Reviewed here:
X-Mix-3: Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva--"Enter: Digital
Reality!"
Astral Body--"Auroral Belt Slide"
Xangadix--S/T
Josh Wink--United DJs of America--V/A cont. mix
A3000--Magnetic Gliding
Comments/flames/suggestions to adivakaran@worldbank.org. Thx!
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X-Mix-3: Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva "Enter: Digital
Reality!" (Studio K7, Germany) (TT 73:09)
Given the legendary reputation of Richie Hawtin as DJ
and that I've never been so fortunate as to see the man DJ
live, I was quite pleased when I saw this. About 2/3 of the
disc is taken by the Acquaviva set, which, while having a few
tepid tracks, is beautifully paced and quite seamless. The
track listing reads like a who's who in fine
techno/trance/house: Speedy J, Laurent Garnier, Hardfloor, K.
Hand, and yes, bloody Scanner who seems to be everyone's
blue-eyed boy at the moment. Unlike Acquaviva, who builds his
mood gradually, Hawtin goes straight for the meat and potatoes
with Fred Giannelli's utterly flawless housey trancer "The
Acid Didj Three". I only started to get bored when--(can
anyone guess :-)--Hawtin somewhat self-indulgently rounds off
with two of his own Plastikman tracks. A few days ago someone
commented on how he was amused that Plastikman made it so big
in the IDM community since Hawtin is really more an acid house
pioneer than a classic IDM-er; the track selection on X-Mix-3
only confirms this. The soulless will dimiss this as just
another "too danceable to be intelligent" record, but I'd
rather look at it as an orgy of complex, subtly syncopated and
fabulously funky grooves. (Hey, check out that alliteration
:-). Thumbs up.
Astral Body "Auroral Belt Slide" (Disturbance, Italy)
(TT 68:42) (US distribution: rotten, pester Silent
Records, SF)
Disturbance, the intelli*ent techno arm of established
ambient industrial label Minus Habens, is a relatively new
label that seems to have found its stylistic feet surprisingly
quickly. The last couple of years saw the release of the two
"Outer Space Communications" comps. with strong tracks by,
among others, Atom Heart, Lagowski, Exquisite Corpse, Polygon
Window, Speedy J and an assortment of harder acid tracks from
labels like Labworks and Pod Communications. Astral Body's
debut album continues in the same "other side of IDM"/trancey
tradition. The grooves are solid and mildly housey and show
the dance-floor savvy of the best Detroit, and although I hate
facile comparisons, I have to admit to being reminded in more
than one place of the fluid grace of Dave Angel. Although the
electronics are quite complex and layered, there aren't any
"tunes" per se--things stay melodically dry for the most part
(not a bad thing in this case). If you liked the more up-tempo
moments of B12's "Electro-Soma" you'll dig this.
Xangadix--Xangadix (Fax, Germany) (TT 59:03)
Xangadix is apparently the dance side of Pino and
Wildjammin, the gentlemen who brought you "The Whole Traffic"
and "A Day in the Park". Since I didn't especially care for
either of the above I wasn't expecting much out of this. Well,
I was pleasantly surprised; Xangadix didn't exactly blow me
off my feet but it's certainly well-crafted and fairly complex
trance. Those familiar with the early Fax dance stuff and
groups like Resistance D will know what to expect--intelligent
but basically simple rhythms, rather dominant basslines,
minor-key trancey melodies. Gripe: track #2, the rather
hilariously-titled "Filter for Namlook". They might just as
well have replaced the "t" in "Filter" with another
"l"--twelve minutes of aimless noodling leaves a lot to be
desired.
Josh Wink--United DJs of America vol. 3 (Moonshine) (TT 68:29)
I like! I like! Hey, I know that Moonshine has exhibited
a pathological inability to release _any_ worthwhile music,
but I forgive them all their sins just for having put this
record out. I've yet to hear a DJ whose tastes run so close to
mine as Mr. Wink, and I guess that's why I was so bowled over.
From beginning to end the focus is on hard, stripped down
house with an acid edge--sort of a Plus 8 meets Strictly
Rhythm sound. The opener, "Bugged Out" by the fabulously
talented Murk duo, is just wonderful--a smooth trancer, less
poppy than their other songs, that moves into cruise control
almost immediately. Did I say the whole album was
stripped-down house? Try Wink's own "How's the Music" and tell
me if house gets any more stripped-down than this! Not a
_thread_ on its quivering body--just the drum machine
hammering out the most basic and elegant of house beats, with
a woman moaning "Concentrate!" and a guy saying "How's the
Music"--obviously a play on "House Music". The Dan Bell and
Acquaviva tracks were kinda disappointing, but the Rozzo and
Soundcraft tracks are fab. The _real_ killer, though, is Tata
Box Inhibitors' 10-minute "Plasmids". It starts out with a
slow, grinding, lightly industrial, almost Aphex-y feel but
slowly morphs into a funky monster, adding layer upon layer
until...whew. Anyone know more about these guys? I _have_ to
find more! The disc climaxes with another fine Wink track,
Firefly's "Supernatural". Two thumbs, eight fingers and all
eleven of my toes up.
A3000--"Magnetic Gliding" (Disturbance, Italy) (TT 61:25)
More minimal Detroit techno from two Italian
(presumably) white boys. Things are even more minimal than on
the Astral Body CD--here it's almost pure rhythm, with the
percussion really dominating the mix. The programming's fine
and fluid and reminded me, for some reason, of early A Guy
called Gerald (high praise in my book), and the (heavy)
syncopation is flawless--things truly glide along. If you want
to scratch that Detroit itch but have been annoyed, like I
have, by recent Juan Atkins and Eddie Fowlkes, this might just
do the trick.
All for now!
Ashok