early 2014 albums outlook (part two)

continuing with the second half of my list... (here's part one)

LUCY - CHURCHES SCHOOLS AND GUNS (stroboscopic artefacts) lucy returns with his second album, which comes just about three years after his first. this one sounds even better; the SA boss has only become more focused on detail in the designing his steely, atmospheric techno soundscapes. release date: february 17th, 2014

LUKE VIBERT - RIDMIK (hypercolour) i've never really been a fan of hypercolour, but i'll definitely be seeking out ridmik. it's vibert's first album under his own name since 2009, and it's supposed to have plenty of 303, so yeah. release date: april 7, 2014

LUNATIK SOUND SYSTEM - THE JOURNEY (something) stephan laubner might be best known as STL (see below) but he's also got a beatless album of "relaxing and psychedelic sounds" coming from his other alias, lunatik sound system, due out in the next couple months. release date: march/april 2014

MICK FINESSE - [?] (broken20) denver-based purveyor of "melodramatic death rattles" is readying an album for broken20 (which is home to a personal favorite, isodyne's dreams torn from the sky EP). no other details, but one to keep an eye out for. released date: tba

MILLIE & ANDREA - [?] (modern love?) a new LP from miles whittaker (aka miles aka MLZ aka one half of demdike stare) and andy stott. details for this seem scarce, but FACT says it's due out later this year. release date: tba

MONDKOPF - HADÈS (in paradisum) i can't lie, i've gotten really fucking tired of a lot of "industrial" "noise" "techno" bullshit. but mondkopf has previously put out some interesting stuff (i really liked their joint track with saåadon on last year's the black ideal compilation), so i'm willing to give this one a try. release date: february 5th, 2014 

Ø - KONSTELLAATIO (sähkö) released a couple weeks ago, i'm incredibly excited to finally listen to this. it's the first proper full-length from mika vainio's Ø alias since 2008's excellent oleva LP (heijastuva from 2011 was made up mostly of tracks already out but freshly put on vinyl), so it should be interesting to see where this project is in 2014. release date: late january, 2014

PAN SONIC - OKSASTUS (kvitnu) vainio and ilpo väisänen return! well, not really; this is a new *live* album from the finnish masters of heavy, often-rhythmic noise, pulled from a recording of a show they played in kiev in 2009 for the kvitnu crew. sadly, this is getting a limited and expensive vinyl release, along with a CD release. but with the pan sonic project apparently shelved, it's hard not to bite when 'new' material comes out. release date: february 20th, 2014

PERC - THE POWER AND THE GLORY (perc trax) his first one was pretty good - a proper full-length that was more than just banging techno - and perc's next one is (at least) an early contender for best album artwork of the year. it sounds like another wide-ranging trip, too. currently you can hear the whole thing on RA. release date: february 17th, 2014

POEMSS - POEMSS (planet mu) i partially picked this because of that artwork, but also because it's apparently filled with "dream-like ballads," and because it's a collaboration between venetian snares and joanne pollock. venetian snares, usually a purveyor of harsh, cerebral breakcore, aiming for a big stylistic switch-up... could be interesting. release date: february 11th, 2014
 
SENDAI - A SMALLER DIVIDE (archives intérieure) the second album from this duo of peter van hoesen and yves de mey - their first, 2012's geotope, had some really brilliant moments - and "the result of six months of intense remote collaboration between both artists." it'll come by way of the two artists own label archives intérieure. release date: february 24th, 2014

STL - AT DISCONNECTED MOMENTS (smallville) curiously this one (at least on CD) includes a couple of stl's classics, "neurotransmitting clouds on the secret freeway" and "silent state," but it's on smallville, whose LPs are generally worth a try, so this one is on my to-do list. release date: january 21, 2014

THUG ENTRANCER - DEATH AFTER LIFE (software) the next LP on oneohtrix point never's label, and it comes from a denver native apparently now based in chicago. abstract, angular analog jams abound, touching upon rapid-fire juke and weirdo house and techno. release date: february 10th, 2014

TOBIAS. - A SERIES OF SHOCKS (ostgut ton) he linked up with margaret dygas for a very nice and spaced-out two-tracker late last year, and now "dark and raw techno" is promised on this, tobias freund's second solo album. release date: march 31st, 2014

TODD TERJE - IT'S ALBUM TIME (olsen records) one of today's best disco/house producers is preparing his debut album. disco usually isn't my thing but this one should be a good one, given terje's penchant for penning irresistible gems (ahem, "inspector norse"). release date: april 17th, 2014

UNTOLD - BLACK LIGHT SPIRAL (hemlock recordings) the debut label from hemlock boss untold. his more recent output has interested me the most (he's been hit or miss otherwise, i say), and this one sounds more unhinged than his previous EPs, yet still strangely cohesive... release date: february 24th, 2014

VERMONT - VERMONT (kompakt) this one is billed as an "ambient project" of innervisions artist marcus worgull and danilo plessow, aka motor city drum ensemble, with "loose jams sessions" apparently led by "an armada of vintage analogue synthesizers." you can try out this track from the album, which sounds like it'll be at least a decent addition to the kompakt catalog. release date: march 17th, 2014


... well then, lots to look forward to. also, i'm happily finally able to say truthfully that there'll be a few more anatomy mixes soon!

interviews

a few interviews have been floating around the internets recently, check them out:

KANGDING RAY TALKS WITH RA the raster-noton artist who's recently put out material for modal analysis (i reviewed that EP here) and stroboscopic artefacts, talks in depth about his working processes at RA. i really liked this line - "[Raster-Noton label head] Carsten Nicolai is always telling me to be more direct and not do so many versions. He tends to prefer the early version of tracks—the rough ones." - as i think i agree with carsten nicolai. kangding ray's OR, which was one of my 2011 favorites, sometimes comes across just a bit too clean for my tastes. 

KANGDING RAY TALKS WITH SUBSEKT hey hey, another interview, this one at the subsekt blog, with the man formally known as david letellier. here he talks more about how his music has come out, particularly the SA connection, and mentions an upcoming remix for the strange and mysterious violet poison project... 

PERC PREACHES BALANCE AND MODERATION gotta love perc's honest and bullshit-free approach to things, as seen in this dub moniter interview. "Good music does not inspire me; it is the crap, the fodder, the unimaginative generic bland techno, solely produced to get gigs that inspires me to push forward to try to do something different both as a producer and a label owner." hear hear! also discussed: making sure that your output as an artist (or label) is never too prolific... so it looks like FSG's labour division will be the only long player out on perc trax this year. 

NICK HÖPPNER, SELECTIONS AND TAXES the ostgut ton label manager and panoramabar resident chats with the quietus about his recent panoramabar 04 official mix, and the financial poker game that germany's GEMA artist-tariff organization is currently playing with the country's clubbing culture. (head here, and pull up your google translator if necessary, for more information and a petition that - if you love clubbing - is totally worth your time and signature.)

NICK HÖPPNER, AGAIN another two-fer. this time höppner goes on video with FACT. he gets into more detail about the alleged 'berghain sound' and the GEMA problem.

TOSHIYA KAWASAKI - RARE CHAT WITH RA yes, another RA interview, this time with the founder of japan's excellent mule musiq imprint. kawasaki talks about the early days, aesthetics, and mule musiq's interaction with the scenes and artists in japan and beyond. he also shares some interesting thoughts about how he and the label approach the album format. and with recent singles coming from oskar offermann and christopher rau, methinks that mule musiq is doing pretty well at the moment.

friday funk: forward strategy group - 'labour division'

if you haven't yet heard, forward strategy's debut album labour division was released this week, and it's already gotten pretty good reviews from the quietus and RA. now, if you haven't jumped to buy yourself a physical or digital copy, you can try out a free, full-album stream at perc trax's soundcloud. check it out:



and yes, i did make it back from detroit alive. maybe i'll have something to say about movement weekend later. and yes, again, anatomy 19 is right around the corner...

walls remixed by perc, voigt & voigt, etc

thanks goes to the quietus for sharing this one, a fresh set of remixes for walls from the esteemed kompakt imprint, available to stream freely (for now).

i once wrote about walls remixing perc, and that one turned out pretty good, i thought. perc's nearly ten minute-long remix of "sunporch" sounds even better - really strange and evocative stuff. the brothers reinhard and wolfgang voigt cook up an appropriately loopy contribution as well. the perc and voigts versions are my two favorites of the bunch but the entire package is pretty decent. have a listen:

EDIT: all gone!

smilecoldanatomy's top 10 of '11

behold! my top 10 albums of 2011. if it comes a few too many days into the new year, consider this an even more carefully considered list.

for me, 2011 was more about the track, or the label, and i'll readily admit that my scope at times was quite narrow. still, there were a handful of albums that gripped me either because they seemed so charmingly accessible that i'd tune in repeatedly, or because they were challenging journeys deserving of attentive but more occasional listens, or because they were so surprisingly different. or it was a combination of all that. anyway, my picks... read on:

10. margaret dygas
margaret dygas | perlon


it's hard for me to explain what draws me to the music of margaret dygas. she has a way of creating slinky, vaguely funky tracks with percussive riffs that are often tense and frustrating, but always crisp. from the piano angst of 'missing you less', to 'country way of life's far-away synth lines, to the bizarro vibes of 'ocbinh's groove' (perhaps the most appropriate title of the six tracks), dygas' self-titled LP for perlon was one of my most listened-to albums of 2011.

9. kangding ray
OR | raster-noton


of kangding ray's three albums, stabil still is my personal favorite - those sounds felt like they were gently pulled from bits of sonic fabric - but it's easy to see how OR is a natural progression for the experimental producer. compared to his delicate, idm-ish forays of yesteryear, there's an underlying strength in OR that is hard to resist. it starts from the beginning with 'athem,' whose muscular low end provides a perfect anchor for some sensual female whispers. while the penultimate 'monster' feels a bit out of place, the warm glitches and sonorous drones of 'leavalia scheme' and 'le belle' finish the journey with one final emotional arch. kangding ray's prior albums have proven him to be an adept storyteller - maybe the best on raster-noton's label roster - and OR continues that trend.

8. moomin
the story about you | smallville


i've heard dismissive opinions (not entirely unjustified) that there's nothing special here, but i love smallville, and i'm a sucker for deep, emotive house music, so the story about you sates both of those desires. it opens on the beach (i think) with some sea-swept sounds and the devices that, for me, set moomin apart from similar artists: the melodies. they shine like no other. sure, there's a bounty of delicious analog percussion to chew on in tracks like 'sundaymoon' and 'you,' but it's the starry-eyed riffs of 'raw like 97' and 'watermelon' that will likely twinkle in your ears long after the final fade-out. moomin's full-length debut is my favorite deep house album of 2011.

7. alva noto
univrs | raster-noton


now, let's switch gears back to another raster-noton release. univrs was carsten nicolai's second album this year as alva noto (he produced another with ryuichi sakamoto) and if you were looking for 2011's best album for testing out the frequency response of your speaker system, this would be it. a semblance of accessibility is created in an obvious highlight, 'uni acronym,' which features the robotic voice of anne-james chaton, but contrasted with OR, univrs is a difficult journey. it won't appeal to many, but that doesn't mean it's not worth at least an hour of your time.

6. perc
wicker & steel | perc trax


i'm used to perc's more immediate techno work but the UK producer's debut full-length effort is worthy of plenty of praise. listening front to back, it's a cinematic experience that perfectly realizes the dark, uniquely textured world of sound, especially in centerpiece tracks like 'you saw me' and 'pre-steel,' that's hinted at in the best material offered on perc trax previously. full of low-lying, gothic atmospheres and drums that growl, moan, hiss and collapse, wicker & steel sets a new standard for the artist and the label.

5. echologist
subterranean | steadfast

one for the late nights when the beat blurs too much to matter. i couldn't even really recite more than the title track's name from memory; subterranean just keeps moving, slowly but insistently, and with no kicks. it recalls the more abstract works of basic channel, but does so in a definitively modern way. the album is, essentially, an endlessly modulated series of dub chords, and it is a triumph - easily among the most hypnotic pieces of music i've heard in 2011.

4. xhin
sword | stroboscopic artefacts

i've already said enough about this album. lucy's wordplay for working bees was a strong effort, but it's remarkable how fast music evolves, especially within an open-minded techno label like stroboscopic artefacts. released just eight months after lucy's album, xhin cut even further into the future with the exceptionally lush sword.

3. surgeon
breaking the frame | dynamic tension

a psychedelic masterpiece, surgeon proves with breaking the frame that after more than 15 years in the biz, he's still at the top of his game. even though a lot of these tracks could work on a dancefloor, as an album it's a perfect combination of contrasts, starting with an ambient intro that leads to the hybrid rhythms of 'transparent radiation' and achingly blurry melodies of 'remover of darkness.' the B and C sides of the vinyl version offer up pummeling techno and spaced-out introspection, respectively, while the album's final moments seem to point straight into the cosmos. there's a constant tension between light and dark throughout breaking the frame, and it's easily one of the most emotional techno albums of the year.

2. planetary assault systems
the messenger | ostgut ton

as planetary assault systems, luke slater's affiliation with ostgut ton continues to be a successful one. after releasing 2009's excellent LP temporary suspension, the label has brought the veteran producer to create another PAS masterpiece. compared to the study of contrasts in surgeon's album, the messenger is all about pacing, starting with the ethereal 'railer (further exploration)' and moving into progressively more sinister moods through the cunning, 5/4 techno of 'bell blocker'. 'call from the east' and 'motif' show slater's ability to circle over the dancefloor like a vulture, and 'black tea' ends the album on a typically tough (albeit abrupt) note. it's all put together with a strong, detailed approach to production, and it's further proof that luke slater continues to rank among the world's most exciting techno producers.


1. nuel
trance mutation | further records

sometimes, great things come as a surprise. nuel, often alongside his friend and fellow italian producer donato dozzy, has spent the last few years creating a form of techno that could certainly be described as deep and atmospheric, but the best descriptor might just be organic. nuel's material is simply bursting with warm, earthy textures. with that point made clear, maybe trance mutation shouldn't have been such a surprise for me: while dozzy's full-length K on further was a meditative journey across the realms of ambient techno and downtempo, nuel's effort for the label goes even (ahem) further, eschewing *any* techno sensibilities. as described here, it's a collection of seven songs made over seven days with an emphasis on acoustic instruments, and as an album it stands almost completely removed from its time. if anything, trance mutation recalls the acid-tinged folk albums of the '60s and '70s, with its heavy dose of reverberated, occasionally fuzzy guitars (most favorably for me on 'rhythm') and plenty of uncommon time signatures. when album-closer 'gender' seems to hesitate as it winds things down, you probably won't want it to leave. trance mutation is a wonderful expansion of nuel's sound. it has quickly become a personal favorite, and if it's not one of the best LPs to come out of 2011, it's at least one of the year's most pleasant surprises.


... and that's all folks. happy new year, and i'll be back with more very soon.