fijiama.net – more f*ing house music

I stumbled upon an Efdemin interview in Resident Advisor (published in summer 2007). His productions had managed to escape me for quite a while, however once they finally kicked in, it was for good. And it’s funny how his music kind of clicked with everything that I read in this interview. Here are just a couple of my favorite quotes:

I didn’t decide before that I wanted to do a minimal album or I wanted to do a house thing. It just flows through me and comes out.

I think house was labeled badly, like handbag house and things like that. And bad people were listening to house. House was like porn music. But now it has come back. It’s very good what Dixon does. Some people in Berlin and other places have really kept at it. I mean Dixon has been playing this kind of music for fifteen years and now people are like, ‘”Ah, he’s a new DJ. He’s so great.”

It’s a bit like if you have a really good Luciano set – he is my favorite DJ I think, sometimes – then you have four hours of nothing happening. It’s like a long line, which is the best thing that can happen. I always try to play like that. I can’t really because he’s so amazing, but that is the best thing. It’s like the old way of playing. There’s nothing really spectacular happening. It’s about feeling like “Okay. We are here. There is no time and I’m just dancing.”

Efdemin – Le Ratafia

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Deeply Rooted House – DRH 016

So here it is – Kerri Chandler’s coming-out as a computer nerd. I think it should encourage nerds disguised as DJs and producers all over the world to step out and say: „Yes! So what if I sometimes like to throw on my Inner City CD and do some Fortran programming!“ Kerri’s revelation surely explains his relatively fast adoption of laptop-DJing (heavily frowned upon by purists at the time as I recall) and the giga-nerd laser live at Southport.

But if you are easily intimidated by music producers confessing to have been into “modding game machines”, I can safely say – you need not fear. And those of you who are expecting Kerri’s trademark bottom-heavy bass drums and 808 claps, this EP doesn’t fail to deliver. “Kong” is very much an old school house track, with some acidish snare/clap/cymbal action and a bouncy bass line. You know, sometimes you just like toast, without any butter or jam or anything. “Pong” is a more elaborate tune, relying on percussion, arpeggiated synthesizers and finally a string section to contrast the tech. It travels a bit to the Ibadan and “Sandcastles” territory and ends up with maybe just a little too much cheese for my taste.

The pick? Just toast for me, please. Thank you!

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A: Kong
B: Pong

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Planet E – PE 65292

It’s always making my palms sweat instantly to see a Planet E record on the new releases’ list. Not many labels do that to me these days, but I really cannot recall any disappointments from this label during the years. Not to mention that Planet E is one of the most respected native Detroit techno and house labels since its early ages and is run by Carl Craig, who has pretty much shaped every scape of the modern house and techno sound.

I admit I’ve never heard anything about Sebastien San, and it appears that the guy has a quite short discography so far. But “Rising Sun” got me and my sweaty palms on the first beat. It is built on one short and simple hook and has quite a linear structure, but (typically for Carl Craig) it never gets boring. And works like a Chippendales show on a bingo night – I cannot wait to let this one loose on the dancefloor. Carl Craig edit on the flip restructures the original a bit and offers another buildup scheme.

A: Rising Sun (Original)
B: Rising Sun (C2 edit)

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Atavisme – ATA 008

If you look at Pepe Bradock’s career, you will see that has been very determined in making increasingly undanceable music. The days of “Life” and “Deep Burnt” are in the past, the recent records like “Rhapsody In Pain” or “Sakura Incident” make you wonder if Mr Julien Auger is using his credit to play practical jokes on the deep house peeps. However, be it a joke or not, I’m definitely falling for it.

This time it’s “Intriguing Feathered Creature”. Yes, that’s the name. No, really. This somehow illustrates the Pepe Bradock way of thinking, since it could have just as easily and randomly been called “An Interesting Bird”. But that wouldn’t be freaky, or rather, not freaky enough. Or we are just missing a very simple everyday background story on this.

“Creature’s” bizarre chord progression reminds me of “4” from 2003 on Atavisme, which was kind of a lullaby sounding tune that I liked for that quality. It’s definitely out of the ordinary and has the effect of growing on you, along with the steel drum melody. Somehow, it still seems like a caricature of deep house exploring the jazzy chord progressions to sound more sophisticated. The chords are overlaid with strange seagull-like noises that obviously give the track its name. The dub is essentially the main mix played from inside a big tunnel – like you would expect from the guy. And then you have the AK-Pella that allows you to get a bit deeper into the chirping sound of the seagulls. Which is nice.

While Pepe might be lost to our world of mortals, I do appreciate his messages from the other reality.

A: Intriguing Feathered Creature
B1: Intriguing Feathered Creature (Dub)
B2: Intriguing Feathered Creature (AK-Pella)

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Aus Music – AUS 0810

Sian, born Graham Goodwin, is your not-so-average Irish guy. Google him and you will find he was „raised gypsy-style“ in Spain. My illiteracy on the subject says that this means he has probably travelled his share and knows a thing or two about flamenco. I tried to find other people on the Internet raised in the same way, but it sure looks like Sian is the only one raised in that particular style. And now, I have contributed to the collective non-knowledge by adding yet another reference to that weird piece of Sian’s history.

Today, Sian is the owner of Octopus Records – a modern label that seems to be partly MP3-oriented. He has produced for renowned labels like Poker Flat and Karmarouge. This particular track was released on Aus Music, belonging to Will Saul and Fink.

„Wear Your Scars Like Medals“ indeed is a macho track like you would imagine from the title. The thumping kick it starts with sets the mood. You get some Radio Slave style white noise and train sounds until the track breaks down to a crescendo of analogue synthesizers. Even in a Matt Edwards DJ set, this would be the peak time pick. On the flip side, German shooting star Roland Appel (of Truby Trio and Fauna Flash fame) kicks off with punctuated rhythm and breaks the track free of its monotonous single scale with an intense choir harmony and more melodic take on the hook. The techno-ish original gets a housier treatment.

It’s a very strong track from Sian and another great remix production from Roland Appel.

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A: Wear Your Scars Like Medals
B: Wear Your Scars Like Medals (Roland Appel Remix)

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On Monday, I put together a short mix to showcase some of the tracks that have been featured in the past posts. Well, in fact only two of them ended up in the mix. But who cares. The result ranges from minimal to techno to deep house, so if you’re cool with the non-purist approach, here it is for you to listen, judge and burn for your car stereo.

Ricardo Villalobos – Hireklon – Perlon 2004
The Mountain People – Mountain003 – Mountain People 2007
Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts – Sous L’Arbe – Circus Company 2007
Haruki Matsuo – Side Step Test – Rush Hour 2007
Shinedoe – Enjoy The Moments (Ripperton Rmx) – 100% Pure 2007
Beanfield – Tides (Carl Craig Remix) – Compost 2004
Ripperton – Zugunruhe – Connaisseur Supérieur 2007
Kabale Und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez – Mumbling Yeah – Arearemote 2007
Infinite Roots – Sunday Morning (Matt’s Innersoul Mix) – Kusic 2007

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Sei Es Drum – SED001

I haven’t heard so many speculations about a track for a long time now (possibly since „Sinner In Me“), so the efforts of the Berlin gang to promote the hell out of this DJ tool have quite probably succeeded at large. Now that the mystery is solved and the record is out there for mortals to buy and play, we will hear it in clubs big and small until your ears bleed. It’s a bit like a porn flick starting out with mild and careful (or not so mild and careful) hints for what is to come and ending with ruthless thrusting until the actors drop on the floor, sweaty or bloody or whatever you prefer in your private time.

The song is dedicated to Ricardo’s newborn son Velasco Leon, as the label reads. It is essentially a children’s song by Christian Vander called “Baba Yaga La Sorcière” and the part Ricardo samples is just two notes sung by a children’s choir and accompanied by a hauntingly monotonous piano that for some reason reminds me of Nina Simone. And in a bizarre way, it works like nothing else. You can check out the reaction of the masses in YouTube videos here and here.

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A: Enfants (Chants)
B: Enfants (Tambours)

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Drumpoet Community – DPC 011-1

Drumpoet Community is a nice little Swiss label that’s working in cooperation with Compost to release music in the style of „b-boy house & technosoul“ – pretty inventive pigeonholing by the guys themselves, I must say. Quarion’s „Karasu“ was an instant hit for me last year. This time it’s Germany’s Sascha Dive with “DEep”.

There are two tracks on this EP, both warm percussive grooves. “Deep” (a remix job by Samuel Davis) works on your basic contagious Kerri Chandler style keyboard sequence, with the occasional gospel minister preaching “everybody in the orroughorroggh place”. We hear you alright. “Annihilating Rhythm” replaces the minister with (someone sounding a lot like) Darth Vader and adds some not-to-be-joked-around-with tom-tom action. Of the two, I will be opting for “Deep” for the old school vibe early in the set.

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A: DEep (Samuel Davis Deep4Life Mix)
B: Annihilating Rhythm

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Rush Hour – RH-LTD 019

Rush Hour have found the Japanese artist Haruki Matsuo. Which is nice. „Side Step Test“ had me walking up to the DJ booth asking about it while head-nodding violently. Serious banger! Now I also took the time to listen to „P.O.P“ which is the B-side. And I’m glad the seven dwarves are finally making techno, even if it’s under a Japanese moniker. Go Japan.

(Apparently It’s been out since September. Where were my eyes…)

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A: Side Step Test
B: P.O.P.

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Traum – TRAUM V95

You may want to challenge me on my opinion, but 2008 has started out pretty slow. There haven’t really been any releases that I would be excited about, however this one gets quite close. True, it’s a little too much Innervisions. Still, the drum programming is great on “Sceada” (my favorite of the two, if I need to pick), and both tracks have the intrigue that most of the Ame copycats lack. Beatport release info even describes “Mantikor” as giving you the feeling of “dancing on a volcano”. I wouldn’t know anything about that, but kudos to whoever wrote the review – with this kind of imagination, who needs drugs anyway.

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A: Sceada
B: Mantikor

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