friday funk: ben frost - venter (new album upcoming!)

you should make sure this one is on your radar: a new album from iceland-based producer ben frost. it's called A U R O R A, and it's due out through mute on may 26th.

for more than a decade, frost has been cooking up abstract and often very aggressive music that defies simple genre tags (though i suppose 'ambient' might work the best). counted among his works are a handful of solo LPs (i first discovered him by way of by the throat, his last solo album from 2009) and film soundtracks - he self-released three albums on that front in 2013. you can hear a lot of his stuff streaming on full over on his bandcamp page.

apparently there's a press release that describing A U R O R A thusly: "starved of all the adornments of its predecessor... a defiant new world of fiercely synthetic shapes and galactic interference, pummelling skins and pure metals." i want to go to there! for now, frost has kindly posted a track from the album, "venter" for free streaming via soundcloud. nervously chiming bells, searing synths and heaving drums abound... tune in and hold on:

  
the album seems to be a collaborative effort, with frost getting some help from some friends. he's about to lead a live group on tour in support of the album, and i'll hope that some US dates are in order. i was able to see him perform here in chicago about four years ago and was really impressed. anyway, follow ben frost on facebook and twitter, and check out his homepage too. happy friday!

friday funk: dor - RA.180

an "oldie" but goodie, this is one of my favorite RA podcasts, and it still gets played pretty regularly. it comes from dor, an israeli dj and affiliate of the hamburg label dial and its offshoot laid. deep, smooth, emotional house music is the theme here, with plenty of dope detroit stuff (that moodymann jam!) and tracks like kassem mosse's "untitled" for laid and basic channel's "phylyps trak II." and no, it doesn't really sound like it's more than four years old. if you haven't tuned in yet, you must.

this is available to stream *and* download over at dor's soundcloud page, and you can find an interview and tracklist over at the RA podcast page. happy weekend time!

   RA.180 Dor (09.11.09) by dorl

friday funk: cio d'or!

it's friday, and it's almost time... for cio d'or to make her chicago debut!

cio will be coming to town tomorrow to play smart bar, and i am quite giddy with anticipation. in the wide world of techno (and electronic music in general), cio is one of my absolute favorite artists. she's also very warm and inspiring on a personal level; we had a nice long chat when i met her in detroit during movement festival a few years ago. she does not play in the US very often, and in 2014 she'll be focusing on her own music, and much less on touring. so, for those in or close to chicago who crave deep, hypnotic abstract techno, this one is not to be missed! (more details over at the facebook event page.)

to help get ready for tomorrow night, here's a selection of discogs links and youtube players with some of cio's music. i've started with two tracks from her 2009 LP for prologue, die faser - "goldbrokat", perhaps the album's most well-known track, along with my personal favorite "brokat".

cio d'or - goldbrokat


cio d'or - brokat

friday funk: mikkel metal - kenton (marcel dettmann remix)

it has been a busy week, but it is the weekend now... so here's this:

marcel dettmann recently put out his sophomore LP II, which follows his 2011 self-titled album, which has been one of my favorite techno full-lengths from recent years. i haven't given II a full listen yet; instead i'm gonna jump backwards in time - to 2009 - and revisit his super-dope remix of mikkel metal's "kenton".

to me, the original is decent if a bit by-the-numbers, while dettmann's take is one of his better remixes, as well as one of the best tracks to come from copenhagen's echocord label axis (the two-tracker was released on the echocord colour offshoot). cleverly counting out five measures at a time atop righteously syncopated kicks, it's a fantastic slice of noir-ish, dubbed-out techno. happy friday!

friday funk: luke slater, jeff derringer, lokua

happy friday! and now i'd like to share three varied shades of techno, a track from each of the three artists playing tomorrow night at smart bar: luke slater, jeff derringer, and lokua.

this should be a good one - it'll be slater's first chicago gig since 2002. you can learn more about this night with oktave and prosthetic pressings via this preview piece i wrote for ChicagoMusic.org - it's jam-packed with info and full of music links. head to the facebook event page for a few more details, and a reason to arrive early. read, listen, see you tomorrow!

(and thanks be to youtube, as usual.)

luke slater (as planetary assault systems) - call from the east | ostgut ton


jeff derringer - compassion | M_REC LTD


lokua - underly2 | CPKAY RCRDS