Articles
2011 Top 10s and 20s
Spotlight 4

Albums
Akhet
Cory Allen
Alva Noto
Aun
Bass Communion
Alexander Berne
Birds Passage / Rosado
The Black Dog
BNJMN
Ursula Bogner
Cokiyu
Steve Coleman
Cubenx
Mats Eilertsen
Elektro Guzzi
eleventhfloorrecords
Ben Fleury-Steiner
Golden Gardens
Goldmund
Thom Gossage
Steve Hauschildt
Helvacioglu & Pancaroglu
Illuha
Larkian & Yellow6
Clem Leek
Mamerico
Milyoo
Hedvig Mollestad Trio
Nao
Yann Novak
Sasajima & Hirao
Scissors And Sellotape
Ryan Scott
Till von Sein
Shaula
The Silent Section
Scott Solter
Spheruleus
Talkingmakesnosense
thisquietarmy
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
tINI
Tycho

Newly Issued
The Beach Boys

Compilations / Mixes
Deetron
Mike Huckaby
Radio Slave
Rebel Rave 2: Droog

EPs
Thavius Beck
Niccolò Bianchi
Falko Brocksieper
Alex Cobb & Aquarelle
Deru
Everything Is
Ed Hamilton
Hammock
Herzog
Oknai
SlowPitch
Tracey Thorn
Damian Valles

Oknai: Ain't a Dream
rx:tx

In keeping with rx:tx's concentration on the work of innovative electronic artists from Slovenia and other Eastern Europe countries, Oknai's (real name Janko Mandic) Ain't a Dream is the first in a projected series of rx:tx EPs intended to showcase the talents of a new generation of Slovenian beatmakers. The release's seven tracks clearly show Mandic's up there with the best of the glitch-hop crowd, and he even manages to sneak a smattering of dubstep into the EP, too. His is a somewhat raw and lo-fi boombap, though its rough edges tend to get smoothed over by the wealth of detail, sampled and otherwise, that is worked into the tracks' dense arrangements.

Opening salvo “Extraterrestrial Skies” unspools a tripped-out blend of bass bump, off-kilter beats, and fluttering synths, and tops it off with claps and assorted other spacey noises. Look beneath the material's shape-shifting veneer, though, and you'll hear a melancholy song beating at the song's center—Oknai's music is more than mere surface, in other words. Mandic's appetite for chopped-up beats and wonky wobble is well-served by “Little Caravan” and “Like the Sun,” the latter of which receives a mighty kick from an unidentified female vocalist.“Two Zero Six” and “Sevdah” are the sort of bleepy, future-funk headnod we're used to hearing from a label such as Project:Mooncircle, but, of course, it sounds just as good coming from rx:tx. It struck me while listening to the wonky “Subtropic Experience” that Mandic and Eliot Lipp could easily be seen as kindred spirits, so anyone who's cottoned to the slinky boombap Lipp's issued under his own name (Tacoma Mockingbird, The Outside, and Peace Love Weed 3D) or with Leo 123 as part of Dark Party (Light Years) should definitely check out Oknai, too.

December 2011