From Lance C McGannon Sent Tue, Feb 24th 1998, 07:58
Yet more reviews... . Djenga (Ian O'Brien): Djengastyle #2 12" (Tag) Ian O'Brien takes his mastery of techno-jazz and applies a harder edge on this 12". The a-side is a great atmospheric techno track with a backdrop of clickety sounds and lush chords. The b-side starts with a minimal flavor then builds into a minimal tech-funk track. It's good to hear that Ian O'Brien is starting to try new things because his last few releases were all starting to sound the same. A quality 12" that fans of Aubrey, Mark Ambrose, Steve O'Sullivan and Ian O'Brien will all appreciate. 9/10 . R.Soul: Skitan 12" (Rewired) Some more abstract techno from Mark Broom's Rewired label. Four tracks on this one. Average mid-tempo minimal techno cuts for both the a1 & b1. But the a2 & b2 are much more complex abstract techno tracks that have a cool Trelik-like sound to them that remind me of some of the Tan-Ru or Minimal Man tracks. Those last two tracks really make this 12". 8/10 . John Tejada: The Walk 12" (Palette) The ever-busy Tejada releases his fifth 12" on his own L.A. based Palette label. Four cuts of tech-house, one with lyrical stylings by Divine Styler that, unfortunately, fall a little short. With the exception of the b1 track which is a nice lush housey number, these tracks tend to meander lacking a consistent groove. Also the babbling of divine styler does nothing for me. All four of these tracks are decent but below average for john tejada. 5/10 . From Beyond vol 4 comp 12" (Interdimensional Transmissions) Finally, the fourth and final volume of this limited 12" electro series. This volume contains tracks from Shake, Uni, Synapse, & Keith Tucker along with ten lock grooves. As you can expect, both old and new skool electro are the main entree's here with my favorite being Shake's track which features jazz percussion with big booming electro bass over the top. This track ends in a lock groove so, really this track never ends. Also worth noting are all the excellent lock grooves at the ends of several tracks and as separate loops. With ten to choose from you have a lock for almost every occasion. A fine finish to a fine series of 12"s. 7/10 . I-f: Space Invaders are Smoking Grass rmx 12" (Interdimensional Transmissions) This track first appeared on the From Beyond,Vol 1 comp 12" where it received rave reviews. So it has reappeared now on this remix 12" for those who missed it the first time. The a-side features an extended 12" version of Space Invaders are Smoking Grass which really just has a longer building into and bridge than the original. I think i like this version better. The b-side starts with the original mix of Space Invaders are Smoking Grass then the 12" closes with a new track called Secret Desire that is a cool low-key bassy minimal track. The strength of this ep has me eagerly anticipating the upcoming I-f album on Interdimensional Transmissions. 8/10 . Komet: Flex cd (Rastermusic) Some cool electronica from the prolific german Rastermusic label. The second Komet release on Raster, Flex, is much more of a subtle electronica album than their previous Ratser album. Flex, at times, reminds me of producers like oval, funkstroung, and early freeform but with a flavor of its own. From the environmental atmospheres and electronic cutups of Stop, to the musik aus stromish Trakt and Flex, to the minimal electronic funk of Dots, this is another gem from the ever innovative Rater label. 8/10 .8088: Beneath the Realm 12" (Sidereal) Chicago techno artist Baby Pop with an ep of mixed styles here on the excellent Atlanta/Dallas-based Sidereal label. This ep opens with a short stringy track with a light breakbeat. The a2 then breaks into a harder breakbeat over some smooth chords resulting in a cool detroit d&b track. The b1 kicks in with some nice funky minimal techno in the Kikoman/Denham style. The 12" finishes with an lush melodic breakbeat track not unlike some of the more recent material on the UK Void label. A diverse release showing that Baby Pop can do a lot more than just techno and house music. 7/10 . The Deanery: Feeling Fine 12" (Urban Audio) Steve Paton, aka The 4th Wave, doing some fresh disco-flavored techno on his new Urban Audio label. Four tracks of extremely funky sample-laiden disco tech that would make Balihu's Danny Wang or KDJ proud. I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this release because it is an excellent combination of classic disco and fresh tech-house. Both Steve Paton and his Urban Audio labels are going to be big if his future releases are going to be like this. 9/10 . Merrick Brown: white label 12" (Tektite) Global Techno mailing list creator/administrator can add solid producer to his list of accomplishments with this debut 12" on the Tektite label. The a-side starts with a repeating synth line that slowly builds, breaks down and builds again into a melodic tech-house track. This a-side track has some very original and uniquely-timed percussion that works really well with the track. The b-side has two tracks. The first one is a heavily filtered minimal techno track similar to james ruskin or oliver ho. The second and closing track is a beautiful string-laiden building atmospheric techno track with a nice warm detroit feel. This is a very impressive first release for Merrick Brown that others should check out. 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