In Vinyl We Trust

Cobblestone Jazz - DMT
Cobblestone Jazz - Put the Lime in da Coconut
Joel Mull - Begun the End Has (Mathew Jonson Tiger Remix)

If previous years were infested with absolutely killing Mathew Jonson tunes then 2007 is turning into a grand cru year for Cobblestone Jazz. It helps of course when said Jonson is one of the three Jazzers. The single-sided 'DMT' is probably the darkest minimal tune to hit the decks in 2007. Rightout creepy with those muffled voice samples but well worth your money.

Regular 12" 'Put the Lime in the Coconut' combines the best of Jonson's wobbly techno rhythms (think 'Put Your Booty Shorts On') and the trio's jazz-inclined melodies. Don't care too much for the flip, though.

Jonson's Mull remix has been out for some time now but it is surely his best remix ever and one of the best dance tracks of the year. A cosmic delight from beginning to end.

Kelley Polar - Chrysanthemum EP
Henrik Schwarz - Walk Music
Osunlade - Elements Beyond

House is in a state of resurrection after years of slowly bleeding to death. But it is striking how most good house records have taken in a lot of techno influence. Kelley Polar strikes again with a beautiful three-tracker that, apart from the electro foundation, is rife with Age of Aquarius-style disco choirs and achingly beautiful melodies all around. Stunning as usual.

Henrik Schwarz's newest is, I humbly dare to state, without a shadow of a doubt his best yet. A tad more techno than house in a pumped up Basic Channel way and proving that Schwarz is one of the best producers in dance music right now.

The new Osunlade (on Strictly Rhythm of all labels) was a mighty surprise after years of Afro-tinged noodling from the man. There are at least five masterpieces on his new longplayer. This guy understands house (i.e. he knows that techno and house are an eternal twin) and that kind of understanding is growing rarer with the year. Amaze yourself and take a listen.

UR - Electronic Warfare 2.0
UR - Ma Ya Ya

Apart from some mid-nineties posing by Alec Empire Mad Mike's Underground Resistance remains the one and only truly political project in the whole of techno. The second episode of Electronic Warfare, as ever, makes no concessions at all, be it on the sonic or on the ideological side. Knife-sharp analog terror beats go hand in hand with soulful - albeit noisy - Red Planet-style techno. With lyrical snippets like "I'm gonna kill my radio station before it kills me" and "I am / U R / We will / Re-sist" it would be all too easy to point out the militant naivity. But only those who do not realize that every revolution requires an honest dose of naivité would come up with that kind of judgement. Essential as ever and comes with a nifty 7-inch sporting a raucous bonus track and an a capella of standout track 'Kill My Radiostation'. Judge or be judged!

'Ma Ya Ya' is from a few years ago but I only managed to lay my hands on it a few weeks ago. The combination of funky electrobeats, afro chants and accordion is just pure genius. Underground Resistance forever!!!

Q Lazarus / The The - Dark & Lovely 6

More tasty edits from Pilooski, here assisted by Krikor, who comes up with a heartbreaking electro edit of the Q Lazarus track, once part of the original Silence of the Lambs soundtrack. Pilooski himself beefs up The The's 'Giant', a track that was waiting to be reintroduced to the new dance generation.

Marc Ashken - Skream Remixes EP
Skream - Box of Dub
Andy Stott - Fear of Heights EP
Mala - Lean Forward

Dubstep's zenith is far from reached when someone like Skream (a genius that youngster) keeps providing the dope. The two remixes for Marc Ashken, originally minimal techno, are among his darkest tracks ever and they are oozing bass like snails ooze slime. The sample that rightly decries "R&B shit" is an added bonus.

The 12-inch drawn from the Box of Dub compilation on Soul Jazz sees him in straight-out dub mode. One might have doubts when there is only one extra track on this two-tracker, but 'Pass the Red Line' is one of the dubbiest tracks to ever emerge from the movement and certainly essential.

Andy Stott is the guy who cannot choose between techno and dubstep and it should come as no surprise then that the sublime Fear of Heights refrains from crossing the divide and insteads bridges both styles. Melancholic like Detroit techno and meditative like the best of Deep Chord, with, of course, deeeeeep bass.

The new DMZ comes courtesy of Mala who returns to murky dub waters after the techno cross-over of 'Left Leg Out'. 'Lean Forward' is the more dancefloor orientated track with a skanking climax after the Haile Selassie invoking break, while the slower 'Lean' reminds of Loefah's classic 'Mud' . Another topper indeed.

Son Electronique

2562 - Channel Two

To myself it has always been an immediacy, but hopefully it will, thanks to Appleblim and Shackleton's latest releases, Ewan Pearson opening his latest Fabric mix (sort of) with it and records like this one, become clear to the general techno/dance populace as well: (minimal) techno and dubstep were always made for each other. Take these two razorsharp technodubbers by young Dutch producer 2562 and mix them with off-kilter minimal techno, say of the Villalobos persuasion, and nobody should even notice that you are no longer playing techno. Great divides being closed, if the world at large does not start with it, it may as well be happening in music.

Shackleton feat. Jackson Del Rey - Next to Nothing

Strangely enough I find the usual Shackleton magic not entirely present on this outing for Crosstown Rebels. The techno remixes by both Guillaume and the Coutu Dumonts and Exercise One are for once far superior. They stick to the percussion and the result is two very memorable and funky as hell club stormers. Essential.

Aril Brikha - Ex Machine

Aril Brikha has to be one of the most unlucky producers of all time. He started out with 'Groove la' Chord', without any doubt one of the ten best techno tracks of all time (if not the best). It just could not get better after that. It almost did a few months ago with 'Berghain'. But there is not a single note on Ex Machine that so much as equals the power of the two aforementioned tracks. Everything is incredibly beautifully produced, everything sounds lush and warm. But it leaves me colder than both poles combined. Terrible, is it not?

Cybotron - Clear (Cobblestone Jazz Remix)

This could have been an outrageous sacrilege. But surprisingly it is far from that. It is actually very good with the Cobblestoners doubling the length of the original and adding subtle and non-invasive effects. But it will forever remain anyone's guess why they did not call this 'The Mathew Jonson Mix', because it is overly clear that those are Jonson's settings.

B12 - Slope

Talking about retro. The return of B12 is at the very least quite unexpected. After a silence of almost a decade the duo are back and they deliver. Only three tracks for the time being but 'Slope' itself can be played out by any self-respecting techno dj. The other two tracks are more akin to their previous incarnation, but even there you can hear a definite progression away from their eternal post-Transmat leanings. Awesome and welcome back.

Innersphere - Phunk (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)

Ricardo does one for the floor. It was about time. No self-reflection, darkness or ultra-minimalism this time (mind you, not that I have anything against that), just an original interpretation that will give this classic a second life. Villalobos The New Remix King? Pretty sure.

Melting Vinyl ... So Hot

Appleblim/Shackleton - Soundboy's Ashes Gety Chopped Out and Snorted

A shame for those who bought the cd, but this is easily the best Skull Disco release up to date. Probably the darkest too. Appleblim's 'Vansan' eerily approaches dubstep's equivalent of the Basic Channel esthetic. Those Carl Craig-ish syncopated synth lines are an added bonus. Shackleton keeps to what he does best: developping the bass to unearthly deepness with leading ritual tribal percussion and creepy whispers as superstructure. Minimal as fuck, too.

Avus - Furry Hat/Spnkr

Go for 'Spnkr', Border Community's bid for 'Spastik'-fame. Do not know if it will outlast the ages, but at the moment it sounds damn fine.

Tolga Fidan - Venice/Tanbulistan

Veeeeery hot shit, this one. Between minimal house and techno with eerie voice samples and some ethnic atmosphere thrown in to make this one of the ep's of 2007. Huge!

Luciano - Fourges et Sabres/Back to Front

Not really dance floor material but addictively well-constructed and full of little detailed melodic fancy. One of his best and one of Perlon's most maximal. Luciano and Perlon still make a mighty duo.

John Edwards - Codeine (Tim Paris Rework)

Tim Paris and elegance? Never thought I would combine them. Toned down Initial-style house with lots of musical elements from the original well employed. And like the best records the climax comes right before the end. Tasty!

Rather Raving (about)

Helmut Lachenmann - Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelholzern

It was bound to happen. After listening to noise, improvisation and free jazz for some time I just needed to submerge myself into modern composition. Do not ask me any musical specifications about this one because I am far from steeped in the finer points of counterpoint, pitch, serialism or twelve-tone theory. But I sure know this is one of the best things I have ever heard. As you can guess from the title this is sort of an opera. There are actually not too much vocals, rather vocalisations and Sprechgesang. I just wish now that I had taken up musical theory when I was younger, because now I can only tell you that I am playing this to death. I think, though, that it, again, has to do something with the recurring silence and the minute gradations of volume in this kind of music. And of course with the fact that Ralf Wehowsky (of P16.d4) once pointed out in an interview that this music sounds right and everything by Madonna sounds wrong.

[It would not be honest to throw that last bit in the reader's face without providing any context, however. What Wehowsky meant was that to listen to pop music you do not need to adapt yourself, because the melodies are for the most part quite simple and harmonically pleasing. Listening to dissonant, unpredictable music requires of your brain that it adapts itself to patterns that it is not used to. Adapting is learning and learning is acquiring more knowledge. Anyway, I think he is right.]

Karl-Heinz Stockhausen - Mikrophonie I & II / Telemusik

Einstürzende Neubauten, but 25 years earlier. These are probably the Stockhausen works that were most ahead of their age. The musical equivalent of stealing the fire from the gods. Amazing.

Cornad Schnitzler - Rot

I knew Schnitzler from his pioneering roles in Kluster and Tangerine Dream, but I had not yet checked out his solo works. So this came on like a revelation. 'Meditation' is a mechanic ambient soundscape much in the vein of Seesselberg or Vangelis's Beaubourg, while 'Krautrock' is the real works: lots of bubbling proto-industrial electronics with an ensnaring percussion loop being segued in later on. Schnitzler's music (and there is an awful lot of it) always sounds a bit like an automatic factory turned into music, so refrain if you are looking for emotional satisfaction. Of course I am exaggerating here, because there are pleasing sweeping synth tones woven through most of 'Krautrock'.

Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh

Mostly when people reference Magma it is to ridicule them for their self-invented Zeuhl language and general hippy antics. But then they better take heat of this. This reminds me of Archie Shepp's Attica Blues and that's saying something. Probably one of the best prog records ever. Shows that these guys were highly knowledgeable of the most interesting periods of black music (Tribe, Strata East, Black Jazz). You have got to take the ridiculously high female chanting for granted, though, otherwise you will not be able to sit this through.

Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing

Robert Ashley now makes experimental opera's but this is something different altogether. The title track consists of no more than two voices, one female whispering in French (think L'Année Dernière à Marienbad, and closer to home Nurse With Wound's 'Echo Poème', which is a total rip-off of Ashley) and one slowed down to a sort of unholy grunt, plus some unidentified background noises.

On 'Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon', when a girl's voice is talking about a guy who puts his fingers between her legs and then tries to put that finger in her mouth (and so on) over the sound of a music box, things get very creepy, as if you are listening to an excerpt from Sex, Lies and Videotape, but without any help of context. 'She Was a Visitor' is no more than that same sentence repeated ad nauseam over particularly uneasy listening.

One of the most powerful and impressive pieces of sound art you are bound to hear. Ever. Do not play this with the lights out, unless you want to end up in an asylum for the mentally challenged.

Robert Ashley - Private Parts

After Automatic Writing this is almost easy listening, though it is also far from that. Basically it is a guy with a soothing but also slightly bored voice reciting a text of seemingly unrelated text fragments over tablas, piano and delicate synth tones. Alienating to say the least, though less psychologically invasive as Automatic Writing.

Mordant Music - Carrion Squared

Mistah Fisha is going all "hauntological" over this ("Music is dead. Long live hauntology!", LOL), again, although he hastens to set aside this release from the label's usual output. He'd better, because this album was made for library music publisher Boosey & Hawkes* and consists of no less than 40 mini-drones à la Cluster, Conrad Schnitzler or Seesselberg. So no "hauntology" then, but kosmische music, though of course the shortness of the pieces contradict their cosmic nature. All very confusing, but that's "hauntology" for ya, I guess.

Threshold Houseboys Choir - Form Grows Rampant

Being Peter Christopherson's first outing since the demise of John Balance, Coil's other half. This actually sounds like an instrumental version of the new Throbbing Gristle album. That it contains heavy trace elements of the later Coil (and Balance's voice for that matter) will not surprise either. Themes and even melodies of certain Coil records are leisurely reemployed (especially the heavy use of vocoders from post-mortem album The Ape of Naples) and thus this sounds a lot like the slightly perverted fairy-tale music that the duo were famous for in their later carreer. And yes, you are probably right about the homosexual innuendo contained in the project's name, given the fact that Christopherson has been living in Thailand for some while now. Intriguing as ever nonetheless.

Box of Dub

Always nice to notice that dubstep has some margin for progression. The top dogs of the game come up with roots inspired dubstep and show along the way that dubstep is really only at the beginning of its odyssey. Which in this case means going back to the roots of the style and toning down the overall darkness.

Rumble in the Jungle

A supreme compilation that shows after the fact where jungle went wrong. No electronic basses or metallic percussion here, just vocally hyperactive rude boys and superfunky drum'n'bass. Party time music.

Burial - Ghost Hardware

No sign of slacking here. Three tracks in the style of the album with lots of wet background noises and sad echoing vocals. Nothing new or much progression compared to his previous outings but that need not always be the case as we all know. I would have wished he'd chosen another title, though. "Hauntology", is there no escape?

Digitalism - Idealism
Justice - †

Or I'm getting old, or I just don't like this. The Digitalism album, though, is much better than the Justice abomination, which is just plain vulgar in its desire to please the less discerning ears. Furthermore I always will despise people who choose a symbol as title for their album. I am not going to waste any more words on this, neither am I going to vilify these guys. I just think Daft punk was better. So it would seem I am getting old after all. Nevertheless I am pretty sure that these two will tear the roof off in a live setting. Mixed feelings, then.

* There are two ways to interpret the fact that Mordant's "hauntology", a music that has library music has one of its main influences, is now in turn being used as library music. You could, if you are a believer, say that "hauntology" has come full circle. One could also, more viciously, state that it pre-empts itself, having turned into a sort of parody on its own influence. Probably the truth lies somewhere between a bit of both.

Mixology

Two essential mixes floating around at the moment.

First up is Kode9's absolutely brilliant mix on the Sónar site. At the moment it is only streamable (is that an actual word?), but Kode9 has promised on his blog to make it available for download later on. And he'd better 'cause it is hot as hell featuring some brand new Hyperdub dubplates.

Next is Sebo K's mix for Resident Advisor, a site that has been responsable for the majority of good mixes on the net for the last year or so (Ewan Pearson, Ripperton, Alexander Robotnick). A very nice mix positioning itself somewhere between deep techno and house, with a few old hits thrown in for good measure.

As we speak the latest RA mix by up-and-coming man Efdemin has been added to the site. Listening to that one now, so do not really know whether it is recommendable.

Vinyl ist Nicht Tod

Neu! Neu!! Neu!!! Neu!!!! Neu!!!!!

Quince - Sole Trader

I can hardly fathom how the people over at Delsin keep the quality of their releases so vertigineously high. Quince has been making ace tracks since his first release and this is another scorcher of a beauty beyond compare that does not neglect the dance floor part either. Heavily influenced by Carl Craig (Who else?) it is the kind of techno you always think they stopped making ages ago. Lots of warm strings, sharply tuned jump chords and ecstatic melodic highs remind you that Detroit techno remains the yardstick for emotionally satisfying techno.

Syncom Data - Beyond the Stars

Dubby techno business, also hailing from the Netherlands. The A-side is a fine techno dub with rootsy lyrics, while the flip harbours a beatless Carl Craig style workout that is all strings and trancey sounds, and a more rave-inspired techno track that pumps up the bpm's and will fit nicely into an inspired retro set.

Redshape - Dog Day

Single-sided monster from the maestro that has Derrick-May-in-1989 written all over it. Rave sounds are back on the block it would seem. The percussion is all Transmat, the beats hiphop. Hell of a combination.

Âme - Balandine

Why is everybody shouting about that grossly overrated 'Fiori', when this is so much better? Âme's music seems to be taking on a more epic strain with each new release, but you can not complain when they keep on producing this kind of quality. Another awesome duo, with the title track being the more ingeniously structured of the two, while 'Eoni' sticks to one good idea and makes the most of it. Innervisions rules!

Fuse presents Steve Bug

I included this one just to signal that Foremost Poets' 'Reasons to Be Dismal' (orginally released on the mighty Nu Groove) is available again on a nice fat pressing. Thanks for that, Mr. Bug. And you get two more excellent minimal techno tracks on the flip. Nice!

Wolfsdorf und Freunde

Shackleton - Blood on My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix)

I just can't get this out of my head ("When I see the towers fall, fall, fall..."). Depressing and endless in a cosmic way at the same time. Why they felt the need to split the track in two halves will remain a mystery forever. But then you always have the cd-version for that experience, I suppose. My record of the year, for sure.

Beck - Cellphone's Dead (Villalobos & Ellen Allien Remixes)

Allien's version is not too bad, but couldn't possibly compete with Ricardo's already classic remix. Again Villalobos keeps it dark and moody by accentuating the spooky Gregorian chant-style sample. Anyone who wants to see his remix end up in the 2007 listings better take heed of the mighty Ricardo.

Not so M_nus

Marc Houle - Bay of Figs

Two M_nus related releases to end this round-up. Houle's double-pack is dangerously perfect minimal. And by 'minimal' I mean funky Daniel 'DBX' Bell bleeps and Hawtin spaceousness. The term 'DJ-friendly' seems to be invented for this record.

VA - Spaceships and Pings

I bought this one a few months ago, but it keeps getting better and better. So I thought, why not write a bit about this one? It was released in 2006 on Items And Things, which is a M_nus sub managed by the Magda-Houle-Pierce trio (aka Run Stop Restore). Each of the bosses get a track, with Magda going in an electro direction, Marc Houle opting for his usual spare electro-ish style and Troy Pierce keeping it moody and technoïd, the result not to dissimilar to his Louderbach alias. Konrad Black delivers the best track, though, here deviating from his usual atmospheric minimalism with a driving melodic Italo disco synth stomper. Very nice package! Catch it if you can.

Old versus New

Excellent article about the state of techno today. Courtesy of OMC.

And while you're at it...

Check this terrifyingly good techno mix by coming-and-rising man Ripperton. Long time ago I had managed to listen to a techno mix without being seduced for one moment to touch that pause or stop button. Techno was never dead, now was it, and hearing this I know it will only get better. RA-RA-Ripperton!

As if we needed "new" rave...

And now make a sentence with 'minimal', 'birds', 'Heidegger' and 'sexy'.

Back 2 Business (2)

Seemed like a lifetime (I exaggerate deliberately, because, keeping my ravenous musical tastes in mind, it always seems like ages) since I had bought some vinyl, so I decided to make a stop by my favourite record shop and see what 2007 brings.

[your favourite record shop, dear reader, is a place, where they know your first name, where you can smoke a cigarette during the selection process, a place where they advise you, because they know your taste, not a place where they are by any means trying to sell you a record they bought too many copies of, and a place where you can exchange experiences about your latest nights out, in this case a shop where I have been buying house and techno for about 20 years now, because I bought my first record there when I was 12]

The records that I bought were actually not the most important thing that came out of it - of course you can expect a post about those soon. Rather I met a guy who has been organising some party nights in the province for a while now and he knowing some people that I know, we found out that we did not only share the same taste in techno and other music (i.e. the ever solid basis of Chicago Jack and Detroit techno, and of course classic 50ies and 60ies jazz), but, also that we had been going out for years in the same spots without ever meeting, and, this had to be the first time ever in a record shop that I met someone like that, that we shared the same taste in film and a lot of other things (damn', the guy even had a novel with him!). The kind of guy that maybe you do not necessarily always agree with, but someone who at the very least can act as a kind of sounding board for your own musical interests.

To cut a long story short he resparked my - true it never really went away, but it had slighly waned over the last year - interest in the noble art of dj'ing and asked me accordingly for a demo cd-r. So it could be that maybe after all I might be playing some sets in a few months, and this time maybe even by playing the kind of techno that I like.

Guilty as charged

Burial mentioned this album in the last Wire-issue. It is quite a strange attraction, Todd Edwards. I know that he has been a huge influence on the 2step scene - and thus on dubstep too - and I am pretty sure a lot of producers adore him (I read somewhere that Daft Punk just love his stuff). The thing is: you always feel a little dirty after having listened to Todd Edwards, a bit like having a quick wank over Pamela Anderson.

His music is sooooooo fluffy, soooooo immaculately produced, with the lyrical content and the titles ('Next to You', 'Where Are You', 'Far Away') never rising above the adolescent musings of R&B, that at first you will consider him the epitome of glibness. But all his tracks are so catchy and so sweet that after all you do not mind one bit, most of all because he is so inventive in his productions. He is also really what you would call a producer's producer. You can imagine Daft Punk (the vocoders!), Masters At Work (the percussion!) or MJ Cole (the strings! the harpsichords!) dissecting his records in their own studios. Guilty pleasure if there ever was one.

Dubstep Rulez!

Had sort of an epiphany this weekend with the dubstep party in Brussels. Plasticman, Kode9 and Skream! came to skank the place and I was overly impressed. Fuck no, I was overwhelmed! Nice too that the organisation had understood that a good dubstep evening takes place in almost complete darkness. The lights were accordingly sparse (though I would have appreciated a strobe for added pleasure) and the atmosphere thus created even reinforced the trembling and pounding bass sounds, that nearly unscrewed the bolts of the boat the party took place on.

I was a tad surprised - but of course also overjoyed - that a pretty large crowd in Belgium understands that dubstep is the music of the future. I was also impressed by the sheer diversity of the sounds dubstep has managed to create in its rather short history (ok, rather short: it's been going on for more than five years now). Plasticman (aka The Plastician) was so brutal that I almost connected dubstep to electronic body music. He even managed to blow up the subwoofer 37 minutes into the party. That being said, Kode9 and Skream! obviously were the dj's of the evening. Kode9 was more orientated towards dub and hiphop, Skream! went more in an electronic direction. That divide only shows that there is still pretty much space for new directions and developments in the style. Now let's hope the rest of the world, too, catches on to this exciting music.

Kitsuné Maison Compilation 3 [cd kitsuné]

Kitsuné has over the years become a household name when it comes to punkfunk and other new wave influenced stuff. Colder, Black Strobe, Digitalism and Zongamin are just a few names that made it real big after appearing on a Kitsuné compilation. But as is the case with a lot of series the third episode of the Maison story is beginning to suffer from diminishing returns. Fifteen tracks in all and it bangs and bumps like on the two previous collections but the element of surprise is gone. All numbers are catchy but it is all so overtly poppy and in some cases blatantly hopeful for that Subpop contract that at times it makes you wretch. With most of those would-be electropunk tracks you can imagine the remix-pack with the Ewan Pearson, DFA, Booka Shade and Riton remixes already during the first refrain. It is not all bad of course: The Van She remix of Klaxons reminds pleasantly of my favourite Daft Punk moments, Boyz Noize and Simian Mobile Disco are not too bad either and Oh No! Oh My!'s 'I Love You All the Time' has the advantage of brevity (1 minute 22 secs), while the autumnal techno tones of 'Done with You' by Erlend Øye's newest project The Whitest Boy Alive go well over five minutes without boring one second, a bit like a good Echo & The Bunnymen track. But that's really it. Last time we checked 5 out of 15 does not make a good compilation.

Thomas Brinkmann: Klick Revolution [cd Max Ernst]

I think Thomas Brinkmann is a fucking genius. I love all his work. His Soul Center* stuff alone would rank him among the greatest, but his ultra-minimal records (like his Hawtin and Studio 1 variations) are even a tad better. This newest, Klick Revolution, on one of his many labels (Max Ernst in this case), seems made up out of mere static. He has taken short samples from an array of records (all neatly mentioned with picture) but you have the distinct feeling that he has only retained the crackles and the pops, the skips and the dirt in the grooves. The original melodies, if there ever were any, have been shredded and then randomly restructured. As all good minimal techno composers (with those we mean the kind of producers whose records do not actually sound like a collection of mixed-together farts) he begins all his randomly named numbers with disparate elements that at first would seem to go to war with each other and it can take two to three minutes before you start to discern any melodic element. But once it is there and you have noticed it, you are bound to have that melody racing around in your brain for the next few hours. There are only six tracks so you know he is going to take his time developing and creating minimal rhythmic soundscape structures. And he does exactly that and it grabs you by the balls with sheer invention and that unique fingerspitzengefühl for embracing every idea, however crazy, demented or just plain wrong. Klick Revolution sounds like a collection of mistakes that, brought together, in the end sound like they were the right thing all along. Those who remember the Various Artists 12-inch on Chain Reaction should really investigate this one. Snap, crackle and pop to the Max!

Vinyl Update

I'm going to have to wait some weeks to have access to my mp3 collection again, but luckily I am one of those people who have turntables at home, so listening to music is not a problem. Here's the weekly harvest from the vinyl shops.

Villalobos: Fizheuer Zieheuer [12", Playhouse]

Record of the year! 1 loop, 37 minutes, 2 sides. Get! It! Now! Nice sleeve too. And a new double vinyl on Perlon is forthcoming too. Go Ricardo, Go!

Theo Parrish - Falling Up (Technasia Remix) [12", Third Ear/Synchrophone]

Been a while since the Technasia duo pulled off a really great track. It's no match for the Carl Craig remix of that same track, but it is über-functional and warm Basic Channel meets Detroit techno nonetheless. Should be a well-deserved hit on every techno dance floor.

Tim Xavier - Stuck on Earth [12", LTD400]

Kosmische goes minimal. Three hard-edged minimal grooves that remind of a typical Perlon release, but with lots of crazy edits, industrial sounds and cosmic wizardry. And the last track with the tropical thunderstorm sounds is a dj's dream. This is how techno is meant to be.

Outlines - Listen to the Drums [12", Sonar Kollektiv]

Jazzanova are back with a vengeance with a splendid 4/4 remix of Irfane's broken beat original. Classic house sounds rule on this really sexy record. If you like the early Âme releases, you should dig this too.

Magnus International - Kosmetisk [12", Full Pupp]

More laidback electrodisco pressure from Prins Thomas's excellent label from newcomer Magnus Sheehan. A little bit of disco, a little bit of italo, a little bit of electro and so forth, you know the deal by now.

VA - Kings of Techno Part A [2x12", BBE]

Red hot compilation of techno monsters, proto-techno and Detroit pioneers by Carl Craig and Laurent Garnier. The vinyl version includes extra tracks by Liaisons Dangereuses, Severed Heads and a top Detroit techno track by Instinct (from the short-lived but legendary Decisive imprint). The Temptations, The Stooges, Aretha Franklin, Visage, Carl Craig ('No More Words', with its first official outing since the original Retroactive release), The Black Dog (the classic 'Virtual') and Capricorn ('I Feel Love') are featured too. Part B is equally succulent of course.

Black Devil Disco Club - 28 After [12", Lo]

The first record from 1978 recently resurfaced on Rephlex and so Bernard Fèvre decided to make six more tracks. Completely original electronica somewhere between disco kitsch and typically French way-out thereness.

Radio Slave - Secret Base [12", Rekids]
Spencer Parker - Beautiful Noise [12", Rekids]

It does not get more contemporary than on Rekids. Two times classic acid house sounds from Matt Edwards's classy label, with additional remixes by Rob Mello and Ripperton. Pumping stroboscopic dance floor fodder without a lot of pretense. Just jacking the house, baby!

Holden - The Idiots are Winning [2x12", Border Community]

James Holden is one sick motherfucker. Initially each number sounds like a regular club track. But then he starts to get real nasty and perverse with the melodies and rhythms, turning every track into freak heaven. Free techno at its very best. Wow, this guy's a talent!

Mary Ann Hobbs

Apart from the fact that she makes a dubstep show for BBC Radio I do not know anything about Mary Ann Hobbs. What I do know is that she packs a mean tune. Fifteen heavy hitters from the diverse dubstep community, to be more precise. Do not think you know anything about dubstep if up till now you only have been exposed to the calmer, more meditative albums of Kode9 and Burial or the rhythmically austere Digital Mystikz 12"'s. Most of the tracks on this compilation aim straight for the dancefloor and are far more militant and hectic when it comes to rhythms and lyrical delivery. Big city paranoia and dub darkness remain the definitive yardsticks though. Exciting, powerful, fun and very now.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here's Viiii-llaaaaa-loooooo-booooooos!

On October 30th it will finally see the light of day: 'Fizheuer Zieheuer'. Omar speaks about a revolution. Villalobos has indeed come up with a track that is, if you allow yourself to think it as a unity instead of the provided two parts, more than 35 minutes long. I am hoping that someone over at Playhouse has the brains to put this on cd as one long minimal dub excursion.

I would not call Villalobos' newest a revolution per se. Rather it is an inversion of what Richie Hawtin came up with a year ago with Transitions. Instead of making one long track out of countless other tracks, Villalobos takes one loop and stretches it until eternity. I would not call that a revolution as such, because it remains to be seen whether others will follow this course. But of course one cannot deny that, if the promise contained in this record would be followed up by others, techno may be looking at new and exciting horizons. On top, it promises a lot for dj sets to come. I can hardly wait to encounter the dj who carries this tune as a kind of signature throughout his set.

Most importantly, it sure promises a lot for Villalobos' further carreer, him being the first who has exhausted the length of one vinyl-side. Because you just hear that he wanted this track to continue much further than one side of vinyl could provide. I do not think anyone has ever filled one side of a record with such a long variation on just one loop.

And what a loop it is! Rivalling 'Phylyps Trak II' in hypnotic endlessness, it has been swimming around in my head since I first took notice of the man's set on Awakenings, and I predict it will not leave my mind for months to come. I can't wait to hear this over a big, big, big sound system.
No doubt about it: 'Fizheuer Zieheuer' is the tune of 2006.

Vinyl Update

Narcotic Syntax - Provocative Percussion [2x12", We In Rhythm]

Narcotic Syntax are generally one of the least interesting acts on Perlon, but this 4-tracker on We In Rhythm is the shit supreme. As you may have concluded from the title, percussion makes out the main part of these four side-long workouts. All four are good and not near as minimal as you would expect from these guys' previous outings. 'Fusión Nuclear' even has some motorik touches to it. But 'Descarga Narcotica', with its improvised marimba and vibraphone parts, is the one that will positively set the dance floor on fire. Recommended!

The Orichalc Phase - Violations [12", DC]

Another corcker from the best label on the block. The rock-'n'-roll/no wave attitude inevitably reminds of the label's strongholder The Emperor Machine. 'Comatone' begins as a 2006 update to A Certain Ratio but halfway the ryhthm slows down for a dubby space outro. The titletrack comes in two versions, with the original sounding like The Charlatans or Inspiral Carpets fed through a fucked up amp and the dub again slowing things down for an even more freaked out darker take. Yummy! And in case you would want to know: orichalc is "a metallic substance, resembling gold in color, but inferior in value."

Kode9 & The Space Ape

The first time I did not like it. I did not even like it the second time. But after the third listening it began to dawn. I think dubstep is about the first post-rave style of music coming from the UK that is sad, elegiac and introspective rather than the other way around. Not surprisingly then that it is the first post-rave style that succeeds not only in attracting my attention but also in keeping it. There is an apparent empty core to this music, more impressionist than expressive. It is as if both the music and the singing on Memories of the Future are deliberately not begging for your attention. Which is utterly strange, I must admit, but I just cannot phrase it differently.

Everytime I put this record on I am desperately searching for a compass, for a destination, while at the same time the suspicion starts to linger that a direction is not at all that which you should be looking for. It bridges the gap to another dimension, not to another place. This gives the music a depth and purpose that I have always found lacking in drum'n'bass, 2-Step, broken beat and any other post-rave UK dance genre.

It is a kind of music that fleets you by, as if you are passing a derelict and depopulated district of a city and you hear music, but you are not entirely certain where it originates from. You are not even entirely certain it is really there. You feel like the boy wandering around in Ballard's Chronopolis, wondering who takes care of all those clocks. It is incomparably elusive and vague, music for searchers rather than finders.

Everytime the music is over, it is as if it disappears from memory altogether. But when you put it back on, you are immediately transported back to a no man's land of the spirit, some kind of eerie demilitarized zone that is reminiscent of Ballard's Terminal Beach, a place where you can quietly immerse your self into the memories that at any other place you would rather avoid, "lost in paranoia's most beautiful dream"

Strangely enough the repeated listening of this record has also initiated a renewed interest in the Burial album, another record that at first I did not grasp at all, a turnaround so dramatic that now I am beginning to think that these two records might be among my records of the year.