Hello,
Gems aplenty in this edition of our monthly newsletter, from Apparat's stunning DJ-KiCKS, to John Robert's excellent album debut for Dial, and Darkstar's likewise stunning first on Hyperdub. The Modeselektor boys release the extended vinyl edits of their 'Modeselektion' compilation, the full album being due next week, while further high-profile albums come from Squarepusher, Marc Houle, Alva Noto, and Matthew Herbert.
This October has also seen the return of German techno institution Gebrüder Teichmann, who are giving away a free single edit of the title track from their brand-new 'Brainwash EP' on Festplatten. Head over to our blog for your freebie. |
FEATURED RELEASE
Compilation released 26-10-2010 on !K7
In an electronic music world crowded with epigones and copycats, the greatest compliment for an artist is to say he has developed an unmistakable sound of his own.
Sascha Ring a.k.a. Apparat is one of the few artists fully deserving of such praise. Blending advanced electronic sound design with ever-inventive grooves and the harmonic repertoire of pop music, Apparat simply sounds like now one else out there. Whether on his solo albums or his acclaimed collaborations with Ellen Allien and Modeselektor, his musical handwriting is always instantly recognisable.
To translate Apparat's sonic universe into a DJ mix, conveying his unique approach through the work of other artists, is therefore not an easy task, but one that Sascha Ring manages with aplomb on his edition of !K7's DJ-KiCKS series. His own exclusive track 'Circles' starts out the selection, setting the tone with looped guitars, melancholic lyrics and drifting tones.
What follows is an impeccably narrated one-hour journey through contemporary electronic music, contrasting favourites like Joy Orbison's 'The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow' and Thom Yorke's 'Harrowdown Hill' with minimalistic ambient by Oval and Tim Hecker, experimental dubstep by Cosmin TRG and Autechre (taking on Scorn's 'Falling'), and pop electronica by Telefon Tel Aviv and Luke Abbott.
The complete digital edition of Apparat's DJ KiCKS comes with 16 of the single tracks, the full 68-minute mix, as well as the addition of a two-part video interview with Apparat, filmed at the former listening post on Berlin's Teufelsberg. Unmissable album.
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TECHNO / HOUSE ESSENTIALS
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Album released 25-10-2010 on Dial
The first signing to Dial outside their close circle, John Roberts' debut album fits right in with the top-notch output they've had this year. Deftly creating luscious hues with crackly samples, melodies and old school house elements in a distinctly soulful way, it's a strong contender for house album of the year.
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Album released 13-10-2010 on Minus
Minus veteran Marc Houle releases his fourth solo album, 'Drift', supplementing his trademark minimal techno by strung guitars and echoing voices, an approach perfectly visualised by Polish video artist Barbara Klein in her dreamlike 46-minute film included on the album.
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Sleek, sexy and ever so slightly twisted, dOP's debut album arrives with chutzpah and hype aplenty - something they have knowingly tapped into by naming it 'Greatest Hits'. Think one part Matthew Herbert, one part Dave Aju and one part sexy French house and you have dOP. Highly original, essential album.
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Ever since his releases on Versatile and his fantastic track on the Ostgut label we've followed Tony Lionni's output closely and hence highly anticipated his début album. So much we can say - he didn't fail to reach up to our expectations and delivers one of the most accomplished house albums this year.
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Get Physical have Thomas Schuhmacher compile this year's birthday mix and compilation for the influential label. The single tracks feature plenty of exclusives and noteworthy collaborations, including a tongue-in-cheek team-up of M.A.N.D.Y. with Matthew Dear, and Elektrochemie recording with Tiger Stripes.
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Lee Jones' mix-album for Watergate is not short of exclusives and edits by the prolific producer, known from his releases for Aus Music, Cityfox, as well as the MyMy project. Over half of the tracks carry Jones' personal hand-writing of deep and elating techno house. Recommended.
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Oliver Ho's first album since adopting his Raudive moniker comes forth via Stefan Goldmann's Macro label. Nine masterfully executed tracks of Ho's characteristically reduced and bleepy techno, with occasional turns towards house and ambient. Outstanding album.
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Maxi-Single released 24-10-2010 on Minus
Having recently relaunched his Plastikman project worldwide on the 2010 festival circuit, Richie Hawtin slyly unleashes 'Slinky' ahead of the much anticipated 'Arkives' box set. An unsupposing acid techno groove around which Plastikman's mad genius locks you into a bewildering rhythmical vortex. Absolutely killer return.
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The voice of house music returns with a new album: 'Art' sees Robert Owens' vocal brilliance backed by noteworthy producers, first and foremost former Fingers Inc. partner Larry Heard, with additional contributions by Atjazz, Beanfield, and Compost's Show-b. A double volume of finest, soulful vocal house.
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Compilation released 22-10-2010 on Soma
Soundtracking the grimmer side of the UK's north, The Black Dog give 2009's acclaimed 'Final Vexations' a new release containing all singles plus remixes, including the Slam Mix of ‘CCTV Nation' and stunning reworks by Autechre, Claro Intelecto and Redshape. Bittersweet brooding techno and essential listening!
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Maxi-Single released 15-10-2010 on CLR
The clandestine movements of Traversable Wormhole have been some of the most intriguing in Techno in the last year on his self-titled label. The mysterious producer has certainly stepped up his game with this series of singles for Chris Liebing's CLR. Punishing remixes by Surgeon and Brian Sanhaji included.
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Maxi-Single released 25-10-2010 on M-Plant
After recent reissues on Rush Hour, Robert Hood resurrects his Floorplan project for two brand-new tracks. 'Living It Up' is a peak-time disco sample mutation, 'Wall To Wall' takes it a notch deeper. Killer!
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Rebuilt in 2007 as a 4-man techno live act with Juan Atkins at the helm, Model 500 unveil the first results of its upgraded format for a single on R&S Records. Featuring Mad Mike Banks, DJ Skurge, and Mike Taylor, this first transmission in seventeen years is certainly a taster for things to come.
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Session Victim do it again: The duo of Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling follow up their recent hit, 'Left the Building', with another EP of first-class, disco-informed house music that gets two sped-up classic house remakes by Gerd, seriously tailored for the dance-floor.
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A very special collaboration project on Innervisions: The music of award winning Sudanese musician Emmanuel Jal gets remixed by Henrik Schwarz and The Knife's Olof Dreijer. Highly musical club house by Schwarz, percussive electro by Dreijer - nice!
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Having spent the past year highlighting the links between house and UK bass with releases from Martyn, Appleblim, Joy Orbison, and Ramadanman, original Aus Music artists, Will Saul & Mike Monday return to the fray with the tidy 'Sequence 1'. Scuba rolls in some dirt and grit for his uptempo remix.
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Witty, experimental house from Crowdpleaser on Vienna's Cheap Records, 'Spiesser' a lofty jazz melody offset with a disheveled set of beats and 'Sequenza on (E)' a jaunty theatrical cross between avantgarde and Balkan. Charming and unique with a genuine improvised feel. Very recommended!
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The Teichmann brothers release this hi-powered taster EP ahead of their new album due out in Spring 2011. Three energetic, dance-infectious tracks, incorporating disco, jackin' house and gleeful samples. Title track 'Brainwash' gets freaky with vocal snippets sure to flip the dancefloor upside down!
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Maxi-Single released 12-10-2010 on Dolly
Brilliantly deep, house-flavoured techno by Jacob Korn on Steffi's Dolly label. 'Sundaysun' and 'Sand' are equally suited for reflective listening as they are for public crowd elation, and are complemented by two fine remixes coming courtesy of Dexter and John Daly. Highly recommended.
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Maxi-Single released 29-10-2010 on Soma
Second single to land off Decimal aka David Spacek's debut album 'Lost In A Dark Place'. 'Melody Attack' is a cavernous techno groover juxtaposed with bright synth melody, of which the Sandwell District guys do a diffuse, pumping remix, both pure killer on the dancefloor. Great release!
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Galway's John Daly contributes a firm but kind deep house single on Zurich's Drumpoet Community. As ever, his productions immediately sink you comfortably into the dancefloor, the title track 'Big Piano' vibing dub techno, the others touching on disco, electro and ambient in Daly's understated style. Excellent.
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Jay Haze in top form: 'I Wait For You' is a unique sounding pop-house groover with classy spanish vocals by Laila Tov (who also featured on Fuckpony's 'Fall Into Me'). 'The Darkest Disco' sees Haze team up with Ricardo Villalobos for an epic 12-minute deep house track. Great release!
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Maxi-Single released 04-10-2010 on Immer
Michael Mayer unearths two fine nuggets by Losoul, the uncrowned king of the Rhein-Main House Posse, for his newly founded Immer imprint. 'Swing Ibero' is a 13-minute monster full of psychedelic soulfulness, 'Nuin' was recovered from a dusty DAT tape and sees it's release for the first time. Ace!
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Yet another killer production by Berlin's prolific Mike Dehnert, 'Biface' perfectly lives up to its name. What starts out an a reduced dub techno track, employing a subtle vocal sample to great effect, drops all restraint mid-way, introducing energetic rides and modulating filter sweeps. Hit.
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St. Plomb delivers a deep and tranquil house piece, 'Precious Soul', distinguished by slightly eerie vocal on top of its subtly grooving chords. Michel Baumann contributes two remixes, one for each of his Jackmate and Soulphiction aliases.
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Album released 15-10-2010 on Suol
The debut album of producer / vocalist Fritz Kalkbrenner is quite a unique affair, combining a melodic Berlin-style techno flavour with his almost blues-like singing style. Love it or leave it, but definitely check his folksy single 'Facing The Sun' as well, which includes remixes by Sascha Funke and brother Paul Kalkbrenner.
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DUBSTEP / HIP HOP / 2STEP ESSENTIALS
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The Modeselektion releases have already delivered spanking new material from cream of the crop artists, now they unleash this compilation with deadly material from Siriusmo, Mala, Ikonika and Cylob representing the breadth of today's dubstep mutations, twisted enough to make it! Premium selected cuts.
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Squarepusher has always had a talent for funked-up pop songs ('My Red Hot Car'), something which has rarely come to light. Enter his new project, Shobaleader One, and debut album 'd'Demonstrator', which follows up the recent single on Ed Banger. Pure funk pop with Chromeo-style voice modulation and slow, hard-hitting 909 beats.
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Following up on the astounding 'CMYK' on the reinvigorated R&S Records, James Blake returns on a more sombre note than his last outing with 'Klavierwerke'. Taking things further into the abstract, Blake obliterates any so-called templates and re-contextualizes their elements to create boldly unique and advanced electronic music.
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Can I get a rewind? Drum and bass legends Commix getting the re-fix treatment from a whole host of contemporary producers. From heavy weights like Marcel Dettman and UR to whippersnappers like Pangea and Burial there is most definitely something here for everyone.
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The new album of our podcast star this week, Robot Koch, who contrasts his party-bass productions for Jahcoozi with some excellent electronica-tinged breakbeat material. Featuring Boxcutter, 1000Names and RQM, there's some highly advanced beat science on display here.
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Releasing only a small batch of single releases and remixes spread sparingly over the course of about 3 years on Stuff Records, Wireblock and Hyperdub, Rustie's 'Sunburst EP' is his most extensive work to date, acting as a brilliant, neon-tinged precursor to his forthcoming album for Warp.
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San Francisco-based newcomer, oOoOO, follows up on Balam Acab's excellent debut release with an enthralling debut of his own on the recently minted Tri Angle label. Haunting, emotional, and introspective the oOoOO EP brings darkness into the light in refreshing new ways.
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Jack Sparrow bravely steps up to the plate to produce what few have dared to in 2010: a dubstep album. 'Circadian' on Tectonic foregoes the meshing of styles or mainstream crossover attempts to bring this thoroughly deep and heavy dubstep experience (sans excessive mid-range wobble)!
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Ninja Tune backs the San Francisco-based producer, Eskmo, with his self-titled debut album for the label. Eskmo's experiments with dubstep as a point of reference, venturing further combining ice-cold melodics and lurching syncopated rhythms.
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The so-called 'electro Hendrix' Gonjasufi gets a full-blown remix album for his stunning debut 'A Sufi And A Killer' on Warp Records released earlier this year. Featuring remixes from Mark Pritchard, Oneohtrix Point Never, Bear In Heaven, as well as Broadcast & The Focus Group.
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Compilation released 04-10-2010 on BBE
Berlin's Sick Girls are commissioned by BBE to compile a mix of the grimiest, booty-shakin' bass music around. According to them, 'Revolution N°5' is about music with no borders that obeys only one rule - The Bass Must Kick Ass!
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Rush Hour scores another big one by Cosmin TRG, who's definitely on a winning streak at the moment with his special brand of deep and Detroitish dubstep-house hybrid. 'Liebe Suende' comes served with a touch of UK funky, while 'Sores Of Attraction' has more of a Moodymann feel. Excellent.
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Tight and fresh techno hybrid from Kondens, Andreas Tilliander (Mille Plateaux, Raster Noton) and Stefan Thor (aka Folie). 'Ruddock Rave' slides and slaps with elastic dub energy, whilst '451' delivers a punchy house lick, completed with a breezy remix by Norman Nodge this is a divine EP - must check!
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EP released 15-10-2010 on Phlox
Viennese dub techno artist Group Niob comes through with an altogether impressive debut on Phlox. Developing a style of dub techno that pays homage to its progenitors Basic Channel while placing a greater emphasis on bass, Group Niob carves its own territory between dubstep and techno.
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Total WTF chopped, screwed and spat back out hip-hop that manages to sound like both the Gaslamp Killer and Duran Duran (Duran). Judging by his inventive use of familiar samples, and knack for audio mangling that gets right inside your head, we reckon Maxmillion Dunbar is a name you are going to hear a lot more of soon.
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ELECTRONICA / AMBIENT ESSENTIALS
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Album released 01-10-2010 on Italic
Düsseldorf's Stefan Schwandner leaves the clean techno-disco of his Antonelli guise by the way-side for his first album as Harmonious Thelonious. 'Talking' is all about rough percussive grooves, taking cues from African music as much as from Krautrock and contemporary electronica. Brilliant album.
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The collaborative project between Raster Noton's Carsten Nicolai and Einstürzende Neubauten's, Blixa Bargeld, yields the full-length album, 'Mimikry'. Nicolai's glitchy experimental production meets Bargeld's spine-tingling, spontaneous vocalization.
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Second instalment of Matthew Herbert's epic trilogy, this time focussing around field recordings from one of Germany's finest clubs Robert Johnson. If you are looking for some sweet tunes with Dani Siciliano singing along you might be disappointed - this is noisy, experimental and sometimes even brutal. We love it!
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Susumu Yokota follow up his song-oriented 2009 album 'Mother' with the more electronic but just as intricate 'Kaleidoscope'. Interweaving ambient textures with hypnotic loops, plucked guitars and vocal chants, Yokota has once again created a masterpiece of highly expressive music.
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'Music For Contemporary Dance' is a compilation of two pieces Peter Broderick has composed for choreography, the previously released Music For Falling From Trees' and a new piece, 'Music For Congregation'. Grand and emotive, this is a great introduction to Broderick's work.
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Kangding Ray a.k.a. David Letellier is known to take his time with album releases, and the single 'Pruitt Igoe' raises hopes of a new one being just around the corner. As usual, this is an excellent two-part piece, fusing dubstep with droning experimentalism. Remixes by Alva Noto and Ben Frost!
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EP released 11-10-2010 on Infiné
Beautiful debut album from Lebanese-born Bachar Mar-Khalifé, working with piano, percussion, voice and electronics, each track is also a tale on a social and political level. Featuring his brother Rami Khalifé of Aufgang, this is an outstanding release, passionate and unconventional, and not just for avant-gardists! Highly recommended.
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Italy's finest post-rock band scores a soundtrack for Giovanni Pastrone's silent movie 'Il Fuoco' from 1916. Orchestral, emotional, but fragile at the same time, Giardini Di Mirò's compositions combine guitars, electronica, noise and classical instruments for an exceptional album.
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In preparation of the forthcoming album 'Full Circle' Ghostly release this EP by Brooklyn's Zach Saginaw a.k.a. Shigeto. Five highly personal songs about Shigeto's troubled family history, crossing over fragile electronica pop and modern bass music sounds. Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE / POP / DISCO ESSENTIALS
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Compilation released 12-10-2010 on BBE
Like fine wine Gilles Peterson just gets better with age. Following his recent compilation that brought a whole new generation of fans to BBC Radio, his latest effort on king of the comps BBE takes the cream of the songs he has championed over the last ten years on his 'Worldwide' show. If you only buy one compilation this week, month, year, make it this one.
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The electro house style pioneered by the Belgian duo might be slightly passé, but Spirit Catcher's second album does its best to show their versatility. Much room is given to electro funk à la Chromeo ('Special Dimension' stands out), with excursions into techno and piano ballads. A mixed bag, yes, but an accomplished one at that.
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Album released 18-10-2010 on Firm
David Boswell has worked with artists like Phil Oakey and Roots Manuva, and this accomplished album, 'Bits & Pieces', makes it clear from the outset that the man knows what he's doing. Expect finest techno pop with excursions into synth-pop, deep house, and downbeat.
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Album released 15-10-2010 on BH/RAR
Debut album from Bon Homme, a.k.a. Tomas Hoeffding of Danish electro rockers WhoMadeWho. Introspective and woozy, this is certainly a more laid back affair than his party starting bass work with WhoMadeWho. Angular electronics nestle next to oblique lyrical motifs.
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Duck Sauce is A-Trak and Armand Van Helden, and the two super-DJs sure know how to craft a hit. 'Barbra Streisand' combines an infectious Boney M sample with dada lyrics for a prime slice of unadulterated, disposable fun. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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DJ Harvey drops a pair of sure-fire hits via International Feel, 'Tan Sedan' and 'Throwdown', the former an Italo-disco burner, the latter a slowed-down groove pop monster. Check.
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