01. Björk - Bastards [One Little Indian]
First and foremost I purchased this one for Omar Souleyman's massive, ethno-indian flavored remix of "Crystalline" that totally amazed me when dropped by Mixmaster Morris at the
Holoversum event back in 2011. Unfortunately I missed the 12" release of this remix so I was finally happy to add it to my vinyl collection. But as Björk isn't only a great and ever inspiring artist in herself but also proved great taste in her choice of remixers all the other reworks on this LP have been and are still growing on me steadily - no matter if they're crafted by Hudson Mohawke, Alva Noto, Current Value, Matthew Herbert, These New Puritans or others. Fully recommended and not to be missed for any reason.
02. Thievery Corporation - Culture Of Fear EP [ESL Music]
This is my new jam when it comes to HipHop and I'm stunned that Thievery Corporation are serving such a banger as they're mostly known for their loungy Downtempo stuff. No bling bling involved, this one's pure dope, just beats and rhymes and a raw oldskool vibe that'll never grow old on anyone. Put the needle on the record and it'll make your head nod within less than 16 bars. Play this 7" piece in a club and you'll see a happy, jam-packed dancefloor bouncing back and forth within seconds. Highly recommended shit.
03.[LDTD 003]
One-sided whitelabel 12" on clear vinyl with exactly no information but a graphic stamp that is to be called nothing less than a huge hit to be. ClubTechno with obvious references to the dubby side of things featuring classic sounds and a big bassline taking over after a ravey mid-tune break, introducing a sweet Acid line that's made to set large warehouse raves on fire. Essential.
04. Sankt Göran - Local Legend EP [Crimecity Disco 006 Whitelabel]
What a sweet double-A-sided 12" served by Gothenburg's Sankt Göran who manages to fuse a KrautDisco-related feel with positive, frolicking synth-lines - although these are a bit darker when it comes to the title track - and a dancefloor focused attitude in between Deep- and ChicagoHouse vibes. A record as spring as spring can get.
05. Daniel Dexter - Focus On [Poker Flat Recordings Promo]
See
review for details...
06. Echo Inspectors - Lunar Shadows [Primary Colurs 001]
DubTechno in its purest form - very hypnotic and stripped down but still carrying the echoes once sent out to the world by the likes of Basic Channel and their associated imprints. Quality crafted and floating through time and space when it comes to the original version whilst Luke Hess' remix work on the flip speeds up things and clearly aims at primetime dancefloors serving sharp, threatening hi-hats without losing the essence of DubTechno on the way. Pretty focused and timeless.
07. Natas / Exill / Kerdoor / Ju Smd [Satane Merdeux 002]
For some reasons I'll always have a thing for the Tribe Tekno scene - not so much because of their DIY-structures, independent attitude and open air parties but more for their music which seems to be fueled with special powers, thrilling and highly energetic stuff that combines a lot of styles and spirits. There's the obvious Acid, ever spiralling sounds, the echoing spirit of Rave, the driving uptempo beats that make dancing bodies sweat within minutes and uncompromising drums that do nothing put push forward all the time. And sometimes there's even - like in Exill's and Kerdoor's uber-ly funny track here - a bit of oldskool'ish tripping Trance involved that makes me smile. Rave strikes back!
08. Francesco [Francesco Series 001]
A quite mysterious release not only living up to its stern artwork but also to an overall attitude of being serious and concrete. Whilst "DX8" is a tense, hyper-hypnotic Techno banger of the stripped down and minimalistic kind - not: MinimalTechno! - the flip side serves excursions into the field of deep and dark Piano Ambient as well as into sterile, abstract Electro assaults. This kind of variety can't be denied so try to get hold of your copy soon.
09. Incite Hu - Gift EP [Hafenschlamm Records 083]
There won't be darkness. There is. What's to be found on this 12" put on the circuit via the Hamburg-based imprint Hafenschlamm Records is a flash back in time into dark grey era of the late 70s and early 80s which saw the rise of the so-called Ingenious Dilettantes, an experimental, partly ProtoIndustrial movement of musical amateurs creating sound out of nothing, based on tape loops, found objects, selfmade non-instruments and other stuff, a conceptual Musique Concrete that - in its very best moments - neither followed rules nor structures, capturing a zeitgeist of nuclear war scenarios and communist angst. This is what's to be felt whilst listening to the A-side of this one, an Incite Hu live recording from a show at the Golden Pudel Club that sounds like a Crack-driven sleepover with Unit Moebius and Vatican Shadow, building dark'ish layers of Industrial Noises, numb rhythms and non-rhythmic feedbacks mixed up with jazzy tones and nightmarish vocal fragments. On the flip there are two version of the anti-song "Arsch Brennt" which might work experimental Industrial floors well when they're based in rotten basements and filled with ecstatic, hard spanking people, dancing and leaking with salty sweat. Limited to 147 copies world wide this tune will never be a hit, but there'll be people totally loving it for a reason. True underground.
10. Cspok - Journey [Black Wall 002 Whitelabel]
As you might already know I've never been the one to deny a proper Chicago jam and this is what we get here although this whitelabel 12" hails from Russia and unveils nothing but a minimum of information. But as it is all about music let's just say this one has a proper 1988/9 feel despite higher production standards and if you love your classic Mr. Fingers tracks from the heart this one might be your new jam.
