So arguably 2012’s biggest tunes were Daphni‘s Ye Ye and Todd Terje‘s Inspector Norse
For some reason, whenever I went out clubbing over this year, attended private parties or spent more than two hours on the internet, there was no avoiding those two songs. Don’t get me wrong, I remember getting the digital promo of both those tracks quite early and immediately thinking to myself those would go on becoming major underground hit tunes. Yet, as soon as I got somewhat excited with those did I also get almost instantly massively bored, or more precisely bored by the fact that those presented no challenge : both those wonderfully crafted tracks offer you everything before you even feel the need to go look for anything. Well, I like my music to fight back a little more before I bag it!
Take Wheez-ie for instance, a newly released artist from the states. His music obviously has some direct appeal, epic ravy stabs, cheesy vocal samples, manic breakbeats, yet I still need to sell it to the audience, listeners, etc, which makes it so much more rewarding to play out when you get the right timing, challenging the deep house heads of the day to a more hedonistic and back to basics style of electronic dance music.
Neud Photo‘s custom memories of the eighties presents the very same challenge with a rather different set of aesthetics but yet remains a quite obviously catchy tune, with an attitude, one that demands the listener to step aside from the current standard to get into the infectious groove.
If you take some of the entries from the previous post such as the Mickey Pearce, King Britt or Omar S ones, you will find this as well, obviously good music that just needs to be fought into the audience’s ears, hips and shoulders, a magnificent statement to the DJing art’s potential.
After finding myself back to music making, writing for magazines, interviewing the likes of Mad Mike, Adisson Groove, Baris K, Actress, John Lydon, Micronauts, Scuba, Robert Hood, Débruit, Josh Wink, Lescop, Skudge, I:Cube, D’Marc Cantu, Bertrand Burgalat and many others, opening a record shop, starting a company, DJing most week ends, I still bought a shitload of records. So far, the highlights have been those :
20 – We Have Band – Still Life
Apparently, this is a cover of the band The Horrors. It sure is indie rock, and it also can pass as a stripped down white gospel house softie, very effective and beautiful.
19 – Siriusmo – Rantanplant
I usually tend to get really annoyed by Siriusmo, but he managed to pull off making annoying good!
18 – Anna Meredith – Nautilus
I don’t know what that was meant for, if it’s supposed to be modern classical or something, but is is rather intriguing enough and quite dramatic, I played it out in the mix to great effect.
17 – Mirrorring – Fell Sound
A lush ambient drone shoegazy tune, like they used to do.
16 – Bass Clef – ‘Hackney – Chicago – Jupiter’
What an album! In between some really cool experimental stuff, a coupla killer beat tracks, like if Terry Riley had made house!
15 – My Nu Leng & Majora – Hips N Thighs
An 808, breaks, jukey beats, thanks 2012 for this revival!
14 – Anstam – Inuit
The weirdo has struck again! The album was a tad disappointing to me, but that EP had two great tracks, challenging ones for the DJ, my kind of stuff!
13 – Kowton – Looking at you
Maybe the track I’ve played the most out of this list, probably because it came out quite early on this year. A really nice and tense bassey choon!
12 – Special Request – Alone
The return of breakbeat, but with a twist, courtesy of Paul Woolford.
11 – Füxa – Our lips are sealed
My love for Seefeel is eternal, and Sarah Peacock singing on this is only the cherry on the cake. I’ve played this out pitched up on 45, and it’s weird, but really cool too, like shoegaze chipmunks!
10 – Samoyed – Klondike Rush
This also was a perplexing combination, but I played the shit out of this, warehouse/rave style!
9 – Hackman – Agree To Disagree
Bass, Africa, Beyonce, pop, a really sweet uplifting one.
8 – Mutant Beat Dance – Let Me Go
I’ve had this in my ears for almost two years now, and it changed a little since the first version I heard, but it’s still an amazing track from Traxx & Co, check the melodic details, the small variations, amazing!
7 – Clicks & Whistles – Hundred Mil
Almost a silly one, but really efficient and weird footworkish choon, challenging.
6 – Svengalisghost – Mars Out Of Range
Almost in the top five, but still, an amazing EP from Marky on the acclaimed L.I.E.S. label. Chicago jams with great attention to musicality and rawness.
5 – King Britt presents Fhloston Paradigm – The Chase
The most unexpected release of the year, new King Britt, and it’s on Hyperdub, and it is Acid (he said quite recently he wasn’t interested in that anymore), and it’s breakbeat!!! Stelar new combination of the most unexpected nature.
4 – Liars – Octagon
When the Liars finally become what I hoped from the begining. Dance music played live with unusal sounds.
3 – Mickey Pearce – Don’t Ask, Don’t Get
The other track I played the most in 2012. It is a little crazy, it goes in all directions, it ends in the strangest way, but still, one of the most striking drum patterns of the year.
2 – Omar S & Ob Ignitt – Wayne County Hill Cop’s (Original Mix)
That is such a cool and clever take on the mid-eighties synthetic music, one that I was surprised to not hear copied more throughout the rest of the year.
And probably my fave of all year :
1 – The Parking Attendant – Mask Of A Thousand Faces
Marco Bernardi‘s new alias, with great rmxs on the EP, but the B-side is the shit IMHO…. Classic in all the good ways.
Also very much enjoyed the Actress B-side rmx of Shangaan Electro at 33RPM, the Shangaan Electro rmx of Nacho Patrol, Isotonik‘s rmx of XXXY, FaltyDL‘s first EP on Ninja Tune, the rawness of Fabio Monesi‘s It’s My Beat, Emotion II Emotion‘s sax rmx of Purple Green, most releases from Citizen (the band), October‘s Tanstafel label, Skudge, I:Cube, the Acid Mercenaries EPs, and Riffs‘ Pots n Pans EP. I was also very happy to have my tracks with Samo DJ out on Versatile‘s Golem offshoot under the Bernadott moniker as well as anohter track out these days on Macadam Mambo. I already have more music lined up for release in 2013, so it’s already exciting!
Hopefully this coming year will be filled with more posts over here, but maybe elsewhere as well. I’ll keep you tuned.
Why do I like Juke? I guess because I like Chicago house! When Addison Groove did Dumbshit (Footcrab‘s B-side) two years ago, it was a revelation. I remember back then, I still was skeptical about most post dubstep music, but the review mentioned 808 and 909 beats, so I checked it out. It sounded like the most successful mutation I’d heard in a long time. I was already getting mad energy from the Chicago resurgence with Traxx, JTC, D’Marc Cantu & co, but this took me by surprise as I wasn’t that much into the faster Dance Mania joints, too hectic for my tastes, mostly. Addison Groove slowed down the juke to 135-140 BPM and put it on the map, making it mixing friendly in the most noble way : you can mix his stuff with disco, 135 BPM, the origin of all house! But going back a little, I can also see a few other loves of mine, like Miami bass, the quest for a fully accomplished track with nothing but a drum machine, dancing with your mind off and your body on, looking like a fool but not carrying the slightest as long as your feet touch the floor 135 times a minute. Spinn and Rashad are the current gods of juke/footwork (thanks to the attention Addison gave them), but it’s already going further then expected with the Shangaan electro going 175-180 BPM and embracing a similar minimalistic aesthetic, basically a testament to house’s versatility. Anyhow, here’s a closer examination to the phenomenon, a less subjective one. Be thankful, you got both!
Happy to announce that today’s guest in the radio show will be our fellow expat’ HGLDT from Montreal, Canada.
He graced us last year with a sublime EP of bass music featuring the likes of Damu, Resketch and himself. We covered Damu quite extensively last year, but it’s time to let HGLDT’s custom mix of bass, house, juke and electronica shine by itself! Catch you at 18:30 local time. Live streaming there, or on the air at 93.1 FM.
The prominent artist of the Low Brow school, Ausgang came to my attention in the mid-90ies thanks to my unofficial musical guru Pete Kember. After the Spacemen 3 disbanded, the former art student went on an even further psychedelic journey with his new ventures Spectrum and Experimental Audio Research (E.A.R.). Re-introducing our minds to the likes of Delia Derbyshire or La Monte Young a good decade before The Wiremagazine decided these musicians were noteworthy, Sonic Boom (Kember’s alias) hid his references behind a truckload of cryptic imagery, the most striking being the odd Anthony Ausgang cover art perplexing the candid music enthusiast furthermore. Throughout the years, I began to understand Sonic Boom’s antics in a deeper way, and along the way Ausgang’s as well.
Sure most people now know him for his MGMT cover art for the Congratulation LP (produced by Sonic Boom!), and he’s now well accepted by the fine art people, but every now and then, some new music manages to get into my hands (and ears!) thanks to some delicious Ausgang art.
Here’s a sample of those records that have proven mystically beautiful, for the most part
Mostly unknown to those regions, Bernardino Femminielli came to our ears thanks to our friend Toledano’s investigations of the Quebec underground scene. Having released many cassettes in the past 3 years, we stumbled upon one vinyl release, the epic Chauffeur affair that I urge you to now discover, a most romantic take on giallo that should ease many heart afflictions.
Jef Gilson was born Jean-François Quiévreux in 1926. He was the great father figure of franch modern and avant jazz, which is quite surprising since he had qute conservative views on life. Well… At least compared to his peers, as you couldn’t say Bernard Vitet, Michel Portal or Jac Berrocal (all past guests of this show) were the most balanced beings back then, those were a furious bunch set to revolutionize jazz and more. Jef was probably the best channel to that fury. Having started his professional career in the Boris Vian Big Band, he was used to handeling bands, big ones. A true inovator of the piano, he wasn’t shy with new technology and fashions, embraced the studio and it’s pasting techniques, embraced the electronic keyboards, and first and foremost, he embraced his time! His own Palm label is the only true historical competitor with the great Futura label, and he helped launch musicians such as Byard Lancaster or Khan Jamal into new heights. But his greater contribution is to have set the standard of french avant jazz at its highest, while still reconizing its musical roots. His meeting with Madagascar and its musicians is also of high interest, as when stuck there in may 1968, he discovered the musical scene and collaborated with many local musicians, brought them back to Paris and set a new tradition. He
Jef wasmostly retired from the music scene years ago, and he died February the 5th. We’ve often played his music over the years in this show, but it’s sad that he’s still not recognised as he should be, so let’s hope this very show helps people finding their way into the world of one of the most versatile and innovative musician of the 20th century.
Cheers,
Bertrand Delanowave
Jef Gilson – Three Four One – LP – Enfin! – Le Club De L’Echéquier (1963)
Jef Gilson – Curious – LP – Enfin! – Le Club De L’Echéquier (1963)
This year has seen us grooving to the likes of Majeure, Umberto, Xander Harris and a couple of likeminded artists. French Zombie Zombie even released an album of John Carpenter covers! I just wanted to remind the few who didn’t know that Alan Howarth played a major role in this whole horror movie synth music by being the true musician at Big John’s side. I know it’s Christmas time and we should be cheerfull, but a recent finnish movie reminded me there could be a huge dark side the this time of the year, so let’s celebrate this with the ultimate slasher music, and one of the most creepy if a little non-sensical movie of the 80ies
Every once in a while you come across a tune or an artist you don’t know what to make of. Visionist is such a case. Little is known about this Brixton bass music producer, but I would bet 2012 will see his profile rise far above its 2011 state. With his extremely tight and oblique time signatures, he now fronts what we’ll casually call Drunkstep over here! And who doesn’t like a little booze in their dancing?!
Let’s dwell in the past for a change. After all that heavy eating and drinking, some of us have to go back to work or shores, so I thought I’d post something mellow. Eddy Louis is an awesome french keyboardist who started out in the 60ies and went on to work on great spiritual jazz with the french avant garde. His opening album was a marvelous affair of global music, out of which comes this take on a classic french trad song, “Colchiques dans les prés“, well worth the expensive price of this gemm of a wax.
Helter Skelter Radio Show 