Hello! Welcome to the thing where I talk at (sometimes extreme) length about my favorite new records. This will be a monthly feature in the future but first let’s catchup on this summer’s best.
Ozel AB – Ozel AB 001 [Ozel AB]
UK Bass / Techno / House
I didn’t know anything about Ozel AB (legal: Luke Palmer) before copping this one. I think I tried these out at Redeye because Ozel AB is just a cool name – but maybe there was some faint recognizance from his Workshop EP in 2017. Anyway, I’m glad I gave these a shot because this EP is a fantastic collection of exploratory dancefloor hitters rooted in UK Bass tradition, a sound I’ve (regrettably) slept on since the wee-baby dubstep days. While his previous outings were smoky, nu-school deep house, Ozel AB 001 has Luke smashing the reset button, careening off the path into new sonic territories. There’s flavorings of grime, Time Dance/Livity Sound techno, jungle, UK Funky and dub.
‘Zeen’ is a nice modern UK Techno tool, abiding by all the tropes (broken rhythm, outernational vocal loops, dystopian atmospherics) but without sounding stale.
‘Series Parallel’ is a smoldering chunk of sonic alchemy, melding crunchy grime with polished, modern UK techno – a creation that transcends the sum of its parts. Spurts of machine-gun toms and snares, hoover synths and rusty gears ratcheting into place give raw grime. Robotic synth sequences, purple pads and tek’d out rhythmic arrangement bring things up to date. Energetic, complex, physical–this one has Big Chune stamped on its forehead.
‘Beneath the Eye of the Rye’ ups the tempo and darks the vibe with broken techno drums, ragga vox, tweaky techno sequences and more dystopian atmosphere. The result is powerful –think Mala in Berghain.
Not following much in UK Bass or Ilian Tape techno world, ‘Yahso’ and its smoked-out, subby groove spoke to me before the previous tracks’ hybrid flavors sunk their claws in. Spiritually in the vein of afro/dub house pioneered by Moody Boy, Bobby Konders, Tony Addis etc. circa 1990 (a sound I went deep into this summer), this one spoke to me immediately. Would love to slip this bit of voodoo in the mid-stage of an opening set.
Shouts to Ozel for this all-killer first outing on his label. Will defo keep ‘em peeled for 002. Follow Luke on insta and check out his monthly reggae show ‘6ft Cuts’ on Balamii radio.
R-Zac – 1 [Sound Metaphors 23]
Techno
Sound Metaphors 23 is a sublabel of Sound Metaphors Records, the Berlin-based label, shop and distributor. SM23 “operates as a nonprofit music label focusing on Spiral Tribe music and other projects connected to the Free Party scene”. Love to hear it as I’m a huge (if only partially-initiated) Spiral Tribe fan. The Spiral Tribe / Network 23 discography is nearly impenetrable for many reasons. The caustic, psychosis-inducing freetekno tempos will surely turn many away. Others will abandon the path, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of members, side-projects and releases – many cassette and CD-only, with 12”s generally weighing in at $50 on the cheap end. But for those stout of heart (and with a lot of free time), sundry treasures await discovery. For me it’s been all about a handful of 12”s that approach what could plausibly be described as dance-floor friendly and have only a small chance of triggering a psychotic episode. R-Zac’s ‘Rub it Out’ is / was / forever shall be one of the greatest techno tunes to ever grace the physical plane. The Tribe’s ‘Power House’ 12” hits similar (ahem) spiraling, hypnotic modes.
SM23 has presented a mix of both the approachable and alienating on their inaugural release, a reissue of the very first Network 23 12”. Interestingly the record is attributed to Spiral Tribe on the original but R-Zac on SM23’s version, making me wonder how much of the total Tribe output came from R-Zac’s prolific Sebastian Vaughan and Simon Carter.
The A-side cut is the choice here, clocking in at an extremely tranquilized 122 bpm when played at 45. Despite the down-shift in tempo, none of the hypnotic muscle is lost. Serious-as-hell from the jump, a simple rhythm tool mutates and complexifies with massive fx-work on almost all elements. It builds gradually over the course of the entire side until the hypnotic becomes psychedelic as rhythms swirl and snares appear and vanish to dramatic effect. The energy level gets a bit nutty for a track of this tempo but thankfully this one is +8-friendly.
The B-side is also cut at 45 so you can turn the alienating into the just-plain-old-fucked-up with a press of the 33 button. Played this way both tracks clock in around 121 and become twisted but restrained techno morphers, suitable for setting the mood for faster and more sinister sounds later in the night.
Listening to this record reminded me how integral the druggy, psych’d, rhythm-centric techno of Spiral Tribe, Djungle Fever, and Unit Moebius (also on SM23) was to my initiation into raving in the Midwest. Its not often a connection made, but I wonder how many deep-cuts from the Tribe warped my impressionable brain in my early-20’s.
Bosconi Gang Band – Live at Manifattura Tabachi [Bosconi Records]
Machine Funk
I’ve been screaming into the abyss of discogs reviews for years about the criminally slept-on Bosconi Records. Clocking the Italian label on Redeye for nearly a decade, I’ve played A Guy Called Gerald’s release in the club and enjoyed their curation of other old-school producers like Rei Loci, Lee Renacre, Garethy Oxby and, more recently, Sound Virus and Alexander Robotnik. However, it wasn’t until 2019’s ‘Spellbound’ EP that tracks from the core crew clicked with me. Since then I’ve nabbed up most of their output and rate Bosconi as one of the most exciting labels going in 2022. A large part of this is due to the output and innovation of the Bosconi Gang Band, the “itinerant live improvisational project open to all artists who have released on Bosconi Records that’s sets the goal of always being unpredictable…always creating something unplanned, new and unexpected”. Their first record, ‘Big Mob at Manifattura Tabacchi’, featured 10 musicians, 6 synthesizers, 3 MPCs, 2 drum machines, computers running Reason and Catart, a Roland SP-303 sampler, an Elektron Octatrack and a bass guitar. The end result is something like a candyflipping, triplicate Moritz Von Oswald trio. I loved it.
The second record from the Gang (like the first) was recorded life at Manifattura Tabacchi, a former cigar and cigarette factory in Florence. ‘Live at Manifatture Tabacchi’ differs in that it was recorded with a pared-down crew of 7 in front of a live crowd. ‘Live @ MT’ is less hectic and more groove-oriented than its predecessor, taking its strength from a fun-for-all pop sensibility. The brand of pop I reference here is the electro-/ italo-/ synth-pop if the mid 80’s. Flamboyant basslines and catchy, interwoven synth lines make for approachable and supremely danceable tunes despite the esoteric concept and execution. Combine these melodic elements with polished fx-work, complex arrangement and precision-engineered drum programming results in a unique sound that may borrow from the past but feels cutting-edge.
The A-side starts with a ’90 Dial’, a laidback e-funk soundtrack tune that would sit nicely backing a scene from Jacky Brown. Things get dancey with ‘122 Merge’ and its undulating, looping machine funk (emphasis: “funk”) groove, spacer synths and tweaky, robotic flourishes. Grounded by a nice live bass line, it’s a mid-energy groove tool with enough variation to bring a dancefloor to motion early in the night.
‘128 Wave’ combines slapbass fret-slides, the Gang’s tek’y, jak’n drums and levitating synthwork to make another fun-for-all jam, unique in its deft blend of seemingly incompatible elements.
B1 departs into a 160 bpm, Dadaist, Candyland synth freakout. Would have been cool to cut this side at 45 to see how it sounds slow-jammed. ‘105 Keen’ wraps things up with lovely synths and a pounding kick that gives a vision of Detroit Beatdown produced by Juan Atkins.
The physical product is a simple, stamped white label numbered out of 300 with an A4 insert detailing the concept and composition of the Gang. It ends with a quote from my discogs review of the first Gang record. Apparently if you scream into the abyss long enough, it screams back :)
PS. If this review didn’t clue you into how juiced I am on the Bosco Boys, I’ll let slip that two of the gang have put together an excellent EP coming out on TerraFirm next year.
616 – 616 Lab #03 [616 Lab]
Techno
616 is a project of Filippo Bologna (who dropped another 12” under his gov’t name this summer). The third release in his 616 Lab series has the sonic aesthetic of a generously-graded VG+ rare relic from the mid-90’s. There’s even a mild but ever-present surface noise that had me cynically assuming it was a sampled affect. Thankfully Filippo corrected me in a brief DM exchange, telling me all his tunes are analog machines recorded on reel-to-reel tape.
Stylistically, I file this one with the mid-teens mnml scene that’s updated itself in recent years with harder hitting, techno-leaning drums, simple prog basslines and previously-absent melodic elements. This one sets itself apart with a dark charm formed from eerie synth backdrops and an insistence on shifting, driving drum programming that takes its swing from Thomas Melchior but its muscle from Midwest legends like Freddy Fresh and DBX. Sincere and truly creepy synthwork – sans the “oooh-being-in-space-is-spooky” irony – commits these four tracks to a dead serious, druggy tripzone that’s often parodied but rarely nailed.
All four tracks are variations on this theme, differing slightly in tempo (a steppin’ 135, give or take) and energy level. A real pick-ur-poison plate, I could see myself drawing for all four but A1 and B1 get special shouts from my home jam sessions.
A1 hits the spot with its tek’d-out , tweaky and eminently danceable drums and sci-fi synth break.
B1 is a rhythm beater in true Midwest fashion. Pummeling, stochastic drums, submerged acid line and aforementioned creep synths make this one sound like an Analog Records A-side circa ’96. Only distinguishable from, say, Autokinetic by a few mellowing detours away from the jak beatdown.
Filippo could easily have strayed into the 2022 nu-trance monoscape by adding a few less-tasteful elements. Instead 616 #03 rests its hat on a stripped, drum-centric approach with restrained synths for flavor. The outcome is a no-filler EP equally at home in the bags of the Binh/Lutz set and Interdimensional Transmissions DJs.
I was really feeling the other two tracks as I uploaded to YouTube so I’m slapping them here as well.
Thats it for this one. Check out Pt. 2 next week.