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

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