winter into spring 2010 rekkids

The quantity of good new records that have come out so far this year has been completely ridiculous. Up until two weeks ago there was so much it was nearly impossible to keep up with everything. I’m going to try to run down the significant releases from the past few months, hitting you with links where you can pick up any of the stuff you might have slept on. If you’re in the States you know as well as I how frustrating it is that there isn’t any one-stop-shop for every great record, let alone a solid domestic source for much of anything. I’d love to be able to give Dope Jams more of my loot (despite the 90 minute round trip on the train) but they just don’t get nearly enough of what I want. Juno has almost everything but there are some things that are coming out only through Rush Hour or Clone or Hard Wax. Regardless of where they’re from, though, my wallet is definitely feeling the burn of tons of great 12″s. I’m taking the opportunity of a slow week for releases to quickly run down the highlights of the last three months, behind the cut

Ed McKeithen continued a seemingly endless string of house records on his Underground Quality label with what I think is the best so far, Tazz’s Acid Love EP. I have to admit I have a lot of misgivings with Jus Ed’s output. The thing is, it’s hard to put out really great records when you put out so MANY records. Ed should spend more time separating the wheat from the chaff. Also he charges a couple arms and legs for what should be extremely cheap shipping the short distance from Connecticut to NYC. Regardless, Tazz’s EP is to my ears the best UQ release since the Hexigon EP (sic). Acid Love features jazzy piano chords, a bouncy bassline, hissing hi-hats, a killer ride cymbal, and an acid line that to me is oddly reminiscent of, of all things, Head Honcho’s “Medicine”. (It’s probably just a coincidence.) Definitely worth picking up if you haven’t already, and much better than the more recent DJ Qu release on UQ.

Marcello Napoletano is on freaking fire so far this year. His Chicago, Detroit, New York release on Quintessentials is an absolute must have. In particular, the cut “What’s Going on Detroit” should be an anthem for Movement 2010 but will probably get overlooked by a majority of the DJs booked to play. His “Space Voodoo” track on a Mathematics release from late last year was definitely the highlight of that record, possibly the only listenable track in fact. I might have to go back and pick it up just for that cut. Reincarnation put out one of his records last year too, and it was also insanely good. Finally, his project as IFM with Francesco Schito is also banging out awesome records, with their late February released “Yes We Are” platter slotting in to my record box nicely.

I’ve been trying to buy more ambient stuff again and there were a few releases over the past months that caught my ear. Desolate’s Heroic Death EP on new label Faux Pas actually sound anything but new. Featuring haunting female swoons and paradoxically light yet industrial drums, it’s a record that feels like it could have been on FSOL’s ambient masterpiece Lifeforms. In fact I remain unconvinced that this record didn’t come out in the mid 90s and I missed it the first time around.

Madteo’s Sinister Ministers EP sounds at points like it could fit into a dubstep (GROAN) set if it were faster, but it rises so far above that genre’s tropes that even a dubstep hater like me had to grab it. The real gem here is “Sheep Dipping” with a sparse slap-delayed bassline and vocal samples that sound like they time traveled into your ears. “Delphic Sophistic” is another simple yet effective highlight, touching on influences like Autechre and Aphex Twin without falling into noodly knob-wankery. There’s even an experimental hip-hop track if you’re into that kind of thing.

Relapxych has apparently been releasing ambient records for more than a couple years, though his Hallucinogenitaliencryption is the first I’ve heard. I might have to check out his back catalogue as I really enjoy the off kilter loops and simultaenously unsettling yet pretty soundscapes on this record. I’ll admit that my interest was initially piqued by the sci-fi title. The fact that it came on one-sided art-etched marbled rose vinyl didn’t hurt either.

Speaking of which, what is with so many people using colored marbled vinyl lately? At least six or seven non-black records have made their way into my record box within as many months. That’s unprecedented. The upside is, of course, that colored vinyl is pretty. The downside? Colored vinyl does not hold up as well as black vinyl, according to what I’ve been told. I would like to see the science behind that if anybody knows it.

As well as house and ambient it’s also been a great year for techno so far. “La Caccia” by Entro Senestre is already in the running for my favorite track of 2010 and it’s only April. I love this record so much, I could be happy listening to it for way way way longer than it’s relatively short running time. I can’t get enough of those railroad chug snares and hi-hats, Detroit techno pads and arpeggiations that lodge in your brain. The rest of the third WT Records release is great too, with a downtempo 808 electro jammy, an Italo disco style cut, and a techno/house crossover cut that’s vaguely reminiscent of something Omar-S would do.

I am kind of a sucker for 90s throwback sounds, and the Second Accolade various artists comp on Millions of Moments pushes all the right buttons for me there. Of particular note is Raza’s beautiful track “Sara” which to me sounds a little like Jam & Spoon’s ambient house classic “Stella” updated for 2010. Also kind of fun is Ben Brunn’s edit/cover/remix of “Can You Feel It”. I always thought Larry Heard’s seminal track was untouchable, but Brunn somehow managed to convincingly and successfully distill the essence of bassline and chords down to a brilliant hypnotic dancefloor elixir to revive anybody who might have mistakenly thought they were tired of “Can You Feel It”.

If you’re into the sounds of Shawn Rudiman and Arne Weinberg (and really, if you’re reading this blog you probably are) you’ll definitely want to check out the first release on new label aDepth audio, Rob Belleville’s melodic techno/electro “Sounds Of Introspection”. I don’t really feel the introspective vibe he calls out in the title, but the tracks are deep and funky for sure. This record fits nicely with the aforementioned Entro Senestre record.

Moving into more minimal techno territory I have to admit I though the first Something in the Sky record was not essential, but Jeff Mills’ second release on that new imprint caught my ear. It’s simple but extremely effective UFO techno.

As I mentioned on my personal blog, I’ve also really been enjoying a couple Robert Hood represses that came back out recently, including the Floorplan – Funky Souls re-release on Rush Hour and the Alpha/Omega re-release on M-Plant. I can’t play Alpha/Omega enough, often mixing out of one into another record just to flip the Hood over and mix quickly back into the other side. I really can’t say which one I like better, but here’s a recording of Alpha from YouTube

From the OMGWTFBBQ files I picked up Mock & Toof’s bizarro-house record “Farewell to Wendo”, the lyrics of which borrow lines from a Tom Robbins book. I really don’t know what to say about this record, other than I should probably keep it a secret so that people will never expect it, but that wouldn’t really be fair. For me it’s all about the original, but there are strong remixes on the 12 too. I detect hints of Fever Ray in this record, there’s some plucked sting instrument riff that draws me in and some ethnic percussion, yet somehow this record manages to simultaneously touch hipster naughty places without sounding too Brooklyn. I almost forgot the pleasant acid remix from Kink & Neville Watson that braves the edge of irony by concentrating on the “murder me with orgasms, formula, formula” lyric from the original. I have a feeling Tom would hate this record, but for some reason it reminds me vaguely of Mu’s “Let’s Get Sick”, so I feel like I secretly have Jwan Allen on my side.

The prolific STL is really hit or miss for me, but when he’s on he’s really really on, and I LOVE the Things From the Basement EP. I wasn’t a big fan of “Silent State”, it just didn’t work for me. The slow-jack of “Too Slow” on this recent record though is awesome. I also was a fan of the Homework EP from 2007.

If you’re looking for something a little more hands-in-the-air than the mellow tones of STL you should definitely check out the latest on Stilove4music, label owner Jerome Derradji’s partnership with Rahaan on the ridiculously good Concrete Reservation Vol. 1. Disco loopers and new wave homages this good make me eagerly await volume two.

I bought a ton more records in the past few months, but I am worn out from all this writing, so the rest will have to wait for another post. Or you can just check the charts on my personal blog that I already mentioned above.

Is there anything you’ve been rocking lately that you think I might have missed? Hit us up in the comments. Just don’t say Kyle Hall’s “Kaychunk” record, because, frankly, that dubstep crap, I have no time for it.