Electro House Recommendations May 2012

Review: Sporting a distinctive look to go with his distinctive name, Orlando Higginbotham's rise as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs has been a gradual one - a trajectory charted by early releases on Greco Roman, a rising reputation for being able to put on a show, an increasing number of friends in influential places and, most recently, the announcement of a debut album. All this is naturally made possible by the music, a unique brand of effortlessly happy and festival friendly dance music that is lent an introspective edge by Orlando's fragile voice. Apparently expanded from an instrumental into a fully fledged track in the aftermath of the phone hacking saga, "Tapes & Money" belongs up there with the likes of "Garden" in certifiable TEED hits. Some well chosen remixes populate the flip, with Bristolian Dirtybirder Eats Everything offering up a typically chunky rework which is contrasted by the markedly warmer, bubbling house version from Casino Times.

Review: The blossoming studio partnership betwixt those lords of the breakdown, Messrs Alkan and Ridha, continues apace here with Roland Rat, a suitably raucous two track twelve inch constructed from analogue means. This record is also notable for a further example of the duo's playful testing of the limits of a twelve inch, with the title tracks noticeable mid point speed up threatening to dislodge needle from groove. Along with the recent Lemonade CDr 12" pressing and the sight of Ridha hammering out an all vinyl set on Boiler Room, this kind of attention to detail ensures both retain valid membership to the Keep Vinyl Alive campaign.

Review: The brotherly duo that form Shadow Dancer have always seemed slightly incongruous bed fellows to some of the louder, throwaway sounds that have populated the Boys Noize label, their music hinting more at the sounds that label boss Alex Ridha grew up on. The Second City EP marks only their sixth release on the German label, but it's definitely an accomplished one, chiselling away at the Mancunian warehouse rave sound on the opening title track, before flipping proceedings for some true old skool electro on a Dopplereffekt tip with the brittle, spectrally charged "Mashine Code". On the flip, "Jamma" arises from the murky, reverberating analogue mists into a tightly wound acid flex bound by rubbery textures and abstract drum machine rhythms which descends into schizophrenic madness as it progresses. The duo end on an experimental note with "Voice Tracer" a track that commences in expansively atmospheric tone, gradually teasing out vast waves of industrial pressure and stretched vocal yearnings. Superb!

Review: Veteran of the fist-pumping kind of electro inhabited by Miss Kittin and I-F, it's not so often you see a new release from The Hacker these days. Still, he's made it back to deliver three Italo-flavoured nuggets on Tigersushi in the style of romantic 80s arpeggios and fat synths he made his name on. "Through The Ether" is unashamedly cosmic in its tone, boasting elegiac reams of melody over those steadily pulsing bass notes. A rasping snare gives "Mind Games" a marginally tougher edge, but really this is sweet songwriting for swooning swingers on the dancefloor.

Review: Jas Shaw and James Ford drop a hint at what Seraphim, their forthcoming third album as Simian Mobile Disco, is shaping up like with this limited white label twelve inch. The duo have inched towards a distinctive and decidedly arid take on techno which was probably explored to its fullest on the recent series of Delicacies 12"s. From the sounds of the two tracks here, the forthcoming LP should present them in a more playful mood, especially "Seraphim", which commences in a stripped back manner before exploding fully into a track drenched with an emotive sense of saturated euphoria. The playful interaction between the fragile vocal samples, drawn out synth textures and lolloping 303 lines weaves its way into your affections all too easily. Complementing this, "Your Love Ain't Fair" is a more focused heads down, hands up deep techno track that treats vocal samples and thick swathes of synths with intoxicating glee.

Review: There are producers out there whose material is typified by certain idiosyncrasies, and it becomes immediately apparent upon listening to a random track it is their work. Moritz Friedrich aka Siriusmo definitely belongs in that canon of individuals, his music almost bursting at the seams with its loudness of ideas. All too quiet since the release of an exhaustive 42 track retrospective last year, Siriusmo will be gracing us with some new material over the course of the year - starting with this Doctor Beak's Rantanplant EP. Released by Monkeytown, naturally, and arriving with artwork from Friedrich himself, naturally, the three tracks here are undeniably Siriusmo, naturally! "Rantanplant" lollops unevenly across the A Side, sounding equally demented at 33 and 45rpm, whilst "Doctor's Beak" sounds like Gershon Kingsley's Moog classic "Popcorn" feed through Friedrich's scattered array of analogue gear and turned inside out. "Plastic Hips" meanwhile is pretty much what you'd want Beck to be doing these days instead of being knee deep in scientology.