ALBUMSREVIEWS 8.0
Reso Tangram Civil Music Boldly announced arrival
D&B/dubstep mangler Reso presents his debut full-length — an album in three acts, perhaps. Not to muck about, act one goes straight for the jugular with a drill-step workout that climaxes with the shredded jungle breaks of ‘Axion’. Part two sedates itself and floats along nicely on a nostalgic, euphoric tip, via the Rustie-on- speed jitters of ‘Virtua Rhythm’. The final throes of ‘Tangram’ see Reso return to dark, techy territory. The simple, growling bassline in ‘Half Life’ does the job nicely, and the ballsy dub wobbles of ‘Ishimura’ may be well-trodden, but jumping into breakbeat-disco halfway through is an inspired touch. Reso has always stood out within his scene as a brighter talent, and his debut proper finds him leaping yet further ahead of the pack, pulling off mad experiments and twisting traditions with a rare finesse and natural aptitude. Tristan Parker
No Regular Play Endangered Species Wolf + Lamb Soul conservation
While they discovered dance music proper at Wolf + Lamb’s now-infamous NYC Marcy Hotel shindigs, Greg Paulus and Nick DeBruyn are a little more diverse in their tastes than the average bedroom producer upstarts. Hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, they both studied music in Cuba, while Greg’s trumpet playing took him from the jazz clubs of his home town to a course at the Manhattan School Of Music. From the intricate electro-funk and plangent melody of ‘Won’t Quit’, all analogue funk angles, neon-lit and dusted in Prince-alike tones and their own vocals, to the lowslung house flavour, bubbling echoes and slick rhyme flows of ‘Kickback (featuring The Real Live Show)’, all of it comes bathed in their influences, given a futuristic sheen. The dubbed-out tones of Greg’s trumpet work add a jazzual but never obtrusive feel. Mellow, unhurried, but highly detailed, this great debut album sounds better every
time.Ben Murphy
8.0
quIckIES
Paul Ritch Green & Blue Cocoon 8.0
Fond farewell
Sven’s Green & Blue Festival hits 10 and calls it a day with a special one CD live set as laid down by label favourite Paul Ritch. Techno is the backbone, colored variously by deep loops, main room stabs and paranoid melodies. Goodbye Green & Blue! Kristan J Caryl
Mario Basanov Journey Needwant 6.0
Aimless journey
Those accustomed with Sean Brosnan’s taste-making nu-disco imprint, Needwant, will be aware of Lithuania’s Mario Basanov. A regular staple of the label’s ‘Future Disco’ series, his productions have been hailed as favorites in recent years, rightly too. This album, however, simply isn’t up to scratch — too long, aimless and under-developed to live up to expectations, sadly. Lisa Loveday
Zombie Zombie Rituels D’Un Nouveau Monde Versatile Records 8.0
Zombie (Kosmiche) Disco Squad
The French duo have stepped away from horror soundtracks and John Carpenter covers in favour of French kosmiche and tribal hypnotism here. Joakim’s lush collection of analogue gear and sonic expertise ensures that it never quite comes apart as Zombie Zombie take great strides honing their craft. Zara Wladawsky
Anstam Stones And Woods 50Weapons 8.5
Dark Prince return 8.0
Enei Machines Critical Enei for Enei
Russian D&B producer Enei’s debut for Critical is tightly, proudly coiled. Rather than result in monotony, ‘Machines’ revels in its darkly regimented stiffness. When Enei does attempt to briefly loosen things up — bringing in Georgia Yates for melodic respite on ‘Runnin’’ — it’s as though he’s worried for the state of our nerves after the title track’s serration. He needn’t be. If there seems to be little relief between the precision of rampaging-robot synths and clopping snares that come close to a glam-rock stomp on tracks like ‘Centrifuge’, it’s never over-egged. ‘Machines’ bridles and bruises with angst and tension, but this renounced dubstepper never tries to out-ugly the competition. Avoiding easy aggro shortcuts, it’s simply taut and tough in all the best ways. Sunil Chauhan
Netsky 2 Deluxe Hospital Records Padded sell
Belgian d&b wunderkind Boris Daenen really rinses it out here. In the sense of squeezing as much cash as he can out of this year’s ‘2’ LP by re-releasing it with a second CD of remixes, live recordings and previously unreleased tracks a few months later, that is. Of course, if you haven’t already bought ‘2’ and are partial to some poppy d&b — or have ever wondered what a Hed Kandi version of dubstep might sound like — you might as well go for this ‘deluxe’ edition. However, if you’ve already parted with your pennies once, this doesn’t really justify doing so again; at best, tracks like Netsky’s tearing remix of Shameboy’s ‘Strobot’ or the live version of ‘Come Alive’ are the equivalent of an outtakes disc in a DVD box set, at worst the aural equivalent of the foam in the box. Paul Clarke
6.0
Anstam is Lars Stöwe, here serving up his sophomore LP on Modeselektor’s tireless 50Weapons. And it sounds like a fair extrapolation of his first — full of moody bass-cum-techno experiments with lashings of metal influences, chilly witch house frostiness and industrial textures. Brooding, for sure. Kristan J Caryl
DJ Vadim Don’t Be Scared BBE 8.0
World service
Featuring Kiwi reggae, African rhythms, Indian strings and British beat science, DJ Vadim’s tenth album sounds like it comes from a different planet to most hip-hop. Yet the vocals from Yarah Bravo and Gregory Blackman amongst others make this music for where 99% of humanity actually lives, rather than where 1% of bloated rappers think they do. Paul Clarke
Sam Willis Winterval Half Machine 8.0
Chilly & cinematic
One half of Kompakt’s Walls, Sam Willis, is at it again, making transcendental soundscapes, wistful microhouse and deep cosmic disco good enough to soundtrack the most captivating episode of Planet Earth, like, evurrr. Mesmeric stuff, not too far removed from his work as Snoretex, Willis just won’t stop giving. Adam Saville
repeAtTHE LPS WE CAN’T LEAVE ALONE...
Lukid Lonely At The Top Werk Discs/Ninja Tune 9.0
Wistful woozy house and techno bravely taking the baton from Actress, Zomby and the like.
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www.djmag.com
Barker & Baumecker Transektoral Ostgut Ton 9.0
Dystopian broken techno LP from Berlin duo, you’d be barking not to buy.
Bat For Lashes The Haunted Man Parlophone 9.0
Beautiful and bucolic — Bat For Lashes’ third album is quite possibly her best.
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