monday moods: RA.318 - rrose

THIS is what you should be listening to today.

and if you need anything else to listen to when you're done with that one, this would be a good choice.

friday FUNCTION

time for friday funk, friday function, friday funktion one...

tonight, if you can make it out - as i hope to do - oktave's party at smart bar should satisfy any and all deep techno cravings. the legendary function (aka dave sumner) will headline with what is sure to be a dense and tough set of angular jams, and support will be ably provided by jason patrick and resident jeff derringer. helping to throw this one are the very nice little white earbuds - go check out their recent and sprawling interview with function. here's a few of my current function favorites to help keep your head busy until showtime:

this weekend: FUNCTION and PETER VAN HOESEN at SMARTBAR

chicago techno heads, take note if you haven't yet... the nyc/chicago oktave crew (yes, the same people who hosted cio d'or and traversable wormhole last weekend) will host function and peter van hoesen as as they make their chicago debuts tomorrow at smartbar!

both of these berlin-based artists should be at least vaguely familiar to anyone who follows this blog (i hope!) - function (also known as dave sumner, originally from new york) is a long-time techno veteran and one of the minds behind sandwell district. he has a penchant for a type of techno that could maybe best be described as 'angular' but other keywords could be deep, dark, droning... he's helped to curate a series of 'variances' on sandwell, including this edit from regis:

and check out his remix for traversable wormhole on CLR:


peter van hoesen, a native of belgium, pushes a similarly hard and raw sound, with his own music and though his time to express imprint which has featured tracks from donato dozzy, cio d'or and samuli kemppi among others. here's one of my favorite productions of his, 'continued care':

and here's the slow-motion intro to last year's acclaimed entropic city LP:


oktave resident and perc trax artist jeff derringer will open the night with some deep cuts, so there's no reason not to camp out for 7 hours within the friendly funktion 1 confines of smartbar tomorrow. on top of that, word is that function's live+dj setup includes a 909, and initial reviews from his set last weekend in montreal during mutek have been quite positive. should be a good one... see you there!

techno transmissions

hello! thanks to all who have tried out any of the jams from the SA anatomized mixes. now, onto new news for new techno and other new stuff...

NEW ZOOLOFT anatomy affiliates obtane and giorgio gigli are at it again, with zooloft 00G: the dark thoughts of fate's manufacturer. as usual, it's a combination of rhythmic and beat-less abstraction, with a blistering a-side to go along with two ultra-deep tracks on the flip: milton bradley's slow, pulsing reverberations, and the howling ambience of a zooloft edit. samples and more words at the zooloft blog. further kudos for a nice review of the incredible tale on LWE. go zooloft!

PERC PREPS WICKER & STEEL another anatomy mixer on the move: perc prepares to release his debut full-length album, wicker & steel on his perc trax imprint next month, june 10th. the first single, my head is slowly exploding, is a real mind-bender, with a properly twisted edit from ancient methods. read more about wicker & steel in the RA news, and london heads take note: the album's launch party goes down saturday june 11th with help from another anatomy-approved duo, forward strategy group.

RA.257 - O/V/R james ruskin and regis go live for RA's podcast in what will probably be one of my favorite picks from the series in 2011. just under an hour long, and turning out to be bit of a tease (as part of a longer live set), the duo do it deep, dark and intensely angular, balancing mechanical precision with a bit of cinematic warmth. blade runner techno!

AMBIENT TECHNO FOR JAPAN in the wake of the tragedy that struck japan two months ago, one positive thing to take away from the situation (apart from the heroism exemplified in the workers who are venturing into stricken, irradiated reactor plants in order to stop a brewing nuclear disaster) is the artistic reaction, as creative minds around the world lend a supportive hand. the minds behind japan's celebrated labyrinth festival are banding together to create composure, a compilation of sounds from some of the more notable names in the ambient/techno spectrum including convextion, donato dozzy, sandwell district... more information can be found here. slated for digital release at some point this month, and cd release in june. and if you haven't yet, donate a few units of your local currency and show some love!

CIO D'OR AND DONATO DOZZY PRESENT 'J' speaking of dozzy and japan, the deep-diving wizard joins forces with cio d'or for 40 minutes of ambient, tribal jams on the mnml ssgs blog to celebrate the island nation. note the delightful placement of monolake's 'void' as the set approaches the halfway mark... don't need too many words for this other than it's definitely 'worth a listen'.

YUGOSLAVIA - 25 MONUMENTS FROM THE FUTURE well maybe not the future; these structures were built in the 1960s and 1970s, but they sure look like relics from somewhere forward in time. those will be the days!

SMOKE MACHINE PODCAST 012 - ALAN BACKDROP last but not least, one more anatomy friend in the mix! almost 90 minutes of seriously lush deepness from alan backdrop... stream and download at the smoke machine soundcloud.

that's all for now! stay tuned for my top 10 may chart, and my preferred picks for this year's movement festival in detroit.

mid-week blues/news

hello all! i've been busy doing some off-blog writing/reviewing, and also recruiting some more artists to contribute to the anatomy mix series here. more on that very soon but for now here's some quick news...

PARTY PICK OF THE WEEKEND: silent servant and dvs1 at smartbar friday night! chicago welcomes the debut of oktave, a promotion group originally from new york city that is now trying to expand and bring better techno things to the windy city. check out this mix by oktave man jeff derringer, who will help open the night along with karl meier... AND be sure to check out the new little white earbuds podcast featuring both silent servant and dvs1. looks like the two headliners will get 4 hours to tag-team at smartbar... should be tons of fun!

and if you can keep your shit together, saturday night sees some sexy slow-house sounds descend upon the city with an underground loft party with soul clap and art department. more info at the RA event page.

on to some quick music tips:
been really enjoying a few mnml ssg special mixes lately. check out the classy sounds of steffi, the harder techno stuff of patrick walker (forward strategy group), and the deep 'live' microhouse of kettenkarussell.

it's been dormant for a little while, but nax_acid's aconito records will be back in action later this month with the release of a new record, gaia's archetype, by hironori takahashi. the record features two original mixes by takahashi, 'serv' and 'outgass', along with an extremely atmospheric edit by nax. while the main aconito website is still under construction, get more info here. release date: monday 11.22!

another anatomy friend, claudio prc gets his first vinyl release under his own name ... on prologue records! the clear depths EP will feature claudio's 'clear depths' original mix, a 'variant', and remixes by silent servant and obtane. stream the tracks at prologue's soundcloud... super deep stuff here. the record hits stores next week, thursday 11.11!


that's all for now. stay tuned...