Records of the Week - November 25th

RECORDS OF THE WEEK - NOVEMBER 25th

Some musicians really do have magic in their fingers, and Larry Heard is one of them. His latest on Alleviated/Black Market contains a 15 minute 110 bpm epic called “25 years from Alpha” that sounds like Edgar Froese finally getting acquaintated with the idea of a “groove”. It’s wonderfully out of time, out of place and unlike anything I’ve heard (sic) for a while, and as such is the deserved winner this week by a country mile. It might even make one of my top records of the year. You can listen to it on my latest podcast.

Some interesting house records are being released at the moment, not least by Therre Thaemlitz, who has recorded a lovely 3 track EP under the guise of DJ Sprinkles on Mule. I particularly liked the second track on the flip. You can always rely on Mathematics to release some totally off the hook records, and this time there’s a cover of Adonis’ classic “No Way Back” by a Portuguese band.

Detroit House continues to chuck out good material, not least by Theo Parrish, whose latest on Sound Signature has grown on me considerably after initially finding it somewhat disinteresting. There’s also a lovely new release by Scott Grooves on Clone to consider as well. Kyle Hall, who apparently is on FXHE, has started up his own label Wild Oats, and his debut EP is worth hearing, and the chunky sounds of Kris Wadsworth’s forthcoming new EP on Hypercolour perked my ears somewhat. There’s also some good quasi-Detroit stuff from Dubbyman on Yore out now.

On the European tip Lawrence’s records are always worth hunting down, and his latest on Dial is no exception. However, apart from that I found very little of any worth recently.

A whole flood of great Disco records are out now, and a lot of re-edits that I usually refrain from listing, but the new Moxie 17 is particularly out there, containing a 60’s Psych-rock re-edit that had me grinning stupidly. Rahaan is arguably the world’s finest Disco DJ, and whilst his own records aren’t up to that standard, his latest has some choice moments. Mr Lee has renamed himself DJ Travel Insurance (I like it!) and has a couple of storming edits out on Better Days that are worth picking up.

On the Balearic front there’s a wonderful Idjut boys remix of Icasol’s Onjou on Claremont 56 that is Steve Reich-like in its intensity, a new Bearfunk release by Arturo Capone that I’m a bit undecided on right now and the latest on Rong by Freeblood.

Last but not least we have the latest in techno/electro and top of the pile is the latest in an installment of vigorously hi-tempo electro cuts by Sherard Ingram, aka DJ Stingray. He has a double 12” on WeMe that contains some absolute belters. Keeping on the Detroit front, I was pleasantly surprised by the melodic sheen on DJ 3000’s latest on Motech, which has some decidely Italo aspects to it that means it goes straight in the record box…I mean hard drive. Claro Intelecto continues to make solid abstract techno, and his latest on Modern Love is indicative of that. The latest by Maja on Nature is produced by both Marco Passarani and Raiders of the Lost Arp, and has a nice electro feel to it, and last but not least one of the most prolific producers in techno right now, Mike Dehnert, continues to chuck out industrial-sounding Berlin Techno with his latest on Fachwerk.