Michael Whitehead

Danse Club 

Why release Jersey-inspired house when you can reissue the real thing? The “Meat Mixx” and “NYC Dub” of this Whitehead/Murk collaboration are compiled here, along with present-day remixes. The original NYC Dub is a transcendent example of American garage house - all vocal cutups, pristine piano, swung drums and organ steps.The Meat Mixx makes full-use of Whitehead’s powerhouse ( vocals. A1, the remix by Willie Graff and Tucillo provides an airier interpretation of the NYC Dub’s organ stabs and Whitehead’s soaring vocals, and adds a subtle acidic squelch. The Florian Kruse mix has a classic Strictly Rhythm vibe while Max Jacobson takes a deeper approach - looping a wordless sample of Whitehead’s vocal, but buoying the track with live-sounding bongos. Great release!

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Pharoahs
Island Time
ESP Institute

Their status as LA’s premier live dance/balaeric/kraut/? band cemented, the group of talented producers and music nerds (Pharoahs’ core consists of former Amoeba employee Sam Cooper, Dublab dude Ale Cooper and rising producer Suzanne Kraft) make the move to fellow diviner Lovefingers’ label for their most realized effort yet. “Ahumba” is named after surfer Cooper’s dream beach in Zanzibar - and the song reworks windswept digital beauty of the Innovative Communications label for the dancefloor. Sublime guitar arpeggiations color the tropical tracks. “If It Ever Feels Right” is a live staple that never comes out quite the same - a testament to the massive amount of improv that makes Pharaohs such an exciting group. The basis of the track is a descending Juno 60 arpeggio - delayed uptown sax, a far-off pad and varied percussion fill this out into perhaps the most floor-friendly track on the record. The insistent bassline eventually ends up scoring some light jacking and zonked sax-work worthy of Roland P. Young. Island Time successfully focuses on rhythm rather than the synth acrobats of the other tracks, bringing the tide back out for this great EP.

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214
Submanouvers
Frustrated Funk

Sick, modern electro sounds, equally influenced by Drexciya and Miami-bass. The long-running project on Seattle’s Chris Roman, 214 eases the listener into the four-track journey with half-time creeper “First Descent”. Things get faster, darker and more filmic on subdued banger “Bluetooth Cone”. Closer “Frostbite” is fit for Los Angeles circa 2019.

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Versalife
Rate of Change
Frustrated Funk

Great mixture of experimental textures and dystopian electro courtesy of Boris Bunnik, the mind behind Conforce and a plethora of other projects. For fans of AFX, Drexciya (and attendant projects).

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Jeremy Greenspan
Drums&Drums&Drums
Jialong

In the latest transmission for Dan Snaith’s (Daphni, Caribou) anything goes dance label Jialong, Jeremy Greenspan (of Junior Boys) received Laurie Spiegel’s blessing to rework her iconic “Drums”. True to the source, Greenspan used the polyrhythms to trigger drum machines and synths, an interpretation in the truest sense - the results are tasteful and surprising - with the synths spinning jagged towards techno structure (like a slowed-down Jeff Mills) towards the end of the piece. B-side Sirius Shake compliments the A’s martial funk nicely.

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Dadub
Preternity
Stroboscopic Artifacts

Dadub fires a warning shot prior to their forthcoming album in the form of a remix ep gathering a number of the heaviest names in dark, experimental techno - Lucy, Lakker, Rrose and Raster-Noton boss Kangding Ray all take a swing and succeed in their own ways on this heavy EP. With names like this, the listener can predict the varying levels of techno abstraction present here. Lucy presents the most inviting track on this ep, varying his dark techno throb with vocals and dubby stabs worthy of Rhythm and Sound. Irish duo Lakker comes with a blocky, scattershot reading of Dadub’s “Path”, at times yanking the foreboding beat away entirely leaving only sheet metal samples. Rrose continues on that path that has brought him so much notoriety - fans of his epic Waterfall will not be disappointed. Kangding Ray, perhaps the most academically minded of the bunch, buttresses his unmatched sound design with a relentless delayed kick. 

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Eddie C 

Luke Hess  

Electric Street Orchestra  

Scorpio/M.F.A. 

Dirt Tech Rock  

 

Unclassifiable Detroit producer Wajeed presents the debut of his collaborative label venture with Underground Resistance, and rushes out of the gate with the debut of his new “tech-lo” orchestra – feat. Mad Mike, Theo Parrish, Andrés and more. This is future Detroit music with little adherence to genre. The orchestra mixes live percussion and classic synths and drum machines to arrive on something totally different. Scorpio tells the dark story or drug addiction, while MFA presents a psychedelic and hopeful take on the urban environment.

 

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Barker & Baumecker

Remixes 

Ostgut Ton

 

Barker and Baumecker made waves with their debut full-length in late 2012 - an idiosyncratic analog journey which added nuance to the revered Berghain sound. This remix 12-inch is similarly adventurous, gathering producers and groups who are unbound by traditional electronic genres. Machinedrum kicks things off, with the expected bright synths and r & b vocal cutup, but without the complex drum programming he’s become known for. Next up is a punishing remix by mysterious German producer Kobosil - the track, full of digital wind and banging techno snare is the Berghain to Machinedrum’s Panorama Bar, if you will. Blawan comes out with a relatively subdued entry, only in the context of  his recent, pitch-black work. The production still retains the delicious metal on metal friction, familiar to anyone who has heard "Why They Hide.." out lately, but works in a nostalgic feeling synth theme. Third Side (Analogue Cops + Steffi), have already proven themselves a live analog techno force to be reckoned with (proof). Their remix here doesn’t let up - the trio builds a furious, sync’d groove with all manner of classic hardware.

 

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