Deepchild | “The Suffering Ones”
Check out this video for this upcoming release by Deepchild, out on Toronto-based Thoughtless Music this Fall. It’s always nice to hear something new from this man, and if you’re fortunate enough to have him land in your town for a show, don’t sleep (looking at you, Toronto—ed).
Labels to Love: Items & Things
As of today, Minus mainstays Magda, Troy Pierce, and Marc Houle have announced their joint decision to leave Richie Hatwin’s label in order to more seriously focus on their own recently-resurrected imprint, Items & Things, which the trio launched back in 2006. The decision isn’t too shocking of a surprise, given that the last few years have shown these three artists pushing the boundaries of their individual and combined sounds pretty far out of the norm; the steady hand of Minus versus the flair for weird with which everything Houle, Pierce, and Magda have created is certainly an odd juxtaposition, at best. The shift in focus comes at a time when labels focused on pushing the boundaries of dance music—with a very heavy bent toward the experimental and outlandish—are gaining in demand. Music for the weird at heart is more desired than ever before, so it’s satisfying to have a few veterans at the helm of such an effort. The team says of their label (via their Facebook page):
Items and things are bits and pieces of uniqueness we come across. The label is a platform to launch the music that we love. There are no rules, just sounds we like and artists we believe in.
- Magda, Marc Houle & Troy Pierce
Aside from being a vehicle for the releases of its owners, Items & Things has already carried work from Jimmy Edgar, Konrad Black, and Thrill Cosby (aka Seth Troxler) and if the recent releases from Madato and Danny Benedettini are indicators, things are about to get weirder by the minute. Check out a few samples from the label roster below—expect dissonant sounds, creepy melodies, and odd hooks in all of these. This isn’t your mom’s techno, it’s definitely as experimental as retaining any semblance of dancefloor-friendliness will allow, and everything is meant to challenge the more traditional palette. It’s going to be really interesting to hear more from this team, as this is definitely the very edge of what techno can do, and it’s certainly some drool-worthy material if you like it best when it’s on the far side of strange.
Danny Benedettini - Disco Hook (Original) by itemsandthings
Madato - Surfaces by itemsandthings
Jimmy Edgar Young Thing Original Mix by itemsandthings
Seth Troxler Thrill Cosby Oogity Boogity Original Mix by itemsandthings
Click Box - Stripped by itemsandthings
Troy Pierce - The Day After Yesterday by itemsandthings
P.S. Check out this interview with Magda and Marc Houle, where they discuss their transition and what’s to come for them and their label.
Redshape | ‘Son Of A…’
Redshape brings us a new 12” on his Present label, much to our hard techno loving hearts. True to form, this one’s vinyl only for now, and you can find it over at Clone. The A-side is an as-expected dark banger, with the characteristic dissonant flourish Redshape has made his very own, while the B-side, “Kracken’s Game”, is a bit of an analog workout—still hard and dark, but much slower and far more brooding in tone. Definitely one for the crate if you love hard minimal and aren’t afraid of techno’s uglier side. Listen to samples here and here.
Mix of the Moment: Slash Dot Dash Podcast 006: Kenneth Christiansen
Over the weekend, Slash Dot Dash released the sixth installment of their podcast series, featuring a three hour dub techno mix from Echocord and Pattern Repeat label boss Kenneth Christiansen. If you’ve been convinced at this point that dub techno is boring, this is a mix you need to hear, because it is quite seriously faith-restoringly good (and how it’s done, to be honest—ed). Rather than a mix that drives on forever toward nowhere, here you’ll hear all the things the more boring contributors to the genre left us to believe were verboten: creamy synths, warm soundscapes, catchy hooks, and danceable beats, even. Christiansen goes out of his way to keep things interesting by doing what every DJ ought: he takes his banner genre and forces it to its very edge in every direction possible. This is an excellent introduction, a brilliant refresher, and for those of us who drank the kool-aid and never looked back, a whole lot of told ya so.
Slash Dot Dash Podcast 006: Kenneth Christiansen by Slash Dot Dash
Mix of the Moment: zero” // podcast #048 - DJ Mix: Aroy Dee
Just in time for the weekend comes a good bit of acid and hardware-based techno from M>O>S Recordings label boss Aroy Dee for the most recent podcast from distributor zero”. Lots of cuts in here from recent releases off Delsin, Present Recordings, Clone, Rushhour, and of course, Dee’s own M>O>S. Win for your ears.
John Beltran | ‘Ambient Selections’
Flawless is not one of those terms that should be thrown around casually in describing music—especially electronic music, in all its derivative, self-referencing, constantly impossible to qualify and classify guises—and yet somehow, the latest release by John Beltran, titled Ambient Selections (Delsin) is just that: utterly flawless. To be fair, this isn’t your regular album, but rather a retrospective of Beltran’s entire career as an ambient electronic producer, yet it’s a detail that is easy to let fall by the wayside. What stands out instead is the painstaking care with which this entire collection has been pieced together; the passage of time is virtually unnoticeable from one song to the next, a sure sign that Beltran’s overall aesthetic—though variable throughout his career when viewed in normal time—has overall been unchanging, and to some rather impressive ends.
Says John of the compilation…
“I have personally selected these songs from eight of my albums which span 16 years, though the compilation also includes two brand new, unreleased compositions, “Expecting” and “Miss Weird”. I believe all of these songs have, and will continue to, stand the test of time because, in my humble opinion, they are my best ambient works. I have always felt I have had the most unique, loyal fans in the world, so this compilation is dedicated to them, from me, with love.”
This album is especially recommended if you’re a fan of Brian Eno, Donnacha Costello, Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works I and II, and the Merck catalog.
Edit: Check out the listening examples below!
Virgo Four | “It’s a Crime (Caribou Remix)”
It’s always so satisfying when things come together like this.
Edit: Now with better-quality version via Caribou’s Soundcloud page, below!
Donnacha Costello’s Entire ‘Colorseries’ Available in FLAC Format!
For those of us who came to minimal techno somewhat late in the game, the 2007 compiled release of Donnacha Costello’s acclaimed Colorseries on his now-defunct Minimise imprint was bittersweet at best. Though the compilation itself was comprised of ostensibly the best cuts overall, it was hard not to feel that the release itself was lacking—as it in fact was, by design. What was a collection of ten 12” records—each with two tracks expanding on a particular theme—was whittled down to a mere ten cuts in total, some of which weren’t on the original releases (yay!) and some of which were edited down (boo). Not that there’s anything wrong with that; as an overall release, it’s nothing short of stellar top down, but for those of us eager to get our hands on the original set of now nearly impossible-to-find discs, well, the loss was palpable.
And so we land today with some brilliant news: for the first time in more than six years, the entire series is now available, and in FLAC format, no less. Donnacha has teamed up with brand new digital release distributor Flacbox on this one, and you can grab your copy of the entire Colorseries for €9.99 here.
Finally, to give you an idea about what was missed in the compiled version, below is the A side to the Opal disc, for your listening pleasure:
