Teleosteopathy

Man Make Music put on a pretty crazy party last night. Oneman and Nathan Fake were playing but there was no way I could work out when or where, so I just drank some beer, soaked in the sounds and enjoyed the venue - a warehouse near Hackney Wick station, with an out-back area for getting air, upstairs art space and do-what-you-want atmosphere. Good stuff - especially when someone (Oneman?) dropped Sweet Female Attitude’s “Flowers” straight into Benga’s huuuge “Night”. In fact Benga’s album Diary Of An Afro Warrior is worth checking out all the way through - especially when he goes a bit trancey on tracks like “Emotions” and “Loose Synths”. MMM have already got Portable/Bodycode booked at Corsica Studios in early May so keep that free - Abrahams is one of my favourites with all those desert vibes and his more song-y stuff on Powers Of Ten will sound incredible coming out of a Funktion One…

Here’s a Paul Ritch remix I’ve been listening to lately. His “Messene” from last year was a big hit with me - that was out on Get Physical - and here he grabs Ludovic Vendi’s proggy original and takes it down a wormhole. Really really big bass on this track. On the same record, Henry Saiz turns in a slowburning, almost italo take on the track, which then turns into this kinda monolithic, stomping prog peaktimer. All three versions of “Limbo” are just big.

Ludovic Vendi - “Limbo [Paul Ritch Remix]” [Paradigma] (Buy it)

Time for the monthly mix. This one’s pretty seamless I guess and has a lot of the things that I’ve been excited about recently. We went to the m_nus 10th anniversary Fabric last weekend and Richie Hawtin pretty much blew my mind. He’s got so far into filtering and fucking with things that everything sounds so new and unusual; it was pretty intense. I heard Matt John’s “Boeing Highfly” a couple of times during the night, and both Magda and Richie played this incredible electropop tune which I expect should be out on m_nus this year some time. People say they’re stale or boring or whatever, but personally I think they’re one of the most exciting prospects for the new year.

This mix has a one of the few tunes I managed to identify on the night: Polder’s “Topdrop” is heavy stuff, for sure, as is the b-side. Other than that there’s some tribal percussion from Gabriel Ananda and a really creepy track from Jens Zimmerman.

BORN TO DROP MIX MARCH ‘08
01. Claro Intelecto - “Gone To The Dogs” [Modern Love]
02. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - “Yenon” [Musique Risquée]
03. Onur Özer - “Seraglio” [Vakant]
04. dOP - “Foly” [Milnor Modern]
05. Shackleton - “Next To Nothing [Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts Mix]” [Skull Disco]
06. Gabriel Ananda - “Trommelstunde” [Karmarouge]/Minilogue - “Jamaica” [Cocoon]
07. Jens Zimmerman - “Dawning Voice” [Hi Freaks]
08. Polder - “Topdrop” [100% Pure]
09. STL - “Loop 2″ [Perlon]
10. SLG - “Lost In Shibuya” [Trapez]
11. Hugo - “Born To Bop” [Claque]
12. Michal Ho - “Lampechätz” [Tuning Spork]
13. Tony Lionni - “Raices” [Mule Electronic]
14. Luciano - “Inner Sirens” [Cadenza]

Other releases i’ve been digging are Dominik Eulberg’s hypnotic Herbarium EP on Traum, Ludovic Vendi’s slamming Limbo EP (especially the Paul Ritch remix - I love that guy!) and Alexi Delano’s EP on Clink. Incidentally, if you go and listen to the m_nus radio show that was out recently you’ll get a taste of the new Delano EP on m_nus and it sounds NASTY.

If you’re in London tomorrow evening (Saturday 29th) and fancy a good party out East (and why not), Man Make Music have got a warehouse party going on up in Hackney with Oneman, Nathan Fake and others, all for only £5. Give them an e-mail at warehouse@manmakemusic.com to get the location and details. They’ve also got a sick sick lineup for the 2nd May (Bodycode! fucking ace). Can’t really ask for much more.

After last week’s post about Rone’s wonderful Bora EP, Julien from Infiné was kind enough to e-mail me with more information about it. The words on the vocal cut are from Alain Damasio, a French sci-fi writer. I imagine, then, that their content matches the spaced-out trip of the music itself.

Julien also gave me a link to a mix that Rone did for Meerestief radio at the end of January. It’s deep as hell - especially the Jamie Lloyd/Quarion track, which Ronan Fitzgerald is a rather fond of (and so am I) - and has a great flow from its start all the way to Rone’s own finale, “Spanish Breakfast”. Give it a whirl (tracklisting here, and buy that EP if you haven’t already.

Rone - Live On Meerestief, 29/01/08

What a crazy weekend. Went to Oxford on Friday evening for drinks and then Gregor Tresher playing at an Eclectric night. The sound was surprisingly on point and they’d even gone for the HUGE NAMES ON A SCREEN approach, which was slightly incongruous with the surroundings (the rather grotty Academy) but still kinda lent the evening a bit of mock seriousness. Tresher was on form - there was a slice of Kabale Und Liebe which got us up on the dancefloor, and while the Grolsch too hold he proceeded to ramp up the volume and pace til we couldn’t really take any more. A nice, no-nonsense, solid night of fun, finished off with a big portion of cheesy chips. I think i’m converted…

This was followed by the laziest Saturday day (Neighbours omnibus…) before a long, psychedelic trip into craziness in the evening. Summary: thinking the room was changing colour; turning the sitting room into a kind of tropical jungle/beach; eating 5 skittles at once (tasting the rainbow!); going to the Coven for a very cheesy psytrance party; spending the whole night in the chill room because there’s no way i’m cut out for psytrance; dancing to Claude VonStroke’s “Beware Of The Bird” without thinking I knew it; wondering why psytrance decor always looks like laserquest; waking up the next morning feeling horrendous but watching Poirot and eating cheese on toast, and therefore feeling much better.

ANYWAY. This is meant to be a music blog isn’t it, so here’s a track that I have had on non-stop for about a week. I’d never heard of Rone before I got hold of this EP, but now I think everyone should. “Bora” is contemplative, breezy, measured, moving, transporting… The vocal cut has what is probably some sort of pseudo-philosophical tract spoken in French over the top (or maybe it’s about lentils? I have no idea) which is ok as it comes, but it isn’t a patch on the instrumental. It opens with muted chords, making you think of Stars Of The Lid or maybe Tim Hecker at his more melodious, but of course there’s a kick, literally, and a modulated mid-range burble that gives the whole track a real watery feel. I guess it’s like a cross between Melchior Productions and the aforementioned SotL, if you can imagine that.

So this continues for a while, massaging the brain and soothing the muscles. It really is beautiful and I wouldn’t have minded if the whole track was the same. There’s a shuffly clap that threatens the calmness, but this gives way to an absolutely stunning midsection of cavernous whistles and deep strings. Then the real stroke of genius arrives, as an acid, morphing, burbling lower section emerges, slamming in with a properly banging beat for the final 3 minutes. After the floating first section, this part feels like plunging into a whirlpool, synths swirling round fathom upon fathom of dark, bottomless bassnotes.

I think that’s the description I’d give it anyway. Other things that I’ve been excited about recently include: James Ruskin’s new album on Trapez, which mixes techno with IDM with acid with electro to really dizzying effect; dOP’s fantastic new EP on Milnor Modern (bring on the album!); Piemont’s “Bastille”; Polder’s “Topdrop”; and on the non-techno front, Goldfrapp’s Seventh Tree is rapidly proving itself to be a modern masterpiece.

Rone - “Bora” [Infiné]

PS. Did I mention that the rest of the Bora EP is beyond good as well? Essential, absolutely essential listening.