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

Tycho: Past is Prologue
Merck

Artists understandably wince when a comparison to another is constantly invoked, yet it's impossible to discuss Past is Prologue without mentioning Boards of Canada; in truth, Tycho's sound apes the group's signature style so baldly, one starts thinking Tycho might be the Warp duo in disguise rather than an alias for Scott Hansen. Gauzy atmospheres and woozy synthesizer melodies establish the connection immediately in “From Home,” with languorous hip-hop beats deepening the dreamy ambiance, while speaking voices and seaside noises in “Sunrise Projector” complete the simulacral picture. Similarities aside, Past is Prologue—for the record, a re-mastered reissue of Tycho's 2004 full-length debut Sunrise Projector fleshed out with two new tracks and three remixes—impresses most when Tycho charts his own course, when “Dictaphone's Lament” introduces a smattering of boom-bap, for example, or when the dynamic title track gravitates towards a jazzy strain of drum & bass. The collection ends on a high note with some solid remixes by Dusty Brown, who sweetens his harder-edged “A Circular Reeducation” treatment with angelic voices, and Nautilis (aka Malcom Kipe), who adds a funky vocodered squelch to the hip-hop aroma of “Sunrise Projector.”

January 2007