technasia - central

Central is the first new album from Technasia in five years, it took a year in the making and is set to become one of the musical highlights of 2010.

Taking its name from the Hong Kong metro system Central is essentially a journey through the senses that at times is both refreshing and familiar, while in places downright comforting.

The ride also has its moments of austerity and darkness as any journey would and as a result Central works on an instant aural level as well as a deeper emotional level. It is very different to its contemporaries because it is designed to get under your skin.

Central takes the listener into a musical universe that whisks them from the beautiful and peaceful midnight cityscapes (Music To Watch The City Lights Late At Night) to incredible Balearic sunsets (Tu Isla) and into the stark dark bowels of underground clubland, possibly somewhere just outside Chicago (Aries).

There is indeed a melodic soul to Central that raises it above others, the album not only transcends trends as it is designed to do, but also transcends the boundaries of electronic music, making it an album that is instantly accessible even to those who do not specifically follow the electronic genre.

Technasia mainstay Charles Siegling says:

“I deliberately avoided writing a record to reflect the current scene, I wanted to do something that would last, to simply compose music the way I want to, and to reflect my different musical tastes. After a year of hard work I’m very
pleased – I have achieved everything I set out to do.”

An excellent achievement.

Technasia – Central is released on Technasia Records on May 31st.

TECHNASIA TOUR DATES:

APRIL
17 HOT HOUSE OF TECHNO @TRIANGLE, ST. VITH, BELGIUM
30 NITSA, BARCELONA, SPAIN

MAY
07 INOX ELECTRONIC FESTIVAL, TOULOUSE, FRANCE
08 DOLLYSSEUS, NICE, FRANCE
15 BETA CLUB, LA CORUNA, SPAIN
22 BCM, PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN
28 ROMY S. STUTTGART, GERMANY
29 THE STIFF KITTEN, BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK

For further information visit the Technasia website.

guy j-ballroom

After setting the scene alight with several killer singles, Israeli producer Guy J released his first full length artist album Esperanza in late 2008 on Bedrock Records. The album earned Guy J critical acclaim globally and the producer has been touring the globe pretty much ever since the release.

He did find time earlier this year to return to Bedrock and create another top single Lamur, complete with a stunning remix from up and coming Spanish star Henry Saiz.

His latest offering from Bedrock Records is yet another stunning production, Ballroom, which also features superb re mixes by Ed Davenport and Sian.

Along with fellow countrymen Guy Gerber, Sholmi Aber, Chaim and Gel Abril, Guy J has been at the forefront of a movement back towards the melody rich sounds on which House music is based.

Guy’s productions, with their driving beats, shimmering synths and journey-like qualities, embody characteristics from all sub-genres of House music. Guy J creates music that is brimming with soul.

GUY J
Ballroom
1. Original Mix
2. Ed Davenport Remix
3. Sian’s Vernacular Mask Remix
(Bedrock) Bed84
12” & Beatport Exclusive: 30/11/09

Guy J – Upcoming Shows:
27 Nov 2009 – Renegade, Helsinki
28 Nov 2009 – Synchronized, Stockholm
11 Dec 2009 – Cafe D’Anvers, Antwerp
18 Dec 2009 – Sala Albeniz, Gijon
19 Dec 2009 – Fabric, London

For more information visit the Guy J mySpace page.

M.A.N.D.Y

M.A.N.D.Y make their debut Renaissance appearance on this latest Mix Collection, joining an elite roster of artists who have gone before them.

Heading up the Get Physical label, DJing, producing or compiling mix collections Patrick and Philipp – aka M.A.N.D.Y – are among the finest and most exciting pioneers of electronic music around right now.

The pair have built a reputation for delivering quality, eclecticism and the damn right weird and wonderful, be it at club appearances or on their record releases, a trend that is set to continue with their brilliant and eagerly anticipated Renaissance Mix Collection.

“Eclecticism has always been the key to our approach in selecting tracks for our compilations and the broad brief of ‘The Mix Collection’ enabled us to carry on this way. It’s never an easy process and, as with all our mix comps, this was chosen, edited and produced with blood, sweat, tears as well as a lot of fun and love!”

Eclectic, the album certainly is, Patrick and Philipp have managed to squeeze a massive 44 tracks over the two discs into a beautiful hybrid that flawlessly blends and balances tempos, genres, moods and emotion.

‘Upside Down’ (Disc One) kicks things off and, although it may be the more relaxed mix of the pair, remains true to its audio rollercoaster promise. Be it the ambient intro of Shed and dOP; their own ‘Full Off…’ (a production recorded exclusively for the comp’); the impeccably sequenced mid-section that fuses Lopazz, Sebastien Tellier and Bronnt Industries, or the finale of Schneider TM & Kpt-michi-gan’s Smiths cover – ‘The Light 3000′, this is a body of music that delivers throughout its 70 minutes.

‘Downside Up’ (Disc 2) puts on its dancing shoes, snatches the baton and picks-up the pace, transporting the listener further into M.A.N.D.Y.’s unique musical world. It’s a constantly shifting, yet perfectly poised landscape crafted out of the 27 records that comprise the disc.

Key names such as Peter Kruder, Chromeo, DJ Koze, Martin Buttrich, Felix Da Housecat and Ben Watt rub shoulders before giving way to the inspired inclusion of seminal Miami Bass classic, the aptly titled ‘Bass Generator’. Keen to underline the entire album’s cohesive diversity, things come to fitting close with The Black Dog giving way to the cheeky use of the piano riff from Radio Slave’s take on Hell and P Diddy’s ‘The DJ’ and bonus track ‘What It’s For’ by friends and Get Physical regulars, The Junior Boys.

The Mix Collection by M.A.N.D.Y is released on October 26th.

M.A.N.D.Y Dates:

October 31.10.09 – L.A. sports arena, Los Angeles (CA)

November
05.11.09 – Club 101, El Paso (MX) Philipp
06.11.09 – Escenica, Monterrey (MX) Philipp
06.11.09 – Studio, Würzburg (DE) Patrick
07.11.09 – Moroccos, Juarez (MX) Philipp
14.11.09 – Desertica Festival, Parque Vicente Guerrero, Mexicali (MX)
17.11.09 – Flex, Wien (AT) Patrick
28.11.09 – Get Physical@Cable, London (GB) Patrick

Balance 015 is an epic triple CD mix which immerses itself into a deep electronic landscape of sound and textures, featuring a blend of artists from yesterday’s heroes through to today’s renegades like Burial, Smith & Mighty, Seth Troxler, DJ Koze, Ricardo Villalobos, Junior Boys, Sly & Robbie, Appleblim, Daniel Wang, Hercules & Love Affair, Jordan Fields, Mixmaster Morris and more…

The triple album will be released on October 29th and as a teaser EQ Recordings have just published the full track listings, as follows:
Balance 015 – Will Saul – EQ Recordings

Disc 1
01.  The Irresistible Force – Sunstroke
02.  Smith & Mighty – Anyone (Mellow Mix)
03.  Lawrence – Laid One
04.  Junior Boys – Work
05.  Karma – Beach Towel (I:Cube Cosmix Marathon Remix)
06.  I:Cube – Vacuum Jackers (Maurice Fulton Remix)
07.  Chromatics – In The City
08.  Studio – Life’s A Beach (Todd Terje Beach House Mix)
09.  Dølle Jølle – Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje’s Extra Døll Mix)
10.  Cage & Aviary – Georgio Carpenter
11.  Daniel Wang – Panoramic (Acid Dub)
12.  Kerrier District – Let’s Dance and Freak
13.  Syclops – NR17
14.  Tensnake – Holding Back My Love
15.  Capracara – King Of The Witches (Rub ‘n’ Tug Remix)
16.  Bostro Pesopeo – Falls (Hercules & Love Affair Remix)
17.  Hercules & Love Affair – You Belong
18.  Sally Shapiro – Jackie Junior (Junior Boys Dub)
19.  I:Cube – Supernovac (Live at the Lanchonete Version)
20.  Recloose – Get There Tonight
21.  Bat For Lashes – Pearl’s Dream

Disc 2
01.  Isolée – I Owe You (Villalobos Remix)
02.  Cortney Tidwell – Palace
03.  DJ Koze – First Snow
04.  Ricardo Villalobos – Minimoonstar
05.  Lawrence – Rabbit Tube – (DJ Koze Remix)
06.  Isolée – Pillow Talk
07.  Konrad Black  – Medusa Smile
08.  Adam Marshall – Vespers
09.  Mathew Jonson – Typerope
10.  Will Saul & Tam Cooper – Sequential Circus
11.  Precious System – The Voice From Planet Love (Dixon’s Chic-A-Go-Go
Edit)
12.  Robag Wruhme – Robag’s Bobb 2005 Für F
13.  Appleblim & Ramadanman – Sous le Sable
14.  Model 500 – Wanna Be There (Dave Angel Remix)
15.  Will Saul – Mbira
16.  Burial – Shell Of Light
17.  Zomby – Test Me For A Reason
18.  2562 – Embrace
19.  Pangaea – Router
20.  Peverelist – Infinity Is Now
21.  Pearson Sound – So Far Ago
22.  Modeselektor – The White Flash feat Thom Yorke

Disc 3
01.  Pangaea – Memories
02.  Rhythm & Sound – King In My Empire
03.  Geiom & Appleblim – Shreds
04.  Sly & Robbie – Skull & Crossbones
05.  Geiom – Reminissin’
06.  TRG – Broken Heart (Martyn’s DCM Remix)
07.  Rhythm & Sound – Free For All
08.  Atlantic Conveyor – Nasty Things
09.  Patti Jo – Make Me Believe In You (Black Science Orchestra Re-Edit)
10.  Dapayk & Padberg – Island (Noze Remix)
11.  Wolf + Lamb – If U Had (Shaun Reeves Edit)
12.  No Regular Play – Lady Luck
13.  Jordan Fields – I Wanna Thank You
14.  Sebo K & Metro – Sax Track (Reboot Remix)
15.  Motorcitysoul – Vivid (Roman Flugel’s Desperate Dub)
16.  Will Saul & Tam Cooper – Teddy’s Back
17.  DJ T – Bateria (dOp Remix)
18.  Tony Lionni – Found A Place
19.  Shonky – Coco Feel & Love Shonk
20.  Seth Troxler – Love Never Sleeps
21.  Morgan Geist – Detroit (Carl Craig Remix 1)
22.  Liquid People – Son Of Dragon

BALANCE TOUR DATES

OCTOBER:
23 Oct 2009: Balance Launch Party
Logik/Brisbane/Australia

24 Oct 2009: Balance Tour
Chinese Laundry/Sydney/Australia

30 Oct 2009: Balance Tour
Adelaide/Australia (tbc)

31 Oct 2009: Balance Tour
Canberra/Australia (tbc)

NOVEMBER:
3 Nov 2009: Balance Launch Day Party
Alumbra with Steve Bug, Melbourne/Australia

DECEMBER:
4 Dec 2009: Balance Tour
Phonotherapy/Mirano Continental Rooms/Brussels, Belgium

12 Dec 2009: Balance Tour
Magnet/Liverpool, United Kingdom

19 Dec 2009: Balance Tour
World Head Quarters
Newcastle, United Kingdom (tbc)

Un Día is Juana Molina’s fifth album, in a career dedicated to following a most inspired and inspirational muse. It’s twelve years on from her debut, ‘Rara’ and, if that album perhaps struggled at first to find an audience, then that audience has grown surely and strongly with the albums that have followed.

But it’s not that Juana Molina has made concessions to the marketplace, or chased a more accessible sound; as is often the case with visionary artists, instead the world has caught up with her, the pop landscape shifting to create a new context, where the joyous ‘pop’ elements of her music make immediate sense.

Juana Molina’s new album is something of a peculiar experience for its listeners, as well as, perhaps, for its creator. The album is best listened to as a whole, and as in its title, meaning ‘One Day’, there arises a great sense of joy and hope from the album. At just eight tracks, the fifty minutes of music, though not particularly varied in style or pace, transport you into Juana Molina’s world, and help you to imagine your own.

The songs move seamlessly from one to the next, the human voice being their primary instrument. At one time, Juana Molina can be heard as an accompanying drone in the background, in offbeat notes more rhythmic than tuneful, and singing both melody and harmony (Listen to ‘¿Quién? (Suite)’ and ‘Vive Solo’). This is human music, coming from a human background, offset against a digital, electronic background. But it’s not a clash of sounds; on ‘Un Día’ electronica finds its place alongside the human voice – both are inextricably and hypnotically intertwined, so much so that at times it is difficult to tell what is human and what is electronic.

Being Argentinian, I guess it would be easy for Juana Molina to be pigeon-holed into the neglected ‘world’ genre, where great music ferments in a sub-underground before being released into the underground, then possibly making it into the mainstream. However, artists such as MIA, Amadou & Mariam and Sigur Ròs, for whom this to a greater or lesser extent has been the case, have severed the barriers between Western pop music and so-called ‘world’ music, and this may allow Juana Molina’s actually quite Western music to be less indiscriminately sidelined.

Juana Molina sings in Rioplatense Spanish on all of her five albums, which even if you can speak, is fairly difficult to understand in her lyrics here, as her voice tends to get lost in the mixes.

However, not understanding appears to be the point. Take these lyrics from the subtle title track ‘Un Día’: “One day I will sing the songs with no lyrics and everyone can imagine for themselves if it’s about love, disappointment, banalities or about Plato.”

It is for the listener to take from it what he will, and the multitude of layers of electronica and voice means that you will most probably find what you want on this record. Think an earthier, more rhythmic version of Sigur Ròs.

‘Un Día’ is out now on Domino Records