Me’ prefer soft moaning. But if you’re into some shrieking psycholovin,’ meet Mu and hold tight-the lady’ll take you on some wild ride. We get wide splatters of all kinds of great beats from Maurice Fulton (a.k.a. Dr. Scratch), like “Jealous Kids”‘s atonal electro slashed with tribal drums and Mu’s Japanese-accented petulance. It’s drum-circle-meets-electro-thunder, ripped through with some Latin influences and ruptured by Mu’s piercing yelps. They’re cathartic to a point, but must we get so art-house? Where do you draw the line between potentially iconoclastic and just memorably irritating? Afro Finger & Gel is a squirmy hellcat, thankfully totally unafraid of its weirdness.
Swayzak Fabric Live
UK club Fabric’s mix series offers a sleek, tech-tickled disco romp from suave production duo Swayzak. Akufen’s signature “Skidoos” is like a slo-mo shot of glittering mirror ball confetti tossed from the hands of a go-go dancer high above the dancing crowd. It mixes into Luomo’s ultra-sultry “Present Lover,” a total conceptual go, although slightly awkward melodies halt its momentum. “Hoping” features middle-aged Kitty-Yo crooner Louie Austen’s earnest vocals topping some inventive-as-fuck, Herbert-tweaked beats. And “Hell yes!” to the warm jazzy dub fuzz of the Rockers Hi-Fi track. Swayzak keeps their sweet collection of tracks nicely restrained without being icy for the first half, before moving into harder, Lucite-heeled stormers by the likes of DFA’s LCD Soundsystem and Metro Area.
Various The Last Minute
The Last Minute is essentially a soundtrack to glittering guttercrime and underworld Brit brutality. The movie went straight to video here in the States without much noise, but from what I gather, it ran along the lines of Guy Richie’s work, urban, savvy and slickly grimy. The soundtrack covers the bases from chase to capture to codeine calm, offering up Leftfield’s adrenaline pulse, El-P’s menacing “Deep Space 9mm” step, and “Fly Hawaii,” Luke Vibert and BJ Cole’s euphoric Hawaiian slack-key guitar piece. Featuring also an original Amon Tobin track deep as a whale murmur with Bollywood drizzled on top, and a fierce thump from Bogdan Raczynski. “
Rough Americana S/t
Rough Americana is a live-sampled burlap weave of coarse, scratchy strands of sound as disparate as soapbox Jello Biafra, ghostly Missy Elliott and sinewy Egyptian beats from the looms of two Brooklynites, DJ Mutamassik and Morgan Craft. It’s got the irregular patternless texture that marks the handmade, every improvised moment of high abstraction as utterly different as the one before. “Amid Debris” is the rare track with a filtered, staticky beat topped with guitar noodlings and thin, plucky samples; otherwise, Rough Americana eludes most melody and rhythm. Check the two “Memphis” tracks-“USA” and “Africa”-that wriggle just beyond grasp.
Umek Voices Of Africa Vol. 3
This year’s releases for Primate have only proven more powerful as the catalog grows, but this installment leaves much to question. Completing the compilation trilogy, Umek drops another organically influenced bit of minimal techno progression. The production is clean, of course, but this just lacks a solid hook and that expected Primate bang.
Tonio & The Hacker Connexion
One of France’s leading exports teams up with electro/techno forefather The Hacker to install this label’s debut title. Experimental synth patches lay atop an anticipated electro-esque techno jam, perfect for IDM laptop geeks. The upcoming titles from this young imprint seem promising, as names like Marco Bailey and Laurent Ho are to be dropped.
Solid Players Part 2
Joining global forces, this EP reeks of what remixers from around the world can create via audio manipulation. From Tuomas Rantanen’s hard driving mix to the more tuned yet atmospheric mix by Cozmic Spore, this twelve-inch has promise as an adequate percussive bridge. Definitely a solid complement to this label’s versatile and enchanting discography.
JEL FORD But Wait..There’s More EP
Head of design at Jericho Records, this club-eared techno engineer launches his debut appearance on Tortured with a diverse double-pack. From shuffled-up samba-like fillers, to dark, intensely layered melodic soundscapes, this EP proves effective for all kinds of crowds.
Various 1Uutiset
These audio dimensions prove quite hot despite their parent country of Finland. Extremely unusual yet brilliantly mental, this compilation EP screams the direction of Drumcode from yesteryear. This collection features heavily saturated reverb covering screechy, loopy synths, a bit of distortion developing the percussion, and a light touch of refined keys, all packed in a Finland newspaper. A perfect cultural sampling.
Various Roots & Dub
Truth in advertising-what a quaint ideal. Tired of a world inundated with hyped exaggeration and obvious factual manipulation to suit dubious ends? Seek shelter in this rock-solid compilation of classic reggae roots tracks, each followed by their dub version. Bim Sherman’s “Happiness” and its dub by Yabby You are heavy, as are contributions from Horace Andy, Black Roots, Sugar Minott, Sly & Robbie and Roots Radics. Sample this classic reggae and chill dub set, a simple musical Band-aid for these shattered, complex times.
