Teleosteopathy

This new compilation on the ~scape label is called Round Black Ghosts, a title that - according to the press release - “reflects the mysterious joy of fathoming the unknown”. I should make clear then just how much of an unknown quantity dubstep is in my musical experience, roughly limited as it is to the Burials and the Bengas of the genre, along with a slow creep of dubstep/techno crossover releases. The most famous of those is Ricardo Villalobos’ remix of Shackleton’s “Blood On My Hands”, but it’s the Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts remix of Next To Nothing that gets me most excited.

In short, I’m one of those people who’ll tell you ‘yeah yeah I saw Skream and Benga DJing back to back, it was amazing’ (it was!) but will probably leave it at that. Boxcutter’s album from last year left me cold, and I confess that Ikonika’s recent outing on Hyperdub is still proving to be a little too hyper for me. Listening to this CD, however, there is nevertheless much enjoyment to be derived from fathoming this unknown through the delicate and almost always optimistic lens of the ~scape aesthetic, even for a neophyte like myself (check the big word - neophyte!)

That aesthetic - feather-light, sculpted, ephemeral, that sort of thing - is nurtured by label-heads Stefan Betke (aka Pole) and Barbara Preisinger, and on this CD in collaboration with Tim Tetzner from Dense Records, a shop that, from their website, looks to be the music shop that’s fine of my dreams. Betke’s fascination with dub/dub techno - see his early, classic 1, 2 and 3 releases as Pole - has recently made the inevitable progression to include dubstep. His popular RA Podcast (download) mixed tracks from bigshots like Mala and Pinch with releases from far less recognisable names - well, at least to me anyway.

Then there was the fine array of producers employed to rework his Steingarten album, including a fascinating reworking of “Achterbahn” by the aforementioned Shackleton. Betke’s track on Round Black Ghosts continues where that album left of, clopping around the icy mountains of Bavaria on a listing bassline that continually threatens to veer off the precipice.

Compared to that, Martyn’s opening cut is positively summery. It’s the latest in his impressive run of concise but expressive productions, this time eschewing the heavier bass and drums of most dubstep for a lighter, more ~scape-y touch. Later, the compilation’s only “true techno fiends” (that press release again) Syncom Data contribute what unexpectedly proves to be the most subdued cut on the album. 2007’s “Beyond The Stars” is on a frequency from even farther away than that - maybe this is what those aliens will hear when “Across The Universe” finally reaches its titular destination…

Other tracks from Ramadanman, who’s been getting attention from Villalobos recently, and Elemental are much heavier, stretching what we know of the ~scape sound to its darker limits. Elemental’s track sounds like Cobblestone Jazz on even more acid than usual. Still, the overall impression from the CD remains that crackly, fizzing, dubby veneer that forms just the top layers of most productions. With this compilation, Betke & co. have brought together dubstep’s most recent crop of talent and have harvested a fresh, invigorating collection of flavours. The next step for me will be looking up the original releases and going from there.

******

Elemental is apparently one of dubstep’s few live performers. Livesets in techno seem to be a tricky proposition even within a relatively regimented time structure, so I find it much more difficult to fathom how a liveset can work within dubstep’s limber syncopation. This set from late last year however shows off Elemental’s most military approach to rhythm. It’s cohesive, measured and, compared to the ~scape CD, sometimes even a little brutal. Highly recommended.

Elemental - Live @ Corsica Studios, 13/09/07
01. 925
02. Desert Storm
03. Raw Material
04. Empty
05. Boxed In
06. Shiner
07. China White Remix (Dot)
08. Zimbal Dub
09. Blob
10. Get Up
11. Strange Brew pt 2 (feat Lohan)
12. Fur Drum
13. Arise
14. Sine Classic
15. Stompa
16. Espionage Remix (Search & Destroy)
17. Dangerous (Elemental + 3D)
18. Attack (Elemental + 3D)
19. Sirens/Bleep/Tribute Outro
[all tracks (apart from Dangerous) arranged + mixed live]

******

Martyn is playing alongside Skream, Benga, Appleblim and others at the bank holiday Rinse.fm Fwd>> party at The End if you fancy getting your insides pulverised, although I’ve been told that Plastic People is the place to go for serious internal injuries. Let’s hope I can make it there one day - Derrick May played there a while back and I’ve been regretting missing it ever since.

One label quietly proving itself highly watchable of late is Dan Ghenacia’s Freak n’ Chic. Last year the label was the platform for releases from some rising stars - like Miss Fitz, whose Villalobos-esque Vivacious Voices EP presaged more widely appreciated work (and an RA podcast) as one half of Mara Trax. And there were a couple of EPs from Marc Antona who subsequently appeared on the much larger Mobilee and Sender records. More recent outings from Ghenacia himself (the Garden EP) and Dyed Soundroom (the Question EP) have been showing up in charts and and mixes from DJs across the spectrum of styles. The label’s aesthetic seems to focus on the deep, swinging and above all groovy - always with an exotic twist of something that gives them a chameleon-like ability to fit in with almost any sort of mix.

It’s great news, then, that Ghenacia himself is releasing an official mix that slots some Freak n’ Chic favourites in amongst other oddball wonders from dOP, Seth Troxler (the suddenly ubiquitous ‘Doctor Of Romance’), Andomat 3000 and the like. The CD is called Eyelights and it’s out at the end of the month. Add that to the upcoming Berghain 02 mix from Marcel Dettmann on Ostgut and my evenings in June look like they’ve already got their soundtracks sorted. I’m lucky enough to be seeing Dettmann DJ in Manchester on Friday 6th. If you’re in the area, then don’t miss out.

You can catch Ghenacia spinning alongside Geddes at the Mulletover party this weekend in East Village near Old St. I’m sad to be missing it so I’d love it if anyone who goes can let me know what it’s like. The venue and sound were pretty good when I saw Anja Schneider there so it should be a good party. Ghenacia’s also playing Gatecrasher the weekend after, if you’re going to that and aren’t into the Chemicals/Fatboy thing… This weekend there’s also an Octave One/Ewan Pearson/Matthias Tanzmann party hosted by Brand New Fiction going down at Corsica Studios (listing here). Sometimes we’re just spoiled for choice eh.

******

Another artist on that Eyelights mix that has been getting a lot of press lately is Johnny D. I’m not quite as evangelical about his Orbitalife release on Oslo records as some, but there’s no way I can argue with this ridiculously funky set posted on Get The Curse recently. Someone in the comments has remarked on the section from 15-30 minutes being ‘totalement folle’. That’s the best description for it: crazy. I’d love a tracklist. Apart from a weird bit around 49-50 minutes the whole thing is one long percussive carnival of madness. (Apparently it’s over a year old, but it sounds no worse for it).

Johnny D - Get The Curse podcast (Recorded live 11/01/07)

From his discogs page it looks like Martinez has been doing his groovy thing for quite some time now, long enough at least to beat the many other ‘Martinez’-es to the un-numbered punch. I included his ‘You…’ track in my February IAMYOURFACE mix alongside Marcin Czubala’s similarly titled and equally ace ‘I Am You’.

‘You…’ came from Martinez’s cracking Burning The Midnight Oil EP on one of my favourite labels, Cray1 Labworks. He’s got a new release out on 3rd Floor called the Retrospective EP and it’s another stomping success. It’s got that swagger I’ve been enjoying from Kate Simko recently, loping along on a muted bassline, but that lower section supports a twitchier upper half more reminiscent of the stuff on Tuning Spork I’ve been enjoying so much recently (from Hugo especially - his new ‘The Siren’ floored me recently).

All that preamble is my namedropping way of saying that I hope this sound gets even bigger as the year progresses. The slinky basslines, the light-as-a-feather hihats, but then some really punchy midsections that go straight for your intestines. I can even see it working well with some of the deeper, more jacking stuff coming from Berghain etc. It’s got that defined sensibility to it but is perhaps just a little looser around the hips. Hear some samples here:

Martinez - Retrospective EP [3rd Floor] (Samples)

If you want a much better idea of the kind of noise Martinez is making, here’s a link to his promotional mix from April. I’ve been listening to it this morning and it’s very solid stuff. With the Simko and Dettmann sets I’ve picked up from SSGS and the Chaton mix over at HIAF, May has thus far been a month of blisteringly good mixes. Add this one to the list.

Martinez - Promotional Mix 13/04/08

Consider this a companion mix to the round-up below, including as it does tracks from Klockworks and Polder, along with various other favourites, some newer than others. 12 tracks in 45 minutes, I tried to give it a strong shift of moods: from conga to frisky house to deep space minimal and through to the kind of warped sounds that could only come from someone like Seth Troxler.

Pop-Bleep-taBOOM April ‘08 Mix
01. Riva Starr - “La Conga” [Dirtybird]
02. Klockworks - “Red Handed” [Klockworks]
03. Polder - “Frisky” [Intacto]
04. SLG - “Bleep Bleep” [Trapez]
05. Marco Carola - “Lost Connection” [Plus 8]
06. System 7 - “Space Bird [Dubfire Deep Space Remix]” [A-Wave]
07. Gimikk - “Poppop” [Arearemote]
08. Tadeo - “Fractal” [Cray1 Labworks]
09. Klockworks - “Steady Plus” [Klockworks]
10. Seth Troxler & Patrick Russell - “Doctor Of Romance” [Circus Company]
11. Prompt - “Taboom” [7 Noise]
12. EQD - “#001 A” [Equalized]

******

If, instead, you’d prefer to listen to a proper DJ at work, then the only place you should be going is House Is A Feeling, where Chaton has contributed a stunning guest mix called The Lost Library. It’s one of the best sets I’ve heard this year, taking the listening on a real voyage through a bewitching range of moods and styles without any of the prodding or volte-faces many others are prone to indulge in when making these sort of showcase mixes. It’s summer music of the best sort.

******

Finally, is anyone going to this?

In response to all the enthusiasm over at mnml ssgs, here’s ten of my favourites from this year so far, with discogs links:

D’Julz - “Just So You Know” [Ovum]
This one’s a no-brainer for me, given my reverence for all things “Mouth To Mouth”-like. To me, it sounds like D’Julz has discovered a new species of furry rodent, which goes about its daily business quite happily most of the time but every now and then has SERIOUS PANIC ATTACKS. When it does, it’s an absolute monster.

DOP - God Bless The Child EP [Milnor Modern]
I think it’s more appropriate to recommend the whole EP in one go. I put “Foly” in one of my mixes, where it sat well amid similarly oddball tracks from Onur Özer and Shackleton. The whole EP has an endearing air of authenticity about it, which probably stems from DOP’s priorities as musicians rather than DJs. Check out that LWE interview and you’ll want to hear more; happily, there’s a mix attached.

Dominik Eulberg - Herbarium EP [Traum]
Both sides of this beautifully packaged release are finely-crafted aural approximations of their subject matter. Living, supple, fragile as leaves.

Hugo - “Born To Bop” [Claque]
Possibly my favourite producer at the moment, Hugo has been unstoppable over the last year or so. Although this wasn’t released on Tuning Spork like his incredible Death By Sex EP last year, and the upcoming The Sloop EP this year, it might as well have been. Its wonky, kinetic groove is assailed by all manner of cabaret characters as it slowly suffocates in its own facepaint and fancydress. Hugo’s totally out there, totally on his own.

Klockworks - Klockworks 03 EP [Klockworks]
My other favourite producer of the moment, who again can seem to do no wrong. It’s the effortlessness that gets to me with these tracks. They sound like he knocked them together in 10 minutes, but obviously it takes a bit more experience than that. I’ve put both sides in the mix I’ll be posting later on, because they’re both that good.

The Mole - “Baby, You’re The One” [Wagon Repair]
Tune. Tune tune tune tune tune.
Tune.
[Repeat]

Prosumer & Murat Tepeli - “Turn Around” [Ostgut]
This is perhaps the poppiest moment of one of the albums of the year so far, Serenity. I’ve already gone on and on about how Prosumer changed my life a couple of weeks ago (see below) so I guess not much more needs saying. Although I should mention that the Cassy mix is a lot better than I first thought it was. Once you get past the odd treatment of the vocal, there are some really breathtaking moments in there.

Polder - “Topdrop” [100% Pure]
Top top track this. On my limited number of nights out, this is probably the one I’ve heard the most often, and each time it managed to up the energy factor several-fold. It’s a happy fact that those last words could apply to any of the tracks on the Poldermodel album on Intacto.

Rone - Bora EP [Infiné]
You can still hear the mix I posted from Rone here. It’s a good introduction to the styles that make him tick, but you could do a lot worse than just buying this EP straight off regardless. I recently visited a good friend in Oxford who has an incredible hi-fi. What already sounded magical sounded downright impossible coming out of those speakers. The only choice for the after-afters.

Kate Simko - “She Said” [Spectral Sound]
Finally, the slinky, saucy Simko with her bongos and ‘wuuu-uuuuh’ noises. I can say without exaggeration that this track has been bouncing round my brain ever since I first heard it. ‘Wuuu-uuuuuuh’.

(From discogs.com)

I’m generally terrible when it comes to remembering tracks from the night before. I’m fairly sure that the ridiculous percussion jam Maurice Fulton played at last weekend’s Mulletover vs RA party was the intro to “Let’s Get Sick”, from 2003’s insane Afro Finger And Gel release. But then again I was fairly sure I could sing along to all the 70s Paradise Garage hits he was playing, when I doubt I knew them at all. And it also felt like the 90s acid he was blasting out inbetween those disco cuts had burrowed into my brain some time before, but it’s unlikely.

What I do know is that it was one of the most innovative, surprising, madly ecstatic sets I’ve heard. Actually, I have a serious feeling he played Patrice Rushen’s glorious “Haven’t You Heard” at one point - was anyone there who can remember?

(From discorecords)

And then what at first thought seemed just coincidence, luck - i.e. that Fulton had played a set which joined in perfect union the threads of my recent readings into Larry Levan and Plastikman - that luck became some sort of fate (it’s an indication of the sheer joy I was experiencing that I’ll even entertain using that word), fate that Fulton was followed by the man Prosumer. I’ve been pummelled into submission by Richie Hawtin, I’ve been teased and tickled and ultimately tazered by Derrick May, and now I’ve had the deep pleasure of being courted and seduced before having something very personal done to me by Prosumer. I now rate him alongside those two legends in creating an experience without parallel.

His sedate pace with the kick seemed to promise something neverending, an infinite ~120bpm journey through deep house from the mid 80s to the present, that kick always coaxing you through each transition and on to the next brilliant explosion of vocals or drumfills. Ever reliable, ever novel. And I’ve never seen a human being control two decks so consistently, almost mechanically, but with such gentle ease. I’ve been sceptical about house music for quite a while, especially a lot of the deep house that I’ve seen raved about, but now I realise I’ve just been listening to the wrong people. I’ve since been listening to almost nothing but Prosumer’s Beats In Space and RA podcast sets, and you could do far worse than do the same.

******

On a slightly different note, I took up a colleague’s recommendation and gave this DJ Elian set a listen. I’m not big into dub techno, and I have to confess that the first hour or so washed over me as I struggled with PowerPoint, but after an hour it suddenly dives down the epicentre of a whirlpool (you know, that middle bit where there’s nothing but air surrounded by ever quickening torrents) and I suddenly starting taking notice.

DJ Elian - Infinite Dub Mix
00:00 || Atheus - Inchain fx
03:30 || Atheus - Decaedra
06:40 || Bvdub - Alone In The Crowd
10:10 || Atheus - Deploy
13:30 || DeepChord Presents Echospace - Echospace 5
17:10 || Model 500 aka Juan Atkins - Starlight (Deepchord Remix)
21:00 || Basic Channel - Q1.1 III
24:15 || Maurizio - M4 A
27:20 || Substance & Vainqueur - Reverberation
30:50 || Substance & Vainqueur - Resonance
34:45 || T. Raumschmiere - Total
38:30 || Substance & Vainqueur - Reverberate
43:20 || Substance & Vainqueur - Immersion
46:00 || Substance & Vainqueur - Surface
49:10 || Pendle Coven - Brick Tutor
52:50 || Convextion - Ondes
55:50 || Substance & Vainqueur - Libration
61:00 || Basic Channel - Phylyps Trak II A
65:00 || Infiniti aka Juan Atkins - Game one (pacou remix)
69:10 || Vainqueur - Lyot (Maurizio remix)
73:30 || Basic Channel - Octagon
75:25 || Model 500 aka Juan Atkins - Starlight

There are a couple of Model 500 tracks in there, so if you decide to give it a listen why not read this piece at the same time?

I’m off to Oxford for the weekend, so I’m missing out on Jichael Mackson, Audio Werner, Ralf Kollmann, Vera, Loco Dice, Jay Haze… I’ll stop now before I top myself. I really do enjoy this city. There’s a new mix from me ready to be posted after the bank holiday, with several of my current favourites, including Ben Klock, Polder, Marco Carola, Prompt and Seth Troxler. Enjoy the extra day those of you in the UK.

(From Clockwork Creature)

I thought i’d echo the great writers over at mnml ssgs by saying just how amazing Kate Simko is. The set they posted here is a great introduction to her singular style, and it finishes with one of my top tracks of the moment, “She Said”. How slinky and seductive but also sinister. Beautiful record, I recommend it. (Buy it)

Secondly, the mnmlssgs people are very big on Marcel Dettmann, and rightly so. The sets they’ve posted are hypnotic, sometimes painfully good, and completely classy. The guy is just very cool! At the same time, his kinda partner in crime (and good looks), Ben Klock, has released an absolutely wicked new Klockworks EP (and that’s wicked as in the original sense, not some 12-year-old-describing-a-yo-yo sense). “Steady Plus” wreaks havoc with stereo and bass - absolutely devastating - while “Red Handed” has one of those INCREDIBLY SATISFYING whirr-and-CLAP rhythms, where the snares, when they come, feel like the crack of a bullwhip at the end of each 4/4. It’s an incredible EP.

Finally, the third track that’s had me going a bit crazy recently isn’t even named yet, as far as I know. It’s Alexi Delano’s new one, which was aired on the m_nus/Radio Fritz show a few weeks ago and also makes up a good few minutes of the set I linked to here (originally posted on RA). I can’t express how annoyed I am to have missed him at Unit 7 a few weeks back, but the night clashed with Anja Schneider at East Village. I never thought I’d be complaining about too many DJs playing near me… The new track is one of the darkest things I’ve heard in a while - that kick/bass is just unremitting. I can imagine the track sending dancefloors into absolute chaos midway through a night. I really want to hear it out somewhere. I think there’s some sort of connection between this track and the Simko, some hipshaking swagger that they achieve which might signal a welcome new trend in techno. Who knows?

I included Delano’s quirky “Two Stops To Williamsburg” track in a mix I made recently for a couple of good friends:

JUST FLESH MIX ‘08

Tractile - “To Go To” [M_nus]
Alexi Delano - “Two Stops In Williamsburg” [Clink]
Luna City Express - “Seven” [Moon Harbour]
Format: B - “Flat Call” [Upon.You]
Audion - “Just A Man [Ellen Allien Version]” [Spectral Sound]
Ludovic Vendi - “Limbo [Paul Ritch Remix]” [Paradigma]
Pierce & Jerl - “Bouquet” [My Best Friend]
Agnès - “Lowdown Cycle” [Resopal Red]
3 Channels - “It’s Gettin’ Kinda Hectic” [Trapez]
Dominik Eulberg - “Kriechender Günsel (Ajuga Reptans)” [Traum]
Rone - “Flesh” [Infiné]

This was a post-Richie at Fabric set. I wanted to make it heavier hitting than usual, and that Agnès track hits as hard as anything. What a deep kick! 3 Channels has been doing all sorts of great things recently (his remix of “Hay Consuelo” is great) and the Tractile/Rone tracks that start and finish it have been top of my list for a while.

I’m off with a friend to the Mulletover/RA event tomorrow night: Prosumer, Dixon, Sebo K, Maurice Fulton, Geddes…all in a car park?! Let’s see how it goes. Then on Sunday it’s off to the O2 to see a band I was sure I’d never get to see live: MOUSE ON MARS. I am ridiculously keen for this, having listened to their Live04 album often to hear how mental they can be. If they play “Doit” I will be super chuffed. Oh, and Gui Boratto, Burger/Voigt, Thomas Fehlmann and Jonas Bering won’t hurt either. In other Kompakt news, the interview with Wolfgang Voigt in the current issue of The Wire is fascinating stuff. I’m going to be saving up for the GAS boxset.

Finally FINALLY, this is some of the most exciting news I’ve heard recently…

Soulphiction, aka Michel Baumann, aka Jackmate has produced a wonderful home-listening album for Sonar Kollektiv. I’ve found Do You Overstand? far more enjoyable than the new Quiet Village one because of its much looser, easy-going, unforced atmosphere. Where Silent Movie sounds clinical in places, Soulphiction’s tracks can ooze out at you slowly or jump up suddenly; they’ve got an immediate pull which probably comes from the use of, you know, actual instruments.

“Cargo” is a jazzy romp which could also do a good job doubling for a BBC2 kids’ science show (those synth washes are SO BBC Schools), while “Ghana Wadada” stomps along on the kind of groovy beat that Quiet Village would be glad to smother in the pursuit of that Avalanches sound they can’t quite imitate. Soulphiction instead accents it with beautifully sparse vocals and a delicate string section. Understated and authentic, the track presses the same buttons that dOP have been jabbing over the past six months (see “Foly”, which I put in the last mix posted here).

“Velveteens” seems to reference Homework-era Daft Punk and Jan Jelinek all at the same time. “Prison Song” beats Matmos at their own foundsound game, and “Whizzdom And Understanding” provides the album’s most upbeat, driving cut. All in all it’s a luxurious but unfussy album, unhurried but lively. Continuing from his stellar Blackbox album as Jackmate last year, Michel Baumann has now made a wonderfully complimentary album here, one that could soundtrack many people’s long, idle summer evenings. There are some samples on the label’s album page, and you can buy the CD or mp3s from there too:

Soulphiction - Do You Overstand? [Sonar Kollektiv]

(Image from The Bowery Boys)

Check out this incredible piece of writing about the Paradise Garage, which certainly brings into focus the relatively hostile atmospheres of some clubs operating today. I have to recommend the absolutely glorious Journey Into Paradise: The Larry Levan Story compilation, which was for me an eye-opening introduction to the type of music Levan was playing back before I’d been born. As for my favourite edit by him, it’s probably his edit of Jimmy Ross’ “First True Love Affair”, a tune for strolling down the street in summertime flashing grins at everyone walking past. Maybe even doing jazz hands. Here’s a funny robot video:

(Youtube link)

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Polder have made what promises to be one of my staple listens over the coming months, a rip-roaring collection of tracks called Poldermodel. I’ve mentioned their “Topdrop” track a couple of times recently simply because it’s one of the more memorable, fun tracks from the last few months. I’ve heard it out a couple of times and it has really ramped up the vibe both times, injecting that little extra energy that’s often needed to get me really into the dancefloor.

This album has some older tracks (”Strange Ways”, “Dirty”) alongside newer ones, but all of them are united by the same jumpy, excitable, almost hyperactive sense of rhythm. They trip and stumble along, irresistible in their immediacy. There’s something so satisfying about the way they build up layers of clattery hihats, ponderous bongos in the mid-range, beefy bass and those crafty cyclic beats that are somehow both regimented and trippy at the same time. “Ginger” is very much in the “Topdrop” vein, which keeps me happy, although its endlessly tweaked synth line adds a certain wonkiness to its otherwise singleminded drive.

“Frisky” is the track I would love DJs to use when they’re stuck in a deephouse rut - it’s got the wooshy synths so beloved of late, but they’re a lot stabbier, punctuated by leaden kicks and vicious snares. It’s the track that would signal the end of all that muddy noodling and lead to darker, more dangerous territory, i.e. towards the stuff that I would want to, you know, actually DANCE to, rather than waving my hands around vaguely trying to look like i’m having fun, which is the reaction that most deephouse tracks have got out of me on nights out so far.

I’m sure there’ll be some who say it’s all far too straightforward, far too clinical, not original enough, whatever. But to me the tracks are all distinctively ‘Polder’, they’ve all got that signature bounce and ping. This shines through on the 51 minute ‘Continuous Mix’ version of the album, the latest in a welcome trend of mixed albums accompanying their unmixed components. Here, Polder’s singular sonic statement is made explicit, as the tracks blend into one another around the central groove. Tracks like “Tofudog” which may have sounded awkward unmixed suddenly make perfect sense, briefly sending the mix into darker, grimier territory before the lighter, blippy “Strange Ways”. That track, out last year on Intacto (which is where you can get the album from), is like a younger brother to Mouse On Mars’ muscular “Doit”, after several packs of Smarties and a pack of bubblegum. And he’s got a piano from the Early Learning Centre. Try out the poor quality mp3 below if you like the sound of that.

What i’m saying, in a very roundabout fashion, is that Polder have carved a niche where many would say there was no longer any purchase, that is in lovely, direct, straightforward, danceworthy minimal techno. Their tracks burrow into my mind even as I hear them for the first few times. For all the references and connections you could make for each track, the album simply sounds like pure Polder.

Polder - “Strange Ways” [Intacto] (Buy it)

Finally, if you want even more good listening, then you could do far worse than giving this radio set from Alexi Delano a listen. Recorded for FM last month, it includes his monstrous new track for m_nus records amongst other, similarly sinister heavyweight tracks.

Alexi Delano @ FM, March 2008 (Link from OBC at Resident Advisor)

That’s all today - I’m hoping to be down at the Âme event this weekend at Café 1001, depending on if they’ll let me in or not.

Well, my good friend G was brilliant enough to discover the name of the tune I posted that video of last time. Far from being a new sound, it was in fact released in the year of my birth. When I found this out, I didn’t pick my jaw up off the floor for quite a long time. Virgo’s “My Space” was the B-side on the Free Yourself single, released in 1986 on the Trax label. I’ve since discovered it was part of the same era that brought us Phuture’s seminal “Acid Tracks” and Adonis’ classic “No Way Back”. “My Space” got played twice at that m_nus night, by both Magda and Hawtin, and both times I started dancing in ways I didn’t know I could.

It sounded so futuristic; I guess it’s both chastening and reassuring that it’s actually so old. Chastening because it shows how little I know about the history of the music I love, but reassuring because it means that any argument about new vs old is trying to draw distinctions that in my mind aren’t necessarily there. Whether you’re Magda using Serato to drop a 1986 trax record alongside the latest (futurest?) Hungarian import, or whether you’re Detroit legend Robert Hood and you don’t know that Magda is a girl but you think that (s)he is incredible anyway, the fact is that the impact when you play a track like “My Space” is, to me, as relevant now as it probably was the day I was (literally) born.

Virgo - “My Space” [Trax] (Buy the reissue)

This weekend we went to see Anja Schneider DJ at East Village near Old St. It was a pretty good venue and the sound was wonderful. I recognised a couple of tracks - the ominous title track from her Beyond The Valley album eluded identification on the night but I’ve since chased it up, and “Belize” was a shoo-in - but I wish I knew the names of a few others that she played, especially one with an endlessly ascendant synth note that took about 2 minutes to peak before the beat dropped back in. In all it was a great set, given that she only had 2 hours to play; we even missed the end because we didn’t realise she’d finish so soon so went for a badly-timed cigarette break. I greet Polder’s “Topdrop” with the broadest of grins every time I hear it now, although I did think she got lost in a few too many deephouse meanders towards the end of her set. Still, a very worthwhile night in a very pleasing venue. Here’s to more of the same.

And, lucky me living where I do, next week Âme are DJing just down the road at Café 1001 on Brick Lane. The week after, Dixon/Prosumer/Sebo K/Maurice Fulton/Geddes are playing in a Mulletover vs Resident Advisor Brazilian bonanza in some secret location out East somewhere. It promises to be a colourful, flamboyant, blissful night.