ARTICLES
Listening Post: E. Honig
Label Profile: Ad Noiseam

ALBUMS
Leo Abrahams
Ammoncontact
Anka
Lloyd Barrett
Beach House
Bibio
Christina Carter
Davis & Jerman
Ecstatic Sunshine
Ensemble
Fluorescent Grey
Freiband
[guÿôm]
Chris Herbert
Home Video
Larvae
Lullabye Arkestra
Mathieu / Schaefer
MONO & w. end girlfriend
My Robot Friend
Nicolay
Pieter Nooten
Nuccini
Obfusc
Objekt4
Over the Atlantic
Para One
Proem
Red Sparowes
The Remote
Root 70
Florencia Ruiz
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Alan Sparhawk
Andy Stott
Thumbtack Smoothie
Tortoise
Triosk
Vlor

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Ad Noiseam 2001-2006
Another Generic Sampler
Bip-Hop Generation 8
Diary of a Sweet Day
Idea Hoard Uncut
Innature
Morrow Choral Orchestra
Noise Factory Vol. 3
Squadron 2
Warp Works

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Alias & Tarsier
Audion
Caroline
Home Video
Iz & Diz
Sami Koivikko
Mai
Mathhead
Monomachine
Narcotic Syntax
Quinoline Yellow
Sigur Rós
Samartzis & English
Samartzis & Inada
Andy Vaz
Andy Vaz Remixes
Waterprotection

Para One: Epiphanie
Institubes

It's not so much the originality of Jean-Baptiste de Laubier's Para One music that recommends it but the almost punk-like enthusiasm he brings to Epiphanie's stomping hip-hop, electro, and techno material. In just under an hour, the Paris resident moves from the slamming electro-squiggle of “Piste Bleue” and swizzling dance-floor decapitation of “Turtle Trouble” to the crystalline electro ambiance of “Liege” and hot-wired techno broil of “Dudun-Dun” before heading home with the buoyant electro-techno fusion of “Ski Lesson Blues.” Blinding synths and electro sheen may be the common denominators but Para One is an irrepressibly explorative sort too, one unafraid to reveal an influence or two along the way: an Akufen spirit seems to haunt the stuttering jump-cut raver “Midnight Swim,” the glimmering strut of “F.U.D.G.E.” recalls Daft Punk, and “Les Soleils Artificiels” resembles an imaginary soundtrack excerpt from a lost Chris Marker film. It doesn't all work—French rappers TTC push the manic hip-hop of “Musclor” over the edge, and the diarrheic vocal cut-ups and spasmodic groove in “Def Tea Machine” amount to a diverting experiment but little else—but de Laubier's high-energy delivery more often than not compensates.

October 2006