CD Album Recommendations April 2014

Review: It's been a swift rise for Lars Dales & Maarten Smeets, the Amsterdam-based pair known as Detroit Swindle, since they first appeared together across a clutch of 12"s in 2012. Though Detroit Swindle have graced Tsuba, Heist, Freerange and Murmur over this period, it's Dirt Crew Recordings they are most closely associated with so it makes perfect sense for Dales and Smeets to issue their debut LP on the German label. Boxed Out features some ten tracks deep across two slabs of white vinyl (attn Detroit Swindle fans: CD and Digital editions offer a further three cuts) and features guest spots from Mayer Hawthorne and Sandra Amarie. The horizontal beatdown of "You, Me, Here, Now" and Quantic sampling "Thoughts Of She" are highlights.

Review: Dial regular Efdemin returns with a third album of a respected career, with the autumnal theme of Decay inspired by the German producer's three-month artist residency in Kyoto, Japan. Sollmann immersed himself in the local culture while in Kyoto, attending ceremonies with monks at temples and visiting local instrument makers. This results in a ten track set that canvasses the sort of poignant, introverted house music that's characterised much of Phillip Sollmann's work as Efdemin to date. There are however a few stylistic surprises along the way - the stripped back, jacking "Transducer" or the fusion of jazzy licks and noisy bursts of percussion that makes up the title track - but overall you'd be hard pushed to think of a better label to house Decay than Dial.

Review: Dub techno fans have been waiting a long time to hear Dimensional Space, which was recorded between 1996 and 2010 but seemingly lost following a flood at Echospace's Detroit studio back in 2011. Miraculously, much of the material has been salvaged and re-mastered from dried out reel-to-reel tapes, giving CV313's already crackly, spaced-out originals an extra crustiness that's extremely appealing. Musically, there's plenty to enjoy, from the clandestine pulse of "Luna Petra" and hypnotic, Rhythm & Sound style "Clouds Beyond", to the clandestine atmospherics of "Durveda". As if that wasn't enough, the second disc also boasts a string of fine remixes from the likes of King Midas Sound and BVDub.

Review: Given his strong faith and decidedly cosmic approach to music, it's perhaps not that surprising that Joe Clausell's latest project is a mix of gospel music. What's perhaps most interesting about Praise 2 (In Praise of The Sun) is the variety of the material on offer. Gospel has long been a cornerstone of black American dance music, and Clausell wisely tries to tell the full story. So, while there are crackly early gospel recordings from the 1930s, gospel-funk from the '60s and all-acapella recordings, he also touches on disco, boogie, soulful house and 80s gospel soul. The result is a riotous mix that's as entertaining as it is righteous.

Review: We've been waiting anxiously for this one and it's finally landed - not only on our shelves but also on our office turntable, where it's spinning around endlessly and hypnotizing us into a state of total folly. Kompakt has always had a knack for signing the right record at the right time and this debut LP from Vermont aka Marcus Worgull and Motor City Drum Ensemble's Danilo Plessow is an absolute winner! The album is basically any synth lover's paradise, where sparse but rhythmic melodies glide in and out of foreboding tunnels and more docile landscapes. We're especially pleased with Plessow's impressive step into more experimental, Krautrocky territories and really putting his synth collection to work here.

Review: Since making his debut back in 2006, Irish producer Marcus Lambkin has become one of DFA's most reliable artists. His style - a tactile, synth-heavy blend of disco, fuzzy rock and quirky house - is perfectly suited to James Murphy's iconic imprint. Here, he delivers his second album, an expansive and upbeat sprint through his many influences in the company of an all-star cast of collaborators (Museum of Love, Nancy Whang, Reggie Watts etc). Highlights include the low-slung dub disco-meets-classic US house groove of "Feels Real" (where Jenr does a passable impression of Sylvester), the strobe light analogue house of "Do It (Right)" and the intoxicating, kaleidoscopic electro-disco of "Space Race".

Review: Given his relatively high productivity, it's something of a surprise to find that A Series of Shocks is Tobias Freund's first solo album since 2011. Happily, this return to longtime home Ostgut Ton is impressive. Beginning with the beatless melodic pulse of the Steve Reich-influenced "Entire", Freund works his way through a range of clandestine techno compositions, touching on claustrophobic acid and intense late night thump ("Testcard", "Ya Po"), scratchy Chicago jack ("Instant"), deeper moods ("The Scheme of Things") and, most thrillingly, early '90s influenced intelligent techno. It's in these moments - "If" and tactile ambient breaks of "Cursor Item Only" - that A Series of Shocks really flies.

Review: This fourth album from experimental techno producer Kangding Ray (real name David Letellier) is based around a loose but intriguing concept. According to the producer, the 12 tracks were arranged to form four distinct musical arcs. This compositional tool gives the album a rising and falling feel, as crunchy, distorted, pulsating dancefloor techno (see "Evento", "Blank Empire" and "Another Decay") gives way to spooky IDM ("Transitional Ballistics"), stargazing electronica ("Apogee", "History of Obscurity") and crystalline ambience ("The River"), before beginning the cycle all over again. The themes can be distilled further, too, with Solens Arc coming on like an extended battle between the contrasting forces of darkness and light.

Review: It's been some three years since the release of Dive, the most recent full length from Scott Hansen's decidedly Balearic Tycho project. Here he returns to regular home Ghostly International with Awake, his fourth full-length. It sees him in fine form, delivering a sun-bright set that melds blissful guitars and shoegaze textures with hazy electronics, warm grooves and orange-hued atmospherics. Hansen is a master at creating unashamedly positive, evocative music, and Awake is full of these kind of smile-inducing moments. Aside from being impeccably well made, it is also pleasingly cheery. If you've yet to succumb to his charms, Awake is a great place to start.

Review: Sendai duo Peter Van Hoesen and Yves De Mey do not make fluffy, comfortable music. Their 2012 debut album, Geotope, was a veritable feast of dystopian rhythms, glitchy electronics, brain-melting noises and twitching computer glitches. This belated follow-up sticks to the formula, delivering a set of raw tracks that veers wildly between skuzzy, starburst electro ("Second Uniform Estimate"), iron-clad uneasy techno futurism ("A Smaller Divide"), Autechre-ish computerized crustiness ("Tripitek"), experimental ambience (the clanking, modem symphony "Self Adjoint") and becalmed electronic fuzziness (the decidedly spooky "Norms of True Behavior"). Even at its most unorthodox, there's an unusual beauty and picturesque quality amongst the electronic chaos.

Review: There's no doubt that Glow, the long-awaited debut full-length from chart-bothering nu-disco/deep house/synth-Balearica fusionist Marco "Tensnake" Niemerski, feels like an "event" release. Released on major label Virgin EMI, and featuring an impressive all-star cast of collaborators - Chic's Nile Rodgers, Jamie Lidell and Stuart Price amongst them - it perfectly captures Niemerski's floor-focused, radio-friendly sound (think chiming synth melodies, baggy grooves, addictive vocals and kaleidoscopic compositions). As befits an album of this nature, there are plenty of musical shifts (from the boss-influenced, piano-laden Balearica of "Listen Everybody", to the deep nu-disco shuffle of previous single "See Right Through", via the skittering, saucer-eyed, dubstep-influenced future R&B of "Holla"), and enough sing-along moments to impress even the most cynical of critics.

Review: A self-professed vinyl junkie and one half of Force of Nature alongside DJ Kent, KZA has a strong affiliation with the Endless Flight offshoot of Mule Musiq. Four years ago saw the release of his debut album Dig & Edit on the label, and he's also been responsible for a raft of 12?s on Endless Flight - including the classic Le Troublant Acid - as well as mixing two volumes of their showcase compilation series I'm Starting To Feel Okay. Now Dig & Edit 2 has arrived, and it's a continuation of the approach the producer took with his debut set. Some ten tracks long, Dig & Edit Vol. 2 largely consists of new material that KZA sampled from his extensive record collection and subsequently arranged with the assistance of Mule Musiq boss Kuniyuki, though it does end on the aforementioned, previously released Paul Martin-sampling stunner "Le Troublant Acid". All in all, essential.

Review: Although now better known for their respective solo work, and the latter's involvement with Sean Canty as Demdike Stare, Andy Stott (pictured above) and Miles Whittaker's Millie & Andrea project stands as one of Modern Love's more unique projects. Releasing a string of 12? singles on Modern Love sub-label Daphne from 2008-2010, the duo's music under the name experimented with various combinations of 2-step, jungle, grime, dub techno and footwork across five 12? singles. Now they return with Drop the Vowels, which makes complete sense given underground music's renewed fascination with all things revolving around the hardcore continuum. Just as wide ranging as previous material, with the LP covers the kind of tectonic mood pieces and wiry noise techno as Stott and Whittaker's recent solo material whilst delivering some of the most straight-up dancefloor material Modern Love has put out in years. Without doubt one of the albums of the year.

Review: Rome-based Panoram is something of a mystery. Very little is known about him, and he's hardly prolific - in fact, this debut album is only his second release, after 2012's acclaimed (and now devilishly hard to find) Accents 12" on Scenario. The mystery is heightened by his scattergun approach to music-making; Everyone is a Door's 10 tracks variously take in warm, jazz-flecked analogue pop, Eric Satie style piano movements, quirky ambience, Boards of Canada-ish IDM and decidedly cosmic synth wig-outs. Throughout, there's an off-kilter, soft focus feel to proceedings that's never less than thrillingly atmospheric. Everyone is a Door, then, is an impressive debut album; expect to hear more from the mysterious Roman in coming years.

Review: Stepping up with his second album for 50 Weapons, Addison Groove is once again mining the rhythmic excitement of juke and footwork and working it into his blue-hued melodic headspace. Standout vocal cut '"Just You" is a prime example of the upbeat flavour across the album, while "11th" matches the plush harmonies with moodier switch-ups, and "The Spirit Level" drops the tempo into a house bump that lends itself to the illustrious synth sweeps. Typically though the beats are in that twitchy middle ground between dubstep and footwork, leaving plenty of space for razor-sharp constructions and dazzling edits as best demonstrated on the dynamic acid roll of "Space Apples". Chaos abounds on the B Side where Developer's frantic side is shown via "Promiscuous" whilst the tightly wound "Pulstar" is quite hypnotic.