From Lance C McGannon Sent Sat, Mar 14th 1998, 23:40
From Lance C McGannon Sent Sat, Mar 14th 1998, 23:40
OK. Let see if i can get the facts right on this set of reviews. : ) . Herbert & Dani Siciliano: Going Round Remix 12" (Phonography) A re-release of sorts here combining the excellent Going=20 Round track, which was released in earlier this year on a=20 limited edition 1-sided 10", with two remixes of Going=20 Round. The a-side is the original mix which, as stated in a previous review, is a nice lazy deep house track with a nice vocal track by Dani Siciliano. The b1 is the Herbert dub mix which strips down and funks up the original by=20 cutting out a fair amount of the vocals replacing them with a few looped vocal sample from the original. Also the percussion is changed to a more floor-friendly 4/4 beat. The final mix is the HMMMMix. This mix is a beatless mix that bathes the listener in lush synth drops and looped=20 vocals for a nice dreamy effect. As stated in a previous review, I'm not a big fan of vocals, but this one seemed to rub my ears the right way. 8/10 . Eleven Phases: Detroit Compilation 2x12" (Sublime-Japan) On this compilation all the big names in Detroit techno & house try their hands at producing hip-hop tracks with varying degrees of success. Artists on this comp include Kelli Hand,=20 Eddie Fowlkes, Thomas Barnett, Stacey Pullen, Claude Young=20 Jr, Will Web, Robert Hood, Anthony Shakir, Kenny Larkin,=20 Daniel Bell and Sean Deason. More often than not these tracks sounded more like trip hop than hip hop (if there is a difference) sounding more polished, programmed and produced=20 than the average hip hop track. But there were a few bright spots here mainly Sean Deason' s Hip Hop Jazz, Shake's Can't Turn Back, Dan Bell's In the Park and Stacey Pullen's Graffiti's=20 Theme. Some tracks sounded more electro or techno than hip hop but, since that's the background of these producers, you=20 would expect some of that. Overall this is an interesting album that shows the diversity that detroit's producers are capable of. Worth a few listens at least. 6/10 . El Mal: Bad Schandau 12" (Ifach) Mark Broom and Peter Ford reappear under their El Mal guise=20 for the second time on Peter's Ifach label. On this one are two long tracks of deep gurgling abstract techno that sound like a=20 mix of basic channel and ifach. I prefer the b-side track because=20 there is a little more complexity to it but both are good. 7/10 . Dynamo: au=DFen vor 12" (Din) The Basic Channel-related Din label here with their second record of BC/CR/Traktor-inspired experimental techno. As you can expect, the deep dubby filtery noises are prevalent on these four tracks. But instead of muted 4/4 percussion there are for wildly unique percussive tracks and sounds very much in the Traktor style. All four of these tracks are all cool examples of how the bc/cr sound can be expanded upon and=20 experimented with. Another winner for the Din label. 8/10 . Daniel Wang: Cristal-Plastique 12" (Balihu) I've always heard great things about the NY based Balihu label=20 but this was the first record i was able to find on this label.=20 Contained on this ep are four tracks of really unique sounding=20 disco-flavored deep house. These tracks are wrought with=20 jazzy melodies and funky basslines with a nice retro feel somewhat similar to moodyman without the samples. This one is hard to describe but easy to listen to. Are all the Balihu releases as good as this one? 8/10 . Kinkane: Fantasy 12" (Colette/Irdial) Four tacks on this ep from the dance-oriented Irial sublabel called Colette. The a-side is a long pounding electro-tinged=20 experimental tech-house track similar to the Dilemma lp released on Irdial earlier this year. The b1 has more of an abstract minimal techno flavor. The b2 is a beatless exper- imental track. The ep closes with a bassy electro-tinged track with autechre-like breakbeat percussion. This ep is a=20 nice set of experimental dancefloor tracks - but then again=20 would you expect any less from Irdial? 7/10 . D-Ram: S-Ram/Klystron 12" (Sidereal) A four tracker of varied styles from the Atlanta/Dallas Sidereal label. The a1 is a melodic detroitesque track similar the recent output of Sean Deason. The a2 is an Autechresque melodic=20 breakbeat track. The b1 is an acid-tinged minimal techno track. The closing track is another melodic breakbeat track with with an acidic flavor. Another good one for Sidereal. 7/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon)=20 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=20 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