ARTICLE
2006 10 Favourite Labels

ALBUMS
aMute
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Asphalt Jungle
Joseph Auer
Avia Gardner
Tommi Bass
Caural
Cdatakill
Christ.
Conjoint
Contriva
Cursor Minor
DJ Soul Slinger
DJ Wally/DJ Willie Ross
DoF
Electric Penguins
Encre
Flashbulb
Fuckpony
Funckarma
Cedric Gervais
Eglantine Gouzy
Greater Than One
Greg Haines
François Houle
Housemeister
Jan Jelinek
Eleni Karaindrou
Kode9 + Spaceape
Takagi Masakatsu
Mini
Move D
The New Law
Nuuro
Qwel & Meaty Ogre
Rant
Max Richter
Janek Schaefer
Svarte Greiner
Thighpaulsandra
Unwed Sailor
Geoff White
Wilt
Yellow6
Jesse Zubot

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
4 Women No Cry Vol. 2
Analog for Architecture
Assemblage Sessions
Jimmy Van M
King Unique/Nubreed
Monza Club Ibiza
Pop Ambient 2007
Rub-N-Tug
Thankful
The Rorschach Suite

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Baseheadz
Big Toe
Franco Cangelli
Richard Chartier
Deadbeat/Monolake
Depth Affect
Diebombshelters
DJ Koze
Eltron
Johan Fotmeijer
Hellothisisalex
Mitsuaki Komamura
Múm
Ozka
Seekers Who Are Lovers
Strategy
Tandem 5
Andi Teichmann
The Twilight Sad
Ray Valioso

King Unique/Nubreed: Electric 02
EQ Recordings

EQ covers multiple realms in its second Electric volume: King Unique's disc rides a euphoric wave throughout its glorious 70-plus minutes while Nubreed's relentlessly grooving, booty-shaking mix aims its target squarely at the groin. Following upon Gavin Keitel's initiating installment, this second outing in the Balance offshoot series is, quite simply, superb as both discs offer peak samplings of their respective ‘underground' genres.

On disc one, King Unique (Matthew Roberts and Matt Thomas) gets things right from the outset by selecting Modeselektor (“Ziq Zaq”) as the inaugurating artist but that's hardly the high point . True to form, the mix heats up slowly but early peaks hit with Steve Bug's irresistible stormer “You Make Me Feel” and Wighnomy Bros.' tribal groover “Moppal Kiff.” The inclusion of two seminal Booka Shade cuts (“Night Falls,” “In White Rooms”) doesn't hurt either, nor does the burning “Fernweh” by Extrawelt and the melancholy cool-down “Phobos” from Stephan Bodzin vs. Marc Romboy.

Melbourne trio Nubreed (Jason Catherine, Michael Walburgh, Danny Bonnici) immediately reconfigures the mood in the second half, starting with the bleepy electro of Headland's “Nitefall” (which sounds so similar to Ellen Allien one might take it for an Allien alias). Sexy dance grooves thenceforth dominate in tracks like the delirious stutter-funk of Milton Jackson's “Tech No,” the spacey jack of Alex Kenji's “Cyborg,” and the synth-squealing gyrations of Speculum's “Backdoor” and Muz & Mann's “Panik.” Leave early and you'll miss Sarah Mcleod's raw vocal performance on the pulsating closer “He Doesn't Love You.”

December 2006