Electric Independence

OK, true, Scottish people are notoriously cheap and drunk and violent and Edinburgh is the AIDS capital of Europe and the birds are particularly mingin’, sure. But can anyone deny that Scotland is the party capital of the world? Take the Sub Club for example, a Glasgow institution churning out the city’s best nights like Subculture, Test, Blood, Kinky Afro, Psy Phi, Bughouse, Disco Kings, and Electric Bogey. This place has managed to stay at the forefront of underground music from its humble beginning in 1986. Arguably the hottest night in Glasgow right now is the Sub Club’s Sunday night Optimo. Not only are these guys booking the hottest international techno acts — like Mexico’s Murcof and Montreal’s Akufen — they’re also booking quality disco-punk acts like NYC’s The Rapture and the legendary South Bronx all-girl group ESG. Add to that the shit-hot label OSCARR (Optimo Singles Club and related recordings) and you start to realize that Scotland’s more than just fried Mars bars and guys in skirts. Make sure to pick up the latest EP on OSCARR entitled Fact 2002 by BIS, a killer collection of cover versions of classic songs by artists on the legendary Factory Records. Some of you may remember Bis from back in the abyss of the mid-1990s, when they were hailed as the best new band in Britain by the majority of the music press, and then promptly dropped faster than logs at a paraplegic caber toss. Not everyone may like Bis (to quote a CD review of their Music for a Stranger World album, “Bis continue to rage against a machine that doesn’t care, and one that won’t be won over by their rampant childishness”), but with the material they cover (New Order, A Certain Ratio, Section 25, and a sweet computer-crooned version of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”), it’s hard not to like this release. Strangely enough, another release crossed my desk this month with a cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” This time it comes from UK’s Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher on his latest album Do You Know Squarepusher? (Warp) Accompanied by a pseudo-manifesto on his musical/political beliefs, Squarepusher’s always been one to get the audience thinking (although I’m not sure what happened to the usually tight-lipped IDM legend that caused this spontaneous need to speak out). Nevertheless, while not as fully drill n’ bass as his previous efforts, you can still expect the same twisted glitched-out funk SP is famous for. Drum n’ bass, R&B, hip hop, and techno spill over, reprocessed and hacked up in the trademark Jenkinson way. IDM fans won’t be disappointed. Another IDM staple act, German duo Funkstorung, is also coming out with a new album. Actually make that only half of Funkstorung. After remixing everyone from Bjork to Wu Tang, Chris De Luca and Michael Fakesh’s Funkstorung project blew everyone’s mind with their Appetite For Disctruction CD in 2000. Now just before wrapping up production on Swedish techno-crooner Jay Jay Johansen’s next album Antenna, De Luca is launching his solo effort Deadly Wiz Da Disko (K7) with help from coproducer and hip hop fanatic Peabird. This is glitch hop at its best. While other releases in the genre suffer from lackluster MC-ing, De Luca and Peabird were smart enough to bring on top-shelf vocalists Tryflynn, Profidence, and Beans from Anti-Pop to help out on the mic. The results are so good, y’all won’t be able to scratch your chin ’cause ya head be bobbin’ too much. Before we go on, let me start by declaring Swayzak one of the best techno acts of all time. Whatever it is that you’re listening to now, throw it out the window and pick up their latest album Dirty Dancing (K7). Don’t let the name fool you, this ain’t no gay-ass Patrick Swayze “spaghetti-arms” shit. From their insanely good dubbed-out minimal debut Snowboarding in Argentina in ’98, and several bomb 12 inches (including the seminal “Theorem vs. Swayzak” series in ’99 and 2000) through to their flirtations with electro on the absolutely solid Himawari album, Dirty Dancing sees the British duo finally bloom into the future-pop stars we all knew they would be. Like all great artists, Swayzak consistently find a way to reinvent themselves with every release, while at the same time keepin’ it real. Still rockin’ on the deep minimal tip, this time — with the help of guest vocalists Clair Dietrich, Claus Kotai (who’s self-titled solo album on WMF is a bomb in its own right), Carl Finlow and Nicola Kuperus (of Adult. fame) — Dirty Dancing blends the dark electro-tech sound of labels like International Deejay Gigolos with the infectious minimal funk of glitch-house label Force Inc. While the fourth track, “Celcius,” is a ball-deep arpeggiated workout recalling the über-bomb “Beau Mot Plage” by Isoleé, it’s surely the insanely infectious “In The Car Crash” (featuring the deadpan vocal talents of Jeremy) that will find its way into many electro-tech DJ’s record boxes this fall. From future-pop to robot rock: Remember back in summer 2000, before all those C64/Atari comps flooded the electro underground? Remember that one album by Munich’s Dis*ka that featured shit-hot SID-punk-style versions of ’80s hits that destroyed dance floors across Germany? Of course not, because that shit was so underground-next-level that only the C.H.U.D.S. had access to that shit. Now the dynamic-Dis*ka-duo of Albert Poschl and Ralf Summer are back. Their follow up to the now legendary …Presents C2064 album, Hey Dis*ka, on their own Echokammer label, is no disappointment. From the digital twang of “I Hate My Country” to the glitchy-garage-punk of “Blues & Beats,” this time around it’s a catchy lo-fi synth-pop pisstake on musical genres. If you find yourself spending way too much time playing arcade emulators instead of doing work, or have an unhealthy obsession with that ’80s film Electric Dreams, then this might be for you. With Echokammer’s latest release, the epic downtempo Lion’s Den Dubshower, also getting serious props, this DIY label is one to keep an eye out for. Speaking of DIY labels, the most mysterious release that keeps finding its way onto my 1200s these days is a no-wave 10-inch simply marked Young Sick & Beautiful. If you’re feelin’ the DFA shit ya gots to pick this up. Three tracks of New York style disco-punk with the highlight being the first track on the flip called “Jeunes Gens Modernes,” featuring a tarty French girl repeating the line “riff-raff disco, oh-oh” over chugging lo-fi beats and cheap horn stabs…HOT! If anyone’s got info on this release (artists, label, anything!) please email me — I need more. Did somebody say no wave? Kid 606’s Tigerbeat6 label pulls away from the laptop set with an insanely dope new self-titled disc by San Fran’s electro-punk outfit Numbers. Wailing guitars and primal cardboard drums à la Gang of Four collide with playful twisted bleepy electronics à la Felix Kubin to make for an excellent listen. Catchy female-replicant vocal lines are yelled over dissonant synth riffs and harmonies. Absolutely fuckin’ brilliant. Let it be said here and now that these guys are the next shit.
Anyone tired of the caricature that house music has become will find solace in the work of multi-instrumentalist and producer Sandro Perri (aka Polmo Polpo). His latest work, The Science of Breathing (Substractif) is 4 tracks from previously released 12-inches and 4 new tracks of murky four-on-the-floor beats heavily layered with cello and lap steel, amply drenched in echo and reverb. If Detroit and Atlantis switched places, this would be the sound pumping out of the scuba-jeeps and playing in the oxygenated chill-rooms. Essential listening.