(313) Recoreviews, pt 44...

From Lance C McGannon
Sent Sun, Jun 28th 1998, 06:30

A few more for you. More on the way too.

. The Modernist: Orange Colored Sky 12" (Eat Raw)
I've been a huge fan of J Burger's previous stuff as The Bionaut,
Burger Industries, and The Modernist, so i was excited to get
this one. It doesn't disappoint. This 4-track ep starts with a robotic
sounding minimal tech-houser complete with crisp studio 1-like
percussion, robo-sounding synths and brief vocoder vocal lines.
The a2 sounds vaguely similar to the previous track with more
of a melodic house flavor to it and minus the robotic & vocoder
effects. The next track is a unique minimal 4/4 tech-houser with
punchy staccato synths that are synched with the beat. The ep
finishes with a lush tech-houser with several layered synth lines
over crisp studio 1-like percussion. Fans of the Profan, Eat Raw,
Harvest, New Trans Atlantic stuff will enjoy this one. Also
deep tech-house fans may check this one too. More quality=20
music from stuff from J. Burger. 9/10

. Common Factor: In to Horizions 12" (Planet E)
Planet E is a favorite label of mine. Almost everything
they have released has been gold to my ears. So it's a big
occasion to me whenever Planet E has a new release. This=20
new release is the debut ep by producer Nick Calingaert. It
features four tracks of varying styles. The a1 is a detroit=20
techno track with a shuffle percussion, bouncy bassline,
a light spacey synth, and lots of unique sounds thrown in.=20
The a2 is a very funky disco-tech track. which mixes funky=20
KDJ-esque discofunk with Carl Craig like detroit techno.
The b1 mixes deep dubby basic channel-like bass with
UR-like synths & jazzy percussion. The ep finishes with
a nice melodic detroit techno track with jazzy percussion
and layered synths. The winners here are the a2 & b2. A
good first ep for Mr. Calingaert. 7/10

. Jega: Type Xero 12" (Planet =B5)
After two Jega eps on Skam, Dylan J Nathan releases his=20
first record on Mike Paradinas's Planet =B5 label. This one=20
features four tracks in varying styles. The a1 is a dark
squelchy electro cut with spacey synths and percussion
that alternates between jazzy breakbeats & hip hop beats.=20
During the hip hop segments there are dark synth lines and=20
distorted vocal samples. The a2 is another dark electro cut=20
with more of a retro or old skool flavor. It starts with lots of
building acid lines then adds some nice spacey synths. The
b1 is a hardstep d&b track with dark electro-tinged synth
lines and reverbed sound effects. The ep closes with a nice
melodic autechre-like electronica piece that is more like
a track off the first Jega ep on Skam. This is a good ep if=20
you like dark breakbeaty electro. If you're looking for the
Jega-style of his first ep on Skam, you may want to avoid
this one. 7/10

. Voiteck: Live at Your Mama's cd (Truck/Plug Research)
Australian techno producer has been making waves in the
techno community down under for several years now. He has
well over a dozen releases to his name and he runs his own
label call Truck Music. Voiteck recently received kudos
worldwide with his excellent TD5 ep on the L.A.-based=20
Plug Research label. On this, his third cd, Voiteck delivers

six of his live recordings made from November 1996 to
December 1997. He has several techno dignitaries help=20
on these tracks including Luke Slater, DJ Randsom &=20
Ralph. The length of these tracks varies from two minutes
to twenty-one minutes but all tracks are have a very live
sound,  continually evolving and changing. For instance,
the second track, called voiteck vs td5: truck musik live
is a twenty-one minute track that seemlessly evolves from
minimal techno to chuncky dancefloor techno to tech-
house to intelligent electronica then back to chuncky=20
dance-floor & minimal techno. The same evolution=20
happens on the other five tracks on this cd. An impressive
release that really shows the talent of Voiteck as a live
musician as well as a studio producer. 7/10

. Lexaunculpt: Resampler cd (unreleased cdr)
I agree that the name is a little hard to pronounce but=20
Lexaunculpt is a name you'll be hearing a lot of in the=20
next few months. Lexaunculpt has eps due soon on
the respected Isophlux and Orange labels i received
a preview cdr of these releases. On this nine track
cdr shows his mastery of the mechanical electronica
sound that autechre, skam, musik aus strom, & markant=20
do so well. Lexaunculpt, like the aforementioned=20
producers/labels, crafts tracks that seemlessly mix
smooth melodic electronica with electro, & hip hop and=20
just a touch of experimentalism. Because these tracks
haven't been released yet i won't do a full review but,
suffice to say, Lexaunculpt's upcoming eps on Isophlux
and Orange are going to be huge for fans of Autechre,
Funkstroung, Bola, Solvent, Markant. 9/10


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.


-->-Lance---
p.o. box 450715
westlake, ohio 44145
united states