Manchester, England, production duo Rae & Christian — Mark Rae and Steve Christian — will release the follow-up to their acclaimed 1998 debut, Northern Sulphuric Soul, Feb. 27 through Studio K7. Titled
Sleepwalking, the album continues down the mellow, jazz-influenced path blazed by their debut, and features collaborations with the Pharcyde, Cedric Myton of Jamaican reggae legends the Congos and soul singer Bobby Womack. Rae & Christian released the mix-CD Blazing the Crop earlier this year, a hip-hop-heavy collection that included tracks by the Jungle Brothers and Mr. Scruff. ...
A collection of eight remixes by J. Swinscoe, leader of the futuristic jazz band Cinematic Orchestra, has recently been released by Ninja Tune. Deep, brooding and heavy in the style of the group's stellar 1999 debut, Motion, Remixes: 98-2000 includes Swinscoe's versions of Faze Action's "Moving Cities" and Kenji Eno's "The Fear Theme," plus a remix by Tom Tyler of the majestic track "Channel One Suite" from Motion. Cinematic Orchestra are currently working on their second album, according to the band's spokesperson. ...
Finnish experimental electronic-music duo Pan sonic will release its fourth U.S. album, titled Aaltopiiri (which translates loosely as "waveform"), Jan. 16. Although it contains 17 tracks of metallic textures that are alternately sparse, fragile and taut, the album is united by a sensitivity to the stark emotion conveyed by machine-made music in an abstract setting. Although still steadfastly minimal in their approach, Pan sonic's Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen have largely shifted away from the at times abrasive tones and crackles of their earlier records. ...
French live jazz-house quintet St. Germain will play four U.S. shows in December in support of their second album, Tourist, which came out in October. Riding on the dance-floor popularity of the album's lead single, "Rose Rouge" (RealAudio excerpt), St. Germain — led by producer/programmer Ludovic Navarre — has met with surprising Stateside success. The band, which also includes Edouard Labor on flute and saxophone, Claudio De Qeiroz on baritone saxophone, Pascal Ohse on trumpet and Idrissa Diop on talking drum, will perform December 8 at Irving Plaza in New York City; December 9 at the Metro in Chicago; December 11 at Bimbo's in San Francisco; and December 13 the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. ...
Chicago house and techno mainstay Cajmere (born Curtis A. Jones) has released his first-ever mix-CD, Techno-Funk, on 303 Recordings. One of dance music's most innovative and flashy artists, Cajmere (who is also known as Green Velvet) has recorded several of the genre's classic tracks, including "Answering Machine" and "Preacher Man," and is also one of its most popular DJs and live performers. (Green Velvet, released earlier this year, collected 12 of his singles.) Techno-Funk features several of Cajmere's own tracks, as well as some of techno's finest underground producers, including Joey Beltram, James Ruskin and Jay Denham. ...
Pacou, one of Berlin's leading minimal-techno producers, has scheduled four American performances in support of his recent album, State of Mind. A former resident at Berlin's legendary Tresor club, Pacou's (born Lars Lewandowski) debut was the 1996 EP Reel Techno, which he followed up the next year with his first album, Symbolic Language, both of which were hailed as advancements for hard, refined techno. The dates for Pacou's U.S. shows are: Nov. 28 at Butter in Philadelphia; Nov. 29 at Phoenix Landing in Cambridge, Mass.; Dec. 4 at Rivertown Lounge in New York City; and Dec. 8 at Motor Lounge in Detroit. ...
The final element in the "Dream Sequence" trilogy begun by veteran Detroit techno producer Blake Baxter in 1992 is set for a January 2001 release on Berlin's Tresor Records. Dream Sequence III feat. Blake Baxter: The Collective follows Tresor's recent reissue of the series' inaugural EP, which featured remixes and added bonus tracks. The new volume is a double album of 21 tracks, including "FM Disko," the first single, which will also be released as an EP with exclusive tracks. Baxter began his career in the mid-'80s — around the same time as fellow Detroit pioneers Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May — and played drums for Saunderson's Inner City outfit as well as for Nitzer Ebb. Influential in the formation of Detroit techno's early style, Baxter put out some of the first records on the Underground Resistance label and also started his own imprint, Mix. The second "Dream Sequence," a 1995 LP, included the dance-floor hits "The La La Song" and "Drum Major." ...
Experimental techno duo Matmos will release their fourth album, A Chance To Cut Is a Chance To Cure, March 13 on Matador Records. Having consistently challenged electronic music's boundaries since their self-titled 1997 debut, the San Francisco pair of Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt have focused on the sounds of medical technology for their new album, according to a spokesperson for the band - among the "found sounds" Matmos incorporated into the record are plastic-surgery sessions and laser eye surgeries. The band recently completed a U.S. tour with the post-classical outfit Rachel's and has tracks featured on a number of recent compilations, including Pluramon's Bit Sand Riders remix LP and Brainwashed, which is included with November issues of the British electronic-music magazine The Wire. ...
Tommy Guerrero, the iconic San Francisco-based skateboarder- turned-multi- instrumentalist, has teamed up with multimedia artist and hip-hop producer Gadget (born Jamie Kahn) for his second album of the year, Hoy Yen Ass'n, which is due Dec. 12 on Gadget's Function 8 Records. Although Guerrero's second album, A Little Bit of Somethin' (released in June on Mo Wax Records), contained elements of hip-hop production among its folky flavors, Hoy Yen Ass'n goes deeper into that territory, adding lo-fi but flavorful beats and an emphasis on funky rhythm to the lazy, subdued vibes. ...
Push Button Objects, the recording alias of Edgar Farinas, collaborated with top underground rappers Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Mr. Lif as well as turntablist extraordinaire DJ Craze on his latest single, "360 Degrees," which is out on the Miami label Chocolate Industries. The B-side is an instrumental track called "Breakers' Delight." Push Button Objects, who is among the leaders of South Florida's vibrant experimental electronic and hip-hop community (which also includes artists on the Schematic label), released his debut LP, Dirty Dozen, in February. Acclaimed rhyme specialist Del's long-awaited third solo album, Both Sides of the Brain, came out earlier this year; Boston native Mr. Lif's recent "Farmhand" is one of the standout releases in Grand Royal Records' current singles series; and three-time DMC turntablist world champion Craze has just issued his first mix-CD, the 16th in the "United DJs of America" series. ...
— sonicnet.com staff report
|
