COMPILATIONSREVIEWS 8.0
Wankelmut Wankelmoods Vol. 1 Get Physical/Poesie Musik Cooly considered comp
Student and DJ Jacob Dilßner, aka Wankelmut, had no idea when he reworked an Israeli band’s folk song, ‘One Day/ Reckoning Song’, into an uplifting minimal techno track that it would turn out to be a beast of a European hit, charting at No.1 in six countries. Snapped up by Get Physical, he’s methodically opted for a compilation mix as his first release, holding off on an album. Luckily, it’s a slick, stylish affair, exploring refined, smoky techno. An Acid Pauli dub of El Zahir starts things off, before things get deeper and more rhythmical from a host of mostly underground producers, including Information Ghetto and Slackwax. Wankelmut also flexes his remix chops again in a lovely, dark Jay Haze rework, making for an intelligent mix that lines up this young talent for fine things when the time is right. Tristan Parker
Phonique Time For House 2 Ladies And Gentlemen
9.0 Time and time again...
PUT it this way; with Phonique (Michael Vater) you know exactly what to expect. Not that it’s a bad thing. Aside from the guarantee of genuine quality — never supercilious, but by no means silly — there’s always the promise of free-flowing eclecticism; DJ intuition that playfully fingers the remit of house without sacrificing cohesion. Hence this, the second installment of his ‘Time For House’ series, on his very own Ladies And Gentlemen imprint. Made up of 17 unreleased tracks from friends of Phonique (mixed and unmixed), it’s not short of value, either. Featuring quality efforts from names like Tigerskin, Kolombo and Wehbba, the main focus here is musicality; high-grade house music at its most pristine — polished to glistening effect, with depth still intact — especially on Gorje Hewek & Izhevski’s melodic sky flight ‘After Rest’.
Oddball moments come courtesy of Kolombo — one cosmic, glamour-chic remix of Phonique vs Pupkulies &
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Rebecca, and the other, a snake- charming vocoder disco-house collab with LouLou Players. There’s ounces of funk, too. Diehl’s Italo disco/house hybrid monster ‘Funk Your Soul Bro’ is robust boogie with a German touch, while ‘Within The Night’ by Boris Fox and ‘Save My Soul’, from Skyboy, are the electro-funk of Parliament and old Motown soul looped up respectively. To close, El_Txef_A remixes Oren Bi ‘Love Bright’ into a piano number suspiciously like ‘Sweet Harmony’, completing the cycle. Vater by no means deprives us of variety. Shaking off the “deep” tag so often attached to his stock with effervescent ease, ‘Time For House 2’ is another demonstration of what this man does so well: the flowery and the funky — melody and groove — segued into fluidity. Lively, unpredictable and inventive throughout, Phonique packs his canvas with enough ideas and keeps it moving, capturing minds after a whole lot more than an hour of mindless body music. Categorically classy. LISA LOVEDAY
8.5
Various Agenda 2021 — An Eevonext Compilation Eevonext Modern techno tale
There’s an element of the unknown coursing through the techno veins of this future-facing compilation from Dutch imprint Eevonext that mirrors its output over the last six years. Made up of 10 brand-new tracks, a remix and material from artists soon to feature on the label, pristine minimal efforts from Art Bleek and Justin Berkovi sit next to more ragged, chugging dischno from IBM. Standout contributions like the deep, ethereal rhythms of ‘The Imbalance Of Techno’ and the dubbed-out undercurrents of ‘Fog’ come from label co-bosses The Moderator and imprint newcomer Monomood respectively, but the highlight comes right at the end. Stephen Brown’s ‘0.707’ is pure Detroit with its lush string ‘scapes, sad pianos and light-fingered, sparse hi-hat hits soothing your mind and soul. It closes out a refreshing techno opus. Kristan J Caryl
7.0
Various Day Zero: Sound Of The Mayan Spirit Crosstown Rebels Apocalypse now
Were the Mayans house music devotees? It’s safe to say they probably weren’t. So how this lot encapsulates the sound of the Mayan spirit is anyone’s guess. Facetious remarks aside, by the time this album arrives, Damian Lazarus and his Crosstown Rebels crew will have powered through Day Zero, a rave in Mexico to celebrate the end of our current 25,000-odd year world cycle, as laid out in the Mayan calendar. Those believing this is also to signify the end of the world would do well to consider that they won’t have the satisfaction of saying ‘I told you so’ to anyone, because they’ll be dead too. Ha bloody ha. Anyway, this sturdy collection is as good a way as any to see in the apocalypse, with dark, tribal (and exclusive) selections from Mathew Jonson and Metrika, moody funkiness from Fur Coat, and blissful, spine-tingling arpeggios from Mike Shannon. Ben Arnold
Force Of Nature Expansions Endless Flight Tokyo disco express
Force Of Nature are Japan’s KZA and DJ Kent. Known for spelunking the depths of disco’s fathomless caverns, these selectors really know their stuff, new and old. But as ‘Expansions’ shows, their taste extends far beyond just dancefloor forms, with the Balearic acoustics and frog ribbits of Begin’s ‘Lay Dub’ and the crystalline Detroit step of Lone’s remix of Joakim’s ‘Labyrinth’ kicking things off. When they shift gear, the vibe stays spacey but the rhythm turns pacey, as on the oscillating arpeggios and boogie bass of Lovelock’s ‘The Fog’ or the Dolcelatte synths of Boys From Patagonia’s Italo tribute ‘Rimini ‘80’. Taking in house and more upfront discoid flavours by the end, it’s a melodic, perfectly sequenced blend, designed for home or in-car listening rather than a sweaty session. Ideally suited to a beachside sunset — or sunrise. Ben Murphy
8.0
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