Some of the hottest names in tech-house are on board for Plastic City’s fifth installment of their Radio Show series (they also happen to be on the label’s roster). I scored all 16 tracks unmixed and the continuous mix by Lukas Greenberg for a low price on Amazon. Tracks come in from Terry Lee Brown Junior, The Timewriter, Oscar Barila & Maiki, Forteba, MSMS, Dejan Milicevic, Junior Gee, Zoe Xenia, and more. These aren’t throwaway tracks either. You probably already know Plastic City is an institution of tech-house, arguably the first label to run with the genre in 1996 from a techno standpoint (as opposed to the half-baked 90s house of America that evolved into tech-house). Check out a sample on the label’s site and let it ride the rest of your Summer out…
Were you raving in the 1998-2000 heyday? Well then no doubt you heard Viper’s ‘The Twister’ and Killahurtz ‘West On 27th’, both HUGE records for Hooj Choons, the de facto label for a full dancefloor during that time. Now, Jerome Robins has remixed them for Primal, a label loosely associated with Hooj, Lost Language and other imprints born out of the ashes of Hooj’s demise in 2003. As opposed to being 134 BPM hands-in-the-air-affairs, these are on the pacier 125/128 house tempo and include all the vibes of the originals. And before you ask Ted Lane, yes that fucking elephant horn from ‘West On 27th’ is still in there. For the curious out there, ‘West On 27th’ derives its title from the basic directions to get to Twilo, a legandary NYC club. Directions I actually used to get to a boring-ass Mark Farina show in 2000 (sorry JJ). Don’t sleep on this right here. “New York, New York, New York…..New York..City?”
And finally, the sorta-dubstep review I was talking about. Some of the artists I mention in the world of dubstep, frankly, give the genre a bad name. Its the womptastic brostep. People seem to think that’s all dubstep is. There is a whole world of undiscovered greatness and a lot of it is on the re-launched R&S and Apollo labels. These labels ruled the world in the 80s and 90s as new beat, techno and ambient aficionados (among other styles) and everyone reading this has danced to at least 3 records off these labels. Now relaunched for a few years, they’re taking over the world again with an incredible A&R crew who can really spot the goods.
Teengirl Fantasy is a new acquisition by R&S, who have dropped the nimble ‘Tracer’ for our listening pleasure. I grabbed the 2xLP+CD and couldn’t be more pleased. I think they have not reached their full potential yet but the best I can do to describe would be an aqueous waterworld of time, space and the recontextualization of forms and ideas into sound. Great listen. Other than that, let me defer to Pitchfork’s review, where these guys get paid to dissect this stuff.
TOTD: Liaz – House Sensation (Kevin Saunderson Remix)
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