While I’m not the world’s biggest fan of trap, all that means is that I just have a low threshold for the bad stuff. Fortunately, King‘s debut album in no way falls into this category. King’s dedication to his craft, his open-mindedness towards other styles and his refusal to be constrained to one style or genre will surely help the Sin City producer to carve out a lasting career in the world of electronica.
Three years since ‘Black Sands’, Bonobo is back and he faces his greatest challenge to date. Having created a masterpiece he now has to follow it up. While many would crumble under the pressure and record something completely insane under a new alias before unsuccessfully trying to recapture the magic of the old days, Bonobo is made of sterner stuff. ‘The North Borders’ is an ambitious follow-up and does not disappoint, challenging what has gone before it and absorbing just a hint of his contemporaries.
Signed to Kerri Chandler’s magnificent MadTech Records, Seb Wildblood has been kicking around for some time. Either as the head of Church Records, producer or remixer, Wildblood has been a hugely influential figure in techno since I was in short trousers.
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Artifact, Church Records, Kerri Chandler, MadTech Records, Seb Wildblood, Thefft
FaltyDL‘s come a long way since his early stateside take on garage: his new album ‘Hardcourage’ is the very embodiment of this journey. His approach to composition, sound levels and design have matured immensely.
I’ve always upheld the belief that a good album should be a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Apparently, Glaswegian-born producer Soosh feels the same way. ‘Colour Is Breathe’, his debut album released on Error Broadcast, is a perfectly conceived album that progresses and builds as a single, cohesive piece.
You may remember a recent compilation put out by Innovative Leisure which featured a new Machinedrum track. Well, it appears these guys mean business as they’ve just released the new Nosaj Thing album, ‘Home’.
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Tagged Blonde Redhead, Innovative Leisure, Kazu Makino, Nosaj Thing, Toro Y Moi
Released on his own Photek Productions, ‘KU:PALM’ is Rupert “Photek” Parkes’ First album in over a decade (excluding 2007′s ‘Form & Function Vol. 2). It also continues in the vein of his recent singles which marked a departure from the intelligent drum & bass sound he became famous for. ‘KU:PALM’ is more streamline and more club-friendly than previous albums without sacrificing the care and attention to detail that has always set apart from his contemporaries.
Released on Smalltown Supersound, Lindstrøm‘s ‘Smalhans’ differs somewhat from its proggy, leftfield predecessor, ‘Six Cups Of Rebel’. With antiquated disco synths shimmering over a deep and luscious low end, ‘Smallhans’ is an immediate return to the dancefloor, recorded straight after ‘Six ‘Cups.
It’s no surprise Alexander Hacke was recruited to remix the opening track of Tussle’s new album, ‘Tempest’. The whole album feels like the culmination of that exciting period in the 70s and 80s when a jet engine and a spanner were considered legitimate musical instruments. And I mean that in a good way.
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Alexander Hacke, Einstürzende Neubauten, Smalltown Supersound, Tussle
Recently I wrote about DFRNT‘s alias AGC Esquire, a slick eighties-inspired project that called to mind the greatest (and often the most sinister) soundtracks of films like Dune, which were produced at the time, or films like Drive, which came out much later but that encapsulate the decade of decadence and lavish spending.
