Mund Auf Augen Zu
Non-Revival Alarm
7 Minutes
The Best of 2003
XLR8R closes the year with an in-depth look at the phenomenon of UK Bhangra. Drum & bass legends True Playaz prove that they’ve still got it and London club Fabric celebrates its fourth anniversary. Other features include a readers’ Best of 2003, an interview with Matmos, and features on Chicken Lips, Matthew Dear, Shynola, Disko B, Shut Up and Dance, Q and Not U, Animal Collective and the baddest underground UK soundsystems.
Dave AJU The Unerdoctor EP
Opening with a solid, steady rhythmic march, San Francisco’s Dave Aju takes minimal techno in hand and bumps it up a notch. The A-side keeps a straight four-on-the-floor pulsating with the perfect amount of tripped-out bleeps and audio twitches. The flipside runs with more of a creeping, cloppity, bass-heavy broken beat that makes your head slowly bob in a half-time count. A truly impressive four-track collage.
Various Electric Soul
Following their highly lauded Saturday Night Sunday Morning release, Manchester party dons the Unabombers have assembled a collection of tunes that could well function as the soundtrack to an afterparty, featuring an array of chilled-out grooves that gradually calm the endorphins after a massive night out. Chicagoan Peven Everett’s funky, future soul-laced “Testin’ Me” might suffice for a post-club boogie around the living room, while Jazzanova’s soothing harmonies on “Soon” warrant a large spliff and an overstuffed pillow. Winding this collection down are the lulling snares of seventies soul icon James Mason’s “I Want Your Love,” a perfect closure to both party and compilation.
Koop Waltz For Koop-Alternative Takes
Alternative Takes: a piece of remixology genius or Koop’s attempts to transform an originally flaccid album into something with more character? The jury is out, but one thing is clear: Swedish duo Oscar Simonsson and Magnus Zingmark aren’t about to be shoved into a box labeled “nu-jazz” on the basis of this compilation. It’s full of dancefloor variety; for example, the pacifying strings and vocals of “Tonight” hit ears just a few minutes before DJ Patife served up a floor-pounding drum & bass rendition of the title track. Genius or not, Koop definitely serves up a slice of the musical pie for everyone.
MIA Documentary
Nottingham’s Mark Bagguley, Tom Walsh and Jamie Floodgate are three ordinary chaps who took four months to complete a debut album many established artists couldn’t accomplish in ten. Documentary proves there need not be a brick wall dividing raw emotion and electronic music; perhaps this is why pinning these guys down to a single genre is next to impossible, unless an indie-electro-folk-chill-out section exists in some record stores. Whether they’re dropping in an intense drum loop or hissing snare, a carefully tweaked flute sample or the vocal melodies that haunt each track, there’s no question as to how well MIA combines multiple elements to produce music that’s both precisely written and expressively delivered.
A Skillz & Krafty Kutz Trickatechnology
Despite clever pseudonyms implying that they are music production masters, the debut album from UK duo A Skillz and Krafty Kutz contains more false promises than a presidential debate, with far less entertainment value. Twisted breakbeats are muffled by canned crowd noises or whining synths, while a bassline hinting at a potentially funky “Gimmie the Breaks” is marred by the cheese-encased lyrics of Kurtis Blow. About the only thing saving this album are the old-school piano grooves on “Give You That,” where the collaborative efforts of guest vocalists Obi and Real Elements make for a worthwhile track.
