Welcome to a special collaborative show featuring some of our favoraite music releases of 2009. Dave (Black Box) Yannick (Dokta) and Mike (Dancecast) discuss and debate some of the highlights from a strong year for electronic music. We are keen to get feedback from you about this show, it is something we want to repeat on a regular basis – simply email us [email protected].
We are also interested in your favoraite releases from this year, simply comment below or get onto our facebook page and discuss with our community…
Albums that we discuss on this show:
Fink – Sort Of Revolution chosen by Dave.
Track played was ‘Sort of Revolution’.
More info :www.finkworld.co.uk
Fink is the recording moniker of Finian Greenhall, who has made the unlikely musical journey from being an ambient techno trip-hop artist to a serious singer/songwriter in less than a decade. Born in Bristol, England, Greenhall was obsessed with guitar as a teenager, eagerly exploring the indie scene. Then he discovered raving, and the guitars went out the window as he immersed himself completely in ambient techno. Greenhall recorded an album of techno beats with Lee Jones (aka Hefner) that was eventually released under the name EVA by Kickin? Records in 1995. The record attracted the attention of Ninja Tune Records, which signed Greenhall as a trip-hop artist. Billing himself as Fink, Greenhall released a pair of EPs, 1997’s Finkfunk and 1998’s Front Side Blunt Side, on Ninja Tune’s Ntune imprint, then delivered the full-length Fresh Produce in 2000. But Fink was undergoing a sea change, and had picked up the guitar again. By the time the folky and acoustic-based Biscuits for Breakfast was released (again on the Ntune label) in 2006, Fink had completed the transformation from electronica artist into a full-fledged singer/songwriter, a move that initially baffled his fan base. In 2009, Fink issued the widely celebrated Sort of Revolution, a set that furthered his acoustic singer/songwriter ambitions, refined them, and combined them seamlessly with his DJ skills, albeit subtly and atmospherically.
Italoboyz – Bla Bla Bla chosen by Mike.
Track played was ‘Techno Tower’.
More info :www.italoboyz.com
Italoboyz are actually two grown men, Marco Donato and Frederico Marton. Bored with mainstream house in their native Italy, the pair moved to London in the nineties in search of a more underground sound. Since then they’ve been DJing parties and collaborating with producers such as James What, Ed Davenport, Gummihz and Alban Hi Dini, resulting in Italoboyz releases on the labels Treibstoff, Einmaleins Musik and Safari Electronique.
Donato also runs Minimal London, a collective of London-based producers that counts in its ranks Dub Kult, Mark Henning, Mark Ashken and Gummihz. Blending house, minimal and a wacky attitude, the Italoboyz might not play Italodisco, but they sure know how to have fun.
Gui Boratto – Take My Breath Away chosen by Yan.
Track played was ‘No Turning Back’.
More info :www.guiboratto.com.br
Born in 1974 in São Paulo Brazil, Gui Boratto, architect, musician, composer and producer initiated his career in the advertising sector in 1993. From 1994 until 2004 he performed various works for countless record labels both national and international, such as EMI, Virgin, Irma, BMG, Edel, Vidisco, ZYX, among others. It was 10 years of honest and competent work for consecrated artists such as Pato Banton, Garth Brooks, Steel Pulse, Desiree, Mano Chao, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Fernanda Porto, Kaleidoscópio, Leila Pinheiro, and many others.
Gui Boratto is A&R and one of the owners, with his partner and brother Tchorta, of the Brazilian independent label, Megamusic, distributed by Trama. From 2005 he began to dedicate himself to his own productions and compositions, displaying to the public an authoral and more personalized side to his abilities. With countless licenses with respected European labels, such as Plastic City, Circle, Kompakt, Audiomatique, among others, Gui Boratto has managed to appear in the chart and playlists of people like Michael Mayer, Tiefschwarz, Steve Bug, Phonique, Martin Landsky, Hernan Cattaneo, among others.
With respect for his talent growing in the world scene, Gui Boratto is a name to look out for on the Brazilian house, techno and minimal scene.
Josh Wink – When A Banana Was A Banana chosen by Dave.
Track played was ‘Counter Clock 319’.
More info :www.myspace.com/joshwink
In 1990, Josh met up with a kindred spirit, fellow Philly jock, King Britt whose interests also include rap and acid jazz. Pooling their interests and blending their differences, the duo waxed E-culture’s “Tribal Confusion” for respected New York based indie label, Strictly Rhythm. The record was a surprising commercial success and established both DJs as artists to watch on the global dance music scene.
1995 was an especially good year for Josh. He scored 3 consecutive European smashes – all out of his modest 16-track bedroom studio – which unquestionably took dance music to a dizzying plateau. First came “Don’t Laugh” – recorded as Winx and issued via Nervous Records – where Josh took a minimal techno beat and looped an incessant sample of a whacko laughing his head off. It was a stroke of sheer genius. The single broke down international language barriers and eventually sold more than 500,000 units.
Invitations to spin at prestigious nightspots all over the world have been pouring in since, but as his career has progressed, he has stayed true to his roots, never selling out and always maintaining his integrity, always coming home to his beloved Philadelphia.
Deadmau5 – For Lack of A Better Name chosen by Mike.
Track played was ‘The 16th Hour’.
More info :www.deadmau5.com
Deadmau5 (real name Joel Zimmerman) is a progressive house and electro house producer from Toronto, Canada. His extensive discography includes tracks such as “Arguru” and “Not Exactly”, which have been included in compilation albums such as In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza, MixMag’s Tech-Trance-Electro-Madness (mixed by Deadmau5 himself), and on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show. His debut album, Random Album Title, was released in 2008, with its follow-up compilation album of old and new songs, For Lack of a Better Name, in 2009. On October 28, 2009, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, placing Ultra Records artist Deadmau5 at #6, a jump from #11 the previous year.
As well as his own extensive solo back catalogue, Deadmau5 is recognised for his work alongside numerous other DJs and producers, such as:Kaskade, MC Flipside, Rob Swire of Pendulum, and Steve Duda under the BSOD alias.
Flunk – This Is What You Get chosen by Yan.
Track played was ‘Common Sense’.
More info :www.flunkmusic.com
The band began as a project between Ulf, and Jo in Oslo, Norway in winter 2000 and 2001. Beginning as an instrumental and sampled vocal project, they were signed for a track on a compilation by Beatservice Records in winter 2001. On hearing the finished track, label manager Vidar Hanssen signed the unnamed band for a full album.
During early summer 2001, Ulf and Jo recorded most of the album and Anja improvised the vocals. After their vocals, Jo layered the guitars, but it would be a year before the album would be completed and released. In spring 2002, the band was known as Flunk and they released their first single, a cover of New Order’s Blue Monday in April. The track was well received in the UK and was included on numerous compilations in North America and Europe. Later in April, their debut album For Sleepyheads Only was released which garnered great reviews in Norway.
Throughout 2003 their debut, For Sleepyheads Only was still being echoed across the globe in staggered releases with special editions released to Russia and Greece. Beatservice Records then went on to release Treat Me Like You Do – For Sleepyheads Only Remixed in June. While their debut continued to make its way around, the band wasted no time and began work on their second album for the majority of the year, which was recorded in Paris in October.
Their second album, Morning Star was finished in March 2004 and saw a Norwegian release in May while it was released in the rest of the world in June. In 2005, Play America was released on Beatservice Records which included bonus tracks from the US version of Morning Star along with remixes. In 2007 Flunk released their next album, Personal Stereo, while May 2009 saw the release of This Is What You Get, which includes a cover version of Radiohead’s Karma Police.
Susumu Yokota – Mother chosen by Dave.
Track played was ‘Ray Of Light’.
More info :www.susumuyokota.org
Susumu Yokota is a prolific Japanese composer. Yokota is well known in the English-speaking independent music scene for his albums of experimental ambient music. However, he has also had a long career as a house music DJ and has released several highly-regarded albums of house music. He has released several albums under pseudonyms including Stevia, Ebi, and others.
Susumu Yokota has released his work on several different labels most recent of which is Lo Recordings in collaboration with Skin Tone.
Lee Coombs – Light & Dark chosen by Mike.
Track played was ‘Not A Game (ft “Seasunz”)’.
More info :www.leecoombs.com
Light and Dark is the culmination of Lee’s nearly 20 years on the forefront of electronic music and takes listeners through a history of electronic music, whether they know it or not. The album carries the raw essence and edginess of 1991’s burgeoning musical birth without seeming contrived. Lee has managed to warp time it seems by creating a masterpiece of a record that seamlessly blends his musical experience and genius from both the past and the present. Grimey old school analog sounds fused with bold techy drum progressions and the BIG tech funk sound that Lee is known for. The innovative use of vocal cuts and Lee’s innate ability to infect all his music with that little touch of dirty sonic mayhem really take this record to the next level.
Fusing all the elements of the genres he favors is a definitive mark of Lee Coombs’ music. By integrating elements of Tech-Funk (a genre that didn’t exist before Lee and a few other industry vets – Elite Force, Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, coined the phrase), Breaks, House, Electro and Techno, Coombs has once again has broken the boundaries of music and how we perceive it. Light and Dark pushes all the right buttons by somehow fusing essential elements of everything we love about electronic music, those intangible parts that can never be explained, just experienced.
Parov Stelar – Coco chosen by Yan.
Track played was ‘Coco’.
More info :www.parovstelar.com
Parov Stelar aka Marcus Füreder is a musician who lives and works in Linz, Austria. His style is characterized by the freedom of jazz combined with the groove of house and breakbeat. He performs as a DJ worldwide, where his sample-heavy remixes borrow enough from both modern beats and 1930s jazz as to be appropriate for both the dancefloor or the easy chair. His creative blends of old and new sounds have lead some [who?] to describe his music as steampunk or neo-Victorian. Parov Stelar is the head of Etage Noir Recordings.
Outro track – Lee Coombs – Moog Acid
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