Search results: Juan Atkins

Review: Borderland sees the illustrious Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald join forces for an album of meditative techno for Tresor. The partnership marks the first time Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald have directly collaborated in 20 years, though both have regularly assisted each other's work behind the scenes. Von Oswald played an important role in engineering much of Model 500's R&S catalogue, while Atkins supplied his mixing craft and two edits on Thomas Fehlmann & Moritz von Oswald's early '90s project 3MB. This eponymously titled album is skewed toward club-orientated electronic music blessed with a freedom for organic musical experimentation and expect to sink into a soundscape where melodic and textural motifs float in and out of focus.

Review: Having been quiet since slipping out that rather fine Prime Numbers EP of archive house, Linkwood surfaces on the Firecracker affiliated Shevchenko imprint with some house music that can be best described as effortlessly gliding. A preface to the producer's second album which is set to drop in the early months of 2012, all three tracks here are superb - not least the title track "Secret Value" which sounds naggingly familiar to these ears. Massively vibey, the track begins with an upwards poise and veers in that trajectory throughout augmented by delightfully plump string flourishes that appear in cloud like formation atop the intricate syncopation. "Between Me & You" is essentially the same track twisted inside out, with the vibes deep set beneath the glowering sheen of saturated atmospherics. Those seeking something straighter will find much to admire in "Ignorance Is Bliss" which begins in more prominent fashion, thanks mostly to that burning bass line; though as the track progresses it's flushed with a delightfully smudged warm sensation. Big tip!

Review: For those of a certain age, there's no more exciting a combination of remixers than Juan Atkins and Egyptian Lover. Thus the prospect of them both taking on Moodymann's classic spoken word sex house anthem "Freeki Mutha F cker" is almost too much to handle! It's the former who steals the show here, revisiting his Cybotron days on a rework that offers the perfect fusion of organic deepness and cold, raw electro. There's something wonderful about the unlikely combination of Atkins' alien beats and bass - in particular the slowly pulsing sub - and the original's soft focus pianos, whispered vocals and drawn out strings. It's some futuristic business alright. Egyptian Lover takes a similar electro approach with solid results (think 808 cowbells and Tipper sub-bass wobbles), though it lacks the far sighted, back to the future appeal of Atkins' superb effort. In addition the A side holds a previously unreleased extended version of the original track and a short but sweet burst of some new KDJ material in the shape of "California" BIG TIP!

Review: Cult avant gardists Psychic Ills are the focal point of the latest FRKWYS release from RVNG INTL. For this project the band approached artists who reflect important chapters in the formation of what we now call electronic music. Some twelve months later we have the finished product, gloriously presented as ever, with a sleeve design that imitates a vintage photo album. Detroit legend Juan Atkins was seemingly contacted on a whim and jumped at the chance to transform the sprawling psychedelic drone of ''Mantis'' into an equally hypnotic near ten minute box jam which brilliantly utilises the sliding guitar and menacing bass. Gibby Haynes from Butthole Surfers was entrusted with the K hole darkness of ''I Take You As My Wife Again'' and delivers a reimagination that grips your attention thanks to the muddle of strings and oscillating synth arrangements. Finally the criminally short ambience of ''Witchcraft Breaker'' is stretched out and drowned in a wall of industrial strength sound by Hans-Joachim Irmler, founding member of German kraut-fathers Faust.