All This Summer Dancing Meant I Forgot to Tell You About These Albums

Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | Album Review

June to July has been a particularly lost couple of months. Mainly due to being found on various dancefloors in the UK and abroad. But as I stumble between the parties with that crazed ‘I Need Crack’ look I have been listening to a few good albums that came my way. The moment may have passed for most, but I’m still going to tell you anyway.


Robert Hood – Minimal Nation

robert hood minimal nation

When I said the moment might have passed I wasn’t talking about the one back in 1994 when this seminal classic was released. Instead I’m talking about Robert Hood and Planet M’s decision to re-release Minimal Nation to another generation of techno lovers and re-school the kids on where manipulating a minimal set of elements comes from.

Many of the tracks on this album still sound fresh today however it might be more the case of recent tracks trying to achieve Robert Hood’s classic 909/303 sound found throughout this album. But one that certainly flies the ‘still relevant today’ flag is Sleep Cycle. It’s deep reverberating beats and slowly evolving pattern changes sounds as if it’s walked straight out of a 48 hour Berghain/Dettmann session.

Even the tracks that have aged still make a mark. The way Rhythm of Vision’s distinctly 90s Detroit melodies and patterns unfold in such a subtle manner, like a Rubik’s cube slowly shifting and twisting towards a solution; it just really highlights some of the roots of minimalism in electronic music.

Buy Robert Hood – Minimal Nation on CD, Amazon MP3 or DJ Download

Bloody Mary – Black Pearl
bloody mary black pearlOn the subject of minimalism, Bloody Mary’s recent album release on Jay Haze’s Contexterrior label has been pushing one area of the minimal spectrum. The first full album release for both Bloody Mary and Contexterrior is an exploration into the subtleties of melodic ambience, techno and broken beats. Bloody Mary holds a certain darkness throughout with her melancholic melodies, twisted samples and restrained beats. Opening track Black Pearl sets the style immediately, planting itself as a hybrid of dub step mechanisms and techno undertones which are eroded away with the injection of a organic soaring string section. The rest of album dabbles around with this unison of techno and broken beats colouring the mechanical nature of the percussion with organic samples and melodies.

If Ellen Allien and BPitch is your thing then this is sure to tickle your fancy. Contexterrior have even thrown in Jay Haze and Sasche Funke remixes of Black Pearl too.

Buy Bloody Mary – Black Pearl on CD or MP3

Butane – Endless Forms
butane endless forms copyAnother purveyor of the modern minimal sound is Butane. His latest album Endless Forms can be compared to Robert Hood’s Minimal Nation in that both feed off the concept of evolving patterns with a select set of elements deemed necessary to the composition. Butane uses this concept with dark reverberated movements of sound. Transmit The Music In Me has a massive throbbing bassline with minor detailing touches. The same goes for Mutation a track which we reviewed a few months ago- we liked its reverberating bassline that phased in and out of the track doubling up as the fill for the breakdown. I must say many of the tracks on this album have some of the slightest progression I’ve come across for a while which doesn’t bode well for continuous play as an album. But as a DJ some of the loops on this are just so hypnotic and infectious that you can’t help but buy into it.

Buy Butane – Endless Forms on CD or MP3

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