Some new(ish) records I should have posted about at least a month ago.

Things have been super slack around here of late and it sorta seems like an odd time for me to be doing a records post as I’ve had possibly my quietest month for record purchases in many a year, but it’s also been a while since I’ve talked about any so there is some stuff that’s hit the stores in the last few months that I’d live to give a mention to at the same time.

First off not everything is old, and I may as well start with the freshest, which is the next Tr One 12″ that will be dropping in a couple of weeks. Living In, Now is a 3 tracker coming via Dublin’s Pogo Recordings which also dropped this release from the boys a couple of years back. This is their most abrasive release in quite some time and probably the one which best represents their blistering live performances, which the 3 tracks have been part of since they got it out on the road last year. The title cut is a booming jack track that builds up to a simple cut up vocal loop and little else, but the smart teasing of the kick drums and it’s cavernous thump make it a dancefloor killer. Things get more gnarly on the flipside with Herd Of Trains sounding like the vinyl is about to crack up from the distortion before Love Letter’s bruising, deep acid work out. I especially like that it’s relentless build up could give way to a big stadium techno banger ala Agoria’s La 11eme Marche but instead the guys reign it in, bringing the track back to it’s original  gloomy, droning motif. Another fine display from the lads; they are slowly but surely revealing the many facets to their sound.

Keeping it local, Slowburn dropped their latest 12″ on Austure, The Hustle, a while back and it continues on in the vein of previous work, eschewing the direct approach of far too much boring deep house. Their hardware driven tracks usually deliver a certain off-kilter edge that you see from the likes of Kassem Mosse, Lerosa and Lowtec, it’s this tendency to not play it entirely straight is what makes them an interesting proposition. They always manage to keep the groove intact no matter how many different little elements they throw in along the way, with the growling bass and subtle snare rolls/claps of The Hustle and Broken Document being the finest examples on this 4 tracker. it turns out that house music in 2012 doesn’t have to be just dull minor chord loops or redundant Chicago sounds.

Lakker have been knocking round Dublin for a fair few years but it’s only recently that they have started to get some wider notice. While last year’s Spider Silk on KilleKill contained one banger in it’s title track their 12″ on James Ruskin’s Blueprint is a much more satisfying release. They fuse dub, modern bass, industrial and old fashioned harder techno influences into a dark and unsettling and at times relentless groove. The dank eerie-ness of BKRO is reminiscent of some of the weirder excursions of Surgeon’s Floorshow releases while ED’s fidgety shuffle combines a dubstep influence with sparse discordant keys. Arc is the grimiest cut, sounding like it was moulded in grotty sewers but as before it’s the creepy melodies that float around in the ether that make this stuff stand out. While closer Evening Lemon has a nearly upbeat swing to it’s drum patterns and weird voices continue that feeling of unease while a strangely lilting melodic refrain plays over the top. You won’t be sitting back in the sun out yer back garden listening to this Ep, but then we’re hardly having the summer for it, are we?

Comeme is a weird and frustrating label. They rarely ever seem to get a full 12″ right and I’ve been put off buying their stuff due to some of the tracks being so annoying. Their latest offering from Isaac Johan is typically all over the shop but the raw and somewhat brutal sounds of “Everytime I see Your Face” meant I couldn’t resist purchasing it. Gnarly analogue drums and percussion drive a song pretty much bereft of any melody, with a rough bassline and more fucked up vocal snippets making up the rest of the track. The rest of the Ep is on more of a new wave/post punk tip, albeit one dragged through a cement mixer.  It’s typically Comeme in it’s refusal to be coherent but unlike before it doesn’t irritate or frustrate me. Give it a go if clanging weirdness is your thing.

Keeping things decidedly grimey is this split 10inch from Aroy Dee and Ma Spaventi. Actually underneath it’s thudding snails pace, Dee’s Wrecking manages to emerge as a somewhat euphoric banger while Ma Spaventi’s Mr Floyd similarly draaggs out a cool Chicago groove over it’s distorted and grating (in a good way) bass. The later is most likely to cause feeling of unease on a late night dancefloor while the former finally gives the listener a break from the sludgy A side. I think this glum summer of ours is having an effect on what I’m liking at the moment. So be it.

GB aka Gifted and Blessed aka The Abstract Eye is on a bit of a roll this year, to say the least. His latest appearance is on Eglo and again I’m loving his rough-hewn melding of house and electro that has made given him a pretty unique sound. His music has a wonderful Stinson influence yet his battered drums and dirty basslines mark his sound out as more than mere wannabe Drexciya. Analagous is a perfect example of how he combines these sounds, with a lightness of touch in his key work that offsets his rasping percussion and dirty basslines. Grandfather Fire and I Feel It In My Forehead are slightly less aggressive with his touching melodies taking control, their winding hypnotic tones bringing together another sterling 12″ from one of my favourite producers of the last few years.

Night Gallery, the imprint from Shawn Kralism and Kuri Kondrak continues apace with another killer release, this time from the not oft seen LOWLOW. I’ve been caning the electro-disco funk of Low Phase for a few months so it’s about time I gave it a shout out here. The rest of the release follows a similar-ish path to the first couple of Night Gallery 12s combining classic house/techno sounds with a sense of idiosyncratic fun and the odd cut of more left of field electronics.   If you’ve slept on this label, sort yerself out and get on ’em and if you don’t know anything else of the artist check out this killer release from 2008

Keith Worthy can often veer on going from “deep” to simply “boring” but with Moments In Rhythm Vol.3 his sometimes watery deep house grooves are set off against a more techno influence, the pitchbending melodies, crashing piano chords and acid lines on display make this my favourite of his or Aesthetic Audio in a good while.  The Relative imprint continue to pound us with unflinching raw-as-yer-balls house and techno with Lost Patterns by Vinalog. Weird and perturbing sounds make up what little else is on offer besides the bone crunching drum machine workouts; Pattern 1 has the decency to contain some odd jazz and vocal samples that touch on the canorous while the rest of the Ep gives us odd drones, whiplash noises and more freaky voice and piano samples.

Finally, both John Daly and Actress have delivered 2 albums in recent months both with varying degrees of success. I was initially put off by the RETARDED claims in the press blurb of R.I.P that Actress was now on a level playing field to the likes of Afx, Drexciya and Basic Channel in terms of where he lies in the annals of dance music history. Cop the fuck on. Talk about an ego out of control, letting that pass through – It’s also another good reason why I nearly always ignore promo blurbs. But I gave it an oul spin and in fairness, this definitely contains my favourite music by him yet, mostly in the beautiful ambient sequences such as Ascending and IWAAD. Unfortunately the album is too long and  a bit of an incoherent mess; frustrating coming from a producer that can do the business when he wants but is too often distracted by his own self indulgence. Daly’s album, Sunburst, suffers from the opposite, wherein he plays it too straight for my liking. This is a collection of tracks focused nearly 100% on the dancefloor, which is fine but I was hoping for more from Daly especially as it’s when he goes cosmic on us that is when he is at his best for me. Having said, I’m a big fan of to the title track, I Got Bells (the album highlight for me) and the smooth electro tinglings of Cruise Control.