Electro House Recommendations October 2010

Review: Turbo add a sheen of credibility to the increasing formaggio sound of Chromeo with a selection of fine remixes of "Don't Turn The Lights On". Carte Blanche aka Riton and Mehdi craft a central kaleidoscopic synth riff that pulses with mutating glee over a reverberant kick drum groove, with only a smidgen of vocals left intact. After Chromeo remixed "Superstar", Aeroplane returns the favour with a pleasingly sultry late night disco shimmer. Dirtybird's Christian Martin adds some tasty retro electro programming to a techier effort.

Review: Gold coloured wax for a 24 carat reimagination from your man Erol Alkan whose production always has subtle nuances that distinguish him from your average electro banger producer. Chilly Gonzales vocals get ripped apart, pitched up and distorted over a jerking raw house thump filled with drum rolls and strings dripping with emotive intent.

Review: A huge release on Boxon, complete with stellar mixes from Will Bailey and Black Noise, that's already had high praise from Alex Gopher, Larry Tee, Don Rimini and MSTRKFT among many others. 23-year-old Frenchman Costello packs a lot of energy into his original of "Get Crazy", with chanking guitars on the build-up getting slowly swapped for copious bass on the drop and the ferocious raps of MC Nine Lives The Cat pasted over the top. Will Bailey adds a tropical soca pattern for the drums and messes with the vocals in a frankly obscene way to create some blissfully rinsed-out moments. Southern Fried's Black Noise also have a whale of a time beefing up "Get Crazy" - pitching up the vocals over a clap-filled, off the hook beat.

Review: Probably the most tech-friendly artist in Mad Decent's menagerie of talents. Boy 8-Bit has been having a great run of releases over the last year. Tunes like Baltic Pine, The Cricket Scores and mixes of Florence and the Machine's Drumming Song have been lapped up by fans of his sophisticated synth work and funky treatments with drums. The Keep, released on This Is Music is not going to harm his reputation one bit and will delight fans of smart and uncliched dance music. While the synths are kept minimal and punchy, the tune really comes to life with some canny arrangements, dropping everything down to just a kick at one point and letting the notes slowly come back for a second time. The horror-movie vibes of Restricted 18 employs this trick even more intensely - dropping down to the most distant and spooky bass hum possible before building up again.
Sheffield duo Run Hide Survive include a new mix of Baltic Pine which adds to the creepy b-movie vibe of the EP (almost sounding like Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells at one point!) and Fools Gold stalwarts Jokers of the Scene remix Wolfen into a spooked out disco odyssey. Yet another awesome single from the Boy, and a release that will definitely sound fresh on multiple listens.

Review: Ahead of the release of Bot'Ox's album Babylon By Car, I'm A Cliche indulges us in one last round of appetite whetting via this handsome clutch of "Blue Steel" remixes. The original remains one of the most captivating pop songs crafted by electronic producers of recent times, but there's plenty of ingenuity shown across the remixes present. Still Going opt for the pulsing overdramatic techno stomp, discarding with the distinctive melody and wrapping a small section of the vocals in swathes of driving synths. I:Cube delivers a typically glacial deep house version that makes smart usage of the reverberating metallic melody amidst a sea of tense string arrangements and menacing bass patterns. Para One and Tacteel retain the vocals and elements of the aforementioned melody which reverberate beneath a fizzling bass heavy post hip-hop arrangement. Recent Relish additions Hannulelauri, fresh from Aeroplane chart love, add some cavernous delay to Anna Jean's vocals and slip them beneath a singular key stab groove augmented by a hip hugging bassline.

Review: Thankfully the 7" version of Fever Ray's cover of Peter Gabriel's 1986 classic "Mercy Street" is not adorned with the frankly scary artwork that accompanied the press campaign in the lead up to its release. Karin Dreijer Andersson's take on the song has long been a crowd favourite when played live and is backed here by "Dry & Dusty", a particularly poignant moment from her solo debut.