The first mix of the year is fairly representative of some stuff I’ve really been enjoying over January (and a bit of stuff from December which got left behind because of the end of year stuff, most notably the singles from Acid Washed and Pantha Du Prince. There’s also a taster from the upcoming Thisisnotanexit compilation album Manifesto #1, Pink Stallone’s “Vlad” as well as the superb Night Plane Remix of Thisisnotanexit’s Dark Esquire. His “Situation” single has just been released, and is a true alt-pop gem. I’ll have a write-up of the Manifesto #1 compilation up soon. There’s also the Matthew Dear remix of The xx which has been doing the rounds on the internet recently. It got to #1 on the Hype Machine’s most loved list, which I suppose in this internet-centric future decade makes it the number one song in the world.

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio - January ‘10 (55:19, 128kbps, 51mb)

1) Acid Washed - General Motors, Detroit, America // Record Makers
2) Pink Stallone - Vlad // Thisisnotanexit
3) Ray Mang - Look Into My Eyes // DFA
4) The Dark Esquire - Situation (Night Plane Remix) // Thisisnotanexit
5) The xx - VCR (Matthew Dear Remix) // Young Turks/The Vinyl Factory
6) Tensnake - Need Your Lovin’ (Original Version) // Permanent Vacation
7) Joakim - Spiders (Astronomer Remix) // Versatile
8) Pantha Du Prince - The Splendour // Rough Trade
9) Four Tet - Plastic People // Domino
10) Subway - DBO // Deadly People
11) Grasscut - Muppet (Nathan Fake Remix) // Ninja Tune

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio - Best of 2009 (80.1MB, 128kb, 01:27:07)

1) Spectral Empire - Black Shark // Thisisnotanexit
2) Hot Toddy - I Need Love // Eskimo Recordings
3) Praveen & Benoit - Death As A Man (Worst Friends Remix) // Worst Friends
4) DyE - Star Vac // Tigersushi
5) Four Tet - Love Cry // Domino
6) Capracara - King of the Witches // DFA Records
7) Neurotic Drum Band - Robotic Hypnotic Adventure // Wurst
8) Naum Gabo - Pictur (The Loving Hand Remix - Naum Gabo Edit 1) // Thisisnotanexit
9) Black Meteoric Star - Death Tunnel // DFA Records
10) Tensnake - In The End (I Want You To Cry)
11) Azari & III - Reckless (With Your Love) // Permanent Vacation
12) Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work It Out) // DFA Records
13) Bottin - No Static (Main Version) // Italians Do It Better
14) House of House - Rushing To Paradise (DJ Harvey’s Streets Mix) // House of House
15) House of House - Rushing To Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets) // Whatever We Want

I thought I’d begin this list with an attempt to sum up 2009 from my own blinkered point of view, but the more I thought about it, the more pointless it seemed. It’s impossible to keep up with everything; I suppose within the narrow spectrum of music I listen to in the name of this blog I’ve seen a slight move away from disco and “balearic pop”, towards house, and “hypnagogic pop”. There are other writers who are better at applying grand narratives to such trivialities as list making, so if you want that I suggest you go and read their stuff instead.

This list is my list. These are the things I liked the best within my own narrow spectrum, a list with my “DJ” hat on. Some are more challenging than others, but they’re all great records, and they owe as much of a debt to pop music as they do to anything experimental. As with last year, I’ve made my Top 10 singles list a Top 10 of 12″ singles, not just tracks. In doing this I try to consider the whole package, including remixes. There’s little worse than paying an exorbitant amount of money for one mediocre and over-hyped track. But similarly there’s also no joy in paying little an EP of filler to get one great track. Maybe this year I haven’t completely succeeded in following these guidelines, but as far as I’m concerned these are 10 records that will give joy to myself and others well beyond this year.

If you want to hear these tracks then come back later today for the Urlaubshits end of year podcast featuring these tracks and a few more which didn’t make the top 10, but I still loved nevertheless.

10) Neurotic Drum Band - Neurotic Erotic Adventure/Robotic Hypnotic Adventure // Wurst

OK, so this is probably my wild card entry: the title track isn’t nearly as good as the supposed B-side, but it’s a brilliant B-side, and if it were that alone I would still put it on the list. “Robotic Hypnotic Adventure” is a hybrid of most of the sub-genres derived from the last 5 years of nu-disco and house - though it is essentially a piano house track. The piano starts off with a delicate touch, contrasting nicely with the crunchy bass, but by the time it reaches the half way point it really takes off, the keys battered to within an inch of their lives. It’s not massively subtle, but there are few other dance tracks I’ve heard this year that offered a more satisfying melodic release than “Robotic Hypnotic Adventure”. In the absence of any original Aeroplane material this year, this filled the gap quite nicely.

9) Black Meteoric Star - Death Tunnel/World Eater // DFA Records

The project of DFA synth-wizard Gavin Russom, Black Meteoric Star recorded material was a long time coming for those who had already seen his live shows, but it didn’t disappoint; made as Russom’s channel for his interest in dance music, the three singles are expansive exercises in the most primeval electronic sounds. There were three Black Meteoric Star 12″ singles released this year, but this was my personal favourite. “Death Tunnel” is mesmerising in its simplicity, but with a visceral power that is completely unlike his previous work with Delia Gonzalez, while “World Eater” is everything that it’s name suggests, a twisting beast of a track with a searing melody with the imagined power of an exploding sun. The Black Meteoric Star project is supposedly at an end, but in 2010 we have the next track from him and Delia Gonzalez, simply titled “#5″ and a new Russom project, The Crystal Ark.

8) Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo // Hotflush Recordings

I was first brought to the attention of this track by the excellent Fact Magazine, who reported on esteemed music writer Simon Reynolds’ reaction to it on his blog, writing that he “would rather be in the middle of a crowd aving it apeshit to this” than “in the midst of headz sagely nodding (off, more like!) to moist ‘n’ milky minimalism such as this “talisman” of a track”. Fact have said it, and I’ll say it again: he’s wrong, not just wrong, but so wrong it made me question whether I can read anything else by him (and everything I’ve read has been quite good) and be able to take what he’s saying seriously. I’m no dubstep expert, but even I can tell you, if I heard this track out, I’d have my hands in the air.

To my ears it doesn’t just sound like dubstep; there are undeniable shades of Detroit in there, especially in the also superb B-side “Wet Look”. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear more of a convergence between house and dubstep over the next few years, and it would be, at least partially, down to Joy Orbison. Let’s get one thing straight, there’s probably no way Urlaubshits will ever turn into a dubstep blog, but a debut this good is hard to ignore.

7) Bottin - No Static // Italians Do It Better

The first record on Italians Do It Better to come from a genuine Italian, “No Static” is a sublime updating of the Italo tropes which Bottin’s labelmates Chromatics have been cribbing from for years, but unlike Chromatics’ ethereal take on disco, “No Static” is more faithful to the dancefloor friendly, robotic Italo of artists such as Charlie, Klein & MBO and Giorgio Moroder. What makes this track so special in my mind however, is the filtered synths which slowly build in the background, which have, dare I say it, an almost French touch to them, recalling the lusher moments of 90s French house. Wisely, the vocals are abstracted and lyricless, spectral cries which prevent the track from veering into the kind of cheesy Italo territory which could cause it veer into the realms of pastiche. It’s a fine line, but Bottin knows how to walk it, and with finesse.

6) DyE - Imperator EP // Tigersushi

I’ve already talked about this EP on the pages of this site, so I won’t repeat myself. But I will say that this record’s position on the list is well deserved for being one of the most self assured debut releases I’ve heard this year. Mixing elements of dubstep, electro and acid house, this is a record which gives me faith that the stale French electro scene is in the hands of a young genius. I don’t know where DyE is going to go musically from this point; but what is demonstrated in this EP is that like his label’s boss Joakim he has the potential to straddle genre divides with ease, appealing to those with more cerebral tastes, and those who want something more instant. DyE satisfies both of those desires in this EP, and also those desires you didn’t know you had.

5) Naum Gabo - Pictur // Thisisnotanexit

If this list were judged solely on the love that had gone into ensuring that a record had even been released, then this entry would win hands down. Representing two years of work by Thisisnotanexit boss Simon A. Carr and Naum Gabo’s Jonnie Wilkes (also of Optimo) to get the release to a state everyone was happy with, it’s frankly a miracle that it has ever seen the light of day, partly due to Tim Goldsworthy’s Loving Hand remix originally clocking in at an unwieldy 23 minutes in length. The solution was for Wilkes to take the best parts of the remix, and edit them into two friendlier and more concise chunks. Despite having appeared on Beats In Space over 18 months ago, it still sounds like nothing else released this year; Edit 1 features a motorik rubberband bassline and weird cosmic underwater ambiance, while Edit 2 is characterised by the kind of low-slung electric bass guitar that would make Maurice Fulton jealous. This would be enough to guarantee the price alone, but the 12″ is completed with a superb remix by Joakim. It’s one of the heaviest things he’s done for a while, being more in the full-on acid vein of 2006’s “Drumtrax” than the cosmic kraut of his recent album Milky Ways.

Thisisnotanexit have been gaining themselves quite a reputation for releasing wonderfully idiosyncratic dance music with a strong commitment to looking forward. In a year which has seen my particular dance music niche dominated by music looking back to classic house for inspiration, Thisisnotanexit have, wisely, stayed true to their mission, and released one of the most essential singles of their short life.

4) House of House - Rushing To Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets) // Whatever We Want Records

It seems difficult to believe this record was released almost a year ago. When I was compiling this list I wasn’t sure whether this track would still hold up; it was released on such a wave of hype and hysteria over its £15 price that I wasn’t sure if it would still have the same effect it did, but you know what, it totally does. It’s still an absolute bliss bomb, ebbing and flowing like a river of liquid codeine. It’s a really slow burner, a modern take on classic house with an analog backdrop, simmering along with the occasional hiss that sounds like a necessary release of pressure. It’s not until half way through its 13 minute length that it really gets going, dropping an irresistible piano riff which is taken away almost immediately, just so it can be built up again and dropped at an even more euphoric level.

The steadfast refusal of the duo to release any official MP3s of this track will probably ensure that it fades into obscurity, only for someone to find a copy in a record store 20 years from now, when they will no doubt have their minds soundly blown open.

3) Tensnake - In The End (I Want You To Cry) // Running Back

2009 has been quite a year for Tensnake, and deservedly so. I have to admit I was surprised when I heard this single, as it felt a lot less restrained than his previous releases, as the blend of italo-disco and deep house which characterised last year’s Keep Believin’ gave way to the pure house of “In The End (I Want You To Cry)” and the sleazy slo-mo disco of “Holding Back (My Love)”. Both of these tracks felt like the perfect meeting point between the obvious 80s influences on Tensnake and his forward-looking sound, made even more apt released on a label called Running Back, a label which prides itself on looking to the history of house and disco as well as the present. The vocal sample used on “In The End” hammers that point home further, as what, in the wrong hands, could have ended up as just another disco edit was transformed into something truly amazing.

2) Azari & III - Reckless (With Your Love) // Permanent Vacation

I had a dream about a month or so ago in which I had found out Azari & III were performing an impromptu gig at my place of work. In the dream, I received a phonecall from a friend; I didn’t pick the phone up, but I knew he was calling to tell me that he was there, and they were playing this song. I did everything I did to make it, but I woke before I had the chance to see them. There aren’t many songs that infect my subconscious like that. Maybe it’s the early 90s synth stabs, the piano straight out of Chicago, the male vocals that sound like they’re a husky female, or the fact that it’s so good I’ve gone through sessions of listening to it 7 times in a row. Or maybe it’s just because it’s one of the best songs of the year bar none. If there were any justice in the world this would have been Christmas number one, not Rage Against The Machine. If it had been released 20 years ago, it almost certainly would have been. Listen to it and tell me I’m wrong.

1) Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work It Out) // DFA Records

It was hard choosing between this and “Reckless”, but in the end, it had to be this record. Why? Song of the year and remix of the year, on one disc. It doesn’t happen often.

It’s rare that dance music can be so lyrically cerebral whilst maintaining an integrity to the dancefloor, but the union of Marcus Lambkin and Ian Svenonius has created something that is both of these things, and brilliantly so. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Spectacularly. At its heart, “Simple Things” is a love song first, and a dance track second. It’s about a relationship gone sour told in occasionally hysterical spoken word by Nation Of Ulysses’ Ian Svenonius, a meditation on the difficulties we face when we find ourselves in that situation. Lyrically it’s nothing special, but somehow the total simplicity and lack of pretension present within them gives the whole thing an innocent quality which, in combination with Svenonius’ mania, and the cheesy muzak piano, gives the whole thing an unfathomable sadness.

But despite it’s leanings towards pained introspection, it’s hard not to finish the track without the feeling that the feelings are transitory; the situation is temporary, the track ending not as most 12″ single cuts should, with an extended outro, but with a sudden stop which reflects not a long and excruciating downward spiral of despair, but an expression of joy, a “fuck you”, ending on a curious high which erases all memory of the pain of the lyrics which preceded it. It is one of those rare things, a break-up song which refuses to end content with it’s own misery, but offers the possible glimpse of a way out of the pain.

And then there’s the Todd Terje remix. He creates a totally different bassline, adds some different piano, strips most of the vocals back apart from Svenonius’ pained cries of agony and ecstasy - he creates a totally different song, but somehow the essence of the song is the same. I think it’s because it captures the same sense of mania and melancholy, its energy constantly pushing onwards and upwards until you think it can go no further, but it does. I honestly didn’t think Todd Terje had it in him to do something like this, but he has absolutely surpassed himself. Both he and Lambkin have got a lot to live up to in 2010.

So, hypnagogic pop, glo-fi, chillwave, or as Italians Do It Better boss Mike Simonetti posted on his Twitter page recently “hipster baleric cosmic lo fi dance music” - whatever you want to call it, or if you want to call it nothing at all, it’s been hard to avoid talk of artists such as Memory Tapes, Washed Out and Neon Indian this year. These are artists who are the poppier and more accessable tip of what is occasionally a very alienating iceberg (for an example of one of the more, shall we say “challenging” acts in this area, check out The Skaters), but there are many more experimental acts who could be seen as fitting under these banners in loose ways.

This month I promised two mixes in December - one usual mix and a year-end best-of, (the best-of is coming next week, along with my top singles of the year, promise) but the more I thought about that the more I thought things might be a bit samey if I did two very similar mixes, so for the December edition of the podcast I’ve enlisted a friend of mine who introduced me to the concept of “hypnagogic pop” to put together a guest mix in that vein. He goes by many names, but the name he wishes to be known by for the purposes of this mix is his real name, Ed Gillett, so I shall leave you with some words written by him to explain his track choices, and many thanks to him for making a mix which I am, quite frankly, in awe of:

This mix came out of a playlist I put together for some friends, aiming to give a vague overview of what has been loosely termed hypnagogic pop (also known as chillwave, glo-fi, or defined by any number of other slightly clumsy genre names).

In angling the track selection towards the Urlaubshits aesthetic, I’ve included precursors to the sorts of sounds employed by modern practitioners (Musci & Venosta, or Arthur Russell, who seems to be a common touchstone), and others who aren’t primarily identified as being part of the genre, but who share some stylistic tendencies (Four Tet, Jane and Line). I’ve also veered a bit more towards the “pop” end of the spectrum, eschewing noisier, starker, more rock-orientated options (Sun Araw, Ariel Pink or Pocahaunted, for example), and instead focused on artists channelling 80’s synth-pop (Washed Out or Memory Tapes), Kosmische synth journeys (Emeralds) or blissed-out drones (White Rainbow and High Wolf) into forms more or less reminiscent of house, techno or disco.

For those interested in a different take on similar themes, I’d also highly recommend Radio Olio’s Hypnagogo mix, which offers a broad introduction to some of the other disparate styles tied together under the hypnagogic banner. It can be found at http://radioolio.tumblr.com

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio - December ‘09 (01:03:33, 87.4mb)

1) Musci & Venosta - Volterra
2) Jane - Agg Report
3) White Rainbow - Tuesday Rollers & Strollers (edit)
4) Friend - Dreams (demo)
5) Arthur Russell - Arm Around You
6) Washed Out - You’ll See It
7) Ducktails - McGuire In The Ocean
8) Emeralds - The Overlook pt. 2
9) Memory Tapes - Easy Pert Mom
10) Joe Goddard - Apple Bobbing (Four Tet Remix)
11) Line - Love Is Strange
12) High Wolf - Astro Black Ghost, Speak To Me!

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

But still, the mood that the album creates is difficult to get a handle on, let alone describe. Opener “The Times” is a case in point: a sleazy ballad sung by Battant vocalist Chloé, it uses reversed sounds that phase in and out and oddly tuned guitars to create a sense of shifting unease, it’s not until the honky-tonk piano kicks in after two minutes that all the disparate elements suddenly lock together in an explosion of slightly uncanny elation. There is also an undoubted influence of rockabilly in this record, perhaps most apparent in “God Will Break It All”, where the vocals are provided by Poni Hoax’s Nicolas Ker. Away from his regular band’s Devo-esque synths, his new wave croon becomes more of a growl, and the sound of early punk makes itself more clear, as the slightly weird territory between 60s garage rock and 70s punk that The Cramps occupied is evoked as he screams over thrashing guitars. However, Land Of Truth is not just an album of noisy garage punk, its influences are wide ranging. The disco bassline of “Crackboy” is probably the closest the album gets to something danceable, while “Dogs On Trial”, with its squelchy bassline, piano stabs and drum machine beats sounds like a strange kind of house music. The last track, “The Edge”, with its heavy echo on the vocals, has elements of the pastoral folk which has made Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver so massively popular.

Despite the influences in this album being wide, in Land Of Truth, Krikor manages to create a sound which is is united and coherent throughout. And like his close peer Joakim does successfully with his albums, he manages to be wildly experimental and alienating, and somehow create a pop record all at the same time. The thing that really sticks with you after you’ve listened to this album though, is the sense of a fiction being created; not just a story but an entire sonic world that only The Dead Hillbillies exist within. In this interview with Ponystep, Krikor is asked who the Dead Hillbillies are and who they represent; his answer is that “I needed time to learn the most I could then forget all about it, letting everything go. The Dead Hillbillies are my alter egos, I embraced them then I had to kill them”. This extends to live performances, where he plays everything himself (without a laptop, and with pedals, bass, drum machine). When understood like this, Land Of Truth takes on a new meaning, it is an example of an album as a kind of parallel universe, a bleak world of sonic introspection that does not, and will never exist in the real world.

Download:> Krikor & The Dead Hillbillies - Dogs On Trial

Land Of Truth is out now on Tigersushi

Buy the LP from Juno

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio - November ‘09 (128kb, 59mb, 1:03:18)

1) LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Prince Language Remix) // DFA Records
I’m not going to bother doing any of that “Best of the Decade” nonsense, because for anyone other than Pitchfork to do it seems a bit stupid, and when Pitchfork do it, it ends up being crass, but if I did, then 45:33 would probably figure highly on that list. The opening number, here beautifully reworked by Prince Language, adds a rippling arpeggio and some synth pads that make the track sound even more like the breaking of dawn than the original.

2) Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (Maurice Fulton Remix) // Wichita Recordings
Simian Mobile Disco’s sophmore album didn’t even remotely live up to their debut, or even the blinding “Synthesise” from the beginning of the year. The big name vocalists were not enough to salvage what was a sloppy collection of half baked electro-pop, mixed with a few housier efforts, which, although sounding like their old material, simply rubbed up against the rest in a way which made them sound just as lazy. The one track that everyone seems to rave about though, is the obligatory disco-influenced “Cruel Intentions”, made remarkable only by the vocals of The Gossip’s Beth Ditto. For all the internet chatter of her diva vocals making this track into a classic, it never seemed to me to be anything more than merely serviceable. This Maurice Fulton remix however, is a totally different beast. He doesn’t do anything that drastic to it - the key melody is more or less the same, but the vocals in his version just fly, maxing them out to their fullest potential, achieved by just the slightest change in the chord progression. If you like this, then I’d urge you to track down his masterful remix of Hot Chip’s “Over & Over”; another remix which makes a classic song all his own.

3) Yacht - Psychic City (Classixx Remix) // DFA Records
Classixx sound like summer in a can. Along with Mighty Mouse they are the first wave of genuine contenders to Aeroplane’s balearic pop throne. Even better than their Phoenix remix from earlier in the year (which was the musical equivalent of golden syrup dripping off a spoon), with its low slung bassline, and tropical feel, this remix sounds like Tom Tom Club, which is no mean feat.

4) Au Revoir Simone (Neon Indian Remix) // Moshi Moshi Records
It remains to be seen whether “hypnagogic pop” as it has been described by The Wire, will turn out to be the most significant genre classification since dubstep, or if it will be consumed into the greater whole like nu-balearic, but there is no doubt in my mind that this burgeoning movement has created some of the most exciting and melancholic music that I have heard in the last year. For those who don’t know, hypnagogic pop is lo-fi in its production values, supposedly occupying a dreamspace somewhere between the stations on the AM radio dial. Songs borrow the synthetic elements of 80s pop, but, perhaps as a reaction against the current wave of hyper-produced neon alt-pop and electro, they add woozy, fuzzed out layers of shoegaze sound, creating an effect that is akin to hearing songs as half remembered from childhood. What this remix by Neon Indian demonstrates, is that placed between two more “conservative” remixes, there is actually very little in terms of instrumentation to differentiate them - the tropical feel of the Classixx remix blends quite nicely with the fluorescent quality of the wobbly melody of Neon Indian’s remix, and the driving arpeggio is very much in the vein of a lot of current Italo style remixes, (and indeed leads quite nicely into the Rex the Dog remix of Fever Ray) but the flange adds a weird layer of something just out of reach.

5) Fever Ray - Triangle Walks (Rex the Dog Remix) // Rabid Records
Several years ago (2004 to be precise), Rex the Dog released a track called “Prototype” on Kompakt, which was perhaps as far removed from that label’s minimal style as you could imagine. It prefigured most of the maximal dance music trends which followed it, and did them better (and with it’s thick arpeggiated bassline, probably the current Italo revival as well), but perhaps because it took so long to follow it up in any reasonable way, Rex the Dog never quite reached the same heights as Boys Noize, Justice et al. But one thing he did do, was a great remix of The Knife’s “Heartbeats”. This remix of Fever Ray’s “Triangle Walks” is much in the same vein. In fact, it surpasses it - a major feat considering “Heartbeats” pop prowess; in this remix Rex the Dog manages to completely transform Triangle Walks from a downbeat calypso ballad into a blistering electro-house banger, by simply speeding the track up a bit. In the hands of his immediate peers, the same technique would have probably yielded an absolute trainwreck, but five years on, Rex still has that touch of emotional intelligence which made “Prototype” so brilliant.

6) Metronomy - Do The Right Thing (Wild Geese Remix) // Because Music
There’s nothing particulalrly subtle about this remix of Metronomy by Wild Geese, but it just pushes all the right buttons: the right mix of italo and big-room house, thumping bassline, a proper “hands in the air” moment, complete with organ, and a build-up which will surely get even the most sluggish of dancefloors moving. A further sign that “house” is surely the direction things are heading.

7) Lindstrom and Christabelle - Baby Can’t Stop (Aeroplane Remix) // Feedelity Recordings
This is the first single from the forthcoming Lindstrom and Christabelle (formerly Solale) album which is coming out early next year. I’ve been a little disappointed by Aeroplane’s remixes of late - their Robbie Williams remix felt very much by the numbers, and their remix of Au Revoir Simone was nowhere near as good as the Neon Indian remix. But this is one of their best, featuring an awesome arpeggio build-up and wonky organ solo. Let’s hope that their slight quality control issue is down to the amount of time they’re putting into their debut album.

8) Detachments - Circles (Beg To Differ Dub) // Thisisnotanexit
One of several remixes from Detachments’ new single “Circles” (produced by Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford no less), Beg To Differ are a new production duo consisting of Nick Chacona and Roy Dank (a.k.a. Wurst’s My Cousin Roy). The remix has a really dark and sinister edge to it, along with a bassline which nicely mirrors the “Going round in circles” lyric by looping and building in intensity. All the other remixes across the two discs are of a similarly excellent quality, especially the disco-pop rework by Mighty Mouse.

9) Boris - Buzz In (Optimo Remix) // Scion Audio Visual
A few years ago Optimo released the excellent Walkabout mix, a meeting of industrial rhythms and organic textures. It featured “My Machine” by Japanese drone metal band Boris, which actually offered one of the more sedate moments of the mix, giving the listener a moment of respite from an onslaught of techno, and acts as a palate cleanser for the second half of the mix. Now Optimo have been given the chance to remix Boris, but unlike the use of their material in their Walkabout mix, there’s nothing reserved about it; the result is a joyous mixture of clashing guitars and multicoloured melodic noise, resembling the same kind of apocalyptic dawn chorus sound as Fuck Buttons’ recent album Tarot Sport, and ending in a beautiful shoegaze fuzz.

10) They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them - Rabbit Seal Monkey (King of Town Extra 1/4 Remix) // Thisisnotanexit
I really can’t praise King of Town highly enough. He has a gift at creating brilliant atmospherics which completely change the mood of the songs he remixes. It seems that he hasn’t been called on to remix anywhere near as many tracks as he should have been, and I feel this is something that needs to be rectified, because as this remix (and the one he did last year of TCFTSIST’s “Moon Song”) shows, he is something quite special indeed. This remix has an organic, almost folky quality to it; it is a marriage of delicate melody and searing analog synths which reframe TCFTSIST’s innocent tone as something altogether more brooding.

11) Florence + The Machine - You Got The Love (The xx Remix)
Remixing a cover of an absolute stone-cold classic is the kind of thing that could have a tendency to blow up right in your face, especially when there are so many people waiting for you to fail due to being massively over-hyped. Personally, I think the hype surrounding The xx is justified; they’ve created a beautiful album with a unique sound, taking elements of dubstep and working them into a pop form that is accessible and cerebral. As for Florence + The Machine, I’m slightly less sure the hype is justified, but she can sing. The original version of this track is the kind of thing you’d expect to see on the telly being used to add “emotion” to an episode of Hollyoaks or something similarly melodramatic, but this remix is a work of genius, using cut up vocals of Florence while The xx do the bulk of the singing. The sparse instrumentation, consisting only of bass, drum machine and a harp sample ensure that the sublime vocals are the centre of attention.

The album’s title may conjure up images of a Goblin inspired trip through Dario Argento horror movie nostalgia, but in actuality it is filled with thick, Moroder-esque basslines that inspire dancing rather than dread, though there is a definite undercurrent of something creepy which runs throughout. The album begins with, aptly enough “Horror Disco”, which sets the tone for what follows. It starts with a chirruping synth line which really holds the track together, constantly bubbling away in the background, like a demonic chattering, which, in conjunction with the low, rasping spoken vocals, make the track sound like an exorcism being carried out in a disco. But the emphasis is always on the disco, as the focus is very much on the melody driven elements, but with just enough atmosphere beneath the surface of each track to justify the album’s title as a whole. The other track that makes real concession to the title is “Disco For The Devil”. It plays out like the opening theme to a long lost B-movie. It’s the only track on the album with sung vocals, but they are delivered with the kind of delivery that is necessary of lyrics like “Down on the dancefloor someone is creeping/You’re at the discotheque you should have been sleeping”. It’s phenomenally camp, but it works because it feels so utterly authentic (perhaps because the vocalist is one Douglas Meakin, who has worked with Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti).

But horror movies aren’t the only trope that seem to provide inspiration for the sounds. With it’s trumpets “Venezia Violenta” has a sound that apes car chase funk and blaxploitation grooves more than it does Italian slasher flicks. But it’s “Theme From St. Mark 30124″ that manages to floor me every time. Possibly even managing to outdo recent Italians Do It Better release “No Static” (which is also on the album) for sheer pleasure, it has a slightly housier feel (especially in the some of the sounds at the higher end), with dubby vocals offering a rhythmic element which helps to stop the huge bassline from dominating.

More than anything though, this album feels like a trip back in time. Tracks like “Magnetic Cat” and “Undercover Monkey” utilise the kind of melodic playfulness that characterises a lot of genuine Italo disco, with the instrumentation to match (flute, strings, wonky synths). But it’s the darker edge to Italo that Bottin nails which stops the album from veering into the realm of pastiche. What really has to be applauded however, is that in a genre increasingly dominated by remixes and singles, Bottin has managed to create an album, 14 tracks in length which maintain enough quality to make him no longer one to watch, but a producer who has well and truly arrived .

Download audio file (Bottin - Theme From St. Mark 30124.mp3)

Download:> Bottin - Theme From St. Mark 30124

Horror Disco is out now on Bear Funk

Buy it on CD from Juno

And remember, you can subscribe to the monthly podcast by clicking on the link on the right hand side. Makes things a lot easier than downloading it manually every month.

Download:> Urlaubshits Radio - August ‘09 (1:03:07, 58MB)

1) Al Usher - Lullaby For Robert (Bogdan Irkük Remix) // Internasjonal
Internasjonal have just re-released Al Usher’s classic “Lullaby For Robert” from 2003, on a 12″ with the original and this Bogdan Irkük remix. Usher and Irkük compliment each other perfectly, and this remix more than rises to the challenge of remixing such an original track.

2) Kaoru Inoue - Esc // Endless Flight
Recently featured on Mule’s recent Definitive Japanese Scene compilation. “Esc” is a hazy, melody driven track which launches into the stratosphere, and one of several reasons I’ve been making a concerted effort recently to check out more Japanese electronic producers.

3) Club Silencio - Objectif Venus (Fratelli Edit) // Thisisnotanexit
This is from Club Silencio’s forthcoming EP on Thisisnotanexit (continuing an absolutely stellar run of releases for the label). Most of the EP is uptempo disco, but this is the exception, and probably my favourite track. The hanging guitar chords in conjunction with the freaky acid bassline make what I would guess to be a fairly accurate representation of what an Angelo Badalamenti disco track would sound like.

4) Spectral Empire - Innerfearance (Chateau Flight Remix) // Thisisnotanexit
One of my favourite tracks of the year thus far. I’ve already talked about it here, so check it out.

5) Still Going - Untitled Love // DFA Records
It was always going to be difficult for Still Going to follow up their massive “Still Going Theme”, so wisely, they’ve done something completely different. Obviously inspired by Liv Spencer’s recent work on House of House, “Untitled Love” features a slow burning vocal and laid back groove that is a million miles away from “Theme” but no less sublime.

6) Naum Gabo - Torus // Endless Flight
Endless Flight continue their mission to bring the most interesting cosmic sounds to disc with this new Naum Gabo track. Something to tide you over until the long awaited Pictur is released.

7) Night Plane - Chinese Shadows // Thisisnotanexit
Another one I’ve already talked about, awesome track, no more needs to be said. Buy it.

8) LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) // DFA Records
After years in limbo, the long awaited remix album of LCD Soundsystem’s 45:33 is gearing up for release. Featuring remixes from the likes of Padded Cell, Pilooski, Theo Parrish and other heavy hitters, it’s possibly one of the best remix albums I’ve ever heard. This Prins Thomas remix is probably the one remix which doesn’t tinker with the music too heavily, leaving the awesome space part of the album intact in all its vocal finery.

9) Bottin - Endless Mother // Bear Funk
The closing track from Bottin’s recent (and incredibly good) album Horror Disco, it has a rumbling bassline which is reminiscent of Vitalic’s “Poney Part 1″. Totally evil, and more than lives up to the name of the album it comes from.

10) Johan Agebjörn - Ambient Computer Dance // Lotuspike
This track comes from last year’s album Mossebo; I can’t believe I missed it when it came out a year ago. If you only know Johan Agebjörn from his work as Sally Shapiro’s producer, this album will come as a total shock, featuring eleven tracks of ambient music that has more in common with dubstep than disco.

“Black Shark” starts off in a fairly melodic manner, albeit a melody, which, in combination with the clockwork drum sequence, creates a real sense of creeping dread; it eventually breaks into full on terror with some distorted drones and metallic strings. It’s a particularly heavy moment that belies the track’s slow 100bpm pace. It ends with a particularly funereal bell tolling somewhere in the background, gloomy, but nothing compared to the second track. “KM-50 (Spectral Assault Mix)” completely does away with melody; it has a skeletal composition at the beginning comprised only of drones which sound like a swarm of insects together with a metronomic drumbeat. A single bass drone is the cue for the track to take you further into the depths, before the track finally explodes. Trevor Jackson has called it “the heaviest thing I’ve heard for eons”, and I find it hard to disagree; the only thing I could say is comparable is the recent Black Meteoric Star material.

The Chateau Flight remix of previous single “Innerfearance” is a completely different animal to the other two tracks. It keeps the 100bpm pace of the other two tracks, but trades the fear for something altogether more cosmic. It starts off with the kind of atmospheric bleeps and rough synth effects of the original, but the big moment comes when it drops some big balearic chords and a meandering cosmic melody. Given Spectral Empire’s bleakness, it’s completely unexpected, but works incredibly well, offering a bit of release from the crazed laughter and sinister vocals which echo from within, and makes the eventual drop back into the doom which follows that bit more terrifying. It’s an awesome track, and one of my favourite remixes this year.

Black Shark is out now on Thisisnotanexit

Listen:> Spectral Empire - KM-50 (Spectral Assault Mix)
Download audio file (Spectral Empire - KM-50 (Spectral Assault Mix).mp3)