techno / house / disco / bass / electronic bobbins listening club

updated every monday, i hope.

i'm going to go ahead and assign myself albums for next week because i want to let this stone gather some moss. it would be neat if we could get some volunteers for the first three weeks and see how the first month goes.

i was hoping this thread could serve as a sort of weekly summit meeting between the detroit-berlin connection and the europhile massive, where vague, half-formed thoughts can be gently tossed back and forth in mixed doubles format. i was also hoping to avoid the usual cock-waving of dance threads past.

anyway i'm going to suggest anywhere from two to four hours of music each week, and i'm going to put my first selections down for next monday, so that i can get together some "listening notes" to post next monday. if you want to sign up you can use this thread or if you already know your selections you can pm them to me.

#1 - 08/16/10 - moonship journey to baja
#2 - 08/23/10 - ?
#3 - 08/30/10 - ?
#4 - 09/06/10 - ?

this thread looks great. tho by europhile massive you mean "british people, many of whom from a small part of london" right?

yes. you want in, ronan?

week #1 - 08/16/10 - moonship journey to baja - detroit-esque dub (done four ways)

linkwood - system (prime numbers, 2010)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4877168754_f1f830365b.jpg

v/a - berghain 04 - mixed by ben klock (ostgun ton, 2010)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4876559045_082218416a.jpg

v/a - the kings of electro (disc 02: the present) - mixed by alter ego (rapster records, 2007)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/4877168864_321342ed2f.jpg

v/a - globus mix volume 4: the button-down mind of daniel bell - mixed by daniel bell (tresor, 2000)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4877222852_9f47fc9d99.jpg

yep count me in, need to think about it a lot as i have relatively few albums compared to singles but defo count me in.

i'll put you down for week #2.

if you want to just say something like "all of levon vincent's singles from last year" as a selection that would be fine too. i imagine we can be very flexible with formatting on this thread.

I was about to post 'no dj mixes right?' because it would be more interesting to only discuss artist albums but too late now.

maybe then for your week you can do only artist albums and we'll see if it's more interesting or not over the long run?

would you like me to put you down for week three, bld?

I might follow this thread curiously. Two of the above are on Spotify:

System
Kings of Electro

yeah, i'll do week three. thanks.

i think dj mixes should feature heavily

some worthwhile and passionate discourse on djing and the art of the mix is something i'd love to read about itt

i'm looking forward to your listening notes moonship

you want week 4 r1o?

i dunno i think i'm too much of a dilettante for these kind of threads, but i look forward to reading anyway

Oh man, what a great idea this thread is, especially as the two threads mentioned at the top are sort of becoming the de facto dance music ghettos on ILM. The last dance music thread I made just sank without a trace :(

can i get a week

Also I'd certainly be willing to volunteer my services here.

okay, i got deej down for fourth and edb for fifth

Thanks!

Now I have a good excuse to force myself to buy the Linkwood album, too!

wish i could find that kings of electro thing but i'm stoked for this little club. i was wanting to hear people's reaction to the linkwood album when it came out last year but there was oddly very little discussion, so this thread already has me hooked.

and if r1o is a dilettante then idk what the hell i am, but i might be willing to do a week somewhere further down the line. are we talking about only commercially released mixes or do podcasts/internet mixes play in here? or what about ron hardy tapes, etc? i know things can get pretty saturated if we take that route but it seems like that is a pretty major part of how people listen to this stuff, plus it'd make tracking things down much easier

as far as i'm concerned, podcasts, mixtapes, live shows, vinyl only singles, cassettes, whatever ... it's all fine

if you want a hearty discussion on your week then it obviously behooves you to pick accessible music. but nowadays between itunes, mp3 blogs, spotify, youtube, leonardo, etc i'd be surprised if there's much that people can't track down if they're seriously interested in what you're bringing to the table

I'd be up for doing a week at some point.

i'd like to do a week but i got so behind with all the other "listening club" threads i tried to follow that jumping into this as well might be a touch optimistic

drexciya week?

straightola you want to do a drexciya week in september?

tim should i put you down too?

'system' is so good! love the spaciousness and the eclecticism. makes me think of trus'me? but where i wasn't feeling the pastiche there this is... different. less fussy i think. the synths!

ben klock is awesome. this is all totally new to me. it's so umm contemporary. same with the daniel bell. very compelling and dense but open and just fantastic sounds all around.

i haven't listened to the kings of electro yet but i will soon. really feeling this thread so far, excited for the next installment.

k I normally can't be arsed with listening clubs but this is me

you want in?

I am a few weeks behind on the Ambient Listening Club but I would very much like to participate in the listening side of this.

Though I don't really feel like I know any particular subgenres of bobbins well enough to take a week I would very much like to hear what you all have to share.

yeah i'll sort a drexciya howdown

OK, I gave up on the Linkwood System album about 4 songs in, just wasn't doing it for me. Trying the Kings of Electro now - was wondering if it was gonna be all rapey nanorobot shit, but then the Timo Maas remix of Dooms Night just came on and that is THE MOST QUALITY WUB I have heard in ages. Chomping bass wub. Do want.

I'm surprised you'd never heard "Dooms Night" before! It was inescapable for a while, albeit a while that's ten years old by now.

That would be why I hadn't heard it (tho I had heard loads of other stuff on the comp)

10 years ago I was at the height of my "I hate dance music" only listening to super dronerock stage.

Yes I was a nidiot.

Don't give up on the Linkwood before you hear "electricity", at least.

Looks like the album might be sold out across the city :( but I'm gonna keep looking.

you want in?

I don't think I'd presume to do a week, especially at the moment, but I'm gonna give the thread as much attention as I've got spare.

I never noticed how much Nectarine sounds like old B12/Black Dog (early 90s UK) style ambient techno. Still not sold on the album since it seems to be just a tribute to a variety of dance/electronic music styles but it's interesting.

what is 'wub' -- does it have something to do with dubstep

No, it's kate's made up term to describe the high-volume mid-intensity droning noise that a lot of dronerock and some techno has. I kind it find of irritating because it is a cutesy version of "love" that also invokes dub, but I think I get what she means and she drops into few enough threads to use it so, whatever

Heh, I just assumed it was "dub", as said in a cutesy little kid voice.

i thought it was an onomatopoeia for something that sounds like "wubwubwubwub"

Yeah, but w/all kinds of affection and affectation attached. "full of wub" etc

Wub is nothing to do with dubstep. (Though I am trying to imagine what Wubstep, as a genre would sound like.)

Karl is right, it's onomatopoeia.

It's basically any synthesised sound with a really shaped filter on it that makes it do that rhythmic squelch or purr. The WUB on Dooms Night comes in about 0:33 or so and steadily speeds up over the course of the song, speeding up about 2:45 to full on wub. I think that's a 303 bass wub, but you can do it over any part of the scale with with a resonant filter sweep or a volume tremolo (or the classic Leslie Cabinet sound) or even just timing the attack and decay cut-offs to give a particular WOW sound.

Basically, any genre that uses that sound a lot (and lots of the more psychedelic end of dronerock, older techno and especially acid) is just really gonna hit my sweet spot.

And quite frankly I don't give a shit if anyone thinks it's "affected" or not, it provides a perfect representation of a sound which is really hard to describe otherwise, without getting into technical descriptions as above.

"Wub" makes sense to me - at least in relation to the Dooms Night remix. That's exactly what the central riff sounds like.

It's interesting because that tune was a hit across so many genres of dance music and seemed pretty unclassifiable at the time - but if it was released today people would probably just file it under electro-house.

Kate you've no doubt worked it out by now but the Kings of Electro comp is about the pre rapey nanorobot definition of "electro".

Yeah, I liked it because it was fairly heavy on the kind of electro I actually liked. But there were already rapey nanorobot tendencies starting to appear.

And OK, I'll give that Linkwood "Electricity" a listen because songs named Electricity tend to be quite good. Mostly.

I should start mine own thread called "Wub Listening Club"

Population: me

Funnily enough, today I really liked Electricity. And the track after it. So you never know.

Vahid can I do a week at some point after September (I'll be in Europe for Sept and somewhat distracted)

fwiw, Kate, I tend to be a pretty big fan of the sound you're championing. Didn't necessarily mean "affected" as a negative connotation, it just sounds kind of campy when I hear it in my head

um please sign me up for the next available date

Ben Klock - This is good. Actually does remind me a bit of seeing Electric Indigo at Berghain back in the day (she was more electro-tinged than this, but not that much more). The hottt cover helps. It's not as pumelling as I expected. Love love love: "7am Stepper", "Nuthin' Wrong" and "Elfin Flight".

I like Vol 4 and Vol 5 roughly equally, maybe slight edge to Vol 4. I think Herbert's got more praise mainly because his rep was really growing at that point in time, plus cos Vol 4 featured so much Herbert anyway it's like he got preference votes from the Dan Bell mix anyway.

My sentimental favourite track on the Dan Bell mix is the Problem Kids track, so pretty/goofy/eerie all at once.

I only have listened to that Dan Bell mix and its companion, "the return of the button down mind" once, years ago. Should really revisit, especially given the occasion here, since It's ultimately my kind of thing.

That and Daniel Bell is probably my favourite DJ out there.

Herbert got more praise because they actually sent copies of that one to reviewers.

haha ahh the old TVT rap music in the mid 2000s effect

SO SO SO many things

iirc xhuxk eddy was at one time a big fan of yo gotti

(he was right)(sorry for the derail)

oops sorry i just saw original dates at the top? I can go Monday if that's okay with everyone?

please do

almost there...standby, have picked two and deciding on the third, exciting!

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/5657-body-language-vol-1.jpg

M.A.N.D.Y-Body Language Volume 1 (Get Physical)

Only link I could find but many of you will remember this anyway.

thought this would be interesting to listen back to, 5 years on. what's weirdest i guess is the idea of lindstrom being on the same cd as villalobos and wighnomy brothers, tho at the time i think this seemed sort of organic and normal. also...electrohouse and the whole denial it ever existed that followed. sort of interested to know if people think there are unifying mixes like this anymore? was this the last mix where the physical release was in any way significant, the last big mix cd? or perhaps my view is tainted by having worked in a record store in 05 where we sold endless copies of this. all that said, can't remember the last time people talked about a mix cd.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2082/superpitchertoday4oe.jpg

Superpitcher-Today (Kompakt 2005)

Listen here

With this I'm sort of wondering where this music actually went? In the years that followed people like Lawrence and Efdemin seemed to get really popular with a sort of post-deep house revisionist version of this sound but they never really did it like Aksel as far as I'm concerned. In fact Dial's big boom always sort of surprised me, it was like they just stayed doing the same thing for long enough that eventually there was nothing else to detract attention from it.

Back to this mix though, I guess what I like about it is that ghost of electroclash/electrohouse that's present in stuff like the Psychonauts remix...but like, what happened to this sort of techno? Who's doing it now? I think it's aged pretty well and there's a beauty (take that purely as a descriptive rather than a value judgement) in this stuff that doesn't seem to be in style at the moment.

I can't remember what Vahid thought of both of these at the time, which also should be interesting, I vaguely remember discussions about "imaginary dance music"!

http://i16.tinypic.com/6p4y0pc.jpg

Laurent Garnier-Laboratoire Mix (1996 React)

Let me know if this doesn't work!

I've always really loved this mix, I guess the largesse of it, I don't know if anyone here has any fondness for the mix CD as a format but I do. I guess prob associated to getting back to someone's house after a club with a big stack of stuff like this lying around. This is one of the ultimate post club CDs to me, I love the way it just starts off at really high BPM. Again..the power of the mix is so divided now, it's like finally reached its rightful place as ruler of discourse imo, but there was something cool about these sermon from the mount type mixes, double and triple cds and shit (lots of shit actually was of course a problem)

(this also reminds me of a long argument about holocaust denial held at 4am in Dublin between two ex taxi drivers...while I played this through the PA of the doctors surgery they and I were working at the time...turning it up steadily as they became more angry/bizarre.)

Bonus final submission:

Flying Lotus-Cosmogramma (Warp 2010)

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/uploads/article_images/Flying_Lotus.jpg

(seems to be all over google and I'm guessing you've all heard this already?)

I've picked this to break from the comfort zone of the first three, and I've not actually heard it at all. I sort of want to come at this with an open mind and see what I think, but what does interest me about stuff like Flying Lotus is...are there people for whom this is like the centre of everything they love about modern electronic music? I sort of want to understand. Is this dance music or something else? I don't want those to seem like implicit criticisms either, I'm just sort of interested, there seems to be a bigger scene around just sort of...beats....than there has been prob at any time since I got into dance music. anyway I'll pop back and talk about this when I listen a bit, just since all my friends keep telling me to check this out!

hope these choices aren't too tedious or the analysis too trite...any discussion would be welcomed.

Yeah I think that Body Language mix was one of those moments when a mix stood in as a snapshot for an entire series of interlinked scenes in a way that would be difficult to do without seeming self-consciously eclectic in a manner that mix didn't (my point being: there are mixes as broad as this now, but they don't seem as unselfconsciousness in their broadness).

Linked with this is the notion of "beats" you raise at the end there Ronan. I feel like in 2010 a lot of people want either beats (a continuum that stretches from post-Dilla through to purple Bristol etc) or very "straight" dance music - and I mean straight not as in hetero, but kind of openly and proudly utilitarian and tracky, from the harder strains of minimal techno to pared back deep house to detroit revivalism as always.

Today was a fantastic collection - listened to it endlessly when it came out. Each track was given room to breathe yet it still sounded like a cohesive mix. Never got into Laboratoire for whatever reason. Maybe a bit too intense for home listening? I found his X mix far more satisfactory, possible because it was chock full of Detroit goodies.

Linked with this is the notion of "beats" you raise at the end there Ronan. I feel like in 2010 a lot of people want either beats (a continuum that stretches from post-Dilla through to purple Bristol etc) or very "straight" dance music - and I mean straight not as in hetero, but kind of openly and proudly utilitarian and tracky, from the harder strains of minimal techno to pared back deep house to detroit revivalism as always.

very good point...feels a bit like a a lot of the shoegazey/emotional stuff is in the beats side too...

Yeah, post-burial emotionalism innit.

i was thinking about this last night too. the whole post-dubstep running into post-dilla thing is just the inevitable swing back to trip hop, mark my words.

I'd say it's all the way around to trip-hop if the tracklist of the Ninja Tune 20-year box is any indication: It's all remixes (or damn near all) by FlyLo, Zomby, Dorian Concept, Scuba, Rustie, Joker, Benga, etc. (OK, Todd Edwards, Joe Goddard, Micachu, etc. too.) Basically it reads like a year-end FACT list.

it's like breathlessly racing in circles (beat / bass music) vs breathlessly running in place (4/4 dance)

everytime i read about the 20 year ninja tune box set in the paper (and this is where it always is) i get irrationally annoyed. can't stand the ludicrous significance given to divisible landmarks in the news...and the way they do this for music/arts too just cos.

i understand where you're coming from ronan (LOL "divisible landmarks") but if you think about it it's not so much observing an event as it is observing a custom or ritual that maybe plays an important cognitive cultural function.

why it's not seven years or 4.2 years is easier to rationalize than why it's hot garbage like ninja tune and hyperdub

not a typo btw

and this is coming from someone who proudly owns funki porcini and dj food albums

that superpitcher mix is dope, i recall that i could pinpoint the exact moment in one of the tracks (maybe 65% through) where it shifts from being really dark & melancholic to this sorta determination->uplift thing

I like hyperdub for the most part!

Ninja Tune was probably way over the hill by the time they released the Xen Cuts compilation. IMO the Solid Steel mix cds had some moments, but for the most part, the label's decent releases after that were all over the place stylistically and they lost focus.

I have that Superpitcher mix on CD, but sadly not on my work mp3 collection. It just did such a great job of putting different tracks in a shared context in a way good mixes do.

I listened to Today with relatively high hopes, given how much I typically love that sort of melancholic tinged techno, and my general respect for Mr. Pitcher. And no doubt it's quite well mixed (smooth transitions, excellent pacing of mood) ultimately it's quite satisfying.

It reminded me a lot of Kreucht und Fleucht, probably cause of the shared presence of the Lovefood remix, the Leuchturm remix, and Dinamo, as well as a more general Koln/Wighnomyesque sound. As with K&F (which I only heard last year) I found sound to feel quite 2005, not to say it's dated, but that, as said, this sound has definitely gone somewhere. Maybe people have been quick to cast off the squelchy chemical sound of mid 00's electro house, and the kompakt/traum/etc. sound (the more moody, subdued take on the former?) exemplified by this mix, perhaps in favour of adopting sounds that sign for deep house, etc.?

Either way, I've always been hoping Lawrence will go back to making stuff that sounds like his output from the first half of the 00's, so yeah.

And Max Mohr - Old Song = <3

So what's with this, am I still up tomorrow, cause I do have notes and stuff ready.

love max mohr-old song SO MUCH

I don't know who was supposed to go last week (deej?), but speak now or forever hold your peace, since I'm just going to go tomorrow morning to keep up appearances, etc.

i missed mine but im not ready -- you go & ill try to pick up a week next time

I ended up just choosing some things I acquired over the last few months or so, and I hope you enjoy.

SPACETIME CONTINUUM - EMIT ECAPS (REFLECTIVE RECORDS, 1996)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kCEVnK2uiuE/R9qDnVUSZoI/AAAAAAAAAA0/c9y7TnYd-ik/s1600/front.jpg
This is an album I acquired about two months ago, though I had kept an eye out for it for years and years. I do believe this 1996 album of Jonah Sharp remains a really interesting and engaging selection of very listener friendly IDM-qua-house (or is it the other way around?), encompassing ambient and IDM sensibilities as much as dancey rhythms, all while consistently bringing the funk, so to speak. Like his close contemporary Move D, his production is apt, subtle, and hence rewards attention, what with the careful plotted out synth work and complex rhythmic arrangements that form moody, off-kilter, and catchy jams, reminiscent, perhaps, of Anthony “Shake” Shakir’s productions. This is an album I’d recommend to most anyone, given how easy it is to enjoy, how well made it is, and how well it stands up as a full length album (also see the collection of remixes of this album, Remit Recaps, which is also really good).

CONFORCE – MACHINE CONSPIRACY (BAKED GOODS, 2010)
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7246/conf.png
So, I found a used copy of this quite recently released album the other day and, being only vaguely familiar but interested in Conforce, I opted to snatch it up. As the title of the opening track The Land of the Highway proclaims, this is pretty well driving music, bringing to mind a Model 500ish aesthetic most clearly cited with the 808 driven electro rhythms that feature throughout. All the same, his sound, perhaps best likened to Aril Brikha or Theorem, is marked by dubby atmospherics and a precise, moody sound design which takes on a hypnotic form, especially given the repetitive composition of his tracks. All and all it’s a fairly satisfying listen, undoubtedly subtle, with at least one raw edged banger (Intimidation) thrown in to keep things a little less monotonous and to keep listeners on their feet; I won’t deny, however, that this album is pretty monotonous and perhaps too straightforward – as apropos to its hypnotic aesthetic – and even though it felt like much of it was lost in the background on first listen, I don’t doubt it will reveal itself quite a bit more in the future.

RICHIE HAWTIN – DE9: CLOSER TO THE EDIT (M_NUS, 2001)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41o2ljVTCBL.jpg

I finally bought this this summer, and am thusly curious as to where this mix stands 9 years later, now that Richie’s an easy target (though not without good reason) and mid 00’s Minus serves as a prime exemplar of the mnml now written off as mediocre – a fleeting fad that we’re better off without (not that we ever really liked it to begin with, so its erstwhile biggest proponents say); moreover, Final Scratch and unconventional computer-made mixes have become commonplace, leaving people like Richie at a loss as to how to next “revolutionize” DJing. So does this sound dated, or more importantly, sound like a gimmicky and inchoate moment amid a myth of techno(logical) progress that people like Richie map out for themselves? Nah. I find it’s easier to get swept up in counter discourses and forget that this stuff sounds good, is sequenced well, and is ultimately quite listen- and relisten- able. Granted, I was raised on early 00’s microhouse and pre-mnml minimal techno/house*, share this sort of meticulous and perfectionistic personality, and love the idea of mixes with several dozen different tracks in them, so I urge against the sort of easy and reactionary dismissals of microhouse and 00’s minimal techno/house that would overlook a rather pleasant mix like this.

*I still think the turning point in all this was the dropping of techno/house from minimal techno/house

JAMES MURPHY & PAT MAHONEY – FABRICLIVE 36 (FABRIC, 2007)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/Mike_Kamp/fabriclive0.jpg

I just bought this this week, partially thanks to the exceptional Peter Gordon 12” DFA just released (two of its tracks bookend this mix), and because of the increased attention I’ve given to disco over the summer. This mix obviously stands in stark contrast to something like DE9, given their respective territories and ideals, as the premise here – if there is one, which there isn’t – is the basic idea of two guys just stepping to the decks with a bunch of great records. Accordingly the mixing is a lot more casual (galloping kickdrums or the sound of a record nudged forward aren’t repressed, just as immunity from awkward transitions doesn’t here exist; none of this is to say, though, that the mixing is by any means bad as that would be totally untrue) and the 24 records that comprise the mix’s consistently interesting 71 minutes are indeed quality stuff (which substantiates the pedagogical attraction this has for ignorami like myself). All in this is a very nice source of early 80’s disco (with some ace contemporary jams thrown in), nicely condensed and well sequenced, and which should serve well for many late night one man bedroom parties.

that james murphy fabriclive is easily one of my favorite releases... maybe ever. definitely of the last 5 or so years. i like it to the point that i need to start keeping myself in check whenever i feel like pulling it out- surely there are other disco/boogie mixes worth scouring as much as i have this one? it's starting to even influence my record-buying habits to an insane degree, i think i own something like 1/2-2/3 of the tracks on it- they're surprisingly easy to find

oh man, REMIT RECAPS is all-time status.

TRIANGLE music 4 eva

simm city - OST
iform - velocette
twister - move d
vertigo - kobat
kairo - subtropic
string of pearls - autechre

^^ all classic

for me the emit ecaps aesthetic isn't so much of an anthony shakir vibe as somewhere between infiniti and morgan geist's work on clear record - intimate, detailed, gleaming toy clockwork techno

braggin'

agreed on DE9 sounding good but i think what ultimately let me down about mixes like that was that a dozen mixed-together microhouse tracks invariably sounds like one microhouse track. you lost all of that galloping mashed-together energy of something like "decks, efx and 909"

something about that whole concept kinda leaves me a bit cold for similar reasons, maybe cos i thought around the time de9 came out a lot of the tracks i liked could stand to being played alone for a few minutes rather than spliced together. kinda why i've never really had much interest in hawtin, i like when i know what the tracks are or when they are allowed to stand out a little. also what's the point of the tracks if they're being used as tools to that extent, it's not really a mix anymore is it?

You're right, it's not really mix proper, which is incidentally why I explicitly wrote "sequenced well" instead of "mixed well". From my perspective, though, I've always been attracted to the idea of creating something new with mixes, of making things unfamiliar, which I guess goes back to that Jeff Mills line about how with techno you scream because you DON'T know the track being played, etc. It took me a really long while before I could appreciate stuff like Michael Mayer mixes (i.e. to realize he wasn't mixing like that because he was lazy); it also doesn't help when your formative DJ-witnessing expereiences was largely from a dude that spins of 4 decks.

Also, I'd put the Carl Craig and Herbert mixes on that list too.

Nice one on the Laurent Garnier mix as i lost my cd years ago

I was kind of at my peak of being a techno dj (as in spending money on records, going out to parties, playing gigs, calling myself a 'techno dj' etc) when de9 was about to come out and I was anticipating it heavily. I think I expected it to be kind of like the platonic ideal of a techno dj mix. When it actually came out and it just sounded like a thousand shades of grey, I remember being, not so much disappointed, but taken aback that my theory about what would make a good dj mix had some holes in it.

I think we should revive this thread again

I actually bought the Garnier mix a few days ago because of this thread. Will give belated feedback after I've listened to the whole thing.

I think we should revive this thread again

I used to love that Garnier mix although not as much as his fantastic 1995 Essential Mix (which you can download here if you haven't heard it)

The first mix of is just bonkers.