Hello,
September has come and gone and left us with more great releases than there's pebbles on a beach. First and foremost this has been the month of Ninja Tune. The legendary label celebrates its 20th anniversary with two massive compilations of exclusive material, as well as two equally recommended volumes of classic tunes.
More highlights include Radio Slave's Strictly Rhythm edits, Solar Bears' psychedelic pop and DJ Nate's high-speed ghetto house on Planet Mu, as well as Terence Fixmer's booming techno album 'Comedy Of Menace'. Warp has had a great month as well, with a new EP by Flying Lotus, the return of Seefeel and the debut of Brooklyn's The Hundred In The Hands.
Fans of modern broken beat styles will also enjoy our latest podcast, which comes courtesy of Jahcoozi's Robot Koch, and which follows hot on the heels of last weeks LA special with Santiago Salazar, Silent Servant, and John Tejada. |
FEATURED RELEASE
Two decades of Ninja Tune! Founded in 1990 by Matt Black and Jonathan More, known to most as Coldcut, the London-based imprint has had a tremendous influence on dance music culture as we know it. From DJ tools to trip-hop, from drum'n bass to dubstep, the iconic label has had a hand every dance music movement of the past 20 years within the field of broken beats.
Determined to celebrate in style, the Ninja Tune crew has compiled an absolutely massive two-volume anniversary compilation including a total of 62 tracks, around 95% of which are made up of new and unreleased material.
The wealth and quality of music on display here is almost impossible to put in words. Volume 1 contains exclusives by artists like Zomby, Diplo, Benga, Rustie, Amon Tobin, Roots Manuva, Deadelus, and many, many more, making this an indispensable collection.
Volume 2 of the series comes equally recommended, featuring highlights such as Autechre's version of The Bug's 'Skeng' and Mala's immaculate dub of Andreya Tiana's 'A Town Called Obsolete'. Fans of classic Ninja Tune sounds should further check out the label's two 'Retrospect' compilations, containing a massive 40 tracks each.
The Ninja Tune crew must have spent many sleepless nights to compile all this and must be highly commended for a stunning selection of music. Essential material.
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TECHNO / HOUSE ESSENTIALS
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French techno veteran Terence Fixmer evolves his recent bleepy techno sound into album format, and highly convincingly we must add. 'Comedy of Menace' is ten tracks of tightly structured, cavernous techno, in the vein of Pansonic/Sleeparchive, Sandwell District, and prime-time Ostgut material. Recommended.
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No one other than Matt Edwards has been chosen to follow in the foot-steps of Kenny Dope and mix his way through two decades of Strictly Rhythm's catalogue. Full to the brim with two one-hour mixes, plenty of Radio Slave's own edits, and all single tracks included, this is 5:20hrs (!) of absolutely essential music.
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Previously only available on vinyl, Detroit's brightest stars and unsung heroes all feature together in this sterling compilation by Rick 'The Godson' Wilhite, in association with Rush Hour Recordings. Featuring stunning contributions by Carl Craig, Kyle Hall, 'Shake', Theo Parrish and Glenn Underground!
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Album released 24-09-2010 on Soma
Florian Schirmacher (Wareika) and Helmut Ebritsch release their first Hatikvah full-length on Glasgow's Soma Recordings. Ten modern house tracks, combining electronic deepness and organic grooves, to which Schirmacher lends his highly adaptive singing voice. Impressive.
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Thomas Brinkmann revives his Soul Center alias for an album project for Shitkatapult, who are begging for a 'rude cover of the month' award with their packaging of 'General Eclectics'. Ten tracks combine Cologne shuffle-step grooves with genuine synth funk that lets those juices flow, erhm... Fine album!
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Collectors of Ron Hardy records are facing some pretty prosperous times at the moment. It's hard to tell when his enigmatic output has been so easily available as today. Thanks to the guys at Rushhour we are treated to two more lost gems in collaboration with Gene Hunt.
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Marcel Fengler returns to his home imprint Ostgut after his recent outing on Mote Evolver, 'Thwack'. His 'Enigma EP' is an altogether more organic affair, working with jazz references on the hypnotic 'Rapture', and underpinning the title track with a deep wild-pitch vibe. Excellent material.
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Redshapes dubs out two tracks from his recent ' The Dance Paradox' album: The album's breakbeat track 'Man out of Time' and the deep techno of 'Dead Space' both get a reduced and distinctly atmospheric overhaul.
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Whether it be the epic track lengths and stripped-to-the-bone mechanics in 'Clavichordrama', there are some very clear inspirations in the work of Onur Özer... *ahem* starts with a 'Ric' and ends with a 'Lobos'. Nevertheless, the Turkish producer stands tall on his own with his latest for Cocoon Recordings.
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Deep, futuristic techno house music from Aera, who follows up his excellent releases with Goldwill on his own imprint Aleph Music. Four strikingly inventive cuts, featuring Kenny-Larkin-like synths, great edits, and even some dubstep references on 'Week Of Fear'. Highly recommended.
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Maxi-Single released 13-09-2010 on M-Plant
Two more deadly killer cuts from the don of minimal techno Robert Hood. Once again essential, funked-up, banging techno which shouldn't be missed by anyone under any circumstances. Do we hear some UK funky styles there on 'Clash'? Huge recommendation.
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Jason Fine once again shows us how things are done in Detroit, MI. Four great cuts of lo-fi deepness, bassy 808s grooves, deep house strings, and even a touch of classical electro on the closing track, 'Red'. As always with Fine and Kontra-Musik, this one's highly recommended.
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Rush Hour issues the first of a two part series presenting the early work of one Recloose, the talented Detroit-area producer, who sprung into prominence via a chance meeting in a sandwich shop with Carl Craig. A crossbreed of funk and techno, this is perhaps some of Recloose's finest work.
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Over the past years Sascha Dive has been successfully bridging the gap between German and US house music styles with his Deep Vibes label, and his debut album takes the same approach. 10 prime house cuts combine the deep and the energetic for an impressive release. Recommended.
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First album for Arne Weinberg's Onmutu Mechanicks guise on Echocord. Serving as a project for all things abstract and dub-influenced, 'Nocturne' combines dub techno and the deep melodic techno that he is known for. A slightly different take on the genre, which comes highly recommended.
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Another big Cocoon mix compilation, this 'Green&Blue' edition has Steve Bug and Chris Tietjen mix 33 of their current faves in just under 2:30h. A who's who of tech-house, from James Kumo to Kink, from Kenny Larkin to Nikola Gala. Recommended.
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Introducing varied doses of experimentalism with a traditional sense of all things groovy, West London's FunkinEven hits the mark hard with his second release for Eglo Records. 'Heart Pound' cranks up a syrupy acid bassline, while rave stabs on 'Another Space' keep the energy going.
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Massive Poker Flat compilation for a special price: 33 tracks sum up the classic label's recent work, with contributions from Steve Bug, Martin Landsky, Donnacha Costello, John Tejada, Adultnapper, David Durango, and many, many more. A treasure chest of deep techno sounds. Get.
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Tony Lionni's straight-to-the-floor house and techno productions continue to rank among our favourites, and this one is no exception. Influenced by old-school Strictly Rhythm sounds, 'Precious' is a simple yet effective house hit, that should prove its worth on any dancefloor.
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EP released 29-09-2010 on Minus
The Minus camp, continuing to foster an environment of endless collaborative possibilities amongst its in-house artists, yields this 4-tracker from Heartthrob and Troy Pierce, 'Square One'. Sleek, streamlined and dancefloor-engineered material!
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Running Back continues to impress by consistently maintaining its high standard of quality with this solid release by Marco Passarani. The rubbery synths of 'Colliding Stars Pt. 1' are the stuff of disco dreams while the syrupy acid bass of 'Good Split' takes us to another world.
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Ukrainian artist, Vakula, presents this 5-tracker for Edinburgh's Firecracker imprint that is more like a micro-LP than merely an EP. Packing a punch with fresh ideas and analogue warmth, Vakula clearly references Chicago and Detroit, bringing in some Eastern-European flavours at times. Recommended.
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A deep, jacking monster, accentuated by soulful vocal flourishes and driving synth paranoia. It takes vision to make music that sounds both authentic and cutting-edge, and it takes real skill and talent to pull it off this well.
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Usually known for his subtlety, Macro's Stefan Goldmann drops a techno bomb this time around. Maze's parts 1 and 2 are prime time jackers with distorted drums and equally grungy, free-styling synth lines. Part 3 complements this with some similarly styled, but beatless electro-acoustics.
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Another storming release of fresh techno interpretations by the eclectic Field label. Delta Funktionen delivers a spot-on cut once again, proving why he is one of the most talked about names among technoheads at the moment. Duplex and Ohrwert don't disappoint either. Great EP!
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James Ruskin, Function & Jerome Sydenham step up to the plate to remix Luke Slater's most recent techno monster, 'GT'. Ruskin slurs the track's characteristic cowbells for a highly effective, minimalistic stomper, while Funtion and Sydenham deliver a slightly more classic techno take.
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Axel Boman steps in for the fourth release of DJ Koze's Pampa label. Three pretty varied tracks ranging from dreamier house affairs to the deep burner 'Purple Drank' with its irresistibly catchy hook-line 'I woke up with your name on my lips'. One to check!
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Munich's Jichael Mackson returns to Musique Risquée with two impressive cuts: 'Locus Pocus' is the type of shuffling minimal techno that we're usually a bit sceptical about, but this track is one tight and bassy beast! 'Sugar Hill Mountain' in turn is a spacey, almost cosmic affair. Great!
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After his release on Frantic Flowers two years ago it has been pretty silent around Gerd's Literon alias. Now he returns with two rawer house tracks with a dirty groove combined with phat production and deep sub bass. Perfect tracks for dark clubs with a blazin sound system.
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There's something truly special about every new Stereociti record and 'Cosmoride' is no exception. Ken Sumitani understands jazz, but builds on this knowledge within a dubby, minimalistic deep house framework. Moody chords, sparse grooves, excellent release.
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More delicious Teutonic dub techno cuts by one of Germany's leading producers of the bespoke genre, Marko Fürstenberg. Definitely designed to cause damage on big floors this is some of the most convincing material we have heard from him in recent times.
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Donnacha Costello devises a new alias, MSF, for a white (or rather black) label release that should grab the immediate attention of all Ostgut-style techno fans. Dark, analogue and minimalistic, 'Meaning Formation' is one for the big floors, while Costello's musicality shines through on 'Signification'. Excellent.
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DUBSTEP / HIP HOP / 2STEP ESSENTIALS
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Presented as a 'mini-album' by Warp Records, Flying Lotus' 'Pattern+Grid World' is a snapshot of the current state of his constantly evolving sound. FlyLo pulls no punches experimenting further into the abstract beyond his 'Cosmogramma' album with varying tempos and beat structures.
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The second volume of Ninja Tune's mind-boggling anniversary compilation takes a more soulful turn, with great new material by Bonobo, Gaslamp Killer, Yppah, Mr. Scruff, Floating Points, and Jaga Jazzist, while some more electronic punches are delivered by Mala, Autechre, and Lorn. Deliriously good.
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Dave Huismans (a.k.a. 2562) continues to explore the middle ground between dubstep and deep techno sounds with his A Made Up Sound alias. Warm pads, shuffling beats and deep echoes make 'Demons' another excellent and unique sounding document of the man's brilliance. Check.
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Modeselektor launch their Modeselektion series! The first to deliver the goods are Ramadanman and Bok Bok, who each contribute stumbling grimestep tracks the way the Modies like 'em. Their own 'VW Jetta' heads the same direction, albeit with a little more horsepower under the hood.
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Another fresh set of beats straight out of LA brought to us via Glasgow's All City Records and the sixth edition of their LA Series. Featuring the pairing of Daedelus and Teebs, this electrifying set of instrumentals raises the bar for LA's finest beat-tweakers.
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Maxi-Single released 21-09-2010 on All City
Our favourite French beatmaker returns with 'The One', a great stumbling hip-hop single featuring the vocal talents of Slum Village's T3. Comes with instrumentals and two different remixes by Detroit's Waajeed.
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Pariah's first single, 'Detroit Falls', was highly accomplished take on Burial's dubstep style, but it's up to 'Safehouses' to fully show the potential of this young London artist. Taking cues from hip-hop, electro, and dubstep, its six tracks offer a wide range of Detroit/breakbeat crossover sounds. Nice!
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Cool return from the veteran G-Stone producers, taking an unsuspecting turn towards the electronic, with leanings towards dubstep, abstract downbeat, and electronica. Always with a distinct pop appeal, super-crisp production, and containing 16 tracks this is not a stingy package either. Recommended.
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Quite a surprise album on Wagon Repair: Canadian producer Jules Chaz samples his way through pop history on 21 tracks of abstract hip-hop. Spot the finely sliced and diced snippets of Hall and Oates, Julee Cruise, and the cameo appearance of Cobblestone Jazz's Danuel Tate. Swell.
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Catching us as a pleasant surprise is Danish producer, Aslope, with his EP for Hobby Industries, 'The Helping Hand'. Each track of this refreshing debut EP experiments at varying tempos with the common emphasis on subbass, groove, and atmosphere. Includes a quality remix of 'Close' by Gold Panda (Ghostly).
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Maxi-Single released 10-09-2010 on Tectonic
Pinch makes his first proper appearance in 2010 with an original track on his flagship Tectonic label. 'The Boxer' preserves Pinch's signature sparse sound powered by tons of low-end with minimal yet purposeful mid-range stabs. Includes an angrier Darquan take on the flip.
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Night Slugs introduce new producers (or new names, at least), Velour, who seem to be working strictly from a loved-up palette of sounds judging by this debut release, 'The Velvet Collection', smothering 4-tracks with neon-colored synths and bubbly arpeggios. One for the ladies crew.
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Maxi-Single released 06-09-2010 on PTN
Ramp offshoot PTN presents the hard-hitting tribal sounds of 'Fatherless' by Breach, otherwise known to the world as amazingly multi-talented producer and vocalist Ben Westbeech! Big room funky tunes, featuring a remix by Doc Daneeka!
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ELECTRONICA / AMBIENT ESSENTIALS
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Elusive UK producer Gold Panda issues his first full-length on Ghostly International, following up his critically-acclaimed work for Ghostly and Various Production. 'Lucky Shiner' experiments on the edge of indie-electronica and hip-hop with a distinct pop appeal. Highly Recommended.
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Already John Tejada and Takeshi Nishimoto's fifth album as I'm Not A Gun, and as we have come to expect 'Solace' is a quality effort of instrumental indie pop with dreamy electronica and ambient leanings on tracks like the programmatic 'Music For Adults'. Recommended.
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Originally recorded between 1974 and 1978 and released on a 90 minute cassette tape, Optimo re-issues 'The Space Between' by Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter. Remastered, rechristened, and selecting the album's best tracks, this is a must-have for all krautrocktronica and new-wave heads.
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Quite a sensational return of the newly regrouped Seefeel, releasing their first new material in 14 years. 'Faults' brings to mind how far ahead Seefeel were in their time, anticipating the fusion of avant-garde rock, electronica and neo-classical sounds. Great comeback.
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Senking's fifth release on Raster-Noton succeeds in finding a middle ground between classic R-N minimalism an dubstep. Yes, dubstep - 'Pong' is decidedly bassy affair, with towering waves of low frequencies woven into its sparse glitched-up rhythms. Must-have for all Raster-Noton fans.
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This quite sensational team-up has pop-star Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) cover 'Returnal' by drone master Oneohtrix Point Never on the piano, while Fennesz supplies an equally mesmerizing take on the flip. Stunning material!
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Broadcast & The Focus Group continue their collaboration which began with Warp's 'Witch Cults of the Radio Age'. Three tracks further explore the fusion of The Focus Group's audio collage techniques and Broadcast's unique studio sound.
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Album released 06-09-2010 on Type
Brad Rose takes a break from the noise-scapes of his main project, The North Sea, and gives us this exquisite album of fragile garage-electronica-pop, recorded together with his wife, Eden Hemming. 'Mechanical Gardens' is a beautiful work and an unexpected, yet welcome, departure.
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EP released 06-09-2010 on Infiné
Arandel's recent concept album 'In D' was one of our favourite electronica debuts this summer, and here the album track 'D#5' receives four distinct makeovers, from a great solfeggio version to a subtle dancefloor take by Michael Forzza.
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Despite releases on Max Ernst and Laboratory Instinct, Georgian artist Natalie Beridze is still an insider tip. Gudrun Gut's Monika label now releases this beautiful mini-album of multi-layered electronica pop. Unique and recommended.
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Infiné artist Douglas Greed supplies the soundtrack to his own music industry documentary 'Luxusdiskussion': Seven tracks of nicely varied minimalist techno and more experimental electronica flavours.
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ALTERNATIVE / POP / DISCO ESSENTIALS
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Album released 17-09-2010 on !K7
Chromeo follow up their breakthrough success from 2007, 'Fancy Footwork', with a new full-length, packed to the rim with the pair's electro-funk we know and love. With Cassius' Philippe Zdar at the controls, 'Business Casual' is a perfect album of well written and impeccably produced pop music. Excellent.
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Recently reduced to a solo outfit, Aeroplane release their long-anticipated debut album, and it's yet sure winner: Twelve unashamedly playful cuts of balearic disco-pop, drawing on an entire arsenal of pop music influences, from soft rock to new wave. Late summer bliss.
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Every new Röyksopp album will be forever compared with their million-selling 'Melody A.M.', but rather than stifling their creativity, the duo's success has given them the freedom to experiment. 'Senior' is once again an exceptional effort, combining trippy synth sounds and moody krautrock. Great.
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New Warp signing The Hundred In The Hands release their self-titled debut album. The Brooklyn-based duo combine bitter-sweet guitar pop with a drive for the dance-floor akin to the vibe of DFA or Italians do it better. Nice.
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Album released 06-09-2010 on Kompakt
After two years of relative absence from the release circuit, Superpitcher returns with a new full-length for his home stable Kompakt. 11 slices of distinguished electronic pop music, ranging from cheeky tech-house tracks ('Rabbits In A Hurry') to melancholic songs ('Who Stole The Sun'). Sweet.
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Compilation released 28-09-2010 on !K7
Our friends at !K7 issue a timely compilation examining the rising trends in underground music from America, the kind that the bloggers spend a painstaking amount of hours trying to neatly tag - e.g. witch house and chillwave. Includes music by Animal Collective, Toro Y Moi, oOoOO, and Balam Acab.
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Summing up another great season for Permanent Vacation, 'Selected Label Works 2' features an array of nu-disco hits alongside more laid back material. Tensnake's killer track 'Coma Cat' of course features, as do burners by Azari & III, DMX Krew, and John Talabot. Highly recommended.
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Barbara Morgenstern drops a new album on Monika, her fifth since 1998, if we counted correctly. With 23 tracks 'Fan No. 2' is quite a sizeable effort and a classic Morgenstern production of fragile, melancholic electronica pop songs. Recommended.
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Maxi-Single released 27-09-2010 on Firm
Live vocalist and solo producer, David Bozzwell (or simply, Bozzwell), puts together a taster for his album 'Bits & Pieces' with this 4-tracker of pop-meets-techno for Firm Records. Featuring remixes of 'I Can't Be' by André Khaml and Justus Köhncke.
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No other could have fulfilled this task better than French vintage synth geeks Zombie Zombie, who were probably breast-fed by the sounds of the don of übercool lo-fi productions. Five great reworks who manage to stand out as pieces on their own rather than just being copies. Not to be missed.
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The latest signing on BPitch Control is Italian duo We Love, and as usual Ellen Allien has done a fine job as talent scouting. We Love's electronica-infused synth pop is a perfect match for the label, and with ambitious get-ups and visual design, We Love are surely spectacular to see live.
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Album released 10-09-2010 on Strut
The second volume of Danny Krivit's edits covers soulful disco, funk and jazz, including rarities like an unreleased re-work of Black Blood's 'Chicano', the Patrice Rushen's 'Music Of The Earth' and an extended workout on the Chairmen Of The Board's 'Life & Death'. Essential.
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Trentemøller's 60s garage-electronica song gets treated to some spectacular remixes: Kollektiv Turmstrasse supplies the dance-floor goods, Pantha Du Prince a heavenly, Dial-style dub, and Danish songwriter Mikael Simpson a lovely piano rendition.
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