Cassy Britton is a resident DJ at Panoramabar and this 24-track mix pays tribute to the Berlin club. Panoramabar 01 snags your attention with intelligent track choices and subtle shifts in mood and rhythm. The disc emphasizes basslines that raise spirits and libidos, and unusual textural exploration. Cassy’s mix gracefully combines serious tonal science with verging-on-peak-time euphoria-a tough balance to achieve. With a set including cuts by Melchior Productions, Ricardo Villalobos, DBX, Ø, Mathias Kaden, V/A, NSI, Auto-Repeat, and many more worthies, Cassy proves herself to be an uncompromisingly fantastic selector.
Ezekiel Honig Scattered Practices
At his best on Scattered Practices, Ezekiel Honig meshes elements of IDM’s rhythmic twitchiness and textures with dub’s immersive atmospheres, while creating melodies that probe emotional depths. But Practices‘ innate niceness makes engagement with this introverted music difficult. The most interesting track, “Going Sailing Refrain 2,” rides a deliberate, Wolfgang Voigt-like techno rhythm and is embellished with torqued clicks and a bizarrely warped choir, seemingly recorded in a well. Elsewhere, the disc recalls Junior Boys’ melancholy electro-pop without the mopey vocals, or Boards of Canada without the magical glaze of nostalgia for an unknown past.
Chris Herbert Mezzotint
Mezzotint slots snugly into Kranky’s mold of meticulously chiseled ambient acts (Loscil, Chihei Hatakeyama, Pan American). Birmingham’s Chris Herbert defines himself as a non-musician, and his tweaking of found sounds and field recordings reveals an intuitive grasp of forlorn moods and evocative, gradually evolving textures. The poignancy of a distant airplane-engine drone is a common motif in much beatless music, and Herbert employs the convention well. Within his subtly oscillating tone collages, a gentle struggle between tranquility and turbulence plays out. The result is like being submerged in a sensory deprivation tank while someone introduces nettles into it.
Wolf Eyes Human Animal
With the world-ending, scratch-and-scrape sounds that Wolf Eyes purvey, some might be led to believe that the ever-changing noise collective from Ypsilanti, MI will continue on long after its members are dead and gone. Hell, do any of the original folks still partake anyway? (Answer: yes, Nate Young.) But whether it‘s the evil, high-pitched din of the title track or the free-jazz-inspired “A Million Years” (they recently jammed with sax legend Anthony Braxton in Victoriaville, Quebec) you get the sense that the Wolf Eyes sound is indeed maturing. Formalism has replaced all-out entropy, as if the boys (with new member, Hair Police‘s Mike Connelly) are whittling down the mayhem into (not quite) neat little compartments–which, when placed side-by-side, still comprise a brutal, dizzying, high-inducing haze. Still don‘t get it? Think Fennesz playing an hour of Johnny Thunders covers.
J Dilla The Shining
The wait is over for the sadly departed J Dilla’s proper follow-up to Welcome to Detroit, but at first, it sounds like it might not be worth it. If you can see past the abominable opener, “Geek Down,” on which Busta Rhymes spits some high-school-style bravado over a weakish, kazoo-driven beat, then you’ll do alright; the lameness is quickly tempered by a particularly strong “E=MC,” with Common on the mic and quirky Jack Nicholson samples bringing up the rear. This Shining may not quite rival the brilliant beat tape Donuts, but it still manages to hold its own.
Various The ObliqSound Remixes Volume 2
The people at ObliqSound would like you to focus on this CD’s packaging, created by industrial designer Karim Rashid. But you, astute reader, just want to get the skinny on the music within. The second volume of remixes from the German label offers more than just a sleek look. An impressive array of producers draw the shapes: Atjazz, Nuspirit Helsinki, and Domu go for deep and groovy mixes that put each at the top of his respective game. Thumbs up on the whole package, inside and out.
Urban Delights Revolution No. 1
Malte Hagemeister and MC Harry K want to start a revolution by assimilating big beats and rock. To that end, the twosome flexes its artistic muscle, making Revolution No. 1 hard enough to please both clubbers and rockers. It’s a novel approach to the tried-and-true rock-pop song format; engaging vocals, brash guitars, and tight drum work all come through on tracks like “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Crash.” The revolution is coming! Feel the noise!
Dwight Trible Living Water
Originally a limited-edition release, Living Water is now poised to receive its long-overdue credit. From the first notes of the inspirational “Wise One” to the emotive pleading on “Peace,” Trible’s gift of gab is poignant and breathtaking. And that’s just the acapella tracks; his talented jazz trio (along with other guests) compliments the producer’s harmonious energy. In these mad times, Dwight Trible is an enlightening presence whose songs of humanity say plenty about us all.
Various Rainbow Soul: Volume One
Manchester neo-soul/broken beat label Phuture Lounge has come out the gate like a rocket, off and into the stars. Backed by production duo Phuturistix, the label boasts a stable of brilliant but unknown artists from the UK, Germany, and even San Francisco. PL takes the “soul” in their comp’s title literally; silky R&B cuts abound, including Hamburg-based Oezlem’s Patrice Rushin-inspired “New Era”-gorgeous! The bouncy funk of Fyza’s “Summer Groove” will satisfy IG Culture fans, and Mr. J takes you between the sheets with his “Intergalactic Love Affair.” Vintage Philly and Chicago soul inspires as this spaceship takes us all higher.
Various Rhythm & Sound: See Mi Yah Remixes
For this outing, Rhythm & Sound (German producers Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald) invites a cadre of free-spirited techno heavyweights to rework assorted Jamaican vocal tracks. Carl Craig injects rhythmic space and squelching effects to Bobbo Shanti’s “Poor People Must Work” while Substance micro-dubs singer Sugar Minott. François K casts vocalist Rod of Iron in drum & bass armor and Vladislav Delay makes Freddy Mellow feel cozy in his velvety beats. The album isn’t for dub purists; Rhythm & Sound takes a reggae foundation and builds a modern, echo-soaked edifice that would make Frank Gehry smile.
