Author Archive
From his Chicago roots spring ties to 5 Magazine (where he contributed to their DJ mix series) and his edits on Partehardy Records, and he shows off a full range of sound on this installment to the Phonocast series. Stretching from raw electroid and industrial sounds to lush r&b and gospel house, to beatdown and funkadelic styles, [ READ MORE ]
Noleian, top notch experimental techno and house deejay and recording artist with solo releases on Mathematics, Tevo Howard Recordings, and Love What You Feel, plus appearances on Future Times, Creme Organization and Antenna International, sometimes one half of Africans With Mainframes… one of Chicago’s hidden talents. Come and check out his selections this Friday evening, [ READ MORE ]
Chicago-based producer & prolific live PA artist Lokua helps launch the new (also local) CPKay imprint with his debut EP. The 12″ is 3-part theme & variation on stonking, heavy, proper-techno sound. Very much in line with the recent works of Time To Express, Prologue and their ilk, this is a precisely produced salvo of [ READ MORE ]
Emphasis proprietor and Obsolete Music Technology alter-ego Steven Tang has always taken a hardware-driven approach to dreamy techno, with melancholy chords and dry punchy drums that align him with the Model 500 and Rhythim Is Rhythim side of the Motor City’s lineage. Overall, this well-formed EP is no exception. That said, the incorporation of the [ READ MORE ]
While admittedly a pricey collection, this is a real gem of a package. It was originally put out as a free / donation-based digital only album, but happily (perhaps due to strong listener response) Legowelt has self-released the beautiful, rough, personal recordings in vinyl package. Danny Wolfers describes the original project thusly: “Ok people here [ READ MORE ]
This week’s iteration of the Gramaphone Smartbar residency features Ross Kelly and Ike Release alongside regulars Michael Serafini and Scotty Brandon. These disk jockeys are sure to bring a healthy dose of the house music that Smartbar is revered for, and there’s a good chance of some deeper twists and turns as the night drifts [ READ MORE ]
Not quite old enough to be classic, I suppose, but DJ Jus-Ed and Anton Zap each have such a patient simplicity and unassuming groove to their productions, that this repressing might as well be categorized as the assured classic it will be a couple years down the road. Jus-Ed provides some of his stronger, more [ READ MORE ]
The Analogue Cops tend to bang it out and get a bit rough around the edges, in an almost antique-sounding way. Blawan tends to give rough, floor-ready superficially rough-hewn beats as well. The intersection of the two acts is all in-your-face handclaps, dry snares, scuffed shoes, half-samples, and droning changeless chords. All about atmosphere and [ READ MORE ]
Burial has released a new EP, much has already been written about it, I don’t think I have much to add that hasn’t already been said. It’s pretty cool. Here are what some other folks think. Pretty Much Amazing, The Quietus, Fact Magazine It’s at Gramaphone too. Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release! 2843 [ READ MORE ]
The dark horse series “Vanguard Sound” has been establishing an aesthetic of gritty, almost militant house music. The sound here straddles the range of haunted acid, industrial electro, jack, and techno. Amir Alexander‘s imprint continues the trend with its third 12″. As usual for the series, the tracks are varied and strong. DJ Spider’s Tribal [ READ MORE ]
New artist SVENGALISGHOST debuts with a 12″ of acid house powered by intense naked synth workouts. Deep Into Memory takes up the long side of the record with pad cushioned slow house groove (well under 120 BPM) haunted by spaced out squelches and punctuated by handclaps. On the other side, dueling arpeggiators take up the [ READ MORE ]
Robert Henke’s Monolake project continues to expand, develop, and explore the dark, clinically precise sounds and structures that he has been known for throughout his long career as musician. While he’s been highly regarded for his work outside of the realm of a studio artist, notably for his roles as an educator and his impressive [ READ MORE ]
Housefactors (aka Larry Heard, aka Mr Fingers, aka Fingers Inc) keeps it raw and uptempo on this full re-issue of his 1988 Blackmarket 12″. Originally titled “Play It Loud,” this EP has been repackaged with updated labeling but contains all of the original material from the seminal release. In the intervening years, house music has [ READ MORE ]
The glittering spiral arpeggios of the title track get Mr Beatnick‘s 12″ off to a summery start, and he maintains the somewhat Balearic house undercurrent throughout the rest of the packed EP. On this, his 5th 12″ and second for the UK-based Don’t Be Afraid imprint, he shows an assured hand in fusing lush electronics with beats straight-ahead enough [ READ MORE ]
Jeff Bloom (aka Bloom, PO!NTF!VE, and 1/2 of Broadway & Wilson) recorded an adventurous mix, cutting a swath through the Gramaphone records sale bin and unearthing some jazzy gems and jacking tracks. This set was recorded the evening of Thursday March 22nd, on two Technics 1200s in a one take blind-run[ READ MORE ]
Lady Blacktronika‘s vigorous variety of raw cut-and-paste deep house music seems to have really hit its stride with this release on her own Sound Black imprint. Braiding strands of gospel house, Detroit beat-down, and trippy deep grooves together for a sound signature all her own, her three solo tracks here each center around vocal textures. [ READ MORE ]
Fans of strange and beautiful house should be on the look-out as Atavisme has issued represses of French mastermind Pepe Bradock‘s Pistes Insolites series along with his Path Of Most Resistance 12″. While these aren’t as well-known as his earlier classic, Deep Burnt, they’re every bit as well-conceived, frequently delve into more idiosyncratic oddities, and are of [ READ MORE ]
The somewhat prolific Tin Man launches his 2012 season with this strikingly packaged 12″ on the young Shaddock imprint. It’s a solid release from Johannes Auvinen that further establishes the label’s attention to detail. Setting the tone, the opener T_DD_T_RRY starts with some noticably lo-fi hits but warms up with some big weighty chords and several change-ups [ READ MORE ]
Beautiful, melancholy, raw drum machine sounds and wandering melodies envelope the tellingly-titled A-side track; while there’s not a lot of movement through the song, it does set the atmosphere quite well. On the flip a more upbeat jam, Place Is A Machine Pt.1, weaves squeaky interlaced synthesizer lines reminiscent of Rephlex records’ timelessness. Closing out the EP [ READ MORE ]
Essential release from this Finnish producer. Finally, after several albums of material essentially available only to a European audience, he has a 12″ readily available for the stateside listeners. His music has the same ambiguous sheen and thoughtful attention to detail as the clever contemporary retro label art. It confidently straddles the divide of fully-fledged [ READ MORE ]