March 11, 2007
David W’s Top 20 Techno Traxxx of 2007 (Part One: 11-20)
Though I know basically nothing about dance music, it seems that I’m the one who ends up posting about it most here at Gigglepants. Sure, most of it is indie-safe electronic (cf. Junior Boys, DJ Mehdi, Booka Shade) and ever-so-played out poppy IDM (Aarktica, Hrvatski). Sometimes we venture a little bit closer to the big, scary world of legitimate techno (Ellen Allien & Apparat, Burial), but even those are P4k-approved. I don’t think that many of the tracks discussed in this post, on the other hand, will ever grace Schreiber’s pages.
Of course, all of this is just a talky way to declare my status as a hopeless kiddie pool floater in the world of techno music (water wings and all). Hell, I probably made several faux pas in that opening paragraph alone. Luckily for those who yearn for some kind of authoritative voice in the matter, there are plenty of dudes who make techno their raison d’être. One such dude is my fellow Hipinion poster David W. (”Mego” to the hpn kids), who’s been busy doing armstand back double somersaults into the deep end of the olympic-sized pool of dancefloor-ready tracks. (Remember, there’s a difference between indie club dancefloor-ready and real club dancefloor-ready.)
David’s here this week as a special GPants guest, coming all the way from Chiba, Japan to present his Top 20 Techno tracks of 2007 (so far). Sure, we’re only 1/6 of the way through, but this has been a great year for music on all fronts. And hey, that just means we’ll have five times as much to look forward to. So if you’ve been wanting to dip a big toe, this is your chance. These tracks should entice even the most inert of asses to move. I’ll let David take it away. –Ben
20. Pig & Dan - “Cured”
“Quite a few bootleg remixes come out every year and most of them sound fairly cheap and generic, with little regard or respect given to the source material. So when I saw this one (a remix of The Cure’s “Lullaby”), I really wasn’t all that optimistic. I can picture it now: rising, string-drenched crescendos and horribly cheesy use of the guitar riff. Come to think of it, I’m surprised there hasn’t been an awfully cheesy trance cover made already, as it virtually writes itself.
But the track is surprisingly tasteful. The original’s main melody is what the track is based on, while the strings and guitar are sped up a little and used intermittently just to remind you what you are listening to. It’s a little on the proggy side, especially when the strings come in midway, but it shows enough restraint to stay sweet without going sour.”
19. Massi DL - “Barbabietola E Spinas”
“
There’s a lot of buzz around this guy right now, probably because he’s only 18 years old and has put out two very good EPs already. This one is from his 1UP EP and I really could have chosen any of its four tracks as they are all very impressive, but I’m going with this one.
Barbabietola is very deep but with a tougher tech sound than a lot of the deep minimal tracks that came out in 2006. That seems to be the theme of 2007 thus far: a tougher, more beefed up sound. However, the elements that made minimal so good in the first place are being retained. In many cases, such as on this track, the reverb is removed to give a drier sound and more space for the bigger sounds to breathe. Plus, this more spacious structure makes the sounds hit you harder due to the juxtaposition of minimal arrangement and maximal sound.
This is very much like an acid techno track at heart, only with the acid removed and replaced by the typical minimal bubbling ping-pong riff. The bouncy hook is accompanied by a suitably loose yet penetrating bass kick that jumps and darts around enough to keep kinetic what is really a pretty simple tune. Simple but devastating. Definitely a guy to look out for in 2007.”
18. Lusine - “Flat (Dimbiman feat. Cabanne Remix)” [Ghostly]
“
Here we have a very busy track. Often these sort of tunes grate after the novelty of all the production bells & whistles wear off, but not when they are well executed (i.e., when Cabanne is involved). We didn’t hear much from Cabanne in 2006, but he’s one of my favourite producers. He really seems to have a handle on how to throw as much as he can into a track without it becoming too much. As you can imagine, this ability is essential when it comes to minimal production and Cabanne is one of the best in the business.
I’m not all that familiar with the original, but I bet Dimbiman/Cabanne have messed around with it very heavily. There’s so many different sounds and textures going on here–chopped up vocals, bass and melodic riffs, digital squeltches, distortion stabs, processed guitar and dubbed out effects. If you gave these sounds to another guy and he could make five tracks out of them easily. It really shouldn’t work but it does.”
17. Soulrack - “Modul Age (Sleeparchive Remix)” [Cray1 Labworks]
“
I’d say Sleeparchive has the most distinctive sound in techno right now. Anyone with even a slight knowledge of minimal could quite easily trainspot one of his tunes. BIG bass, stabs of distortion/glitch, Stuttered effects, and a really icy precision that gives it a very mechanic sound. There’s also heavy nods towards old detroit, Basic Channel and Pansonic. The fact that he hasn’t really changed his approach in 2-3 years should mean his sound is getting stale but he always seems to make subtle upgrades to the Sleeparchive sound.
I’ve always found Sleeparchive’s remixes to be more exploratory than his original works but for Soulrack he’s delivered a classic Sleeparchive track. Actually, in many ways this is the most straightforward track I’ve heard from him for a while. The sounds are anything but typical: super deep sub bass, panning bubbly effects, short sharp bursts of static… but elsewhere it’s very straight forward like the classic techno buildups and kicks, high hats, and use of the hook. This combination is sure to wreak havoc on the dancefloor, too.”
16. Jorge Savoretti & QIK - “Kasper’s Realm” [Esperanza]
“
Despite the talk of a return to the classic techno sound, there’s still plenty of deep dark minimal being released. Here we see deep and dark blended with tougher techno. This is one of the reasons I love techno so much. In the space of 2-3 months the scene has undergone a pretty significant shift. If this came out in mid-2006, I doubt many would have gotten into it, but in early 2007 it’s got a big buzz behind it.
This tougher stuff is just as minimal (i.e., amount and structure of sounds used) but they are BIGGER. And in cases like this, they are just downright rocking. Highlight is definitely when the hook is reverbed to hell which drenches the tune in white noise until the bass is brought back bigger than ever and some extra percussion is added. Lethal. There’s some serious business coming from that snare too.”
15. Efdemin - “Just A Track” [Dial]
“
Fans of Efdemin and Dial will probably be as surprised by this track as i was. The name “Efdemin” brings blissed out melodic techno to mind so when I saw this on a split EP with Casten Jost I was anticipating more of the same. So who would have expected some classic booty shaking house?
“Just A Track” rocks relatively hard. While other tracks on this list appear to be looking back to old Swedish or Detroit techno for inspiration, Efdemin is looking in the direction of Chicago’s classic house. With the likes of Jay Haze also talking up Chicago, I think we can expect a house revival in 2007. Don’t be surprised if Dial is using this split containing two of his biggest names as a message of intent to shift its focus in 2007. The brilliant vocal sample (”If house is a nation, I want to be president!”) does its best to convince you of this house love-in. I’m predicting tech-house to make a comeback to fill the void left by minimal dropping the funk and getting tougher as the year progresses.
As the synth rises and the preacher says “If you vote for me, I promise I will deliver you even more bass, even more soul, longer hours on the dancefloor, DJs who will believe,” it’s pretty hard to sit still. It’s interesting to note that much like the new techno, this house tune is also delivering bigger punchier sounds. Even the echoed synth is quite dry.”
14. Benelli - “Embarrassing Truth” [Hometown Music]
“
The Swiss producers have been making some noise in minimal house recently, but here Benelli appears to be more interested in Argentinean deep minimal and Swedish tech-house. I love the old school techno vibe on this tune. The acid synth takes me back to the days of warehouses packed with 10,000 ravers off their skull on god knows what shuffling madly on talcum-powdered floors.
That’s not to say this track is strictly retro though, the droning deep bass and drippy effects are straight out of the minimal 101 textbook and the acidy hook is given that trademark reverb treatment on occasions for the buildups. Chalk this one up as yet another example of beefed up minimal. What sets this apart from the others is how well the deep bassline is effectively incorporated with what is a fairly busy tune without stepping on the toes of the other sounds. Classy stuff.”
13. Mathias Linzatti - “Quasar” [Illegal Stockholm]
“Not surprising that a return to tougher techno is coinciding with a Swedish revival. Sweden has been really big in the techno scene since the late 90s and many of the superstars from back then (Samual L Sessions, Adam Beyer, Carl Lekibush, Joel Mull…) are still going strong. But now there’re some fresh Swedes and the Linzatti brothers are one of the most promising of the bunch.
Actually, this track is so hard I think you’d have to drop the minimal tag entirely and just call it straight up techno. But it does borrow a little from minimal, particularly in its second half where the static comes in and a few clattering effects just bring it up to that next level. The main hook is very tight and urgent and the clear centerpiece of the track. The hook is tightly looped and undergoes subtle variations throughout. Occasionally some percussion shadows the hook to add texture and depth. Tightly done and brilliantly executed tune.”
12. Audion - “Mouth To Mouth (Mantap mix by Heartthrob)” [Spectral]
“
Two of the biggest-hyped releases of 2007 so far have been the remixes of Vonstroke’s “Who’s Afraid Of Detroit?” and Heartthrob’s “Baby Kate,” but I’ve found both quite disappointing, which is a shame because both sounded ripe for the remix treatment. So when the Mouth To Mouth remix EP dropped last week I wasn’t so sure what to expect. But both Heartthrob cuts are brilliant! They both rock on different levels but this is the one i like the best.
On the Mantap mix Heartthrob has taken that main riff and turned it into a deep acieed bassline. That then paves the way for Heartthrob to do his twitchy paranoid minmal thing which he preceeds to do to great effect. It really is a clever remix as it remains faithful to the source material to an extent and rocks in a similar way only with a different approach. He also uses that insane siren sound for a kick and even allows for the less processed original riff for a breakdown and some even deeper and nastier bass. Class track from a guy who I expect to be the best and most active M_nus artist of 2007.”
11. Stephen Bodzin - “Daytona Beach” [Spiel-Zeug Schallplatten]
“
Still not sure about Bodzin, but this track is HUGE. One of those anthems that’s sure to work like a charm at the clubs. This is mostly because it follows the “Bay Of Figs” formula of taking a hook then reverbing the crap out of it before it’s engulfed the track and your brain. It’s definitely not the most sophisticated track on here and probably not one that will age all that well, but for the moment it’s just really damn fun. Maybe the most rocking track on the list, actually. So rather than diss it as generic I suggest you enjoy some ear candy at its finest.
The hook is catchy yet simple and backed up by more simple beats and bass. It follows a classic techno formula with its build then release for the first time, but the secret to this track is that it comes back and smacks you in the face with an even bigger buildup than the first. What more can you say? This guy is clearly a pro!”
Look for Part Two of David’s list coming later this week!
Filed under: Music, Reviews, Listmakery, mp3, Guest Posts
March 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
have only listened to the first track and already my hips are shaking…more! more!
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Just a buncha white dudes leaning against some walls. Dig the post.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
This is a pretty decent list for someone who claims to not know much about techno (although I do take issue with you calling Ellen Allien and Burial “legitimate techno” - kidding, mostly). More of these posts, please.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Note to self: read the entire post before commenting. Cheers anyway.
April 18th, 2007 at 8:33 am
thanks great service!
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:31 am
I think the hearthrob remix is “mantrap”, not mantap.