Moves

Yo, I'm slowly piecing my life back together after a fun but terribly exhausting weekend in Bristol which I will bore you about at length in the very near future. For now, enjoy a little survey of my current listening and a few related mp3s.

Softie's Current Top 10

1. REKID – RETRO ACTIVE // SOUL JAZZ My favourite track on Made in Menorca eschews the kind of disturbed slo-mo disco-dub grooves that characterize its neighbours on the LP, and instead blossoms into a (relatively) pitched-up Balearic disco-houser, absolutely stunning in its simplicity, melody and stylistic aplomb. The rising builds, kept in check (and therefore, I guess, set free) by the lo-fi production aesthetic should see ‘Retro Active’ turning the world’s more discerning dancefloors into so much euphoric rubble this summer. Buy the LP, it’s a grade A stonker, as I never tire of informing you.

Download:
Rekid – Retro Active // Soul Jazz

2. RHYTHM & SOUND – SEE MI YAH (BASIC CHANNEL VERSION) and POOR PEOPLE MUST WORK (CARL CRAIG REMIX) // BURIAL MIX Burial Mix save the best for last, with the fourth and final of the versioned R&S series boasting a pair of spanking dub-techno edits from the boys themselves (as Basic Channel) and the tirelessly good Carl Craig. You know what to expect; so go buy…

3. BOOKA SHADE – IN WHITE ROOMS (ELEKTROCHEMIE REMIX) // GET PHYSICAL I’ve swayed back and forth this year, but once again I feel intensely bored by Get Physical. The tune that everyone’s saying will be this year’s ‘Mandarine Girl’ (which, I think it’s fair to say, it won’t be) is undoubtedly superb, but even taking into account the pop-sophisticated production we can always rely on Booka Shade to lay down, it leaves me lusting after something rather more grotty and, frankly, more obtuse. Hoover-bass-botherer Thomas Schumacher dons his Elektrochemie cap to provide a solid mix, stripping back the yearning melodies of the original and turning up the punchy synths. Both versions are a certain kind of dancefloor firepower, for sure, but we deserve more fresh ideas from electronic music in 2006, don’t you think?

4. MORGAN GEIST – MOVES EP // ENVIRON I know, I know, I should be talking ‘bout his new Most of All 12” which just popped out, but last night I found this 2002 release secreted in the ‘Flying Burrito Brothers’ folder of my hard drive, which it seems to have been calling home for at least a year and a half. Still, what a blinding rediscovery – three muscular tracks of at once clean and very busy boogie.

Download:
Morgan Geist - Probs // Environ

5. DK7 – LIFE IS EVERYWHERE (PAUL WOOLFORD DUB OF DEATH) // OUTPUT I haven’t leapt on Output releases of late, but after some transitional problems they seem to’ve finally sorted out a fulsome catalogue for us to look forward to in ’06, including some interesting bits from Lopazz, How to Curse Dyslexia and George Demure to come. On this track, Paul ‘Erotic Discourse’ Woolford takes apart DK7’s ‘Life is Everywhere’ to fashion an industrial, bassy electro-growler which will shake up your dancefloor good, and tickle your cerebellum while it’s at it.

6. CANDIDATE – ANTICIPATION (SERGE SANTIAGO & CHRIS BONES REMIX) // WHITE I completely creamed myself over Serge’s mix of The Sunshine Underground, and retrospect has told me quite how inordinate my praise was. So it’s with some trepidation that I get on my knees and kiss the ass of this tune, Candidate’s ‘Anticipation’ as ripped to shreds by Santiago and his mucker Bones. It’s rangy, big-cocked electro-house with retro vibes and more peaks, drops and hooks than I can be bothered to recount; suffice to say, it will absolutely kill out. Can’t believe I (dis)missed this when it appeared last month….

Download:
Candidate – Anticipation (Serge Santiago & Chris Bones Remix) // White

7. JIMPSTER – LOVE YOU BETTER (JESSE ROSE REMIX) // FREERANGE Wherein the Dubsided fella delivers a tough but deep version of a not-at-all-bad Freerange tune, working in some phased, Detroity keys to offset his usual urgent electronics. Sound.

8. ALEX SMOKE – DON’T SEE THE POINT (HENRIK SCHWARZ REMIX) // SOMA Mellow jazz-tech (not as bad as that makes it sound) edit from the increasingly ubiquitous Schwarz, found on Smoke’s Brian’s Lung EP which emerged this time last year; the odd, morose vocal is stretched out a wee bit and cradled in bold drum patterns before giving way to the most elegant, heart-rending piano motif I’ve heard in a house record in a long time. Really nice.

9. HEADMAN – MOISTURE (DARE DEVIL’S MY MIDDLE NAME) (MUSTAPHA 3000 REMIX) // GOMMA Completely ignored this, what with everything Headman/Manhead having released in the last year or so being, to my ears at least, inexplicably and unrelentingly dull and/or crap; but here the ever-on-a-roll Erol A fashions something completely unmissable out of something wholly forgettable. I wonder what his Long Blondes productions are going to sound like? Anyone heard ‘em?

10. WARLOCK - JUST A FACE IN THE STREET // RAG & BONE RECORDS Fast, strong-arm dubstep cut to punish the dancefloor with; you should also really check out Warlock's Dirtage mix, an absurd but brilliant tape that he laid down in April - it swings from gutter grime and darkstep to industrial techno with ravey signatures, and for better or wose recalls the spirit of Jilted-era Prodigy - it's not always a pleasurable listen, but it's never a dull one. Head here where you can download it jus' like that.