it’s impossible not to mention nature when discussing christian löffler.
teshno
'in germany, they can't say 'techno,' they say 'teshno'' ~ seth troxler [march 2008]
aspen ~ christian löffler’s on ki records
luke solomon ~ ultrasound on fullbarr
impressive young label fullbarr has managed to pull off a masterstroke here. not only has it managed to coerce a rare new single out of classic records boss luke solomon, but so too has the bradford imprint secured some high profile remixes in the form of micro-house man losoul and perlon associate kalabrese. what’s more, the nonstandard house results are as pleasing in your ear as they sound on paper…
achterbahn d’amour ~ frank music 03 on frank music
achterbahn d’amour (iron curtis and recent teshcaster, edit piafra remember) are coming along nicely. the follow up to their debut on acid test comes on berlin based frank music and is ingrained with all the same classic, timeless hallmarks as their last outing.
lilith ~ master codes on memoria
dutch label memoria has recently expanded itself into an agency and management group having continued to grow in recent times. for their next release they turn to label manager and house and techno producer lilith, whilst also recruiting andrew grant on remix duty.
mrsk ~ twirl on skudge present
following on from stephen brown’s opener, the skudge present label continues with an effort from swedish producer mrsk. you may recognise the name from (amongst other places) last year’s secretsundaze comp which featured his remix of anthony shakir’s “travellers”.
sei a ~ flux on turbo
i was gunna open this review with something like ‘sei a here continues his sonic re-invention blah blah’ but then i realised the now london based dude’s never really settled on any one style long enough for him to re-invent it.
the brick remixes ~ dj qu / kassem mosse on all inn records
romanian label all inn recently took the decision to “go boutique” by becoming a vinyl only label that presses but a few hundred copies of each release. truth is, this one will likely sell out before it’s even on sale given the names involved, but those who do buy on sight rather than sound will not be disappointed.
albums of the year ~ 2011
ok, here comes a list of my thirty favourite long players (including one re-issue and following my top 10 compilations) of 2011. like last year, i’m not that sure of the order beyond the first few, but these are the records which i’m still listening to, still enjoying and – in many cases – still astounded by. the only other thing to note is the lack of many bass/dubstep albums. efforts from kuedo, sepulcre and machine drum will all top many polls elsewhere on the web, i’m sure, but i just never quite sit comfortably when they are playing. necessarily then, in case you wondered, i’ve overlooked them. but it ain’t like i was short on choice…
heart the art volume 2
i did a first volume of this a while ago and it seemed to go down quite well. as such and since then i’ve been making a note of some favourite record sleeves with a view to doing it again. i kind of figured the words last time were pointless, so instead i’ve wasted an afternoon making a collage and will include only a few notes. i’ve enjoyed all these albums and eps in recent months (bar hamburg elektronish vol. 01 which i haven’t yet listened to but still love the pop-up cover) for different reasons. similarly, the art which adorns the music has gotten me in different ways…
zomby ~ nothing on 4ad
on nothing, the mysterious zomby touches on some of the same occult digital eeriness that characterised his excellent recent full length dedication. interspersing those brittle, haunting garage sounds here, though, are some straight up breakbeats from a dusty old rave vault which all in all make for a seven track ep almost as compelling as the aforementioned full length itself.
gerry read ~ all by myself/what a mess on fourth wave
completing a hat-trick of hurried sounding house eps on fourth wave, gerry read confirms what you suspected from his first two releases on the label: the man got skills.
cottam ~ deep deep down on aus
a few things define cottam’s music in my mind. one is the lethargic tempo (which he always makes work), another is the great sampling and the third is how things are tantalisingly drawn out over such long periods of time.
achterbahn d’amour ~ trance me up (i wanna go higher) on absurd
acid test 05, ‘trance me up (i wanna go higher)’ comes from achterbahn d’amour — the german duo of well-known iron curtis and his lesser spotted pal edit piafra. confusingly, despite the titles, it’s neither acid nor trance, but instead solid, raw, organic and classicist house music.
jonny cade ~ groß vater ep on black key
ed davenport ~ new yorkshire ep on nrk
this new ep from ed davenport offers the first taster of what to expect from his forthcoming full length, countercharge. ‘testament’ is the track plucked from said album, and is one which has frankly been getting me very excited.
sei a ~ frozen flower on turbo
this ep’s title track comes on, quite simply, like a burial tune… all haunting and churchy, with sliced-up vocal groans layered upon soft knocking beats and harmonious bell notes. at the mid-point, a melancholic mood briefly turns more oppressive and depressive, but the minor chords eventually win out and a brighter dawn emerges once again.
scb ~ mace / overlay on scb
paul rose has been busy of late. aside from a house/trance flex on the latest ep for his own label, he’s also mixed up a bumpy but cohesive ride for the dj kicks series as well as finding time to pull together two new efforts from his lesser spotted, techno-centric side, scb, almost a year after the last ones.
warm spiral ep ~ various artists on roundabout sounds
the last roundabout sounds release was a lo-fi and summery house excursion with plenty of whimsical charm. appropriately, though, this ep (split between duijn & douglas, joe roundabout and denny trajkov) mines a less frilly, more direct deep house vein that’s all burnt autumnal browns instead of sun-kissed yellows.
samaan ~ detroit memories on fullbarr
after a solid first few releases through their digital arm, arthur barr’s fullbarr release their inaugural slice of actual wax this month. recalling the services of promising irish producer samaan (his only other record also came courtesy of this bradford imprint), the release is pleasingly uncompromising for such a young outfit.
ethyl & huxley ~ 3 feet high on saints & sonnets
