The ill-ec-tro-nic

I've been meaning to do a post on a bunch of mixes for a while now but having sat down with the intention of covering five different mixes in one sitting it's dawned on me that a lengthy review of each including a track by track blow of the contents is not only going to take me rather a long time but will also probably bore you all to death. Consequently I'll keep things brief and leave just a few highlights.

Despite having a sizable list of productions under his belt and being well known in his home country, Dutch DJ / producer Michel De Hey has never really made it big in the UK. Having seen him at Brussels' techno mecca Fuse, a few years back, I was expecting his latest mix CD to be a fairly hard and loopy affair but it appears this preconception was wrong. No Nonsense is in fact a melodic and rather pleasant mix of techno flavoured house with the only real lowpoint being the hideous euro trance of the Secret Cinema track near the start. No Nonsense is out on Michel's own label Hey, and you can pick up a copy at Juno.

In addition to their club, the people at Fuse also put their name to a mix series released through Music Man Records with previous offerings including strong outings from the likes of Hell, Dave Clarke, Technasia and Steve Bug. Their latest mix has been put together by Switzerland's Sam Geiser aka Deetron. I used to be quite into Deetron's own productions a few years back but as my tastes slowly moved away from the fairly uncompromising techno he was producing at the time I kind of lost touch with his work. Couple this with the fact that some of the previous Fuse mixes have been pretty much heads down techno I again found myself rather surprised when I came to check this one out. At 75 minutes long and consisting of 24 tracks, the mix moves through various flavours of house and techno with a brief excursion into dubstep along the way and manages to include everything from uplifting vocals through to straight up loopy minimalism. Strangely for a mix that includes so many tracks that I really wouldn't touch on their own, the end result is simply superb and by not sticking with any one sub-genre for too long the mix truly feels like a journey and is without doubt one of my favourite CDs of the year! Do yourself a favour and buy a copy!

Much as I do indeed love techno, I've never actually made it along to Belgium's festival of the same name. Each year's festival is accompanied by a mix CD and as techno is perhaps the most multi-faceted and constantly evolving of dance music's many genres so it's only logical that the sounds of the festival and indeed the mix series bearing this name should move with the times. 2008's offering has been mixed by Boys Noize and is probably best described as dirty jump up party music similar in style to the likes of Housemesiter. For a change, I find this kind of stuff ok but if I'm truthful, a little hard going for repeated listening. Clearly not all our readers are as long in the tooth as myself though so if this kind of thing's your bag then you can pick up a copy here.

The next mix provides a good counterbalance to the previous one as it's a much lighter affair with a melodic disco and house feel. It's delivered by Metro Area and is number 43 in Fabric's Saturday night mix series. Again, this isn't something that I'd have on heavy rotation but as a breather from dirty basslines or stark minimalism it provides a refreshing change. Pick a copy up for a tenner over at Play.com

The final mix to be featured in this slightly long-winded roundup is by someone the vast majority of you are unlikely to have heard of as it's a mix that's been sent to us by one of our readers. Joee Irwin hails from Missouri but has recently moved to New York and is also a fellow blogger; writing for Palms out Sounds. The mix is entitled Decks, Box & MBP and is an ode to Richie Hawtin's classic 'Decks, EFX & 909' mix having being put together in a single take using the set-up he DJs with live: Turntables, Serato & a MacBook Pro. The mix is fast paced and in terms of technical ability is damn near flawless. Starting with minimal techno and ending with dubstep there's plenty of variety in there too although it does get a bit hectic for my tastes about two thirds of the way through but if you start to feel the same I urge you to stick with it as the sudden, and rather skillful, move into dubstep rescues things and makes it all worthwhile.

Check it out and if you like what you hear, head on over to Joee's Myspace to keep up to date with his antics.

Joee Irwin - Decks, Box & MBP

Tracklisting:

1. Gurtz - "Spok"
2. Claude VonStroke - "Scarlet Macaw Unstrung"
3. Marco Carola - "Get Set"
4. Daniel Dreier - "Ice Bear"
5. Marc Houle - "Sands"
6. Todd Bodine - "Closer"
7. Joseph Capriati - "Oasi"
8. Preocoop - "Ohrwerk" (Ritch & Collins Remix)
9. Philipp Wolgast - "Rudimental" [Alpaca]
10. Boris Brejcha - "Push To Play"
11. Funkagenda and Paul Thomas - "Thrapp"
12. D-Unity - "Shake It" (D-Unity's Shaker Mix)
13. Colin Hobbs - "Coming Up" (Christian Hoff Remix)
14. Beckster - "Hallo"
15. Zoo Brazil - "Technik"
16. TC - "Where's My Money" (Caspa Remix)
17. Dial M - "Remedy"
18. Ramadanman - "Offal"
19. Loefah - "Disko Rekah"
20. Roommate - "Natty Music" (Noah D Remix)
21. Graphic ft Beans - "I Am Metal" (Starkey Remix)
22. BAR 9 - "Pussyhole"

Labels: Boys Noize, Deetron, Fabric, Fuse, I Love Techno, Joee Irwin, Metro Area, Michel De Hey

Here is the sample track in question

Derrick May - Interval I // Relics Transmat

Labels: Dabrye, Derrick May, King Midas Sound, Relics, Transmat

Andrew Weatherall Vs The Boardroom is released on Nov 17th. Buy

Labels: Andrew Weatherall, Rotters Golf Club

Labels: Cadenza, Los Updates, Luciano

This will be the last from me for a few weeks as I'm about to jet off on holiday but before I leave you in Langer's hands I've got just about enough time for one last post. Unlike many of my previous posts, there's no 'theme' to this one other than the fact that all of these tracks / albums have been getting some air time on my headphones.

I'm guessing that few outside of Scandinavia (myself included) will have heard of the curious genre known as Skwee but from the little I've read about it's basically synth driven lo-fi electronica that doesn't take itself too seriously. Eero Johannes' anonymously titled debut LP sits within said classification and delivers 13 tracks of bleepy goodness that range from synth pop similar in style to the the excellent Datashat through to slightly tougher and more 'serious' tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on a wonky aquacrunk dancefloor.

Eero Johannes - Katt Witt 700 Watts //Planet Mu buy

Next up is another debut LP but this time on a mellow hip hop tip. Adrian Michna started his recording career under the moniker Egg Foo Young and had an EP out on Andrea Parker's Touchin' Bass imprint a few years back and has done a handful of remixes and some production work since. On Magic Monday though he's dropped the pseudonym and his first name preferring simply to be known as Michna. The album is a tasty little number reminiscent of RJD2's early work with each track offering something a little different from the next whilst maintaining a warm relaxing vibe throughout.

Michna - Believe In It //Ghostly International buy

The ethereal vocals and soothing piano on Dutch Elm, the opening track of Sunken Foal's Fallen Arches, might lead the listener to assume it's going to be a breezy and relaxing ride all the way. However, while tracks such as Cash Poor are in a similar mould, this is a Planet Mu album after all so things get a little more 'challenging' as the album progresses and the various electronic toys are thrown into the mix.

Sunken Foal - Cash Poor // Planet Mu buy

Labels: Electronica, Ghostly International, Hip Hop, Michna, Planet Mu, Sunken Foal

Labels: Distance, Dubstep, Headhunter, Planet Mu, Starkey, Tempa