From Lance C McGannon Sent Tue, Apr 7th 1998, 06:24
From Lance C McGannon Sent Tue, Apr 7th 1998, 06:24
Some new reviews... . Substance: Session Elements cd (Chain Reaction) More fabulous bc-inspired techno and experimenting from the Chain Reaction label. This cd compiles the two Substance 12"s on Chain Reaction plus four great new tracks & four interludes. For those unfamiliar with Substance, filtered gritty minimal techno is his style. Fans of Basic Channel, Porter Ricks,Various Artists, Profan and Monolake will love this one. Essential. 9/10 . Dan Curtin: New World 2x12" (Sublime-UK) Seven tracks of beautiful detroit-inspired techno and tech-house including four new tracks and several remixes two of which are by Orlando Voorn & Dave Angel. The four new tracks are similar in style to Dan's Deception album released last year with lots of tempo and style changes within each track. There is also a lovely new housey Latin Odyssey remix of I'll Take You There. All tracks are choice but my favorite is the Orlando Voorn's remix of Page Me which features a booming pseudo-breakbeat over smooth chords. Fans of the output on Ferox, Elypsia, Music Man or Sublime will like this one. 8/10 . John Tejada: Disruption 12" (A13) The busy Mr Tejada reappears this week with his first release on the UK A13 label since 96 and his fourth release in 98. This one features one track of lush tech-house on the a1 and one track of melodic bass-heavy techno both similar to his palette and generations material. But the b1 is a banging abstract techno cut that has a nice mark broom sound to it. One of Tejada's best 12"s to date. 9/10 . Markant #6 comp 12" (Markant) A fine album of skam-like and v/vm-esque electronica and d&b from this mysterious German label. Six tracks on this one ranging in style from jega-like dark rumbling slow breakbeats tracks to crisp melodic gescom-esque electronica to smooth yet chaotic breakbeaty stuff ala v/vm. There are no artists attributed to his release but it sounds so strikingly similar to the aforementioned labels, i would bet my nosehair collection that they're involved. Regardless, it's a striking record but supposedly limited to 200 so get them while you can. 9/10 . Sasse: Jersey 12" (Mood Music) I've always heard good things about the Finnish Mood Music label and after listening to this release i now know why. Three tracks of melodic deep house & tech-house. The a-side is a warm deep deep house cut that gives me goosebumbs every time i hear it. The b1 is a decent funky tech-houser with standard 4/4 percussion with a little shuffle beat underneath. The 12" finishes with the b2, which is a remix by fellow Fin artist Morris Brown. This track features an unique combination of a muted breakbeat over lush synths which works quite well. All three tracks are good but the a-side is my pick. How are the other Mood Music records? 8/10 . B12: 3 ep cd/12" (Warp) I'll admit that b12 are some of my all-time favorite producers so i was really excited to get the first new material in almost two years. I could never seem to get enough of their smooth detroit- esque atmospheric techno. Unfortunately that style is not the one employed on this new ep. Instead b12 try their hand at three tracks of jazzy breakbeats and d&b with some faint synthy atmospheric backdrops. For jazzy breakbeats/d&b, this release is decent but it's definitely not what i buy b12 releases for. Disappointing. 4/10 . Circulation: Green 12" (CMP) Balance and Heard label artist Joshua, aka Circulation, with the first release on his new CMP label. This record features two tracks. The a-side is lush stringy techno builder that has a nice Belgian techno feel ala Sterac or 2000 & One. The b-side has more of a funky tech-house feel with heavy filters similar to DJ Q, Thomas Bengalter or maybe Daft Punk. An excellent start for the CMP label. 8/10 . Interzone: Polyamore cd (Weird Dream) Another release for Daniel Pakula's Interzone guise on the Belgian Weird Dream label features eleven tracks that range from new skool electro to old school to electroish idm & ambient. Each track makes it's influence obvious. These tracks are reminiscent of material by I-f, Kraftwerk, Bochum Welt and Ectomorph but all with a flavor of their own. Another nice release for the Weird Dream label but, from what i understand, this cd is somewhat limited so start searching now. 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. -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states