Articles
H. Nakamura's Twilight
Mark Templeton's Ballads

Albums
A Cloakroom Assembly
Ametsub
Anthesteria
Arandel
Alexander Berne
Boxharp
Joseph Capriati
Enrico Coniglio
Cristal
Dapayk Solo
Taylor Deupree
Distant Fires Burning
Federico Durand
Fear Falls Burning
Alan Fitzpatrick
Flying Lotus
Roel Funcken
Harley Gaber
Tobias Hellkvist
Christopher Hipgrave
Hummingbird
Ital Tek
Mathew Jonson
Kabutogani
Haruka Nakamura
Lance Austin Olsen
Ontayso
Pawn
Psychoangelo
ROTFLOL
Michael Santos
Dirk Serries
Signaldrift
Talvihorros
thisquietarmy & Cortez
Jennifer Walshe
Weisman & Davis
Tim Xavier
Year Of No Light

Compilations / Mixes
Arto Mwambe
Clicks & Cuts 5
Dark Matter
dOP
J
Ben Klock
Party Animals
So Far (So Good)
We Are One, In The Sun

EPs
Automobile, Swift
Breitbandkater
Pacheko & Pocz
Cylon
Dirty Culture
Terrence Dixon
Kyle Bobby Dunn
Enduser
Timo Garcia
Kez YM
Little Fritter
Monoceros
David Newlyn
One Second Bridge
Padang Food Tigers
Rameses III
Ryonkt
Nigel Samways
Simon Scott
Shoosh
Mark Templeton
Ten and Tracer
Tracey Thorn
Stanislav Vdovin
Vdovin + Shaydullina

Arto Mwambe: Live at Robert Johnson Vol. 6
Live at Robert Johnson

No frontin' here: Arto Mwambe's Live at Robert Johnson is my favourite in the series to date. How could it not be when the release is so full of funky and warm house grooves and sunkissed synth melodies? An infectious old-school vibe courses through the material, and its earthy and organic feel is bolstered by the groups' penchant for uncluttered arrangements. Straight from the mixing desks of Frankfurt duo Chris Beisswenger and Phillip Lauer (producing together since 2004), the mix departs from the norm by rejecting the usual approach—cherry-picking and stitching together a smattering of favourite tracks by current producers—for one that finds the group streaming eleven originals into a seventy-minute live set. What results is a sweetly grooving flow of percolating Roland drum machine patterns, hand claps, radiant synthesizer riffs, funk guitars, and piano and organ melodies, with all of it laid down with the highest of spirits. The vocoder-and-Cybotron-styled “OHM Balance” opts for an electro-house vibe, while “Duster FC” digs into a glorious mix of silken synth strings, funky house pulses, and seductive piano playing. Memorable too are “One Lonely Knight,” with its interlocking cross-currents of slinky disco hi-hats and chunky house chords, and the soulful and suitably rapturous “Love Lift.” By today's standards, a track such as “Greatest Love” sounds simple in the extreme—it'll certainly win no awards for innovative drum programming—but that, like Art Mwambe's music in general, is a key part of its charm. The group's sound harks back to a halcyon era when dance music was fundamentally about joy and good times, not the latest plug-in.

July 2010