CD Album Recommendations March 2013

Review: Rightly or wrongly, some believe that for an album to be truly great, it must take you on a journey. We're not sure yet whether Eddie C's second full-length, Country City Country, is a great album, but it's certainly something of a rollercoaster. Perhaps not a white knuckle ride, but certainly an undulating trip that bristles with vivid creativity and effortless dancefloor warmth. Given the Canadian's crate-digging sensibilities, it's no surprise to find that it's built around carefully chosen samples. Yet this is no mere cut and paste job. Beginning with a slew of lazy, slo-mo shufflers and tactile disco groovers, it sure-footedly works its way to a starlight deep house crescendo via drum machine electro, string-laden jack tracks and electric piano-laden jazz-funk jams.

Review: Given that he took his DJ/production pseudonym from the name of a 19th century Romanian writer of folk stories, it's no surprise that Petre Insperescu's chosen form of techno is shuffling, atmospheric and classically-minded. Sitting somewhere between Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos and Nicholas Jaar, his sparse but well-rounded productions are simultaneously pleasingly calming and genuinely energetic, full of curious touches (a twinkling, distant piano here, a cut-glass string trio there) and gentle exploration. Gathered together and mixed into a seamless whole, as on this first mix for Fabric, they offer an intriguing journey that should appeal to all those who love their techno subdued and atmospheric.

Review: With a name like Trus' me and an album named Treat Me Right you could easily be fooled in thinking David James Wolstencroft is a needy character. Trus' us, he really isn't. With years of experience as a journeyman DJ, producer and label head honcho, he cuts some seriously confident moves. And his third album is one of his boldest to date. Ranging from pumping tech-tonked groove of "I Want You" (complete with ace use of a well known Kariya vocal) to the deeper, hypnotically penetrating groove of the Moodyman-like "Moonlight Kiss", Treat Me Right showcases some serious studio skills while representing everything that's great about house and techno.

Review: Swiss imprint Lux Recordings return with an expanded take on Music for Cosmonauts by Florian Buchel Contra Communem Opinionem project. This album's origins began when Buchel was invited to perform a full analogue set at Zurich club Zukunft back in January last year, impressing the Lux Rec crew so much they requested he re-enact the set in a studio and record it to tape. The resultant 60 minute jam of Roland manipulation was initially edited down into two exerpts mastered by Ruud Lukx of Rude 66 fame for a 12" release. Due to popular demand the full set has now been pressed onto this limited run of 75 CDs - expect a glorious 60 minute 8 track suite filled with sumptuous, spatial sounds and expert 303, 707 and 808 tweaking.

Review: Following last year's timely reissue of Moodymann's superb Black Mahogani set - an expansive collection of some of his deeper, jazzier moments - Peacefrog have dusted down and repressed its 2004 follow-up. While its predecessor mixed fluid jazz with a deep house pulse, Black Mahogani II has no dancefloor pretensions. Instead, it offers up some of Kenny Dixon Jnr's finest deep jazz recordings. The album's centerpiece is undoubtedly the epic, 18-minute jam "When She Follows" - a tumbling, constantly-evolving journey through deep jazz built around looped acoustic bass, skipping jazz drums and exquisite Rhodes keys. The album is worth investing in for this moment of genius alone.

Review: Andrew Field-Pickering is a unique talent. Under the Maxmillion Dunbar guise, he's treated listeners to a string of gorgeously kaleidoscopic releases that join the dots between sparkling electronica, E'd-up disco, next-level Balearica and effervescent deep house. With Woo, his first release for RVNG INTL, he's at it again. "Woo" is deliciously fluid, pitting brightly coloured electronic melodies and darting synths against stuttering drum machine rhythms and cascading chords. The beatless "Shampoo" is similarly lucid, delivering a steamy tropical shower of glistening electronics and synthesized steel drums. It's only the formidably robust "Drift" - a Disco Nihlist-ish exercise in analogue groovery - that breaks the spell.

Review: By now, you should all know the story of Atoms for Peace, the new all-star leftfield rock outfit founded by Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Amok is the five-piece's full-length debut, following a couple of well-received singles on XL and 50 Weapons. While there are obvious similarities with the path Radiohead have taken over recent years - curious beats influenced by dubstep and IDM, haunting soundscapes and intoxicating compositions - there's far greater warmth and vibrancy to the songs than some of Yorke's other projects. Ultimately, it sounds like what it is: a bunch of experimental-minded mates getting together to make music. It comes highly recommended.

Review: Amazingly, it's 13 years since brothers Reinhard and Wolfgang Voigt first pitched up on Kompakt. The techno landscape has changed much since then, but their commitment to the trippier, more hypnotic end of the genre remains. Die Zauberhafte Welt Der Andersen (The Magical World of Andersen for translation fans), their first album, sees them at their mercurial best, delivering a loopy, semi-organic take on techno that veers from druggy mysticism and psyechedelic intensity (see "Tja Mama, Sandra Maischberger"), to low-slung deepness and slo-mo calmness (the excellent "Sozial"). There's some stellar beatless, horror-inspired oddness, too, in the shape of the intoxicating "Die Glocke".

Review: On this companion piece to 2011 debut album collecting dust, Italian producer Alessandro Pasini shows signs of development. While there are clear nods to his warm nu-disco past (most notably "Grancartridge", which samples Serious Intention's proto-house classic "You Don't Know"), much of Removing Dust is dedicated to his clear passion for tactile deep house. So, we get the E'd-up retro-futurism of "Salsa House", the drifting "Trembling H" and the dreamy "La Beija". There are curveballs, too, including a straight-up dub track ("Stories (The Sghembo Dub)") and a curious deep-pop cover of Moloko classic "Sing It Back".

Review: There's something pleasingly old-fashioned about this third full-length from Scandinavian D&B explorer Furi Anga. While the glitchy rhythms, electronic beats and mixed-up time signatures are defiantly contemporary (think Exit), his love of spacey atmospherics, drawn-out pads and twinkling melodies recalls the glory days of "intelligent D&B". In other words, Omipresence sounds like an updated take on the LTJ Bukem/Good Lookin' sound, with more than a nod and a wink to dBridge and Instra:mental. At its best, such as on "When My Breath Stops, Will My Wings Unfold" and the chiming "The Night Falls", it's quite, quite mesmerizing.

Review: Second time around for Nick Curly's well-received debut album Between The Lines, which initially dropped on Cecille last year. The original album offers a neat synopsis of the German producer's trademark style, a fluid, hypnotic and at times beguiling fusion of deep house melodies, tech-house shuffle and techno sassiness. This "bonus edition" also includes a second disc of remixes. There's plenty to enjoy here, too, including a bouncing US garage tweak of "Underground" from Dennis Ferrer, a typically deep and twinkling Mr Fingers rework of "Wake Me Up" and a heady, intoxicating version of "Between" by Kollektiv Turmstrasse.

Review: Since first making his debut on Canada's Stride Recordings back in 2009, Toronto native Rene Lavice has been inching towards 'D&B heavyweight' status. While he's not there just yet, this confident debut album for the mighty RAM Records should nudge him a little nearer his goal. Bold, brash and rave-inspired, with both eyes on the dancefloor, Insidious breathlessly flits between steppy jungle, tech-step and deeper flavours without a care in the world. It has its share of darkness, too - see "Thorax" and the brilliant old skool roller "Tap Dat" - but the overall feel is one of thrilling release. As debut albums go, it's pretty good.

Review: It's been three years since Jamie Lidell's last full-length, Compass, and in that time he seems to have rediscovered his early passion for distorted electrofunk. Like the track that launched his career, Super_Collider's 1997 machine-funk masterpiece "Darn Cold Way O'Lovin", Jamie Lidell delivers a hard-edged contemporary take on P-Funk that allows his soaring soul vocals to take centre stage. There are audible nods to masters of the genre - Roger Troutman on the talkbox-endowed "Do Yourself A Favour", Prince on "I'm Selfish", George Clinton on the filthy synth-funk of "Why_Ya_Why" - and production that harks back to the days before his pop breakthrough, Multiply. It's not exactly a return to form - he's not released a duff album yet - but it's certainly a riotously enjoyable set.