Top 5 Electronic Releases: May

by Marsha Casselman

May 31, 2012

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Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Electronic: May Edition

 

Simian Mobile Disco – Unpatterns

The third studio album from Simian Mobile Disco has been lauded as a major improvement over their ill-received guest-vocal-packed album from 2009, Temporary Pleasure. Unpatterns continues in line with their most recent body-throbbing tech-house project Delicacies, where it’s clear they’re veteran producers who can tap a dancefloor. But on Unpatterns they take it down a notch and experiment with a few other styles – from deep house to techno-bass – doing what they seem to do best, which is use melody and vocal hooks to make tracks memorable. (Wichita) [LISTEN]

Jean Piché – Heliograms (re-release)

History of computer music 101: In 1982, Quebec native Jean Piché created “one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers,” according to ambient label Digitalis. The label has re-mastered and released the electroacoustic composer’s LP Heliograms, recorded in the late 70s but not distributed due to the original label going bankrupt. Electronic music has warped considerably over the past 30 years, yet “Heliograms” – made with a first-of-its-kind Sampson Box synthesizer and computer software used to create exact tuning of harmonics – sounds just as fresh today. Piché is still a composer, video artist and professor at the University of Montreal. (Digitalis)

Squarepusher – Ufabulum

We expect Tom Jenkinson, now over ten albums into the game, to push the limits of drum and bass and IDM, but he can also push the limits of our patience, what with his completely ADD jazz-tronica. Ufabulum will please old fans with his usual glitchy breakbeat assault, but he adds a new-found dubstep-like vibe on “Dark Steering,” smooths out on “Stadium Ice,” and goes prog-funky enough on “303 Scopem Hard” to remind you of Primus. Squarepusher is the jam band of electronica, and as such, will likely only suit the hardcore experimental fans. (Warp) [LISTEN]

Dave Aju – Heirlooms

Marc Barrite, a.k.a. Dave Aju, leaves a touching tribute to his late father Joe Barrite, using the San Francisco jazz trumpeter’s archived work and instruments in his sophomore house-funk album, Heirlooms. The samples are pretty subtle though – for the most part you’ll hear Barrite’s own voice adding a deep insights to entrancing minimal house, funk and downtempo tracks. (Circus Company) [LISTEN]

Last Step – Sleep

Last Step is the techno alias of mysterious Winnipeg producer Aaron Funk, who usually releases frenetic breakcore as Venetian Snares. Much calmer as Last Step, Funk playfully interweaves minimal and acid techno. He claims to have composed “Sleep” while approaching a napping state, and to be honest, it does sound like he wasn’t fully “all there”, most tracks using reverb and out-of-tune synths to create a dream/nightmare-like atmosphere. You might find this kind of off-key free forming refreshing in this day and age of overly-structured EDM. (Planet Mu) [LISTEN]

Mix of the Month, Surprises, and albums to watch out for next month

Mix of the month: Swedish duo Roll the Dice celebrate this year’s MUTEK electronic festival in Montreal (May 30 – June 2) with an all-Canadian set. The mix full of oddities includes Peaches, Plastikman, Tim Hecker and even industrial godfathers Skinny Puppy. [LISTEN]

Surprise of the month: Detroit’s Moodymann – known for his sexed-up funk house – pairs up with Hamilton Ont.’s Junior Boys – known for their self-reflective electro-pop. The resulting EP, I Guess You Never Been Lonely is aptly described as “irie and eerie” by FACT magazine. [LISTEN]

Out in June: Montreal’s D’Eon, a keyboard aficionado and friend of Grimes, releases his first full-length, called LP, on June 5.

 

Tags: Music, Featured, Lists, News, Dave Aju, EDM, junior boys, peaches, Plastikman, Simian Mobile Disco, Skinny Puppy, tim hecker

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