Test

A mix from me

I'm off for a much-needed holiday in the sun for the next two weeks, so to celebrate that, I've just done a new mix, which can be located here. I didn't get the chance to do a complete tracklisting, but there are tracks on it from Jus Ed, Chaton, Levon Vincent, Traxx, Frozen Border, STL, Ben Klock, Forward Strategy Group, Function, Tyree, Mike Dehnert and Maurizio. There are a few more people on it, but I can't remember who they are. When I get back, I'll post a full tracklisting. If I was going out tonight in Dublin, I'd definitely be heading down to Test for the Irish debut of O/V/R, James Ruskin and Regis playing live together. Unfortunately I'll miss it, but the prospect of sunny beaches and warm seas beckon. See y'all in a fortnight...

Moon Units

A long week in work, a very early start and the previous night spent checking out Vince Waton and the first part of Redshape's set in the Button Factory meant that I unfortunately missed Lunar Disko's third birthday celebrations at the weekend with Sneak Thief and TLR. Thankfully, LD now exists as a label for those peddling such lame excuses as the one above but who still want to check their music. I liked the first two releases by Sneak Thief and Faceless Minds, but the third Lunar Disko record is easily the best yet. Featuring tracks from Mark du Mosch and David Vunk, it starts atypically with a great spacey synth soundtrack, underpinned by 'Halloween'-style keys courtesy of du Mosch, moves into gloriously out there yet irresistibly melodic Italo Disco tracks from both producers and finishes with a ridiculously fat bass-led Viewlexx/Pauli-eqsue banger from Vunk. It's great to see LD, who clearly are not in this game to make money release music that they feel rather than pandering to preconceived notions. Although it's just three releases old, a lot of other more established labels could learn from their approach.

Shopping for sounds

I’ve blogged about them before, but if there’s any justice in techno music -  and hopefully it is more equitable than in the 'real' world -Forward Strategy Group's latest project deserves a lot of attention. Working as Retail & Leisure, 'Your Reference'/'Positional Stability' sounds like they/he have been listening to loads of 50s 'infomercials' about the joys of shopping, Throbbing Gristle and Coil record as well as loads of Regis and Female as well as digging out some old Steve Bicknell. The results are dense and loopy, yet less upfront than the FSG material. There's also an excellent, jacking remix from Adrian Ross included. I'm not sure about the release date, but check the suitably sparse MySpace for more info.

Into the 90s

I'm sure that Fact's list of the best 1990s techno records from the UK will cause a lot of disagreement and debate all over the net, but any top 20 that includes Stasis, Insync, Landstrumm, Vogel, Regis, Ian O'Brien, Surgeon, LA Synthesis' 'Agrophobia', that Clark record on Planet E and the Steve Bicknell release on Cosmic that I posted about recently here is fine by me. It's a pity that there wasn't space to include As One's 'Reflections', anything by the Advent ('Elements of Life' for instanc) or something from Mark Broom and Russ Gabriel, but that's the trouble with lists -  they're finite and no one can ever agree fully on them. Bearing that in mind, this is a great primer for anyone who missed out on what went on in the UK during that decade.

That time of month again

I've done some more reviews for RA. You can read them here, here,   here and here .
There is one more stlll to be uploaded -  a review of Marcello Napoletano's new release on Mathematics -  and that'll probably appear in the next few days. Now it's onto the next batch  - there is so much good stuff around at the moment it's ridiculous.

edit: here's the Napoletano review

Slight return

As you may (or may not) have noticed, it's been very quiet around here. The reason is that instead of posting for the sake of it, something I have never done before, I simply didn't have anything to say and felt it better not to say anything. I was also kind of shocked by all of the deaths recently -  Eon, Andy Hughes from the Orb, Steven Wells and then Jacko - and the eulogies for these people were far eloquently given elsewhere. That's not to suggest that I've grown weary with music, but more that I didn't feel like sharing my thoughts about it for a brief while. In the meantime, I've been listening to and loving the new Chicago Skyway release on the first M>O>S offshoot, can't get enough of that insane Floating Points record on Planet Mu and the Newworldaquarium reissue. Kirk de Giorgio is also back with two excellent new EPs -  forced to make a decision, I'd choose the new ART EP over 'Jitter World'. I'm also loving the recent Patrice Scott release for Sistrum and on a harder tip, the Division release on Sonic Groove, the new Fachwerk EP and the super 3rd installment of Frozen Border. Anyway, it's good to be back!

Help!

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!

And Now For Some Good News

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...

Eon RIP

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.

Getting the Point Again

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?