CD Album Recommendations November 2013

Review: KZA's long running Let's Get Lost series continues it's relentless slalom through the edit scene, presenting a CD edition of the two vinyl double packs from famed Italian cosmic voyager Daniele Baldelli with the latter including contributoons from his prolific compatriot Marco Dionigi. Some 14 tracks deep, there's something for every self-respecting disco spinner here with highlights coming thick and fast. However, for our money it's the inclusions from recent 2x12 Let's Get Lost 23 that really stand out with the spiky disco punk "Gregory Band," full on psyche rock ("Noia Noia") and the glamorous strut of "Hello" particularly good.

Review: Given that Four Tet's recent 0181 LP was comprised of material from Kieran Hebden's archives, and last year's Pink was largely compiled of tracks from the previous 18 months of 12" releases, it seems fair to say that Beautiful Rewind is his first proper album since 2010's There Is Love In You, and as such, it arrives with some degree of expectation. The past few years have seen the producer engage increasingly with the dancefloor, and these rhythms are most definitely present across the LP, particularly in the jungle breaks of "Kool FM", pirate radio-influenced techno of "Buchla" and hesitant dubstep style rhythms of "Parallel Jalebi". For the most part however Beautiful Rewind is as varied as the likes of Rounds and There Is Love In You, with the minimalist kosmische of "Ba Teaches Yoga", analogue gurgles of "Crush" and dawn chorus sounds of closer "Your Body Feels" all as beautiful as his most enduring tracks.

Review: Leif consolidates years of EP releases for Ornate, Boe, Morris Audio, Fina with a considered debut album Dinas Oleu for the Fear Of Flying label. It makes sense for the Freerotation resident to choose FOF given the strong association he's built up with the label since it first emerged some seven years ago. From the hazy ambience of the opening vignette "Through Noise Pt 1" Leif works his way through a succession of house and techno moods all rich in the sort of detail and melodic warmth that will be familiar to anyone that's indulged in his 12" output. Keep an ear out for the title cut too which features the harp playing talents of poppa Knowles.

Review: Despite Larry Heard's deserved reputation as the Godfather of Deep House, some of his best material is a lot more robust and jacking. Amongst house historians, there's rightly a lot of love for his work as Gherkin Jerks, which veered from full-on Chicago jack-tracks to thrilling Detroit futirism over the course of two hard-to-find EPs. Following welcome vinyl reissues of those two EPs, Alleviated have gathered that material - together with a sprinkling of previously unheard material from the producer's archive - on one essential CD. The unreleased material is good - particularly the Phuture-ish acid of "Ecstasy (full take)" and the sparse Chi-town analogue funk of "Reznaytor" - making it a must-have for fans of vintage analogue house.

Review: Thus far, Vatican Shadow (AKA techno misfit Dominick Fenrow) has built a reputation as a politically charged maverick, delivering a slew of limited edition 12" singles and cassettes that flit between collage-based oddities, clandestine compositions and intense techno workouts. Remember Your Black Day is being billed as "his first proper album", and sees him shift focus towards a more listener-friendly sound. Of course, he's lost none of his anger and rage - check the breathless intensity of the title track, for starters - but there are more world-weary melodies and subtle musical touches amongst the bleak atmospherics (see standout "Tonight Saddam Walks Amidst Ruins"). Hardcore fans may see it as a compromise, but that would be harsh; in truth, it's arguably his best work to date.

Review: Derby-based deep house, broken beat and synth-soul veteran Martin Iveson (AKA Atjazz) first teamed up with South African producer Jullian Gomes last year, on the well received, ocean-deep broken house jam "Overshadowed". Clearly, the duo has an excellent working relationship, as they've penned an album together. Featuring an impressive list of guest vocalists - including Osunlade, Robert Owens and Wummi - The Gift The Curse is an impressively deep and soulful exploration of both producers' influences, slinkily moving between atmospheric deep house, comfy broken beat, synth-laden nu-jazz and, memorably, deep acid (see "Awi"). As you'd expect from Atjazz, it's extremely well polished, but effortlessly soulful, too.

Review: It's sometimes hard to exactly place the music of Japanese producer Hiroshi Watanabe. Warm, melodic and unashamedly positive, it melds the relentless hypnotism (though not the sound or tempo) of trance with the wide-eyed feel of Balearica, the futurism of Detroit and the comfortable groove of deep house. Until the End of Time, his eighth album, continues this hard-to-place-but-easy-to-love approach. There are downtempo moments (see the blissful "Smile"), floor-friendly romps (the dreamy tech-jazz of "I'm Leaving Home" and bubbling futurism of "Run Through The Road In The Fog"), and cuts that are just plain gorgeous ("Inner Space", "Dear Friends").

Review: Having given keen listeners a healthy preview in his Fabric live mix last year, the artist formerly known as Stopmakingme delivers his full-length album for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. It's a limber brew that channels a strong dose of analogue trickery through smart and snappy beat constructions, all bubbling, aquatic synths and troubled delays propelled by unfussy drum patterns so that the melodies can do the talking. Primarily this is a dancefloor album, moving from peppy breakbeat driven numbers to gently bumping house, but always the playful, ineffably warm synth work sets the tone, from "Naive Response"s robotic charm to "Drone Logic"s soaring grind. It's an album brimming in confidence and nailed with precision, and it's packed full of incredibly usable floor rockers to boot.

Review: British producer Paul Donald aka Brother has been well-known on the liquid circuit for some years now, putting out solid releases from as far back as 2005 on the likes of Sonorous, Deep Soul Recordings and Fokuz. Most of his best work has been with Focuz so it was only right that this 2CD LP would be released via the label who've taken him the furthest. With themes of live-recorded and manipulated sounds, each track shows a different side to Brother's versatility as a producer. Spanning from the rain-soaked crackle of "Corners" to the fresh, electronic punchiness of "Breathbox", it's an accomplished release well worth bagging.

Review: Since moving away from early experiments in MPC beat science, Nick Wilson has proved himself one of Britain's best deep house producers. While his output is sporadic - much of the material here, for example, was released on three EPs between 2011 and 2013 - the quality is such that each successive 12" has become a must-have. Deep, soulful, atmospheric and impeccably produced, his tracks - from the sweet bounce of "Synthetes" and fuzzy, jazz-flecked "Casio Romance", to the tech-jazz fluidity of "Yacht On The Nile" and Detroit rush of "Savannah" - are never less than inspired. Collected together for the first time, with a smattering of new cuts, they sound better than ever. Recommended.

Review: There's something undeniably bleak about the work of Berlin-based Belgian Peter Van Hoesen. He specializes in dark, uncompromising, no-holds-barred techno, and has previous impressed - or scared, depending on your techno threshold - with a pair of albums on his own Time To Express label. Here, he pops up on Tresor - arguably the World's most reliable source of subterranean techno stomp - with his third full length. Originating from a live performance by the Belgian at Tresor's Berlin venue earlier this year, it's a typically no-nonsense set that flits between bleep-heavy warped futurism (see "Carbon" and "Exciting Reward"), loopy darkroom pump ("Challenger") and Jeff Mills style techno-jack ("Assembly").

Review: Given his productivity and impressive track record, it's something of a surprise that this is Deetron's first album since 2006. Happily, it's been worth the wait. Offering various takes on house and techno - from the live-sounding, organic leftfield disco-house of Hercules & Love Affair collaboration "Crave", to the anthemic Detroit tech-house of "Rhythm" (featuring Ben Westbeech), via the old school Chicago jack of Seth Troxler hook-up "Love Song" - Music Over Matter oozes soulful intent and raw human emotion from every digitally-encoded second. For proof, check the Simbad and Justin Chapman hook-up "Strange Things"; you'll struggle to find a more souful, tech-tinged deep house cut all year.

Review: After his Room(s) long player for Planet Mu confirmed him as an unsung hero amongst US beatsmiths, Travis Stewart follows up that gargantuan effort with this turn for Ninja Tune. It's a deeply atmospheric album that works Stewart's palpable love of jungle breaks into richly atmospheric pieces that move through sometimes mournful, sometimes dreamlike spaces that hang together like all the pieces of a creative puzzle should. At times the tone is blissful, as on "Center Your Love", while the immaculate breaks give way to strung out coldwave balladry on "U Still Lie". His sense of adventure as intact as ever, Stewart happily follows up such contemplation with the feisty tech-step precision of "Eyesdontlie", ensuring there's never a dull moment across the ten tracks.

Review: Given the recent mini-revival of all things early rave (and particularly the growing influence of breakbeat hardcore and Belgian rave on contemporary house and techno), it seems fitting that 4 Hero's Marc Clair has resurrected his original early '90s rave moniker, Manix. Living In The Past is his first album under the pseudonym, some 21 years on from his era-defining anthem "Oblivion (Head in the Clouds)". Predictably, it sounds like it was made in 1992, but that's no bad thing; in fact, it's refreshingly fun. The production is, naturally, authentic - think sped-up vocal samples, big pianos, silly riffs, early jungle rhythms, hardcore breaks and sampled MC chat.

Review: Over the course of the eight tracks to appear on Frames Of Reference, the long-time coming debut album by O [Phase], the Englishman draws upon ideas he's been fine tuning for more than a decade. Of the fresh material is the rich bass and sinister crawl of "On The Edge", the haunted glass whistles of "Dirtro II" and the respective electro and dubby leaning "Just Another Dance" and "Shadow Caster". Rearranged riffs come via the LP's opening track "Binary Opposition (process 3)" which sets the tone for a heady mix of no frills techno undeniably designed for club play. It's an impressive debut which incorporates elements of muscular European rhythmics with passages of motor city mechanics and melodic tonality.

Review: First surfacing on Clone Jack For Daze back in 2011, Berlin-based Murphy Jax has taken a nomadic approach to distributing his raw and eminently danceable brand of Chicago House, gracing labels as diverse as Turbo, Hype Ltd, Exploited and perhaps most interestingly Lux Rec. His Lost Soundtracks Main Themes EP for the Swiss label dabbled in cinematic concepts and proved Jax was capable of more than straight up club tools. A debut album for the Chiwax label in the shape of Teleport: Echo City continues the producer's interest in conceptual themes, detailing the story of a "pre-apocalyptic generation of robots on a planet of machines" but don't be too worried as musically it sticks close to the styles Jax has explored previously. So expect Chicago House, Classic Deep House, Movie Theme style cuts and raw Acid workouts.

Review: It's high time that New York deep house original Pal Joey got some love from the dance music community at large. In a period between 1989 and the mid late 1990s, he produced some of the best house music to come out of NYC. Of course, he didn't stop there, as this long overdue anthology of 24 years of music making proves. Featuring material released under a variety of aliases (including Dream House, Earth People and Soho, Hot Music flits between jazzy deep house soul (see "Sing"), enveloping dreaminess ("Toi Et Moi"), and classic NYC grooves (all-time classics such as "Raw Love", "Partytime" and, most pleasingly, a number of mixes of the brilliant "Dance"). The result is a fitting tribute to one of house music's oft-overlooked underground heroes.

Review: Having previously impressed with a series of acclaimed - and best-selling - singles on Turbo, Bromance and Goodlife, French producer Gesaffelstein transfers to major label Warner Brothers. Aleph is his first full-length, and expands on the dayglo electro and pulsationg, floor-friendly rhythms of previous outings. While there are some interesting downtempo excursions - see the Vangelis-ish stylings of "Nameless" and the LCD Soundsystem style "Destinations" - Gesaffelstein is at his best setting his sights on dancefloor domination. As a result, the album's best moments - the heavy acid-meets-indie dance throb of "Obsession" and Tiga style madness of "Duel" - are rave anthems in waiting.

Review: Back in 2011, Nicolas Jaar joined forces with fellow Clown & Sunset contributor Dave Harrington for the Darkside EP, an impressive trio of untitled tracks that pitted the former's scratchy, near-paranoid production style against the latter's penchant for lo-fi indie-rock inspired fuzziness. Here, the duo dusts down the Darkside alias once more for a first collaborative album. Predictably, it's an impressive set, offering a collection of downtempo tracks that shuffle between crackly, out-there atmospherics ("Sitra", reminiscent of much of Jaar's Space is Only Noise album), echo-laden alt-rock experimentalism ("Heart") and heart-aching fragility (the James Blake-ish "Greek Light").

Review: Spanish techno stalwart Juan Rico seems to be suffering from a form a musical schizophrenia; this latest full-length is credited to both his artistic aliases, Reeko and Architectural. It's an odd move, though it does at least allow him to display his full repertoire. So, on one hand, there are abstract moments of drifting, clandestine atmospherics and wide-eyed ambience more akin to his work as Reeko (see the stunning "Blue", "String Theory" and "The Universal Dream"), and on the other robust, hypnotic, floor-friendly techno reminiscent of his Architectural releases ("Melted", the fuzzy "Sex on Klepper", the armour-plated stomp of "Startling Idea"). The result is a well-balanced and surprisingly evocative trawl through techno's many disparate avenues.