Don’t overlook this collaboration between Swedish producer Andreas Saag (Swell Session) and vocalist Jonatan Bäckelie (Ernesto’s) amid the flood of piss-poor white labels that will rain down on Miami’s Winter Music Conference. “Let Me Decide” enters with two minutes of staccato beats before dousing you in clever, distorted Rhodes chords and Bäckelie’s aching appeals. Add this to the growing list of broken beat-cum-house vocal tracks that stick like birch sap to your ears.
EZ Rollers Back to Love
The first single off EZ Rollers’ new album presents a meaty take on the disco drum & bass craze. Live elements play off synthetic drums, creating the full, rich sound that is the group’s trademark. The radio mix and “One Crazy Diva” track may be vocally over-the-top for some, but Roni Size delivers a pared-down, rolled-out version for the DJs.
3rd Edge Know You Wanna
I can’t wait for the day when DnD get to attack more American r&b remixes. The crew’s Big Vocal mix of this fairly substandard Craig David knock-off vocal track still bumps, but its bubbling techno sounds and rich bass would sound really ace under some vintage R. Kelly or even Brandy. Check the dirty dub for less class, more sass.
Friction and Nu Balance Burn Down
Friction rubs up against the bassbins for Charge sublabel Blade, generating some heat with “Burn Down,” which takes Digitalesque retro boom/clack-style beats and pairs them up with dramatic machine growls, a beeping melody and pounding bass. Flip for “Turmoil,” a predictable techy roller that evokes vintage Stakka & Skynet.
The Militia Music for the Masses EP
This four-man collective-featuring the talents of Stakka, Friction, Skinny and K Tee-continues on in the rolling sci-fi vein these producers love so well. “Music For the Masses” and “Electrolux” are relentless, pounding Amen crushers, while “Low Key” and “You and I Know” are swingy machine-funk with precisely placed female vocals. Considering drum & bass’s current warmth, these tracks sound a bit austere, but they’ll still have some dancefloor currency.
Tosca Dehli 9
Tosca (Viennese producers Rupert Huber and Richard Dorfmeister) have been inducing quality buzzes in downtempo fans since their 1997 debut, Opera. On their third studio album, Tosca diversify their rich, bass-heavy sound to new heights of creativity. Deploying a variety of singers, the duo repeatedly hit the sweet spot between dubadelic splendor and midtempo house-y sensuality. Further, two tracks recall David Byrne/Brian Eno’s menacing funk classic “Regiment,” while two more luxuriate in tropical bossa climes without sounding trite. A second CD of 12 melancholic, minimalist piano works with subliminal drones and dubby FX conjures images of Harold Budd tickling ivories while Monolake stirs soups of gray noise.
Andre Afram Asmar Race to the Bottom
This disc finds underground-hip-hop hotbed Mush deviating into radical multicultural inventiveness. On his second album, LA producer Andre Afram Asmar unearths dub’s roots and then fertilizes them with exotic seeds from Africa, the Middle East and Crooklyn. Asmar consistently keeps things eerie and disorienting, but he retains a soulful humanity amid the studio sorcery. Race To The Bottom is as sonically radical as mystical iconoclasts Muslimgauze and Badawi, but with a more uplifting spirit than either. Arabic-dub juggernauts like “Camel Clutch” and “Traptivity” are potently psychedelic antidotes to the dull worthiness of most world-music-inflected fusion.
Aphex Twin 26 Mixes for Cash
IDM icon Richard D. James has never hidden his mercenary tendencies. Despite (or because of) this crassness, Aphex Twin has cranked out some of his most interesting-and absurd-music while tweaking other artists’ tracks. The range of people remixed on 26 Mixes For Cash is astonishing, and it allows James to unveil many facets of his musical arsenal. Aphex shows his serious-composer aspirations by reworking pieces by Philip Glass (covering David Bowie) and Gavin Bryars; satiates his easy-listening jones with Mike Flowers Pops, Nobukazu Takemura and Gentle People; flexes acid-techno muscles with 808 State, Meat Beat Manifesto and Baby Ford; welds eerie ambience with intricate breakbeat programming for Curve, Cylob, Nav Katze and St. Etienne; and does heroic reupholstering with Nine Inch Nails. Two previously unreleased Aphex tracks-“Windowlicker (Acid Edit)” and “SAW2 CD1 TRK2”-make this essential for completists, but those cuts are of curio value only.
Mira Calix Skimskitta
Skimskitta is an elusive, ambitious work that’s ultimately disappointing. The follow-up to 2000’s more focused and accessible OneOnOne, Skimskitta possesses too many brief tracks that come off merely as quasi-interesting filler or failed experiments. Throughout Skimskitta, Mira Calix (Chantal Passamonte) uses her voice as a gossamer tarp under which she layers drones and dirges of varying hues and timbres, and she occasionally brings in some percussive bedlam to shake up the sonic stupor. While Passamonte’s keen ear for odd tones and peculiar arrangements pique interest, she fails to construct anything very memorable from her mad grab bag of sonic tricks.
Mickey and the Soul Generation Iron Leg: The Complete Mickey and the Soul Generation
When a beat junkie like DJ Shadow goes to extraordinary lengths to reissue your long-forgotten songs and pen eight pages of liner notes to boot, you must’ve done something right(eous). And so Mickey And The Soul Generation have done, as the 19 tracks on CD1 prove Quannum’s included a six-track bonus disc of live recordings. From 1969-1977, this San Antonio sextet served up sizzling funk nuggets that will make fans of the Meters, James Brown, Bar-Kays, etc. say “Damn!” With soul-blaring tenor saxes, wah-wah guitars, rippling organ washes and a tight-as-fuck rhythm section, Iron Leg should inspire hip-hop producers to get their samplers humming.
