Articles
Christopher Tignor
Spotlight 13

Albums
Advanced Dreams
Federico Albanese
Matthew Barlow
Bruno Bavota
Black Unicorn
Bolder
Borghi & Teager
Carla Bozulich
Chris Campbell
Colo
Deadbeat / Paul St Hilaire
Detroit Swindle
Donato Dozzy & Nuel
Yair Etziony
Lewis Fautzi
Hammock
Mark Harris
Hideyuki Hashimoto
Kodomo
Listening Mirror
Lost Trail
Lucy
Machine Code
Yann Novak
Opitope
Origamibiro
Pinkcourtesyphone
Michael Robinson
Mariano Rodriguez
Dana Ruh
Janek Schaefer
Sketches for Albinos
Jakob Skøtt
Talk West
Christopher Tignor
Wen
Scott Worthington

Compilations / Mixes
Generation Hyper
Sharam Jey

EPs / Singles
Children of the Stones
Dexima
Dexta & Hyroglifics
dock 1
Dream Weapons
Dr.Res
FFM Vol. 2 EP
Glory Club
Nightstalker EP

Dexima: Can't Deny
Petite Records

From the Paris-based imprint Petite Records—how's that for humility?—comes a very impressive EP outing from DJ-producer Dexima (also Petite label's co-founder) with a little remix assistance from Mlle Caro. As lithe and graceful as a jaguar in full flight, the fabulous opener “Can't Deny” rolls out eight minutes of bass-pumping skullduggery with a hypnotic, see-sawing synth motif the dark spectre haunting the exuberant vocal. It's a dynamic headrush of a tune that makes the strongest possible argument for Dexima's particular brand of high-energy electrohouse—though it's not the only one to do so. Strong too is “Stratosfear,” whose slinky pulse Dexima stabs with house chords and clipped vocal edits, with “Into the stratosfear” reduced to an incessant stream of “fear” accents. To her credit Mlle Caro does give the “Stratosfear” original a radical twist by reimagining it as a loping, rock-inflected jam rather than simply adding a noise or two as a lazier remixer might. But having said that, the laid-back result can't help but sound a tad lackluster when played alongside the hard-grooving attack of Dexima. One final change-up occurs when Dexima closes the EP with “Around U,” a wonky techno throwdown whose vocal line “I just wanna be around” expresses a desire for inclusion we can all pretty much relate to. Add it up and you've got twenty-seven minutes of quality material, though it's also probably no accident that the EP's two strongest cuts, “Can't Deny” and “Stratosfear,” are the ones that come first.

March 2014