Minimal Compact
“Returning Wheel”
(Crammed)
If you listen to electro or you can’t talk about music without referencing some obscure cult group from the ’80s, you should already be familiar with Minimal Compact. Founded by Samy Birnbach (today more commonly known as DJ Morpheus) with four friends from Tel Aviv, MC were the pioneering musicians behind the classics “Statik Dancin’” and “Next One Is Real.” Signed to Marc Hollander’s seminal Crammed label, the group made their name in Benelux, via Amsterdam, stamping their trademark Joy Division-go-to-the-Middle-East sound on the underground art scene. This three-CD box set is a reminder of their lasting influence and impact on the music world, both then and now. The “Returning Wheel” CD revisits all those bygone defining moments, while “There’s Always Now” remixes and remakes those classics with commissions from Volga Select, Maurice Fulton, Fauna Flash and Tiefschwarz. Finally “Music From Upstairs” documents the group’s spontaneous studio sessions in their Dutch attic, with unreleased demos and other abstracts from their archives. This is a real piece of musical history you can name-drop in any conversation and pretend you were cool in the ’80s — while your friends were still listening to Rick Astley and Howard Jones. Out Feb 16
Funkstörung
“Disconnected”
(!K7/Pias)
Tired of making purely instrumental music, Michael Fakesch and Chris de Luca have moved on from 2000’s “Appetite For Disctruction” — their debut foray into sound hacking and vocal splicing. Almost four years down the line, their palette replenished with fresh ideas, they’re taking electronica, hip hop and pop to the next level. After remixing a track for Lamb, the Bavarian duo forsake payment in return for singer Lou Rhodes appearing on a track of their own, “Sleeping Beauty.” Their desire to add an organic, human element to their hissing white noise and syncopated drums (by not chopping up the vocal!) seems to have paid off, making their new sound more accessible. But that doesn’t stop them vocoder-ing the futuristic lyrics of New York City MC Tes on the Kung Fu funk track “Chopping Heads.” Or even squeezing Nils Petter Molvaer’s trumpet through the sonic blender — an eerie wind section overlaying the creepy “Dirt Empire.” It’s the vocal oddities of singer Enick that dominate the LP though. He sounds like Macy Gray and Björk chewing on a fat Earl Zinger-rolled spliff — and it’s his voice on the title track that proves to be the signature tune. If Funkstörung were hoping to remain locked in their “strange German producer” hole, this kind of cross-over pop will more likely get them dragged out by the collar and flung into the mainstream land of milk and honey. Out Mar 22
cLOUDDEAD
“Ten”
(Big Dada/Pias)
cLOUDDEAD’s new album is definitely a hip hop record. But, this is hip hop of the abstract variety, with brazenly hypnotic, twisted, psyched-out roots... Back in 2001, their debut self-titled album changed hip hop forever with its unorthodox take on black music. It was a vehicle for experimentation and nonconformity — and these guys had a wheel in both lanes. They’re the wizards of post-rap, setting alight bonfires from the flickering flames of ideas, while putting the mental back into experimental. Their songs, inspired by overheard conversations, are typically written in five minutes on a friend’s stoop or on an overpass on their way to wherever. The range of their material has opened up on “Ten” -— American gun culture coming under fire in “Son of A Gun” — and subsequently, the music unfolds into a hotbed of way-out-there rhymes. Over-tweaked squeaky, freaky drum loops interplay with found recordings and weird samples, such as a neighbor getting punked-out on the stairwell, or their kid sisters chanting and singing about “A spider spitting web on a Styrofoam snowman’s head.” cLOUDDEAD are for real, how about you? Out Mar 8
PLUS...
Beanfield
“Seek”
(Compost/Discograph)
Jan Krause and Michael Mettke’s third LP is an evocative piece of music where analogue jazz embraces digital soul. There are no borrowed samples here, just pure live instrumentation and some of the most innovative programming you’ll hear on the mixing desk all year. Searching some deep spirituality? Look no further. Out Mar 22
Willie Cortez
“Farsuct”
(Delabel)
This debut from Melt’s ex-drummer starts off with an electro-charged blast of dance-oriented rock, with enough bottom end to set the Richter scale shaking to six. Then the distorted guitars get cranked up a notch or three, and from there on in it’s a metal-fest of Rage Against The Machine-type songs... of which there about six too many. Out now
Clara Hill
“Restless Times”
(Sonar Kollektiv/Discograph)
Alternating between up-tempo breaks and laidback beats with an element of jazz, smokey-voiced soulstress Clara Hill presents her first LP for the Jazzanova-affiliated Sonar Kollektiv. Despite some mean solo work on the Rhodes, the instrumentation is let down by sub-standard song writing, meaning the tunes just sound like they’ve been done before. Out Mar 8
Compilation Corner
“Kitsuné Midnight”
The impossibly trendy Franco-Japanese clothing “slash” music label has put together another of its street-cred, crowd-pleasing mixes. The theme is “midnight,” with twelve dark, sexy-cool tracks — one for each toll of the bell. Colder, Zongamin, Captain Comotose and The Whitest Boy Alive all lend a hand. “Man With Guitar” gets a special mention. Très cool. Out now
“On My Radio”
(Discograph)
What’s playin’ on your radio? The boyz and girlz at Parisian label Discograph open their airwaves and tune us in to 25 of their greatest hits. They’ve sifted through their catalog to find exclusives, remixes and rarities from everyone from Belmondo to Blackstrobe via I:Cube and I Monster. An eclectic selection from the last 12 months. Out now
“Famous When Dead 3”
(Playhouse/La Baleine)
Dark and moody is how the Playhouse label like their house. The booming but sensual bass of Villalobos’ “Easy Lee” and Glove’s electro-fied “Wunderbar” lend much of its continuity to this collection. And, there’s always a memorable strip of strobe-lit neon funk running through every track to get even the stiffest hips swinging. Out now
