Hello,
After catching a breath over the holiday season the music world gradually returns to its usual state of frenzy. 'Pop Ambient 2012' and Pinch's Fabric mix continue two of electronic music's best-loved series, while John Talabot, Gonjasufi, Leila, and Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka deliver stunning artist albums.
Compilations by the Ann Aimee and Diskotopia labels, fresh additions to the Sandwell District catalogue, as well as a killer exclusive by Santiago Salazar provide nothing to sneeze at either.
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FEATURED RELEASE
Compilation released 30-01-2012 on Kompakt
Kompakt traditionally starts its yearly release schedule with a new volume of 'Pop Ambient', and this year it is up to two of the label's main protagonists to kick off the series' 12th instalment. Wolfgang Voigt and Jörg Burg introduce their new joint project Mohn with the album's noise-padded opener, 'Manifesto'.
Superpitcher follows this up with his welcome debut appearance on the series, the simplistic, yet addictive synth-piano étude 'Jackson'. Morek, Magazin and Triola head off into sprawling symphonic territory, before Wolfgang Voigt returns to change the album's mood.
His 'Rückverzauberung 5' is certainly among the volume's highlights, a distinctive neo-classical piece of perpetually cascading plucked strings and bells, underpinned by dissonant string crescendos.
Voigt's abstractionism is countered by Bvdub's washed-out chords, while Marsen Jules introduces jazz as a frame of reference. Simon Scott's stoic 'For Martha' finally sets the scene for the album's closing track, the guitar-led 'Riding The Bikes' by Loops Of Your Heart a.k.a. The Field's Axel Willner. Again a remarkable collection.
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FEATURED EXCLUSIVE
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Santiago Salazar (DJ S2) of Underground Resistance, Los Hermanos graces the impeccable Rotterdam label Frustrated Funk under his Seldom Seen moniker. Slide and bounce is the name of the game, ruddy funkin' acid-licked electro of the highest order. Masterful. Don't miss.
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TECHNO / HOUSE ESSENTIALS
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Ann Aimee compiles its four recent 'Inertia' EPs along with a mix by Delta Funktionen. Sixteen tracks by the current greats of modernist techno, from Lucy to Peter Van Hoesen, Skudge, Sigha, Redshape and Cosmin TRG, make for an excellent volume. Essential!
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EP released 30-01-2012 on !K7
Soul Clap lead off the remixes to Brandt Brauer Frick's recent 'Mr Machine' album with a deep and symphonic floor edit of 'Pretend'. Horror Inc (Akufen) and Dollkraut follow this up with jazzed-out minimal grooves and a wacky synth Mambo. Cool.
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Two years after 'Ripple Effect,' legendary British techno producer Kirk Degiorgio returns to Rush Hour with 'Divine Logic,' an electrifying arpeggiator driven Detroit techno track, timeless in form, that progresses and builds in tension and emotion in classic Motor City style with its spacey, rising string chords.
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Another confident showing by Sei A, who mixes Terrence-Fixmer-style Berghain techno with dubstep elements and chiptune bleeps. Add a pumping, rumbling Martyn remix for a highly recommended package.
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Boys Noize Alex Ridha's Cocoon debut 'Adonis' from late last year was a svelte shimmering 90s house corker, now it gets treated to a riot of remixes. Mark E's remix brilliantly conjuring its wilder spirits up, Terence Fixmer's stripped techno version and Djedjotronic's extra rave energy amongst them.
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Electronic wizards Minilogue return with another stonkin' video release, with an abstracted animalistic taste of 2008's 'Animals'. Weird and winding melodies of 'Let the life', 'Drop the mask' a diffuse 18-minute, techno hypnosis and Miami's Simon Wish remixes the original with dubby swing. Ace.
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Australia's Shades Of Gray demonstrate a confident use of samples on their debut album, which provides a fresh spin on the Soul-Clap/Jamie-Jones-approved take on electrified boogie house. An added remix volume completes the package.
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Sandwell District badman Dave Summer aka Function drops this first SD release for a while, as usual nothing but the highest grade techno. 'Descending' aggravating pulses and uneasy chords, the bass-driven cosmic 'Picabia', ambient interferences of 'Ember' and 'Inter' continuing its adventurous trajectory. Ace.
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Doncaster-based Carl Taylor has been driving UK techno for almost a decade, his second album sees him delving back to a stripped, down warehouse vibe. A distinct 90s euphoria, sweet synth melodies and more biting techno bolsh, a fine album to start the year with.
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Maxi-Single released 18-01-2012 on Aim
OCP are The Analogue Cops in disguise, adding a bit of roughness to the Aim label's increasingly brilliant output. Four tracks of spacious drums, grungy samples and big chords for fans of Levon Vincent or Omar S. Highly recommended.
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Jazzanova compile an entire volume of other artists remixing their music - deep house and techno flavours dominate the selection with Motor City Drum Ensemble, Âme, Mark E, Henrik Schwarz, while a disco edit by Danny Krivit and a funky house take by Lensco provide diversity. Solid!
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Two of Germany's acclaimed house protagonists collaborate proper for the first time for France's Circus Company. 'Sumback' deep, sunbeam house effortlessly activating the dance bone, two versions of 'Steam', which delves into more experimental robotic terrain and a softer Aera mix. Recommended.
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The second in the five-part series celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Amsterdam crew - Amsterdam's own Steven de Peven aka Awanto3 oozes warm chords of Detroit house, Makam delves deep into early Moodyman territory and UK's Lone tingles Boards of Canada dreamscapes. Ace.
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Petar Dundov and Gregor Tresher's collaboration EP for Music Man, 'Duo Tone', succeeds at combining the strengths of both producers: dreamy analogue synth arpeggios recall Dundov's solo work, while sharp techno beats à la Tresher maintain a forward momentum. Strong.
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Manchester's AnD surface on Horizontal Ground with an excellent dub techno track that balances experimentalism and dance floor appeal. The B-side is divided between Rob Hood techno with a peg-legged beat and ambient drones. Recommended.
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Ewan Wilmott, with two releases on Dissident to his name, appears on the excellent Running Back living up to his gleeful mechanical name. 'Crepitation' bounces a jaunty bassline, whilst 'Jarza's vocoded-disco origins gets two Theo Parrish journeys - cosmic psychedelic and broody sonic sorcery. Tiptop.
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DUBSTEP / HIP HOP / ELECTRO ESSENTIALS
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Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka's excellent full-length debut oscillates between the poles of funked-up Berlin-style techno and dreamy, Mount-Kimbie-esque dubstep pop. An absolute stunner and one of the finest album's of the year so far.
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Tireless dubstep innovator Pinch follows up his recent must-have collaboration album with Shackleton with an equally essential Fabric mix. 22 tracks represent the state of the art at the confluece of electro, techno, dubstep and experimental electronica. Don't miss.
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Fresh Tokyo-based record label Diskotopia presents its first compilation featuring a wildly diverse set of future-facing electronic bass music from home-grown artists such as BD1982, Optimum, A Taut Line, and Greeen Linez. Highly recommended.
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Machinedrum returns to LuckyMe with an EP that tones down the footwork factor in favour of an entire palette of cut-up r'n'b, deep and funky house flavours, heavy with chords and vocal snippets. Excellent, as everything Travis Stewart touches at the moment.
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Exquisitely assaulting futurist jungle dimensions, Radio 1xtra's DJ Q dishes out this devilish EP on UTTU, 'All Junglist' teasing a synapse-hotwired synthline direct to your darkcore dancebone and 'Will I Ever Be Free' tootling epic bassline whimsies to new energy levels. Woah.
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ASC continues to pursue his very own stylistic fusion of d'n'b and electronica. 'TMA-1' is a killer excercise in d'n'b minimalism, a finely tuned hybrid of Adam F and DJ Stingray, while the rest of the EP veers towards the lushly padded edge of ASC's sonic spectrum. Ace.
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Dutch label Shipwrec release the second EP of elusive producer Ghostek. Sinister UK garage, melancholy melodies and a true-to-his-name ghostly crackle, 'Easy Changes' a sweet Gold Panda-electronica twist, and the rest of EP sitting well like a slightly more dancefloor compatible Burial.
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The devilish Lazer Sword duo survey their favourite Monkeytown releases of 2011, with frankly a load of great releases to choose from. Modeselektor feat. Thom Yorke is a brilliant opener, Siriusmo, eLan with remixes from Low Limit, Cosmin TRG, DJ Pound and their own 'Klock' complete this neato compilation.
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EP released 16-01-2012 on Bunker
Gothenburg's electro master Luke Eargoggle takes a minimalistic approach to his latest Bunker EP, its sparse drum machine beats and echoing synth bleeps bringing to mind the spooky minimalism of early Ectomorph productions. Check.
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The knights of pure Detroit Electro strike again on M.A.P. records, with full-frontal workout 'In Yo Face', 'Turn It Out' spiking next-level electro command, 'Work It' sparsely implemented beatscience under vocal snips and 'Shake a Lil Faster' sounds out with a soulful mantra. Butt shakin' dance ammo. Killer!
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Texas' Gerard Hanson returns as E.R.P. via his Dutch buddies at Harbour City Sorrow. 'Lunar Ruins' uses a slap funk bassline to navigate between moon and deepsea, 'Into the Distance' is thick rhythms and lush expansive synths, 'Mimosa Canopy' ponders epic electroscapes. Perfeck. zero" exclusive.
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ELECTRONICA / AMBIENT ESSENTIALS
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Shigeto returns to Ghostly with this mini-LP. On 'Lineage' Shigeto extracts elements of jazz, funk, and soul, elegantly composing a collage of organic sounds and ideas and displaying a proficiency in his art across eight sophisticated instrumental tracks. Stunning.
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Album released 27-01-2012 on Italic
The follow up album to the critically acclaimed 'Talking', Harmonious Thelonious continues to electrify modern conceptions of dance music with neo-Africanisms. Gleeful tribal-minimal instrumentation presides more dominantly over darker industrial edges this time, an intense and very unique journey. Highly recommended.
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Leila's intricate and intense sound worlds are taken to new territories with guest appearances from Gigolo's Mt. Sims for her latest album on Warp. At times riotous upbeat electronics, at times melancholic blurry dreamscapes, noisy pop gems with Leila's ever-intriguing unpredictability. Recommended.
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Debut release of Jens Strüver and Robert Ohm's collaborative project, Strüver whose recent wonderful Conrad Schnitzler reinterpretation with Christian Borngräber earned well deserved attention. Gritty analog synths to wilder rhythmic territories, this is a mighty album for fans of modern cosmic electronics.
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Recorded in 1956 using custom built circuitry Louis and Bebe Barron's soundtrack for the film 'Forbidden Planet' is a milestone in electronic music history. Remastered and reissued by the always great Trunk imprint, this is not to be missed at all cost.
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Maxi-Single released 27-01-2012 on Faitiche
Jan Jelinek continues his - aural and philosophical - sample explorations by constructing tracks from recorded snippets of publicly performed music. The result is a lovely collection of free-jazz and library music sounds with a touch of Farben's rhythmicity.
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Edinburgh-based Young Hunting debut on Blackest Ever Black, burning next-level effigies of the darkest industrial inspirations. 'Embers…' begins the EP with nightmarish venomous rhythms, 'A Hunger Artist' slopes with Kafka-like theatricality in unnerving perpetual mobility. Invigorating, not for the faint-hearted.
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Album released 30-01-2012 on Touch
Experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi matches the intimacy hinted at in the album's title with two songs, the fragile 'Salt' and the more Emeralds-like 'Fractured Mirror', which frame the two remaining, more drone-like tracks of 'Audience of One'. Lovely.
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ALTERNATIVE / POP / DISCO ESSENTIALS
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Barcelona's John Talabot drops his debut album on Permanent Vacation, all previously unreleased tracks of his sturdy roasting warm sunshine sound, traces of heady disco and low-swung house grooves. An album that makes you forget the winter and gets better with every listen, excellent!
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Gonjasufi returns to Warp with another incredible album, recorded and mixed in his home studio in the Mojave Desert. Dark, intense and uniquely passionate, he pushes out of hiphop moulds with his trippy instrumentation, fuzzy crackled vocals, skewed sound worlds. Astounding album, hugely recommended.
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Maxi-Single released 16-01-2012 on LOaF
The finest electro pop we've heard in a while comes from London outfit NZCA/LINES. 'Okinawa Channels' combines Hot Chip and Junior Boys influences with great songwriting. Equally fine remixes by Sauvage and Black Devil Disco Club. Recommended.
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Album released 09-01-2012 on BBE
Glasgow's crate digger and edit wiz, Al Kent, compiles this extensive volume of his re-edits for BBE. Forty-five lesser known disco gems get resurrected and streamlined for the dance-floor. Essential!
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Crème Organization compiles its second volume of rare Alexander Robotnick recordings with eighteen tracks that cover the legendary Italian artist's entire breadth of styles, from raw, analogue electro pop to sonic synth experiments. Excellent.
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Matthew Dear is back after 2010's Black City success, opener 'Headcage' is a winner with a seductive brassy synthline and tropical textures under MD's drawl, 'In The Middle' recruits the Drums' Jonny Pierce for an indie-driven singalong, intricate dreamy delirium in 'Street Song' & 'Around a Fountain'.
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Vienna Wildstyle Recordings introduce the pop / future r'n'b crossover sounds of Konea Ra complete with slightly over-the-top vocals and a stylisticly diverse set of remixes, including two recommended witch-hop alterations by Weisz & Schrenk and Tomoroh Hidari.
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