Audio Love 05.02.15

Due to someone's poor organisation last week (don't worry, Ciaran has been taught his lesson courtesy of the naughty slipper) last week's Audio Love selections come at the start of this week instead;

Achterbahn D’Amour – Odd Movements (The Remixes) (Absurd)

Achterbahn D’Amour is the collaboration between Edit Piafra and Iron Curtis and they dropped their  excellent“Odd Movements” LP on Absurd at the start of last year. Now, just over a year on, 4 of the tracks are given a new lease of life with this remix EP with contributions from Marcellus Pitman, Chevel, Convextion and SW. I’m usually a bit weary of remix EPs but then again most of them aren’t as good as this one.

I suppose it was Marcellus Pitman’s name that made the record stick out for me (that and Theo from YAM sticking it into my pile telling me I’d love it) and his re-interpretation of “Holy Romance Empire” is off the frikking scale. It starts off as a simple drum track but then as the piece unfolds things just get steadily more and more crazy. I can’t see me playing it much but there will be that one time where it just fits perfectly and tears the roof off the place. Next up the Chevel mix of “Off Movements” is a jarring and disjointed affair that totally deconstructs the original. Over on the other side the Convextion mix of “Passagen” is a brooding number, with plenty of space and expert sound design. Finally the SW mix of “Konigstr” is a wonderful broken Detroit-esque techno number. Peachy.

Out now on wax 

Olin & Savile – Thanks Karl (Argot)

Chicago’s excellent Argot are back with this offering from Smart Bar residents Olin and Savile. Apparently Karl is one of the bouncers at Smart Bar and this is their tribute to him. Heartwarming. The release takes the form of the title track “Thanks Karl” which is a jaunty number that almost has a ring of 60s kitch about it but all underpinned with a chunky house beat.  Following on from this the guys each took the track away and have come up with their own separate versions, with Savile laying down a perfect, stripped back house cut and Olin delivering a chugging techno gem. Excellent release.

Coming soon on wax and digi (the original is going to be only on the wax)

S.U.M. – Salt, Pepper & Sunshine (Flumo Ltd.)

The excellent Flumo are back with another swanky, beautifully designed wax this time courtesy of S.U.M. (Spleen Underground Music). With the originals S.U.M. serve up two tracks of effortless and timeless house music and over on the flip are remixes from Jona and, the pick of the bunch for me, Borrowed Identity. Cracking package from a cracking label.

Out now on wax 

Solpara – Swing (Other People)

New York native Solpara (Paul Sara) has just dropped his debut solo release on Nicholas Jaar’s Other People imprint and, as far as debuts go, it’s a corker. We’ve got 5 tracks of weird, fuzzy electronica. There’s a lot of intentionally grungy stuff kicking around at the moment, some ace and some not so ace.  This release from Paul backs up the dirty aesthetic with excellent production and it makes for an immersive listening experience. Great stuff, well worth checking out.

Out now on wax

Mike "The Foreman" Boorman

Lemos – Kayicki (Six Dogs)

You’ve got to admire a release that manages to make two songs last almost half an hour. You’ve also got to admire one that’s so generally weird. It’s in Villolobos?? territory with a slightly clicky, minimal feel to it. On top there’s a haunting, distorted vocal that sounds vaguely religious, and something that sounds a bit like a clarinet, but it probably isn’t (there are simply not enough clarinets in house music… this track may be yet another one to add the list that fails to use one, but at least it got close). The Kreon Remix on the B-side is even more fucked up. There’s a violin involved and some farting brass, and all sorts of wonky FX that kinda make it sound, well, “backwards”. It’s hard to explain, so I’m now going to give up.