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After a week of next big things and serious record company scrutiny, it's nice to take a step back and consider the tale of Morr Music's Borko. Having waited 6 years to produce his debut albm, Borko (aka Bjorn Kristiansson) is not in any hurry to cash in on his Mum-like sound.
Morr Music on the Web
Buy Borko's "Celebrating Life" at Boomkat
The amped-up Expansion Team Records is gaining traction. A partnership between producer Alex Moulton, Limore Shur and label manager Howard Wulkan, their mission seems to be to get as big as possible as fast as possible. So far, so good. With a hit cover of Gary Walsh's "Love Is Alive" and releases from John McBain and Malibu, their next big signing is a project called Ready Fire Aim.
RFA is a trio of inter-contenential chaps bred to use sound to their advantage. Whether lyrical, melodic or rythmic, each member has their own distinct contribution. The full-length, This Changes Nothing, is definitely worth seeking out, but what caught my eye was the remix from Plus Move, a Boston-based producton duo who seem hell-bent on maintaining control of their hype.
Only two guys (much like Justice or Simian Mobile Disco), the Plus Move partnership has been talked about for years. This remix is a certain demonstration why. They have a vortex-house style that swings at the right times and for the right reasons:
DOWNLOAD: Ready Fire Aim - So Fine (Plus Move Remix)
For years and year, Om Records has been burning up record bins and sales charts with a well-defined brand of bumpty-bump house. For anyone who's ever shopped in the dance music section,
Olivier Desmet - Hot On Your Trail (Kinky Movement Radio Edit)
Posted 2/28/2008 1:06 PM by David Day
Yeah so anyway, Boston. Of the many producers in town, there's this one guy named Matt Johnson. He works at the Apple store in the mall during the day, and at night boots up three computers and turns out club music that makes knees weak. He's mainly known as Emjae, that is, when he plays Mexico City and so forth. But his new project, Heartache, has been remixed by Lifelike, caned by DJs like Red Foxxx and is at the forefront of the new dance sound. His new label is called LaMode.
Maybe its those nasty edits or the exquisite production, but it's not. It's the melody. 9 out of 10 people dismiss dance music as soulless claptrap produced by robots, but in the end, dance music turns out some the best melodies in the world. It's demonstrated by Mr. Johnson here in the first download. The original track is quite sweet and simple. The production and edits are there, but the melody stands out. The club edit, though, is a club edit. It's made for about 2:45am.
It's what you play when people are slamming into the DJ booth, clothing is falling off and someone is spraying Private Stock like it's Veuve Clicquot.
Download: Heartache - You Got The Touch
Download: Heartache - You Got The Touch (Heartache Club Mix)
Unlike the rest of the RCRD Selector crew, who is in New York City, I'm based out of Boston. So far, I have yet to dip into the wealth of local rock and electro coming from what we call "The Hub" but believe you me, there is plenty to get to. From Drug Rug to Tanner Ross to Pretty and Nice to the Major Stars to the Conversions, there is a hell of a lot going on in and around what some call Basstown (don't call it Beantown, okay?).
With the upcoming SXSW festival, a caravan of acts is heading from Boston to Austin, one of which is Fantasy Mirrors. Begun as Cassette in 2004, the duo of synth whiz Michael Potvin and vocalist Nathanael Bluhm became a four piece + drum machine and now plot a unique course somewhere near Roxy Music, Giorgio Moroder and 70s MOR.The remixes forthcoming are quite good as well. Bluhm's voice lends itself to manipulation while Potvin's expert knowledge of synthesizer's does the same.
"My Place" is an exclusive peak into their newest work.
Download: Fantasy Mirrors - My Place
In the recent history of electronic music, America is making a sharp comeback. Long disregarded after the exploision of music from international centers like Barcelona, London and Berlin, our home-spun electro children are starting to wake up the world to the wealth of talent we have right here. Most folks regarded this phenomenon (and yes I mean "blog haus") as a passing fad, but thanks to stalwarts like Palms Out, Missing Toof and others, the scene is getting stronger by the hour.
You would expect San Francisco, with its Silicon Valley and hippie history, to be an apex of this movement and you'd be right. Parties like Lights Down Low, Kontrol and Blow Up are doing their damndest to keep kids moving. Relentless (Austin H and Ian Buzz) is brand-new to the scene, but their original tracks have as much current flavor to make them the next Digitalism or Crystal Castles--they combine the synths of Justice, the vibe of Gui Boratto and the drama of 1:30AM.
Download: Relentless - Blitzer Disco
Oliver Ho (aka Raudive) has done it all. From running labels to smelting genres to, like most producers, being a killer DJ. He's already been on top-shelf, Grey Goose-style labels like Klang Elektronik and now he jumps to probably one of the most popular and quality labels in techno land (think Smirnoff)--Poker Flat--run by international playboy and reputable producer of Steve Bug.
His "Needles" gets a remix from the man himself and opens the second disc of Dead Man's Hand, the sixth compilation in Poker Flat's annual series, which drops early in March. Its smooth minimal style isn't peak time, this is 8am type-stuff to help you pick your melted face up off the floor.
Lo Recordings is a boutique label out of the UK that specialists in a wide swath of fringe genres, from experimental ambient to rough-and-tumble beats. Lately, though, they have been stoning the milky disco style, with gems from slow-beat hero Prins Thomas, hipster disco goddess Sally Shapiro and the Rephlex-related quasi-anonymous Black Devil Disco Club.
For their newest on Lo Alternative Frequencies (or LOAF), they pick up on euro-weirdo Vincent Oliver and an all-star team of remixing talent. EP3 (out at the end of March) includes contributions from Rothko, Isan and this remix from Nathan Fake. All in beautiful, limited edition glory.
Fake comes from Border Community, which acts like a country kid coming to the city to bring ecstacy to the dancefloor, which is exactly what it is. Centered around the mongo-talent of one James Holden, Border Community is cherished by superstar DJs and record-collecting maniacs. Their event this Saturday at London's End Club features Holden, Apparat, Ripperton, Avus, Four Tet and Max Tundra (my god).
Fake is the most precious of their roster, generally sticking to wonderful snyth-pad lullabies and pastoral soundscapes. His remix of Vincent is all that plus more.
Download: Vincent Oliver - Cluods in the Haed (Nathan Fake Remix)
The criticisms of techno are easy to list: it's too robotic, too sexy, too evil. It sounds like it was made by a machine. Hell, a few years back, I was ironically given a T-shirt that said "God Hates Techno" with a little smiling Zeus-cloud on it. I love that shirt.
GummiHz is not here to humanify electronic beat music. GummiHz (aka Greek-born Alexander Tsotsos) is not shooting for "organic" or "warm." He is compelled by the machine, in the way Kraftwerk became "The Robots", Metropolis-style, Trojan horse type-shit. "Desire" is everything rockists hate about techno--it is most certainly robotic, it turns girls on and it's pretty much straight-up evil.
GummiHz mixed the latest label compilation for Mobilee (who offered us Cardini on Monday), which is srsly becoming the go-to label for lights-off dancefloor orgies. From Pan-Pot's cocaine anthem "Charly" to the productions of super-cool babe/label boss Anja Schneider, Mobliee knows how to do minimal right: put a sick, serpentine groove over nasty, acidic snyths and let everyone work it out.
Experimental music can come from nearly any country by all varieties of people. Whether the ultra-stoner psych-crack sound of the Boredoms, the blood and guts and theatre of Austria's Hermann Nitsch or the post-rock sprawl of Canada's Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It's part of the unique nature of experimental sound--anyone can do it. You don't have to be particularly social or attractive or, in some cases, human.
The case of Our Brother The Native is still remarkable. All three members were born after 1985 (the youngest is 19), yet the music has considerable weight and maturity. Perhaps its the economic nature of the Flint, Michigan region (made famous in Michael Moore's Roger & Me), or maybe its just that the trio is simply talented, but the music is moody without being heavy, well-composed yet free.
"As They Fell Beneath Us" is the second track from their second full-length due on February 28 from the UK's well-run and aesthetically tight Fat Cat Records.
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