A beautiful trip down memory lane, as High Contrast works in all your favourite old-skool sounds: female vocals, sax and even the odd air horn. While it sounds like a recipe for disaster, it’s definitely not! You can’t help but love this one.
Various Kingz of the Rollerz Vol. 3
The highlights of this four-tracker are D-Kay’s “Reach Inside” and the Usual Suspects’s “Sapphire 7,” both striking the perfect balance between lush pads and tough beats. Hats off to Doc Scott for supporting all styles of d&b.
Patrick Dubois Today
Daniel Erbe’s got one hell of an alter-ego. As Patrick Dubois, he creates luscious, minimal techno with a warm, fuzzy center. The bulk of the tunes on Today are heady, atmospheric tracks that throb with emotion and pulsate with an earnestness all too often suppressed in today’s more clinical techno works. Erbe’s tracks like “Run,” “My Cat” and “Sofa” resonate with the gentle, fragile beauty championed by minimal machine-music artists like Norken and Brothomstates. He sends up a dark homage to the ’80s with the unexpectedly tender android melodica of “Open Air,” and even his interpretation of modern house gets an ethereal touch on “Sushi Bar.” An arresting listen from beginning to end-Erbe has pulled off a surprisingly captivating tearjerker.
H-Foundation Environments
With Environments, Hipp-e and Halo have taken their trademark dubby, West Coast house beats and sharpened them up with a slick, Euro-cool patina and a hefty amount of leftfield influences. From the smart soul vocals on “Soul Searchin'” to the nu-jazz/broken-beat-influenced “Feelin'” and the filtered disco groove of “New Funk Theory,” these boys are taking house music for a spin. While the album is far from ground-breaking (the Jazzanova influences are fairly obvious, and many tracks retain a Chicago-style jackin’ house feel), it speaks well of H-Foundation’s exploration and successful incorporation of more daring musical ideas.
Gary Martin Viva la Difference
Detroit-based DJ/producer Gary Martin wisely eschews the four-to-the-floor panic attack in favor of a subtle, nuanced album of floor-filling techno stompers laced with bold brass and synth blips (take “Casa Cugat” and the resonant, percussive insistence of “Cidade Marvilhosa,” for instance), stripped-down breakbeat (the oh-so-sexy “Mambo Elektro”), and heart-in-throat, groovy minimal house tunes punctuated by pianos and the occasional vocal sample (check out the freaky goodness of “That’s What I’m Talkin Bout”). The album flows marvelously from beginning to end, offering up one odd, tasty electroid confection after another with a rare sense of restraint, a worldly sense of rhythm and a wry sense of humor. Lovely.
Dub Tractor More Or less Mono
With More Or Less Mono, Dub Tractor (a.k.a. Anders Remmer of Future 3 fame) pulls off a compelling and surprisingly delicate fusion of minimal techno, experimental glitch and heartbreaking melodies, all with a distinctively effortless air. Remmer sticks to an intriguing formula of snarled drum loops, random machine noise and sharp crackles, all wrapped up in hazy synths, dubbed-out effects and acoustic instrumentals. But he also exhibits an admirable sense of restraint. Tracks like “Hum (Part 4)” (which combines wistful vocals with a lazy guitar line and dreamy reverb) and “I Don’t Care” (a marvelous piece of space-age machine music) breathe with life and emotional depth, making this album an absorbing listen from beginning to end.
Smooth S/t
Cram Everything But The Girl, Morcheeba and Portishead into a blender, and you get the endearing, but somewhat derivative, Smooth. This Israeli band does a fine job of creating bleepy electronic soundscapes full of free-wheeling guitar work, shimmering synth lines and meandering melodies, but the end result is hardly captivating. “All Those Feelings” is a lovely piece of post-Radiohead rock and “Fill It Up” fits right into a dark, Generation X-directed TV police drama soundtrack. But the vocal theatrics and intense melodrama begin to wear a bit thin.
Various Stylistique Vol. 1: Paris Under a Groove
Smooth, slinky and seductive, Paris Under A Groove captures the slick elegance of a night on the town in the irrepressibly chic city. The disc strings together a collection of strong tunes from the likes of St. Germain, Terrasse Tranquille, Florian and other French acts, taking the listener on a journey from cold, classy lounge tracks to swanky French disco numbers and back to late-night chill-out grooves, all in the span of 72 minutes. A bit of a whirlwind rush, but most of the tracks are strong enough to make for a pleasant ride.
Aqua Basssino We Could Be Friends
Jason Robertson’s releases are always worth waiting for, and this one’s no exception. Edinburgh, Scotland native Robertson pleasures us with thick beats that evoke Romatt Productions’s Glasgow Underground classic “I Wanna Ride,” with its subtle, moving melodies and strong female vocals by Stacy Smith. Flip for the impossibly deep “I Wanna Get Down,” a track Harry The Bastard probably has slated for his next Club H offering.
Eleectracoustic So Close (Blaze Full Soul Vocal)
Kevin Hedge and Josh Milan relive the glory days of Body and Soul with this remix of “Electracoustic” that has Francois K and Danny Krivit stamped all over it. Aurora Dawn provides the sultry vocals, Hedge and Milan the tight garage beats and jazzy percussion. Slip this on during a Summerstage set and watch the crowd go.
