ALBUMSREVIEWS 6.0
Daniel Dexter Focus On Poker Flat Dexter’s laboratory
Berliner Daniel Dexter unveils his debut album for Steve Bug’s Hamburg stable Poker Flat, after receiving previous action on Semester Musik, where Mr Bug first spotted his talent with the track ‘Cherry Blossom’. ‘Focus On’ ploughs a fairly steady furrow — there are peaks (the emotive deep houser ‘Into The Wild’), there are troughs (the bordering dodgy ‘Sirens’), but generally, this is unlikely to set your soundsystem or anything else alight in either a figurative or terrifyingly real sense. Pleasing moments include the pulsing ‘Birds’, a shuffling, late-night/ early morning jam, and the sax-heavy ‘Storm’, which is unashamedly large. His Carl Craig-esque remix of Zombie Disco Squad’s ‘Righteous Sound’ appears here too, and that’s certainly worth your time, though roundly ‘Focus On’ suffers the age- old affliction of the house music album, in that it feels like just a selection of highly competent dancefloor tracks thrown together. Ben Arnold
6.5
Kasper Bjorke Remix Crusades 2007-2013 HFN Music Forget him not
Although he’s spent over 10 years crafting dapper synth-pop, louche house and no-wave disco on albums like 2012’s ‘Fool’, Danish producer Kasper Bjorke hasn’t exactly set the world alight, so it’s unlikely there were fans banging at his door demanding a remix collection. Although you probably could break a door down with this two-CD set containing a hefty 28 tracks split between Bjorke’s remixes of artists like Trentemøller and Darkness Falls, alongside reworks of his own material from Nicolas Jaar and Catz’N’Dogz amongst others. There are plenty of highlights, such as Still Going’s driving house version of Bjorke’s ‘Bohemian Soul’ or his electronic indie take on Dale Earnhardt Jr., but if Bjorke’s problem as a producer has been a lack of identity, then remixes in either form just make that worse, meaning that even after two hours here you’re still not sure who he really is. Paul Clarke
DJ Koze
Amygdala Pampa
9.0 Moonrise kingdom
8.0
Vector Lovers Iphonica Soma What’s appnin’?
‘Iphonica’ is Martin Wheeler’s fourth album as Vector Lovers, and it’s quite unlike anything he’s ever done. Not simply musically, but practically. He composed, sampled and synthesized the lot on the Nanostudio app, which, given the finished product, is most impressive. He says that it “
...made making music more spontaneous again”. These are tracks he made in Berlin, the Yorkshire Moors, in doctor’s waiting rooms and his back garden. It makes the story behind it interesting, of course, but it is also an irrelevance. ‘Iphonica’ is every bit as well-crafted as any electronic album released in recent years, even with the odd repetition of synth sounds. ‘Warm Launderette’ — most likely made in a warm launderette — is stunning electrofunk. ‘Simulant’ is lush and glitchy, while ‘Patience’ is deep and unctuous. ‘Iphonica’ is testament to the fact that limiting the palette can be a wonderful thing. Ben Arnold
Oliver Schories Exit Der Turnbeutel Staying put
Despite its title, Oliver Schories’ second LP shows that the German producer isn’t leaving for new territories anytime soon — certainly nowhere outside the comfort zone he established on his 2012 debut LP ‘Herzensangelegenheit’. ‘Comfort’ being an apt word for Schories’ deep house which, rather than stretching at the boundaries of the genre, wraps itself in its most familiar sounds instead. The title track grooves nonchalantly along, the vocal numbers like ‘All I See’ are warm and luxuriant, and even when the strings and synths of ‘But Maybe’ seek to set a darker tone, it’s more one of deep crushed velvet than anything genuinely moody. It’s all solidly produced stuff, and ‘Exit’ never really puts a foot wrong or wanders up the arse of muso indulgence or mismatched collaborations like so many house producers’ long-players, but the lack of any surprises also means a lack of genuine excitement. Paul Clarke
6.5
Of the multiple musical incarnations of Stefan Kozalla — International Pony, Adolf Noise and hip-pop act Fischmob — DJ Koze is the one most recognised amongst serious dance heads. Eight years on since his last opus, the same time it took Michael Mayer to follow up his with last year’s ‘Mantasy’, his status as a citadel for quirky techno pop is no less eminent today than the revered Kompakt boss. Cultivating his Pampa imprint since its conception in ‘09 with semi-regular releases from the likes of Isolee, Robag Wruhme and Nathan Fake, this man’s leftfield techno vision is one bolstered by a vast catalogue of anthemic remixes, such as breezy Balearic re-imaginings of Matias Aguayo and WhoMadeWho. With Wanklemut’s chart-topping remix of Asaf Avidan highlighting Germany’s penchant for pop- leaning techno perhaps more so than ever last year, Koze’s fourth LP is the Hamburger’s most
accessibly minded yet. Washed with fantastical rainbow hues and pinkish celestial tones throughout, ‘Amygdala’ is what you’d imagine a Wes Anderson film to sound like following a weekend wasted away in Berghain (post-comedown). Opener ‘Track ID Anyone?’, featuring the slightly strained harmonics of Caribou and angelic horns, is the pill that sends us tumbling (upwards) into Koze’s rabbit hole to the sky. ‘Nices Wölkchen’ is heartfelt, dreamy techno with Apparat’s most affected vocals yet, while ‘Magical Boy’ is a vivid trip through Wonderland led by Zebedee, with Matthew Dear doing Depp’s Wonka on downers as our charismatic tour guide. Other highlights include candyfloss hip-hop featuring Ada, echoing Laurie Anderson on vocals (‘Homesick’), ensuring Koze’s imaginative world of techno bubblegum is very much complete — vividly visionary stuff! Adam Saville
djmag.com 091
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