Considering January is seen as a quiet month for music I’ve still managed to pick up a nice bit of wax over the last few weeks. Some are fresh on the racks, some are yet to hit ‘em and there’s one or two things from last year I’m just catching up on properly, so gonna dip into them over the next few posts…

Magnetic Souls – Lovin’ on the Run

This upcoming 12″ from the Atlanta based Rotating Souls imprint is a lil bit scant on info so far, bar that it comes from Magnetic Soul, again an act I know little about (who ever said we were clued in nerds on this site eh?). It starts with a massive blast of funk on the A cut which builds itself around some stonking 70′s brass, a couple of sultry vocal samples and a proper groove that makes the whole thing sound like it was transported directly from back when. Working in a not dissimilar fashion to an edit this is a sweaty bit of funk. It gets a bit more lowslung on the B side cuts which again utilise some old funk vocals, combined with killer boogie bass-lines and more wonderfully catchy samples. Like the first Rotating Souls 12″ from East Liberty Quarters (I missed the 2nd) everything is unashamedly retro in style but things seem less forced than a lot of nu-disco or modern boogie that insists on uncomfortably shoehorning (sometimes, not always, of course) new styles in. The B2 has a brilliantly subtle cut n paste style to it especially, with a couple of unexpected surprises.

Chris Gray/Moonchildren – Go Away

Gray is someone I only came across last year when a mate pointed in my the direction of his Tried To Be Good album that came out quite some time ago, like everything else he’s done; this is his first release in many years. As this 12″ is on Downbeat you know it’s going to be deeeeep and as ever the quality is second to none. Downbeat has a knack of selecting the most ethereal of house cuts and this is no different. Gray eschews some of the more typical deep house sounds that are boring the shit out of everyone these days, bar the traditional square bass sounds utilised on Go Away and the barmily titled It Was The Fried Chicken That Saved Our Sanity (Because The Ghetto Is Sad). But instead of this leading the tracks it takes 2nd place to the most delicate of melodic intonations and slightly off kilter percussion. Fried Chicken, for all its laid backness manages to create some superb tensions with its synth lines. The quality slightly dips on the closing Sun Of God but it’s still another fine early morning jam. For those looking for deep house with a bit of a difference, look no further.

Pittsburgh Track Authority – Untitled/Monongahela Rainforest

This is the latest release from our own Pipecock’s techno/house 3-way with fellow P-burgers Adam Ratana and Preslov Lefterov;  arriving on their own new Pittsburgh Tracks  imprint (this release is brimming with mindblowing titling) which I gave a brief mention to in my end of year round up, but which is only fully dropping at the moment. It kicks off with Untitled which is their biggest dancefloor cut to date. It comes on like a slightly updated UR/Gerald Mitchell cut, the soaring strings especially are hugely in-debt to those masters of melodic Detroit techno. While this is a style that has often been copied over the last ten years – especially in the earlier part of the last decade – the guys have the sense to not over do it on the instrumentation – a problem so many have with this type of music, insisting on making it way too busy – and what gives it it’s own character is the excellent drumprogramming/bass/percussion.   The flip serves up the much more relaxed Monongahela Rainforest (from no name songs to  near unpronounceable, fair play), which on the face of it is maybe a little too chilled for it’s own good but the engrossing sub on it opens it up impressively and while it may lack the hooks of Untitled or, say, the enticing oddness of Chris Gray’s 12″ it still manages to steer clear of a lot of deep cliches too.

Lost Trax / Connection Machine – Lost Connection

The Scots-founded Tabernacle Records are not ones to rest on the laurels at any time and following quickly in the footsteps of this rather ace The Third Man 12″ from late last year comes the 2nd part of their collaboration with Lost Trax and The Connection Machine, the initial fruits of which were this split mini-album from last year. Lost Trax kicks this one off with some top shelf  electro on 801 with a gnarly bass that leads over crisp hi-hats and a deep, wistful synth line. Dominion is a more hectic, face-paced electro jam, full of intricate programming which dips in and out at times, adding more drama as it goes.

On the flip The Connection Machine goes down a slightly more abstract route and as fun as the Lost Trax material is, is the real show stealer of the release. Klute is a brilliant oppressive slab of electronica, its droning synths and sparse beats creating an eerie, unsettling atmosphere. The release closes on it’s high point, After. It starts off on a lighter if melancholic note, and gently trips along before another heaving synth drops out of nowhere, giving the song a nicely dramatic twist.  The track then steps up a gear with some twisted, efx laden (well, what sounds like) vocals, and a great balancing act is played between the opening musical assonances and the darker elements it picks up along the way. A pretty special piece of music drenched in emotion.

Just a quick heads up to say that Drum Dance is hitting stores over the next couple of weeks.  Juno, rubadub, decks.de amongst others are selling it already in Europe while Rush Hour and Clone amongst others are taking orders now.  Crosstalk International are distributing it on the other side of the Atlantic, so hopefully it will be hitting the likes of Gramaphone in Chicago in the next while.

For any of those out east, Jetset, Underground Gallery and Lighthouse Records are stocking it (or upcoming) in Japan and over the next while it should be hitting many other stores, pre-orders from the distro have been pretty healthy! And if you still like to shop local in real shops,  give them a shout for an order.

This Saturday, the 28th, Tr One will be celebrating the release with a gig out in Galway at The Bierhaus, one of the city’s finest drinking establishments, so if yer out the west of Ireland, be sure to drop in. Friday night sees former ISM guest mixer Paudi Ahern playing in the same venue, so it’s shaping up to be a fun weekend.

We’re also doing our first label party in February in Twisted Pepper’s basement, Dublin, with Tr One djing and Lerosa playing live. And, yes, you can gather from that that Lerosa will be the next artist to feature on the label, but not quite as you expect. More info coming very soon on all that…

Thanks for all the support so far too, be it from bloggers, djs, everyone…

Can’t really think of a better way to start the new year with the announcement that the 2nd 12″ on Apartment will be dropping at the end of the month. Regular readers should be familiar with Tr One at this stage, who’ve contributed a bunch of guest mixes for us in the past as well as releasing a few great 12″‘s over the last few years. As per the last release I’m gonna pass on any superflous promo blurbs on here, suffice to say we are pretty excited about this! Along with the original, John Heckle delivers his stompin’ debut remix effort and the Jujus gave us a proper dub version to round things off…

Check out the samples below…

Also, here’s a video clip of the guys performing Drum Dance live in Dublin in November ’11

Apartment [one] TR One – Drum Dance

12″ vinyl only.

More info to follow soon…

Since I am feeling very agitated by damn near every year-end list I’ve seen so far (with Little White Earbuds’ top tracks of 2011 list being by far the least offensive!), and my lack of RA contributions this year meaning I didn’t have to compile a list for them (giving me an easy copy and paste way out), I decided to do up a proper list with plenty of YouTube lynx and a few words about each release. I’m going to just pick my favorite tracks, but in the descriptions I will note if the entire EP, LP, or compilation is worth checking out as well. I will also mention other notable releases by said artists or on said label, as the case may be, when applicable. So basically, this is just a starting list for discovering a vast amount of the wonderful music I spent my 2011 listening to.

Also to make things easier on myself, I am not ranking any of the dope music I had a hand in releasing this year, be it from Noleian Reusse, TM Eye, Hidden Twin, or Pittsburgh Track Authority. It’s been a great year for me in this regard as well, rating my babies would be impossible. Suffice to say I love all of these releases deeply!

Okay, moving on to the actual list… I just picked the best tracks from going through my memory and looking through my discogs collection for releases marked 2011, so it is entirely possible I have somehow forgotten something awesome. I don’t really listen to new music just to listen to new music, so this was all sprinkled in there with everything else I was listening to (be it older things I just picked up, or stuff from deep in my collection). So basically I am apologizing in advance if I forgot your awesome joint! Also, there are a couple records I didn’t get yet that would most likely have made the list if i had them already.

One more thing: while these are ranked, the most interesting thing to me about this year is exactly how close all these really are to each other in terms of quality. There isn’t much drop off, it really came down to almost arbitrarily choosing a position for each record. This is a very personal list, having to do with how I listened to them and how I deejayed with them. So don’t worry about the ranking, just dive right in…

47. Weekend Express “Going to Chicago” Stilove4music

I got a huge stack of records when I was in Chicago back in June, including a bunch of the recently released Stilove4music and Still Music catalogs. When I was playing records on Sunday nite at Danny’s, I started reaching for records I hadn’t really heard yet and threw them in the mix. This one was one of them, and though I was already in Chicago, it still all made sense. Not sure exactly what’s going on here, I hear samples of Jackie Moore’s “This Time Baby” but I don’t think this is a straight edit of it.

46. Adele “Rolling in the Deep (Jamie XX Shuffle)” XL

Really, this one should be WAYYYYY up on this list. I picked it up in the late winter/early spring, before the track really took off on pop radio here. I beat this shit ruthlessly into the ground at the PTA nights at Eclipse, it always got a good reaction. 8+ months later, while I kinda hope I never hear the original ever again, this one still gets me going when I push myself to listen to it.

45. Tang “Bass Synergy” Emphasis

Steven Tang is someone we’ve been watching closely here at ISM for a while, you may remember his awesome mix for us a little while back. This one is a tough melodic techno jam, perfect for stepping the BPM’s and energy back up after sleepytime techno seemed to have taken completely over for a while. On the B side “Syncronism” is a bit deeper and more melodic, and also hits all the right notes.

44. Nebraska “The Cruives” Rush Hour

In lieu of the dope, coherent EPs like he dropped in recent years, 2011 saw Nebraska break us off with his second full-length. I can’t say that I am surprised that it is just as dope as all his previous music. Taking samples of soul, funk, and disco, and adding filters, drum machines, synths, and electric pianos to them, Nebraska records have a warm feeling that many wish they could emulate. This one was the highlight for me, though really the entire album is wonderful!

43. Dijkhuis “Underground Persistence” Night Gallery

It’s given away by the title, but it doesn’t matter: this record owes its ass to Underground Resistance. Taking the characteristic uplifting synths that UR does so well and dropping them over a broken house beat may not be rocket science, but it is a formula that very few can pull off convincingly. Dijkhuis definitely has the melodic sensibility and arrangement skills to make this one really stand out.

42. Marcos Cabral “Freckles” LIES

The first of the LIES records to make my list. Many could have been here, but this one stood out to me so here it goes. A sweet mix of deep, old school analog house and modern sensibility. Read my profile on LIES again if you need to, but understand that you should be checking out every release on this label! One of the most exciting developments for US dance music in 2011.

41. Levon Vincent “Pivotal Moments in Life” Novel Sound

I have to admit, Levon Vincent’s records have generally not appealed to me. It’s not that they’re bad in any way, but for whatever reason they fail to grab me the way they seem to for most people. That all changed with this one. All three cuts are beautiful and distinctive, but this one and its late peak really does everything I could ask for in 2011 deepness. A very special tune.

40. Willie Burns “Waste Your Time” Creme

This year was definitely the year of old school house throwbacks. Way too many of these centered on sounding like mid-80s Mr. Fingers. Willie Burns, an alias of Speculator, kept things interesting by going for the feeling of late 80s and early 90s house music in general instead of aping one sound. Both this and the EP he did for LIES come off sounding like Nu Groove releases, which can never be a bad thing!

39. Scott Ferguson “Forever In Your Debt” Ferrispark

I am definitely a sucked for those deeeeeep jams buried in the B2 position on a record. The two mixes of “Sweet to You” call to mind old KDJ records, but “Forever in Your Debt” is the cut where Scott kills it with his own sound. Soulful and melodic, a perfect late-nite Detroit groove!

38. Tevo Howard “Arena” Tevo Howard Recordings

Tevo has been another favorite of ISM for a while, though there was a sameness pervading many of his records that made it not essential to own them all. The debut on his new Tevo Howard Recordings, however, IS an essential jam. With four tracks with great melodies and different vibes, this is the kind of record that rarely leaves my box. “Arena” happens to be the one that I dropped the most, so here it is.

37. Escort “Chamèleon Chameleon” Escort

Escort have been putting out banging records going back as far as 2006. Their previous work took up the reins of 80s disco styles that had long since stopped existing, but with their new jams (on the new album which also compiles their older 12″ tracks) they have begun mining one of my personal favorite disco sounds: August Darnell’s Kid Creole and the Coconuts-esque big band tropicalia. August Darnell is one of the least copied disco artists simply because his music took great skill to write, arrange, and play. Escort has those chops and then some, adding their own twist to the equation and creating some of the most catchy dance music of recent years.

36. Norm Talley “Pulsate” Thema

Norm is generally known for his slow, deeper than deep house music. Detroit is of course techno city, and on “Pulsate” Norm takes his usual sound palette and makes it tougher and more driving, better suited for spaced out techno sets than late nite house sessions. It ain’t rocket surgery, just a funky ass banging dance record.

35. Rick Wilhite Feat. Billy Love “In The Rain” Still Music

Rick Wilhite’s “Analog Aquarium” album seems to be one of the most slept-on LPs of 2011 based on the fact that basically no one is including it in their year-end lists. For fans of soulful and deep house, it didn’t get better than this in the past 12 months! Running from sample based jams to minimal techno, Rick keeps it interesting and diverse, a tough thing for most dance producers to do over a whole album. The way he treats vocals, especially the improvised-feeling crooning of Billy Love, is probably the most distinctive aspect of this record. This one in particular is so lo-fi and grimey it is almost disgusting. In the best possible way, of course!

34. East Liberty Quarters “Streetlights” ELQ

ELQ are my Pittsburgh homeboys, but with deep boogie jams like “Streetlights”, I would be repping them hardcore no matter where they were from. With many modern boogie artists opting for the heavily compressed (and nauseating) feel, it’s refeshing to hear cats obsessed with making funky memorable music. Out of all the jams they released this year, “Streetlights” is my personal favorite, but any of the cuts on this 7″ or their East Liberty Quarters EP on Rotating Souls could have easily been on this list.

33. Floating Points “Myrtle Avenue” Eglo

Floating Points had a pretty great year in 2011, with his remix for Daedelus and his track “Marilyn” standing out the most, and the late release of the Shadows EP was the highlight of it. “Myrtle Avenue” leads things off, signaling the deepest of all Floating Points jams to come out thus far. This is just wonderful music to listen to any time, but it still has sick bumping grooves to keep it relevant for those deep dancefloors. Ending things on this note makes me really excited to see what he has in store for 2012.

32. Andres “Outta This Earth” Mahogani Andres might be my favorite producer from Detroit, and if you know me, you know exactly how much a statement like that means. On this vinyl release which seems to be at least part of what will be his III album, all four cuts are sick soulful sample based music like you expect. “Outta This Earth” is the dark, cinematic feeling hiphop joint, a standout track in his whole catalog regardless of tempo. Mahogani also dropped the extremely slept on Joy of Sound Productions “Image Fades Away” which touches on that vocal side of Detroit house music.

31. Aybee “11:11″ Deepblak

Aybee is another cat who had a great year in 2011. Relaunching his Deepblak label as a vinyl imprint with the “11:11″ EP, putting out ill music by Afrikan Sciences, Damon Bell, and Prof Delacroix, as well as dropping a sick downtempo EP as o1o for Further Records kept him busy. The title track on 11:11 is what deep tribal techno would sound like if all those terms hadn’t been rendered meaningless by jokers abusing them, and is a sweet hypnotic dancefloor jam.

30. Ron Trent featuring Leroy Burgess “Tell Me” Future Vision

With all the love mid-90s Chicago deep house has been getting recently, I find the lack of hype for Ron Trent’s new material to be rather interesting. Sure, he likes to do 10 minute plus deep synth and drum workouts. Isn’t that what people dig these days anyway?! For me, Ron is one of the masters of mixing organic and synthetic sounds into a cohesive whole. On “Tell Me”, he enlists the great disco soul vocalist Leroy Burgess to help him out, and the results are one of the highlights of the year. Feeling more free form than adhering to a tight song structure, this is futuristic African-American dance music done real right.

29. BMG & Sal P “Credit Card” Interdimensional Transmissions

BMG hooks up with Sal Principato of Liquid Liquid fame for a quirky funk track. Surely this would have been front page news a few years ago when that kind of thing was a little more “hip”, but in 2011 this is still just as useful for those deejays who like to play disco, funk, house, electro, and techno in their sets. For fans of Talking Heads and other early 80s new wave type shit!

28. Recloose “Tecumseh” Rush Hour

This one most certainly did NOT have me at “hello”. In fact, the wigged out synth that dominates the track had me thinking at first that Recloose had lost his mind. Once the vocals and the pads come in, though, you can feel those sweet vibes that are instantly recognizable as Recloose! The EP is rounded out with the shuffled soul of “Electric Sunshine” and the extra funky “Parquet”, giving you a trio of dancefloor gems in differing styles and energy levels. Another one that won’t be leaving the box any time soon!

27. Dego “Love & Hate You” 2000 Black

Dego has been doing ill music for so long, I guess it is easy for some to overlook him at times when his sound is not part of the current trend. I am always on the lookout for the hot shit, so I’m not gonna sleep on him! On this one, he takes what begins as a boogie inspired dancefloor cut and cuts the tempo in half, turning it into a neo-soul jam with a twisted bassline. He does it so effortlessly that it seems as though the song couldn’t have possibly evolved in any other way. The catchy vocal hooks don’t hurt things either!

26. Alexander Robotnick “Problemes D’Amour (Kenny Dixon Jr Mix)” NDATL

I know a bunch of people who feel like the classic “Problems D’Amour” didn’t need to be edited. In most circumstances, this is exactly my line of thinking as well. Why mess with something so perfect?! KDJ is the kind of guy who takes pleasure in proving people like me wrong. The first time I heard this one was way back in 2003 when Kenny dropped it during the 3 Chairs’ ridiculously awesome set. Having no idea at the time what mix it was, I was kept guessing at who might have been behind it. All KDJ did was keep the guitar and synth parts and a bit of the “ah ou ah”, and dubbed things out. Simple, effective, and deadly, especially on the little repetitive edits. NDATL was strong as usual with every release in 2011, but special props must be given to the Assorted Elements EP which features a sick 303 jam from Larry Heard alongside bangers from Theo Parrish and Kai Alce himself.

25. Teengirl Fantasy “Cheaters (Beautiful Swimmers’ Shoulda Known Remix)” Hivern Disc

The Beautiful Swimmers were on fire this year, with this remix dropping right around the time they played one of the most killer deejay sets of 2011 in Pittsburgh. They like to keep things weird and balearic, so they reduced the straightforward vocal house jam into a mid-tempo drums and synth dub workout. Truly odd and captivating in equal amounts. The original and John Talabot’s anthemic remix make this an essential EP! Also of note is the Future Times label, owned in part by Andrew from Beautiful Swimmers, which dropped other killers like Protect-U’s “World Music” and the ESSENTIAL Vibe 2 compilation. Another imprint that blew it up, and that I have high hopes for in 2012.

24. Oktored “How Many Moons” Yosucka

Billed as “moombahton” or “bass music”, to me this is just some slow-ass techno like an old Theo Parrish or Recloose jam. It’s by a new producer from Detroit, and on a new label run by Brian Gillespie. This shit is superfunky synthed out wild shit, and really if you pitch it up it can be fact enough to almost sound like a broken beat track. 909 and Juno 106 definitely didn’t sound this fresh too often in 2011!

23. Fred P “Come This Far (Fred P Reshape)” Soul People Music

This one starts off so simply, just a little drum loop that grooves along slightly restlessly. Soon, sounds begin to emerge from the ether, slowly become louder and louder until the strings start to come in. THE STRINGS. It might take almost six minutes for them to finally reveal themselves fully, but this tune is all about the strings. Dramatic and melancholy, the twinkling piano adds the final touch that cements this one as a future deep house classic. Only for those without ADD, this is best experienced in its full 11 minutes!

22. Scott Grooves “Crash” White Label of the Month

Scott Grooves’ “White Label of the Month” series lasted all of two months, but they were both very dope records. Out of them all, his ode to his “preference for Vinyl” is the best. Riding a simple groove, and featuring just a few chords, this is the kind of old-school 90s house music jam that so many attempted in 2011 but so very few achieved. This one would be a simple killer any time!

21. Specter “Pipe Bomb” Sound Signature

Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature label doesn’t necessarily seem like the right place for a grinding techno jam at first glance. But when you think about releases like “1987″ and Leron Carson’s recent album, and you know that Specter is a vinyl head from Chicago, it all starts to make sense. This is one that is meant to be beaten to death in a set: tracky, minimal, and nasty.

20. José Larralde “Quimey Neuquén (Chancha Vía Circuito Remix)” ZZK

This actually came out in 2010, but I didn’t hear it until I picked up the CD which came out this year in advance of Chancha Via Circuito’s performance here in Pittsburgh. What I found on that CD reminded me of Basic Channel if they had also been obsessed with South American folk music. This one track in particular was truly beautiful, and was well loved by basically every person I played it for. This joint defined my late spring, along with the whole album. Also, Chancha’s remix for Peabody & Sherman was a particularly ill half-time dub jam that can be worked into the deepest of house sets.

19. Big Strick “Maybe 1 Day” 7 Days Entertainment

One of the most elusive elements of classic house and techno (and one that seems to be particularly difficult for a lot of modern producers to mimic) is its simplicity. There really doesn’t have to be a lot going on to be effective, in fact the less elements the better as far as I’m concerned. Big Strick has the experience that allows him to reduce his tunes to a tiny amount of elements and still be captivating. His releases on Fxhe stuck to this formula, but his newer joints on his own 7 Days Entertainment seem to really nail it. “Maybe 1 Day” is the one I prefer, but the entire EP keeps it simple and hypnotic. His newly released “Timeless” EP doesn’t stray from the formula, and is also all the better for it.

18. Disco Nihilist “Coffee and a Worn Paperback” Running Back

This one is a tune I had been waiting a hot minute for it to come out. A favorite of mine since the day Disco Nihilist sent me the mp3, it is another very simple track. Four chords sketch out a melancholy harmony, while jacking drums keep it rhythmically driven. There really isn’t much to be said about this music, you just have to listen to it and let it work on you. Consistently making music as minimal and moving is quite an achievement, props to the Disco Nihilist for keeping it really real.

17. Marcellus Pittman “On A Beautiful” Lifetime Groove

This seems to have been Marcellus’ less popular release this year, with his EP on Seventh Sign getting most of the love. While that one is dope in its own right, this 10″ on Lifetime Groove seems a bit more special to my ears. The A-side jam “On A Beautiful” in particular manages to incorporate the boogie music that he likes to deejay into the house sound he is known for producing in a way that I haven’t heard anyone else come close to. A slightly funked up beat and Moogish bassline serve as rhythm section to synth chords and pads that sound as if an alien band was recording a Kashif instrumental. Serious Detroit soulful house music!

16. Mr. Fingers “Finger Fuck” Rush Hour

While the Chicago house knockoff trend hit full stride this year, I was particularly interested in the release of many jams from the actual heyday of Chicago house in the 80s that had previously only existed on reel to reel. Gene Hunt’s “Chicago Dance Tracks” compilation was my favorite of the bunch, with this Mr. Fingers jam and the Craig Loftis joint “Yes I’m Right” being the highlights of the comp. Also worth noting was the massive Virgo Four box set “Resurrection”, which includes probably many more tracks than you can easily digest in a few years much less one. Good work on the same front was done by the kind folks at Kstarke Records in Chicago with their eponymous label which issued previously unavailable versions of The It’s “Donnie”, Nick Non-Stop’s “Jack My Body”, Adonis’ “No Way Back”, and Phuture’s “Acid Tracks”.

15. ncw “Veil” Apartment

This is another special release for us here at ISM as it was the debut of Kenny’s new Apartment Records label. These tracks are all rude as fuck, another trait that seemed to be in very short supply in 2011. This one has become a staple in my box due to the variety, but “Veil” got banged out the most so it gets the nod here. More simple dancefloor tracks, but twisted up just right to keep the tension rising.

14. Lerosa “In My Mind” Uzuri

Lerosa is a long-time friend of ISM, so we are always proud with each new achievement he reaches. This year saw his first vinyl album release (with his cassette release on Further from a few years back being his very first full length), and it was made even more special with his collaborations with the Olverwho Factory. “In My Mind” did it the most for me this year due to Shonie’s sweet vocals, but the whole album is filled with quality deepness.

13. Omar-S presents Colonel Abrams “Who Wrote the Rules of Love” Fxhe

Most of the talk this year was about Omar-S’ “Here’s Your Trance Now Dance”, which was definitely an anthem for me. But his lower-key move of bringing one of my favorite 80s vocalists onto a track with Amp Fiddler on keys was easily the true standout. Equal parts Omar-S rudeness and Colonel Abrams soul, this tune is absolutely gorgeous, with the Shadow Ray remix on the flip adding a little more synthetic element to the equation. Records like this and deejay sets like the one he played at the Music Institute afterparty DEMF weekend show why Omar-S is one of the true top dogs of the underground.

12. Steve Moore “Zero-Point Field” LIES

The LIES label makes its second appearance here, this time with one of the best techno records of the year. Starting with sparse synth pulses and building into a cinematic climax, this is wonderfully futuristic electronic music of the highest order. I see this one building into a cult classic over time, with slight nods to John Carpenter’s scores giving it as much home listening appeal as the driving beat gives it dancefloor appeal.

11. Kyle Hall “Down!” Wild Oats

With the tracks immediately preceding this one being all about well-crafted house and techno, this one is almost completely the opposite. This is a nasty, banging deejay tool. But it is very effective, one of those immediate party jams right up there with some of the best sample based KDJ, Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish, and Agent X records. Raw as hell and completely unapologetic, both sides of this are Kyle Hall at his best. This year Wild Oats also dropped the debut record by my man Jay Simon, “Faith”, which should be slept on at your own peril!

10. Reggie Dokes “Haiti” Royal Oak

With so many sick tracks already mentioned, what is needed to gain entry into the top 10? In this case, it is being quite simply the most beautiful house/techno record released this year. Reggie Dokes is in ridiculous form here, sounding like I imagine Derrick May might if he were still on top of his game and producing new music. I couldn’t tell you why this hasn’t received much more attention, being on critical darling Clone’s Royal Oak sublabel, but I guess that’s why I had to write this post. This is what it is all about right here, if you play this one and people don’t dance, the crowd is either dead or they should be!

9. Ital “Culture Clubs” Lovers Rock

It’s kind of weird to pick a track that is NOT on 100% Silk to kind of represent all the goodness that came from that camp this year, but that’s how it had to be. The dance/indie crossover was chronicled earlier in the year (and very early in 100% Silk’s release schedule!) by me for the wonderful Gridface blog, and their output remained interesting at the very least throughout the entire year. But this one landed somewhere right in the middle, and it has been the one I keep going back to. Produced by Mi Ami’s Daniel Martin-McCormick, the pitch-bent chords lend a feeling of melting to a jacking house beat. Simple, weird, and dope as hell. Like early Detroit techno if you listened to it while sipping syrup.

8. John Daly “Sea Level (Aerosol Mix)” Further

It seems unfair to distill Further’s contributions to 2011 to one track. Full disclosure compels me to remind you that they released an EP by my Pittsburgh Track Authority project! But the fact is that we are humbled to be amongst the releases that included the Conrad Schnitzler Live ’72 (RIP) double LP, Nuel’s Trance Mutation LP, and this killer John Daly jam. Here, Mr. Daly builds things slowly from a drum beat up into a climax of pure techno bliss, not unlike some of Omar-S’ best Oasis tracks. This absolutely must be allowed to breathe, and when it does it takes you to another place.

7. Kevin Reynolds “Liasons” Nsyde

Kevin Reynolds has had very few releases, but each has been notable in some way. While this year’s “Favis” may have been too deep for most people, “Liasons” is definitely much more banging and dancefloor ready. Rough beats and jarring synth hits pave the way for the beautiful arpeggios that alter the mood of things quite unexpectedly. Mixing light and dark elements together like a producer who has a million records under his belt, this one might be the jam that sends Kevin into wider recognition. It will be very well deserved when it happens!

6. Jamie 3:26 “Bostich Time” Strobelight Honey

This record is one of those joints that makes the most sense in the hands of a deejay as opposed to on its own. Editing Yello’s “Bostich” into a drummed up frenzy, by the time the vocal loop drops a few times the dancers have already been going nuts and it just turns the intensity up that much higher. The flipside is a dry as fuck acid jam, another deejay tool for those that like to bang it the fuck out. Jamie’s experience as a long time deejay is quite obvious on this record as it is made to be mixed up.

5. Juju & Jordash “Avian Oasis” Downbeat Black

Juju & Jordash had a ridiculous year this year. Between “Unleash The Golem Pt 1″, “Bleached Roots”, and this joint, there was not a track that was less than stellar with their names on it. Throw in their live improvised sets with Move D under the moniker Magic Mountain High, and you have quite a serious body of work. For me though, it was this dense, dark, and moist jam that shows exactly how high a level they’re working on. Using a melodica and a train whistle to create alien dub house music seems like it must be the most natural thing to happen in their world. This sounds like nothing else.

4. Nice Rec “Not Real” Harmony Society

Nice Rec is another Pittsburgh cat, you might be familiar with him from his excellent Boogieman mixes that have been posted here on ISM. He’s also a killer producer, with this jam in particular being his best joint so far. A classic vocal jam that builds into a double time drum workout, this is a ridiculous pairing of classic soul and modern beat music. To think that something like this was made in a dude’s house in my own city makes me feel so proud. The wave of Pittsburgh music is only just now starting.

3. Ricardo Miranda “Future Foundation” Neroli

It frustrates me to no end that this is not on Youtube. Ricardo Miranda’s jam on Rick Wilhite’s Vibes comp from a few years back hipped me to what he was doing, but he really took things to another level here. Starting out with what seems to be a nice but decidedly classic sounding acid jam, suddenly the script is flipped when the beautiful piano comes in. By the time the dubbed out horn lines hit, it’s all over. Like classic acid but better and more beautiful, this tune has a magical effect that seems to hit people who hear it right in their heart. Acid as soul music.

2. Anthony “Shake” Shakir “Meets BBC” Honest Jon’s

Anthony Shake Shakir is known as one of the guys who helped invent techno music in Detroit in the 1980s. What may be less known is that he still puts out absolute killers. This remix for Honest Jon’s series of African artists (which also featured an inspired effort from Mark Ernestus) is one such killer. Party techno as pure as can be, this one starts with infectious percussion before dropping in the simple synth riff. African vocals and filtered and phased drums fill things out as much as they need be, but the track remains fairly skeletal and most importantly funky. Shake’s slept-on broken-beat-esque “Piper” is also a nice return to original material for the man. We’re looking forward to much more.

1. Storm Queen “It Goes On” Environ

It seems almost unfair for everybody else. Storm Queen took the cake last year with “Look Right Through” and they do it again this year. Morgan Geist’s production is at its most minimal and clangy, while Damon Scott’s lyrics and vocals work perfectly in tandem with it. Laying off the true hook until a few minutes in, once it drops it’s all over. I would have bet this followup wouldn’t have bettered their first jam, and I’d have been dead wrong. This is all that’s right about disco, house, and techno in 2011, and as such it gets #1.

This Friday night in Pittsburgh, we are celebrating the forthcoming release of our new Pittsburgh Track Authority 12″ on our own new label Pittsburgh Tracks with a big party! In addition to our own performance in conjunction with synth pop group TM EYE, we have a special opening performance from Shawn Rudiman that promises to be heavy on the electro-funk tip and a DJ set from Underground Resistance’s DJ Skurge! It’s sure to be yet another hot night in Pittsburgh…

You can check out the new tunes “Untitled” and “Monongahela Rainforest” here:

There will be white labels for sale at the show, and we will sell a couple online after the show as well. Release date is sometime in January through Crosstalk Distribution. There are definitely our most dancefloor jams so far, I’m really excited to get them out into the world!

We’ve also been working on a couple new things, the first of which to be completed is a remix of Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight”. We sent this out to some deejays (Chicago and Detroit, what’s up?! Also ATL and others…) so you can definitely hear this one out in the wild. For right now, you have to either get your dance on in the club, or rock the YouTube video:

Our recent release on Further Records, the Archipelago EP, is also still available for purchase on vinyl only. There’s only a few left on Further’s bandcamp page, so jump all over that here. On this one, we took things in a bit of a dub/digital reggae direction. The slick cover art, green vinyl, and Dubplates and Mastering mastering job all add up quite nicely into a really nice package that works very well with the music. It is awesome to be part of the Further family!

We also had our Pittsburgh homeboy Paul Fleetwood do a mix of all Pittsburgh Track Authority tracks, ones that are already released as well as some that are not out yet. This is the only place you’ll be able to hear them for a while until they have a release! Check that out here:

Finally, we are happy to be joining a new electronic music agency that just formed out of Pittsburgh, Eighty Agency. Their other clients include Claude Young, Different World, and Shawn Rudiman as well as handling booking for Kirk Degiorgio in North and South America. We’re looking forward to bigger and better things in 2012!

Despite only being around since 2010 (and the with vast majority of their releases having been this year), L.I.E.S or Long Island Electrical Systems has established itself as one of the most interesting dance music labels out there. Putting out fast paced sci-fi techno jams next to slow sample-based deep house grooves is what LIES thrives on, and with the impending release of Professor Genius’ Hassan LP, further excursions into even more left-field territory seem to be in store.

It is clear that a love of 1980s US house music is at the root of much of what LIES do. From the second release by 2 Dogs in a Room (aka Jason Letkiewicz and label head Ron Morelli), which consists of sleazy Chicago-esque grooves, to Willie Burns’ (aka Speculator) debut release under that pseudonym, an EP full of quirky house tunes, the sound of drum boxes and vintage synths is not out of place. It might be Marcos Cabral’s EP that most perfectly describes the LIES aesthetic: hints of vintage drum machines poke through the haze of very modern sounding tracks that tread the line between house and deep techno, a perfect combination of old and new.

Legowelt’s Sark Island Acid EP is another highlight of the label. Dense, melodic synth lines do all the heavy lifting emotionally, while the banging drum tracks remind of Chicago and Detroit, but without sounding too derivative. Terekke’s Damn EP seems to be the one most desired by the Discogs crew, fetching high dollar amounts despite only just seeing release over the summer. The bass heavy, lo-fi joints work very well with the hand-stamped white-label aesthetic of the LIES “X.5″ release series they appear on.

Throw in the most recent release, a typically highed-up EP by Beautiful Swimmer Maxmillion Dunbar as well as two solo outings by Mr. Letkiewicz (one as jack-tracker Steve Summers, one as sample heavy Malvoeaux) and you have quite a varied lineup of house music on one label released in just over a year!

LIES also has the distinction of putting out my favorite techno record so far in 2011, Steve Moore’s excellent “Zero-Point Field”. The connections between LIES and Washington DC’s Future Times crew is obvious from the sharing of artists such as Mr. Moore between the labels, helping to create an interesting East Coast dance music crew. Their vibe seems to be spreading out through other labels like 100% Silk, which also has multiple releases by Jason Letkiewicz in the past year!

With so much quality and variety coming out, as well as connections to some other outstandingly interesting labels, it’s clear why LIES would be a favorite of mine. I hit Ron Morelli up with a few questions via email to get a better idea about what motivates him…

ISM: The releases on LIES have a tendency towards American dance music (even the Legowelt record is in a Chicago house vein), though not of any particular style. Are there any specific labels that are influential to your approach?

Ron Morelli: I wouldn’t say that there are any specific labels that are influential in my approach regarding how I run the label and the aesthetics of the music therein. I have cited on numerous occasions how Bunker Records and the 90s Hague squatter scene and their anti-establishment approach sonically as well as their business model or lack of had undoubtedly resonated strongly with me. All I’m doing here is putting out jams by people I know. If people are open and catch on, then cool, if they don’t that’s cool too.

ISM: How does working at A1 affect what you do? Do you tend to buy more new music, or more older music?

RM: It’s 70/30 down the line. Kinda always has been. There’s so much old music out there to be discovered still, but it would be ignorant to not keep up with new projects coming out. I’m a fan, I wanna know what’s out there and check it out regardless. There’s a lot of new stuff out there good and bad, gotta check it always.

ISM: Many of the artists on LIES are known more for live performances as opposed to simply deejaying, how does that tie into the music you choose to release?

RM: I think that has really been strictly by chance. Although, somehow through the years it seems to me like producers who dj are generally not great djs and djs who produce tracks are never as good as the aforementioned. Obviously there are exceptions and this is just some baseless observation on my part which may or may not hold any truth.

ISM: On a record nerd tip, what is up with the “XXX.5″ catalog numbers for the recent white label releases? are they meant to be thought of differently from the full-blown LIES releases?

RM: This was just circumstance as I was told that records released in the summer months records don’t sell as well and blah blah blah.. Europe,vacation, partytime, industry this, that, the third. So basically I heard some tracks that were sick and thought that there was no way I’m waiting until September to put this out when it was June, so I was like fuck it I’m just gonna press this shit. So it’s kind of a monster that created itself. I’m not trying to wait around for anyone really, just keep it moving, so yeah it’s inadvertently become a label within the label.

ISM: Which artists from outside the LIES camp would you like to work with if money/era/etc were not a problem?

RM: I would commission Black Sabbath, Flower Travelin Band, Achim Reichel, and Conrad Schnitzler to compose an epic 4xlp collaboration album with Phil Spector behind the glass, gun at hand.

ISM: Name your top 5 NYC records regardless of genre:

RM:
Whodini-5 Minutes of Funk
Liquid Liquid-Cavern
Implog-Holland Tunnel Dive
EPMD-Business Never Personal
Petula Clark-Downtown

There you have it. You’ll be sure to hear more about LIES and their artists on ISM in the future!

You can check LIES out on Soundcloud here. Ron Morelli is currently on tour in the UK and Europe for the next week or so, check for dates and locations on his Facebook page here.

First thing of note is that they aren’t doing straight re-issues of the material, which I think is a good idea. It keeps the nerds happy that their precious originals haven’t been cheapened as much as they could have been while also supplying others with plenty of difficult to obtain music on wax. Going on this first compilation they seem to have put a good amount of thought and effort into compiling them instead of just dumping a bunch of tracks together. And while it’s nice to see “Dehydration” appear on wax after being only available on The Quest CD there is also a previously unreleased cut, “Unknown Journey”. Yes, that’s new Drexciya material. Wow.

Bubble Metropolis and The Unknown Aquazone are featured most heavily here with 3 tracks taken from each and 1 each from Deep Sea Dweller, The Return Of, Aquatic Invasion and the aformentioned The Quest. Most intriguingly – in terms of what the future may hold – is the inclusion of “Hydro Theory” and “Darthouven Fish Men” from The Journey Home. While the others are culled from the UR camp this was released originally on Warp. Though this package contains material only  that goes under the Drexciya name could this possibly mean that The Other People Place and Elektroids (Stinson’s other releases on Warp) could also be making an appearance in the future??  Hmmm. One can presume the Tresor material will not be surfacing here, what with it being re-released already. Also, the other afformentioned Warp releases were Stinson solo projects so this may not happen as Clone are more than likely working with Gerald Donald on this series.

Anyways, back to this one. As Drexciya releases were never simply a bunch of club tracks thrown together the re-arranging of the music has to be looked at. Unsurprisingly they start things off with “Welcome to” before things kick in with “WaveJumper” and “Lardossan Funk” gently upping the ante bit by bit. I’m working off a digital promo for this but I’m presuming that the B-side leads with “Bubble Metropolis” and we vere into more abrasive territory with the following “Hydro Doorway” and the properly warped “Take Your Mind”. The Cd version sees “Take Your Mind” placed near the end but I feel it is more suited to come after “Hydro Doorway”, nicely slotting inbetween it and the murky “Aquarazorda”.

And so we come to “Unknown Journey”. The 808 programming is pure Stinson but you can feel the input of Donald in the track with it’s initial catchy hook that is soon contradicted by a droning bassline, and spooky, ethereal  chords . The song focuses on the melodic elements when they arrive, more so than the drums which for the most part are little more than a 808 kick drum, breaking out into the groove only one more time after the opening minute or so. This is very much a welcome addition to the Drexciya cannon and proves once again that all the impersonaters that have followed since  have rarely, if ever, been able to capture the magic these guys could from their machines.

The tempo is brought down again a little bit more by “Dehydration” before “Beyond The Abyss”‘  rough and pacy beats accompanied by screwy warped noises leads perfectly into the crushing techno of “Sea Quake”. (On the CD, “Beyond The Abyss” follows “Hydro Doorway”, which also works pretty well). “Rubick’s Cube” follows this is and it’s where I would have wrapped up this compilation. “Darthoeven Fish People” is maybe too similar to “Sea Quake” for both of them to appear so close to each other. Again, at the end the CD running order is different with “Dehydration” closing things off, but I still would have finished with “Rubick’s Cube”.

And that is that, for now. As a commited and unashamed fanboy of Drexciya there is very little on the musical side of things I can criticise. It would be different if this was a one off compilation, we’d be pissing and moaning as much as praising over what’s there and what isn’t. We will have to wait until the end of the series before we do that but this double pack gives us a coherent and solid over look of the various facets of the duo’s sound and runs in a smooth fashion for the most part. It doesn’t venture too much in to the more abstract end of their music but does let it peak out every so often and I think should work as a good introduction for new listeners. They’ve included a new track with no fan fare at all which was also a nice touch, especially when these lost tracks that are unsurfaced rarely ever deliver anything. Compare that to Soma’s OH MY GOD NEW DAFT PUNK approach to a track that was forgotten for a reason “Unknown Journey” was an extremely pleasant surprise. More of the same, please.

Edit: I haven’t commented on the sound quality as I don’t yet have a vinyl copy, but going on the digital files Tyrell has done a sterling job, as with the rest of the Clone Classics series.

Last year’s Returnal album was a pretty enjoyable if far from earth shattering release from Daniel Lopatin and while it’s somewhat of a given that he’d have to pull something pretty incredible out of the bag to ever top his Rifts compilation, I was still intrigued to see what he’d offer up this time. Opener “Andro” eases us in with a decent, if typical, OPN soundscape, which eventually gives away to slightly warped tribal-ish percussion, hinting that we may see Lopatin introducing new elements to his pallete.  ”Sleep Dealer” then sees a rare excursion into beat driven territory, with a small kick drum loop and a flute type sound giving the track a different sort of groove to be expected from Lopatin, hinting more at 70′s funk than colder 80s sounds. “Power of Persuasion” similarly features more organic instrumentation, led by  a couple of jittery piano loops backed by Vangelis-esque assonance. As the song continues it becomes surrounded and eventually lost in a sea of quite wonderful bass with the piano eventually disappearing completely, the song collapsing on more stoccato drones.

“Remember” passes by forgettably before the album hits its peak in the middle section with the wonderful title track, which again sees Lopatin return to a piano motif, but instead restrains himself wherein instead of letting the other elements swamp the song, they gently infuse the song with more brittle starkness. It’s arguably one of his most effective songs yet, it’s simplicity being it’s strong point. Lopatin proving that he can still create wonderfully emotive music, with seemingly little effort. “Nassau” continues the theme of sharp, jittery sampling, this time with odd vocal sounds and glitchy noises before allowing another melancholic piano riff to come to the fore. The rest of the song is lead by this while he brings the earlier chopped up sounds in and out, introducing additional oddness before he reduces it to a purer ambient style, again leaving us with another touching, wistful song.

“Up” kicks off with a heavy drum loop, somewhat reminiscent of the Games mixtapes, which, as is the way more than once on the album, fades away to ambience, letting the synths and piano breathe more. I would have found this a much more interesting composition if he’d melded that opening loop with the 2nd half of the song. On “Child Soldier” the chop n paste approach is brought to it’s peak in a rather irritating way, it’s basically just a mess of grating sampling; his final descent into ambience pasted on for no other reason than it being the “thing” he does. “Explain”  brings the album to a calming close with multi layered “aahhhs” (Enya much?) – not dissimilar to the opener but with a brighter tone -, warm synthetic bass and the usual drones that generates a feeling of optimism compared with the more downcast and darker feeling contained within much of the rest of the album.

As an album it works reasonably well, and while the likes of “Submersible” and “Remember” sound like he knocked them out in his sleep (one aided by a bucket of valium) he has advanced on Returnal and it contains some pretty special moments of depth and emotion, which are welcome additions to his discography. After the Games/Ford & Lopatin album was such a disappointment earlier in the year here he proves that he is still, at times, an artist worth giving some time over to.

Following on from Tom, I’m gonna try and break off smaller, more frequent reviews instead of compiling lengthy posts that take forever to do. While in theory this will mean I’ll be a little bit fresher with the material, not so in this case. Ah well.

Optic Nerve – 3 Dimensional Ep (Diametric)

I got a heads up to this record a while back but I only got around to picking up a copy of it today, hence the lateness – it came out during the summer. Either way, it demands some attention, even now. Optic Nerve is one of the aliases of Keith Tucker and on this release he delivers some super deep electro/techno. It kicks off at breakneck pace with Virtual Depth Perception (Vocal) that even at -8 I’d probably struggle to fit in to a set, but it’s a pretty solid, if not groundbreaking piece of deep Detroit electro the likes of which Tucker has touched on many times before. For me the release steps up a gear with the following Illusionist Theme which goes a little bit deeper. Great pitch bending synths lead the way over a classic 313 pad pattern before some loose snare work outs shake  up the backbone of the track, turning it into a spine-tingling break beat motherfucker of  a track. I can’t wait to play this one out!

Retina Display Scan keeps up the futuristic sci-fi feel of the flip but again goes deeper still, taking a more abstract route through the type of electro Gerard Hanson delivers with his ERP alias, keeping it on a beatless tip for the most part, with Tucker infusing it with his own style at all times. He teases us at the very end with a rubberband bassline and sturdy kick, which comes to an end far too soon. The ep is rounded of with a few tiny snippets of loops that could be used to nice effect in a set if they weren’t so short. In a way the b-side is slightly frustrating in terms of how much you could use them when playing out but the A2 especially is just so good, I’ll forgive him for this.

Floorplan – Sanctified Ep

Rob Hood’s latest ep under his disco/house inspired Floorplan moniker is a 12 that has gotten a lot of coverage elsewhere in the last couple of months but I thought I’d give it a shout out too. While the B-side delivers some excellent straight up Hood action – especially the rush-inducing Baby, Baby, which reminds me quite a bit of the storming School cut from his Hood Music series a few years back – it’s We Sanctify His Name on the A that I find the most intriguing. Musically it’s a belter of a track and one sure to ignite some full on dancefloor nuttiness, but I’m interested to hear what readers have to say about the lyrical content of the song. Hood is, of course, one of the most outspoken religious peeps in the techno fraternity and while he often talks about the influence God plays in all aspects of his music this is his most blatant statement yet, within an actual cut.

The question is, do people feel uncomfortable playing a record that is an obvious religious statement? I don’t think you are gonna find many Djs with such a religious devotion as Hood who feel like this record is “speaking” for them. I put it to Twitter folk when the record came out and some admitted that they’d feel uncomfortable playing it. This also reminded me of another Twitter discussion from months ago where myself and Tom clogged up everyones feed argueing about how; as a Dj, can we play certain songs due to their lyrical content, be it religious pieces like this, overtly gay songs written for that crowd or songs with a heavily racial bent? Should they be played to Secular/Straight crowds etc, or do we even bother taking any of this into account and just worry about how much they get the floor moving…and do the dancers out there care at all?

I’ve long been a fan of the work of Andrés; in fact, he was one of those “holy grail” type producers when I first started buying lots of house and techno a decade ago. His tracks have always been heavily sample based, but originally they were much more tracked out and minimal compared to what he is doing today. Recently, it seems that the style of his hiphop records as DJ Dez (all of which are awesome as well) has seeped into the music he releases as Andrés.

On his album Andrés II from a few years back, J Dilla’s Donuts also seemed to be a heavy influence. Adopting more of a collage approach that worked better on the CD than the two vinyls released, Andrés mashed together boogie, funk, disco, soul, jazz, hiphop, house, and more into a brilliant whole that seems to appeal to people well outside of the usual house music crowd.

The six tracks included on III seem as though they would work well in a similar context. Aside from the dancefloor house of “Be Free Baby”, the remaining tracks are all slow but beautiful jams that seem to be a more advanced version of the Dez style of production. “Outta This Earth” is the highlight of these tracks for me, but all of them are cool albeit kinda short. I hope that more vinyl as well as a CD done in that collage style are forthcoming, which would give these tracks further context than they receive here.

Also worth checking out is the Michael Jackson sampling record recently released under the Dez Andrés name. I haven’t seen much written about this record, but as with almost everything he’s done, it’s a funky-ass dancefloor bomb. My favorite is “A Time to Boogie” which uses “Blame It On The Boogie” to great effect. “As We Rock On”, meanwhile, jacks “Rock With You” as you might have guessed. For those who aren’t big MJ fans, instrumentals of both are included!