textura

Albums
Alsace Lorraine
Becuzzi & Orsi
Andreas Bertilsson
Cheju
Coleclough & Liles
Dev/Null
DJ Bone
eRikm (Ferrari) & Lehn
Fisk Industries
Fridge
Hanna Hartman
Jazkamer
Laub
Madagascar
Manasyt
Mus
Organum
Pandatone
People Press Play
Laurent Perrier
Porn Sword Tobacco
Pylône
Milford Reynolds
Rumskib
Skeletons and Kings
Ran Slavin
Stateless
Televise
Throbbing Gristle
Tied + Tickled Trio
Akello Uchenna
Brendan Walls
John Watermann
Mark Williams
YACHT
Z'ev / David Linton
Zonk't

Compilations / Mixes
Beat Dimensions Vol. 1
Buzzin' Fly Vol. 4
Hernan Cattaneo
Hot Chip
Jamie Jones

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
A Guy Called Gerald
Ambivalent
Apparat
Atone
Audion
Dan Berkson
Andres Bucci
Taylor Deupree
Emot. Joystick / Line 47
Feel the Beast
Renato Figoli
John Keys
Komonazmuk
Ed Laliq
Miskate
Peace Division
Alix Roy
Sinner DC
Someone Else
Urban Tribe

Alix Roy: Club You
BTrax Records

Alix Roy's Btrax single spins three radically different variations on “Club You”: the chilled original featuring Roy's gravelly vocals, a driving live treatment, and an even clubbier mix by Scan X (Stéphane Dri) who converts the original into a storming club banger, a colossus that stomps so determinedly Roy's vocal can scarcely be heard amidst the relentless beats and looping whorls. The stripped-down live mix pushes the roving bass line to the forefront but the major hook is its whiplash electro stabs with their deathly cobra sting. Synth squiggles and a pulsating groove animate the tune but step aside when his threatening “Club you” vocal mantra emerges halfway through. The original is the most laid-back version with Roy's half-whispered voice out front and augmented by funky hi-hat patterns and a slippery bass line. Clearly audible for the first time, the lyrics' mystifying character now becomes evident (“You think I'm dead ‘cause I do something else / Just practice game in different places”), making the third treatment as compelling as the first but for a different reason.

June 2007

This review also appears in Grooves.