Album overload! Isolee, Aril Brikha, Marco Carola, Steffi, Joel Mull

Album overload! Isolee, Aril Brikha, Marco Carola, Steffi, Joel Mull

10 February, 2011 | 11.25PM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: album of the week, aril brikha, isolee, joel mull, marco carola, steffi

We’ve been a bit remiss with our albums of the week lately, as we’ve waited for the year to kick into gear. And now, suddenly, there’s an onslaught of amazing longplayers. There are so many good albums out this week, we couldn’t pick just one. Read on to get the skinny on new LPs from Isolee, Steffi, Marco Carola, and Joel Mull, plus a crucial reissue from Aril Brikha.

Isolee, Well Spent Youth [Pampa Records]

There are so many reasons to be excited about Well Spent Youth, the new album from the left-field house maestro Isolee. It’s his first proper long-player since 2005’s We Are Monster. It’s the first artist album on DJ Koze’s unstoppable Pampa Records. And, most of all, it’s a stunning addition to the Hamburg-based producer’s catalog, with grooves to fit all manner of dancefloor moods, and a playful spirit to lead you places you never expected.

Steffi, Yours & Mine [Ostgut Ton]

Ostgut Ton typically favors the austere, industrial-tinged techno typical of Berghain, giving shorter shrift to the housier grooves you’re apt to hear upstairs in Panorama Bar. Yours & Mine, the debut album from Panorama resident Steffi, goes a long way towards remedying that balance, with 10 tracks of sweet, brightly colored, vintage-flavored house with a distinct Chicago feel. Fans of Steffi’s gorgeous “Kill Me” will want to head straight for the two vocal cuts featuring Virginia, but the whole album overflows with versatile cuts that will stand out in any set.

Marco Carola, Play It Loud! [Minus]

It’s always an occasion when Minus puts out a full-length. And this time out, what an occasion indeed: this is Marco Carola‘s first artist album in nine years. With 15 tracks and an additional album-length mix of the whole thing, there’s plenty here for DJs and home listeners alike. Brimming with powerful basslines and a gorgeously detailed high end, the album wears its title like an instruction manual: Play It Loud!.

Joel Mull, Sensory [Truesoul]

Stockholm’s Joel Mull returns with his first album in four years, and, true to form, Sensory is a proper album, not just a collection of tracks. Of course, there’s plenty of power in the 11 cuts here, from the tripped-out tech house of “Danny Boy” to the dark, paranoid vibes of “Kraut House.” But tunes like “Attractor” and “Novelty Theory” have a subtle harmonic edge that shows Mull’s debt to classic Detroit styles, while the opening and closing tracks round out the record with a double dose of abstract electronica.

Aril Brikha, Deeparture in Time - Revisited [Art of Vengeance]

Eleven years after Aril Brikha’s landmark album Deeparture in Time appeared on Derrick May’s Transmat label, it gets a long-overdue reissue. This time, the source is Art of Vengeance, a new label from Brikha himself, and it follows December’s release of “Deepartures in Time – The Remixes,” featuring reworks of three classic album cuts from Deetron, Jori Hulkkonen, and Octave One. The new edition of the LP features all 10 original tracks plus 10 more tracks recorded between 1995 and 1999. For fans of lush, melodic, Detroit-influenced techno, the package is simply essential.

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