Hollywood Boulevard

01. Jesse Somfay – “The Days of My Youth Ended With Broken Bottles (Eulberg & Reinhold Remix)”
(from 100. Traum, 2008)
Traum’s 10-year marker and 100th release features solid tracks from Dominik Eulberg and Gabriel Ananda. The highlight is Somfay’s track – it’s not just the terrific title: this is a full-tilt melancholy techno anthem that hasn’t been heard since Agoria’s “Les Violons Ivres”.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

02. Jesus Acosta & The Professionals – “Guajida”
(from Belize City Boil Up. Numero Group)
At first it sounds like the playbook for every Sade song: the ridiculously smooth brass gliding across a narcotic samba beat, but then the organ bubbles up and the vocals take you to some backstreet Havana club where art deco reigns. From the carefully curated and handsomely packaged Cult Cargo series on Numero Group.

Jesus Acosta & The Professionals – “Guajida”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

03. Move D & Benjamin Brunn – Songs from the Beehive
(Smallville Records, 2008)
These tracks take their time, starting off with static and lazy clicks before gaining speed and developing into full-blown compositions. Four of the tracks clock in at over 12 minutes and they need all of that room to sprawl, because there are some big ideas here. “Honey” is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard this year – a slow-burning acid track that lives up to its name.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

04. Grimes Adhesif – Fearless Fun
(from Wilmslow Road 12″. Curle, 2008)
Via Mr. Sherburne, this bright and weird track gives you an idea of what Moodymann or Theo Parrish would sound like if they went mad: a Muppet voice mumbles “fearless fun” on top of an unhinged trombone-synth and it’s more than enough to keep you moving for six minutes.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

05. Coalition Of The Killing & Kyaro – Backwards On Pony
(Karloff Rekordings, 2008)
Sinister big-muscled minimal techno with ghostly vocals and grinding basslines that attack your insides. It’s from California, which is striking because I’ve been wondering if there’s any decent techno out west. There is – and it’s surprisingly dark

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

06. Abstraxion – Six-Eight
(Biologic Records, 2008)
My favorite 12″ of the moment with three rocking tracks that push simple melodies into all-time classic territory: “Chandler Bing”, “Rubbish”, and “I Had a Good Time.” More here.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

07. Muslimgauze – Uzi Mahmood
(Soleilmoon Recordings, 1998)
From 1983 until his death in 1999, Bryn Jones’ output was staggering – over 180 releases pegged to the idea of a free Palestine. The vocal snippets, photography, and album titles (Infidel, Occupied Territories, or the more direct Vote Hezbollah) give you the sense that the artist is reporting from the thick of things, yet the former graphic design student never visited the Middle East: “I don’t think you can visit an occupied land,” he said. “It’s the principle. Not until it’s free again.” Jones created a distinct universe of politically charged images and titles, yet the strength is the music: urgent, elegant, and endlessly inventive as it forged new connections between Middle Eastern influences and modern electronic techniques.

Muslimgauze – Uzi Mahmood 8

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

---

08. Alan D. Oldham – Enginefloatreactor
(Generator, 1997)
Ten years later and I’m still trying to figure out what DJ T1000 was up to with this record, the final transmission on his Generator imprint. The track titles are dark, even angry: “Evilbitch@mephisto.com”, “Crush Kill Destroy”, “Burn” and the perplexing tack below. A few songs veer out into blistering white noise and hard rock – overall, it’s always a surprising listen from one of techno’s finest. The best explanation comes from Oldham himself in a terrific interview on Little Detroit:

My music director was kind of a ’60s survivor/ex hippie/psychedelic chick, so she was down with all of this crazy music. I started out playing all kinds of stuff and as the show went on it became more electronic. During those days it was like Cabaret Voltaire, Vicious Pink, Section 25, and the very first stuff on Nettwerk out of Vancouver and the very first, coincidentally, Chicago house and Detroit techno 12″s that were coming out. Nobody knew these artists were black that were doing this electronic music, so it was really easy to slip ‘Acid Tracks’ or ‘Strings Of Life’ in between the Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242.

Alan D. Oldham – Detroit Techno Must Be Destroyed

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.