There aren’t many actual new releases this time of year, but we’ve gotten in so many cool reissues and other interesting tidbits that we felt it was worth putting one final list together for 2013. RECKLESS RECORDS 2013 BEST SELLERS1. Daft Punk Random Access Memories2. Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City3. National Trouble Will Find Me4. Queens of the Stone Age Like Clockwork5.
Arcade Fire Reflektor6. Savages Silence Yourself7.
Atoms for Peace Amok8. Kurt Vile Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze9. Nick Cave Push the Sky Away10. Yo La Tengo Fade11. Repos Live Munitions12. Deerhunter Monomania13. Foxygen We are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic14.
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My Bloody Valentine MBV15. David Bowie The Next Day16. Neko Case The Worse Things Get the Harder I Fight.17. Boards of Canada Tomorrow’s Harvest18. Sigur Ros Kveikur19. Phoenix Bankrupt20.
Phosphorescent Muchacho21. Knife Shaking the Habitual22. Bill Callahan Dream River23.
Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience24. Grouper Man Who Died in His Boat25.
Kanye West Yeezus26. Mikal Cronin MCII27. Rhye Woman28. Ty Segall Sleeper29. Implodes Recurring Dream30.
Arttu – Passing Out Privileges LP (Clone)Baker/Cain/Derbyshire – BBC Radiophonic Music LP (Music on Vinyl) 180g reissue of legendary BBC library recordings!Matt Baldwin – Imaginary Psychology LP w/ 7” (Spiritual Pajamas)Greg Beato – Who’s the Licho? 12” (Apron)Jake Bugg- Shangri-La LP (Island) Now on vinyl!Burial – Rival Dealer CDEP/12” (Hyperdub) This is only at the Wicker Park store for now. The other two stores will have them on Wednesday. Sorry, running low already!Cabaret Voltaire – Micro-phonies CD/LP (Mute) reissueCabaret Voltaire – Crackdown CD/LP (Mute) reissueCabaret Voltaire – The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord CD/LP (Mute) reissueCabaret Voltaire – #8385: Collected Works 1983-1985 4LP/6CD/2DVD (Mute)Can – Vinyl Box Set 17LP (Mute) That’s right: a 17 -LP, 180g box set with five posters, a 20-page booklet & limited to 1,500 copies!
A Wilhelm Scream – Partycrasher CD/LP (No Idea)Acidic Tree – Dead On Our Feet 7” (Self-released)ARU – DPV 3.5 CD/LP (Captcha)Ascension – Broadcast 2CD (Shock)Ascension – Five Titles CD (Shock)Autistic Youth – Nonage LP (No Idea)Peter Broderick – Float 2013 Addendum 7” (Erased Tapes)Blue Sky Black Death – Glaciers 2LP (Fake Four) Now on vinyl!Bump & the Soul Stompers – I Can Remember b/w Standing on the Outside 7” (Numero Group)Camel Heads – Anoluz CD/LP (Captcha)City Mouse/Weekend Dads – Split 7” (It’s Alive)Charles Cohen – Middle Distance LP (Morphine)R.
Review: As Modeselektor's label reaches the final stages of its life, it is clear that it is going out with a bang rather than a whimper. Central to this impressive swan song is Benjamin Damage, one of the most prolific artists on the label. Here, he delivers 'Battle', a dense, pumping track, its layered textures riding over tough, dub-heavy beats and rasping percussion. In a similar vein is US producer Truncate's contribution.
Following on from his 2014 release on the label, he delivers '86'. The groove is less busy than Benjamin Damage but no less effective, thanks to the use of chilling strings and dramatic bass tones, a fitting requiem for the label. Review: The latest release on Involve brings together some of the most respected names in hard-edged techno. Cleric's 'Purge' is led by tough kicks and firing percussive bursts, similar in style to his peer SP-X. On 'Left Behind', Setaoc Mass, another UK producer, goes deeper for a rolling, hypnotic groove that still benefits from the power of heavy drums. From there on in, the release veers in a surprising direction: Truncate's 'Feel This Way' resounds to a jerky rhythm, jazzed out chords and bleep-y tones, while on 'Green Kush', Victor Santana from Chaval lays down a pumping, big-room track, layered in mesmerising chords. Review: With his Modularz label becoming a firm bastion of unfiltered techno machinations, Developer sets about bombarding our senses with his productions and curations across this eight track release.
His own track 'Heated' rattles through an industrial landscape devoid of colour, instead populated by reverb decays and distant clangs of metal, while 'Dirty Drive' sees him stretching to work a melody into his machinery, coming out with a metallic dub chord drowning in its own echo, and 'Dirty Drive 2' adds some complexity to the musicality and creates an utterly engrossing hook in the process. Shifted's remix meanwhile keeps a careful distance between the clean beat and the murky textures of the dubby elements. Handing over to Truncate, 'Diffraction' flips the script with a central melodic hook and a thoroughly austere beat, while Jonas Kopp's remix beefs up that same theme by doubling up the phrase and edging towards a peak time monster, and Markus Suckut takes things deeper and into a more house compatible realm. For a real lesson in refined techno composition however, head straight to Stanislav Tokachev's 'Building Peaks'. Simplicity doesn't come more captivating than that synth line. Review: Affin does a fine job representing tough techno on Chosen. Samuel Session's take on Roberto's 'The Land Of The Midnight Sun' is an anthem in waiting, its murderous bass supporting an insistent ringing bell and visceral percussion.
The same could be said of Chemie's 'Entropy', where waves of chords build over a stomping backing. This split release isn't solely concerned with the peak time however, and Joachim Spieth's take on Deepchild's 'Glitches Ain't Shit' sees stripped back rhythms and hissing percussion splutter their way along to the sound of melodic climaxes.
Truncate is also in a more pensive than usual mood and the shards of dissected drums that populate '1' show that he too has an experimental side. Review: After four solid years of tough linear club techno that's not budged from the morals Truncate set on day one, the first remix package for his music finally arrives. Mark Broom and Ben Sims - long-time stalwarts of straight club constructions - make a more than suitable choice to redefine these first few tracks. Sims takes on 'Dial' and 'Bodega', re-channelling the filters and adding extra white noise percussion to the former while reducing the bulky minimalism of the latter. Broom adds extra rim-shots, Chicagoan clutter and speckles of dub to 'Jack' while Truncate himself chips in with his own tribal rework of 'Concentrate' from 2011. Review: Few if any contemporary producers do heads-down techno better than Truncate, as his latest EP for Blueprint demonstrates. What really sets the LA producer apart is his ability to tease out new sounds and nuances while still maintaining maximum impact.
For example, 'The Bell' is a rolling, rhythm-heavy affair that resounds to ticking percussion and pounding drums, but also drops into atmospheric reveries. Similarly, on 'Initials', Truncate visits Miill-style minimalism, but adds his own touch with some deft, detuned sounds, while 'Timbre' sees him deliver a rolling percussive affair that builds and drops subtly thanks to some wild tonal progressions. Review: The fearsomely prolific Gynoid Audio label from Australia returns with this sturdy business from Truncate. '31' is a particularly grooving number from one of the key champions of stripped down, raw techno, letting those devastatingly simple rhythms interlock and trail out into hypnotic eternity. DJ Hyperactive brings a touch more tone and pulse to his remix, adding some choice electronic tomfoolery into the mix for a more quirky end result.
Jonas Kopp is serious about bringing some punchy, un-budge-able beats into the fray for his version, but he knows just when to let an extra layer of hat rip out for those energy ramp ups, and likewise when to hold back. Advanced Human & Black Hats team up for the last remix, whipping up a more brooding dub tone that contrasts with the percussive focus of the other tracks.
Review: Maybe it's because he is releasing on Modeselektor's label that US producer Truncate has chosen a different approach than usual. Whatever the explanation, Pressurize is full of surprises. The only real dance floor track on the release is 'Bipolar', a stripped back, functional minimal techno groove that gets increasingly intense thanks to its grimy acid undercurrent. Elsewhere, Truncate is in more reflective mood. Both 'Breakdown' and 'Dial 20' are chord-heavy stepping grooves that combine the intensity of Technasia with the bassy power of Shed.
Just in case there was any doubt that Pressurize marks a sideways shift for Truncate, the title track is led by dubby chords and slowed down, teased out beats. Review: Hot on the heels of a fine new version of Truncate's 2014 single '71' comes this fresh EP of dancefloor dynamite from David Flores's best-known project.
Appearing on James Ruskin's long-running Blueprint label for the very first time, Flores kicks things off with the no-nonsense techno roller that is 'Terminal 5', a dark, brooding foray into pitch-black techno territory typical of the British label's output. 'Process' is similarly minded but slightly more positive in outlook, with mildly foreboding electronics and a repeated vocal sample riding a rubbery techno groove. 'Tribal Tool', an exercise in drum machine percussion and dense African drums, completes a rock solid package. Review: For the west coast techno scene of America, Developer and Truncate are a one stop shop for club techno.
Where Developer's production goes large, Truncate's focus is primitive techno minimalism - for David Flores, his peak time productions come packaged as Audio Injection. Truncate fans will notice the similarities of 'Control V1' to 'Concentrate' (recently commissioned for Pangaea's fabric live 73) from 2011.
Truncate manages to strip back 'Control V2' even more, which puts greater emphasis on the ketamine drugged computer vocal, while 'Reflex V1' and 'Reflex V2' are also incarnations of themselves; one minimal, the other more so. Review: The 15th release on techno titan Truncate's eponymous label contains three alternative versions of previously released gems. First up you'll find a vocal-free version of angular and metallic 2011 throb-job 'Focus', where relentless cymbals and two-note loops ride a pounding kick-drum pattern. Next, he unloads a bubbling, acid-fired 'V2' take on 2012 jack-track 'Modify' - all layered percussion, razor-sharp electronics and wayward TB-303 lines - before dedicated all of side B to a tasty alternate riff on 'Mira Mar'. The original was one of his deepest and dreamiest techno tracks, so it's nice to see that he's retained the warm chords and tumbling melodies amongst the delay-laden beats and gentle acid lines. Review: West coast techno hero and Droid Behavior affiliate David Flores aka Truncate is back on his eponymous imprint, its 13th release presented here.
'Wave 1' is a restrained yet suspenseful journey that's full of warm dubby elements, a dreamy bell melody and emotive strings. This one is great to lead into or out of the pre-peak time phase to make a great transition. By contrast, the offering on track 2 entitled 'Hardware Jam 4' is much more intense and just like the name suggests, you can feel the raw energy of this clearly improvised track which retains all the energy and spontaneity of the occasion. A raw, stripped and powerful track on here. Review: It sounds like David Flores aka Truncate has delved deep to come up with the tracks for his latest EP. 'WRKTRX 2', which kick-starts the release, revolves around the kind of dramatic organ riff that would have been common in the darker recesses of 90s New York house. Meanwhile, 'WRKTRX Rhythm 1', with its stripped back rhythm and raw percussive layers, draws inspiration from Dan Bell and even Richie Hawtin side projects like Basement Trax.
On 'WRKTRX 3', the US producer mines classic Beltram and even Dave Angel for a high-impact, vocal-sampling techno track, while he taps Jimmy Edgar to deliver a Detroit techno oriented take on '3', the version powered by a Juan Atkins-style bass and tight percussive volleys. Review: Jimmy Edgar and Truncate sound like an unusual pairing, but on Submission they come together for an inspired collaboration. Over tight claps and a linear groove, a pitched-down robot vocal intones the track's title and the result is like a modern take on classic Dan Bell. Edgar's own version adds little more than an insistent tonal bleep, while Truncate's take is tougher and rougher, the bass drum pushed to the point of distortion and rolling snares crashing in mercilessly. Kris Wadsworth delivers the last remix and turns it into a dusty, deep house jam, led by dubbed out chords and an insistent rhythm. Review: It's fair to say that this release has been a labour of love.
Five years in the making, label owner Emmanuel has chosen a collection of tracks from his dream team of techno producers. This means that ASC's breathy ambience 'Stasis' sits beside deep, at times acid -soaked pulsing rhythms from Boston 168, Unbalance and Forward Strategy Group as well as peak-time rollers from emerging artists like Cleric and industrial bangers courtesy of scene veterans like Dustin Zahn.
While the inclusion of producers such as Subjected and the fast rising I Hate Models is sure to put increased focus on this compilation, its real, lasting value are the more cerebral contributions such as Emmanuel's own 'Bridge of Quietness'. Review: This compilation spans a range of sounds, but is testament to the fact that despite its diversity, Affin has always been a byword for quality underground dance music. From the stepping, understated 'Minus One' by Truncate to the woodwind-led house of 'Stalking You' by James Hunter and the gorgeous, jazzy, filtered groove of Jamal Moulay's 'Le Push', 100 does a lot to showcase the label's penchant for deep dance music. Joachim Spieth's 'Sensual' boasts hypnotic Basic Channel-style chords, but the beats are tougher and denser. Reggy Van Oers's 'Centipede' veers further down this chord-driven, dubby techno path and Affin also celebrates the harder end of techno with the utilitarian, Berghain-influenced linear sound of Chemie & Ian Kran's 'Nucleated Thought'.
Review: The quality of the 50 Weapons output is always supreme and our German friends really do know how to pull together a diverse and extensive collection of their latest catalogue signings - a sure buy for anyone wanting a glimpse into the world of the most cutting-edge bass music around. Among the twelve stormers we have Dark Sky's 'Shutter Speed' which pulls together wacky basslines and rolling tech beats; Addison Groove's usual footwork magic represented here as 'I Go Boom'; 'Malfunction (Despair) by the nuttiest technoid producer known to man - A Made Up Sound - and even Marcel Dettman's foreboding 'Linux' monster. An essential collection.
Review: What a line-up. Featuring the likes of Bok Bok, Teki Latex, Helix & Hrdvsion and Surkin & Todd Edwards, this compilation is an essential purchase.
From claustrophobic, dead-of-night meanderings to Miami-highway cheesefests and back again, there's no style to pin down here, just a ton of excellent tunes vying for your attention. All the way from dark, insular beats to New Order/Depeche Mode-esque arms-in-the-air whirlwinds (Crystal & Ikonika - thank you), there isn't a time you'll be bored, and that's a guarantee. Get this now.