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

System: Tempo EP
Rump Recordings

System's Tempo EP is not only more uptempo than the group's 2002 self-titled ~scape outing, but also announces a dramatic stylistic shift. The trio (Jesper Skaaning, Anders Remmer, Thomas Knak) have updated System's digi-dub with potent injections of two-step and dubstep. In the blistering opener “Nothing,” robotic, “Boing Boom Tschak”-styled voices stutter “Nothing is wrong” and “Nothing is completed” over a steely broken beat base that draws largely from dubstep but electro too while “B” merges deep dub textures with a robust two-step skip. Though “Rumpstep” is slightly more solidly grounded and harks back to the trio's digi-dub style, it still restlessly barrels forth with spirited abandon; the minimal bass-driven “Ekko” comes closest, however, to replicating the ~scape album's sound. Tempo EP's energized funk vibe feels light years removed from the cool restraint of System and opens up a promising range of sonic possibilities for the group's future.

April 2007

This review also appears in Grooves.