lofi-stereo records - search aaaaaaand..... seek and destroy!

search - "808 the Bassqueen" Ricardo Villalobos. Simply one of the best minimal house tracks ever. Beautiful echoing chords, weird missle section. Quirky, elegant, melancholy, fun, all at the same time. I can't find a copy anywhere, though.

destroy - Shamlou "Orange Label" Not bad but unimpressive. I always think I am gonna play it, but I never do.

R Villalobos = tha man

yes he surely is. Have you hear 808? It is on the Swayzak Groovetech mix.

I also like "Luna" on Playhouse... some of his stuff on Perlon is brilliant but is too minimal to play out.

new answers

like i said

i fear quality control may not be up to snuff on this label

when they put out a good track, they put out a REALLY good track, and vice-versa.
I only have three of their records, and since the other two are accounted for:
Search: Dialogue "Top of the Drops" ep.
Maybe we should add Playhouse and Perlon to the thread. Maybe more people would post?

I dunno, start the dance! i dunno shit about it, that's why this is s&d instead of CorD or whatever. what moves you the most?

WELL...
the best track I have heard in the whole year in regard to the German dubby/microhouse movement is a track called "Come Closer
(dub)" on Playhouse. The artist is Melchior, who has worked with Baby Ford.
The track is so fucking sensual and sexual and subtle and minimal that it is like getting a massage with feathers. Some of the sounds are so slight, they give me goosebumps. I have heard so many stories of DJs causing dancers to have orgasms on the floor. This is a record to cause that to happen. This is really one of the best records to come out in a very long time. In fact, I would say this is almost a polarizing record for me. I think, if a person can really hear, then they will realize how good this is. If they hate it, well, I lose a little respect. This record is why house is still meaningful. SEARCH!

Oh and destroy anything that would prevent you from getting the above record!

As for others on Playhouse, "Paradise" by Blaze is a great combination of deep house and German dubby again. The lyrics are hilarious. "Sugar, honey, iced tea/ I want you to be down with me, good lord!" And the bassline!!!!

Also, I like the full-length "Belong" by Lo-Soul

As for Perlon, get suPERLONgevity 2! Good combination of straight microhouse and some very quirky tracks by Pantytec and Akufen. The latter has this great weird monologue with a line like "lively elastic feline bodies"

Benjamin Wild's "Teaser" is also good... house distilled to its essence.

I have also been enjoying a lable out of Detroit called Deep Chord (they have a website with audio samples). Beautiful Basic-channel sounds.

If this is the sound you like, then pick up a copy of Sunkiss' "Eclipse/Apogee" on Groove On from 1996.

I really could go on... since we are the only ones on this thread, perhaps you would like a tape? My deck may be broken, but if it is not...

The track on the Lofi-Stereo website (Further's "Stone Cold") is rather lovely, um, micro-funk. I haven't heard much else of their stuff.

Can we make this a general discussion of German house stuff?

Re: Perlon, I found Markus Nikolai's Back album from 2000 and it is stunning, perhaps second only to Vocalcity in terms of great artist albums from the scene. Search: "Superstar", "Passion".

Thomas Fehlmann's new Kompakt single "Streets Of Blah" is excellent also, almost as good as "Whistle" (which was amazing). Also Superpitcher's "Yesterday" - sounds like a strong return to form after the v. slight disappointment of "Baby's On Fire".

+ I'm looking forward to finding the new compilations from Italic and Trapez.

Pink Ellyn's "I Know" is amazing. It's EXTREMELY bold to keep the dynamics so even throughout the song - my roommate said "you forget it's on" - the dread that advances on the song's sprightly sproingy architecture just builds and builds and builds - no breakdown, no place to catch one's breath. It's the sort of thing Bjork is so suited for, but she never lets the music take center stage the way it does here.

oh btw I can't stand the Borneo and Sporenberg stuff on Italic and I really wanted to since the album art is so cool. I can see where they're trying to go, putting soulful vocals and guitars with tik-tokkity electro snips, but it ends up too smooth and unsurprising for the genre they nod toward. It's the kind of thing where you kind of like it but you imagine the kid you might have someday discovering this in your record collection and going "god, dad was kind of a boring smooth-jazz type of guy i guess"