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

Strategy: Super Awareness Is Fruit
Under The Spire

Paul Dickow has been keeping a relatively low profile on the Strategy front of late, but hopefully this twenty-minute vinyl outing on Under The Spire signifies an opening of the floodgates, so to speak. Issued on clear vinyl in a 200-copy edition, the material is Strategy in ultra-deep dub mode, all subterranean bass lines and reverb-drenched textural atmospheres. The A-side's “Super Awareness Is Fruit” gradually comes into focus when disparate strands first of all coalesce into a skanky plod before morphing into a mighty dub-funk groove awash in thick, psychedelic flourishes and echoing guitar chords. The flip's “Ninety Degrees” likewise begins in a state of distended beatless reverie, with its percussive and melodic elements splintering in all directions, before picking itself up and progressing determinedly on its way. The music grows in richness and dimensionality, so much so one could perhaps forget that the dub ensemble one is listening to is, of course, a convincing trick of sleight-of-hand by a single producer. The disc's twenty minutes are over in what seems like half the time, and one comes to the end desperately eager for a second helping. Here's hoping we won't have to wait too long for more new Strategy material to go along with this splendid twelve-inch appetizer.

November 2011