ARTICLES
Ten Questions: Fat Jon
MUTEK 2006

ALBUMS
65daysofstatic
A Cloud Mireya
Ambarchi and Ng
Another Elec. Musician
Derek Bailey
Band Ane
Barzin
Black Gold 360
The Blow
Boduf Songs
Childs
Darc Mind
Dosh
Duopandamix
Fat Jon & Styrofoam
Liam Gillick
Shuta Hasunuma
Tim Hecker
Ilkae
Jack's Son
Richard Jäverling
Jazzkammer
Junior Boys
Last Days
Hanno Leichtmann
Luomo
Mandelbrot Set
Mountaineer
N.Phect & Dizplay
Part Timer
Karsten Pflum
Benoît Pioulard
Plus Device
+/- {Plus/Minus}
Relay
Saroos
Seht
Shedding
So Percussion
Sybarite
Trio Vopá
Marshall Watson
Weather Report
Donato Wharton
Christopher Willits
Xela

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
ESL Remixed
Four Tet
Garnier & Craig
Ginglik Saturdays
Michael Mayer
Henrik Schwarz

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Colleen
Delano and Xpansul
Detritus
Ed Devane
Eskimo
Feathers
Goldmund
Ezekiel Honig/Graphic
Ezekiel Honig
Eliot Lipp
Robert Lippok
Alejandro Lopez
Evan Marc
Porter & Carr
Sebastian Russell
Somone Else
Spaceships & Pings
SplitEP3
Simon Whetham

Michael Mayer: Immer 2
Kompakt

What separates Mayer's Immer releases (the first appeared in 2002) from other Kompakt outings like his Speicher mixes and solo album Touch? A couple of things: as ‘Immer' means ‘always,' Mayer selects tracks for Immer that have become integral parts of his DJ sets, specifically tracks he believes hold up under repeated play; and the material reaches beyond Kompakt to other labels, like Microcosm, Output, Astrolab, and Archipel in this case. Compiled over a year, Mayer's choices—Cologne techno, naturally, but also blissed-out disco and dub—emerge from foundsound haze and move through episodes of driving techno, disco-funk, and ambient before Supermayer's (Mayer and Superpitcher) chilled treatment of Geiger's “Good Evening” caps it off.

Someone Else's crackle-soaked “Ploosh” initiates the set, its tick-tock chords and oompah beat closer to a polka hoedown than techno, but gradually the feel shifts and the piece assumes a forceful techno character. Immer 2 heats up with Ian Simmonds' “The Dog.” Driven by ringing cymbal patterns and scuttling string plucks, the song weds a soaring pulse with a spacey ambiance shadowed by keening train whistles that recall “Trans-Europe Express.” Kompakt material comprises a hefty portion of the set: The Rice Twins conjure a weekend beach visit with their quietly jubilant “For Dan,” SCSI 9 dramatically merges dark strings, vibrant synth clusters, and tribal rhythms in the throbbing “Morskaya,” and dueling funk bass accents power disco-dub atmospheres in Justus Köhncke's “Advance.” A similar vibe continues as synth washes swirl around Todd Terje's trippy overhaul of Lindstrom's “Another Platform” but the album's peak moment belongs to rising star Jesse Somfay who drops the disc's most gorgeous melody into his surging “Lying in a Bed of Mist.”

November 2006