I put a record on

Sorry it's been a while - to say things have been hectic round TAPE's London HQ would be a "'Wombat' is quite good"-sized understatement. Apologies over; behold instead my current top....19.

Soft's Top 19 aka "Go easy on the Kompakt, son"
(14/03)

1. SUBSTANCE & VAINQUEUR - REVERBERATION // HARDWAX
Finely-tuned dub-techno workouts from the people who know

2. LOEFAH - DISKO REKAH // DEEP MEDI MUSIK
This has 'Left Leg Out' crossover potential scrawled over it - techy dubstep, in a good way


3. JURGEN PAAPE - FRUITY LOOPS [SPEICHER 47] // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Storming return from the elusive Kompakt founding father

4. JAMES YORKSTON - WOOZY WITH CIDER (QUIET VILLAGE REMIX) // DOMINO
Yorkston's slightly dodgy spoken-worder gets souped, er, down by QV, in the manner to which we're accustomed....

5. JUNIOR BOYS - LIKE A CHILD (CARL CRAIG MIX) // DOMINO and LAZY FAT PEOPLE - PIXEL GIRL (C2 REMIX) // PLANET E
Can't say either of these hold a candle to 'In The Trees' or any of Craig's unassailable 2006 offerings, but worth your attention all the same

6. JUSTUS KOHNCKE - ADVANCE (PRINS THOMAS REMIX) // KOMPAKT
The string-augmented rework of 'Elan' pales in comparison to the evergreen original, but the rhythmic makeover of 'Advance' is nothing if not interesting - a sort of off-step motorik that you should judge for yourself

7. BECK - CELL PHONE HIT (RICARDO VILLALOBOS REMIX) // INTERSCOPE
Wasn't too impressed to begin with, but at some point I was drawn in and now I can't get out...

8. KATE WAX / MIHOACAN - ST PLOMB & EMPEROR MACHINE REMIXES // TINY STICKS VS MENTAL GROOVE
Two of our favourite labels go head to head, with 'She's Heaven Sent' getting an instrumental treatment from the 'Machine and Kate Wax (whose vocal's I, for one, can't stand...) getting the once over from genius St Plomb

9. KATHY DIAMOND - OVER // PERMANENT VACATION

This ain't quite 'All Woman', but whether you choose the vocal or instrumental, it's an inarguable Fulton disco bomb

10. GUDRUN GUT - I PUT A RECORD ON LP // MONIKA ENTERPRISE
High priestess of the Berlin underground, sometime member of Einsturzende Neubauten and Thomas Fehlmann collaborator comes out with weirdly expressive, difficult to categorize but pretty rewarding LP

11. CARSTEN JOST - ATLANTIS I & II // DIAL
I was a latecomer to Dial; now I simply can't get enough. Give me Atlantis III and IV and V and VI...

12. ALEX UNDER - 1, 2, 3 RESPONDA OTRAPEZ // TRAPEZ
You know where you are with Alex Under on Trapez

13. HEARTTHROB - BABY KATE (REMIXES) // M-NUS
Min2Max's highlight gets a bunch of likeable if deeply unnecessary overhauls - standout versions come courtesy of Konrad Black and...Plastikman



14. STARDIVER / SUPERPITCHER - SPEICHER 48 // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Stardiver, as the name suggests, take us to the warm, trancey climes that Kompakt is known for but all too rarely delivers, while 'Pitch takes calls to mind Matias Aguayo's phenomenal Are You Really Lost LP with a slo-mo, druggy disco chugger

15. THE MISSING LINK - FISHIN' // WAGON REPAIR
Missing Link's '911' EP has a special place in my heart, and while 'Fishin'' isn't of quite the same calibre, the itchy grooves and totally unpredictable synth-work/programming will get right under your skin

16. ANDY STOTT - HANDLE WITH CARE // MODERN LOVE
Dubby, reduced techno a la Basic Channel from Manchester's finest

17. MAX MOHR - PLAY LP // PLAYHOUSE
Carnage and I have long been fans of Mohr's life-affirming ditty 'Old Song', and that track features on this, his 2nd album for Playhouse. Trickmixer's Revenge is no We Are Monster, but its heart's in the right place, and it's diverting enough.


18. REINHARD VOIGT - CHARGE YOUR DREAMS // KOMPAKT
Voigt is back, and he's peddling a nice line in undulating ambient synths and slick, bassy rhythm...This one's killer

19. LUSINE - PODGELISM (LAWRENCE REMIX) // GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL
Oh, Lawrence....


Still hot.....The Field - Here We Go Sublime LP // Kompakt; Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss LP // Dial; Minilogue - Elephant's Parade // Wagon Repair; LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum (Onastic Dub) // EMI; V.A. - Secret Weapons // Innervisions; Findlay Brown - Losing The Will To Survive (Wizard's Sleeve Edit) // White; Will Saul & Tam Cooper - Sequential Circus // Aus; V.A. - Silverbird Casino CD and, quite frankly, many, many more..




Anyway, Londoners among you need to pop down to the Lock Tavern in Camden tomorrow night (Thursday 15th March), where myself and Simon Carr will be at the controls, with a spot of live music from One More Grain and possibly matey from Cajun Dance Party and his...ukelele. Simon runs This Is Not An Exit records, and has put out top-notch gear by They Came From The Stars I Saw Them (their first single 'It's Time' featured a brilliant Optimo remix, and unwieldy new EP 'The Unstoppable Kite' is no less essential listening). Simon also has some sterling releases planned for '07, including a Hatchback 12" b/w ludicrously epic Prins Thomas remix. We'll be spinning disco, techno, kraut, whatever takes our fancy, all the while adhering to Simon's strict 'no neu-rave' policy (which raises some difficult decisions for the selector: Erol's instr. remix of 'Golden Skans' - neu-rave or not neu-rave???). Anyway, come down, get drunk, smoke your crack or whatever you kids do these days and witness me trainwreck The Groundhogs' 'Cherry Red' into the Mystikz, or something. We kick off at 8 and go til close (around midnight) and entry is of course FREE.

Ok, before I go, a couple of mp3s.

First up, a fine cut from Max Mohr's forthcoming Trickmixer's Revenge LP on Playhouse. The album is available from www.boomkat.com and www.phonicarecords.com , or check www.playhouse.de

Download: Max Mohr - Diamenten // Playhouse

And, to see you off, an edit of Cat Stevens' spectacularly uncharacteristic and frankly immortal electro jam 'Was Dog A Doughnut', by Pilooski. Get your mitts on Vol. 5 of Dark & Lovely, wherein Pilooski sets to work on Amon Duul, Jackson Jones and People - limited to 1000 copies, no represses, so make it sharpish.

Download:
Cat Stevens - Was Dog A Doughnut (PLSKI Edit) // Dark & Lovely

Check: www.d-i-r-t-y.com
and their awesome blog at: http://alainfinkielkrautrock.blogspot.com