Good looking out

Agaric & Lawrence, “Place to Be”

Sister Sledge, “Lost In Music” (1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers remix)

Blotnick Brothers, “Taxi Simulator 2000″

Carl Craig & Pépé Bradock, “Angola” (Carl Craig mix)

In a splash

Ricardo Villalobos & Luciano, “U Wanna Start?”

Ndru, “A Pony Named Clipklop” (Ronan’s post brought Ndru to my attention, thanks for that!)

The Black Dog, “Mental Ward Sleep Machine”

Pépé Bradock, “Atom Funk”

I have to thank Psycho BBQ and jaws tight! for linking LWE. It’s an honor to be acknowledged by two consistently quality blogs.

Please don’t do that again

Nôze, “Piano” (Dop remix)

Mabik, “Der Flossenmann”

Ark & Mikael Weill, “Caribou Et Bigorneau”

Rok & Mijk, “Jack Your Ass” (Mijk van Dijk remix)

Silent predators

Jesse Rose, “You’re All Over My Head”

From an early 2006 release on Dubsided that recently found its way onto my desktop, “You’re All Over My Head” follows none of the rules I’ve come to expect from minimal techno. I feel like this expounds on the growing respect for Rose, even at his sloppiest and half-hearted. And on first listen, “thrown together” is the easiest and most dismissive way to describe it. Machinery hiccups, swishing percussion and Rose’s emotionless utterances (“it’s a lot of ____” and “I know”) open the tune, laying a straight path suddenly broken into with a vibrant and destinctly vintage sample (I thought my mp3 player was on the fritz). Of all the songs, Rose chose The Cyrkle’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” a tune I coincidentally wrote about last year — a safe bet for a selection few would recognize. While chopped up and repasted to fit his fancy, the sample runs longer than most would dare include in a dark, thumping tune like this. It vanishes back into the murk with an anxious little synth progression taking its place. Though The Cyrkle interrupts once more, the rest of the track remains largely the same, leaving listeners a little bewildered. Not an ellegant tune by any stretch of the imagination, but Rose’s choice to scramble his momentum with a bitter-messaged, sugary pop song provides unexpected continuity. This probably only sees use as a DJ tool or headphone track, but “You’re” traffics in ideas as much as grooves.

Les Petits Pilous, “Jolie Fille”

I really wanted to take Tal’s unspoken challenge to write about this tune, but I’m at almost as much of a loss as he was. Les Petits Pilous (Small Cotton Flannels, natch) are a young Boyz Noize band taking the grating electro/rock/rave sound to peaked out heights. Of the songs I can hear easily, “Nice Bird” is the most ambitious and disorienting: To get yourself in the mood, imagine being separated from your friends at a packed rave about 15 minutes after swallowing what you think is e with a desperate desire to reconnect. Rhythmically obtuse, the coarse patterns shift at what feels like odd times and swell in intensity, only to drop listeners without a second thought. “This is how kids perceive rave or something,” Tal guessed, and it seems like that perception is practically no wave — no rave even (Tal’s brilliant combination, see comments), a rip-your-face-off-and-poke-fun-at-it mindset. Much to my surprise and delight, this nu-rave scene is getting more interesting instead of less.

Fairies eat angel dust

Check out my review of Guns ‘N’ Bombs debut, “Nothing Is Getting Us Anywhere.”

Marc Romboy vs Chelonis R. Jones, “Helen Cornell” (Stefan Goldmann Macro Version)

Phonique, “What I Fake” (Sleep Thief remix) [peace, Modifyier]

Two track reviews later today.

Smash your inbox

Magda, “Oblivicleas”

Dan Bell, “Phreak”

Underground Resistence, “Nannytown”

Thomas Schumacher, “Wig-Out Into”

When’s the last time you heard it like this

Heartthrob, “Baby Kate” (Plastikman remix)

Gui Boratto, “Terminal”

Sascha Funke, “Brocken”

Lars Behrenroth, “Organism”

A rip-roaring shut in

Today’s last tune is by my friend and confidante Joseph, a musician, writer and swell librarian from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Skating” is an excellent ambient tune conjuring up the satisfied serenity of carving up an icy pond and it comes highly recommended.

Audion, “I Gave You Away”

Salif Keita, “Yamore” (Luciano remix)

Richard X, “Finest Dreams” (ft. Kelis)

Josephy, “Skating”

Just import, don’t export

Daniela Stickroth, “Chest In the Attic”

This is the first tune I’ve heard from Stickroth and I’m happy to say it’s a keeper. It’s title spurs great accompanying imagery: You can just see a curious child ascending the steps to the gentle pads, exploring the shadowed and dust-filled depths as the pads swell with cautious melody. Little critters of indistinct noise scamper in and out of focus when… it’s spotted. Although no grand suprise emerges from the box, the joyous interplay between pads and haclyon synth progression suggest whatever was inside provided an entertaining afternoon. The remixes are just as enjoyable. Pablo Akaros switches up the rhythm to one straightforwardly engaging to the dance floor with paper plate snares, a guy carelessly intoning “hey” and a sudden, uplifting drone at the track’s end. Dan Berkson and James What do an even better job with alternate version, “Ghost In the Attic.” Maximizing the impact of the pads’ strain with isolation and reverb, as well as stimulating the imagination with more spooky scrapes and thuds, Berkson and James bring dramatic flair to “Chest In the Attic.” Thanks to Psycho BBQ for this tune; you can find these two remixes there as well if you hurry.

M. Rahn, “Ash”

Another artist with whom I’m just becoming acquainted (oh no, my relative newbie status is showing!), M. Rahn’s new track, “Ash,” is a hint at why his work was included on the legendary Immer. For one, the song’s got some fucking teeth on it; the sheer rumble of the main riff is enough to make DJs check if they’ve blown a headphone. Swapping places with a disturbing squelch, possibly the distorted mating call of a zombie bird of prey, which also grows more menacing by the minute. The two join forces about five minutes in and gleefully terrorize dancers. Wise and adventurous French Touch DJs might want to locate a copy of this to slip between “durr durr durrrr”‘s and wreck some extra eardrums. Always keeping me on the knife’s edge of techno, Oh My Gosh provided me with this tune and many others. One million thank yous.

Should be a snow day

Funkstoerung, “1st Stroke” (Funkstoerung remix)
Moodymann, “Music People”

Konrad Black, “Jefferson & Braeside”

Eric Prydz, “Call On Me” (Thomas Bangalter & DJ Falcon Calling remix)