9.0
8.0
Various
Rhadoo
Fabric 72
Fabric
Bleak, brilliant dispatch from
Romania
Raised against the backdrop of
communism, Rhadoo now spends
his time fostering a two-way musical
dialogue between his city of Bucharest
and the once-distant global clubbing
community. Like fellow [a:rpia:r]
label head Petre Inspirescu’s Fabric
dispatch, Rhadoo demonstrates the
compelling techno sound coming out of
the city (mainly because of the all-local
talent tracklist). Crafting a seamless,
exquisitely slow building mix, his feel for
dislocated percussion and scorched earth
dead-space is reminiscent of Villalobos,
edging his way through the live snare
thwacks of Vincentlulian’s ‘Rman 2’,
the malfunctioning arrhythmic grind of
Tulbure’s ‘Stalker’ and his own gristly
‘Circul Globus’. A jaw-dropping detour
into the more experimental realms of
minimalism. Louise Brailey
Kehakuma Mixed and Selected
By The Organ Grinder & Studio
Barnhus
Kehakuma
Out-of-season fun
Put together by British garage head The
Organ Grinder and Axel Boman, Kornél
Kovács and Petter Nordkvist’s Studio
Barnus imprint, this two-disc comp is not
necessarily what you’d expect from the
same night that brought techno talent
such as Sammy D, Edu Imbernon and
Levon Vincent to Space Ibiza this summer.
Nonetheless, the former is a palatable
mix of nu-garage and house that launches
with Organ Grinder’s own harmonic
two-step/house gem ‘Black Microdot’
and features tracks from Citizen, MCDE
and KiNK, before getting dark and tech-y
with Ben Sims and Jesper Dahlback & Cari
Lekebusch late on.
CD2 traces the quirky and idyllic soft-core
styles of the Studio Barnhus staple, before
moving into grubbier house territory
with tracks from San Proper, Move D and
Efdemin to complete a very playable
package. Adam Saville
John Talabot
DJ Kicks
!K7
9.0
Melodic odyssey
HE’S a slippery chap, John Talabot.
Reluctant to reveal his face to the
press, his music is equally elusive,
dif?cult to pin down as house,
disco, techno? Maybe even pop... or
something else completely. Truth is,
he’s all these things, by no means
for the sake of it. Emerging at the
beginning of 2012 with ‘Fin’ — one of
the most stunning debut LPs we’ve ever
encountered — his unique style is one
fashioned out of all of the above, yet
only his entirely.
On his mixed contribution to the
eminent ‘DJ Kicks’ legacy, his diverse
array of musical touch points are
arranged to create a linear mass
of organic texture. Majestic pop,
harmonic house and orchestral techno
are all sown together as a downyfeathered quilt of stodgy warmth,
the rich vein that’s become Talabot’s
trademark texture.
That’s not to say it’s homogeneous
— quite the opposite. On ?rst listen,
it’s spilling with so many ideas it feels
very much like a cluttered canvas.
220 djmag.com
Only on repeat listens do subtle
intricacies shine through as our ears
grow accustomed to John Talabot’s
murky world scattered with moments
of melodic treasure. In fact, initially
the ?rst 15 minutes are very much a
mire; a trippy underworld of an obscure
oubliette (Pye Corner Audio), sootslathered engine rooms (Andy Stott)
and sweltering jungle haunted by
tribal drums (Young Marco), until Axel
Boman’s ‘Klinsmann’ opens it out into
an Italo stomp.
The most impressive moments,
however, are those that uncurl
elements of unashamed pop into chestclutching set pieces. Moodymann’s
remix of Mara TK is a clunky r&b cut
before Alex Burkat’s ‘Shower Scene’
unleashes grandiose symphonic
techno. The highlight, however, is
Talabot’s own harmonic heartbeat
‘Glass’ and its transition into the lush
metallic melodies of Max Mohr’s ‘Old
Song’ — you need to hear it to believe
it. Adam Saville
9.0
8.0
Various
Various
Y-3
A Touch of Class Records
You probably know the Y-3 brand — it
is a coming together of Adidas and
avant-garde Japanese designer Yohji
Yamamoto. For a decade the two style
powerhouses have been collaborating
and now celebrate with a ?ne double-disc
collection of equally stylish sounds. As
well as some well-known names (Frank
from Âme, disco don Daniel Wang and
Mano Le Tough) there are plenty of gems
from lesser known/as yet undiscovered
stars. The ?rst of these is Blackjoy who
turns in the rinsing post jungle breaks of
‘Soubise’, whilst Kaoru Inoue’s offering is
also a loveably idiosyncratic slo-mo track
stuffed with digital textures, wiry synths
and metallic hues.
The familiar names are in ?ne form too:
Larry Heard’s ‘Three Spheres’ is a lush bit
of deep, downtempo and apocalyptic disco
and Maurice Fulton’s ‘Asteroids Playing
Ping Pong’ does exactly what it says on
the tin, making this a ?ne collection
overall. Kristian J Caryl
Pillowtalk producer Michael Tello
and Ray Zuniga’s A Touch of Class
imprint, having variously worked out
of San Francisco, Los Angeles and now
Berlin and New York, presents ‘Indian
Summer’, a quite glorious collection
of inventive, emotive, melodically
sophisticated, occasionally joyous
left?eld house music. Kenneth Scott’s
masterful ‘Lost Behind Her Eyes’ is
mesmerising. LuLo and Caballero’s
‘Prompt’ is peerless, moody electro
pop. Wolf + Lamb and Soul Clap crew
member Navid Izadi excels with
‘School’s Out’, resplendent with
a silken vocal from Jesse Rennix.
Then there’s Jamaica Suk’s ‘Forever
More’ and Tennis’s ‘Monocraft’, both
fabulous things. So little hyped
house music lives up to anything
approaching its hy ???? ????????)????????????????????????????????)????????????????Q????e????????????)?????????? ???????()d?????e???????????)M????????????????()%??????M????)
????????((0