monday night mixes

summer is drawing near! with temperatures here in chicago expected to reach the 70s in a few days, perhaps a few sets of some sexy sunny tech-house in order... as well as a slamming set of hard techno to bring us back to the reality that it's still just the end of march and temps are still in the 30s here in the windy city...

martinez - live at 'save the day' off sonar, barcelona, 2009
one of those sets that i should have seen while i was in barcelona... alas, i was getting a few hours of sleep and meeting up with a friend before arriving at this party later. 'save the day' was a party in a big rented-out room in a mall with balconies overlooking barcelona harbor, showcasing matthias tanzmann and some of his moon harbour label friends... the slow-burning beats of this afternoon set seem like it made an excellent warmup for the higher-intensity sets later that night. while i'm not completely familiar with martinez's work, it's interesting to contrast this and late 2008's organic theme EP with his LP from late 2007, a chemical imbalance, which definitely seems to cater to the then-in vogue style of 'minimal techno'. anyhoo, this isn't anything spectacular, just a nice mellow hour of low-bpm grooves.

argenis brito - 2009-8-22 barcelona live PA
another set from barcelona last year but later in the summer. argenis brito has a small portfolio of edm releases, perhaps most notably on luciano's cadenza label... so if you like luciano and his brand of lush, tribal-esque dance music, you'll probably dig this. lots of interesting cut-up vocals and horn samples... a bit more peak-time, with some intense break-downs. funky and fun!

seth troxler - 2009-12-26 boxing night, belfast

it's seth, you should know what's up. if not... well get a clue and check this out. fun, emotional, weird... all put together with excellent mixing skills. go seth!

sleeparchive vs dj pete - 2007-02-03 @ club transmediale
a master of bleeping, looping electronics + one of the founding fathers of dub techno = two hours of unrelenting techno destruction! i'm honestly not quite sure if this is both sleeparchive and dj pete (it might just be sleeparchive, according to one source, and indeed there are some sleeparchive tracks sprinkled throughout), but i do know both these musicians occasionally dj together. regardless, this is *the shit*. this mix starts off a bit weird and disorienting, but be patient: this develops a razor-sharp edge, fast and hard-hitting. if you can keep with it, this mix should burn holes in your face. i don't need to dig up a picture to accompany this one... just do it!

so there you go - a few dashes of summery beats, and a techno bullet-train aimed straight at your forehead. get to it!

more late-night jams

mathew jonson's pummeling 2.5+ hour live set last night at smartbar took my legs away tonight so i'm staying in and listening to these mixes...

appleblim - apple pips label showcase @ mary anne hobbs experimental show 2009-12-17
as one of the heads of the now-defunct skull disco imprint, laurie osborne, aka appleblim, has made a name for himself carving out deep cuts of militant, tribal dubstep and bass music. here he showcases the sound of his new(er) label, apple pips. compared to skull disco, this material seems a bit lighter and more playful, but still has the depth of appleblim's previous works. nice little 30-minute set... tune in, and hop over to appleblim's myspace for some more info.

matthias tanzmann - CLR podcast 051 2010-02-15
here's a heater from a smilecoldanatomy favorite. if you're familiar with tanzmann and his moon harbour label (which celebrates 10 years of operation in 2010), you might know the drill: super repetitive, hypnotic house with some vocals/spoken-word passages and a touch of funky, soulful swagger. i could gripe about chris liebing's brief interruptions, or the fact that this sounds like it should have lasted longer... but it's still a very good mix. dance over to the CLR podcast page for more info/tracklisting and other mixes, and the moon harbour myspace for more sexiness.

modern heads - process part 184
part of the modyfier blog's mini-showcase of the prologue imprint, this mix comes courtesy of dino sabatini and gianluca meloni, aka modern heads. it's prologue, so of course it's gonna be deeply rhythmic and atmospheric. lots of dubby droning chords on this one... something to turn on and just let it wash over you. you can find the musicians' thoughts and a tracklisting for this mix at the modyfier blog.

so - a little bit of dubstep, some sexy house music, and a thick slab of deep techno... enjoy!

luna city express - hello from planet earth (2009, moon harbour)

another discovery in barcelona, i was hoping to see luna city express dj at a moon harbour label party in a mall on the harbor, but 'complications' from the previous night (that dragged into that morning) kept me from getting there in time to catch them. don't worry, i was out having other music-related fun, but i was a bit disappointed in missing some moon harbour talent that rarely if ever plays in the states - from the few tracks and mixes i'd heard, it sounds like it woulda been a good one. oh well, i still enjoyed a solid 6 or so hours of the party: matthias tanzmann vs dan drastic, reboot, and then another tag team of mike shannon and ernesto ferreyra.

luna city express - the duo of marco resmann and norman weber - have been producing tracks for moon harbour (as well as a few more) for a few years now, but i believe this is their first LP, and i think hello from planet earth is a fun journey through deep house sexiness. the lazy synth chords that i had come to expect from recordings of their dj sets are dropped throughout the album, as well as vocals both soulful and up front as well as abstract and submerged. but really, this album is all about mixing the funky and the beautiful.

the album starts with an introductory track, shouting that it's last call to hop on the train before a few upright funky tracks give way to the slow 'n sexy "orange soft cake." the following track "mr. jack" is a bit, ahem, awkward, but leads into a suite of gorgeous, spacey tracks.

hello from planet earth ends on an interesting, beat-less collage of sound, but like kaden's album, i really dig the second-to-last track, "heaven's gate," which manages to take far-away, echoed vocal snippets, and combine them with a soft, beautiful atmosphere that definitely reaches for the stars, as the percussion chugs away underneath.

a great, deep album and another arrow in moon harbour's quiver of sexy, fun dance music, hello from planet earth is definitely a musical journey worth sitting down and enjoying from start to finish. i'd recommend this one if you liked mathias kaden's recent LP which i discussed before here on smilecoldanatomy.