THE YES SPECIMEN

Less Yes's, More No's Covering all things House and Techno from deep to not-deep and everywhere in between ARCHIVE

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Sandrow M - Gonna Make [Uncanny Valley]

Uncanny Valley’s irreducible uncanniness returns for an oddly invigorating 4-tracker from unknown element Sandrow M. 'Gonna Make' is pick of the lot; proper man-machine music, fully equipped with robotic vocoder lines and tight electro-tinged rhythms. 

Stream below or buy from Boomkat, your choice.

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Yescast 002 - Semi Deluxe

If Yescast 002 were a lady then she would most certainly be D I S C O. The 2nd installment of our mix series comes from Semi Deluxe - curator of class-A disco dispensary the Players Association. Crate diggers get commenting, it's open field on the tracklist. Here's a few words from the man himself:

"It's a mix of vinyl and digital. I tend to trawl charity shops and record shop bargain bins, taking anything that has a good cover or an alternative dub version.. The more absurd the cover the better. I take my music with a pinch of salt..

The real interest is in the way music can transform the energy of a space, whether thats a sultry slow jam or 124 bpm 3am job. If you can take people with you then all the better... so here's a 1hr 30 ear full of disco. The levels are all over the shop. Bring the heat.."

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Lucy & Silent Servant - History Survivors EP [Mote Evolver]

As you're reading this you're probably inhabiting one of those small town musical outposts where Silent Servant and Lucy are B I G names. Like any town, there's certain laws that govern where you live. One letter of the law reads that big name collaborations usual amount to nuggets of fanboy fetishism and Discogs trivia, something that usually falls way short of the instant gratification of seeing name 'pon name on a release sheet. It's rough justice, but when Stroboscopic Artefacts  and Sandwell District collide on History Survivors, something doesn't add up: open your eyes, read the names, shut your eyes, listen. 

Hear the warbling synths, the afro-tinged percussion: if 'Dormancy Survivors' touches on anything it's the Shagaaaaan depths plowed by recent Honest Jon's missives. It's a bit of a shock: the central tremelo melody snakes it's way through the harsh static washes you'd easily pin on either Lucy or Silent Servant. It's a lot richer than they've both sounded alone. Stretching out to a truly justified 13 minutes,  what's remarkable is how much it grooves, this upfront tribal side of them that's just come from nowhere - battling against the dour grit of their respective back catalogues.

Flipside, 'Victors History' is more standard fare - business as usual but business is good. If the A side showcased a new found breadth than here SS and Lucy multiply the depth. Again the success is all layering and interplay; chugging motorik melodies and blistering low ends pile on the tension before it all ripples away 2 minutes from the finish line.

History Survivors is collaboration done like collaboration should be; something worthwhile and advancing on two career trajectories with enough distance already covered. With a Lucy record in one ear and a Silent Servant in the other, you'd never chance upon these grooves: a snapshot of things done and things to come that leaves you feeling all the wiser.

History Survivors EP is out digitally today but you can grab a good ol' slab of the black stuff from Juno now

Miles Opland

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Terekke - YYYYYYYYYY [L.I.E.S.]

Terekke's YYYYYYYYYY is completely unsurprising, totally unremarkable; it's 2013 and by now you come to expect certain standard from anything branded with those four letters L.I.E.S. The Brooklyn native's second addition to the Electric System is no different: just more wallpaper on the A&R office, another notch in a label catalogue where missteps stand out more than victories.  2012 was a year that belonged to Ron Morelli whether the rest of the world knew it or not. Now a few more ears have perked up, as loudly as this subdued little record can say, 2013 will probably be his too.

The needle hits the wax with 'Bank 3' – trading in the instant gratification and intraveinous hooks you probably weren't expecting for layered textures and slowbuilding narratives. Well-placed woodblocks and dry hi-ends clash with the nebulous synth line that cushions the track, drifting in and out of focus. Some half-worded vocals, chopped and screwed ’08 dancefloor stylee add to the last half, ducking down under chunks of synth that take their turn for the outro. It's a structure that would be meandering if it wasn't so well controlled. Clearly Terekke's in no rush to get things going, each element has their rides the kick drum for a while before politely bowing out. 

All the kick and attack is sanded down for 'Piano'; a dusted, introverted number. Submerged percussion swells through an ocean of analogue warmth. And that's it, repeat, restructure, repeat, shuffle some elements around for a glorious, evolving mess of delicate tones.

'Amaze' is all lilting melodies reverbed into oblivion across the same levels of analogue feedback, thrown in with a killer vocal sample muffled underneath the low lying fuzz. That vocal stays with you, something from the depths of a dancefloor that seems so distant - it's one of those sugar coated moments that reminds you of the range and scope of L.I.E.S' message; the sound of a label taking the hooks with the punches, the stargazing with the neck snapping and quietly rolling out the red carpet for more American Noise in 2013.

YYYYYYYYYY is available to the world on 18th of March, preorder it now from Delsin.

Miles Opland

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Bandshell - Caustic View [Liberation Technologies]

Bandshell made an impressive entrance to the world stage last year with his debut EP on Hessle, the most skewed look at the dancefloor that the label has taken yet. Working a spare and noisy palette and a paranoid tension between the woozy and the surgical it found a neat fit alongside the likes of Elgato and Joe in the Hessle roster while inviting comparisons reaching further afield into IDM and techno territory. 

For his second release Mute’s Liberation Technologies, which has so far played host to Lauren Halo in her King Felix guise (a beauty of an EP if you haven’t checked it) and British Murder Boys’ triumphant reunion, seems like an even better fit, comfortably accommodating Bandshell’s darker and less dance-friendly mores without pushing them into chin-strokey abstraction.

Out of the gates the barking drums and uptight syncopation of opener 'Winton' seem to be shouting about grime, but the feel is something else. Aggy bombast and forward energy are twisted inwards into a steely self-restraining precision. Everything is very placed – the distortion and compression are invasive but left stark and not smeared on; even the background noise has its own fine detail of texture. The lack of real development or expansion through the track only feeds into this weird straight-jacket tension, creating with rare efficiency a powerful and distinctive atmosphere. There’s a feeling of poker-faced yet subtly menacing intent, of something held back even as the surface punches hard, that gives the track a remarkable depth for something so outwardly simple and dutifully rewards repeated listens.

On a different vibe, 'Perc' (already given a notable airing on Ben UFO’s Fabriclive mix) also capitalises on its restraint, investing fully in the maudlin warm/cold atmosphere of its melody, teased out the with little more than a shimmer of delay. Again it is the simple but sharp details - from the way the compression-buffeted hiss cuts in and out becomes an articulated gesture rather than a lazy filler to the neat corners of the diamond-cut bassline - that raise it far above many forgettable washouts that attempt the same synthy darkside bliss.

Flipside, 'Nice Mullet. (which comes across something like 'Dust March' pt.2) goes most direct to the dancefloor, riding hollowed out bass stabs and heavy subs and finding a clunky bloodshot groove. The track loses focus though, becoming a little cluttered and meandering into an abrupt close that leaves it feeling a tad sketch-like, though still a worthwhile inclusion.

While it doesn’t quite match the A side tracks for classiness of execution, closer 'Landfill' is in some ways the most interesting cut: there’s still an eye on the ‘nuum in those buzzing synths and lumbering drums, but they lean just as much towards the recent output of Powell and his post-punk and industrial reference points. Indeed the concrete complexion and acute ear for shades of noise across the whole EP connect strongly to a British lineage outside of dance music.

That such a young producer can draw together so much into a set of tracks that feels so fresh and un-contrived is remarkable, but its doubly exciting in that it opens up some common ground between the UK’s rediscovered industrial bent and the dark & stark dubstep and grime-harking sound being pushed by the likes of Beneath, Wen, and the Livity Sound crew. It seems fitting that Hessle, who first introduced us to Blawan, should have now ushered in a talent able to close some of the gaps left by his departure into more stomping climes.

It may be a fringe release, and one that won’t have an easy place in many DJs’ crates but this EP speaks of exciting and healthy times for UK music, whatever the UK-bass-bemoaning naysayers might say. More of this please.

Buy Caustic View now from Boomkat

Alex Peringer

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Alessandro Izzo - Il Fragile EP [Mathematics Recordings]

If you really want to do the whole anonymous thang in the internet age don't call yourself Unknown Artist, don't release 12" Record EP, or 'Track 3.mp4', just put out next to nothing and call yourself Alessandro Izzo. Scout around for the little known producer and you'll be fairly disappointed: some LinkedIn profiles, images of jocular Italian high school types, a bare-bones Discogs page, nothing much to flesh out a review with (or is there....); but digging around in the dreamy crystaline keys of 'Il Sogno Del Salotto' is reward enough for the 'its all about the music maaaaaaaaan' deep inside of you. Finally available in binary after a 2010 vinyl release on Jamal Moss' Mathematics Records, the Il Fragile EP is all taut rhythms and astral keys with an immediate melodic charm that gets deep under your skin.

Opener 'Il Sogno Del Salotto' sets the tone, awash with smooth keys that float around precise synth stabs and strong rhythms. 'Il Mistero' is the real killer - ice cold Tron melodies straight to the jugular, while the title track brings a bit of the back-street percussion, but as always served with a main of slick effervescent ivory.

It's this clarity that makes it the elephant in the Mathematics room next to the dusty jazz futurism of Hieroglyphic Being and the hardware noodling of John Heckle. Izzo comes across like the Herbie Hancock to Moss' Sun Ra, a breath of fresh air and underrated gem from the Mathematics camp.

Stream a lo-res vinyl rip below or cop the whole lot exclusively on Boomkat.

Miles Opland

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Yescast 001: Reckonwrong

The Yes Specimen is proud to be minting its very own mix series, Yescast, inna fine style with a sprawling vinyl only effort from Amsterdam's reckonwrong. Here's what he had to say about it:

"The mix was recorded off vinyl in my flat in Amsterdam. Most of the material is fairly recent, covering some of my favorite producers and labels and some more recent discoveries. All the tracks appealed to me as having singular, ambitious and engaging atmospheres and textures even when at times outwardly taking on a throwback style, and they all catch in their very different ways the dark and loose energy that largely underpins what I search for on the dancefloor."

Madteo – Vox Your Nu Yr Resolution [Sahko] DJ Fett Burger – Disco Tre [Sex Tags UFO] John Heckle – Lunik (The Dream) [Mathematics] Gari Romalis – Ain’t Right [Dockside] Mike Dehnert – MD2.5.2 [MD] Omar S – Bobien Larkin [FXHE] Peel MD – Henry, Second Bass [Borft] Jared Wilson – We Who Are [7777] Myriadd – The Way We Were [Signals] Svreca – Seda Muerta (Female Remix) [Semantica] Levon Vincent –Together Forever [Novel Sound] Bleaching Agent – 22ml [Mira] Teflon Dons – Psycho Ray [My Love Is Underground] DJ Qu – Undescribed3 (Execute) [Syncrophone] Hodge – Turmoil (Kowton remix) [Deadplate] Reality Or Nothing – Kalon 08 (Sandwell Mix) [RSB] Aardvark – Nubian [Rush Hour] Seetheroad – Starpatch [Bergerac] Peverelist – Erosions [Livity Sound] Lil Silva – Venture [Lil Whites] Anthony Shake Shakir – Anthony Shake Shakir Meets BBC [Honest Jons] Anthony Parasole & Phil Moffa – Atlantic Ave [The Corner] Karenn – A Room Full Of Fuck All [Works The Long Nights] Unit Moebius Anonymous – A [SD] 

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Lakker - Deathmask EP [Love Love Records]

THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP until the drugs wear off and everyone goes home....

is the self-serving mentality in which increasingly more techno is created these days. It's also a mentality completely alien to Lakker's 'Preset NUMB'; a track that's so thrilling not because it pulverises you into a kind of masochistic submission, but because there are moments where you honestly don't know what'll happen next. Lakker's slippery technoid mutations found a home on James Ruskin' Blueprint Records and Deathmask EP sees the Irish duo continue further down the rabbit hole of widescreen electro and darkside techno.

Brutalist opener 'LF9' fuses surgically precise top ends and fractured mids with breakneck rhythms, dishing out more dynamic tension than most Virtual DJ enthusiasts manage in a whole set. The title track comes as light-relief in comparison; a 5 suite symphony of ice cold electro, amient wooshes and rattling subs. It's a melting pot of ideas made up of little pockets of breaks and releases for the sternly progressive listener. No wonder AFX has made his admiration public, but even after Lakker's payed that debt there's still plenty of credit left. Landing somewhere between the Twin's electroid syncopations but with sizable low-ends fit for the 21st century, stick Trevino's name on this and count the Youtube views. 

Vinyl closer 'Preset NUMB' gallops along in all its dischordant glory and cinematic grit. Track the complexity of the twists and turns and you may be fooled into thinking this is IDM, but a hand to your rattling chest confirms it's made for harder stuff.

There's so much to get excited about here, maybe it's how effortlessly Lakker join the dots between hardware electronics, avant-leaning soundscaps and Rephlex records; maybe its just that you no longer have to choose between thinking man's 'techno-not-techno' and mindless industrial fodder.

Deathmask EP comes in shiny vinyl edition or not shiny digital, buy it direct from Love Love Records.

  Miles Opland

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Ezlv - Selfish Beat [100% Silk]

For two years LA based 100% Silk has been providing the height of audio luxury. From Sir Stephen's Todd Terryesque jams to Roche's Hacienda nostagliafest, part of the success story of the Not Not Fun offshoot has been its refined vision of dancefloors past; Montreal based duo Ezlv add Francophone filter house to their already startling repertoire of tastefully rendered tropes and trends.

Lead track 'Selfish Beat's saccharine vocals sing-song their way through a party-all the-time-mantra that's just as easily contained in the theramin synth action and the distant funk strains of the break-down.  Doubt not, this is party music, more the sophisto-funk of Ettiene de Crecy than the incessant thump of the Kerri Chandleralikes we've seen populate 2012; less flat-peak fire exit clinging, more French frat party. 

'Good Feeling's handclaps and budget brass section maintain the good feelings as you'd expect with chunky basslines and enough discoteque bump for everyone, ditto with 'EZ Lees' delightfully 90s choppy guitar lines. 'Inside Out' is a downright anthem - the endearingly European lilt to the main vocals threaten to tug at those MOR heart-strings you never knew you had.

Selfish Beat embodies the ongoing tight-rope acrobatics of 100% Silk; walking the thin line of retro-mania with enough originality and poise to fend off that fatal criticism of the retro-house fad: 'why the fuck don't I just listen to the original?' It's another chapter in this ongoing story of respectful rendition, joyously outdated sounds and just damn good house music.

Grap the 12" now over on Boomkat

Miles Opland

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Alex's January Picks

After its festive hiatus, last week saw the release schedule beginning roll back into action. While there’s plenty getting us excited for the next few weeks, here's a roundup of the keen few that have snuck out already.

DJ Qu - Undescribed EP [Syncrophone]

Dj Qu's shift to Europe for release on Parisian label Syncrophone is borne out in the sound of the first two tracks here: the druggy voices, squiffy pianos and generally eerie ambience of the Qu we know and love are all in evidence, but tucked into the sort of neat and long-sighted grooves that smack of quality Perlon. Lovely, but it’s really all about that B2, a glorious slice of thumping techno-house that accurately captures the sound of sweat dripping off walls.

Marcel Dettmann - Linux / Ellipse [50 Weapons]

No surprises that Dettmann offers two pretty straight-up Berghain steamers here on his second 12” for 50 Weapons. Predictably effective gear on both counts and destined to get caned in the big rooms, but it does feel like Mr D’s missed a trick on the B-side, where the stripped back trackyness begs to be pushed to the stark extreme hinted at by the opening. Still, sure there aren’t many complaints when that bassline hits the system it was made for.

Scherbe - Jardin Du Midi EP [Uncanny Valley]

Mention also goes to Dresden’s Scherbe, who takes his turn for Uncanny Valley with a cool 4-tracker of quirky deep house that exudes a well-placed confidence in its simple but charming materials.

Rick Wade - Late Night Basix Vol 1 [Harmonie Park]

On a reissue tip, Rick Wade gives us another chance to be seduced by his first ever EP and the inaugural Harmonie Park release from ’94, remastered for the new millenium. Does what it says on the tin: beautiful unfussy tracks in classic Motor City style with a sultry clip for the dancers.

Alex Peringer

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Willie Burns - Another Place, Another Time [Sequencias]

Willie Burns’ ‘Another Place, Another Time’ for NY-based out-there Chicago jack stable Sequencias might be much more understated than the horror house insanity of his recent missive for The Trilogy Tapes, but it confidently continues the New Yorker’s unbroken run of excellent form over the last couple of years.

Still a step away from the effete and cartoonish 80s house pastiche of his earlier releases, the A side's wooshy sci-fi melancholy calls to mind the forest techno of fellow L.I.E.S. contributer Legowelt, though with a combination of grainyness and crispness in the mix and arrangement that feels distinctively Burns’. The magic here is in the restraint with which he works out the material: rich synths swell into the middle ground but fail to quite open out and take charge and instead fall back into the hypnotic swirl of the top end melody. This picks up greater and greater intensity simply through its obstinacy, refusing to change or to relinquish the foreground and generating a subtle tension that could really grip a dancefloor at the right moment.

On the flip MOS boss man Aroy Dee fires up his 808, turns Burns’ restrained thud into a warehouse rattling shunt and generally brings the drama Chicago style with soaring pads, jacked out percussion and a tasty bassline. Not quite as special as the original but it certainly does the business and makes for a lovely 12”.

Alex Peringer

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Miles' January Forecast

Damiano von Erckert & Tito Wun - Mr Pink What Have You Been Smokin'? [ava]

Areas of funk and soul pressure colliding in heady storms, patches of Moodymann, high levels of misplaced nostalgia for 70s New York.

Trus'me - Treat Me Right [Prime Numbers]

A bright and fulfilling start but with clouds of expectation dispersing around track 3, revealing an album wholly unpredictable and unlike anything we'd expect from this time of year.

Outboxx - TBA [Idle Hands]

Mild euophoria caused by streams of piano lines coming in from the West, dispersing any scepticism about the need for more vocal-led slow house throughout the day.

Low Jack - Free Pyjamas EP [Delsin]

Harsh and fucked up in places with hints of past Delsin efforts pushing through right to the fore. Warehouse owners should probably stay indoors.

Dadub - You Are Eternity [Stroboscopic Artefacts]

The apocalypse vs. the Mad Professor: thunderous bass of biblical proportions, reverb hailing down from the skies, floods of static, tremors felt throughout end of year lists.

Alex Coulton - Adventures in 4x4 [Hypercolour LTD]

Unexpectedly deep and dark and dubby melodic stabs sure to spread like wildfire throughout dancefloors and social media and such and such.

[no previews to share but our meterologist has this on good authority]

Miles Opland

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YES 2012: Seekersinternational - The Call From Below [Digitalis]

Cratedigging dub samples, warm reverbed pads, resonating Pole-like vinyl crackle, undulating bass; it's not a picture we haven't seen before, but once the needle hits the wax and the speculation stops there's something uncannily fresh amongst the familiarity hidden in the depths of Seekersinternational's The Call From Below. What keeps bringing me back is the warmth of it. Even at their lightest when Paul St. Hilaire showed up for the count, there was always something brooding beneath all the best Rhythm & Sound productions. Something Seekersinternational have done is regained some of the ground lost in dub's emigration from Jamaica to Berlin all those years ago - some of the heart and soul that might not have sat right with the techno crowds.

Chatting across the void at me after featuring them on my dub-techno round-up for SR, Seekers said "what they call 'dub chords' we just call skanking". There's not much more I can say apart from leaving you with one final choice: purple vinyl or digital. Head to the Seekersinternational Bandcamp, it's where the decision takes place.

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YES 2012: Lukid - Lonely at the Top [Werk Discs]

When Lukid first landed on Werk Discs with Onandon it was a nuanced and focused double take on the emerging beats scene. But with each subsequent release he took a step to the left that diluted his vision. Lonely at the Top is at once Lukid's most direct and his most challenging effort. The smudged ambiguity of submerged melodies and gloopy synths approach the damaged sounds of label boss Actress, but part of the success of Lonely at the Top is how it marries this with the rhythmic backbone of his early efforts; making it as chin-stroking as it is neck-snapping.

If I had to pick a touchstone I'd probably draw Maxmillion Dunbar's name out a hat but at some point the process becomes much less interesting than losing yourself in the meticulously crafted soundscapes Lukid offers up. Like fellow outsider beatsmith Madteo, there's not many people sounding like Lukid at the moment; kid must be lonely at the top.

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YES 2012: Claro Intelecto - Reform Club [Delsin]

It’s been hard to talk 2012 without talking about Andy Stott, just as it was hard talk 2010 and not talk about Demdike Stare. The homegrown talent of Manchester’s Modern Love imprint is nothing short of staggering, with the past 3 or 4 years marking the dark mutation of their artists into their own fractal vision of warped house and ehtnographic nightmares. Amongst all this, it can be very easy not to talk about Claro Intelecto.

There’s a simple emotional depth to Reform Club, not in the harrowing mentality of his label mates who draw you in because you can’t look away. There's a refreshing restraint to 'Still Here's threadbare piano and lush strings; beautiful without Stott's decay, intelligent without the academia of Demdike Stare. Reform Club finds Claro Intelecto moving forward, consolidating everything he's done, maybe not splitting the atom, but evolving and maturing in ways that are just as captivating.

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YES 2012: Jacob Korn - You & Me [Uncanny Valley]

Picking through the names on the back of You & Me and trying to extract the the single thread running through its 11 tracks is no mean feat. Its host of collaborators obscure Jacob Korn, the patchwork man of the front cover. There is an undeniable looseness to proceedings but from the raw as fuck analogue jams of 'Heteronomous', the psych-rock organ blow-out on 'Makin Love' to the grungy distorted bass 'You & Mm' one thing holds true, something that might just be that elusive Jacob Korn: You & Me is set of tracks, leftfield without being strained and strikingly immediate without compromise.

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Echo Relics: the State of dub-techno in 2012

The good people at Sonic Router had me over to chat at length about what I thought went on with dub-techno this year, touching on its turbulent relationship with bass music, claims that the scene is in decline and ending with 10 tracks that brought it back from the brink.

Head over to SR to read it in full

Bless.