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From the collection of the many eclectronic guises of Kenneth James
Gibson (including Eight Frozen Modules) comes what I feel is his best
yet: [a]pendics shuffle. Armed with a deadly debut album on Orac,
Gibson wants you to know that his influences not only dwell in the
subconscious hard drives of modern-day minimalists, but also in the dusty
circuit-boards of good old-fashioned Detroit house fanatics. This is
skewed, skittery ghetto-tech at its best. Juicy loops of thick bass and
rubbery samples over insistently funky beats run rampant throughout
Helicopter Hearts‘ appetizing 8 tracks. There’s plenty of room for an
excellent listening experience on the virtual dancefloor here; the
subtle change-ups in “Garbanzo Love,” the gutter-funk of “Dirty Hood,”
the dementedly darkened pop sensibility of “Saw Saw Soup (Miso Mix)” and
the all out rump shaking grooves of “My Helicopter Heart” and “Cemento”
are what get my ankles popping in 4/4 time. I definitely recommend
Helicopter Hearts to anyone who gets misty-eyed whenever a sentimental
DJ decides to sneak in some classics during his (or her) free-before 10
PM set; or, at the very least, finicky tech heads in need of some meaty
beats fresh from their local record shop.
Helicopter Hearts is out now on Orac.
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Just when you caught yourself wondering how Jeff McIlwain could possibly follow up Serial Hodgepodge with anything but genius, he does it
effortlessly with the Inside/Out EP in no less than 4 tracks of
beautifully crafted minimalist techno each lightly scented with Lusine’s
signature notes of deep electronics and lush production. Choruses of
cut-up vocoders humming their favorite android prose over bouncy and
concise beats dominate this landscape for the most part, while spacious
grooves delicately warming the bass hardpan complete the
multi-dimensional sonic puzzle. From the title track through the closing
“These Things,” Inside/Out makes its claim as one of Ghostly’s top 12″s
of 2005 thus far.
Inside/Out is out now on Ghostly.
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Billed as the 3rd chapter in Matthew Dear’s Audion 12″ series, the
uncensored title pretty much sums it all: nasty synth rolls with harsh
snares and high hats pushing the VU meters to the red all guaranteed to
keep your Trackmasters violently vibrating and have the dancefloor
reduced to slivers before you can say “what’s on the flip side?” That
would be Roman Flugel’s “23 Positions in a One-Night Stand” mix, which,
if you ask me should be awarded “remix name of the year” by somebody out
there who knows a good remix just by looking at it. Imagine Giorgio
Moroder knocking back half a bottle of Robitussin with a No-Doz chaser
in front of a sequencer and you start to get the picture.
Just Fucking is out now on Spectral Sound.
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Listening to the promo CD with Peter Grummich’s The Roll on it reminds
me of that word of caution in the liner notes of Autechre’s Tri Repetae (Warp): Incomplete
without surface noise. This is music meant to be listened to on vinyl,
as evidenced by the nature of how these four masterfully crafted tracks
nudge your ears closer to the point where you’re nearly teetering on the
edge of complete immersion in the heavy synths and snappy percussion.
“The Roll Pt 1” and “The Roll Pt. 2” explore both angles of this
experience, while “This One Jacks” blends the two to eventually lead
into “She’s Nasty.” I’d be lying if I said this record wouldn’t be my
secret weapon to keep the weary after-2 AM crowd on their toes after
pulling all the stops to keep them lively.
The Roll is out now on Spectral Sound.
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