From the ‘Night Time Creepin’ release around 4 years or so ago, this piece of electric sleaze reminds me of a more pacey ‘Alpha Omega Strings’ by Anthilia Waters. Reptant, aka Lou Karsh, has emerged to be one of electro’s leading lights in recent times, and with tracks like this, which straddle the gothic acid machine funk middle ground, it’s no wonder why. This is electro with depth, soul and spills over into more than the sum of its parts.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Track Of The Day: Elastic Reality - Cassa De X (Deep Dish Does X) (Tribal)
Well, this one works on so many levels. Coming from a similar direction as ‘The Dream (Sharam’s Deep Dish Dreamscape)’, but much more laid back, it’s no surprise to learn that both tracks are Brian Transeau (BT)/Deep Dish collaborations. Thte track can afford a long, drawn out teasing intro, the genius of which is you just know it’s going to let loose at some point. From then on it’s a combination of batacuda percussion, strategically dropped Rhodes keys and some devilish phasing. And the fact that “ecstasy” can be spoken at random points throughout and not sound in the slightest bit cheesy, but like the most meaningful thing ever says it all. They really don’t make them like this anymore. A track that could be played at any point in the night, in a sweaty warehouse, or a tropical beach party, and conjure up the most positive imagery imaginable has to be one of the greatest of its kind. This is that track.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Track Of The Day: Suburban Knight - Maroon (UR)
The opening track of the seminal ‘Interstellar Fugitives’ album (25 years old already?) This piece of classic Detroit techno drives through dark sonic sludge, balancing one of the most menacing examples of vocoderation with a deadpan kick and the occasional introduction of keys so diaphanous they could blow away. Setting the tone for what is to come, this is a dark, through the looking glass aural apparition to soundtrack the twilight zone.
Monday, November 27, 2023
TrackOf The Day: Space - Space (Part 2) (KLF Communications)
With The KLF ominously moving back into the middle distance over the last few days, what better time to remind myself that I have a cd copy of this album stuck in a cupboard somewhere close, but tantalisingly out of reach. ‘Space’, the work of Jimmy Cauty, was apparently slated to be the fist Orb album, beginning life as a collaboration between Cauty and Alex Patterson. This is one of the longer tracks on it, having said that on the cd the entire collection is presented as one, composite stellar symphony. This particular track evokes the helplessness and isolation that must be encountered in the black hit of space particularly well. The arpeggio perfectly in parallel with the pointless struggle for survival in a vacuum, and the realisation that nothing can be done. Which brings us along nicely to The KLF’s latest caper: building a ‘People’s Pyramid’ in Birkenhead’s Future Yard. It would appear the circle is nearing completion, if, indeed, it is a circle. Definitely a pyramid though.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Track Of The Day: DJ Sneak - Latin Seoul (Large)
From his ‘Blu Belly Bandit EP’, released back in 1996, this is one of many classic tracks that DJ Sneak has released over the years. What makes this stand out, however, is its subtlety and aura. Utilising a sample from ‘Sueno Latino’, which was, in turn, inspired by Manuel Gottsching’s ‘E2-E4’, this is a potent builder that fades in and put of the mix to great effect. Why ‘Seoul’? What, if any, is the Korean connection? No idea. Is DJ Sneak still a “house gangsta”? God knows. This is one of his best though.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
ALFOS EBS43 - Sean Johnston (24-11-2023)
The Clash - Police And Thieves - LeoZeroEdit
Robot's Dreams Switchdance
Vijnana (Coyote Whirling Dervish Remix)
Protection (The Eno mix) MASSIVE ATTACK
Strong Relax Good Block
Sonne (Zeug Dub) Die Orangen
Trappola Soreab
Electric Blue Vision - Other Skies (Hardway Bros meet Monkton Uptown Version)
Electric Blue Vision - Other Skies (Tambores En Benirras Remix)
CAGEDBABY OCT ACUJAM 5
Process Anatolian Weapons
Eminent Times (Lexx edit) LEXX
Play Sitar Feller
Gallo - Life on preset
L.A Depression John Parsley
Gem_Wallow_-_Zunzun_(Original_Mix)
Disco Renegade Mash Up
Dubby Tambeerine Neskeh
Jasper Van't Hof's Pili Pili - Hoomba Hoomba (Jepe Edit)
City Lights (12 inch mix) Masanori Ikeda
BT COP Sabres 540 (Rude Audio remix)_BL
Love (AmuAmu Remix) Dad Of The Year
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House (Andy Buchan Choir Edit)
N-Tropic - One Night Stand (Full Circle & Kris Baha Remix) - Digital Master
Atacama Balam
Un Peu Sage Eddiitt Dreems
An Ancient Eddiitt Dreems
Offshore (ft. Reinhard Vanbergen) Anders Ponsaing
Flowered Up - Weekender (BTWS Re-Animation)
Hardway Bros Theme For The Flightpath Estate
Gem_Wallow_-_WAnoWA_(Original_Mix)
The African Band - Hoomba Hoomba - Justin Deighton, Leo Zero Edit
Water Fountain (1040's Sidewalk Celebration)
Should Sleep (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) Moby ft. J.P Bimeni
Whodunit [Original Mix] Nightmares On Wax
Futuro Tropicale - Velenoso
Better be good to me (Kalidasa's Slight Touch) Spyder
Super Rapido (SIRS Cut) Caramel 3000
FRENCHIE KNUCKLES LARRY QUEST
Popper slEdger
Living in Ghosts ft Woolfy Stay On Top Hardway Bros Extended Disco Mix
Neu Nostalgia (Das Komplex Remix) Jazxing
Caught - Yotam Avni Edit Yotam Avni
We'll Be Alright Nat Home
This is Love ft. Kate Pendry (Prins Thomas Remix) Trulz & Robin
Radio Slave - Wake Up (Idjut Boys Shed Mix) PM
Silence of Love ft. Jesse Boykins III Tiga & Hudson Mohawke
Kilode (remix) Carl Craig
Exhume DSR
Trapped (Solee Remix) Colonel Abrams, Solee
Bone Of Her Hand Medicine 8
Die Nacht Ist Kuhl Mugwump
Fix It Man (Chrissy's Fixer Upper Mix) Ragtyme, T.C. Roper
Kurokin (DJ Deeon mix 2) D KAWA
Touch the Sky featuring Mike Dunn (Gerd's Double G Mix) Alden Tyrell
Mouth to Mouth Radio Slave vs Audion
Living In Ghosts ft Woolfy Stay On Top Hardway Bros Dub
All The VCOs You Can Eat (Traveler Dub) Massimiliano Pagliara
Kabwato ft. Budūchi, Ni! (Ewan Pearson Remix Instrumental) Kito Jempere
Kano - It's a War! (Sound Klash Dub)
GIRL I'LL HOUSE U PK Edit
Skipping Like A Stone (Gerd Janson Remix) The Chemical Brothers ft. Beck
Shamans Dream (Original Mix) Weska
Syreen Lindstrøm
Track Of The Day: 214 -- Pattern Rotate (Klakson)
One of my absolute favourite producers right now, in any genre. 214, aka Chris Roman makes stunning, cosmic electro that appeals on many levels. This track is from ‘Exit 32’, a 2018 release on Steffi’s Klason label which skillfully blends acidic and beat tones to create a composition that occupies a level of depth that I am very much in favour of. Mr Roman is a resident of North Bend, a remote settlement in Washington state, USA , famous for being the location for David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’. Clearly operating out of this location has had a positive influence on his output, with ‘Pattern Rotate’ reeking of the beauty that can only be found when the weather is cold and one is left to contemplate amongst the isolation.
Friday, November 24, 2023
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Track Of The Day: Kicks - Far Away (Janeret Remix) (Joule Imprint)
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Track Of The Day: John Tejada - Paranoia (Palette)
The prolific John Tejada has always provided tunes that can rescue any like minded set, and ‘Paranoia’ is one of the best. It may be a little bit too on the nose for some, the vocal could definitely be counter productive. There’s no need to sing the eponymous word, for example. However, although it could be more subtle, the instrumental warping, which wobbles throughout is well-realised and just the ticket. When this was released minimal was having its moment, and the stripped down feel of a lot of Tejada’s releases meant that they provided good mixing fodder, and foils, for a lot of the flat, featureless product that was being produced at the time, elevating it to levels beyond where it could go on its own. Tejada had a way with a vocal or a well-chosen sample. Another one which springs to mind is ‘Higher’ with Justin Maxwell, or the pumped up Perlon vibes of ‘Mono On Mono’. A great producer, whatever the occasion.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Track Of The Day: The Daou - Give Myself To You (Give My Dub To You) (Tribal)
Friday, November 17, 2023
Track Of The Day: Bim Sherman - Happiness (Jah Shaka)
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Track Of The Day: Subvoice - Vampirella (Motorcityweakedoutfunkdub/ DBX Remix) (Subvoice)
Something that I’ve had since it came out, and it still sounds fresh; ‘Vampirella’ by Subvoicve, aka Hideo Sakuma (who used to run Technique Records in Tokyo), really comes alive ion this Dan Bell remix EP. This is my favourite version, the vocals and backing echoing his landmark ‘Losing Control’. It’s a tune that fluctuates from start to finish, but still plots a course of core funk stability. Also one to get the dub techno purists of their arses.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Track Of The Day: Jeremiah R - Bioluminescence (BAKK)
From the ‘Melancholy Fish’ EP, this instrumental ode to the production and emission of light by a living organism is one of four aquatically flavoured tracks, which means that the Drexciya comparisons are already on overload. Jeremiah R is a talented producer with a singular slant on electro, the likes of which hasn’t been heard since before the pandemic, under any of his many guises, which single handedly kept the short-lived Voodoo Gold label afloat. This short track feels strangely prophetic, coming out as it did in 2016, its tumbling chords embodying the dislocation yet to come.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Track Of The Day: Nuages - No Work Today (F Communications)
A collaboration between Didier Delesalle, aka Shazz (of ‘Acid Eiffel’ fame) and Ludovic Navarre (St. Germain); this track, from the ‘Blanc EP’ is, like a reasonable amount of what was released on the label at the time, a rather purist deep house/ Detroit techno hybrid. And that’s not bad thing. The clutch of artists who recorded on F Comm at the time made some wonderful music that has more than stood the test of time. Play this and its instant analogue warmth seeping out of the speakers.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Track Of The day: Dilemma - Robodisco (Co-lette)
It’s a pounding, jarring beast of a track, which sounds like acoustic electro, if there is such a thing. It’s an insistent, linear stomper, and that’s all you need to know. It’s late. Kirk out.
Steve Allmann/Alex Jann - For The Floor Vol. 3 (Cultivated Electronics Ltd)
Title: For The Floor Vol. 3
Artist: Steve Allman/Alex Jann
Label: Cultivated Electronics Ltd
Cat Number: CELTD014
Genre: Electro
A1: Steve Allman - Darkness
A2: Steve Allman – Initiate Experiment
B1: Alex Jann – Mind Control Uses
B2: Alex Jann – Punish Room
This, the latest double header in Cultivated Electronics Ltd ‘For The Floor’ series sees Scand resident Steve Allmann paired with Censor Music’s Alex Jann. Steve Allman gives us two tracks resplendent with doom and insect menace. Indeed, ‘Darkness’ with its vocodered vocals and skittish keys across isometric beats is everything you could want from a piece of floor-focussed electro. ‘Initiate Experiment’ comes from a similar place, but is more bottom heavy and has a sample that sounds like “oven ready”, which unfortunately puts me in mind of Boris Johnson and Brexit. Alex Jann’s two tracks are denser and move along like tank regiments implementing a scorched earth policy. ‘Mind Control Uses’ is the soundtrack to helicopter gunships flying low over abandoned farmland, while ‘Punish Room’, although slightly looser, still carries the threat of instant dance floor disorientation. Which is nice.
Wajeed - Memoirs Of Hi-Tec Jazz Remixes (Tresor)
Title: Memoirs Of Hi-Tec Jazz Remixes
Artist: Wajeed
Label: Tresor
Cat Number: TRESOR366
Genre: Techno/Electro
1: Right Now (Mark Broom Remix)
2: The Ballad Of Robert O’Bryant (Yazzus Remix)
3: Memoirs Of Hi-Tec Jazz (feat. Black Nix) (Jensen Interceptor x Assembler Code Remix)
Three tracks from Wajeed’s ‘ Memoirs Of Hi-Tec Jazz’ album get the remix treatment, but will they be “Hi-Tec Jazz”, who knows? ‘Mark Broom’s rermix of ‘Right Now’ is a lovely collision of loops embellished by Detroit chords and a sax which sounds a tiny bit like something playing in the corner of your local wine bar. Great bass line and once it oicks up the pace, not bad at all. ‘The Ballad Of Robert O’Bryant (Yazzus Remix)’ has what sounds like a tuba pumping away in the background, giving the track a jaunty feel, something which is placated by the analogue warmth that underlays it from about a third of the way in. Again, it’s a quick one. ‘Memoirs Of Hi-Tec Jazz (feat. Black Nix) (Jensen Interceptor x Assembler Code Remix)’ is a piece of electro, sharp around the edges and the track with the greatest sonic clarity. It becomes more abstract towards the end, which is when it’s time to mix something else in.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Track Of The Day: Sansibar - My Boom (Reptant's Lizard Tech Mix) (Warning)
The flip to the previous TOTD. Comes from the same place. As alreadfy observed, doubt there’s been a better electro double header this year.
Friday, November 10, 2023
Track Of The Day: Reptant -- Lizard Of Oz (Sansibar Shapeshift) (Warning)
Half of a double header, backed with ‘My Boom’ in which the Australian electro don swaps credits with the Finnish grand master, so they remix each other; this is a strong contender for electro release of the year. Both tracks are fast paced, sci-fi tinged infectiously funky and do a nice line in spoken word. It’s really impossible to choose a favourite, so expect Sansibar’s effort remixed by Reptant tomorrow. Great club visual videos too. Just what you want.
Thursday, November 09, 2023
Track Of The Day: Mark Ambrose – Floating Around (Crayon)
The pick of four from the ‘Cat Groove’ EP; ‘Floating Around’ is a minimal techno titan which, when pitched down, becomes an even messier piece of work. A few simple building blocks: propellor percussion, a Spiderman web squelch from the 303, what sounds like an electric guitar fanning out overhead and the inevitable kick, combine to disorientate, discombooberate and dislocate. Ambrose was prolific during this period and came up with many face melters, all of which are, I think, stealthily finding their way back into sets for the discerning hedonist.
A Mountain of One - Ricardo Villalobos Reimagines Stars Planets Dust Me (Vicious Charm Recordings)
Title: Ricardo Villalobos Reimagines Stars Planets Dust Me
Artist: A Mountain of One
Label: Vicious Charm Recordings
Cat Number:
Genre: Tree House
1: Make My Love Grow (Ricardo Villalobos Mix Down)
2: Black Apple Pink Apple (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)
3: Dealer (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)
4: Softlanding (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)
Here we have interesting quartet of Villalobos tampered tunes that come from an album chock full of them. ‘Make My Love Grow (Ricardo Villalobos Mix Down) is a slowly unwinding vocal track that glides in and out if the mist of your unconsciousness. It’s relatively short for one of his remixes and, as such, is not what you might expect. There’s no tribal percussion, just a haunting vocal surrounded by what feel like musical shadows. It reminds me of something, someone, but I can’t quite figure out what. We’re on more familiar territory with ‘Black Apple Pink Apple (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)’. Again, the vocal takes centre stage, sitting atop a foundation of familiar Villalobos beats. The insistent percussion goes a little quicker than walking pace and is uniform from start to finish. ‘Dealer (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)’ is more uptempo and high end; the vocals are dispensed with, save for some misty harmonies, which results in a tauter, more stretched out piece. Rubbing up against ‘ Black Apple Pink Apple’ in the more laconic groove stakes is ‘Softlanding (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)’, which employs similar devices, but whose tempo is slightly faster. All four pieces here are typical of Villalobos’ sound design in one way or another: percussion led, vocals toyed with, but still shining and a sense, here at least, of gentle manipulation towards parallel sense of disorientation.
Wednesday, November 08, 2023
Track Of The Day: Adapata - Vohx Continues V1 (Frustrated Funk)
The title track of the second of two EPs made for Frustrated Funk (have they shut up shop?). Adapta, aka Bitstream, aka Steven Conner really shows how to make an off beat electro track with dark, gothic overtones. It drifts into a delta of dissonance and before you know it, we’ve got a dystopian b-boy ballyhoo. This is a proper droid hoedown. The syncopated soundtrack to rockets flashing overhead while the machines get funky.
Tuesday, November 07, 2023
Track Of The Day: DJ Profile - Prove It (End Recordings)
DJ Profile, aka Charles Webster, came up with this sublime piece of deep house 26 years ago on End Recordings, the label of the famous west London Club, where I spent a good few nights. This is elegant in its simplicity. It’s loops upon loops until they no longer resemble loops but a sound collage of infinite possibilities. Although a steady kick maintains time, it’s a subtle barrage of break beats that provide the more conspicuous foundation, and sitting on top you’ve got the eponymous vocal sample phasing in and out. And on the other side you’ve got ‘Realization’, which is slightly lower key, but just as effective and funky. Both tracks smash it, but ‘Prove It’ just edges it for me.
Monday, November 06, 2023
Track Of The Day: Hunter/Game - Dead Soul (Joey Anderson Remix) (Just This)
A remix that Joey Anderson did around six or so years ago that perfectly captures his original and idiosyncratic style. Everything feels like its held together by spider’s webs. Strong, flexible yet fragile and delicate. This is the sound of a sunlit spare bedroom in an abandoned house, the walls pulsating in respiratory symmetry. Mr Anderson was all the rage when he burst on the scene around 10 years ago. I still think he’s one of the most original artists out there. It’s next level dance music, from the mind of a dancer whose moves seem to be set to music in the most abstract but fluid way.
Chez de Milo - So It Goes Remixed EP (Ransom Note Records)
Title: So It Goes Remixed EP
Artist: Chez de Milo
Label: Ransom Note Records
Cat Number: R$N34R
Genre: Polyvalent
1: Durga Lesson (Sara Dziri Remix)
2: So It Goes (MR TC Remix)
3: Sister Dex (Orbury Common Remix)
4: Wadham (Lapalace Remix)
This is a remix release of various tracks from the ‘So It Goes’ EP, released back in March, and it’s pretty good. Kicking off with ‘Durga Lesson (Sara Dziri Remix)’, which is a dreamy, break beat excursion into your show shuffling nether regions. MR TC’s remix of ‘So It Goes’ reminds me of something, I can’t figure out what it is. Minimal, pulsing and bleepy, it comes shrouded in aural ectoplasm, rather like its predecessor. I like it a lot. ‘Sister Dex (Orbury Common Remix)’ is a sample heavy piece of what feels initially like a piece of prime trip hop, but evolves into something else altogether. Picking up momentum and propelling itself under the power of its own mystique. And then we have the Lapalace remix of ‘Wadham’, a piece of broken, acoustic drum and bass, out of step with what has gone before texture and pace wise, but right in the zone in all other respects.
Sunday, November 05, 2023
Track Of The Day: Sun Children - Seduction (Bomb Records)
Sun Chidren, aka David Alvarado & Kenneth Graham, produced this beauty back in 1996, before anyone was talking about the millenium bug, the millenium dome was still on the drawing board, and I was a fresh faced raver with limited career prospects but a flat in Paris. This is classic Alvarado: a minimal, Basic Channel groove which builds thanks to some sterling synth work that keeps the house dough rising and effervescant. There is an excellent dub version on this release that strips things down a little more, but this full-bodied version is what it’s all about.
Saturday, November 04, 2023
Track Of The Day: Stan Getz & Luiz Bonfa - O Morro Nao Tem Vez (Verve)
From one of the first jazz albums I owned, ‘Jazz Samba Encore’. ‘O Morro Nao Tem Vez’ is a masterful piece of laid back samba that just unwinds forever. Highlighting Luiz Bonfa’s elegant guitar playing, and with Getz knowing just when to embellish, this is a classic straight out of swinging sixties Copacabana. I’m sat down watching the Copa Libertadores final between Fluminese and Boca Juniors, being played at the Maracana in Rio, where Fluminese are from. So far a predictably cagey affair. Boca much the more decorated side at this level, Fluminese have only appeared in one previous final, and lost. They will be feeling more pressure. If they could channel some samba energy they may be ok. Maybe not as laconic as this track, a little bit more urgency needed which, of course, would be completely out of step with such a sublime piece of music.