ARTICLES
2006 Top 10s and 20s
2006 Artist Picks

ALBUMS
17 Pictures
Angina P
Ateleia
Benni Hemm Hemm
The Boats
Cappablack
Celer
Dead Letters Dead Words
Deceptikon
Deerhunter
Denzel + Huhn
Displayaz
Dollboy
Drone
Eluvium
Emanuele Errante
The Eternals
Fear Falls Burning
Marcus Fjellström
Fonoda
Funkstörung
Goldfrapp
Gyroscope
Robert Henke
James Holden
The Idealist
Anders Ilar
Landing
LCD Soundsystem
Library Tapes
L Pierre
Lullatone
Tor Lundvall
Mad EP
Mahogany
Melodium
Mem1
Daisuke Miyatani
Mole Harness
Momus
Monoceros
Mormo
Mothboy
Original Hamster
Pierson & Horton
Prince Valium
Radical Face
Retail Sectors / Yaporigami
Rylander & Elggren
Scott Solter Plays PIM
Sideshow
Silicone Soul
Skream
Splinters
Mark Templeton
Thread Pulls
T. Raumschmiere
Tycho
Ultre
Virculum
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
AudioArt 03
Cumulous
Dubstep Allstars Vol. 4
Eriksen / Toft / Utarm
Katapult VA Vol. 3
Let's Lazertag Sometime
Mr Geoffrey & JD Franzke
Skagen / Halvorsen / Toft
Tectonic Plates

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Gabriel Ananda
Robert Bardini
DAT Politics
Dead Letters / R. Sundin
Dogmixer
Benjamin Fehr
Fenin
HL
I Make This Sound
Zoë Irvine
Kyriakides and Moor
Lamont & 2tall
Ljud. & Piloten / Kama Aina
Jacob London
Sam Mcqueen
Miskate
Ryo Miyashita & Hiiragi_
[nara]
New Faces
Of / Greg Davis
Charlemagne Palestine
Phon.o vs Litwinenko
Portable
PostPrior
Samarah
Nicholas Sauser & Ditch
Someone Else
Hannes Teichmann
Tractile
Andy Vaz

IMAGES
F.S. Blumm

Deceptikon: Birds of Cascadia
Deceptikon

Zack Wright's Deceptikon site indicates that his handmade Japan tour CD Birds Of Cascadia is already sold out—not that that should surprise anyone too much, given that it was produced in a ridiculously small 100-copy run (those who missed out won't have to wait too long for new material, though, as Wright's prepping a new full-length, Greater Cascadia, for an early 2007 release). The tour CD might be a patchwork of unreleased songs and remixes (Machine Drum, Blamstrain, Tiki Obmar, Direkt Jive, Winnie The Shit) but its 40 minutes sounds great nonetheless.

A delicious amalgam of hip-hop, soul, and electropop, Birds Of Cascadia is unpretentious and, seemingly by design, modest in ambition yet never less than satisfying; a cut like “Footsteps In The Fire,” for example, with its laid-back vibe, silken strings, and funky turntable effects, charms effortlessly. Some cuts hit harder (the remix of Blamstrain's “Alive In Arms (Japan re-edit)” while others are as warm and enveloping as the softest blanket (Wright turns the lights way down for the gorgeous treatment of Tiki Obmar's “Akeney, Iowa”). With its sputtering bass lines and jaunty rhythms, the Machine Drum overhaul “Inner Outer Offs” encapsulates the collection's generally jubilant spirit, while “Dre Will Have His Day” features some memorably funky voice edits and squealing boom-bap. The Deceptikon formula is actually fairly straightforward—“Defenestration” essentially gooses a phat bass and funky hip-hop beats with a heavy snare slap—but the tunes' sing-song melodies and techni-colour sound provide a constant source of pleasure.

January 2007