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 on. As usual, it’s a 21+ event with no cover charge.
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 up-tempo work here, very much in the vein of Steffi and Tama Sumo, Project with its incessantly insistent lead synth and piano counterpoint, and CT Beatdown with a gentle sway. Anton Zap has some truly glowing moments here too, both tracks feel slow, enticing, and stuck in a sort of endless afterglow.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 energy, and yet somehow infectious and maybe even catchy. Recommended for fans of either act solo, or fans of Tobias. & Pink Elln’s acid live bits.
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
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.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 Mechanism is an easy stand-out: as per the title it’s mostly based around organic drum samples in a variety of timbres, creating a faultless fusion with his frequently urban apocalyptic flair. Hakim Murphy‘s contribution is a creepy minimal acid house joint with a broken beat-underpinning. On the A-side, Chris Mitchell contributes a forceful and blocky industrial track. And to round out the four, the compilation opener by Amir Alexander is essential: based around a Malcolm X sample, it proclaims that “Violence is a part of America’s culture, it is as American as cherry pie.”
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
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 midrange of the slightly-more-uptempo Mars Out Of Range while double kicks and claps ride above and below. And closing out is Marathon, a rolling acid house tune reminiscent of some of James T Cotton‘s style. And of course, all of this on the strong L.I.E.S. imprint, which has been frequently turning heads.
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
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 installation projects, he’s clearly mastered his craft as a techno producer and is having a good time painting with the palette he’s established.
Texturally he stays well within the bounds of classic techno but there’s not a four-on-the-floor beat to be heard throughout. Rather, scattershot rhythms with echoes of breakbeat, industrial, dubstep, and even tribal references all play out in his immersive environmental soundscapes. This is a restless, hard-to-categorize collection perhaps aligned with similarly bold recent albums by Surgeon and Amon Tobin.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 undergone a variety of transformations, so that this rugged, acidy jack sound fits more alongside contemporary jacking techno, dutch sounds, and even echoes of the Rephlex and Mathematics releases it no doubt inspired. It is machine-made warehouse music with Larry Heard’s signature ear for melody weaving subtly through two of the three tracks. It’s a very relevant re-issue released on the creator’s own imprint.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 to appeal to the dreamier side of the dancefloor. It’s a different direction for Don’t Be Afraid, though – Semtek‘s ragged dark beats throughout much of the label’s catalogue are a striking contrast to the bright, sultry stylings of the Sun Goddess 12″. Certainly one to check for, especially for fans of recent Buzzin Fly, Permanent Vacation, and Mule Electronic neo-tropicalia.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
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.
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. The samples are at once illuminating and ominous.
Fred P of Soul People Music has also been pulled in for a remix on this, his contribution stays uncharacteristically faithful to the original: he partially submerges the original sounds under a blanket of his customarily emotive chords, but the grit of Lady Blacktronika’s composition remains central. Clearly, she continues to hone her sound and this accomplished EP is a testament to that progress.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 course are the furthest flavour from the French touch craze. Tip.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 as he moves through the track, an easy late-night jam that doesn’t so much create momentum as maintain and massage the vibe. On S_MPL_HOUSE he opens with chords instead, giving the track more of an immediacy and hook-based quality than the first. Still this is Tin Man in house-mode, without the slow-motion acid workouts or loungey-vocals of some of his earlier works. On the B side he dips well into Soundhack territory: AUT_REPEAT with its repetitive & hard-panned stab sample and squared-up marching beat, and DJSN_K with a Todd Terry swing and again completely squashed stab samples providing the meat of the tune.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 is a rugged, hot freestyle drum and acid workout, rounding out a record that is all substance and no flash.
Altogether, it’s a remarkably strong solo outing from this promising Japanese producer, and another brick in the wall for the classic stylings of the Italian Kinda Soul imprint.
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
For a genre steeped in masks, aliases and anonymity from its onset, it’s impressive just how exceptionally enigmatic the duo behind Drexciya were among their Detroit techno contemporaries. Blending science fiction, mythology and, um, marine physics and biology, the pair crafted vivid portraits of a universe deep within the sea that came across like Bladerunner meets Atlantis with allusions to mysterious lifeforms and traversing mazes with grid patterns and sonar location. But conceptual undertones aside, they consistently crafted powerful and immersing soundscapes with razor-sharp precision and an assured sense of purpose moving continually forward.
This, perhaps overdue, collection arrives as a labor of love from the connoisseurs at Clone Classic Cuts to compile selected highlights from Drexciya’s pre-album-era early catalog. While some collectors with especially deep pockets may want to seek out the original run of Drexciya EPs which were released throughout the 90′s by labels like WARP, Rephlex and Underground Resistance, Journey of the Deep Sea Dwellers serves as a fantastic primer (and it’s a great companion piece to the Tresor albums which were recently re-pressed too). It’s animated with liveliness and it’s sequenced for narative arc as if it were the ultimate full-length Drexciya never released themselves.
The fundamental nuts and bolts of the Drexciya sound stemmed from careful and attentive programing of gorgeously clunky machines. The cymbals and snares from track to track here hit with the rickety treble of hisses and clanks while syncopated bass drums feel more like fast-paced staccato punches over percolating 8-bit arpegios and sometimes billowing pads.
Check out a track like “Bubble Metropolis” for an archetypal example of the variation on electro that the duo did so well. The oscillating arpegiations whirl around like the propulsion of submarine turbines wading through the barometric shifts of descending ocean depths. The slick bass notes then evoke visions of bizarre creatures whizzing past your view as a voice-over navigates the ride. Elsewhere, songs like “Sea Quake” or “Darthouven Fish Men” display a harder hitting sound ready-made for early-90′s warehouse raves. These tracks are somewhat more harsh than much of their other output, but they’re dancefloor dynamite and they sound more closely linked to Detroit techno of that time (especially something like the alarm sirens in “Ground Zero (The Planet)” from Jeff Mills and Mike Banks’ X-102 project.)
The overall effect of this compilation – both thematically and musically – feels something like Kraftwerk‘s Autobahn fast-forwarded far into the future and re-imagined as driving music for a sub-aquatic super-highway – or “Aquabahn as it’s called in “Bubble Metropolis” – for submarine odysseys. It’s outlandish yet easily approachable and verges into techno, electro, synth-pop and architectural soundscapes, but throughout, it remains inviting music conceived for and by imaginitive minds with a propensity for irresistible rhythms.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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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 songwriting, downtempo, and house music, not unlike Royksopp or The Avalanches. Don’t sleep.
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
Jeff Bloom of Broadway & Wilson will stop by Gramaphone Records on Thursday March 22nd to celebrate(?) this heat wave with some cool house music selections for Phonocast 05.
Prolific Chicago-based producer & multiple-label owner Hakim Murphy releases his latest full length on his own Machining Dreams imprint. “There is just yourself, thoughts, and phrases” he blurrily imparts in the album’s opening monologue, before launching into his characteristically stark yet warm dry beat craft.
He has slowed things down for this collection, and tempo well-below 120 BPM emphasizes the space between the rhythms, and the variety of tones with which he fills those vacancies. As the first movement of the album progresses, the tracks move from beat-focused workouts with hesitant keyboard sprinkled in, towards the slow pulsating chords of “Awaken,” the harsh insistent consistency of “Underground,” and finally an almost entirely atmospheric foray with “Essence Synthesis.” After this inconspicuous evolution, he moves into a more developed, early Detroit sounds on “Sensory” and “Reborn.”
Finally, the eagerly awaited “Arise” features; easily a crowd favourite in his recent DJ sets it is anchored by a provocative narrations about the nature of modern society. It’s a fitting and memorable centerpiece for the release, and benefits from the ominously crawling pace. Trailing that, only the brief and even slower “Societies” remains to close out the release.
This album shows a promising new direction and continued growth in Murphy’s production without straying too far from the raw, signature style that has established his repetoire thus far. And with DJ Spider appearing in the mastering credits, this could easily be a bit of foreshadowing of his projects to come.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
Second in Truncate‘s series of eponymous stamp series tool 12″s, Jack takes its name from the pitched-down vocal hook of the first cut. The A side stays well within the realm of Robert Hood via Berghain & Tresor stripped techno with reverberant elements (read: dub techno.) On the flip, the tracks get a tiny bit more colourful: B1 features a late-breaking dubby stab anchoring the tune, while b2 is centered around a high-pitched klaxon monotone alarm. All in all, a quartet of reliable tool techno cuts with touches of syncopation and a rather contemporary sound shaping.
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2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
Lulling, warm, padded techno is fast becoming the trademark of this somewhat innocuous stamp-imprint. Recondite‘s third entry in the series continues the trend, and while the presentation is unassuming enough, it contrasts against his well-connected track-record thus far: with licensing from Ostgut‘s Nick Hoppner, Scuba for !K7, and Eddie Richards for Resident Advisor, Plagent is anything but under-the-radar.
Visit or call Gramaphone Records today to hear this release!
2843 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 472-3683
