Music of the minute. A basic post. A top eight of singles, both vinyl and silver-coated discs. Stuff that's floating through my record stacks or otherwise lodged in my brain, for better or worse. A bit of the 'ol electronic bits this time. Here goes:
1. True Stories "Crazy Girls" (Non Stop)
Female vocal electronic pop. Unnerving in an early-Bjork/Sugarcubes kinda way, or maybe Moloko. The vocalist is Phoebe Tolmer from punk-Brazilian project Nouvelle Vague. Something special going on here. Mixes by Spektrum and Superbug to boot. Listen to the Original and Remix here. (Password=Dubsound, tracks deleted on 9-23-05)
2. Panoptikum Feat Blue Eyez–Black Land of the Nile (Deja Vu)
On the Italian Deja-Vu label comes this spiritual jazz-cum-house number. Its actually two producers from Compost act Les Gammas with singer Alcia "Blue" Smith who has worked with Dwele and D'Angelo. If you're into Fertile Ground or Rotary Connection check this out.
3. !!!–Hello? Is This Thing On-40oz re-edit (EQ)
Florida techno-prog producer (or former, maybe) Chris Fortier gets something right here, with his anxious, nervous, goose-bumping remix of everybody's fave discopunx. No eyeliner here, just a barebones live-drums and bass house instrumental mix of this angsty anthem.
4. Jazzy Eyewear–Possibility (Uma)
Jazzy Eyewear is DJ Mood, Uma is his label, deep house is his sound. Nordic Trax, Defected, Icon and So Sound liked his stuff enough to release it. He has an Italian surname and makes music that reminds me of early-90s LA afterhours warehouse parties, surviving on water and blissful house until the sun rose. "Possibility" is the A-side second track, chopped vocal samples, a simple bass loop, filtered sax clips, and synth pads flowing like waves back out to sea.
5. Tosca–Heidi Bruhl (!K7)
Its looking like influential mid-90s Austrian downtempo duo Kruder & Dorfmeister won't realistically be putting out a record ever again. Kruder has his lauded Peace Orchestra project and remixes galore to keep him busy between spliffs, Richard Dorfmeister has his Madrid De Los Austrias and Tosca gigs. The latter's recent album didn't make much noise, but spawned some nice singles, like this one featuring LA funksters Plantlife, Brit house dudes Swag, Austrian producer Megablast and the key mixers of this EP, Sa-Ra Creative Partners. With Parisian/Egyptian Samiah Farah's lilting vox, Sa-Ra's live electric bass, lackidasical Rhodes keyboards and handclap beats make this 85 bpm remix saunter and swagger home from the bar, and into bed.
6. Verse & D-Bridge–Solitude's Weakness (Crunch)
A minimal, melodic drum & bass track. I've been playing drum & bass sets again lately because drum & bass has returned to listenable form. The music is experiencing a revival of tunefulness and intricacy. This is one of those tracks that you could drop mid-anything set and your audience will smile. Dreamy snyths and not too hard drums with echoing vocal samples and minor sub-bass tweaks. Its reminds my ears of early Photek, J-Majik, Adam F's "Circles," and other forward-thinking D&B circa '95-'96.
7. Pal Joey–Just The Way You Are (Loop D Loop) Pal Joey is a NY deep house legend; he composed the seminal "Hot Music" (as NY Soho) and is known for basic tracky tunes that have a stamp of originality. His label's name refers to cutting and splicing 2" reel-to-reel tape, which is how they made edits back in the day. This EP contains four tracks ranging from funky, soul-sampling 116-bpm house, track Chicago-acid gear, and hip-hop instrumentals. Hear him before you die.
8. Trickski–Hormony (Compost Black label)
This song starts off mad-broken, and ends up in a synthy, New Wave tech-house swirl. I can't explain it better, other than to say that only Mark Pritchard's Troubleman project, or some of Dego's weirder shit is comparable. This is a headz record, some listners won't get it. Its a DJ tool meant to break the ice when your set gets too programmed and same-sounding. Sure to be a Co-Op banger. Makes me gleeful.
