Now that record stores are stuck with a glut of mediocre house music mixes, it’s encouraging to know some labels are actually trying to inject some new life into the mix-CD genre. UK label Hooj, self-proclaimed occasional providers of “half decent house” fulfills its obligations with the decent Le Future Le Funk. Compiled and mixed by Red Jerry and Ross Cale, Le Future benefits from a wide range of track selections of glitzy, new-school house and techno, featuring Metro Area, Brooks, Swayzak, Mr. Velcro Fastener and Rokysopp’s remix of Mekon’s “Please Stay.” Sure, the mix could have been whittled down to one CD but this is still a far better listen than any Ibiza-related mix.
Sharpshooters Twice as Nice
Mr. Supreme and DJ Sureshot have deep-in-the-crates reputations that precede them, but make no mistake: this is not an obscure-vinyl wank-off. Instead, Supreme and Sureshot focus on production, fusing the best loops with live instrumentation in an appealing way. Most of the cuts are mid-tempo, groove-oriented affairs-minimalist, but not minimal. The Achilles heel is that the composition isn’t as good as the production. While most songs feature terrific loops and grooves, they don’t really go anywhere, and without progressions, even the best beats can become torpid. That may cut down the replay value of Twice As Nice, but it doesn’t diminish the sonic quality of the work presented.
Lee Fields Problems
I’ve considered Lee Fields’s “I’m the Man” to be one of the finest pieces of new-school funk for years, and finally it’s on an album, surrounded by songs of equal quality. Comparisons to James Brown are inevitable given Lee’s vocal style, but Problems is much more than an attempt to ape the Godfather. The production is perfect for this material, full of grit and open spaces, and-perhaps with a nod to future samplers-there are open drumbreaks galore. Lee’s songwriting shouldn’t be overlooked, either, as his attempts to bring social awareness to the dancefloor come off like early Public Enemy if P.E. had played funk instead of sampling it.
Various Artists Under the Influence: Mixed by Rob Swift
Hot off his acclaimed solo Sound Event, X-ecutioner Rob Swift proves that he holds a PhD in crate digging and selection with his volume of the Under the Influence series. Swift adds his personal touch by stitching early hip-hop, funk and soul together with his own scratches. Under the Influence opens with a flurry of snippets before working into the meatier tracks from the likes of Marley Marl and DJ Quick. By the end, Swift confidently drops his own track and closes with two salsa joints set to boombastic beats, completing the kind of narrative that evades lesser DJs.
Cex Being Ridden
Rjyan Kidwell makes me feel mad old. He’s barely into his twenties, and Being Ridden is the fourth full-length he’s dropped under the Cex name in as many years. Having mastered clank & grind IDM and goofball-white-man’s party rap on his previous albums, Kidwell now keeps the mic in one hand, the acoustic guitar in the other and the laptop nearby. While last year’s Tall, Dark and Handcuffed alternated between somewhat one-dimensional party jams and upbeat excavations of childhood and high school memories, Being Ridden is somewhat darker and as such automatically demands to be taken more seriously, fair or not.
However, the darker notes are well integrated into Being Ridden‘s grab bag of styles. Kidwell has gained confidence in his slightly awkward voice as a singer and rapper, and while he’ll never be Rakim on the mic, he can sit comfortably next to other melanin-challenged rappers like Gold Chains and Princess Superstar. But while those two sport cartoonish personas on wax, Cex successfully inverts the Kool Keith formula: where Keith’s many alter-egos serve to push outward aspects of his personality to outrageous heights, Kidwell uses the dichotomy between himself and Cex as a way to mine his inner depths.
To that end, Cex has kept his beats next-level and branched out, sneaking acoustic guitars in and around the rhythms, dropping in unedited field recordings as a breather (“Other Countries”), holding back from rhyming for an intense spoken-word style on the opener “The Wayback Machine,” and contrasting guest Craig Wedren’s shimmering croon with his own punkish howl. Venetian Snares shows up to add threatening violins and cellos to “Stamina,” a two-minute burst of high-wire braggadocio that underlines the new wrinkles. Even when Cex is giving the “middle finger to the indie rock singer” and wack MCs, we can hear him thrashing against his fear that he just might be one himself.
When Kidwell poses á la David Bowie’s Heroes on the cover, he’s clowning but simultaneously tipping his well-posed hands: just as Bowie’s late-’70s Berlin trilogy found him assimilating his runaway personas into one complex artist, Being Ridden finds Kidwell/Cex achieving synergistic power. On “Earth Shaking Event,” Kidwell sandblasts away the depression caused by a breakup by throwing on his Cex cape, then immediately turns around and explains how he keeps “the real Rjyan safe” by keeping “Cex at Arm’s Length.”
Technically, a record that’s as all over the map of styles as Being Ridden has no business being loved by anyone but self-styled eclectics, but it coheres around Cex’s ability to swing from strangely morbid stories, through haunting instrumentals, to bassbin-rattling indie-rap jams, and come out on the other side of catharsis. Kidwell is aiming at unedited truth, and on Being Ridden he’s getting close. By the end I don’t feel so old anymore.
Four Tet Rounds
If some artists make “bedroom” music, Kieran Hebden’s is gloriously, unequivocally “outdoors” music. His pastoral Pause was summertime incarnate, hazily ripe and warm “folktronica.” Rounds sees Four Tet again creating beauties that are at once densely swarming and breathtakingly expansive as it sets out for journeys across windy bridges by foot. It’s a far more dynamic album, with chimes and leaves and scraps of static scuttling along the ground, getting swept into tiny, dizzying vortexes. Much of Rounds feels a shift in cycles, a change of seasons in the air. It’s brisk and crisp, with staccato plucks and quivering busyness. In short, it’s absolutely gorgeous.
Various Artists Toast & Jam 9
Portland electro goes cruising for a bruising. Ten artists stumble around a house of sharp metallic corners and unforgiving doorframes in the dark, accumulating the sonic equivalent of scrapes and cuts. By far the most intriguing tracks are the ones that are the most energetically masochistic: Solenoid’s “Genclone 4” lurches out of every groove as soon as it settles into it, smacking itself brutally around. “She’s A Doctor, Too” and “Monkey Feet,” both by ML, are the most compelling, full of swaggering postures and sly hooks.
Bando Ritmo Domestico EP
Spanish techno conquistador and Patchwork founder brings his fourth title for Primate. With advanced vocal loop tactics and a brilliantly demonstrative synth lead, this project well represents the emotion behind this funk-minded artist’s style. For fans of Christian Varela and current Adam Beyer.
Sven Dedek & Alex Bau Psychomechanics at Work
The masterminds behind the Toneman imprint collaborate to present more percussive mania for Justin Berkovi’s influential techno jam. “Psychomechanics” tests the boundaries of experimental subtractive synthesis through innovative aural soundscapes. For those seeking proper medication, search no further.
Per Mikael Dungfakkadung
A bite of Gothenburg’s eccentric spirit is emitted here with driving pandemonium and soulful keys reminiscent of classic Swedish techno. A hygienic and well-engineered stereo atmosphere can be heard here, with an arrogantly vibrant bassline sure to sink the hook. Flip for a Leandro Gamez remix, which adds a seamless peak-club accent.
