over-looked ablums of 2004:
*credit to a friend
reviews courtesy of www.boomkat.com
ricardo villalobos / the au harem d'archimede / perlon
Yes, Villalobos is back! Following on from what must surely count as one of the largest and most highly regarded House albums of the last few years (the supremely sexy Alcachofa), Ricardo is back with another mighty collection, this time for the foremost purveyors of minimal cool – Perlon. “The Au Harem D’Archimede” is another epic succession of long tracks and divine instrumentation – Villalobos manages to make his percussion sound complex and terrifyingly funky at the same time, while the melodic arrangements are often brooding (Murcof-esque harp cascades grace the haunting “Hireklon). Villalobos is a master of the slow build up, taking you from looped malfunctioning machinery to twilight loveliness without you really noticing how you got there. Album closer “True to Myself”, meanwhile, throws caution to the wind and heads for the minimal disco with some unhinged vocals thrown in for good measure – like a tanked up Theo Parrish. Magnificent.
robag wruhme/ wuzzelbud kk / musik krause
From the plethora of artists, labels and parties associated with Cologne's mighty Kompakt crew one can safely say that Musik Krause and the hugely talented Robag Wruhme have been the most consistantly evolutionary and enjoyable operators of the bunch. Mr Wruhme has crept up in our estimation with every 12” issued by the label, from the ace ‘Backcatalog’ to the bumping ‘Kopfniker’ ep and recently to the jacking tech house of ‘Polytik’‚ each 12" has delivered top quality tracks with a twist and has served to expand an ever growing fanbase spanning the spectrum from diehard Fabric practicioners through to Giles Peterson's massively influential playlist. "Wuzzelbud KK" sees Robag joyously tweaking and perfecting his glittering blend of microscopic house chops, jazzed-up vibes and late night airy beachside lullabies. He manages with a wink to equip a whole sound, a unique, forceful, tech-minimal-house with substantial bass, twists, tension, longing, felt all over and throughout your body. If you like your chopped-up house innovative, involving and advanced, at times diving into sun-drenched climes, at others even lending some deep Aphex melodies for inspiration, look no further. Awesome.
frivolous / somewhere in the suburbs / karloff
A compilation of the two Karloff 12”s plus a couple of bonus cuts are available for the first time on cd. It’s easy to see why Karloff issued this cd as it flows brilliantly, showing off of the varied talents of Daniel Gardner under his Frivolous moniker, from the cut up 80’s tracks on ‘Born Out Of Beta’ which uses a speeded up early hip house accapella and mashes the beats, drops vocoders and other vocal samples for a quirky early house mash up, to the ace deep cut, ‘All The Comforts of Home’ that hits the more left of centre with its deep groove and almost operatic vocal samples that mix with the subtle drums and club led edits. The bonus cuts are excellent, ‘Fredrick Cokanose’ skims the spectrum of dance music with abandon, from stripped acoustic guitar samples to rough ass 2 step bass and drums, with all manner of electro house and techno sounds and influences in, a little schizophrenic, but in the best mash up way. ‘Every Day Of My Life’ hits a deeper note with lush chords following a superb jazz double bass line that’s almost freestyle under the minimal house beats and lush noises. Unique and challenging material from Frivolous, well worth a check.
new:
styrofoam / nothing's lost / morr
Belgium producer, songwriter Arne Van Petegem, aka Styrofoam has done it again with his latest release Nothing's Lost. Styrofoam caters to the electronic heads with crunchy pops and textures while still giving the indie lovers their melodic soothing sprays of warmth. This could be Styrofoam's best album to date especially when it comes to his collaborations with Death Cab for Cutie's artist Ben Gibbard, Lali puna's vocalist Valerie Terebljahr and Notwist's Markus Acher. This album is dynamic and layered in ways that keeps you craving more.
listen: misguided
listen: couches in alleys
listen: ticket out of town
