Took the afternoon off from work to get
some reviews done. Expect more soon...
. Rei Harakami: unrest cd (sublime)
Rei Harakami's self-titled 12" on Sublime was one of my favorite
releases of last year. His track on the Pacific State comp and remix
on the Flare: Regrip remix album were also memorable, so I had high
expectations for this, his first full-length CD - it doesn't disappoint.
Eleven tracks in all of beautifully moody, deeply subtle, wonderfully
melodic electronica with hints of jazz, funk, and house at sounding
like a mixture of Morgan Geist, Daniel Ibbotson Ken Ishii and Max
Brennan. My only criticism of this album is that six of the eleven
tracks were previously released on Rei's self-titled sublime ep from
last year. But aside from that this is a fantastic album that will be one
the my tops this year. 8/10
. Bj?rn Torske: Nedi Myra 2x12" (Ferox)
After several records on Djax as Ismistik and on the Paper label
as Those Norwegians, and a 2-track ep on Ferox, Norse tech-house
prodigy Bj?rn Torske again delivers the goods with this, his first
album on Ferox. This album features eight tracks that range from
funk-laiden disco-tech (a1 & d1), to superbly jazzy break beats
(b1 & b2), to light jazzy electronica (c1 & c2), and straight up
tech-house (a2). Comparisons range from Ian O'Brien to Dan Curtin
and to Russ Gabriel. Another outstanding release for Ferox and
Bj?rn. 8/10
. Sensorama: Love 2x12" (Ladomat 2000)
The third album from Jorn Elling Wuttke and Roman Flugel,
aka Alter Ego, Acid Jesus, and Eight Miles High, amongst others.
This one, like many of their previous releases, features a delightful
mix of melodic techno and subtle experimental electronica. There
are plenty of highlights on this eleven-tracker. A few of them are:
the deep chords over minimal clickety percussion and a vocoder-
tainted vocals of the a1; the deep bassy minimal techno builder
with some unique looped sfx like an odd clap, record pops, and a
reverbed doinging of the a3; the speed up and slow down effects
switching to a melodic hiphop number with beautiful chord
backdrops and spacey synths of the b1; the b2 is a dubby 4/4 track
with echoey reverbed sound effects and weird reversed synths; and
the very retro-kraftwerkian-sounding electro piece of the c3. From
start to finish this is a great adventure in varying styles. This
album reminds of somewhat of early Mouse on Mars mixed with
the current works of Mike Ink or J Burger. More great music from
Roman Flugel & friends. 9/10
. S.A.S.: Averslon 12" (pure plastic)
Another new signing to Mark Broom's Pure Plastic label. This
one, by s. Goossens & dj Jerohm aka S.A.S., is a three-tracker of
trancey abstract techno. The a1 starts with dark trancey synths
that build into a light polyrhythmic track with a number of builds
and decents. The b1 is a dark minimal techno track with nice
chords and percussion but a little too light on the bass. The ep
finishes with a harder minimal techno much in the same style
as the b1. This is a decent ep but it reminded me too much of
the early Waveform Transmissions, X-101 and X-102 records
which all sound a little dated today. Pure Plastic have done
much better. 5/10
. Ester Brinkmann: totes renen cd (suppose)
If you like the Bionaut, The Modernist or Burger Ink you should
really check out this new cd. Ester Brinkmann is the new guise
of Thomas Brinkmann and german spoken word artist Ester.
As you can guess from the artists involved, the styles on this
one are minimal techno & electronica with german spoken
word over the top. For the most part it's quite entertaining -
the techno is top notch and the spoken word with unique. Fans
of the material on the Concept, Harvest, and Profan label should
check this one out. 7/10
. John Tejada: Outer Circle 12" (Organised Noise)
Yet another new Tejada (his 5th in 98) on which he delivers more
techno & tech-house this time on the excellent Organised Noise
label. The a1 is a deep basic-channel-goes-tech-house track with
jazzy pianos and percussion over the top of deep bass and dubby
synths. The b1 sounds like a less-dubby remixed version of the a1.
The ep closes with a deep techno track which features several
intertwined synth lines over deep bass and light jazzy percussion.
Another quality record for John Tejada and Organised Noise. And
guess what, John has even more records coming out on Ferox and
7th City in the next few weeks. Does he ever sleep? 7/10
. Markant #7 12" (Markant)
The excellent skam-like/musik aus strom-ish german electronica
label Markant with their seventh record. This one features six
tracks ranging in styles from light autechre-esque electronica to
Jega-like dark crunchy breakbeats to melodic PBOish electronic
hip hop. All six tracks are good but none do anything that hasn't
been done before. Fans of the aforementioned artists should check
this or any of the Markant records out. But hurry, i believe all of
them are limited to 200 copies each. 7/10
. Epectir: Infection cd (Epectir Recordings)
More dark crunchy breakbeat electronica from by unsigned
Chicago artist Tim Niewold aka Epectir. Fans of Scorn,
Techno Animal and even Paneca will definitely be into
this 7-track cd. Again styles range from midtempo & fast
crunchy breakbeats to melodic autechre-esque idm. Two
tracks on this release get the dark remix treatment from
collegue Usher. His two mixes are my favorite tracks here.
All together, another recommended release from Epectir. The
only problem is that at this time Epectir is unsigned so you'll
have to wait for some proper releases. But any interested labels
contact Tim at tniewo1@icarus.cc.uic.edu. Also be sure to
catch Epectir playing live on June 27th in Cleveland at the
Got Moog? event. 7/10