The evolution (and some might say quality) of his productions seem to be going in reverse, lots of great/funky proto micro-stuff in the early Playhouse days of the late 90s & early 2000s, culminating in the gorgeous 2000 full-length "Belong." Lately, I find his productions/remixes too minimal/steely/brittle to my liking - 2004's "Getting Even" was a total chore to get through. I wish he'd bring back some of his melodic sense you heard on "Late Play," "You Can Do," etc - or even with the more dubbier stuff like "Synchro." And "Lies" shows he could do amazing vocal tracks as well.
Granted this is all off the top of my head at 4 AM on a Tuesday morning.
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 06:59 (nineteen years ago)
I second that holeheartedly. yes ithout the 'w'
Along with Isolée he gave Playhouse Records lettres de noblesse. Belong does remain a pretty solid album. Who's heard anything under the Boris Ekambi/Don Dougie aliases ? Looks weird.
But. When the Open Door 12" came out in 1996 everyone paid attention, this was the record to get : dark, dubby, featuring a long-winded, muffled disco-house loop (all the rage back then and here it was all right but FUBAR) and just so bass-heavy and well spatialized. It extended the range when it popped into techno DJ sets, not unlike that spacey/sub-bassy techno the Dahlbäcks started producing shortly afterwards which stood for Scandinavian/nordic quality against Cari Lekebusch & Adam Beyer workout/jackhammer music.
Then You Give Me Fever, B-side to another early 12" : more bouncy, dubby beats with funk samples. The Synchro release that followed was already more micro/minimal, reduced sounds and broken beats - but still warm and dubby as Michael notes.
There's a surprising and efficient straighter tech-house workout released in 2000 and produced with Sikora called Tanzen Nummer Zwei. Also a deep housey cut called Beyond The Creek, came out on Mood Music, with a fingersnappin' break running throughout.
Nobody should forget Grow! Records in Vienna. These things shouldn't happen. Turns out Mr. Kremeier did a few tunes for them with Jeremiah and I say search release #22, appropriately titled Chemistry, it's still funky fresh after 6 years, on it you have a prime LoSoul cut in Easy Busy.
Remixes I like are Lee Anderson's "Fast Food" (Grace Park mix) = more Lies-like dramatic synth stabbing, v dancefloor-friendly. Ark's "Approch" is both v heavy and v dreamy but "Drama To G" really bakes and takes the cake. Search. And a secret weapon of mine is def his remix of "True Experience" (by The Last Disco Superstars, on Grow!).. deep, minimal techdisco how it oughta be done. Sex in zero-gravity material! We all know what that's like firsthand.
After 2004 I dunno, apart from the good Don't Play My Story 12" : Slow Like the one-track-mind acid workout b/w Soul Down which sounds like a colder, detached throwback to the suspenseful dub of Open Door to these ears.
Still looking for my copy of Lies on Playhouse with the Herbert/Freaks remixes but it's really good, better than several varieties of fruit for instance which is really saying something. Never shoulda taken it out of the box, now it's vexed and won't let itself be found anymore.
― Don Disco de Super Bleep 3000 (blunt), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 00:55 (nineteen years ago)
i was a little disappointed with "getting even". "railrude", "insula" and "matchbox" are solid, but the rest sounds very much like filler. i thought "brain of glass" was very generic, but i haven't heard the alter ego or mayer/superpitcher remixes.
i'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the remix of khan/julee cruise which appeared on famous when dead III. a kicking beat and nagging riff combined with julee's enigmatic vocals. tip!
not to mention the acid schaffel smash-up "international snootleg" on the same compilation.
― threatening weather systems, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 12:19 (nineteen years ago)
three years pass...