so i first got wind of al tourettes alongside appleblim on aus. together the pair mined a nice bass/house vein and that was that. then came al’s swan sketch ep on base logic
teshno
'in germany, they can't say 'techno,' they say 'teshno'' ~ seth troxler [march 2008]
interview ~ al tourettes
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.
interview ~ hazylujah
too many ghosts is the first ever ep from italy’s hazylujah and it’s stunning. not only stunning for its maturity, completeness and originality, but also because it is the first thing ever committed to vinyl by the young talent (it’s on delsin, too, and we all know they don’t fuck about when it comes to taking people into their revered musical fam).
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…
interview ~ argy
here comes the dj mag feature i did on argy based around his latest long player, fundamentals, on jerome sydenham’s ibadan records.
compilations of the year ~ 2011
i included compilations in my top 20 albums list last year. that was lazy. given that it’s been a vintage year for the (ever dying, apparently) things, i thought i’d do a separate list this year. first couple are firm favourites and after that it’s pretty hard to decide.
interview ~ taimur agha
if you’ve been to new york to party, there’s a good chance taimur agha had some role to play in it. aside from being an esteemed dj in his own right, agha is also responsible for the brilliant blk|market mermbership parties held in the city, as well as bi-monthly radio show, the bandwagon and is also the house techno music buyer at halcyon record shop. it’s almost as if he’s single-handedly on a mission to bring good music and great parties the city we, in the rest of the world, so often hear is lacking in that department.
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…
interview ~ sei a
glaswegian sei-a (pronounced “say a”, obviously) is an interesting one. he’s not someone who has ever been fully chewed up by the hype machine despite already having two solid lps to his name on french outlet missive music and tiga’s thriving turbo.
label profile ~ nrk music
this year nick harris’ nrk music turns 15. in that time the bristol bastion of house quality has notched up over 100 releases of which they can be proud. rather than following any particular trends, the label has been steered by harris from its bristol bass through the nether regions of 4/4 with names like kerri chandler, peace division, steve bug, dave clarke, global communication, seth troxler, kris wadsworth and ed davenport all either appearing on, or mixing it up for, the imprint in the last decade and a half.
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.
teshcast l ~ a sagittariun
i’m sure everyone who ever posts a mix is very proud of it, but this one is a little different. a sagittariun already has a long career behind him under his given name, but recently decided to start a new label – elastic dreams – and produce under this anonymous new alias.
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.
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.
interview ~ ed davenport
you know how it works – i like enough of someone’s music and i bug them for an interview. in this case, not only has ed davenport‘s recent run of form been impressive (‘recent’ means last couple of years since, it seems, a re-location to berlin), but so too has he just announced a debut album is on the way.
producing with apps
another piece i did for dj mag’s august issue. this one asks how feasible it is to produce real music using only apps. includes thoughts from ali perc, ambivalent, luke solomon, benjamin brunn, stephan bodzin, marc romboy and the md at liine, gareth williams, plus a round up of the best ten apps at the end… thanks once again to those kind folks for sparing the time to talk to me.
