded of then. A riff so pervasive within my psyche that it just goes to show how the subconscious reigns supreme. It’s all about the vocoder in this one, the riff being one of Decius’ more frictional. Definitely something to pull a muscle throwing shapes to, and it’s eminently catchy but the extended version could be longer. Having said all that, it’s still a sordidly decadent way to start the week.
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Friday, January 13, 2023
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Amplified People - Screen Memory EP (Arpanet)
Title: Screen Memory EP
Artist: Amplified People
Label: Arpanet
Cat Number: ARPA 002
Genre: Techno
1: Ghost Black
2: Canon Jack
3: La Nacht
4: Solitaire Wargames
5: FreiPartei
6: Detroit City FC
Arpanet is an interesting choice for label name, to say nothing of the confusion it can cause with search engines. Once that initial petty hurdle has been cleared however, the music can be absorbed in an amphibious way. I prefer to do this through the skin in order to pore over every detail. And this is good and deserving of attention. Straddling the techno/house hinterland in a techier way than most, and managing to preserve a form of originality many had thought dead, ‘Amplified People’ collectively deploys everything in the right place at the right time. It’s techno above all, but suffused with house and a retro spirit that sounds anything but hackneyed. ‘La Nacht’ is such a vignette. Ghost Black’ is a melting pot of highly syncopated machine funk riddims that effortlessly crosses over, while ‘Canon Jack’ is possibly the best of the bunch. A sinister clarion call to moodswingers everywhere. ‘FreiPartei’ wears its Suburban Knight influences on its sleeve, ‘Solitaire Wargames’ is a minimal night drive along a conveyer belt of awakening and ‘Detroit City FC’ comes from a similar strain. Slowed down to relative wooziness. Carried off with a panache that demands your attention, this is pretty good gear.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Shcuro - Signs Of Unsettlement (Klakson)
Title: Signs Of Unsettlement
Artist: Shcuro
Label: Klakson
Cat Number: KLNR 15
Genre: Electro
1: Predictive Mechanisms
2: Exclusion
3: Surface Tension
4: Unbearable Heaviness
So many great things coming out of Portugal nowadays, and Shcuro, who is one of them, debuts on Steffi’s Klakson with a four tracker of fast, portentous electro resplendent on blue vinyl. To be fair, the beats are in techno territory quite a lot of the time; how do we know this? I have no idea, it’s just a feeling, in very much the same way that house is. So ‘Predictive Mechanisms’ is very definitely intergalactic funk, but hard-edged and uncompromising. ‘Exclusion’ stretches the timeframe along machine funk’s lateral line into the slamming techno stratosphere. ‘Surface Tension’ utilises similar motifs to its predecessor, but couches them within b-boy quantum mechanics; and ‘Unbearable Heaviness’ feels like future gothic Mordor music. Transplant the Yorkshire Moors of ‘Wuthering Heights’ into the pervasive button down brain of future funk and you’re almost there.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Kalcagni - Lost In The System (Cosmoba)
Title: Lost In The System
Artist: Kalcagni
Label: Cosmoba
Cat Number: CMB001
Genre: Electro
A1. Lost In The System
A2. Multislacking
B1. Culture Vulture
B2. After The Fact
Electro doesn’t sleep; and this funk fuelled four tracker comes correct with a quartet that, while pretty much no frills, is more than merely functional. ‘Lost In The System
’ is characterised by a meandering bass, agitated percussion and a tendency to synth wash. ‘Multislacking’ is more introspective, easing off the pace and blending beats into a flangetastic veneer. ‘Culture Vulture’ feels relatively minimal and spacious, in spite of the fact that it utilises all of the elements already present in the first two tracks as well as a 303, something which is amplified on ‘After The Fact’, which deploys more urgency and low end. A very solid release, in which two more louche tracks are bookended by beats from the cerebral dark side.
