Someone sent me a really good release via a download link a few weeks ago. I'd like to review it, but there was no release or artist information attached. The only info I have is that the folder is called "HAH006". I assume that this is the catalogue number, but haven't been able to find it on Discogs. If anyone reading this knows about the release, please drop me a private mail as I plan to review it. Thanks!
On a more positive note, it seems that sales of vinyl are set to reach close to 3 million in the US this year, up by 1 million (!) on 2008. While the report does go on to say that the majority of those sales are accounted for by rock music, with the internet un-savvy country & western sector increasing too, it does represent good news for electronic music. Far from dying off as predicted by countless digital evangelists, vinyl is, as has always been its wont, shown fierce resilience in the face of new formats. That's not to suggest that every independent label is raking it in - far from it - but going on anecdotal evidence, the logjam at some pressing plants in Europe are creating delays of up to two months on some releases. Ironically, vinyl's resurgence could be hindered by the limited capacity that the small group of remaining pressing plants have. All of which begs the question: is there some enterprising person out there looking at the statistics, considering the upward trend, and, having taken a medium to long-term view, exploring the possibility of opening a new plant? Only time will tell...
Like anyone else who loved his music, I was very saddened to hear about the death of Eon aka Ian Loveday. He was one of the first techno producers whose music clicked with me, and I have fond memories of losing it to 'Basket Case' at one of the first raves I attended. In honour of the great man, I have 'Spice' on rotation today.
I'm listening to James Ruskin's second album, 'Point 2', today because I'm writing a piece about him and my initial reaction is that it has aged really well. There are some straight down the middle dance floor tracks, some brilliant, chilling ambience a la Mills's 'Metropolis' album, the superb Detroit techno funk style 'Connected' and my undisputed favourite, 'Detached', where, over a rolling dense groove, brooding symphonic strings gradually descend. Ruskin followed 'Point 2' the next year (2001) with an even better album, 'Into Submission', also for Tresor and which further explores this brooding, dense sound. Despite the fact that electronic music is (supposedly) meant to move at lightning speed, it's interesting that both works - and remember, these are albumns, not a format that many producers have mastered - sound so fresh. One of the reasons I'd put forward for this is that the land (or should that be sound?) scape that techno now inhabits bears a far closer resemblance to the early part of this decade than it has done for years. Everyone from Sandwell District to Samuli Kemppi - and there are loads of names in between, I'd prefer if others fill in the blanks - are drawing on nuances and aesthetics that were developed during the late 90s and early 00s. The other, more obvious and bland reply is that great music is timeless, even in a creatively hyper-kinetic area as electronic music. I would imagine that most people would agree with the second reason, but what about the first explanation? Have we gone back to go forward?
Without a doubt, this is the best podcast RA have done in the past year or so because it really captures a DJ/producer who is 'doing it' right now. Vincent, along with Jus-Ed and DJ Qu, have released some of the best electronic music of 09. I love the way that their productions, especially Vincent's, include deep US sounds but also to grimy techno rhythms, tripped out acid and deft Detroit touches. The fact that it's delivered in a raw, almost freeform manner, again, especially by Vincent, makes it even more irresistible. If you love this mix as much as I do, then let me also recommend the latest 'Minimal Soul' split EP on Underground Quality (in marble vinyl!), Jus-Ed's sublime remix for Smallville, Vincent's 'Solemn Days' EP and, an older one, Qu's 'Be Who You Want' on Strength. Like Levon's mix, they cover all the bases alluded to above. Happy hunting!
As anyone who reads this site probably knows, I'm a fan of what Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann do in the studio, but recently when I was listening to their productions (especially Klock's) I couldn't help thinking 'I've heard this before'. So I had a quick search through the shelves at home and found what I was looking for: Steve Bicknell's releases on Cosmic Recordings. Set up by the Lost resident in 1993, Bicknell's dense, repetitive productions might be seen in a less favourable light because they pre-empted and inspired late 90s loopy techno - and we all know how that panned out. However, unlike that sound, Bicknell's productions for Cosmic had a real flow and quite often, a house-inspired groove. He nailed it on this release, which seems to have had a heavy impact on the 'Klockworks' series. Cosmic's last release was in 2005, coinciding with the rise to prominence of the Berghain residents. Of course, I'm not suggesting that either of them have ripped off Cosmic, but one of the reasons why their releases are so good is that they have taken inspiration from producers like Bicknell and learnt how to give that style of techno a clubbier, less extreme and more palatable feeling. Lost still runs at Plastic People (as far as I'm aware) and being a non-digital type I have no idea if the Cosmic back catalogue is available online on places like Beatport - but the records, which have the benefit of the obtuse, impressionist style inlay designs, are freely available on Discogs...
Wow, this is an odd story. Apart from guessing who they are, it makes you wonder though - if they went to all of the trouble of getting their hands on stolen credit cards, why didn't they use them to just buy something more valuable? Sure the royalties angle is an interesting one, but it makes me doubt how true this story is (or maybe the people involved just weren't that smart).
For such a small country, Ireland has fared pretty well in techno terms over the years. OK, it mightn’t have the same kind of legacy as Belgium or the Netherlands - how can any place apart from Detroit, Chicago or Berlin compare to Rush Hour, Clone, Delsin, Bunker, Eevo Lute, I-F, Viewlexx, Creme, Rachmad, Robbers etc etc - but then again Ireland only has a population less than half the Netherlands' size. In the 90s we had David Holmes making tough club techno - I recently checked 'The Evil Needle' again and it rocks - as well as D1 Records. From Eamon Doyle's label came Rob Rowland, the criminally underrated David Donohoe and of course Donnacha Costello, who is now a deserved international name. In more recent years, Lerosa and Chymera have made the leap to the world stage with Sunil Sharpe and his excellent Mantrap label - home to Rory St John and Magnetize - as well as Tr-One and Corrugated Tunnel waiting in the wings. I'm going to add The Parallel to that list of Irish producers poised for greatness. I'm not sure where I came across Colin McKeown's music first, probably online, but his music immediately impressed me. It's that perfect blend of Detroit soul, acid-soaked Chicago groove and an extra, unquantifiable dash of weirdness that attracted me to what I heard. Unsurprisingly, he lists people like Brian Eno and Robert Fripp alongside techno staples Derrick May, Mad Mike and Jeff Mills on his MySpace. Colin has put out a few digital release so far, but he has a full vinyl release out this autumn with more to come soon. If you want to get a feeling for his music, come to Test in Dublin tomorrow night or have a listen to his MySpace tracks (whose low-res format don't really do them justice).....
OK, so the title is a little bit misleading; the clouds have returned, the weather is overcast - fitting in with the general mood - but still, it's impossible to ignore the sunny disposition on the latest collaborative release by Cio D'or and Donato Dozzy. Issued on Peter Van Hoesen's excellent Time To Express label, it eschews the brooding, dark bassy techno the imprint is synonymous with. While the reverberating minimalism of 'Limone' does little for me - undoubtedly, it'll work for many - the killer track is 'Menta'. Textured chords give off a feeling of shimmering, futuristic techno positivity, but 'Menta' is also underpinned by an organic, trancey (with a small 't') warmth that make it palatable for less purist ears. It's the kind of track that one could easily imagine making an impression in Ibiza this year - it's that infectious, and the fact that the listener only notices (or indeed cares) that the beats kick in fully half-way through are proof of its hypnotic qualities. Tip!
It's a hard job sometimes, maintaining a specialist interest blog like this. While on one hand we constantly read that the web is slowly but steadily taking the audience away from magazines and newspapers and that blogs are becoming increasingly 'influential', nothing highlights the disparity between these claims and the reality of trying to create a voice for niche interests online than a recent experience. A few weeks ago, I put in a request to provide free downloads of one track from an album I was going to do a sizeable review of on the site. I had planned to offer the download in limited amounts, eg limited to 100 - but what was the answer to the request? I was allowed to stream part of one of the tracks. I'm not trying to blame the PR people because they are only passing on the wishes of the artist and label. I can also understand that the label has concerns that the 100 free downloads could very quickly turn into thousands of free downloads if some of the original downloaders were unscrupulous, but a quick search on Google showed that all of the album's tracks were already available in unlimited quantities on torrent sites (to say nothing of the even harder to trace user to use Rapidshare-style exchanges). No one can dispute that labels are in dire straits, but equally, no one can deny that the 'traditional' media that supported small music labels is also in poor shape. If we accept the argument that technology has made our lives both easier and more complicated (a belief that I wholeheartedly buy into), then the logic dictates that what's needed is a more cohesive approach between specialist blogs and small labels, a greater willingness to support one another. Let's hope that message isn't lost somewhere in the new media ether.
