My review of 2008 – part 2 – new music

Larry Heard – 25 Years From Alpha (Alleviated/Black Market)

A new release from Larry Heard will always grab my attention, he’s one of the most important and consistent electronic music producers there is. I’m guessing that this is a tribute to himself as 25 years seems to be about the length of his music career to date, and if so, it’s a fitting tribute and worthy of his incredible back catalogue. The overall feeling here is pretty mellow and spaced out, there’s even a bit of an italo influence (certainly on the main track). This is cosmic lounge music for interstellar travel (or even just relaxing in a comfy chair). Everything is perfectly placed, perfectly timed, there’s nothing superfluous here and it all just seems so simple and effortless. But this is a master of his craft at work and each track here oozes class.

Analogous Doom – Living In A Zome EP (Mathematics)

Excellent EP by new female artist on the Mathematics label, she’s put out some mp3 stuff before but this is the first time I’ve come across her. It’s deep melodic electro with a bit of an italo influence in there too. There’s also a strong nod to Drexciya/Dopplereffekt, but without coming off as a poor derivative as so many others do. All the tracks are good, nice sounds and compositions. You can check out some of the tracks on this EP along with some other stuff on her myspace.

Reggie Dokes – Rain Redemptive Love EP (Philpot)

It’s been a busy 2008 for Reggie after a quiet 2007 (during which he relocated to Atlanta). He also seems to be getting more attention in Europe now thanks to his releases on Prime Numbers and this fantastic EP for German label Philpot. “Black Children Of The Ghetto” was originally released on the Japan only CD  “My Electronic Mind” , it’s a downtempo house track with sparse shuffling African percussion and a few simple piano lines, and a hint of strings brought in every so often. This track is as close to the Blues as electronic music gets. The other 2 tracks are new cuts with Love being my favourite, it’s a more uptempo number, again featuring some African style percussion, and some beautifully arranged strings and synths. Rain on Me is a jazzy number with a repetitive piano line propelling it along, some atmospheric strings and a nice synth solo. Hopefully he’ll keep up the quality in 2009 and it would be great to see his Psychostasia label back in action and releasing vinyl again.

Kyle Hall – Worx Of Art EP 1 (Wild Oats)

Hard to believe this guy’s only 17! There is so much talent and potential on display here, I just can’t wait to hear what’s to come from him in the future. It’s mostly deep house with a jazzy feel and a hip-hop influence. In fact, it’s the jazzy instrumental hip-hop style track “I<3 Dr. Girl Friend” which stands out for me the most. It’s got a real stoned laid back feel to it, and works its way along nicely before some sweet jazzy guitar licks polish the track off, niiiice!

Omar-S – Psychotic Photosynthesis (FXHE Records)

This one seems to be appearing in a lot of people’s end of year lists and that’s no surprise ’cause it’s hot as hell! As soon as I listened to it first time, I was thinking “instant classic”. The way the track develops with that synth (is it a theramin?) line gradually building up the emotion for some truly spine-tingling moments is awesome.

Syclops – Where’s Jason’s K? (DFA)

I almost didn’t include this as I thought it was from 2007, but that was probably because Maurice Fulton had been playing it in nearly every set of his for over a year before it came out. In fact, I remember a mate asking him what it was at a gig in Dublin and being disappointed ’cause I thought he said it was an unreleased edit. I gave up on it then and was well happy when I came across it in the shops a few months later. Funky as hell, and some amazing synth work. Great track for mixing between different styles too, it goes well with disco, electro, house, whatever.

Rick Wilhite – Can You Feel Me? (Stilove4music)

Stilove4music is a sub label of Still Music, and is mostly for releasing disco edits. But I don’t know if this is an older track reworked or a brand new track from Rick, it does sound like it could’ve been made in the early 90s. Either way, it’s excellent, heavy bass line, kinda psychedelic feel to it. Rick isn’t that prolific but pretty much everything he releases is top notch, this is no exception.

Jamie 326 – The Basement Edits – Volume One (Partehardy)

I wasn’t sure whether this one should’ve gone in my part 1 review as it’s probably from the 80s, but then it was never released before (afaik) so it’s a new release. Don’t know who Jamie 326 is either or what this has to do with Ron Hardy. But never mind all that, the B-side track is an edit of Calender’s “Coming On Strong” and it’s a funky disco stomper with plenty of horns and a groove the JBs would be proud of! I’ve been playing this one a lot.

Kuniyuki – All These Things (Theo Parrish Remixes) (Mule Musiq)

Most people seem to rate Chemistry and Love Triumphant as Theo’s best works this year, and they’re both great, but I keep coming back to this ultra mellow remix. It’s quite minimalist, in that there are very few elements in this track, but he really works each of those elements. The high hats make me think of a jazz drummer in a smokey club, there’s those warm floaty synths and a great vocal performance from Josée Horlock.

Sascha Dive – Deepest America (Moodymann Remix) (Ornaments)

As Kenny mentioned in his round up this track is a big fucking bag of bad ass and probably the remix of the year, it certainly outshines the original with ease.

Sebbo – Watamu Beach (Moritz Von Oswald Rework) (Desolat)

I must admit I hadn’t appreciated just quite how good the Moritz rework on this is until this last month when I started going back through my year’s purchases. And it was while listening to it with the headphones on that I started noticing all the subtle dubbed out percussive touches, especially towards the latter half of the track. And like I said about Larry Heard, Moritz is clearly a master of his craft and puts pretty much all the other weak derivative dub techno heads to shame.

Juju & Jordash / Keith Worthy – Subterranean Episodes (Aesthetic Audio)

Juju & Jordash pay tribute to the Duke on African Flower, an innovative jazzy house track. Like much of their stuff it’s hard to categorise as it’s a mix of their many influences, house, techno, jazz, disco, etc. African Flower is a track from the classic Money Jungle album. Here, the Duke’s piano is layered over spaced out synths and an almost awkward but funky stuttering beat, with african style guitar coming in about half-way through to brighten up the track and a nice solo to finish things off. Totally original and very good. And then on the flip you get a Keith Worthy track in 2 mixes. Deep spaced out house in his usual style, my preference is for the Beatstrumental mix, with it’s warm Detroit pads reminding me a little of Octave One.

A few more tracks/records worthy of mention that I couldn’t be arsed writing a couple of sentences for; Population One View From Above, The Black Dog Detroit Vs Sheffield, Patrice Scott The Evolutions EP, TR-One Mystery Train EP, Lerosa Lovers EP, Andrés Moments In Life, and I’m sure there’s a few more that I’ve missed out.

And that’s that, again best wishes to everyone for 2009, hope the world doesn’t get too fucked up and we get to hear some good new music, and dig up some good ol’ shit too of course.