These are the records I picked up, all of which I'm very happy with (possibly the first time I ever had no buyer's remorse once I got the wax home). All of them are excellent. If some of the reviews are shorter, it's b/c I've only had a chance to listen to them all twice (once on my Mom's stereo at low volume). A number of these records I'm totally clueless about, so I'd appreciate additional info if you see anything that rings a bell. So here we go, in no particular order.
LUOMO - VOCALCITY: Won't say much about this since it's all been said. Rush to get it. This man can do no wrong it would seem. CLAUDE YOUNG - FADING THE EDGES EP - DETA (???): This record was cut at D+M and it would seem to be the third release on this label. Angelic on the A side is slick. This is very complete techno, and Claude Young incorporating all of his prowesses in one track. It has the warmth of "A Multiplicity of Ones and Zeros", the subtlety of "Brother From Another Planet" and a whole lot of other ingredients I've never heard from him before. Fading the Edges seems to be a very approporiate title for this release, but I think you'd need to hear it for that to make sense. The other two tracks on the B side would be worth the price of the records on their own, but Angelic is such a phenomenal track it really stands out. Have I missed all the reviews on this, or am I just lucky to have picked up a copy of this early on? Angelic is possibly be the most accomplished techno track ever made. It sounds like he worked on it for *years*. Buy this, listen to it carefully, buy another copy and treasure them. For those who have heard it, could you imagine him spinning doubles of it? It could last for hours. Oh, wait! I was so enamored with Angelic I didn't really give the B side its just due. Wow! This was really a find. The two songs on the B side are Krossing and Signals. That aptly describes the technique he's using. The attention to detail on Krossing is unbelievable. He is managing so many things going on at once but it doesn't get cluttered, and these songs completely switch gears multiple times within. Claude Young has raised the bar a couple of feet with this one. Although these songs are of a reasonable length he manages to keep them so succinct you want to listen to the whole thing again once you're done. Signals is probably the least appreciable of the three - and the most abstract. I feel the same way about it that I feel about some of the more ambient tracks on Mills' releases. You know why you bought the record, you're satisfied with the track(s) that fit the bill, and you pay less attention to the remainder. At any rate, this song would stand out on his other releases, but he outdid himself with the first two songs. CARTBRIDGE - CITY OF 3000 YEARS - TAKA (FRANCE?): This is a varied 12" with a couple of tracks with severely tight quantization. Some techier house and some straight techno. "Insert", the first track is particularly melodic. I know nothing else about this one, but I recommend it. A great balance of Rhythm and Sound. You can hear strong dub influences over choppy house beats with techno elements to boot. The only track that I don't care for as much is Phasing Chant. HERBERT - LEAVE ME NOW (PROMO ONLY) - SOUNDSLIKE (UK): Exactly what you'd expect from Herbert and Dani Siciallano. Somehow he's managed to roughen up the music a bit on the title track, and she compensates by somehow getting even more warmth out of her voice. I wouldn't have thought it possible. She's probably my favorite singer out there now, and the lyrics are always great too. The first B side is more downtempo, but in Herbertish way, not really like Doctor Rockit. Vocals are by Shingai Shonivar who sounds like she could go toe to toe with Dani Sicialano judging by this track. An excellent 12" if you can track it down. My copy says promo only, but it may have had a proper release too. I dunno. TIGERHOOK CORP. - WE ARE THE FUTURE/WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY - THE END (UK): This is standard The End fair. Pretty deep stuff from The Chi-Saw Gang , Deep C and Randall Jones. The only of those people I know is Deep C from his Wamdue affiliation. This is probably the least inspired of the records I bought, but I still think I could find a place for it in a deep house set. Kinda David Alvaradoish in Peacefrog mode, but more rhythm focused than on the production. E.B.E. - SQUARE FOUR - SOLID TRAX (US): This would seem to be the 8th release on Solid Trax judging by the matrix. E.B.E. is Lucas Rodenbush from either Alameda, Santa Clara or San Jose, whom I've never heard before, but I'll make it my business to find out more. This is excellent Tejadaish house with a techy edge to it. It's got all the right emotion in the right places. It sort of reminds me of the thx stuff, but with slightly more prominent beats. PEPE BRADDOCK - 6 MILLION PINTADES: You can actually hear some of this on Satellite. I like the track they have posted on line, "Life" quite a bit, but it's not as good as, "Ghost", in my opinion. Ghost is a nice slower percussive house track with this amazing orchestrated horn section used sparingly, to perfection in a way I've never heard it done. Life is some surprisingly techno'ed stuff. Very deep, and very Detroitish melodies on top. Kind of reminds me of the David Caron ep on Eevo Lute. Mr. braddock has really matured from the early Trankilou stuff, although I like that too. YO LA TENGO - DANELECTRO - MATADOR (US): This is more for the IDM/Indie Rock fan, but is well worth your listening oriented buck. I like every track, but the Nobukaza Takemura stands out in my mind. It's epic. The Kit Clayton remix is extremely cool if nothing else for taking the Yo La Tengo samples and staying faithful to them, while making it sound distictly Kit Clayton. Somehow the mixture of the two reminds me of My Bloody Valentine. KRAFTWERK EXPO REMIX - EMI (GERMANY): I haven't listened too closely to this yet, if for no other reason, I know I'll love it and it's not going anywhere. The Rolando mix is very Jaguared. The two UR mixes are very different, but excellent. The Francois K and Rob Rives mix is cool. It reminds me of some of the Telex remixes. Orbital remix is whack, but it's refreshing to hear them use a 4x4 beat. FRANKIE KNUCKLES PRESENTS - TRAX (US): I picked this up at Reckless Records in Soho on my second trip through. I bought it hoping the "Your Love" version would have the Candi Staton vocal (my quest to find this record continues), but it has a different vocal that's cool (but not as cool as Candi Staton). Happilly enough, it cost me just over $10, and I got Mr. Knuckles takes on "Baby Wants to Ride", "Move Your Body" and "It's a Cold World" to boot. SURGEON - BODY REQUEST - DYNAMIC TENSION (UK): I've only heard this in the store so far, but I'd classify it as a cross between Force+Form and some of his other Dynamic Tension stuff. I'm pretty sure this was discussed pretty thoroughly already, so I'll call it quits. MATTHEW HERBERT - MISTAKES - TRESOR (GERMANY): The Demonic Version is excellent gritty, glitchy techno with a distinct Herbert flavor, but different than anything I've hear him do before - including Wishmountain and Docktor Rockit stuff. I think this will be heard a lot in the coming months. It's very adventurous, but I think it will be just accessible enough for techno DJs to use it. The Housey Houey Version may not have the same appeal for house DJs, but it would be really cool to hear someone mix the two together. THey're quite different versions. The album version is somewhere in between. BENJAMIN WILD - TEASER - PERLON (GERMANY): It sounds pretty typical for Perlon. Teaser has some excellent bassline work. This would sound great loud! It's so subtle. The harmonics on the bass line creep into the upper octaves occasionally, but they just give you a taste of it. The Dimbiman mix of it does not do so much for me. Kinda plain. Ausklang is less than inspiring too. Verscheibungen on the B side is defintely unique and groovy. DAVID ALVARADO - SUNSTONE/DEVOTIONAL - PEACEFROG (UK): This is a welcome recovery after the lackluster, extremely pricy double pack on Peacefrog from last year. He seems to accomplish what he wanted to do with that on this 12". It's sunkissed for sure, with bondary-breaking production as usual. I think I will love this record once I give it a few more listens. M.R.I. - TO BE HONEST - FORCE TRACKS (GERMANY): This is what you'd expect on Force Tracks. Very heady tech-housey stuff. I envision the new Vladislav Delay (can't remember the name now) sounding similar to this (but probably better). Next to the Luomo records this sounds slightly less impressive, but next to almost any other record in your crate it's very good. The B sides are more original and a bit dubier. Great bassline work. Perhaps with all of these great records it seems just one element shy of matching up. I'm sure it would hold its own just fine in the mix though. The B sides are actually very musical. MILLSART - EVERY DOG HAS IT'S DAY II - AXIDS (US): It's all been said already. I'm only left wondering if there'll be a 2x CD release. That would be nice to have too. That's it. I'm happy. Tomorrow it's time to put this stuff to work. Perhaps a new mix is on the way? Tristan np: Claude Young - Fading the Edges EP - Deta ========================================== PHONOPSIA<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/5102 "FrogboyMCI" on AOL Instant Messenger "Most people have the cataract. They do not see what they look at. Dum Dee Dum Dee Dum Dee Dum..." - Stereolab __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
