A great piece of down-tempo tech-house from the talented Frenchie.

Taho – Cryptomeria

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Taho – live at Fukhouse (Toronto)

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Blue Insect by El Farouki is an excellent track; distinct, punctuating, popping percussive quirky beats over top a fuzzy, ultraviolet, buzzing bassline that has a slight, bendy drugginess to it.

El Farouki – Blue Insect

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Unlike the previous track’s subtle drugginess, this next monster whacks you upside the head with its freaky intensity. Undisputed Truth’s remix of Procut’s Feel So Right is awesome. I first heard it on protonradio.com in an outrageously fresh mix by David Alexander, Primal Innuendo 3 (to be posted here soon). A gargantuan bassline storms in, layers upon layers of intense druggy goodness fill in the track and desperate, creepy lyrics surface. I freakin’ love this track, which I’ve been listening to for years. Five stars; flawless execution. Well done, Undisputed Truth! This track’s a monster, and a must-have.

Pro Cut – Feel So Right (Undisputed Truth remix)

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Moving into the absurdly druggy, another favorite track of mine is Matthew Dekay and Norman Soares’s More Money, More Power. A ridiculous, clip-cloppy bouncy beat gives the track a silly feel, then duggy waves of sound wash in, swirling and somewhat ear-piercing, and a surreal vocal sample pops in and… confounds me! Quality! Truly weird, but it works.

Matthew Dekay & Norman Soares – More Money, More Power

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Dieselboy’s Render is an astounding track from America’s most famous D&B DJ/producer. It can be found on the The 6ixth Session, an otherwise uninspiring release. I much prefer his older mix CDs, like A Soldier’s Story, but between 6ixth’s dope cover (I’ve blown it up into a huge poster on my wall) and this one track, I feel I got my money’s worth.

Absurdly funky, yet calculated and synthetic, this track is both organic and flowing, and yet, technological and unfeeling. Beautiful! Try not bopping your head to this unadulterated freshness as you listen… it can’t be done.

Dieselboy – Render

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Maurizio – M6B

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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.

Maurizio – M4A

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Maurizio – Domina

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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.

Monolake – White II

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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.

Monolake – Ionized

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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.

Monolake – Cubicle

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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.