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The 20 from Beatport

The 20 featured reviews for December 2008

Grand Central Part 1

DJ Sprinkles (aka Terre Thaemlitz)...

#01 in this month's The 20

Transgender aka Japan’s Terre Thaemlitz [a] and DJ Sprinkles [a] is an award-winning multi-media producer, writer, public speaker, remixer and now deep house producer - he’s the epitome of a modern, multi-faceted artist.

On ‘Grand Central Part 1’, she (or he) takes an exploratory journey to the outer reaches of the genre as showcased particularly on the title track. 

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“Live” Goes On

Soundstream [Soundstream]

#02 in this month's The 20

Currently sitting atop the Groove Magazine top 50 is this little gem from the Berlin-based Soundstream [l] label.

‘"Live" Goes On’ is a track that makes you almost crack a smile through the sheer simplicity in which it executes its ideas. 

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Glider

The SIght Below [Ghostly Internatio...

#03 in this month's The 20

Seemingly out of nowhere comes this gorgeous debut EP from reclusive, Seattle-based producer The Sight Below [a].

All the tracks on the album were apparently played live through an airy signal path of guitars, reverb and delay units resulting is a mist of electronica ambience that engulfs you like a rising tide. 

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House Of God (The Poker Flat Mixes)

D.H.S. [Poker Flat]

#04 in this month's The 20

Pokerflat reaches its 100th release and looks back to the heady days of acid house to mark the occasion.

The D.H.S. [a] classic ‘House of God’ gets a thorough remix treatment from label mainstays Phonique [a] and Martin Landsky [a] with an additional remix from D.H.S. (Ben Stokes) himself. 

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Kamm / Plain

Marcel Dettmann / Pigon [Beat Stree...

#05 in this month's The 20

Originally a vinyl only series, the Beat Street label makes the shift over to the digital platform and releases what is probably its finest offering to date.

‘Kamm/Plain’ is the epitome of depth and spatial awareness from three of techno’s brightest stars. 

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You & I / Router

Pangea [Hessle Audio]

#06 in this month's The 20

As the boundaries between techno and dubstep become ever more blurred, a steady stream of producers have become willing to follow in the footsteps of Shackleton [a] and Martyn [a] and meld together these musical kissing cousins.

Hessle Audio [l] - the label that earlier this year released Martyn’s seminal remix of TRG’s ‘Broken Heart’ - are behind this release from Pangea [a], and seem to be developing a penchant for outputting EPs that prick up the ears of the techno and dusbstep communities alike.

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Hide And Seek

DeWalta [Kalk Pets]

#07 in this month's The 20

The profile of David Koch aka DeWalta has been rising over the last couple of years through a steady trickle of releases on Vakant [l], Meander Music [l] and Kalk Pets [l].

DeWalta’s background as a classically trained jazz musician becomes abundantly clear on the title track ‘Hide and Seek’.

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Party Lovers

Damian Schwartz [net28]

#08 in this month's The 20

As you may have gathered from our recent feature, Damian Schwartz [a] has released his new album through Net 28 - and it’s really rather good.

Drawing more heavily upon the influences of Chicago and Detroit than on previous works, ‘Party Lovers’ is a solid representation of a producer that along with Alex Under [a] and Tadeo [a], has been responsible for garnering the nascent Spanish techno scene some much needed exposure. 

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Happy Birthday! Remixed Part 2 (Byetone Remix)

Modeselektor [Bpitch Control]

#09 in this month's The 20

The jagged edges of Modeselektor’s ‘The Black Block’ get re-sharpened here, via remixes from Marcel Dettmann [a], Rustie [a] and Byetone [a].

First up, Dettmann plums for an impact version of the track that builds over the first couple of minutes in a sort of tribal techno manner before his trademark demolition kick drum is introduced, locking the thing together for another of his astute, stripped back productions.

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Auricle / Bio / On feat. Moritz Von Oswald

Francesco Tristano [InFine Music]

#10 in this month's The 20

Magical meeting of musical minds here between Francesco Tristano [a] and Moritz Von Oswald [a] of Basic Channel [a] fame.

Those who enjoyed ‘The Melody’, Tristano’s wonderful encounter with Carl Craig [a] from earlier this year will be well aware how successfully the pianist’s sound lends itself to the techno sphere. 

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Valiant Truth EP

Red Rack ´EM & Hot Coins [Tirk]...

#11 in this month's The 20

Danny Berman aka Red Rack ‘Em recently returned back to his Hot Coins [a] disco project with the smartly titled ‘Laissez Faire’ EP, which gained support from disco heavyweights Prins Thomas, Bill Brewster and Fred Deakins.

Now on his first EP for Tirk [l], Berman lets rip with a jazz-influenced funk and disco soul four-tracker, including the fabulous ‘Jazz Ending’ and the ostentatious ‘Whole New Way’.

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Miocuore

Arturo Capone [Bear Funk]

#12 in this month's The 20

Italy’s Arturo Capone [a] has long been a purveyor of mutant disco and disco funk so it’s nice to be able to finally hear a more substantial body of work on ‘Miocuore’, his debut artist LP.

More consistent and focused that previous LPs on Bear Funk [l] and The Diaphanoids [a], ‘Miocuore’ offers late night funk and friendly space jams that border on Balearica, yet all 10 tracks manage to avoid dissolving into a live drum pastiche. 

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Cube EP

Move D [Running Back]

#13 in this month's The 20

Move D [a] aka David Moufang’s rise to prominence in 2008 has been remarkable considering he’s been releasing electronic music since 1992.

Whilst his output earlier this year began on his traditional ambient techno level, it wasn’t long before he began exploring deep house and that lightening speed evolution is further demonstrated on his new ‘Cube’ EP on Running Back [l].

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Alpinisms

School Of Seven Bells [Full Time H...

#14 in this month's The 20

Most likely to say after listening to School of Seven Bells ‘Alphinisms’: My shoes are a bit dirty. Least likely to say: I feel like doing a marathon.

OK, shoegazing piss takes aside, there is more to Benjamin Curtis’ new band than a gently swaying quintet of floppy fringes and guitar pedals.

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I’m In Love With A German Film Star (PSB Symphonic Mix)

Pet Shop Boys & Sam Taylor Wood [Ko...

#15 in this month's The 20

Go on, admit it. You love the Pet Shop Boys [a], too. You might hide their CDs under your bed like a prepubescent porn stash, but the sing along status of their hits like ‘West End Girls’ and ‘Always On My Mind’ is too tempting to ignore.

Here Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe join forces with their long time collaborator Sam Taylor-Wood (who produced the Boys’ films for their Somewhere concerts and has provided guest vocals) for a cover of the Passions’ ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’.

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A To B

Miwon [City Centre Offices]

#16 in this month's The 20

The German and English label City Centre Offices [l] is like a wise old man. It rarely speaks, but when it does, it delivers nothing but the profound.

After one year of hibernation it returns with Miwon [a] ‘A To B’, a Burger/Ink inspired long player full of emotive atmospherics and sparse but warm electronic soundscapes.

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No Time To Get Back

Luca Bachetti [Ovum]

#17 in this month's The 20

There’s a burgeoning minimal scene in Italy currently, and one of the producers to have come to international attention via this bubble is Luca Bachetti, who joins the country’s ranks alongside Marco Corola, Davide Squillace and Alex Neri [a] as minimal flag bearers with Italian flair.

Here on ‘No Time To Get Back’ Bachetti offers three wobbly cuts for Josh Wink’s Ovum Recordings [l], each with a different drum base.

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Tear You Down

Brookes Brothers [Breakbeat Kaos]

#18 in this month's The 20

Despite criticism from drum & bass’ core listenership, Pendulum [a] have shown that there is a demand for more accessible d&b and Brookes Brothers [a] comes from a similar school of thought.

Having dropped huge hits on Hospital Records [l] and Viper Recordings [l], their domination of 2008 continues with the pop-friendly ‘Tear You Down’ on Breakbeat Kaos [l].

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Nomad

Headhunter [Tempa]

#19 in this month's The 20

Bristol’s continuing contribution to dubstep defies its relatively small population of under 500,000.

Headhunter [a], along with Skull Disco’s Appleblim [a], Peverelist [a] and Pinch [a] have put Bristol back on the bass map, joining a long subsonic electronic music evolution that also included Bristolian drum & bass pioneer Roni Size [a] back in 1997.

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Repercussions

Distance [Planet Mu]

#20 in this month's The 20

With Dubstep Forum having awarded Greg Sanders aka Distance [a] Album of the Year for his 2007 debut ‘With My Demons’, the pressure was always going to be on to deliver something outstanding with his second album.

Unfortunately ‘Repercussions’ doesn’t feel that dramatically different from ‘With My Demons’, but that’s not to say it isn’t worth the listening time.

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