It’s available as a digital release on Juno Download now, and on all other download stores from 5th July. If however, you are a fan of physical media, Thisisnotanexit are trying something a bit different for this release. They have set up a page on the excellent Pledge Music website where you can pre-order a 12″ vinyl copy of the EP for £10. If the target of 100 orders is met, then it will be pressed and sent out direct to those who have ordered it. No money is taken until the target is reached, so there’s nothing to lose if it doesn’t happen, but obviously I would highly recommend ordering a copy!

In addition Thisisnotanexit will be celebrating the release of the EP at their monthly night at The Drop in Stoke Newington (that’s London for those elsewhere in the world) this Friday 25th June. I went last month and had a great time, and will be there again this week. Details at the Facebook event page here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127179050636139

As for the remix itself, if you want to have a listen now, it’s presented below.

Detachments – The Flowers That Fell (Urlaubshits Minimal Rave Mix) by ThisisnotanexitRecords

1) A Mountain For President (feat. Sebastien Tellier) (Joakim Remix) (from the Mountain For President EP, 2007)

With an obvious love for John Carpenter-esque horror movie synths and krautrock, Principles of Geometry employ an extensive analog arsenal to create their bewildering array of sounds. Some tracks, like “Colfax” have a Boards of Canada style ambience, with melodies which have a radiophonic quality, some, like “Golem” use skittering breakbeats with a hefty crunch. But it’s the Joakim remix of “A Mountain For President” which I really love. It takes the slow, thick, quality of the original and transforms it into something altogether more urgent and brittle, with Sebastien Tellier’s vocal transformed into a robotic lament from the abyss. The combination of woozy, melody and arpeggiated bass creates an imagined dystopian landscape, all building up to a glitchy breakdown halfway through. It’s one of Joakim’s finest remixes, and the reason it’s so good is undoubtedly the fact that when he’s remixing something for Tigersushi he has absolutely free reign to create the most challenging and unconventional productions he possibly can. Most people probably prefer the poppier Joakim remixes of acts like Goldfrapp and Friendly Fires, but this is the Joakim that pushes my buttons.

2) Poni Hoax – Budapest (from the Budapest EP, 2005)

Poni Hoax are one of the quintessential Tigersushi acts. Combining Italo synths with a cinematic flair for balladry (see the To The Bones edit of Antibodies on More G.D.M. X), their combination of Lynchian lounge music and disco-punk is one that has aged extremely well. However, it’s , Budapest, which remains their finest in my eyes. Breathy, barely sung vocals sit atop a detuned guitar and menacing bassline, all building up to a noisy crescendo. Just love the flange on the bass too.

3) DyE – Imperator (from the Imperator EP, 2009) A relative newcomer to the Tigersushi stable, DyE released one of my favourite records of last year. Perhaps the best example of Tigersushi’s commitment to the DIY approach to electronic music, the Imperator EP was recorded in his bedroom with a few analog synths, drum machine and MPC, with no laptop or MIDI. The title track from the EP is pure minimalistic future bass, in which crushing beats fight over a backdrop of wobbling synth drones and gurgles. It’s pretty much undanceable and unmixable, but then its not a track made to move the body (for that you have the proto-acid track “Neige 606″); rather to engage the brain with its bleak sci-fi vision of electronic music.

4) K.I.M. – Kim Kong (from the Kim Kong EP, 2003)

A duo consisting of Joakim himself, or more specifically as his alias “Jimi Bazzouka”, and one Flokim Lucas, (who could for all I know be completely made up, given that they describe themselves as an “activist vegetarian consortium”) K.I.M. appears on the More G.D.M. X compilation twice, once with a quite dark vocoder cover of The Smiths’ “Meat Is Murder”, and again with the dark, space-drone percussive jam “Kimchi”. However, it’s the track “Kim Kong” from the EP of the same name which I really love. Released at the same time as the relatively minimal (by Joakim’s standards) album “Fantomes”, “Kim Kong” is a fairly poppy nu-disco jam with an 80s feel to it. What with its rubbery Moroder-esque arpeggio and upbeat guitar licks, it’s almost as if at some point after 2003, these two halves of Joakim’s style met somewhere in the middle to create the style we know today. The EP is also notable for including a song by another band (“Sex Beat” by The Gun Club), something that they also did on their album, which was part original material, part compilation. It’s this bizarre combination of invented mythology, musical didacticism and great production that make K.I.M. so compelling as a concept. And as a track, “Kim Kong” still sounds ridiculously fresh now, even 7 years on.

5) Panico – Guadalupe (An Optimo (Espacio) Remix) (from the Guadalupe EP, 2007)

Optimo have long had a relationship with Tigersushi; the label released the seminal Optimo mix How To Kill The DJ Part 2 through their sublabel Kill The DJ back in 2004, so its unsurprising that Optimo have been one of the few trusted to provide a remix for a Tigersushi act. This track seems almost like a semi-meta remix, in which the DJs Optimo remix a band called Panico, who make music that seems inspired by Liquid Liquid, who themselves wrote a song called “Optimo”, but I digress. Panico have a really urgent quality to their music (which is fairly obvious from their name) and this remix doesn’t hold back, combining driving beats with filtered synth stabs which ripple throughout. It’s unashamedly 90s, and a lot of fun with it, especially the synth toms. Definitely a tune worth digging out if you want to play something absolutely ridiculous, and now that Optimo have ended their weekly parties, a remix to remind us that the increased productivity it will bring them in terms of production is something to look forward to.

More G.D.M. X is availible now on Tigersushi

Buy the album from Juno

But the main reason I’ve decided to change the focus is because I’ve got my first remix coming out. It’s of Detachments’ “The Flowers That Fell”, and it’s coming out on Thisisnotanexit in June. This is quite significant, and I weighed up the pros and cons of using the Urlaubshits name versus coming up with a new name, but ultimately, Urlaubshits just felt right. I’m not the first person with a blog to use their identity in this way, and I doubt I will be the last. To be honest I want to be spending the little free time that I have making music rather than have to worry about writing about it all the time; I have no desire to create some kind of multifaceted media empire. However, the shift in focus doesn’t mean I won’t discuss other music, it just means what I say might be a bit less well thought out. Hopefully though, what I write might end up being better for it.

Anyway, enough talk, enjoy the mix.

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio – May 2010 (192kbps, 112mb, 1:21:01)

1) Space Dimension Controller – The Love Quadrant // Kinnego Records
Everything about this track is just beautiful: the delay on the chords, the jazzy melody, the breathy vocals, the ridiculous lyrics about space travel. There’s an effortless maturity in the construction of this wonderful song which belies the relatively young age (20) of its creator. He did an interview with Fact a few months ago which is well worth a read, and kind of makes you wish more people took his approach to the composition of dance music.

2) Architeq – Mind Games (The Emperor Machine Remix) // Tirk Recordings
If you haven’t heard Architeq before, then I would urge you to seek out the track “Birds Of Prey”, an amazing piece of acid electro-boogie which gives Flying Lotus a run for his money production-wise. In the original to this track, he reshapes disco in his own image, but this remix by the ever-dependable Emperor Machine adds a driving bassline and a slight cosmic touch.

3) Floating Points – People’s Potential // Eglo Records
Floating Points is another producer at the centre of the divergent meeting point between house and dubstep, though he definitely seems to fall more on the house side of the divide. Last year’s Vacuum Boogie was a wonderfully deep piece of cosmic Detroit inspired house. This follow-up single is a little bit more laid back; I don’t want to say that this track is acid-jazz, as it would constitute a gross factual error, and would be a massive insult to a great piece of music, but the squelching 303 melody in conjunction with the loose acoustic rhythms (which bring Four Tet to mind) and piano almost make it an acceptable description.

4) Pollyester – German Love Letter (Hal Tabac Mix) // Permanent Vacation
The original is a wonderful piece of 80s style pop, replete with heavy chorus on the backing vocals. Unfortunately I can find almost no information on the mysterious Hal Tabac, so all I can say is that his(?) remix is by far the best of the bunch. He adds an ethereal quality to the vocals, building them up, layer by layer, before bringing in an oddly wistful bassline. As a remix, it’s got lots of very strange mood shifts, but somehow these moments compliment the fragility of the vocals in quite an apt way.

5) Moscow – Deep Heat // LoEB
I’ve already said quite a lot about Moscow (aka Matt Waites, aka Nightmoves), so I won’t repeat myself, but this new single on Lo Recordings’ LoEB (experimental beats) imprint is a winner, taking things into the territory of prog-kraut. The single features a remix by The Loving Hand. All in all, a dream combination.

6) The Crystal Ark – The City Never Sleeps // DFA Records
The latest project spawned from the mind of Gavin Russom, The Crystal Ark is supposedly inspired by five weeks of travelling and performing around Brazil, and the music he encountered while doing so. In reality, the South American influences are slightly pushed to the background by the dominating bass which is classic Russom, but it’s still an exceptional track, and despite the sonic similarity to his Black Meteoric Star project, has an underlying rhythmic delicacy to it which feels like a fresh start.

7) Actress – Maze // Honest Jon’s
This forboding track comes from Actress’s second album Splazsh, a combination of Carpenteresque soundscapes, UK Garage and proto-house, all woven into unique post-dubstep forms. In a year which has seen many other strong electronic long players, Splazsh is probably likely to have the most crossover appeal for the dubstep genre since Burial’s Untrue. But that’s probably because it doesn’t stick too rigidly to what most people would consider to be “dubstep”; far from just making you question the nature of dubstep, Actress makes you question the nature of dance music. The importance of this album should not be underestimated.

8) The Hundred In The Hands – Dressed In Dresden (Kyle MF Hall Remix) // Warp Records
Kyle Hall is (yet) another one of the big names straddling the divide between house and dubstep. His recent release on Hyperdub Kaychunk melds the atmosphere of Detroit techno with syncopated, free-flowing rhythms, but this remix of Brooklyn band The Hundred In The Hands is pretty straight up 4/4. His remix strips away the original’s jagged guitars, and transforms the original vocal into a wispy phantom.

9) Motor City Drum Ensemble – Monorail // Faces/MCDE
Motor City Drum Ensemble (in reality the moniker of one man from Stuttgart, Danilo Plessow) is pretty much one of the biggest things in contemporary house music. If his stuff has passed you by, then I strongly urge you to get a copy of Raw Cuts Vol. 1, an album which collects all of his vinyl singles, and a few bonuses, one of which is this track. His name pretty much sums up his sound, and although it’s easy to argue that there’s nothing particularly new going on here, but he does it with such class and skill that it really doesn’t matter.

10) Claro Intelecto – New Life // Modern Love
Another slice of supremely classy house music. This feels almost more of a skeleton of a track than most of his productions; chords rise up out sparse, pounding drums, only to be cut off prematurely, with a build-up that feels more like a seance. This is the kind of tune that warehouses were made for.

11) Spectacle – Prism // Permanent Vacation
Spectacle’s sound harks back to the classic Chicago sound of Fingers Inc; this track has that slightly hollow bass and warm pad which brings to mind “Can You Feel It”, which is no small compliment. Like labelmates Jackpot, they have a sound that is so of-its-time yet not of-its-time that you could easily be fooled into believing it was some lost classic.

12) Night Plane – Str8 2 Ur Heart 2 // Unreleased
I was already a fan of Thisisnotanexit’s Night Plane, but this (hopefully) upcoming track is next level stuff. The incredible vocal sample adds some incredible warmth to what underneath is actually quite cold production, what with its metronomic bassline and sharp snares. But this is actually a track of two parts; the vocal fades away and leads things into a slightly murkier realm, giving way to a shimmering melody which has the improvisational quality of his previous productions, albeit with a much darker quality.

13) Gold Panda – You (Minotaur Shock Remix) // Notown Records
This remix by Minotaur Shock keeps the skittering vocal sample of the original, but ramps up the tempo by about 20bpm, makes the drums roll a little more and adds a bassline that makes the whole thing explode with melody. This EP is so big it’s just been picked up by Ghostly International for a US release, and will have an exclusive remix by Osborne – reason enough to investigate it a second time.

14) Dan Deacon – Surprise Stefani (Luke Abbott Remix) // Amazing Sounds
Allez-Allez’s new label Amazing Sounds has set out to combine great music with great artwork, and only two releases in, they have managed to achieve that, and more than most labels would with ten. The second release, a collection of Dan Deacon tracks (one original and three remixes) features this great remix by Border Community’s Luke Abbott. The whole thing exudes a pastoral warmth that suits the source material quite perfectly.

The compilation is split into two discs, the first being a collection of unmixed tracks, split between established TINAE artists and others which have not previously released material on the label. Having previously untested artists on the compilation is something that easily could have backfired, but the quality of the less established acts really shines through. Whether it’s Panda City Band’s surreal take on disco, or Pink Stallone’s Italians Do It Better style italo, everything here that is new just feels right. TINAE cohort Moscow (who has provided remixes for Detachments and They Came From The Stars) offers up an original track, “Boson”, built around a thick arpeggio and crisp drum machine beats, bringing to mind a primordial take on acid house. It’s a fantastic solo effort which more than proves his worth outside of the remixes he has produced, and further serves to carve out a unique sound for himself. Probably the standout track however, is Young Monday’s “Zaire”, a perfect 3-minute hypnagogic synthpop gem which effortlessly manages to contain several genres into one package, in much the same way as, and with as much skill as the more established Weird Tapes, whose inclusion here may be enough to tempt many people (for those who don’t know he also goes by the name Memory Tapes).

The second disc, a continuous mix by Carr, is just as vital as disc one. What could have been simply an afterthought demonstrates the effectiveness of TINAE’s output in terms of the dance floor. The mix is predominantly made up of remixes, but the choice of producers on offer show the care that goes into ensuring quality productions which are a good match for the dark, analog rich sound of TINAE’s artists. I’ve heard some really quite shoddy mixes that have accompanied similar label compilations, something that is often down to the difficulty of having to work with a very fixed set of materials, but thankfully the mix on offer here doesn’t suffer those issues. It follows a smooth upward trajectory, beginning with Chateau Flight’s’s 100bpm balearic re-fix of Spectral Empire’s “Innerfearance” and the sublime Prins Thomas remix of Hatchback’s “White Diamond, then moving its way through the up-tempo acid-heavy Joakim remix of Naum Gabo’s “Pictur”, the quite massive Serge Santiago remix of They Came From The Stars‘ “Moon Song” and the similarly huge King of Town remix of Detachments’ “Circles”, which features a bassline which sounds like it was recorded in an aircraft hangar. The mix only really loses some cohesion towards the end when it has to move in quite quick succession from Parallels‘ superb Madonna aping synthpop, to Professor Genius’ balearic rhythms, finishing with the Happy Mondays-esque Mungolian Jetset remix of “Moon Song”. But in honesty this is a minor criticism, especially when the music is quite so good. Carr has recently said that he has had trouble recording a mix recently because of his tendency towards perfectionism, but if he can create such an impressive mix out of such limited source material, then I really don’t think he has much to worry about.

Manifesto #1 more than lives up to its name; it offers a concise statement of TINAE’s sound up to now, and hints nicely at future avenues of sonic terrorism. If you’ve never heard of them, then shame on you. If you want to put things right, then I could do no better than recommend this compilation.

Download audio file (Young Monday – Zaire.mp3)

Download:> Young Monday – Zaire

Manifesto #1 is out now on Thisisnotanexit

Buy it on CD from the Thisisnotanexit Webstore

This coming Saturday night I’ll be DJing at the ? Bar in Stoke Newington (London for those who don’t know) where I will have the honour of the opening the inaugural Secret Danger party, run by the Secret Danger Society (or Oliver Seaman and John Bloomfield to those who know them), two fine young gentlemen with impeccable taste in house and disco. Good times are pretty much guaranteed.

Contrary to what the flyer says, it actually runs from 10pm – 2.30am. I’ll be on at the beginning from 10 – 11.30, and then the Secret Danger guys will play the rest. Best of all, it’s free. As this will be the last time I’ll DJ “this decade” I’m also looking forward to bringing out a few classics from the last 10 years.

Location:

? BAR
129 Stoke Newington High Street
London
N16 0PH

More details on the Facebook event page here

Or at the Resident Advisor event page here

The latest in the continuing voyage into cosmic disco, mutant house, future acid, radiophonic techno and grooves “slung lower than a Wire character’s jeans” (according to a hilarious Time Out description).

With me, and guests Oliver Seaman & Ben Richards

Happening at:

93 Feet East
150 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QL

Tuesday 9th June 2009
1900 BST – 2300 BST

FREE ENTRY!

Tonight is particularly exciting for me as I have just gotten my hands on the first Black Meteoric Star 12″ (featuring “Death Tunnel” and “World Eater”). I have been waiting over a year for this to drop, and can’t wait to hear it turned up loud. Look out for a review of the album in the next few days…

With special guest DJ, Thisisnotanexit label boss Simon A. Carr, celebrating the launch of the new Parallels EP, Ultralight. Entry is free, and if you’re there you might just win yourself a copy of this wonderful piece of black plastic.

http://twitter.com/urlaubshits

Consider it an experiment…I’m interested to see what hold it has over people.

1) I really haven’t been feeling particularly inspired to write much of late. Sometimes you just need a bit of time to do other stuff.

2) The return of my RROD‘d Xbox 360 have led to large amounts of time being spent playing Fallout 3. Yes, sometimes even music bloggers get caught up with geeky pursuits like playing RPGs.

3) I have been caught up with the planning of this:

That’s right, it’s the first ever Urlaubshits sanctioned music event which I will be running along with my good friend Ad Hoc. If you read this blog then you’ll probably know what to expect, but if you want clarification, then it will probably be, to quote myself “cosmic disco, mutant house, future acid, radiophonic techno and low slung dubbed out grooves” with us residents and other guests. It will be happening every second Tuesday of the month in London, at 93 Feet East on Brick Lane, and best of all it’s free. Details for this month are as follows:

The first of a monthly voyage into the stratospheres of cosmic disco, mutant house, future acid, radiophonic techno and low slung dubbed out grooves.

With your hosts:

Ad Hoc

Urlaubshits

and guests:

West End Boys (La Supercool Discotheque)

93 Feet East
150 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QL

Tuesday 14th April 2009
1900 BST – 2300 BST

FREE ENTRY!

It’s short notice admittedly, but it all happened quite fast. Find us elsewhere on the internet here:

Facebook Group
MySpace Page

We also have a website (which will be expanded with more content in the forthcoming months):

http://www.signalsfromthecosmos.com

Coincidentally, an upgraded version of the theme I use, Mimbo, was recently released, and it had the stuff I wanted, with greater ease of use, so I just went ahead and changed things round again. If you’re considering a “magazine style” theme for Wordpress then I heartily recommend it.

The next post will be more interesting, I promise…