Reviewed herein:
Basic Channel - Vainquer Remixes (Basic Channel 03)
Cyrus - Inversion (Basic Channel 05)
Quadrant - Quadrant Dubs I & II (Basic Channel 06)
Lyot - Vainquer (Basic Channel / No-name Label)
Insider - Destiny (Music Man)
Insider - D.R.E.A.M.S. (Music Man)
Alcatraz - Welcome (USA Import)
Brainstorm - Cybernatic Tonalities (R&S)
Felix da Housecat - Thee Morning After (Reload)
V/A - Shark Trax (Rising High / DJungle Fever)
AGE - The Underground EP (Force Inc.)
Paul Johnson - Foreign Music (Djax Up-Beats)
Pierre Philips - Work It! 94 (Dance Mania)
Public Energy - Velocity / Slumber (Probe)
Teste - The Wipe (Probe)
Kosmik Kommando - Freaquenseize (RePHLeX)
V/A - Genetic Error Volume 2 (Labworks)
V/A - Deep Detroit Volume 2 (PowWow Trance / Metroplex)
Bjork - The Best Mixes Off the Whitelabels (One Little Indian)
This was a happy hauliday season for me musicwise, if
depressing in every other aspect. However, I think I have depleted
Portland's stores of decent techno for the time being. House they have
a-plenty, but the harder stuff just doesn't seem to sell that
well. Except, for some odd reason, jungle, which seems to sell like
hotcakes regardless of its quality (and this is coming from someone
who really _likes_ jungle and its breaks brethren).
This was also a good chance for me to pick up some older stuff
cheap. I know that a track is especially wonderful when I listen to it
for the first time and like it, even though it's three or four years
old. Anybody that can resist the weird little fads that techno puts
itself through and still come out with winner tracks is a good person
in my eyes. I already know that these tracks are going to age well,
because techno puts more emphasis on youth than the fashion industry
even.
NON-DISCLAIMER: I review these for everybody's delectation, and _I_
think they're all pretty damn smart. And dancy. And musical. So
there. Feel free to disagree with me and even flame my little pink
butt. I love to argue! AND (added bonus) I have _lots_ of frustration
and rancor left over from the holidays that I'd _love_ to share with
the lucky ones who decide to take issue with my characterization of
Andrew Weatherall's remixes.
Basic Channel - Vainquer Remixes (Basic Channel 03)
Cyrus - Inversion (Basic Channel 05)
Quadrant - Quadrant Dubs I & II (Basic Channel 06)
Lyot - Vainquer (Basic Channel / No-name Label)
Only two of these have bad pressings (I have learned to count
my blessings when it comes to Detroit muzik). Unfortunately, one of
them is pressed so off-center that I just cannot ignore its
Warp-O-Matic Sound.
What, you want a review? Okay, okay. Premium lo-fi two-track
Berlin-via-Detroit Maurizio and whoever madness. Good. Ambient
dubby. Sounds like some kind of brain-damaged Casio was used to
generate the rhythm tracks, but that's part of the BC charm. Collect
them all. You can always recognize a Basic Channel track by the line
noise. There you go.
Plus, I have been looking for the original Vainquer 12"
forever. If you have not yet heard the hyperbolic genius that is the
Maurizio mix of Vainquer, then you will truly realize what Plato meant
by "shadows on the cave wall" when you hear this track. German techno
distilled and purified. (yes, it is possible to be a trainspotter over
a _song_. I now have the original that the song is based on
(Maurizio's "Ploy"), its Orb remix, the original of Vainquer, the
Maurizio mix, AND the Basic Channel remixes (BC03). I am hot
shit. Worship me.)
Insider - Destiny 12" (Music Man)
Insider - D.R.E.A.M.S. 12" (Music Man)
Two absofuckinglutely AMAZING old-school badass techno 12"s,
comprising four tracks by a lad by the name of Kris
Vanderheyden. Ingredients: one analog synthesizer, one good effects
box, one sampler, and one drum machine. He does filter sweeps that
make the crunchiest stuff of Dee and Selway's sound thin and reedy by
comparison.
He's got that familiar old-school sound down _cold_: one very
repetitive keyboard line mutating over a reverbed bassline and snappy
handclaps. Think "Energy Flash," only better (heresy! heresy!). Hard,
thick and boooomy. He's the only really good artist to actually be put
out by Music Man that I know of (as opposed to being distributed by),
but MY GOD is he good! Any of you know anything about this guy? "The
music you are about to hear is entirely intentional."
Alcatraz - Welcome (USA Import)
USA Import weren't always known for Wonka Beat. Old-school
(read: slow) haahd-coah. More of those nice filter sweeps which turn
me into a drooling idiot.
Brainstorm - Cybernatic Tonalities EP (R&S)
More fodder for the discography! An interesting and
intellectual hardcore EP from R&S, which I thought avoided getting
this noisy. Obviously not. This one cost me a whopping dollar (!). "Do
you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?"
Felix Da Housecat - Thee Morning After (Reload)
Thick hardhouse masterpiece. Eerie for a house track, with
weird samples and more of that filtered sound that I love so much. I
appreciate the brevity and relative scarcity of samples in the
Drumdrum mix, which just goes to show once again what a great DJ Sho
is, for having the taste to pick this over the (lengthy) Aphrohead mix
on his ever-so-swank mixtape.
The Force Inc. Posse - Shark Trax 2x12" (Rising High / Djungle Fever)
Only one of the tracks is godlike (the rest are merely very
good), but it is epically godlike, and 12 minutes long to boot!
DJungle Fever will always rule my heart. For those of you who haven't
yet gotten the word, DJungle Fever puts out consistently good faster
acid (not hard, though) which abounds with strange noises and unusual
rhythms. There is a suspicious dominance of this label's roster by the
Force Inc. crew -- anybody care to tell us what the correlation is? Is
this, in fact, yet another sublabel of F Inc., or is it something more
sinister?
AGE - The Underground EP (Force Inc.)
Strangely rare. Old but really good trademark noisy Force
Inc. acid. Lotsa hard brittle noises and plenty o' squelch. I could do
without Jim Morrison ranting "YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH
PRAYER!!" over and over again, though. Meat Beat already ran that one
into the ground.
Paul Johnson - Foreign Music EP (Djax Up-Beats)
Is this guy from Chicago or does he come by his talent
naturally? Round tinkly keyboards and thick housey beats. Like Armani
but jollier (which makes me howl in anguish when I remember I left my
Armani CD in my parent's CD player. Grrr!). Sounds like circus music
for people stuck on a permanent ecstacy buzz.
Some of Djax's stuff is "just" acid (Purple Pleiade did
nothing for me), but some of their stuff transcends any genre you try
to stuff it in. This falls into that category. A record-store owner
friend of mine is going to see if he can get me the two Djax EPs I
have been seeking since my childhood (Suburban Hell's "Shell Shock"
and Major Malfunction's "Brings You Central House"). That will make me
very happy.
Pierre Philips - Work It! 94 12" (Dance Mania)
Need anything more be said? So dumb it's intelligent
again. Amazingly brainless. Seemingly absolutely no skill involved,
which is a mark of pure genius, if you ask me. "Work that muthafucka!"
Public Energy - Velocity / Slumber 12" (Probe)
I had to do SOMETHING to replace the bum pressing that a
certain ruffian in Boston sold me. (Not TeeP, lest you rush to
besmirch this upstanding lad's reputation.) Now I have two copies for
twice the fun! Not hardcore (like somebody said). Slumber is strangely
reminiscent of Plastikman, but is also quite lovely and original in
its own right. Velocity has some of the most gorgeous keyboard
sequences I've ever heard, but I discovered (in front of a large
crowd) that it is not quite as awe-inspiring when you're trying to mix
with it. A few too many ambient breaks for my taste.
Teste - The Wipe 12" (Probe)
Well, I have to say that the ambient noisiness on the first
side did nothing for me (when I want noise I listen to MERZBOW!), and
I already have the 5am Synaptic Mix on IOTD 5, but the Sonik Dub mix
is profoundly kick-ass. It sounds a little like the aforementioned
Insider singles, and was purchased primarily for its usefulness in
mixing into same. Also, I start hearing System 01's "Drugs Work"
whenever I hear "The Wipe's" bassline, which for historical reasons
isn't a bad thing.
Kosmik Kommando - Freaquenseize 2xCD (RePHLeX)
As a prefatory comment, who taught this guy how to spell? The
atrocity above is indeed the spelling on the spine of the CD case.
Lotsa acid. Old-school acid, new-school acid, mysterious acid,
crunchy acid, happy acid, sad acid, caveman acid, goofy acid. Acid
acid acid. Not exactly what I expected from a RePHLeX artist, but good
nonetheless. I do wish he'd brought some of the crunchy insanity from
his Universal Indicator over, though. Mr. Dred has obviously been
reverently listening to his forefathers from Chicago. "Innovative
Dynamics in Acid" indeed. Did I mention that each CD is over 75
minutes long and that I scored this for $20? _Definite_ value for your
money.
V/A - Genetic Error Volume 2 2xCD (Labworks)
Sabotage are obviously some kind of joke on techno fans. I
have no idea why Hoschi keeps putting these lame attempts at
commercial techno on wax. "Dahnce -- to sabotahhhdjuh" -- Gimme a
break, lady. However, Woody McBride flies his boomy middle finger at
mediocre techno and hardcore with "Hidden" and much good acidcore
abounds, particularly on the much superior second disc. I do like the
Enigma-esque "Airwalk" on the first CD, though. When these guys get
determined they can outsmart and outweird just about anybody mining
the acid vein.
Juan Atkins Presents Magic Tracks - Deep Detroit Volume 2 CD
(PowWow Trance / Metroplex)
Well, what do you _think_ I'm going to say? Fucking right-on
thoughtful techno with that heavy D-troyt influence. Good noisy
Drexciya track (good? yes. electro? maybe. minimal? WHAT!?), excellent
Infiniti tracks, and more loveliness from the deeper Detroit
folks. Not exactly what I think of when I hear the word "techno", but
it's not really anything else, either. Techno-soul it is, I guess. I
just wish the damn thing were over a half-hour long.
Bj:ork - The Best of the Whitelabels or whatever (One Little Indian)
Two thoughts:
1 - As much as I adore Bjork for being part of the Sugarcubes
and therefore my cherished past, and as much as I groove on the album
itself, her vocals strike me as highly intrusive in these remixes. Her
atonal grace just seems out of place in a techno / house track.
2 - The Andrew Weatherall mixes on here fully bite. I like the
Sabres in short doses, especially when they're doing that low-velocity
rumbly-recorded-in-a-water-tank thing they do, but too much of
Weatherall's foolishness and I start getting cranky. Too much of his
stuff (in that he dominates the CD) and too long here (in that the
mixes really don't seem to go anywhere), as is characteristic of the
remixes of his that I don't like.
Other than that, a solid disc. Brownie points to Underworld
and the Black Dog for superior craftsmanship, and for reining in their
styles somewhat. Not exactly fodder for the dancefloor. Cheap at the
price, too.
More coming when I get my next shipment o' used stuff
in. Including my essay on why labels you've never heard of are why
techno is not yet a dead music or a dirty word. I'm out.
yrz,
ozymandias
ozymandias G desiderata AKA Forrest L Norvell AKA DJ AladdinSane
GCS/CW/DJ d- H++ s++:-- !g p1 !au a- w+++ v+++ C++(---) U?++++(----)$
P--- L 3 E++ N++ K++ W---(-----) M++ V-- -po+ Y++>+++ t@ 5-
jx R-- G'' !tv b+++ D++ B-- e++ u*(**) h-- f++ r++ n++ x+(*)