Articles
2009 Ten Favourite Labels
Simon Scott's Navigare
Traxx's 10 Chicago Tracks

Albums
Aerosol
Andrasklang
Aquarelle
Matt Bartram
Bassnectar
Bell Horses
Broadcast & Focus Group
Angus Carlyle
Celer
Ytre Rymden Dansskola
Do Make Say Think
Dorosoto
Isnaj Dui
Shane Fahey
Jan Garbarek Group
Lisa Germano
Rachel Grimes
Halogen
Hellothisisalex
Christopher Jion
P Jørgensen
Leyland Kirby
Klimek
KZA
Elisa Luu
Mountain Ocean Sun
Marcello Napoletano
Andy Nice
Nicolay
port-royal
Rameses III
Sankt Otten
Danny Saul
Simon Scott
Sleep Whale
Susanna & Magical Orch.
Syntaks
Traxx
Claude VonStroke

Compilations / Mixes
5
Crookers
Favourite Places 2
Music For Mathematics
Snuggle & Slap
Sander Kleinenberg 2
Y9

EPs
DJ Bone
DJ Nasty
Duque and Baxter
Filterwolf
Ghenacia & Djebali
Ikonika
Kez YM
King Roc
Vadim Lankov
Lavender Ticklesoft
Lo-Fi Soundsystem
Niko Marks
Seuil
Subeena
Mark Templeton

Vadim Lankov: Forcefield EP
Living Records

Forcefield EP offers a tidy, four-track sampling of trippy tech-house by Vadim Lankov, a Moscow, Russia-based electronic music producer who's been issuing material since 2006. His Living Records' debut gets moving when “Forcefield” overlays a happy-go-lucky, booty-shaking groove with a laconic voice-over of the title and a grab bag of creaks, slams, and other wacky sounds. The house burner “Expectation” thumps and skips determinedly for six cheeky minutes, with its heavily-cranked second half upping the intensity a good number of notches. Club raver “Pitch Bitch” catches one's ear with its combination of monotone bass throb, rambunctious beat skip, and, in particular, the wildly tweaked “bitch” voice element that Lankov sprays like so much graffiti over the track. The slightly ominous “White There” brings the EP to an off-kilter close by slathering swooping horn lines over a clickety beat structure and hyperactive bass pulse. There's nothing terribly genre-advancing happening here (though “Pitch Bitch” comes close) but nothing Lankov need be embarrassed about either. At the very least, Forcefield EP offers an economical snapshot of the producer's work .

November 2009