Bay Area dubwise house label celebrates its second birthday with two uptempo remixes of Organic Groovers Zeb and Sasha’s South Asian-flavored downskank. Sen-Sei & David Coleman jam it up with some epic keyboard-laden party atmospherics, while Dub Theory & Lyon St. Dub keep the minor key, then congo-trip it up. Propulsive.
Nottz Presents DMP Don’t Wanna Give That Up
This track could just as easily go by the alternate title “I Used to Love H.E.R.B.” Yet another joint joint, with Mary Jane personified as the love that can’t be forsaken. The samples and chorus are Jay Z-esque, with fairly clever metaphors and on-point delivery. Inhale.
E DOT Thirsty EP
Break north, make all the Canada jokes you want, but Edmonton native E DOT is realer than a hockey fight. This EP is strong throughout, but the gem is “Mixtapes,” a loving homage to the artistry of a well-composed compilation (with pointers to ensure heavy Walkman rotation).
Imperial Element Erection
There’s more to Atlanta’s hip-hop scene than Jermaine Dupree and Outkast, but don’t expect this 12″ to change the city’s musical image. MCs T.I.M.E. and Balance drift on and off of producer Aslan’s murky beats and the trio never quite gels as a crew. Roll out.
Belles in Monica What D’Ya Need
UK hip-hop is just like American hip-hop, but not really. It’s still recognizable as hip-hop, but something’s…different. Fortunately, Belles In Monica’s MC Kruze overcomes his Glaswegian brogue (sounding almost like Chuck D) on this dark banger. Produced by Krash Slaughta and remixed by London’s Unsung Heroes. Och, aye.
Cuica City to City
Brazilian music is by nature propulsive and alive; those who try to synthetically replicate the fervent rhythms often miss the point. Not so here-Cuica succeeds by embracing the sexy elements of electronic music that most match steamy traditional rhythms. Following on the success of their “Trommell Monster” single, the full length City to City travels through broken beat, nu-jazz and house to render something like a troupe of cutting-edge analog-synth junkies infiltrating a Brazilian percussion ensemble. The end result is infectious and fully club-worthy. Though the album is original and fresh, beats and movement are not sacrificed for the sake of innovation. In other words, sexy electricity.
Various Artists DJ Hell: Electronicbody Housemusic
Deutschland’s debutante DJ and transatlantic electroclash icon DJ Hell did much to set the foundation for 2002’s most fashionable movement. Now Electronicbody-Housemusic shows that Hell can mix and match tracks as well as he does clothes. Disc one features indomitable talents such as mantra-providing Underground Resistance, Metro Area, Derrick Carter, Recloose, Jeff Mills, Playgroup and more, while disc two is razing, dazing nigh-industrial (Nitzer Ebb, Bigod 20, Front 242 with Green Velvet, El Loco, David Caretta plus many). Soon, you feel you’re in a sweaty German discotheque with equal emphasis on disco and techno. Hell’s “electronic house” is sweeping, thumping, synth-string stabbing stuff, vocal but less theatrical or gimmicky than the acid-electro pop often associated post-Fischerspooner. Hell’s EBM, meanwhile, simply pounds. Sometimes the computer-assisted melodies and minimalism are not perfectly transitioned, but Hell exhibits an ear for retro-futuristic rhythms, even if not quite as sharp as his eye for future hits.
Various Artists Victor Davies: Remixes
The voice of London’s East End singer/songwriter Victor Davies is one of elemental comforts, both earthy and airy. Consequently, Davies’s self-titled 2001 album and newly released Remixes are quilted from warm, colorful patches of soul and samba, acoustics and electronics, the source material coveted by producers like Berlin’s Jazzanova (head of Davies’s label, appropriately). With a gauzy sheen of ’70s folk/funk finesse, Davies recorded elements classic and contemporary, timeless and timely. Now, first-string nu-jazz/broken beat producers-including Nuspirt Helsinki, Bugz In The Attic, Da Lata and Procreation, as well as house heads (Masters At Work, Leme, Wahoo) and hip-hop headz (Mark Rae, Only Child)-not so much update as refit six tracks, ranging from downbeat to tribal, yet remaining as complementary in sensuality and cohesive in whole as the original.
Various Artists The Orb: Back to Mine
If the Orb’s Back to Mine is to be believed, Alex Paterson’s living room is patterned after the multi-hued chill-out room of an early ’90s acid house club, all soft pillows and harsh edges. Kaleidoscopic melodies drift as phantom beats creep like spider legs through thin walls, caressing the scalp. Opening like seminal series Artificial Intelligence-featuring Aphex Twin, B12, Charles Webster’s deep house and Juno Reactor’s more tribal tones-the Orb’s after-hours explorations then traverse more bass-heavy undulations before closing with ambient minimal tech from artists including Electric Chairs, Joachim Spieth, F.F.W.D. and Schneider TM, along with a Paterson exclusive. The result is smoothly transitioned wide-screen headphonics, snaking to an ethereal echo perfectly suiting the shadows dancing in the corner of one’s eye.
Asphalt Jungle Electro Ave.
As Asphalt Jungle, New York partners Brian Tarquin and Chris Ingram follow nicely in a long line of electronic duo dynamics. The propulsive mood of Electro Ave. won’t surprise anyone familiar with the Crystal Method, Cirrus, Apollo 440, Hard Knox, Prodigy and the like. Breaks steamroll, gathering grit, while keyboards twitter and guitar tones that would garner Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix’s approval scream towards the stratosphere. Asphalt Jungle has composed pieces (some included here) for MTV’s Road Rules and the urgency, the need to keep attention, fires through the pumping, flexing music, while pleasantly contrasted by a handful of jazzy, almost Ben Neill-like scores. There is little new about Asphalt Jungle’s fierce big-beat funk, but the duo add an invigorating raw flair that’s distinctly theirs.
