From Lance C McGannon Sent Tue, Feb 24th 1998, 01:21
Some more reviews.... . Vapourspace: Sweep rmxs 3x12" (Knob) A very unique triple lp of remixes on Mark Gage's new Knob label by an eclectic group of producers including G-Man, Air Liquide, Collin Newman & Malka Spigel, Sean Deason, Phthalocyanine, Ronnie & Clyde, Incarnate, Chuck Miller, Craig Carlton and Blats. These mixes are stylistically varied from the bleepy acid of Air Liquide to the jazzy d&b mix of chuck miller, to the bouncy hard house of G-Man, to the melodic bass-heavy tech house of Collin Newman & Malka Spigel, to the big beat trip hop of Incarnate, to the wildly eclectic experimentalism of Phthalocyanine, to the smoothly acidic detroit techno of sean deason, to name just a few. Out of the twelve remixes I enjoyed about half of them, the others were interesting but not memorable. This release is much more of an adventuresome listening experience than anything else. And the three different colored 12"s were nice too. 6/10 . A Reminiscent Drive: N.Y.C Dharma Revisited 12" (F Comm) Two tracks off the recent Reminiscent Drive Mercy Street lp given the multiple remix treatment by Love From San Francisco and F Comm/Hybrid/Trainspotter's Nightmare artist Jori Hulkkonen. The two a-side mixes, both by Jori, have a smooth latin hard house flavor to them with a very similar feel to Basement Jaxx's Samba Magic track. But the real gem of this 12" is the b1 mix by Charles Webster's Love From San Fran guise. A late-night deep tech-house builder that reminds me of some of the more recent Pacific or Phonography label releases. The final mix, which is again by Jori, is also a nice stringy deep house redo with lots of smooth synth washes and funky percussion. An excellent set of remixes that shows that F Comm is still one of the top deep house/techno labels. 9/10 . Rue East: Remove/Claude Young rmx 12" (Pure Plastic) Remove track was originally released last year on Mark Broom's Rewired label. Now it reappears on Broom's Pure Plastic label with a remix by Claude Young and a previously unreleased track. The 12" starts with Claude's Remove remix on which he gives the synth line a slight electro sound but adds a atmospheric synth backdrop and congo percussion giving this mix an odd feel but s still Ifachy enough to be entertaining. The b-side features the original version Remove which is a nice Ifach/Pure Plastic sounding abstract techno number. The final track is another abstract techno number sounding more like Broom's Voycetra releases on Ifach. Fans of Mark Broom, Peter Ford, Ifach, Pure Plastic or Trelik will all recognize & enjoy this 12". 7/10 . Rob Hood: Hoodlum 2x12" (Drama) Rob Hood tries his hand at jazzy tech-house and hard house on this excellent double pack. To set the mood, hood starts or finishes each side with short jazz tracks on the a1, b1, c2, c3 & d2. On the a2 and d1 mixes those jazz melodies with his usual minimal techno style giving those tracks a nice hard house feel. On the b2 and c1, hood crafts two superb jazzy tech-house tracks that sound like a combination of hood and herbert. An impressive release. I'm eager to hear more tracks like this from Rob Hood. 8/10 . Maus & Stolle: two 12" (Klang Elektronik) The second release for Maus & Stolle on the German Klang Elektronik label starts with a deep techno track with light electro-tinged breakbeat percussion. The a2 is a very basic channel-esque track and crisp minimal percussion. The b1 is an average dubby downtempo funk track. The 12" finishes with an old-skool big beat sounding electro track. The a-side is the real winner here despite the lackluster b-side. 7/10 . Chris Penny & Dan Kurzius: Late Night Essentials, Vol 1 12" (Sidereal) I was recently introduced to the Atlanta/Dallas-based Sidereal label and was really impressed with what i heard. This 12" is a nice lazy deep tech-house gem by Chris Penny and label owner Dan Kurzius. Three tracks on this one all very much in the Pacific or Ferox or Phono style. Very impressive. 9/10 . Ben Sims: Retrovert rmx 12" (Theory) Some big names have helped Ben on this 12" including "the mayor" ClaudeYoung and UBX man Mark Broom. The two original mixes are both banging minimal techno tracks reminiscent of Holy Ghost on Tresor or Oliver Ho on Blueprint. The remixes, by Claude Young and Mark Broom, both reflect the styles of the mixers. Claude's is a funky detroit techno track and mark's is a dark abstract mix similar to his recent output on Pure Plastic. A good first release from Ben Sims and the Theory label. 7/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon) and I spin two hours of the music we speak so highly of... The show will be accessible by visiting http://www.wcsb.org every Wednesday from 9-11 pm EST. The show will be broad- cast in the AudioActive format (which is actually much better than RealAudio). You can download the Audio Active plugin for free at http://www.audioactive.com/player/ During the Inaudible show we will be giving away promo 12"s and cds so yet another reason to tune in. If you need any more info email us at xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx or xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states