shooting
stars!
Peep through our musical telescope. Constellations of
new musical stars are glinting up in the heavens, waiting
to be discovered. Dance music is in finer fettle than ever
LEE CU
before, birthing new genres left, right and centre, and
exhibiting more wild and wonderful inter-breeding by the
day. New producers are making their own rules, and
raining the ground in fresh styles like a meteorite storm.
It’s a new decade, and time for a new generation to
shine. Here are the shooting stars of 2010…
shit robot
rtis
Let’s talk about sex, baby. Lee Curtiss certainly won’t mind, if track titles
like ‘Heavy Petting’ or ‘Sexy Dancer’ are any indication.
“I want to see people dancing close together when I’m DJing,” he
explains. “So I like to add a raw funk that instantly makes you shake
your ass, something you get in the basslines of old school house, but
which a lot of techno doesn’t have. Living in Detroit, Moodymann was a
big influence for me, where he’d be playing this ridiculously sexual
music to crowded rooms.”
That was the world that lay behind ‘The Black Door EP’, which contained
the libidinous tech-funk of ‘Smoking Mirrors’ — all writhing bass and
coital gasps — and which was released on Spectral Sound, the home he
As far as intriguing and confidence-instilling singles and a few remixes, I’ve been playing out shares with other leftfield techno practitioners and Detroit residents like
artist names go, Shit Robot ain’t exactly up there for quite a while.” Matthew Dear.
with the best of ’em. But don’t let Ireland-born, As far as influences go, Marcus says his musical
Stuttgart-based Marcus Lambkin’s pseudonym outlook has been shaped by the holy trio of Andy Growing up midway between Chicago and Detroit before moving to the
fool you — he’s one of the sharpest talents to Weatherall (“an amazing DJ”), Killing Joke (“the latter in 1999, Lee’s releases for labels like Dumb Unit and Wolf + Lamb
have emerged from the burgeoning new school way they mixed guitars and synths is something are similarly positioned at the point where Windy City house meets
disco scene. Techno-tinged releases on James I’m still trying to do today”) and, perhaps most of Motor City techno, as well as bearing the European influences of Berlin:
Murphy’s DFA imprint have won Lambkin a keen all, Sir Carl Craig. “I’ve just loved everything he’s where Lee and his close friends and collaborators Seth Troxler and Ryan
fanbase, although a lackadaisical output rate done for years. His 69 stuff just blew me away Crosson lived three years ago before moving back to Michigan.
suggests that he’s set on taking the scenic route when I first heard it; there was just nothing like it “Berlin showed me that we could make a living out of this music, which
when it comes to his recording career. when it came out. Especially ‘Desire’ — that’s still seemed impossible in America,” he says. “But our house became a party
“Oh yeah, for sure,” he laughs. “I mean, with a one of my top tunes of all time.” house and I wasn’t getting much peace, so I came back to Detroit, where
name like Shit Robot you can’t be too serious it’s a much better place to work.”
about your career, can you? I’m no superstar. I’m In 2010 we’ll see a (relative) flurry of activity from But although he admits the already specialist Detroit scene is even
not looking to be the next big thing.” the House of Shit. smaller than when he started, he isn’t sure that Berlin has “taken the
Lambkin’s links to the peerlessly cool DFA crew go “You can expect the Shit Robot album around torch” to become techno’s capital city.
way back. spring, which I’m very excited about. I’ve got lots “You have to really fight to be taken seriously by the old guard in
“I met James [Murphy] before DFA existed — we of great friends and peeps from the DFA family Detroit, but Berlin’s just a techno tourist trap now,” he claims. “So I’d
used to hang out a lot. When DFA started I was a contributing to it,” reveals Marcus. “I’m really say the torch is up in the air.”
DJ/promoter in NY, and I threw some of the first happy with it.” Ready for Lee himself to catch, and with releases for Get Physical,
ever DFA parties. I’ve been DJing since ’94, but Looks like the odds of Lambkin avoiding next-big- Spectral Sound and Wolf + Lamb in the pipeline for 2010, alongside a
it’s only recently that I’ve been known as Shit thing status are about to get slashed. new live set and extensive worldwide DJ tours, he looks like a safe pair
Robot — so although I’ve only released three JOE MADDEN of hands. PAUL CLARKE
030
www.djmag.com
DJ481.shooting stars_feature.indd 30 10/12/09 14:14:17
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