The ill-ec-tro-nic

As with most of my posts, this is somewhat overdue as it contains a recording taken from my debut live gig which was a good few weeks ago now.

As advertised on these pages at the time, Langer and I put on a party at London's Concrete and despite a few technical issues with the venue we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were happy with how the night went. TVO played a superb live set and then went on to DJ from his laptop back to back with Goodhand when we discovered one of the decks was broken - in hindsight the broken kit was a blessing as the pair rocked it good style between them.

I also got to burst my live set cherry and again depite a few minor glitches (of my own making) I was pretty happy with how it went. I've just put the set up on my website (you can get the track listing there too if you're interested) but figured I'd put it up here as well. All tracks are unreleased and pre-demo. Hope you enjoy.

Nanorhythm - Live at Concrete (July 2009)

Labels: Goodhand, Langer, Nanorhythm, TVO

We've got more club tickets to give away and this time we're fully loaded with a whopping 5 pairs for Future Flash at Cable on 22nd August! The lineup's a bit of a corker with both DJ Koze and Lawrence on the bill and the residents (Will Saul, Dave Congreve, Sean Johnston, Matt Waites) have got more than the usual share of production and DJ credentials between them too!

As you should know by now, we try not to make our competitions too taxing so if you fancy a piece of the action, just mail us at illectronic.blog(AT)gmail.com with your answer to the following question:

Q) What is Lawrence's other production moniker?

Competition closes Thursday 20th August and the winners will be picked at random the following day.

Full event details are available here and you can buy tickets at ticketweb or residentadvisor.

Labels: Dave Congreve, Dj Koze, Future Flash, Lawrence, Matt Waites, Sean Johnston, Will Saul

I'm by no means a fan of everything that graces the Planet Mu label but as with last year, 2009 has seen some excellent releases from this camp. One thing that the label has always been synonymous with is experimentation and it's usually a fairly certain bet that anything it puts out isn't going to be formulaic and too easily pigeonholed.

All three of the albums I'm featuring here have been out a month or two at least but they've all proved to have the staying power to make repeat plays on my stereo so I figured they deserved a mention.

First up is Boxcutter's Arecibo Message which starts with two very strong tracks, Sidetrack and Mya Rave, both of which deliver solid 2 step variations and Burial-style atmospherics that'll satisfy any hunger you have for the days of old school rave. From here on in, the album takes all kinds of twists and turns, moving from the Drexyican influenced electro of the title track, through the kind of borderline mentalism one might typically expect of a Planet Mu record on Arcadia 202. There's room for some soulful vocals on Kab 28 and the final cut, A Cosmic Parent even brings a touch of disco to the party.

Boxcutter - Mya Rave // Planet Mu buy

Falty DL's Love is a Liability shares a number of similarities with Arecibo Message, exhibiting garage and electronica sensibilities throughout but where Arecibo Message seems a little erratic at times, Love is a Liability maintains a better sense of cohesion and flow. 2-step patterns, playful melodies and haunting vocals feature heavily and the album has a very strong sense of atmosphere. Dark dubstep vibes also feature heavily and while so many of the influences exhibited are taken from the past, the album also has a futuristic sci-fi feel to it and is without doubt one of my favourite albums of the year so far. It's hard to pick a standout track as there's so many strong cuts on offer so it's perhaps the wealth of the complete package that makes this album work so well. With his first release only coming out in 2007, Falty DL, aka Drew Lustman is a relative newcomer to the scene, but by all accounts he's been making some serious waves and with the quality of work on offer here it's not hard to see why.

Falty DL - Paradise Lost // Planet Mu buy

Upon hearing Few Nolder's, New Folder album, Planet Mu probably isn't the first place you're likely to think of as being its natural home as it's a much more 4/4 affair than usually appears on the label. This isn't to say it doesn't fit with the rest of the label's output, it really just gives further credence to my earlier statement that you should never make assumptions about anything bearing a Mu catalogue number without first giving it a listen. Over 9 tracks of varied micro house similar in style to the likes of Akufen, Lithuanian Linas Strockis serves up some interesting glitchtronica and shows that his decision to quit his career as a professional pianist back in 2001 was certainly to dance music's benefit.

Few Nolder - Pillow // Planet Mu buy

Labels: Boxcutter, Falty DL, Few Nolder, Planet Mu

Ratatat are a band I didn't even realise I'd heard anything by until just a few days ago. I stumbled upon what I can only describe as their wigged out electronic Hip House sound through a remix by the mighty Animal Collective. Upon viewing their myspace page I actually found I recognised one of their tracks, 'Wildcat'. It was a case of "hmmm where have I heard this before?"

The Animal Collective remix of their latest single 'Mirando' can only be described as 10 mins of glitched-up wonky ambient electronica that just takes you to another dimention with its blissful aural soundscapes. You have to hear it to understand what I'm trying to describe here.

Ratatat - Mirando (Animal Collective Remix) // XL Recordings Buy

Continuing with the Animal collaborations theme, the whole blogging world went nuts when news broke of the new single from Atlas Sound, the solo project from Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear from Animal Collective.

Considering these have been my favourite two bands of this year, to which my friends will no doubt attest to given me banging on about them at every opportunity, this collaboration seemed very special indeed. And I wasn't disappointed. 'Walkabout' is every bit uplifting as any Panda Bear/Animal Collective record and also has elements of Deerhunter's finest moments.

A summer record to savour indeed.

Atlas Sound - Walkabout (Feat Panda Bear) // 4AD

Labels: Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Panda Bear, Ratatat, XL Recordings