Archive for May, 2006
May 10, 2006 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Beatport.com, Breakbeat, progressive
Joel Armstrong’s track Park Street has been haunting me since I first heard it in a Shiloh set well over a year ago. I contacted Joel to find out when this gem would be available for purchase as an MP3… long story short, Babylon records have finally released it.
Weird, throbbing, bending, melodic prgressive breaks with a unique feel and unusual sophistication. I flipped the first time I heard it, and I’ve never tired of hearing it since.
May 9, 2006 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Amazon.com, Beatport.com, House, minimal, Techno
Maurizio, aka Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, is what immediately springs to mind when I think of Berlin-style deep, minimal techno and house. While stripped back and minimal on the surface, there’s so much craft in what Maurizio does that I find his songs are repetitive but in a good way. While it is essentially the same loops of sound over and over, there’s ample analogue knob-tweaking and more snaps, crackles and pops than a Costco-sized box of Rice Krispies. Moreover, the short loops themselves are so hypnotic, funky, and just plain “right” that listening to them over and over as they progress is like scratching some deep itch in a satisfying way over and over.
Stripped back mad freshness; simple on the surface but with layers of depth and subtlety.
While intentionally adding analogue hiss and vinyl pops and surface noise to music often seems cliché, with Maurizio’s work it is his signature sound, and an homage to his favorite medium (vinyl, the traditional medium for electronic music and the medium on which his music was released in 1996). It also reflects his roots and passion for Dub, a music genre characterized by sample-based analogue remixes of Reggae music. The flaws and character of the medium are intentionally amplified and brought to the fore, and made an integral part of the music. A brand-spanking new Maurizio vinyl release sounds like an ancient, second-hand, scratchy dusty record.
I recommend the entire MCD release, available through either Amazon, or as MP3s from Beatport.
May 9, 2006 at 2:44 pm · Filed under Beatport.com, Chillout, House
I stumbled across an artist named Ronan, on the Swank record label. I don’t know anything about Ronan, but there’s only three tracks by them and all three are pretty solid. My personal favorite is Let It Out, which is just a cool, easygoing, loungy house track. To have three solid tracks on one release is pretty remarkable; Ronan is one to watch.
May 9, 2006 at 2:27 pm · Filed under Free, House, progressive, Trance
Harry Lemon, aka Lemon8 is one of the best progressive trance and house DJs going. Based out of Holland, his consistently fresh productions, remixes and live sets are always in demand. I went to a Paul Van Dyk event a few years back, and the DJ who opened for him (name unknown), while suspect in his mixing skills, played the best progressive tracks I’d ever heard. The “peak” of his set *wink wink* was the dancefloor monster: Kid Vicious – Contagious (Lemon8 remix). It blew me away. Hypnotic, menacing house gave way to pounding tech-house. Alas, this track is not available for digital download. Sorry.
But his fantastic live sets are!
Here is one of my favorites… the first half is solid gold, a blend of progressive house and trance.
Also, check out his excellent productions available at Beatport.com
May 9, 2006 at 2:06 pm · Filed under Beatport.com, Breakbeat, cold & clean, progressive, Trance
Cold, clean, synthetic beauty: the track Designs (dirty mix) is the epitome of the progressive, trancey breaks genre. Designs is one of my all time favorite tracks by anyone, and I heartily recommend it. Proggy Breaks doesn’t get any better than this.
Next up is Stefan Anion and Blake Potter’s remix of Nutrition’s track, Skyline Dreamer. This track is beautiful, chilled, glittering progressive breaks with a strong trance flavor. Dope. Like Noel Sanger’s Designs, in can be found in Noel’s Electrofly mix on Hybridized.org.
May 9, 2006 at 12:58 pm · Filed under Breakbeat, cold & clean, Free, progressive, Trance
I first heard Noel Sanger spinning on proton radio a few years back, on a segment sponsored by Electrofly records. The set was extraordinary, but unfortunately I only caught the last 45 minutes of pure gold. I emailed Noel, asking him for a copy of the set, and he informed me it would be up on Hybridized.org soon enough. Indeed it was! Thanks, Noel.
Also from Hybridized.org is another great set Noel, from Global DJ Broadcast 2004. It’s well worth checking out.
May 9, 2006 at 11:10 am · Filed under Beatport.com, cold & clean, minimal, Techno
You know those truly ground-breaking, incredible talents out there you go your whole life not knowing about? Then you discover them, freak at how they could have escaped your radar for so long? Then you binge on their works.
Berlin, Germany is a hothouse of vine-ripened talent, especially when it come to minimal techno. But don’t take my word for it: have a listen to Monolake, aka Robert Henke.
This guy is incredible. The first song of his I heard, White II, blew me away. It’s like… the auditory equivalent of floating, slowly, through a Tron-like city of light, skyscrapers of white light slowly moving past as you hover 800 feet above the ground, defying gravity.
Then I came across Ionized, which is like being in a huge, run down old warehouse, with rain pouring in through slats in the roof, splashing on the concrete ground. This track is a huge, dark mass, with rich, deep bass that resonates and reverbrates throughout the imaginary space. Towards the end, cold, dawn air and bleak dawn light enter. The more I listen to this track, the more it grows on me.
Finally, the track Cubicle. I still remembering freaking out the first time I heard this track. With headphones on, this song is a spasm-inducing combination of warm gusts of air flowing up your neck, while cold, wet ice cubes fall onto your brain, bouncing wetly off. Wow. This guy freakin’ rules. If you’ve never heard of Monolake, well, you can thank me later.
Almost his entire catalogue of music is available through Beatport. I’ve bought about a third of it. I’m still waiting for Robert Henke’s track Delta to show up on there; it should be up sometime this year.
