t’s column number three of Beatz By The Pound and the steady flow of dance music continues to coarse through our pleasure centers unabated. On tap for this late February day is Michael F. Gill reflecting on live techno and Troy Pierce, reviews of new releases by Basteroid, Isolee, Oliver Hacke, Lindstrom, and the latest from Kompakt’s K2, information on how a soft drink can bring you closer to Mathew Jonson, and Todd Burns playing digital DJ for you.


In Our House
[Inside Dance Culture]

Part 1: The Potentials of Live Techno

While I originally didn’t think of this section as a clubbing travelogue, it makes sense for that to happen as a lot people’s attitudes and thoughts about dance music have been shaped by, or arisen from DJs, clubs, and scenes. Yet I also think that in our digital and downloading era there is a new group of listeners who have been drawn in the past five years by minimal techno, electro-house, and the Kompakt family, and whose connection to the scene is mainly the CDs and friends/bloggers talking about it online. Perhaps I am bit sensitive to this coming from the U.S. instead of Europe, and that I remember myself back at the turn of the decade, wishing I knew more people who were into techno, or at least someone who wouldn’t scoff at the words “German house.” Anyhow, in the past six or so years that have passed, my relationship to recorded house/techno and live house/techno have become increasingly disparate.

The main struggle I've felt is that recorded house and techno has still yet to match the potential of live techno. I've heard the arguments before, that house is not an albums genre, that comparing anything live to anything recorded is like comparing apples and oranges. It's true that producers are often creating and releasing tracks on vinyl that are mainly used as DJ tools, i.e. functional music that works towards the mindset of a DJ set, and are thinking of different things when creating an album. The old joke among producers is that no one listens to techno at home, because it's out of context of a DJ mix, and the sound and environment are completely different. So I will admit that I don't think recorded techno will ever be able to replace or surpass the visceral feeling and spontaneity of being at a club, but I do think there is potential for more aspects of it to be included in recorded music. 80 minute CDs are not enough to hold the immense freedom a DJ has when they have the whole night ahead of them to spin.

Indulge me if you will, for I often have these ambitious dreams of DJs in the near future creating gargantuan, personalized live sets that last for six or eight hours, consisting of tracks/songs by other artists or their own original material, and tailoring them as a soundtrack to a person's life and environment. This would be a substitute for the “album” format. Similar to opera or even symphonies, these long sets would be aural narrations of stories and experiences that are drawn out right before us. However, I also imagine these sets soundtracking a person’s life and emotions just like the sounds of nature would accompany a forest. Instead of a DJ playing off the creative energy of a crowd, he would be playing off the creative energy and surroundings of a person's environment.

Stylus' own Todd Hutlock is probably going to lynch me for forgetting specific examples, but there have been Detroit techno albums by Carl Craig and Juan Atkins' Model 500 project that have been intended to be listened to while driving down certain highways. Why couldn’t the future of house and techno mixes expand out to create a soundtrack of a person's day, or to soundtrack a journey through a certain location or neighborhood? With the advent of ipods, MP3s and other devices, 80 continuous minutes is no longer our musical boundary when we step outside to go for a walk or drive.

Most (if not all) people are creating their own choices in music and deciding which path their life takes them, even if it is something as simple as choosing a grocery store to go to. My theory is, instead of defining what your environment sounds like, why not relinquish control to an artist for a day, and let them give you their take on a specific environment, let the artist’s personal musical decisions, structure, and theories inform how you see your surroundings. I would reckon the passiveness this takes is similar to the passiveness one feels when they are absorbed into a DJ's set at a club. I think it could definitely be a rewarding experience. And from this passive point, relationships can develop over time between the music and the person, not just emotional bonds, but visual and sensory ones too.

OK, I've just pinched myself to wake up from this rose-tinted dream of mine. I don't think people are so willing at the moment to give up eight hours of their day to listen to a continuous mix of music, and I'm not sure artists/DJs have the time or desire to personally labor over personalized eight hour DJs sets when they could be making some money by doing the same thing in a club. Still, I continued to wonder about the theories, experiences, and mindsets that are driving live and recorded techno apart, and the missed potential that is possibly there for each side to grasp on to.


Part 2: Troy Pierce Live

It was just a couple days after Dan Bell had played Cambridge, that M_nus artist Troy Pierce, also known as Louderbach and one-third of Run Stop Restore, came by to play a set in downtown Boston on January 25th. As it often is with these one-off gigs, I am heading towards a place I’ve never been before, the top floor of a club called Felt on the outskirts of Chinatown. This place is pretty posh looking and probably is home to many more hip-hop nights than techno parties. But hey, they are offering free drinks.

Oh. And the place has an excellent sound system, as well. There is nothing worse than dancing and trying to envelop yourself in the groove because the sound is too weak to smother you by itself. Pierce goes on a little before midnight and is playing and mixing new tracks from his laptop all night long, so it’s gladly not a night where any of my rampant music geek desires to have tracks identified shows up. With my brain free to roam, Pierce throws down a great opening half-hour that swirls from funky to nearly gothic techno, yet curiously the momentum is a bit stolid, as every track has practically the same stark, pinpoint kick drum and thick, mechanical hi-hat. So after about a solid hour of this, people are already starting to leave and Pierce almost seems to admit defeat by playing some vapidly abstract tech-house that encourages the remaining crowd to head towards the bar.

But a funny thing happened at the end of Pierce’s set for me, as I returned out to a mostly empty dance floor. Yes, some of the funk and even some neo-italo elements reappeared at the end, but what got me excited about the rest of the set was the enthusiasm of the two people dancing next to me, who I’d never met before but were still egging me on to dance with them. Just as friends feed of their common interests, a lot of my dancing adrenalin comes from the energy of other people in the room. By the end, my boundless energy even surprised myself, it really didn’t matter what music Pierce was playing, or how good it was, I had hit such an empathic high with those around me that all I needed was for music to be there to let myself go wild.


Spin Cycle
[New Music Reviews]

Featured Release

Daso - Go Upstairs
Label/Catalog #: My Best Friend / 018
Released: February 2006

Daso's "Daybreak" was one of the best records of 2005, minimal but filled with breathy ambience and warm, colorful synth lines. Continuing that trend is his new EP, three songs amusingly/creepily titled "Go Upstairs," "Stay There" and "Until I Find You." Mixing thumping basslines with lovely pads and layered, highly textural sounds, each has something unique to recommend it—from the spacious echoes of the first track, to the muted guitar-like lead of the second, to the unsettling, cavernous reverberations and metallic clinkings of the third. For only his second release, this is a stellar outing that balances introspection and darkness of tone with a very human melodicism.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

Francisco – Hero / Venti Venti
Label/Catalog #: 20:20 Vision / 127
Released: January 2006

Francesco De Belis (one half of Italy's Jollymusic) serves up an excellent two-tracker here on England’s 20:20 Vision label. "Hero" is a Moroder-indebted piece of Italo-house; "Venti Venti" a more electro cut with crystalline Kraftwerk synth runs. They surprise as much as they follow their modus operandi thoughgh, with the A-side featuring psychedelic echoboxed female vocals and laughter in the background while the B-side contains a nearly inaudible sound akin to the dripping of water that is nevertheless present enough that I thought there was something wrong with my car's AC while driving to it. Both tracks succeed by striking a balance between a dense layering of sounds and upfront disco-house beats.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - "Mighty Girl"
Label/Catalog #: Eskimo / 541416 501482
Released: February 2006

Epic, almost-Baroque Eurodisco is the order of the day on "Mighty Girl," presented by Lindstrom and Prins Thomas in both its original form and in two fairly radical remixes. From the fugue-like feel of the main theme to the sparkling counterpoint of the backing synths, this track encapsulates the neo-classical and orchestral ambitions of disco in a nutshell. The "Vran Gog" mix moves towards the atmospheric side of the equation, while the "Feel PM" mix is a joyful, wobbly dub which would sound great at about 5 am while you squeeze the sweat out of the third t-shirt of the evening. The remixes though, as good as they are, pale in comparison to the glory of the original version. Cop this, and consider the envelope pushed.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

V/A - Disco Dimensions 2 EP
Label/Catalog #: Smash Hit Music / 004
Released: January 2006

One of my favorite compilations from last year was Smash Hits' Disco Dimensions, which presented new house and crossover tracks that employed many of the sounds and styles of classic underground disco records. This 12" brings three new tunes in the same mold, but falls quite short of its mighty predecessor. All of the elements—squishy synths, wiggling basslines and organic-sounding drums—are present in Ray Mang and Foolish Felix's "Disco Dementia," but the track itself fails to achieve enough energy for liftoff. A little more dementia, please. Similarly, Stranger's "Motorboy" has great parts - the bass in particular is filled with giddy energy and the high-pitched guitar sound is a neat twist - but on the whole it fails at whipping up any kind of dance floor frenzy. The best track here is the last one, Seiji's "Rubbish," which contains enough funky live percussion sounds to fill a zoo, but little else besides. While all three songs would make fine mixers, or moments of restraint on a longer compilation, I fail to see why they would be chosen to fill both sides of a 12" single.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

Dominik Eulberg & Gabriel Ananda - Harzer Roller
Label/Catalog #: Traum / 070
Released: March 2006

Closely linked with a style of house that has garnered much attention lately and been given an extremely stupid drug-related name which I won't dignify by repeating here, Dominik Eulberg is one of those artists who make records so distinctively their own that they justify themselves without needing a scene or a movement. Full of everyday noises such as equipment clicking on and off, doors opening and closing, clipped vocal bits, and the sounds of wind and nature, he makes a music which melds organic and inorganic worlds. Co-conspirator Gabriel Ananda is along for the ride this time, and both sides of this single (both called "Harzer Roller") are dance floor tracks as much as they are environments in which to become lost and found. “Harzer Roller" combines the best of ambient music's concentration on pure sounds with the propulsive movement of minimal techno.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

Isolee - Western Store Edits
Label/Catalog #: Playhouse / 120
Released: March 2006

Isolee's upcoming Western Store is an odds n' sods collection better than most artists' full-length albums. Fittingly, some of the leading lights of minimal house have stepped in to remix several tracks for the accompanying 12" single. Sadly, everyone involved seemed to think that stripping back Isolee's already Spartan sound even further was a necessity. "Cite Grande Terre," originally an icy four-minute dubscape, gets turned by Luciano into a twelve-minute yawner with excessively awkward glitch effects sprinkled on it, as unwelcome as PCP dropped on a joint. The version of "Lost" (fittingly described as 'stripped by' the usually on-form Glimmers) reduces the great danceability of the original to a loop that runs on repeat for six numbing minutes. The in-demand Villalobos put his trademark stamp on "Djamel Et Jamshid," a track which actually doesn't appear on the upcoming Western Store CD. Much like his highly-touted original material, I find his remix here pleasant for background or headphones but without the sparkle and excitement of Isolee's tracks which allow them to translate to the ride or the dancefloor. The only discernible difference between Dixon's remix of "Bleu" and the original is that it's neither as dynamic nor as dubby. Perhaps those called on to remix this well-regarded artist were scared to make a misstep, but the ginger handling of such strong original material inevitably produces tepid results. Of course, as with much on the minimal front (see the entire Spectral catalog and much of Kompakt's), it's in their elaborate mixing with other tracks that their true intricacies develop, but as straight-ahead listening material there is little to enjoy in these versions.
[Mallory O’Donnell]

Gaiser - And Answer
Label/Catalog #: Minus / 36
Released: February 2006

Berg Nixon - Box Escape
Label/Catalog #: Minus / 37
Released: January 2006

These two new four-trackers from Richie Hawtin’s M_nus imprint are essentially two sides of the minimal techno coin: both are Michigan-based artists, both are releasing their debuts, and both bear the tangible influence of their label boss. While clearly cut from the same cloth—deep, bubbling bass lines, thudding 4/4 beats topped with skittering percussion and hand claps, analog swoops, pings, and twitches, the odd processed vocal sample—there are subtle differences that bring different rewards from each. Gaiser’s outings are a bit more floor-friendly and densely constructed for the most part, and more likely to work into a standard techno set. Nixon (aka Detroit native Ryan Crosson) keeps it a bit more minimal and percussive, flaunting more of a Villalobos/Plastikman vibe; in fact, flipside highlight “The Depths” wouldn’t sound at all out of place on the latter’s Consumed, nor would the title track, as both work in a dubbed-up, dark, atmospheric vibe with lots of space and clattering percussion. Call Nixon’s the winner here, but fans of the vernacular will be pleased with both releases.
[Todd Hutlock]

Jeff Mills - The Bells (10th Anniversary)
Label/Catalog #: Purpose Maker / 020
Released: February 2006

The copy on the label of this 12” says that “The Bells” is “probably the most played techno track in history” and I’d be hard pressed to disagree—I would have to think if such a thing could be measured, Mills’ signature piece would certainly be in the Top 5 anyway, right next to “Strings of Life” and a handful of others. Immediately recognizable with its minimal structure and repetitive tweaked “bell” riff, if you haven’t heard this, you likely haven’t been in a club for a decade. Mills has never been one for remixes (his own work is never touched, and he seldom remixes others) and this anniversary release features the simple, unadorned original in all its glory on the A, all the stronger and still sounding fresh as a daisy. The B-side features “reworked” versions of two more Mills classics (“Gift of the Hills” and “Circus”) which gently update the originals and make this an essential purchase for Mills’ collectors. Also available is a DVD single, featuring a video, live tracks, remixes (what was I just saying about those being rare?), and other tasty tidbits. Break out the birthday cake.
[Todd Hutlock]

Underground Resistance - Interstellar Fugitives 2: Destruction of Order
Label/catalog #: Underground Resistance / 069
Released: January 2006 (2xCD)/Spring 2006 (2x12”)

Available now as a two-CD, 31-track set or later in the spring as a double LP with only eight cuts (but featuring two exclusive cuts), Interstellar Fugitives 2: Destruction of Order follows in the footsteps of its predecessor from a few years back and presents a snapshot of the current state of Detroit’s most infamous techno militants, Underground Resistance. Perhaps the most striking thing about the release is the diversity: there’s classic Detroit techno sounds, electro, slide (a new Detroit rollerskating thing, apparently), ambient, and even a rock/techno hybrid (the less said about which the better). Highlights are many, including the aforementioned Suburban Knight’s “Predator’s Language,” the double-shot of DJ S2’s infectious, booty-shakin’ “Nasty” and “Post Emancipation Psychosis,” and the Infiltrator’s “Mindsweeper.” And of course, you get all that fabulous UR propaganda and military jargon, which never fails to get my blood pumping and makes me want to cover my face in camo makeup and stalk a club with an armful of UR 12”’s and forcibly commandeer the decks from whatever meathead is spinning at any particular venue in my town. I have a feeling Mad Mike would approve. In any case, it doesn’t all work all the time, but it hangs together remarkably well considering, and for a 31-track set, did you really expect it all to?
[Todd Hutlock]

[A]pendics.Shuffle - Hot Guardian & The Freestyle Formula
Label/Catalog #: Adjunct / 004
Released: February 2006

Following in the hotness of the recent Pheek 12”, Kenneth James Gibson ([a]pendics.shuffle) delivers one of his best singles to date for his own Adjunct label. Much more raw and jackin’ than his releases on Orac, the lead cut “Dirty Bed” is an instantly addictive low-end monster, with an ominously sleazy vocal and some aggressively wet stabs of acid. The Westend Ghetto remix of “Dirty Bed” is rather similar but gives the track a bit more room to breathe, cutting up the vocals and using them more sparsely. Rounding things off is another bass-heavy swinger, “Optimal Clamour,” that veers close to sounding like a nasty dub of Green Velvet. Recommended.
[Michael F. Gill]

Oliver Hacke - Mid Atlantic
Label/Catalog #: A Touch Of Class / 017
Released: January 2006

Straying away from his home base of Trapez, the press blurb for “Mid Atlantic” totes this as being Hacke’s “house” release. Aside from not allowing any of his warm, dubby chords to smear and adding some more buoyancy to his tempos and basslines, there’s isn’t much difference between “Mid Atlantic” and his Trapez material. Still, it’s good to see old Ollie (as he is never called) being loose and up-front, especially on the standout cut “Track 87,” which adds a funky ascending/descending bassline and chopped up horn squawks without relinquishing any of his usual dubbiness. If nothing, this release shows once again how dance music is such a game of millimeters, in that a slight buoyancy in tempo can equate the difference in which genre or subgenre producers and DJs classify records in.
[Michael F. Gill]

Basteroid - I, The Schnitzelmachine
Label/Catalog #: Areal / 035
Released: February 2006

Tellingly, the first thing I thought when I heard that Basteroid was releasing a 12” in tribute to the Wiener Schnitzel was, “I can’t wait to see what ridiculous heights the press release will go to this time.” True to form, the press release was a detailed six-step recipe on how to prepare a Schnitzel dinner. Luckily, Areal has yet to reach a Morrissey-type situation where the song titles and press information is more interesting than the actual music. “Schnitzelmachine” is actually a bit of a departure for Sebastian Riedl (aka Basteroid,) who’s always been the most delightfully obnoxious producer of Areal when it comes to squelching beats and pure overdriven melodic assault. On both tracks, the edges of tension are now much more sleek, stark and agile, and remain mostly unresolved. Compared to the relative messiness and viscerality of Riedl’s earlier releases, “I, The Schnitzelmachine,” is like a formally tumultuous person trying to learn to express himself more efficiently without resorting to his once familiar tactic of full-on venting. In that respect it makes this release equally enveloping and frustrating, but overall worth hearing.
[Michael F. Gill]

Sebastien Tellier - Broadway
Label/Catalog #: Lucky Number / 005
Released: February 2006

“Broadway,” like Tellier’s last single “La Ritournelle,” is full of lush orchestral strings, romantic lyrics, and gorgeously jazzy drumming (courtesy of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen.) Both singles are anomalies on his recent album Politics, which veers from huge, Trevor Horn-style bombast to hyperactive new wave tomfoolery. Five remixes, including two apiece by Jake Bullit and Chicken Lips, are split across this CD and 12” single, but no one really improves on the original. “Broadway” being immense as it is, adding layers of synths and four-on-the-floor beats on top results in mixes that reek of overcrowding and overcooking. Sparingly, Chicken Lips had the wise idea to include a dub version of their disco-tech mix, which becomes much more palatable as an instrumental. Also included on the CD single is Tellier’s rhodes-fueled slow jam “Le Long De La Riviere Tendre,” which was also one of the two tracks he contributed to last years Respect Is Burning compilation “Ete D’amour.”
[Michael F. Gill]

Ryan Crosson - Artists Have Bad Haircuts
Label/Catalog #: Telegraph / 023
Released: February 2006

Ryan Crosson is another disciple of the M_nus sound, a druggy take on techno & mechanical funk that lives primarily between Detroit and Ontario. After a very promising 12” on Trapez last year, “Artists Have Bad Haircuts” finds him trying to shake off some of the excess DNA from Matthew Dear and Magda that also permeated his recent 12” as Berg Nixon. Nevertheless, Crosson shows off some excellent production chops, especially on the title track, where he positions a barely audible sweeping drone to sound like it is occurring completely outside the scope of the track. To put it another way, I was listening to it while stopping off at a local pharmacy and I thought this sweeping sound was the sound of the pharmacy’s radio seeping in to my headphones.
[Michael F. Gill]

Paul Woolford presents Bobby Peru – Erotic Discourse
Label/Catalog #: 20:20 Vision / 128
Released: February 2006

Why this is currently one of the biggest minimal anthems of the moment, being hailed by everyone from Francois Kevorkian to Ivan Smagghe to Richie Hawtin, is sort of lost on me at the moment. There is no hook, build up, or even a sense of dynamics throughout Woolford’s “Erotic Discourse,” it’s basically a flimsy sounding drum track with some dry clanging sounds and steady set of mildly wet toms that alternate from the left to the right speaker. Who needs an art-house version of Rotterdam Termination Source’s “Poing” without any of the poings? Next.
[Michael F. Gill]

Kontrast - Stammtisch Der Verzweiflung
Label/Catalog #: Kompakt / 131
Released: December 2005

Both Justus Köhncke and Dirk Leyers (ex-Closer Musik) are masters at the art of squeezing tears out of a mirror ball, but as Kontrast they sublimate their emotional candour and instead scratch out three low-slung, hypnotic pulse matrixes for late night misbehaviour. The title track is the killer - so slow it can barely move, so slick with condensation you’ll glide across the floor, there’s something imposing about “Stammtisch Der Verzweiflung.” It feeds off protean energy, with little magnesium flares peeking through a lumbering black-ink melody that singes like sparks from exposed wires and fires sudden bolts of uncontrollable electricity.
[Jon Dale]

Florent - G-Net
Label/Catalog #: K2 / 006
Released: January 2006

More comedown than come hither, Frenchman Florent Renard presents two pieces: a macabre night driving piece, and something like a techno remix of bad video game music. From the low rumblings of the bassline to the high-end tweets and the Lindstrom synths half way through, “G-Net” is an absolutely solid and dubby track, reminiscent of recent Wagon Repair releases, but not quite made for dancing. However, the b-side, "Ritournell," does anything but bring to mind Sebastian Tellier's epic track of very nearly the same name. Opening at a plenty upbeat tempo, Florent drops in an 8-bit sample that forgot to take its Ritalin, and basically the piece comes off like a vinyl copy of the Metroid soundtrack played at the wrong speed. The overall impression is that Florent is trying too many things with not enough variation; two completely different sounds, and each with an explicit teleological approach: start here, do this, end there. However, a less rushed and more focused effort might find itself a home on K1 rather than K2.
[Cameron Octigan]

Bastien Grine - Where R U
Label/Catalog #: K2 / 007
Released: February 2006

Making the jump from DJ to producer during the last four years, French pseudo-minimal electro enthusiast Bastien Grine has ventured away from his previous label Scandium for a release on Kompakt's new K2 off-shoot. K2 hasn’t received nearly as much acclaim as Kompakt’s other sub-labels, but if audioscrobblers and blogs are any indication, Grine may help change all of that. Inciting a particularly (Get) Physical take on electro, the titular a-side of "Where R U" starts its engine with a hypnotic bass line before taking an off-ramp to a rave where the dancers are dirty and low to the ground. "Pastel," on the flip side is like a stuttering bull running into a thick wall of bass triplets and being pounded into the ground by the beat. Shying away from the overdriven sounds of "Where R U," the third and final track, "828," presents a stark approach to electro that could maybe only be improved by a certain Chilean dropping his super sexy vocals on a remix. But by the end, Bastien has at least made this much clear: Where U R is somewhere near a rave, a big fucking rave.
[Cameron Octigan]

D-Saw/Euphorhythm - Track 10:30/Patrik (Dr. Motte's 1997 Mix)
Label/Catalog #: Immer / 002
Released: January 2006

Given that it was initiated under the pretense that it would explore "unconditional love to timeless music," and given that each track on Immer is a personal favorite of Mr. Michael Mayer, this Kompakt off-shoot is basically a chance for those of us who aren't fortunate enough to know the man to still take a peek into his bag of tricks. D-Saw's "Track 10:30" begins with an aural illusion that morphs back and forth across time signatures, and just when it seems to enter an endless lock groove, a sky-sized drum falls out of the sky and smashes the entire track. The product of this union is a celestial piece of German rave, and, yes, trance. With a bass line that brings to mind Kraftwerk's "Aero Dynamik," Mayer drops another trance bomb on us for the b-side, Euphorhythm's "Patrik (Dr. Motte's 1997 Mix)." It feels good, dirty, and frankly, makes those of us who never actually owned a glow stick a bit jealous.
[Cameron Octigan]


Influx
[Links & Information]

The Red Bull Music Academy

Even if it sponsored by the popular energy drink, The Red Bull Music Academy is perhaps a bit too good to be true. It’s a traveling mini workshop that zooms in on micro-cultures and new musical hybrids, while bringing together young producers of diverse backgrounds to interact with their contemporaries as well as with established producers in the field. It’s a place were people openly discuss aspects of dance and DJ culture, explaining how they create their own tracks, what motivates them to make them, and how they go about promoting themselves.

Now this isn’t an advertisement for the workshop, the main draw to the Academy’s website is that it has archived, in both streaming video as well as in full text, the majority of all the guest lecturers they have had in the most recent years. Just a brief scroll through the current diaries and lectures sections brings up video interviews and transcripts with Sway (one of Stylus’ favorite MCs,) Kerri Chandler, Alexander Robotnick, Atom Heart, Carl Craig, Claudio Simonetti, Leon Ware, Leroy Burgess, Legowelt, Madlib, and Michael Mayer. I haven’t even gone through the entire archives yet, but previous sessions that you can view also include Theo Parrish, Mathew Jonson, DJ Harvey, Tiga, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Steve Spacek, Morgan Geist, Larry Heard and Danny Krivit. It’s often hard enough just trying to identify the faces behind dance music, but to be able to actually watch them ruminate on how and why they create their own music is something I find completely fascinating.
[Michael F. Gill]


Chart
[Playlists & Mixes]

In The Mix: Todd Burns

Enough talk. This is the time on Beatz when we dance.

Tracklisting
Lump – Better Eat Strawberries [Mental Groove]
Tadeo – Granada Granada [CMYK Musik]
Fusiphorm – Am I [Foundsound]
Ellen Allien and Apparat – Do Not Break [Bpitch Control]
Jaumëtic – Un Avion Japonés [Regular]
Booka Shade – In White Rooms [Get Physical]
Shane Berry – Fillertet 2 [Trapez]
Daso – Until I Find You [My Best Friend]
Kaito – We Were Born Here [Kompakt]


Guest Chart
Alex Smoke, Soma
01. Sleepless Crew - Spell House
02. Murmur - Section EP
03. Automat - Preludes
04. Tangible - Game Over
05. The Policy Unit - Arp Egg
06. Sixtoo - Songs From "Next: A Primer On Urban Painting"
07. Claro Intelecto - Warehouse Sessions Vol.1
08. Poke - Poker 11:34
09. Villalobos - Achso
10. Break 3000 - Light

Mallory O’Donnell
Codebreaker - Caller
Colder - To the Music (Engel Remix)
Chromeo - Needy Girl (Phillipe Zdar Dub)
Telex - On the Road Again (Marco Passarani Remix)
The Knife - Silent Shout (Williams Acidic Cicuits Remix)
Francisco - Venti Venti
Shit Robot - Triumph
Alex Smoke - Meany
Prince - Black Sweat
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Leave Me Alone
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Mighty Girl (Feel PM)
Kid Frost - La Raza

Todd Hutlock
0733 - Record Bass Story
Jeff Samuel - Endpoint
New Order - Fine Time (Silk Mix)
Villalobos - For Disco Only 2
Jeff Mills - Circus (reworked)
Underground Resistance - Ma Ya Ya
Berg Nixon - Box Escape EP
Osborne - Daylight (Isolee Rmx)
LNR - Work It To The Bone
Pier Bucci - Familia

Michael F. Gill
[a]pendics Shuffle – Dirty Bed
Kirk Degiorgio - EP4
Dominik Eulberg - Blueten Sind Dem Grossen Schillerfalter Fremd
Serafin – Starship Discotheque
Kerri Chandler - Sunshine & Twilight
Wookie – Battle
Mark E – Scared
Tod Foster – Dancin’
The Glass Family – Crazy
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr – Shine On Silver Moon