Sunday, January 29, 2017

It's Good To Be Differ-Ent - DJ Bone (Don't Be Afraid)



Title: It’s Good To Be Differ-Ent
Artist: DJ Bone
Label: Don’t Be Afraid
Cat Number: DBALP002
Genre: Techno

A1: Inhabit Tense
A2: Marvel Less
B1: Met Allergic Flew Antsy
B2: Compute Her
C1: Drum Addict
C2: We Have U Surrounded
D1: Motive Hate Shun
D2: Fasten 8 Shun
E1: Gem In Eyes (feat. DJ Bone)
E2: A Calm Bliss
F1: Laser Eyes
F2: I M Differ-ent

DJ Bone and his Differ-Ent alias go head to head on this, his first album since ‘Out of Knowhere’ in 2007. It’s a piece of work which, if we take it literally, sees the funk of DJ Bone in collision with Differ-Ent’s darkness. The tracks are extremely well produced and are as cohesive an album as the genre is likely to produce, taking into account the overriding focus on dancing. Bone adds something extra to his productions which is noticeable, but still in the ether. Predictably, most of the pieces here are what you would expect them to be, no nonsense floor-based techno, but they have another dimension which gives them a subtle edge. The electro present, ‘Compute Her’, ‘Motive Hate Shun’ and ‘I M Differ-Ent’ is excellent, particularly the last track, coming off the back of two largely ambient, beatless compositions, rounding off the melancholic tone previously set. The bittersweet atmosphere is also evident on ‘Fasten 8 Shun’, ‘Gem In Eyes’ and ‘Drum Addict’. This is something that Bone is particularly good at; the ability to create light from darkness, and vice versa, in broad, cinematic sweeps.


Sunday, January 22, 2017

Kinship - Artefakt (Delsin)



Title: Kinship
Artist: Artefakt
Label: Delsin
Cat Number:122DSR
Genre: Techno

1: Kinship
2: Tapestry
3: Entering The City
4: Somatic Dreams
5: Fernweh
6: Return To Reason
7: Tapeloop


Artefakt’s singles have always hit my sonic g spot. Just the right amount of momentum, underpinned by a throbbing, dead serious analogue undertow, it’s like they listened to ‘Acid Eiffel’ alone in a dark room for a few hours and everything coalesced within a diorama of emotiveness.  Because, as functional as their music is, they get everything right in the way you knew you would if you had the wherewithal. ‘Kinship’ is a concise, measured statement of that sound, (something obviously influenced by that of the majority of artists who used to record on Prologue, where Artefakt got their start); which unfolds like a typical Artefakt track over the course of an album. The momentum it builds being critical to the duo’s identity, as well as something which conspicuously works at rehabilitating your soft spot for trance.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Silent Pattern of the Tortoise's Walk - Voiski (Sheik n' Beik)


Title: Silent Pattern of the Tortoise's Walk
Artist: Voiski
Label: Sheik N Beik
Cat Number: SNBV009
Genre: Techno

1: 5th Dolphin Transmission
2: Let Down Disco

Voiski is one of those artists who doesn’t, on first listen, seem to be doing that much different to the rest; but further examination of his sonic palette suggests otherwise. He’s got a way with sound, which is, on the one hand richly subtle, tactile almost, and on the other powerfully honed to a fine degree. Both tracks here feel sparse but are layered and dense. The more I listen to the title track the more I like it, but then it ends. It’s ‘Let Down Disco’ however, hewn from a rich seam of synthetic italo and sped up to surf the wave of today’s warehouses that really hits the spot.