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Cognition Electronics Report and Chart for May 1999
Grab a pen and pad and take a deep breath because we’ve got a crateful of fine electronic music releases to sort through this month. Ninja Tune is kicking our asses into spring with a tempting trio in the form of Mr. Scruff’s “Get A Move On!” EP, The Irresistible Force’s “Fish Dances” package with its remixes from Jimpster, Frederic Galliano, Plaid, Voda, and MMM, and the incredible new album from The Herbaliser. “Very Mercenary” is a potent blend of instrumental beats with guest MCs What What, Bahamadia, Blade, Roots Manuva, and Canada’s own Dream Warriors bringing along the verbal punch. Speaking of hip hop, the 7” from El Captain Funkaho on Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stones Throw imprint is one crazy piece of wax, sorta like George Clinton for the year 2000. And while we’re on the spoken word angle, check out Tobias Schmidt’s debut album on Neil Landstrumm’s Brooklyn based Scandinavia. More known for his abstract and innovative techno, Schmidt proves he’s got a sarcastic wit with his deadpan stories on “Le Chimp Automatique”. Hydrant continue with their sure and steady release schedule and quality over quantity motto with their seventh release, Proem’s “Burn Plate No. 1” album. Intelligent rhythms and memorable melodies guaranteed to win them more followers and for good reason. Emanate made a bold entrance last year with its debut compilation and now hits us with full lengths from Lilienthal and If.Then.Else that come highly recommended, as are the latest on another new and exciting young American label, Pitchcadet. M-Tec’s “Data Life” album, Accelera Deck’s “Conviction And Crack” LP, and the selftitled EP from Yunx all deserve your support. Portland’s OMCO are back with an album from Signaldrift; “.060” is a hazy dream of sound from talented brothers Franz and Jason Bucholtz. Caipirinha follows up the Taylor Deupree-compiled “Microscopic Sound” project with David Toop’s “Museum Of Fruit”, a masterful work of sonic fiction and the third in the Architettura series of releases inspired by architecture. Fellow New York label Oxygen Music Works unveils the latest from Riz Maslen’s Small Fish With Spine project on the “Ultimate Sushi” EP (it’s damn good, as expected), and the “Molecular Dreams” full length from Brooklyn duo Lee “Onester” Rodriguez and Steven Cradden, collectively known as Elements Of Life. To the West Coast of the continent now, and we find the “Ether” EP from Cooldown on Vancouver’s Map imprint. 6 tracks from vocalist Miss Benny and musician Greg Price, plus a remix from Phil Western, all with that chunky, goodgroove vibe that show that Cooldown are feelin’ the funk. If you dug the recent Weed release on Nettwerk, this should be on your must buy list as well. Dropping down to California, we find W’s “Dukes Up” getting a techstep workout from DJ Abstract and a luscious deep house rerub from Josh Michaels aka DJ Iz. Exist Dance head Tom Chasteen has morphed into the Ballistic Mystic and comes up with a samplehappy “Miami”/”Rock The Place” doublepack winner destined to please a variety of DJs. Heck, he even nabs a big slice of “Bang The Box” from Richie Hawtin’s early Jackmaster guise from years back. British releases of note include the new “Nod” EP from 310 on Tony Morley’s experimental Leaf label (not to be confused with Canadian Little T’s housey Leaf), while Rephlex unleashes album number two in as many months from Bogdan Raczynski. “Samurai Math Beats” is the tweenie in the BR bunch—he’s got yet another album coming later this year. I’ve always been a huge fan of D’Arcengelo (yet another two-brothers-make-a-band scenario), and am happy to report that their “Shipwreck” LP is yet another brick in their sturdy catalog of musical excellence. Aphex Twin does his take on electro on the “Windowlicker” 3 tracker on Warp, out now through Sire in North America. There’s a double CD available from The Future Pilot on Robin “Scanner” Rimbaud’s Sulphur label (available on Beggars Banquet in Canada and the United States); “Future Pilot AKA Vs A Galaxy Of Sound” sees Sushil K Dade (formerly of the Soup Dragons and The Telstar Ponies, and currently a member of the BMX Bandits) collaborating with the likes of Two Lone Swordsmen, Suicide’s vocalist Alan Vega, James Kirk of Orange Juice, Cornershop, and others. The Seperator Series is new to Munich’s Disko B, designed to showcase electronic music in tandem with video explorations from artist Georg Gaigl. Those involved in the music include Hans Platzgumer, Gerhard Potuznik, CaMi Tokujiro, Da Poschl, Hecker, and Peter Hollinger, with plenty more to come. The selftitled EP from Shinto is number two in the batch following Cube & Sphere’s “Amundsen” 12”. Also working with music and visuals is Sweden’s Lucky People Center, comprised of Simon Hartley (known for his recent material as Wildplanet on Detroit’s 430 West), Jean-Louis Huhta, Johan Soderberg, and Erik Pauser. “Interference” is their third album, with material sourced from their “LPC-International” film, plus music inspired by the piece. The results are quite unique; from idm to electro and techno to a track featuring post porn star Annie Sprinkle, and another with Sogyal Rinpoch, a Tibetan lama. The UK’s Blood and Fire continue to lovingly package lost classics from the roots scenes of the 70s, this time focusing on the work of King Tubby with “Dub Like Dirt 1975-1977”, timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of his murder. If you know dub, you already know Tubby. If you’re listening to people like Horace Andy, Massive Attack, and other contemporary artists, you owe it to yourself to investigate the pioneers such as Tubby who played a huge part in making today’s electronic music and recording methods possible. Another departed master is Miles Davis. Check out Columbia’s “Panthalassa: The Remixes” where contemporary artists such as DJ Cam and King Britt inject new blood into Miles’ vision. Also on the remix front is the “Additional Productions” album from Funkstorung. Along with a collaboration with superstar turntablist DJ Craze, there’s amazing remixes of East Flatbush Project, Various Artists, Bjork, Wu-Tang Clan, and 3 more here; hear em and you’ll be convinced that remixing done well truly is an art. Finally, let’s check out what’s new in the world of compilations. Originally out in 1993, Exist Dance has reissued the classic “Transmitting From Heaven”, famous for oft-licensed material like Tranquility Bass’ “Cantamilla” and High Lonesome Sound System’s “Champion Sound”. Also out of California, investigate the “San Francisco Plasmafunk” package on Mephisto through Om, guaranteed to be providing the juice at a venue near you soon with Q Burns Abstract Message, BMF, and Fluid Motion on the bill. Drum n bassheads will want to dig into the triplepack from Ltj Bukem’s Good Looking imprint; “Points In Time” collects Source Direct, Blame, Blu Mar Ten, and other wunderkinds and brings them all together. More in the listening techno vein is “Buckingham Palace”; taking part here are DJs and producers involved in the District Six agency such as Deepart, ADJ, and LA Synthesis; great stuff all around. With tongues firmly in cheek and all hands on the dials, Brighton’s No Future camp bring us their second Trash compilation where Neil Landstrumm, Cristian Vogel, Jamie Lidell, Jansky Noise, and the rest of the crew tread new paths in soundshaping. Certainly not something you’ll want to play at a wedding party, for example, but perfect for annoying the neighbors and maybe even jumping around to a bit. As Oscar the Grouch himself sings in the extro, “I love it because it’s trash.” That’s all for this month, folks. You can take a breath now. Whew! Cognition Electronics Top 20 1. Proem—“Burn Plate No. 1” album (US Hydrant DAT)
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