Ikonika - I Make Lists

Ikonika - I Make Lists (16 July, Hum+Buzz)

Ikonika's debut album Contact, Love, Want, Have scored her a hefty critical following and garnered high praise for it's technicolour mixture of grime, dubstep and wonky; whilst I wasn't hugely enamoured with it's day-glo nature, forthcoming (mini?-)album I Make Lists has definitely cemented Sara Abdel-Hamid as one of the most bravely innovative producers operating at the moment. I Make Lists is an epic journey of fully-fledged synth mayhem that drags in aspects of purple wow, Chicago house, acid techno and 8-bit soundtracks that seems way more complete than it's half hour time span should allow, and throws any possibility of pigeonholing out the window.

The biggest evolution of Ikonika's sound has to be the development of a more solidly 4/4 rhythm, without dropping the intricate drum-programming that had her cast as garage or dubstep on her first releases; confusing triplets, hi-hats that double-up or drop out for single bars, and juke-inflected kick patterns are all thrown into the mix. It feels techno, mixes with techno, and constantly fucks with techno. The high point of this melting pot is the wonderfully epically With Your Mouth, an almost Drexciyan mix of rubber-duck bass and relatively straight-forward percussion that builds into a crescendo of purple wow synths. Catch Vibes is equally bizarre - euphoric house drum-programming and acid bass are offset by GLaDOS-esque vocals and arcade synths that feel like the soundtrack to some retro-futurist VR program.

Much like Rustie's impressive and divisive Starburst EP from earlier this year, I Make Lists is an inherently prog record; one that embraces indulgence, experimentation and the spectrum of psychedelic experience. However, Ikonika's take on psychedelia puts aside the pastoral Britain Syd Barrett eulogised, or the eastern mysticism that runs through Mahavishnu orchestra and Goan trance, and updates the machine-fetishism of Dark Side Pink Floyd or Trans-Europe Express for the post-rave echo boomer generation. Closing the record, PR-812 is an unashamedly epic coda to this expansive mess, that gathers clanking mechanical percussion, broken-radio percussion and warm bass, before floating off into the ether in a series of fuzzy-edged, plant-food friendly riffs. Set controls for the heart of the sun.

Robert Hood - Minus (Combo re-edit)

I had this track years ago, lost it, and then found that if I just google it, the guy's soundcloud comes up, with a 320 bitrate and everything. Lovely free music.

Detroit Is In The House: 'The New Dance Show'

A selection of excellent clips from the late 80s TV programme 'The New Dance Show' uploaded to YouTube by Caprice87.

It's basically a cheaper Soul Train with a classic old school house and electro soundtrack:







This is my favourite, featuring some really great, slick mixing:



There are LOADS more of these clips on Carpice87's YouTube channel, many of which have had embedding disabled. Check them out!

Bass Clef - Reeling Skullways (Punch Drunk, 30 April)

Bass Clef - Reeling Skullways (Punch Drunk, 30 April)

Shallowrave likes Bass Clef - watching him rise over the past few years, we've been in attendance at some wickedly screwy live sets in the Subby and in Stereo and repped his EP's as best we can. So a new full length on the excellent Punch Drunk is very welcome, and sees 'Clef unveiling a totally different style to his traditionally freeform dub/noise/IDM blend. Taking his cues from the wonkier moments of Chi-town and Detroit, Reeling Skullways is nine tracks of house twice-removed; a roiling mix of analogue modulation, swung four-to-the-floor rhythms and epic cosmic riffs. Whilst A Smile Is A Curve That Straightens Most Things, Hackney Centralist and Cumbers' early works are strongly carnivalesque, with trombone riffs and sampled MC lines, Reeling Skullways focusses more on the delicious quirks of analogue kit, and draws heavily from Model 500's space-age feel. Equally, the likes of Hackney-Chicago-Jupiter and Suddenly Alone Together show a far more focussed side to Cumbers, being edited and arranged into more coherent dancefloor numbers than the deliciously erratic Clapton Deep or Promises. Most striking is Embrace Disaster, where the warm analogue heart, delicate synth strings and conga percussion come together to create something that sounds like a beefed up Moroder classic.

Whilst Reeling Skullways first gives the impression of being some strange new beast, it's possible to hear elements of Cumbers' past experiments across the album, from the echochamber and delay work on Stenaline Metranil Solar Flare, to the EkoClef-esque industrial grind on the opening and closing beatless segments. It's a singularly bold step forward however, and opens up many new possibilities for Bass Clef.

Model 500 - Control / The Messenger

Model 500 - Control / The Messenger (20 Feb R&S Records)
Model 500's triumphant return with OFI led to much rejoicing, and it understandably made many people's record of the year last year. The pounding techno undercarriage, coupled with maniacal electro riffs and magic Juan back in full force with epic rants about the mothership, time travel and dimensional shift, made for a genre-crossing dancefloor destroyer. Model 500's latest 12" however sees Juan setting control for the heart of the sun and heading into far more cosmic territory, layering up floaty synths and woogy-woogy theramin melodies that are all kinds of awesome. Despite Model 500's reputation for hell-for-leather electronic madness, both sides of the 12" are heavily influenced by the kind of machine-driven bleep-techno that Sleeparchive and Mika Vainio have made their mainstay, with Control translating analogue fetishism into a rolling italo number, replete with vocodered vox and flailing synth lines. It ought to be a jarring clash of styles, but Atkins weaves together the underlying fascinations with analogue equipment to create a brilliantly uncomfortable piece of machine funk. I can't say the vocoder impresses me, but it does add to the whole "this is detroit electro... in space!" vibe. The Messenger is less scattershot, boosting the theremin to the forefront of the mix and thankfully cutting out the vocals, it makes for a suitably epic B-side, that frankly outshines the A.

My only criticism of this record is that Model 500 seem straightjacketed by the electro template, unable to move beyond high-speed synth riffs and hip-hop beats, and admittedly neither track does much to change this. However, between Control's anashamedly retro sound and The Messenger's epic cosmic feel, there's plenty to like about it.

Aaron Carl - Wallshaker / Sven Weismann Remix

Aaron Carl - Wallshaker / Sven Weismann Remix
Rightly so, the tributes to the late great Aaron Carl keep coming, with the excellent Milions of Moments re-re-issuing Carl's 1997 classic Wallshaker, along with two reworks, and donating the profits to his family. I was never so into Aaron Carl as The Niallist, so discovering Carl's brilliant take on disco, techno and booty is both fascinating and saddening - Wallshaker is guaranteed anthem material, and no-one's going to make another. Riding on crisp analogue beats, with camp-as-fuck orgasmic moans and big house vocals floating in the top end, Wallshaker is as euphoric a house anthem as I'm Your Brother, Good Life or French Kiss, beasting along and breaking down gorgeously. One of the gayest records I've ever heard, I'm very happy to have this on wax.
The Sven Weismann rework is much more my thing, and whilst lacking the sheer hands-in-the-air euphoria that Carl draws from simple 303 patterns, is a rich slice of lazy, dub-techno action that fractures vocals, and places them in the far corners of the soundscape. It's not Weismann's best work (I reserve that for his awesome rework of Ramadanman's Humber), but it does lovely things with the raw ingredients, and manages to take Carl somewhere unique, whilst remaining reverential of the original.
Carls deeper rework, Midnight Dub, the flip side to MOM's original re-issue, takes up the B-side here and is the perfect counterpart to the original; a true dub version that lazily scatters the vocal segments and focuses more on the funk and groove at the heart of the track. Put together, the two versions showcase an exceptional talent that I'm only beginning to understand.
Rest in Peace.

Ramadanman & Abbleblim - Void 23

Ramadanman & Abbleblim - Void 23 (Aus Music, 22nd Nov)

So, it finally lands. Two of UK electronic's big hitters together again after a bona fide smash, with the legendary / untouchable / not as good as he used to be / still magnificent Carl Craig taking on remix duties. It seems like an automatic recipe for success, especially considering the winning streak Ramadanman's been on for the past two years (excepting the lone mule cluttering up the Ramadanman EP).

Despite the fact that both tracks clock in at a meditative 9 minutes, neither the original or the re-edit feels meandering or empty - Ramadanman's rich melodies and taut rhythms combine beautifully with Appleblim's textured darkness and offbeat syncopations. Each strain of bass music is given space to breathe and evolve, and the back-and-forth between makes for a deep and expansive cut. With drowned synths, far-off vocals and funky syncopations, Void 23 worms its way through styles, driven by the pair’s innate sense of songwriting.

But is it any good? Well, its syncopation may prove a little too weird for many techno DJs, and at 126bpm, it’s not exactly fodder for the dubstep crew, but hell, a bit of practice and it’ll go either way. This “neither one nor the other” pervades the track though - certain passages are beautiful head music, whilst one drop-in is just peak-time techno, leaving you further confused about how to deploy it.

Given all the components, Carl Craig restructures the various fragments into (unsurprisingly) a peak time Detroit number, and whilst he has his faults, Craig’s ability to craft a slick narrative is undeniable. The re-edit draws all the glorious synths to fore, pins down the best of the bass, and crafts far more solid dancefloor tune, with big filter sweeps and sweet-sounding hi-hats. He even manages to make space for those weird French spoken word moments that have been cluttering up Ramandanman’s tunes of late.

Ramadanman and Appleblim’s dubstep is a little too spastic, Carl Craig’s techno a little too predictable, but this is an absolutely solid tune, and guaranteed success.

Ramadanman myspace.
Appleblim myspace