ARTICLES
Benoît Pioulard's Précis
Label: Dynamophone
Label: Hidden Shoal

ALBUMS
Aemae
A Lily
Arc Lab
Blotnik Brothers
Gui Boratto
Cagesan
Jeremy Caulfield
Loren Dent
Do Make Say Think
Eats Tapes
Enduser
Domink Eulberg
Explosions in the Sky
Michael Fahres
The Field
Frivolous
Maximilian Hecker
Hug
Hush Arbors
Jan-M. Iversen
Espen Jørgensen
Kattoo
O.Lamm
Bruce Levingston
Tobias Lilja
Lusine
Marcia Blaine School
The Missing Ensemble
Nebulo
Ölvis
Charlemagne Palestine
Palomar
Pornopop
The Postmarks
Propergol Y Colargol
The Retail Sectors
R/R Coseboom
Sankt Otten
Scratch Massive
Slow Dancing Society
Stars of the Lid
subtractiveLAD
Sunosis
Aoki Takamasa
Amon Tobin
Tokyo Mask
Kate Wax
Wes Willenbring
Windmill

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Chaos.Lovers
Cryosphere
Hub: 2004-2005
Rufs
Satoshi Tomiie

3" /7" /10"/12"/EPs
Agnes
AM/PM
Arctic Sunrise
Audion
Characterize 1
Dartriix
Death is Nothing To Fear
Don't Be A Stranger
Einóma
Fusiphorm
Heartthrob
Human Nature
Infant Cycle / Antmanuv
Lilienweiss
Luci
Mauve
Paco Osuna
Ben Parris
Carola Pisaturo
Portable
Sutekh
System
Aoki Takamasa
Cortney Tidwell
Andy Vaz

Portable: Don't Give Up (Remixes)
Süd

Alan Abrahams (aka Portable and Bodycode) and Lerato revive their Süd Electronic imprint for release number ten, a remix disc featuring three variations of “Don't Give Up,” a track taken from the Gridshift EP. On the A side, Abrahams remixes himself with a fabulous twelve-minute Bodycode treatment, and then complements it with mixes by Cassy (Catherine Britton) and Lawrence (Peter Kersten).

Rather than charging out of the gate, the Bodycode mix builds slowly, opening understatedly with a light bongo pattern followed by two melodic twists on Abrahams' “Don't, don't, don't give up” vocal mantra. The mix heats up quickly, though, and within minutes turns into a steadily broiling monster that swings with strong Chicago house flavour. Cassy dispenses with the original vocal and strips in her own sultry one and then intensifies the hypnotic vibe by repeating it throughout. Her version starts out in soul-funk mode, prodded by a simulated chicken-scratch guitar line, and gradually morphs into a mellow soul-jazz groove in its final minutes. Bringing customary finesse to the project, Kersten subtly reshapes the original until it becomes something closer to a pure Lawrence track before returning it to its Portable roots. A syncopated percussion pattern and vocal quote initiate the song, after which Lawrence adds a warm bass groove, ghostly chords, ride cymbal accents, and silken synth strings. These trademark symphonic touches fade, however, allowing the percussion pattern to return to the forefront and a brief Portable vocal accent to close it out.

What's especially great about Abrahams' Portable and Bodycode material is that it's always in motion and constantly re-shaping itself, and never lazily settles into predictably repeating patterns. Kudos to Cassy and Lawrence, also, for staying true to that mercurial spirit in their own interpretations.

April 2007