A few more for you. More on the way too.
. The Modernist: Orange Colored Sky 12" (Eat Raw)
I've been a huge fan of J Burger's previous stuff as The Bionaut,
Burger Industries, and The Modernist, so i was excited to get
this one. It doesn't disappoint. This 4-track ep starts with a robotic
sounding minimal tech-houser complete with crisp studio 1-like
percussion, robo-sounding synths and brief vocoder vocal lines.
The a2 sounds vaguely similar to the previous track with more
of a melodic house flavor to it and minus the robotic & vocoder
effects. The next track is a unique minimal 4/4 tech-houser with
punchy staccato synths that are synched with the beat. The ep
finishes with a lush tech-houser with several layered synth lines
over crisp studio 1-like percussion. Fans of the Profan, Eat Raw,
Harvest, New Trans Atlantic stuff will enjoy this one. Also
deep tech-house fans may check this one too. More quality
music from stuff from J. Burger. 9/10
. Common Factor: In to Horizions 12" (Planet E)
Planet E is a favorite label of mine. Almost everything
they have released has been gold to my ears. So it's a big
occasion to me whenever Planet E has a new release. This
new release is the debut ep by producer Nick Calingaert. It
features four tracks of varying styles. The a1 is a detroit
techno track with a shuffle percussion, bouncy bassline,
a light spacey synth, and lots of unique sounds thrown in.
The a2 is a very funky disco-tech track. which mixes funky
KDJ-esque discofunk with Carl Craig like detroit techno.
The b1 mixes deep dubby basic channel-like bass with
UR-like synths & jazzy percussion. The ep finishes with
a nice melodic detroit techno track with jazzy percussion
and layered synths. The winners here are the a2 & b2. A
good first ep for Mr. Calingaert. 7/10
. Jega: Type Xero 12" (Planet ?)
After two Jega eps on Skam, Dylan J Nathan releases his
first record on Mike Paradinas's Planet ? label. This one
features four tracks in varying styles. The a1 is a dark
squelchy electro cut with spacey synths and percussion
that alternates between jazzy breakbeats & hip hop beats.
During the hip hop segments there are dark synth lines and
distorted vocal samples. The a2 is another dark electro cut
with more of a retro or old skool flavor. It starts with lots of
building acid lines then adds some nice spacey synths. The
b1 is a hardstep d&b track with dark electro-tinged synth
lines and reverbed sound effects. The ep closes with a nice
melodic autechre-like electronica piece that is more like
a track off the first Jega ep on Skam. This is a good ep if
you like dark breakbeaty electro. If you're looking for the
Jega-style of his first ep on Skam, you may want to avoid
this one. 7/10
. Voiteck: Live at Your Mama's cd (Truck/Plug Research)
Australian techno producer has been making waves in the
techno community down under for several years now. He has
well over a dozen releases to his name and he runs his own
label call Truck Music. Voiteck recently received kudos
worldwide with his excellent TD5 ep on the L.A.-based
Plug Research label. On this, his third cd, Voiteck delivers
six of his live recordings made from November 1996 to
December 1997. He has several techno dignitaries help
on these tracks including Luke Slater, DJ Randsom &
Ralph. The length of these tracks varies from two minutes
to twenty-one minutes but all tracks are have a very live
sound, continually evolving and changing. For instance,
the second track, called voiteck vs td5: truck musik live
is a twenty-one minute track that seemlessly evolves from
minimal techno to chuncky dancefloor techno to tech-
house to intelligent electronica then back to chuncky
dance-floor & minimal techno. The same evolution
happens on the other five tracks on this cd. An impressive
release that really shows the talent of Voiteck as a live
musician as well as a studio producer. 7/10
. Lexaunculpt: Resampler cd (unreleased cdr)
I agree that the name is a little hard to pronounce but
Lexaunculpt is a name you'll be hearing a lot of in the
next few months. Lexaunculpt has eps due soon on
the respected Isophlux and Orange labels i received
a preview cdr of these releases. On this nine track
cdr shows his mastery of the mechanical electronica
sound that autechre, skam, musik aus strom, & markant
do so well. Lexaunculpt, like the aforementioned
producers/labels, crafts tracks that seemlessly mix
smooth melodic electronica with electro, & hip hop and
just a touch of experimentalism. Because these tracks
haven't been released yet i won't do a full review but,
suffice to say, Lexaunculpt's upcoming eps on Isophlux
and Orange are going to be huge for fans of Autechre,
Funkstroung, Bola, Solvent, Markant. 9/10
BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday
from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon)
and I spin two hours of the music we speak so highly of...
The show will be accessible by visiting
http://www.wcsb.org
every Wednesday from 9-11 pm EST. The show will be broad-
cast in the AudioActive format (which is actually much
better than RealAudio). You can download the Audio Active
plugin for free at
http://www.audioactive.com/player/
During the Inaudible show we will be giving away promo 12"s
and cds so yet another reason to tune in.
-->-Lance---
p.o. box 450715
westlake, ohio 44145
united states