Various Artists Tiga: DJ Kicks

Equally adored and maligned for his remake of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night,” fellow Canadian Tiga is very much of this moment, what with his unrepentant affection for all things ’80s. His devotion to artificial fabrics and doughy skin has even made him the kind of International Pop star Fischerspooner so dream of being. Here, although he shows some nice handling of the ones and twos and though he does include some solid tunes (DFA’s mad remix of Le Tigre’s dyke-punk anthem “Deceptacon” and Soft Cell’s “So” come to mind), the guy just seems like he could use some time outside the ’80s vacuum. It just seems like it’d be healthy. And a bit less constricting.

Various Artists Tigersushi Presents: More God Dammed Music

The premise for Tigersushi’s More G.D.M 12-inch series is fairly straightforward. Put a hard-to-find old-school, disco-punk or arthouse “classic” from the late ’70s/early ’80s (i.e. Gina X, Material, Cluster, Silver Apples, Chapter Three) on one side. On the other, put a corresponding song that shows the influence the aforementioned artist has had on contemporary producers (i.e. Metro Area, Maurice Fulton, Alice Machine, John Tejada). Here then, collected on CD for the discriminating home listener, are the four EPs put out by the French imprint thus far, plus five more exclusive rarities from the legendary likes of Bush Tetras and Tokow Boys. And bless those Frogs. There’s nary a fizzle on here-only gem after gem after gem.

Juju The Barrio Funk EP

Taking it up a notch for the label’s tenth release, Juju drops a monstrous double-pack that captures his vision perfectly. From the steady-pumping “Vampiros” to the Fabio-inspired “Far Away,” Juju touches on all corners of his sound. “Silencio” takes it down that dark, growling road before the thugged-out remix of Red Army’s “Salty Dub” proves to be the perfect knockout punch.

Frankman Different Divides

In 2002, you could have been forgiven for believing that every German house music producer possessed something akin to the Midas touch, so impressive was the continual barrage of releases from Kompakt, Playhouse, Trapez, et al. Andreas Greiner Jun (a.k.a. Frankman) has the dubious honor of demonstrating that, on occasion, they do ordinary, too. That’s not to say Different Divides is completely undeserving of attention. Rather, it’s that it instantly becomes familiar, and for all the wrong reasons: the sounds involved have graced one too many cellphone commercials and Zita’s occasional vocals do little to set her apart. Hell, even the track titles-“Sunrise,” “Night Drive” and, fittingly, “Gimme More”-display a lack of any real effort.

Various Artists Famous When Dead Two

It’s a Playhouse compilation, but not as we know it. The highly acclaimed first offering in this series concentrated on documenting the achievements of Playhouse’s own artists. This time, in-house DJ Ata sets his sights further afield, with the resultant 11 tracks-from various artists and labels across the globe-connected only by the moods and themes they explore: deep, distinctive and, ultimately, danceable house music dominates. Hi Lo impress with alluring loungey grooves; Drew Matmos’s The Soft Pink Truth attracts the attention of the click-house clique and sample police simultaneously; Detroit’s Anthony “Shake” Shakir creates unnerving machine funk, as only he can; and Etroneek Funk’s “Everytime” is so good, it warrants purchase of the accompanying vinyl package alone.

Thomas Fehlman Visions of Blah

Thomas Fehlman-collaborator with The Orb, Sun Electric and other seminal ambient artists-has never gained much notice for his own work, but the excellent (and ironically named) Visions of Blah should nudge him a little closer to notoriety. At first glance, Visions sounds like a step backwards into the Kompakt catalog: the circusy-stomp of “Streets of Blah” sounds much like the triplet techno Mike Ink was turning out a decade ago. But with the punchier “Superbock” and “Rotenfaden” Visions‘s forward scope becomes clear. Beyond the churning rhythms and unusually propulsive energy, Fehlman’s real talent is in startlingly complex sound design, drawing together a wealth of textures and timbres rich enough to make run-of-the-mill minimal techno look black-and-white by comparison. Indeed, far from minimalist, Visions-which isn’t afraid to flood its rhythms with torrents of chords until its pulse is as indistinct as the rocks beneath rapids-distills pop’s over-the-top pleasures into a deep, shimmering pool of harmonic excess. And you still just can’t get enough.

Guitar Sunkissed

You’re right: Sunkissed, the debut album from Digital Jockey and a handful of collaborators (Ayako Akashiba, Regina Janssen, G?nther Janssen) sounds uncannily-some might say almost inexcusably-like My Bloody Valentine. But as it turns out, we need more of this blissed-out, shoegazing, stars-in-our-eyes dreampop; the ending of every one of Guitar’s breathless, swirlybird pop gems leaves a desperate taste in your mouth, the comedown as bruising as the rush was heady. If you’ve ever had a soft spot for backwards guitars or the blush of a lusting chord, if you’ve ever swooned to a Siren-like female voice, if Boards of Canada’s breakbeats thump at your hollow chest like a heart trying to crawl back inside, then Sunkissed will strum you into sweet, grateful submission.

Tujiko Noriko Make Me Hard

The title may sound like an Andrew WK single, but nothing could be further from the truth: Tujiko Noriko’s Make Me Hard, the Japanese musician’s second full-length for Vienna’s arch-eclecticists Mego, isn’t about partying, or machismo, or even riot-grrlishness. If anything, it’s hard to put a make on Noriko because she’s so damned slippery, hiding behind a quavering, Bjork-like voice and tossing up crunching drum machines, hollow-bodied keyboards and mellow pop melodies like so many decoys. Demure, given to drift, and glancingly oblique and transparent by turns, Make Me Hard offers a fascinating, alien world in which to get lost. The only thing truly difficult is extracting yourself again.

Gabin Gabin

Upon initial listens, the Italian duo Gabin’s eponymous debut comes off like an Italian assimilation of French live-jazz/Latin-house group St. Germain, with a bit of the sprightly Parisian music of the ’40s (think the Amelie soundtrack) thrown in. And for the first half, that assessment rings true. But the haunting strings, plinking pianos and heartfelt melodies (highlighted by the delightful kitsch of “Doo Uap, Doo Uap,” which uses a sample from Duke Ellington’s big-band classic “It Don’t Mean A Thing”) can’t stop the album from sinking into a gooey mush of jazzy, atmospheric lounge music and deep house. The album seems tailor-made for a visual medium (TV and advertisements). One track, “Urban Night,” would fit perfectly in a steamy sex scene with its slinky sax solo, while the head-nodding smooth house of “Azul Anil” could be the accompaniment to the post-coital couple zooming around Milan on a Vespa. Thievery Corporation should watch their backs.

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