DiscoEx Archive: 3Z #4 - Rise And Shine From the Bottom of the Ocean


Clearly the month of January has been busy, evidenced by the fact that I haven't written anything since last week. Coming soon, though, I'll have help from a guest contributor or two and Disco Ex will warm up with the weather. And speaking of the frost that encased my house his morning, here are three tracks that I like to think of as "morning techno" - crystalline melodies, deep hypnotic grooves and an emotional flourish that just seems like the perfect way to wake up.
Download Threesie #4 here (15MB MP3).
Datach'i - Animals Coming Home Are Excited
Datachi
One copy left @ GEMM.com
The music of New Yorker Datach'i took a little while to grow on me; I had this EP for over a year before I really absorbed it, or perhaps before I listened to it with a serious speaker system - though MP3 quality seems to have turned the low end of this track into mush. Many of Datach'i's tracks are quite a bit more complex and hyperactive than "Animals Coming Home Are Excited", but don't let that deter you from seeking out more. There's a real sense of childlike, wide-eyed wonder within his production, similar to the music of Rephlex artistBogdan Raczynski. And speaking of which, one of the best things about this record ("This is My EP") is that while side A features two original pieces by Datach'i, the other side features remixes by Raczynski, Scottish post-rock band Mogwai and a special remix by the "Tigerbeat 6 allstars": Cex and Kid606. The Mogwai mix uses a lot of real instrumentation to augment the existing sounds, and it's just wonderful. Datach'i has a new full-length called "Shock Diamonds" coming in April and his last full length "The Elements" came out in August on theSublight records label out of Montreal - a label whose roster includes Richard Devine, Doormouse, Venetian Snares, Jason Forrest, and Somatic Response - in otherwords, a who's who of North American IDM. So go buy some, because it's easier to find than "This is my EP".
Egoexpress - Aranda (Lawrence Mix) 

All their stuff at Forced Exposure
I've lately found myself singing the praises of Egoexpress to anyone who will listen (to me or to good techno/tech-house music). I discovered them because of a (now-defunct, or rather shut-down) blog which offered up the entire full-length album "Hot Wire My Heart". I'm telling you, every song on that album is a beautiful gem or a dancefloor destroyer, or both; I've since bought the album and the singles, so I know that downloading ain't stealing. Melding gentle guitar work and red-hot-scorching sawtooth synth work is no easy task, and it helps that the band has been together for over ten years, releasing music periodically on home labelLadomat 2000. The Aranda single brings in two other talents. Isolee has been much beloved in the blogosphere, and his remix is alternately gorgeous and driving electro-disco. There's an all-acoustic mix that's a treat from Egoexpress themselves, and then there's this unexpected acoustic/tech mix by Lawrence, who has been remixed by or done remix work for John Tejada, Isolee, Lowtec and others in his work for labels Dial, Kompakt and Ladomat. I just love the idea of blissing out with 2 minutes of acoustic guitar within a minimal techno track. This is a vibe I first heard when Bpitch control records founder / producer / DJ Ellen Allien opened for Richie Hawtin, and I think that way she melds these incredibly intricate, gossamer-like sounds and melodies with post-modern dance sounds has had a ripple effect throughout the techno community at large as the pendulum swings between the "I" and the "D" in IDM.
AFX - Halibut Acid 

Again, from Forced Exposure
Fully lionized and canonized at this point, there's not much that one can say about Richard D. James (a/k/a Aphex Twin a/k/a AFX a/k/a lots of other names) that has not been said a million times. Since befor ethe last Aphex Twin album "Drukqs" I basically gave up on RDJ because the music had crawled up its own ass - between the treated piano ramblings and signature laptop fuckery, I was bored, with the exception of the funky Windowlicker and his808 state remix. Perhaps he was too, because since that time (2003), RDJ seems to have backed off the digital mayhem and rediscovered his roots with the Analord series. Released under his AFX name and on his own Rephlex label, there are no fewer than eleven 12" EP's(that's like 40 tracks y'all), each standing on its own as a work in analog sounds referencing 25 years of electronic music: acid, electro, disco, videogame music, 70's synth-prog, everything. Are these a collection of basement demos? Electronica's most expensive, unwieldy way to release an album? Did he throw out the laptops and get busy fine-tuning his homemade synthesizers? I don't know, I don't care. This track, "Halbut Acid" from Analord 04, catches me with its beautiful lead line and vintage drum sounds; I'm a believer again. It's said thatAnalord 08Analord 10 and Analord 11 are worth having, but opinions are like assholes so Chase Your Inner Analord.

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