Test

Oh, Dear!

Audion takes on the new Jesse Rose EP headlong and guess who wins? I’ll let you decide ….

Dicing with destiny

Sheesh, what a thankless job this is sometimes… we’re just in the middle of doing a ‘ones to watch in 2007’ issue and Loco Dice has decided not to play ball. Dice has had two very strong releases this year -  ‘Seeing Through Shadows’ and ‘Harissa’ – and seeing as he plays around the world now and has quite a lot of material due for release next year, I asked him, via one of the labels he releases on, to do an interview. Two weeks later, I have finally got an answer - he’s not doing any press for the foreseeable future. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the outlets that cover electronic music dwindling and shouldn’t he grab every opportunity to promote his work?
Without sounding too annoyed - at the time when it seemed like he was going to do the interview, he insisted on me doing it by Skype because he wasn’t bothered to pay for receiving a call in the US, even though the feature would be solely to his benefit -  I emailed the label back and pointed this out, adding that when he finally feels like doing interviews again, the magazine may not be interested, or may never again be interested. At this point, the guy at the label told me that my words were “very strong” and that I have to “respect his (Dice’s) decision”. Of course I do, but we were trying to promote music that we believe in and we get turned down. Any reasonable person’s reaction after being rejected in this way would be not to knock on the same door again. There are hundreds of other producers who deserve the space and I hope that one of them will be chosen in Dice’s place. I always compare the career trajectory of the international DJ to that of the international footballer - they have ten years in the limelight if they’re lucky and after that they join the fray to fight for whatever work is available. At the moment, Dice’s star is ascending and will stay that way for a while if he is smart. But then at some stage he will come looking for help, but it won’t come from my corner, because from now on, I plan never to mention his name again. As the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me…

Deep or dark?

I’ve just spent most of today listening to some new records (yes, I know, it’s a hard life) and it is becoming increasingly clear that European electronic music (‘minimal’ is just too much of a narrow-focused term) is fragmenting more and more. Understandably, fewer and fewer producers want to be aligned in the stripped back middle ground, and just this week, the number of labels putting out techno music that harks back to old school deep/acid house influences rather than Detroit or even more recent Euro-centric sources is noticeable. In one sitting, releases on Sub-Static, Diynamic (one of the most promising labels I’ve heard in 06), Stil Vor Talent, which features one of the Diynamic crew moonlighting, Fumakilla and new material by Samim and Gudio Schneider show that the way forward for some is to integrate vocals, strings, chords and melodies into their rhythmic intricacies. At the other end of the spectrum are UK producers like Radioslave and Matt O’Brien, whose new offerings (O’Brien has an EP on Rekids and Radioslave has reworked Luca Baldini’s new release on Hell Yeah) offer a noisier, distorted and aggressive sound. Maybe it’s something to do with the English fixation with progressive house or just that the testosterone levels suddenly jump when these producers go into the studio, but they are at the opposite end of the scale to our European friends’ new-found love of melody and depth. Maybe the UK needs a recession like the one that Germany is struggling to get itself out of before its brightest and most creative discover their sensitive side. After all, when there is nothing else to do, music is the natural answer….

Work in progress

Every year, the good folk Hot Press  ask myself and my co-columnist for the magazine, Barry O’Donoghue, aka Barry Redsetta, the resident DJ at Pogo  in Dublin to come up with a list of our favourite albums and singles. Barry has been much more together than me, and has already sent on his list of favourites (see below). In the meantime, I’m still struggling to put together anything approaching a definitive list. Despite making some heartless judgment calls -  Alden Tyrrell’s retrospective, Luciano and Alex Smoke’s mixes for Soma and that quirky. overlooked album by Jenny Wilson - I think that I’ve got  the list of my favourite albums sorted out, but the singles is still a mess. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, and I need to condense this list of 50 odd records into 20. Can anyone help?

ANJA SCHNEIDER & SEBO K: Side Leaps – Remixes EP [Mobilee]
TODD TERJE: Eurodans [Full Pupp]
ANDY STOTT: Demon In the Attic [Modern Love]
TOM POOKS: Docker [Speicher]
GOLDFISH & DER DULZ: Uhu [Boxer]
DJ JACK ROCK: Big Chunks Of Love [WiR]
LITERON: Machines [Fortek]
LEE JONES: Kinder Country [Just Recordings]
CAMEA & INSIDEOUT: Nothing Shocking EP [Clink]
REPEAT ORCHESTRA: The Making Of EP [Real Soon]
ALEJANDRO LOPEZ: Pisces [Minimise]
LOST TRAX: Lost Trax EP [Scsi]
MR PAULI: Don’t Want To Be You [Viewlexx]
SHINEDOE: Sound Travelling [100% Pure]
GUI BORATTO: The Rising Evil [Speicher]
DAZE MAXIM: Simply Driving Gold [Hello Repeat]
FRANKIE: Hunt EP [Frankie]
QUIXOTE: Pap & Fickle EP [Vakant]
ICHUNDU: Hey [Souvenir]
PETER DILDO: Curly Blonde Part 1 [Trackdown Records]
SCSI-9: Puzzle [Phlegmatek Recordings]
STEVE BUG: Smackman EP [Poker Flat]
JACEK SIENKIEWICZ: Untitled [Recognition]
WELTZWEI: Radarius [Sender Records]
REDSHAPE: Shaped World [Delsin]
HEARTZ 4: Intimacy Girl [Hello Repeat]
MY MY: Serpentine [Playhouse]
CLARO INTELECTO: Warehouse Sessions Vols 1 – 3 [Modern Love]
JOHN TEJADA: Big City Music [Poker Flat]
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Time Starts Now (Remixes) [Recognition]
SEBO K/NHAR: Horizons/Hexoflip [Mobilee]
BRUNO PONSANTO: Wade In The Water, Children [Hello Repeat]
FRANKIE: Detour [Frankie Records]
DINKY : Home On A Sunday [Horizontal]
TOBIAS FREUND: Street Knowledge [Logistic]
PIER BUCCI: Tita / L’Nuit [Crosstown Rebels]
STEFAN GOLDMANN: Sleepy Hollow [Innervisions]
SAMULI KEMPPI: Superkaapo EP [Pakkas Levyt]
BRIAN ANEURYSM: The End Of Logic [Iron Box]
AGORIA: Code 1026 [PIAS]
BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB: 28 After [Lo Recordings]
MARTIN BUTTRICH: Cloudy Bay [Poker Flat]
REDSHAPE: Misc Usage [Delsin]
LOCO DICE: Harissa [Cadenza]
JENNIFER CARDINI & SHONKY: August In Paris [Mobilee]
HEIB: Acid Pimp [Senor Solution]
MLECHIOR & LUCIANO: Father [Cadenza]
COBBLESTONE JAZZ: India In Me [Wagon Repair]
MIA: Safe Night [Substatc]
JOHN TEJADA: Eurotunnel [Scape]
JOHN TEJADA: The End Of It All [Palette]

My albums:

Andy Stott Merciless [Modern Love]
Arctic Hospital: Citystream [Narita]
Cassy: Panorama Bar 01 [Ostgut]
Henrik Schwarz: DJ Kicks [K7]
John Tejada: Cleaning Sounds Is A Filthy Business [Palette]
The Knife: Silent Shout [Brille]
Modeselektor: Hello Mom [Bpitch]
SCSI 9: Line of Nine [Kompakt]
Alex Smoke: Paradolia [Soma]
Nathan Fake: Drowning In A Sea Of Love [Border Community]
Crowdpleaser & St Plomb: 2006 [Mental Groove]
Johannes Heil: Freaks R Us [Klang]
MyMy: Songs For The Gentle [Playhouse]
Milosh: Meme [Plug Research]
Kerrier District: 2 [Rephlex]
Magda: She’s A Dancing Machine [Minus]
Bodycode: The Conservation Of Electric Charge [Ghostly]
Trentemoller: The Last Resort [Poker Flat]
Junior Boys: So This Is Goodbye [Domino]
Guy Called Gerald:  Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions [Laboratory Instinct]

Barry’s selection:

Singles:
Delia/Gavin 'Revelee' (Carl Craig remix) [EMI/DFA]
Fujiya and Miyagi 'Ankle Injuries' [Tirk]
Lansley/Brocksieper 'Poppa Wheely' [Substatic]
Paul Kalkbrenner 'Keule' [Bpitch]
Surgeon 'Floorshow EP' [Counterbalance]
Coldcut 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes' (Henrik Schwarz remix) [Ninja Tune]
Junior Boys 'In The Morning' (Alex Smoke remix) [Domino]
Shed 'Well Done My Son' [Soloaction]
Antennae 'Camino del Sol' (Joakim remix) [Permanent Vacation]
Martin Buttrich 'Full Clip' [Planet E]
Tres Demented 'Shez Satan' [Planet E]
Redshape 'Telefunk' [Styrax Leaves]
Hot Chip 'Boy From School' [EMI/DFA]
Audion 'Mouth To Mouth' [Spectral Sound]
Joris Voorn 'Mpx309' [Green]

Albums:
Hot Chip 'The Warning' [EMI]
The Knife 'Silent Shout' [Brille]
MyMy 'Songs For The Gentle' [Playhouse]
Fujiya and Miyagi 'Transparent Things' [Tirk]
5 Mic Cluster 'Crystal' [Output]
Spank Rock 'Yoyoyoyoyo' [Big Dada]
Burial 'Burial' [Hyperdub]
Jimmy Edgar 'Color Strip' [Warp]
CSS 'CSS' [Sub Pop]
Johannes Heil 'Freaks R Us' [Klang]
Junior Boys 'So This Is Goodbye' [Domino]
Bodycode 'The Conservation Of Electric Charge' [Ghostly]
Scsi-9 'The Line Of Nine' [Kompakt]
Convextion 'Convextion' [DownLow]
Andy Stott 'Merciless' [Modern Love]

Slices of a conversation

Oops, it seems like I’ve ruffled a few feathers or maybe just put some scarves out of place at Slices HQ. After the last post about the Hawtin documentary, ‘Holger’, whose name leads me to believe that he has a future as a German Eurovision entrant, messaged the site to tell his side of the story. Fair enough, we’re all for free speech and a healthy exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, when I started to discuss the documentary on the Mnml board, Holger started to message me off list. Obviously, he didn’t want any of the other board’s members to see what he was ‘communicating’ to me, but I hate when people mail members off list to continue a conversation - don’t you think that it always feels like they have something to hide or are trying to bully you into changing your opinion? - so here’s the second part of our ‘discussion’ about the Hawtin documentary (I’ve left in spelling and grammatical errors as they were):

Holger Slices: “You wanted or expected something different but that has nothing to do with the concept or the quality - so far press and fans was really positive cause it´s a personal inside view and something special. you are one of a really few people who don´t like it or miss more bla about music. as i said a couple of times before this is what everyone knows allready and it´s still present.

i really don´t understand your problem - if you´re a fan and you know so much about his music - what could a documentary show new to you?  some cover pics? the concept of DE:9 the 20st time? The Plastikam part is a big part on the dvd but more about the things behind it. it looks like you really didn´t understand the concept of the series then it would be clearer and not so disappointed for you.”

And here’s my reply

Testindustries: “Yeah, I don't have a problem with the concept, but i'm just not interested in this whole lifestyle aspect -  maybe you could have at least mentioned his FUSE, Circuitbreaker, Probe work, as I'm sure loads of "new minimal" fans of Hawtin probably only know him for Minus and his flick haircut and party lifestyle, which to be honest, appears on far more websites than opinions/explorations about his older work or even about the start of the dex, fx, 909  series… To be honest, you didn't really look very closely at Plastikman, there was only a mention of 'Sheet One' and nothing about Musik/Consumed/Closer which tell us more about  Hawtin than what kind of after parties he's playing and what ubercool minimalists he's hanging out with these days... I understood your concept perfectly, I just didn't like it

best of luck…”

Of course, as soon as he posts a reply, I’ll put it up on the site. Let the bitching commence!

Slice of the action

So the other night I finally sat down to have a look at Slices’ DVD tribute to Herr Hawtin. I was ready for a good giggle at loads of un-ironic fawning, but I must admit, what Slices produced pleasantly surprised me. Hawtin is one of the few names in techno/electronic music who merits a whole documentary devoted to his work and his image - we tend to forget that Hawtin’s Plastikman project had a real iconic status, and the programme showed some of his fans’ Plastikman tattoos.
I’m finding it hard to imagine who else Slices could follow this release with -Underground Resistance probably wouldn’t do it (smart anti-marketing marketing as ever, Mike!), Aphex is too weird and unpredictable to play ball, and Derrick May is just too conceited. Maybe Carl Craig or the eminently quotable Dave Clarke, or even Sven Vath? Personally, I’d love to see Slices do something on Vath because his contribution to Hawtin’s film raised the most giggles, mainly because I had forgotten what a gay accent he has when he speaks German. But I digress. The documentary focused heavily on Hawtin’s background and family – he officially has the world’s coolest father – and placed a lot of emphasis on his relationship with Detroit, where his career began. One of the worst aspects of the show was the grudging respect that Derrick May and Mad Mike gave him – so what if Hawtin was a white middle-class kid from Windsor, he has made as much of a contribution to techno as these ‘legends’, yet they felt the need to get a few smarmy digs at him.
My only real problem with the documentary was that it didn’t focus enough on Hawtin’s music. Slices made a big noise about his ‘Concept’ series - which I feel is far inferior to some of his other, omitted projects - and, bar a quick mention of ‘Sheet One’, there was little else about his Plastikman series, no mention of ‘Spastik’ or the excellent ‘Musik’ and ‘Consumed’ albums and only a short slot dedicated to the personal upheaval that resulted in the morbidly paranoid ‘Closer’ album. The film also made no mention whatsoever of the Probe sub-label, his Circuitbreaker guise and his work as FUSE projects - I still rate ‘Dimension Intrusion’ as one of my favourite Hawtin albums – and amazingly, there was only a brief section about his mix CD trilogy, which changed the face of DJing and nothing about the technology that he was so quick to embrace.
Like many others, I find Hawtin’s new-found party behaviour since his move to Berlin highly entertaining. I also appreciate that Slices knew the audience for a fly on the wall look at the Sven/Richie/Ricardo ubercoolisch minimal soap opera would be infinitely greater than those seeking profundities about an obscure 90s release, but with 70 minutes at their disposal, but I still would have expected Slices to devote more time to the music that made Hawtin an ‘icon’ in the first place. Whoever they ‘do’ next should insist that they either concentrate entirely on music or produce a juicy, no holds barred expose…

Testing Mike, 1, 2….

First of all, an apology: I slagged off Mike Shannon for making “piss poor disco house”, in a recent post and even provided a link for everyone to hear his new  “direction”, but it has been pointed out that I’ve made a mistake. What happened was that I received a MP3 file from one of the label’s “representatives” and this discoy track, which actually featured on The Mole release, was labeled ‘What’s My Pleasure’ and credited to Shannon. I must say, I feel a bit dumb and bad for Shannon, who is one of my favourite producers, so here's  the real track, and of course it’s far superior to what I originally posted. Sorry Mike, please forgive me!

Pimp my A-side

Check out this new offering from Kompakt signing Jochen Heib… Acid Pimp  is one of the better attempts at replicating the acid trax sound I’ve heard in a while, and Angriff der Killerviren is more basic, rudimentary even, but just as effective. Keeping the acidic theme going, Isolee has got a lovely remix of Will Saul’s Pause out on Simple over the coming weeks. Please support these artists and make sure to buy the vinyl or legal download versions once you’ve had a listen… I’ll be back tomorrow with some more ramblings…

Bloody Heck!

It has been a while since my last post - a week is an eternity on the internet - but I’ve had some family visiting, so the last thing that I could do was go online. Anyway, I’m glad to see that Thomas Heckmann is back releasing music – his debut on Bpitch gives the new school a well-aimed kick in the nether regions, and my personal favourite on the release is Medusa. Speaking of the new school, what the blooming hell is going on at Wagon Repair? ‘India In Me’ was amazing and the label’s aim to release whatever they think fit is admirable, but, and I don’t care what any of the unquestioning, ‘on message’ blogs and websites are claiming  - this is one of my main bugbears at the moment: it seems like the PRs have infiltrated the blogosphere and a lot of ‘credible’ blogs are infected with marketing speak dressed up as counter-cultural ‘expression’, but it’s a malaise that’s not limited to music sites - that last EP by The Mole was pants, the kind of deep/discoy house mush we haven’t heard since the 90s. There’s a good reason why this music isn’t popular anymore - it’s shite. Now Wagon Repair have coaxed Mike Shannon onto their groovy bandwagon and he’s making piss poor discoy house - just check What's Your Pleasure . Luckily, he makes good with Playin The Fool  and Suddenly Hosed, but is this the beginning of the end - will cheesy disco make a comeback? I really hope not… I’m off now for a few laughs now - the Slices Richie Hawtin love-fest DVD has just landed in my letterbox…

Out of the (Inter)groove

Like anyone else who loves electronic music, I was sad to see the demise of
Intergroove UK. Unlike many of their peers, they had a reputation for treating small labels with respect and even for paying on time, a rarity in the music business. Was this the reason that they went bust? I don't think so.
Lest we forget it, Intergroove UK - the German wing is still going strong at the time of writing – was one of only a small handful of dance vinyl distributors left in the UK after the cull of 2002-2004, which saw Integrale, Prime and Germany’s EFA go under.
The others that are left in the UK include the recently merged Amato/Unique operation as well as smaller, more specialist but consistent players like Blackhole and Baked Goods.
This meant that Intergroove UK was in a position to actually grow its business, so why did the opposite happen? At this stage, the oft-repeated mantra that vinyl is dying rears its tiresome little head. No one can deny that the advent of digital performance / transmission has dented sales of the more established format or that new technology inadvertently paints a less than cheerful future for vinyl, yet its resilience is unquestionable.
Success stories like ‘Body Language’ and ‘Rej’, which have shifted close to or just over 20,000 units on vinyl are reminders of the ‘glory days’ for house and techno in the 90s, when shifting such volumes was the norm, but it is not uncommon for smaller, less high-profile labels and releases to sell respectable numbers on vinyl. One of the reasons for this is that there is still a shortfall in the number of good underground labels represented on services like Beatport or iTunes and that until this imbalance is redressed, people will keep buying the format. The other reason is that people like vinyl, not just techno specialists, but indie kids too - witness the rise and rise of The Arctic Monkeys thanks to strong vinyl sales.
But back to Intergroove UK: ironically, the fact that it did try to capitalise on the demise of other UK distributors and broaden its remit from house and techno to include breaks and progressive, meant that it lost its focus and eventually went out of business. There is no doubt that the distributors with the best chances of survival are the niche operators, people like Clone, Kompakt, Word & Sound and the aforementioned Baked Goods, operations who maintain close relationships with the labels that they serve, who have an innate understanding of the music they distribute and, in the case of Kompakt and Word & Sound, who have developed a digital sales service. There is no doubt that people still have an appetite for electronic music - just look at the sales of Poker Flat, who notch up 8,000 to 10,000 on vinyl per release - but anyone who doesn’t have an in-depth knowledge of the labels and music that they represent may as well hang a ‘closed’ sign on their office door now…