| Reviews | Exclaim! TLM032: Rodux - Iron Fan Sounding like Christmas on the club floor, the expansive and ultra-energetic quality of Rodux's " Iron Fan" exudes a thickly layered tech house tribalism that's kept within the minimal genre by its underlying dub-y throb. While the title track's big room bounce is unbreakable, this EP sports four remixes that each producer takes a decidedly different tack with. The first, from Rodux, strips the track down to a chunky tech house gallop. Joe Silva gets it down to hard-edged techno basics, while Edgar De Ramon funkifies and hammers away in a progressive tech house stomper. Chris Fortier brings on the after-party version, which smoothly lightens the whole track up while also most closely resembling the original. And Rodux winds it all down with the deep and dub-y, Rhythm & Sound-like "Orchids." 365Mag TLM032: Rodux - Iron Fan Multi-talent Rodux is about to drop his debut EP on the Thoughtless label after having been featured prominently on the label's Thoughtless Times V.3 compilation. The Iron Fan EP serves up a batch of fresh crossover gems ranging from smooth tribal minimalism to melodic progressive and funky tech house. The original mix is a winner on its own. Supported by a chunky house beat, the tune is an almost epic blend of mesmerizing, somewhat proggy melodies and well balanced effects that show Rodux' skills for making complex track structures and powerful hooks. With plenty of breaks and unexpected twists, this is one of those big room tracks that will destroy any floor at any time. Stepping up for the first remix is Rodux himself who delivers a stripped down but very powerful tech house stomper with fragmented percussion and a myriad of very effective sounds. The dub vibe of this one makes it a proper tune for minimal focused DJs who still want to bring on the heavy artillery. Up next is the Joe Silva remix. Packing an utterly nasty rhythm and an energetic bass-line, this uptempo monster is sure to generate mass hysteria across clubs. Prepare for madness when this gem kicks in! Edgar de Ramon's remix is another tech house rocker featuring a selection of well placed drums and cymbals that provide a certain 'shuffle' feel. The track is made up almost entirely from short snippets and a staccato rhythm: 'less is more' is definitely applicable here. US prog honcho Chris Fortier takes care of the last remix on this EP with a smooth blend of sinister effects, throbbing bass and a moody rhythm that slowly crawls itself to a short but effective break. Closing the EP is a fresh track by Rodux called Orchids, a minimal, dubby tune oozed in moody vibes and numerous sound fx. The many twists and breaks, along with its deep atmosphere, make this a true beauty to listen to. Now this is an EP worth being proud of! The original mix itself is a fantastic piece of work, which had me thinking that the remixes could only let down. Au contraire. Each remixer has managed to add his own flavour, resulting in four equally brilliant mixes. Add Orchids to this and you've got yourself a stunning EP worth every penny. DE:BUG TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not Christopher Lee a.k.a. Limaçon finished his debut full-length - and it is unexpectedly calm, almost funky - dark funky. Starting with 'Shaken', a track with beautiful dark vocals, the productions are gliding through the album most perfectly. He literally invades and develops his own soundscapes (sound worlds, sound dimensions) which frequently hit vocal fragments that seem to just hover in space. With this charming yet haunting production, he manages to bring two elements together: an atmosphere of dark groove that is on the one hand easily relaxing but also designed to be played on large sound systems: despite his love of detail and his usage of the finest melodies, throughout all his tracks it's the dark, grumbling, mumbling and low pitched elements of funk/radio samples that give the album its face. Headphone Commute TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not Deriving from the Latin limax (“snail”), a limaçon is a geometric circular pattern, similar to that of a cardioid. Santa Cruz based Christopher Lee, adopted the name Limaçon in 1997, to create a solid, minimal, and driving sound of tech-house, that cleans out the crevices of my mind, previously occupied by all noisy thought. Yes, this extremely hypnotic, four-to-the-floor beat, is relaxing for me. Once your focus latches onto the repetitive patterns, it leaves no room for worries, anxieties or concerns. There is just this sound, rolling forward with the clean, polished, granular synthetic sounds. In his bio, Lee talks about his production : “I try to keep a balance between something for your mind and something for your body, between experimenting with new sounds and giving people something they can grab onto.” With a few digital releases and 12-inchers behind his belt, Tarry Not is Lee’s debut album, on Canadian digital label, Thoughtless Music. The latter, by the way, is part of the extended Native State family, with a few excellent releases by Noah Pred, Evan Marc and KiloWatts. Recommended for the minimalists and followers of Steve Bug, Claro Intelecto, and Surgeon. Be sure to pick up your digital copy directly from Beatport [preferred], also available on Bleep, Juno, and of course, iTunes. Exclaim! TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not The bubbly funk riding tech house from Limaçon's (aka San Francisco producer Christopher Lee) first feature full-length, Tarry Not, is another Thoughtless Music calling card. Fun and playfully foreboding, Tarry Not's tracks contrast with, as well as build upon, each other. Squirrelly effects and house loops play slave to the thump and grind of the techno foundation, and Limaçon successfully exudes a minimal vibe while being far from sparse in production. The aqua-tech motor of "Shaken" and the squelchy synth and bass stabs of "Labels" marry and fatten up in the bubbly bass shuffle of "Aye Wolf," and the low riding funk of "Tarry Not." "Sans Rip" digs its moody synth pads into darker, rawer territory, and "Nudge" pounds with a restrained psych edge. Track by track, the quality and originality remain high, which for anything techno-derived can be a considerable challenge, in lesser hands. A Thoughtless Music production, so you know it's clean, but this time it's not so polished that it can't lose itself in a bit of grit, which makes the whole Tarry Not tech-house motor hum. The MML TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not The first great album of 2010 comes from none other than Northern California's own Limaçon. His debut, "Tarry Not," on Thoughtless Music pushes beyond the limits of minimal, techno and progressive into new realms of sound and rhythm. Limaçon is Christopher T. Lee, a native of Santa Cruz, and, since his debut release on Poker Flat in 2005, has been causing a buzz around the Bay with his live sets. In addition to Steve Bug's label, Limaçon has releases on Resopal Schallware, SF's Auralism Records, and the now-defunct but still legendary label, Force Inc. But with "Tarry Not," his debut album, Limaçon spreads his sonic wings and takes off into fresh territory as an artist. What sets this album apart in the minimal scene is the high regard Limaçon places on intricate yet expansive melodies. Instead of placing a few random hits on the upper octaves of the keyboard and calling it a melody, Limaçon's melodic tendencies embrace the full range of frequencies. "Labels," one of the album's best tracks, begins as a bouncy tech-house number, then as the track progresses a playful melody appears on a backdrop of warm chord changes. Then the bass begins to expand and grow, a second bass line begins to roar along with the first one and the next thing you know, the track has mutated in a dance floor monster complete with an acid-house flourish. This interplay of bass, mid- and high-range frequencies creates the rich texture that is the hallmark of this album. The other ingredient is the amazing sonic palette Limaçon dips his brush into when painting his sonic landscapes. Every sound is richly detailed and intricately arranged. On "Sans Rip," Limaçon draws from progressive house with a repetitive deep chord build, but instead of succumbing to the traps inherent to that genre, minimal techno sounds begins to build on the driving beat, morphing and growing into a compelling story. Another example of Limaçon's ability to moderate all his influences is the track, "Nudge." Futuristic synths shred across a barren soundscape, but before the track becomes just another study in sound an intriguing bass line appears and reflective chords add musicality and depth, something most minimal tracks lack. Ultimately, this is Limaçon's greatest achievement with this album: he shows that you can make minimal techno that is both ground-breaking in its sonic composition, yet accessible with its appreciation of melody and harmony. Limaçon has flipped the script on minimal and hopefully other producers will be listening - I certainly am. 365Mag TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not Northern California based producer Limaçon (real name Christopher Lee) is no stranger to the global minimal community. His tunes have been released through respected labels such as German minimal institution Poker Flat, Resopal and Auralism, eventually ending up on quite a few compilations too. The Thoughtless label now brings us the man's debut album, on which Chris showcases his broad taste and impressive music production skills. Tarry Not features ten tracks that range from subtle minimal techno to more tech-house and techno oriented flavours, with moody bass-lines gently being woven through the album's content. Opening track Shaken immediately pinpoints Limaçon's trademarked sound: thumping kicks, filtered percussion and repetitive house loops packed with numerous sound effects create a very danceable vibe for starters, after which the electro flavoured Labels, an early highlight on the album, spices things up with its fierce rhythms and nasty bass stabs. Every single track of this album is like a jigsaw: although unique in its shape and sound, the combination of them all results in a solid musical flow, adventurous and energetic at all times, and covered in a clear and crisp production. Whereas many minimal techno albums tend to lean towards vivid, joyful melodies, Limaçon rather opts for soaring, almost punky synth sweeps, providing this album with a very deep overall vibe. Take Sans Rip for instance. This uptempo, 8-minute tech-house/techno hybrid opens like your average deep house track but slowly evolves into a major floor-filler as multiple layers of doomy synthesizers, motorized bass-lines, and raw effects are added in the most exciting way. Result: peaktime mayhem. Other highlights include the punchy The Line, the title track Tarry Not, and closing track Limantour South. After the release of several hot EPs, Limaçon once more shows his skills by serving up a very well produced album. With plenty of diversity and a superb overall production, Tarry Not is one of the better albums in the field of minimal and tech-house. More of this stuff in the new year please. The Toronto Star TLM031: Limaçon - Tarry Not As with electro-house, the minimal-techno genre has of late begun to sound a lot like it might have painted itself into a corner. Nevertheless, it's still undeniably thrilling stuff when someone gets it right, and few minimal artists have got it as consistently right in recent memory as San Francisco DJ/producer Christopher T. Lee, who's just dropped his first full-length album under the alias Limaçon on Toronto's very own (and very fine) Thoughtless Music label. Lee might work the brainier end of the tech spectrum, but he knows that all the clever hiccups and glitches and layers of head-spinning percussion in the world don't mean a thing if the end product doesn't bump. And Tarry Not bumps mightily, from start to finish. No matter how it's embellished – with squiggly funk and high-tensile disco on "Labels" and "Which One," or smothered in rattles, teasers, tracers and evil, metal-springing-free-from-metal noises on epic cuts like "Nudge" and the amazing "Sans Rip" – Limacon's customary 4/4 wallop and grinding low end consistently refute any arguments your body or your brain might have against movement. Big Shot TLM027: V/A - Thoughtless Times v.4 Toronto-based Thoughtless Music is one of North America’s most consistent techno labels. On the latest collection of dance floor-ready tracks, the label introduces a more adventurous side than the previous volumes of precision crafted tech house. Thoughtless Music Vol. 4 spans deep house, minimal techno, and even the skittering beats of dubstep on this overachiever of a compilation. But the sad reality is that tons of labels all over the world churn out comps like this every day and Thoughtless still needs more time to mature into a heavy hitter, as evidenced by some of the weaker portions of this album, to help distinguish it from the unwashed masses. However, contributions from Canadians Pete Grove and Jamie Kidd as well as up-and-coming Mexican duo Signal Deluxe are hard proof that the label at least has sufficient understanding of what makes a good techno comp, a simple point lost on so many others. DJ Times TLM023: Noah Pred - Blind Alignments From the moody, melancholy vibe of “Cousins” to the retro flavor of “Hidden Light,” from the gorgeous deepness of “Pitfalls” to the analog madness of “Accord,” this full-length from label boss Pred is solid all the way through. Exclaim! TLM023: Noah Pred - Blind Alignments It's the return of unadulterated bang-bang and groove with the poster boy of intelligent techno. Noah Pred's third release, after his down-tempo excursion as Shen, returns to his traditional techno roots. The 4/4 bedrock of Blind Alignments benefits from tech house sensibilities and an inherent funk, which lighten the solid but never incessant drive. Pred stays true to form here. The production is crispy clean, sometimes a little too much so, and the kick drum from start to finish makes for the throbbing cornerstone of every track. In fact, Blind Alignments on a track-by-track basis is guaranteed to keep the club dance floor humming. But as a full-length it holds no real surprises, the inclusion of which could have given it a slightly more intriguing edge. Nonetheless, Pred continues to demonstrate his talent at producing reliably smart techno. DE:BUG TLM021: 0:0 - Hungertruck Extremely dry. Some of it sounds almost clinical - like electric shocks, or rotated plastic. But it rolls perfectly for the floor, and somehow creates a jazz-like vibe, even if it doesn't remind me of jazz at all. The dubby Pablo Bolivar remix takes on a completely different direction and brings out the melodies more clearly, maintaining a classic dub drive to it - and it doesn't let the meditative sound effects go off too much, which is a good thing. Here, everything is correct. DE:BUG TLM020: Rift - Bottom Breathing "Forever Is Happening Now" is one of those tracks where you suddenly discover new lifeforms in the midst of the minimal sound. Extremely tight, efficiently arranged, funky but clear, and somehow as flexible as a tadpole. Perhaps the classic string tones are responsible for the depth of the orchestration - at any rate, this track gets more unbelievable every second. The sweet "Bottom Breathing" is a piece where every sound sits so perfectly that you hardly dare to mix it. Remixes come from Limaçon, Tomas Jirku and Ruoho Ruotsi, who all made a real effort to honor the extraordinary sunken dream of the original. A brilliant record, which finds common ground for fans of Stimming and Drexciya. DJ Times TLM019: Limaçon - Rubber Bump Full of compelling beats and dramatic, tension-filled bass drops, this EP is ready to shred bass bins and rock your next live set. FWD.dj TLM014: Limaçon - The Ride The ever-capable Thoughtless Music Label is the brain child of Canada’s Noah Pred, and is quickly emerging as one of the finer minimal techno imprints for tight and well produced dance floor gems. The latest release for Thoughtless is by Limaçon and features three original late night bumpers and two remixes by some of Thoughtless Music’s prime roster... Overall this is a very creative, original and well-produced release. The KiloWatts remix and 'Remove' take the cake heads and shoulders above the rest, but only because they are so well formed. These last two tracks should be in every pertinent DJ’s crate, and the whole EP is worth sorting through for your snack of choice. Hats off to everyone involved! DE:BUG Exclaim! |
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| Interviews | Beatportal Album of the Week: Limaçon - Tarry Not You’re never more than a beat or two away from a warbled roulette of bass on Limaçon’s darkly radiant debut album ‘Tarry Not’, our first ever Album of the Week on Beatport... |