Articles
2011 10 Favourite Labels
Spotlight 3

Albums
Félicia Atkinson
Autistici
Bee Mask
Biomass
Gui Boratto
Peter Broderick
Benjamin Broening
bvdub
Chicago Odense Ens.
Dday One
Lawrence English
The Field
Nils Frahm
Douglas Greed
Jim Haynes
Hess + McFall
High aura'd
Hior Chronik
itsnotyouitsme
King Midas Sound
Leyland Kirby
Knox & Oberland
Koss/Henriksson/Mullaert
Tom Lawrence
Mist
Phonte
Planetary Assault Systems
Rustie
Sense
Sepalcure
Slove
Splashgirl
Two People In A Room
Vaetxh
Christina Vantzou
Marius Vareid
Wolfgang Voigt
Water Borders
Wenngren & Bissonnette
Xhin
Eisuke Yanagisawa
yMusic

Compilations / Mixes
Above The City
Air Texture Vol. 1
Burning Palms
Emerging Organisms 4
Live And Remastered

EPs
Antonymes/ S. D. Society
Cardopusher
Cyrus
Gulls
Keepsakes
Late Night Chronicles
Old Apparatus
Option Command
Pillowdiver
Benoît Honoré Pioulard
Kevin Reynolds
Strategy

VA: Late Night Chronicles
Soiree Records International

We've pretty much loved everything we've heard to date from the Soiree imprint, and Late Night Chronicles is no exception. In keeping with the release's after-hours title, it's a slightly less frenetic affair than some of the previous EPs we've heard from the label, though that doesn't make its four tracks any less appealing.

Drivetrain's “Peppermint Kisses” establishes the EP's late-night vibe in its snappy swing and electric piano shadings and especially in the sensual vocal Diamondancer (“I love peppermint kisses…”) drapes over Drivetrain's radiant base. Punctuated by synth blips and a wiry Moog-like figure, the track moves into progressively sexier territory as the vocal utterances grow ever more suggestive and the listener begins to feel less like a listener and more like a voyeur. Deep house is the order of the day in the luscious overhaul Nate Mattimoe and Todd Perrine give to Cloudmasterweed's “Sunny.” The remixers' blend of soulful grooves, warm keys, and acoustic percussion is, in a word, irresistible as well as a classic example of timeless house music. Blackjack's “Triaxial,” on the other hand, is definitely one for the night-time, as shown when its seven minutes of jacking house gleam effortlessly glides through the city with a jaguar-like stealth, while Professor Inc's “Quindrant Dub” pushes things in an entirely different direction by taking us out of the nightclub and into an echoplex chamber where bass lines thunder menacingly and dub washes swirl dizzyingly. Without pushing the narrative too far, one can hear the EP's contents as suggestive of a single night's journey through various nightscapes.

November 2011