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

Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | Album Review | No Comments

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

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. › Continue reading

Tags: Berghain, Black Pearl, Bloody Mary, BPitch Control, Butane, Contexterrior, Crosstown Rebels, Ellen Allien, Endless Forms, Jay Haze, Marcel Dettmann, Minimal Nation, Mutation, Planet M, Robert Hood

Butane – Mutation | Single Review

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | 1 Comment

It’s good to hear Butane return to our speakers with this single from his forthcoming album on Crosstown Rebels. Its been a good year or so since his last release, but the wait was worth it. New track Mutation is a fantastic slice of glitchy hypnotic minimal techno. It begins with a murky hypnotic bassline and a spattering of electronic twitches. Every so often the murky bassline would raise its head above the water line as it filters out into a clean synth trickle before quickly diving back below into the murky bassy depths. It’s interesting how Butane uses the bassline as the melody for the breakdown. Its pretty one dimensional in its execution, but the shear depth of sound gives it all the kick it needs.

On the same release is two remixes from some heavyweight up and coming producers. Sety of Circus Company fame reworks the dark original into a more bouncy shuffling number. Sety fills in the minimal gaps with quite an infectious horn hook which sounds like something out of the King and I. Musical prejudice aside it seems to work, giving it a catchy and infectious edge the original didn’t have.

The other heavy weight remixer is man of the moment SiS. He also uses the original’s bassline but pads out the space with a clichéd minimal tap drip and samples of an Indian sitar. Add the skipping beats that SiS is so good at and the result is another infectious shuffling remix of the original. Another great release from the Crosstown stable.

Tracklist (Click for Mp3):
1. Mutation (Original Mix)
2. Mutation (Sety Mix)
3. Mutation (SiS Mix)

Tags: Butane, Circus Company, Crosstown Rebels, Sety, SiS