A few more reviews. Many more coming soon...
. Lithops: Turbino 7" (Static Caravan Records)
This is the sickly limited ep by Mouse on Mars member
Jan St Werner under his Lithops guise. Two tracks on
this clear-vinyl 7" both in the ambient experimental style.
The a-side starts with a looped synth line then slowly
builds with a squelchy baseline, muted percussion,
a heavily filtered guitar melody with a bit of reverb
giving this track a very dubby Mouse on Mars
Vulvaland-era sound. The b-side features a beatless
looped melody with random distorted noises throughout
the entire track. This is my first Lithops record but if
they're all this good then it certainly won't be my last.
8/10
. Mark Bell: The Return of the Jazz Twit 12" (Shaboom)
Former LFO member, Mark Bell, continues his association
with Doc Martin's excellent deep house label Shaboom. On
this, his second ep under his Jazz Twit guise, Bell delivers
two tracks of sax/flute-driven percussive deep house. The
a-side starts with driving muted 4x4 percussion then a thick
David Sanborn/Kenny G-like solo starts (and continues
throughout the track). As the track progresses a lush synth,
a flanged synth, a slap-baseline and a clap track all add to
the mix but the sax solo & percussion are by-far the focus
of this track. The b-side starts with light bongos, claps &
lush synths then a loud flute solo drops in (and also
continues throughout the track). Some 4x4 percussion and
base is added to round out the track but, again, the flute is
definitely the focus of this track. Very beautiful stuff but the
sax & flute are so prevalent i don't know if i'll ever be able
to fit it into one of my sets. A pleasant listen though. This
is what i imagine Muzak will be in 20 years. 7/10
. Too Funk: Too Funk To Funk 12" (Ferox)
Russ Gabriel returns to his Too Funk guise for some more
Ferox-styled funk-laden tech-house. The a1 is a short latin-
sounding piano/vibraphone-driven track with light jazzy
percussion and a funky little baseline. A funky listening
track. The a2 starts with a flanged synthline, then the funk
really begins with thick baseline, intermittent vibraphone-
sounding and flanged synths all over a shuffle percussion.
The b1 starts with filtered hi-hats then slowly builds with a
funky baseline, 4x4 percussion, warm jazzy synth beds, and
bongos. The final track starts with a deep bassy melody over
hi-hats. Flanged bongos, stringy synth beds and several
detroit-sounding melodies drop in to complete the track
giving this last track a classic May/Craig sound. But overall
this is a another decent funk-laden tech-house record by
Russ. Nothing unique but funkin fun nonetheless. 7/10
. Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman: Showcase cd (Burial Mix)
Mauritz Von Oswald, Mark Ernestus & Tikiman have been
producing excellent old-school dub-reggae 10"s on their
Burial Mix label since 1996. Now all the Burial Mix eps the
have been compiled onto this "showcase" cd. Ten tracks
altogether on this cd, five original tracks and five
instrumental versions of the originals. If you would say
that Mauritizo's M series are techno tracks with a dub
influence, you could say that the Burial Mix tracks are
dub-reggae tracks with a techno influence. So don't
expect a heavy basic channel flavor to these tracks, listen
to theses tracks in the same way you would listen to a
King Tubby or Lee Perry release. Kick back and take in
the soundz, mon. 8/10
. Concept 1 96VR cd (M_NUS)
If you thought that Richie Hatwin's Concept series
of releases were a bit of all-right, then you'll definitely
want to hear what German minimal techno producer
Thomas Brinkmann has done on this cd. Brinkmann,
who also remixed Mike Ink's Studio 1 records, does a
fabulous job at adding a new depth and even a little
funk while still retaining the weird experimental edge.
Brinkmann also does some amazing stuff with the
channels his sounds come out on. Listen to this one
with headphones and you'll see what i mean. The end
result sounds like a mix of the new Plastikman album
mixed with some of the more experimental Profan
releases by Mike Ink, Sweet Reinhard, Gas, or maybe
Jurgen Pappe. Highly recommended. I may even like
this one more than the original Concept 1:96 cd. 9/10