Encore une $%&?@$ d’évaluation environnementale phase 1!!!…

Si vous avez déjà investi en immobilier, financé un projet comportant un terrain ou un bâtiment, quelque part au Québec dans les dernières années, votre institution financière vous a certainement demandé une fameuse Évaluation environnementale de site Phase I (EES) – parfois appelée Phase 1. Ne vous en faites pas! Ce n’est pas ici un trépidant résumé de la Norme CSA Z768-01 qui explique en long…

Up in Manchester for one of the first few times on Saturday, a beautiful sunny day, so naturally I thought I would do some digging. Ventured into Eastern Bloc, Piccadilly, Vinyl Exchange and OXFAM for a cheeky gander. The hot and musty smell of records was a hell of a lot different to the cool damp interiors of Uptown or the Kitchen shop in Shanghai but I persevered and here is a small cut of my finds and recommendations from the day.  To kick off, Experimental and chilled progressive techno from Morphosis and Morphine Records (NEED Headphones/ Funktion Ones). Recommended by Jim Bane in Eastern Bloc. 

Most of my time was spent listening to IVVVO's Future EP and LHF's EPs 1,2 and 3 on vinyl in Eastern Bloc but when I finally got digging in Vinyl Exchange, I first hit upon some 90's RnB from Shanice and Kenny Dope. 10p.

Dread Foxx and King Rubby's Kingston Dub for 25p. 

Patife & Marky & ESOM - 'So Tinha De Ser Com Voce' picked up for the same price. Beaut Brazilian vibes. 

Finally, Annette Taylor's It Must be Right (1988). Get your funk on for fifty p!

After a month of terrible rain and smog in Shanghai, blistering heat is finally here. On a completely unrelated note, here are a couple Lo-Fi / Downtempo / IDM faves from the likes of Amon Tobin, Bonobo and Four Tet. We love the creativity in combining ‘organic’, analog and digital tones and instruments in each of these five tracks, and also hope these’ll brighten your day!

Amon Tobin – Easy Muffin

Four Tet – Hands

Bonobo – Nothing Owed

Explosions In The Sky – Catastrophe And The Cure (Four Tet Mix)

If Recondite’s music were a colour, it would be purple. There’s something very raw and melancholy about his productions, which vary from mellow minimal techno and house to a grittier German sound with LFO-infused pads (he has been releasing on Hotflush, what would you expect), etc. The three tracks below barely cover some of this breadth, but they're a great listen.

Tie In, released on Acid Test (RA’s January 2012 label of the month), is a smooth and mellow acid house track (I’m not sure we should even call it House). The melody is absolutely beautiful and is kept to rhythm with those delightfully shuffling hats.

Tie In – Recondite

  Secondly we have DRGN, released on Hotflush Recordings: likely the most popular Recondite track of 2012, played by Richie Hawtin at Timewarp 2012; its eerie pads play on a fade-in/fade-out tremolo, overlaying a powerful tech-y tech-house beat.

DRGN - Recondite

OK, this one is actually is a remix by RNDM but it's also a great listen, and it’s been commissioned by the man himself for his latest 2013 release, Plangent #005. We particularly recommend listening to the section between 3:00 and 4:00, with a great pause followed by a quality techno ‘drop’. Nice.

Dawn (RNDM mix) – Recondite

What you really must have come for is the mix below: released on the 17th May 2013 for Little White Earbuds, Recondite “suggests you listen to it in the back seat of a car, high on summer sun.” This one is absolutely incredible.

LWE Recondite mix

It's always a bit weird to think you can spend almost a year without seeing a clear sky, day and/or night. On the plus side, I find that the pollution particles in Shanghai seem to refract the sunlight in the mornings and evenings, making for a nice homogenous glow over the city. Sometimes it's green or orange and that's quite unique, isn't it, I'm sure a lot of people wish their sky was that interesting. 

Below are three songs: the first one by Apparat, Fuckedub (or Fuckedup, I'm not sure), is mildly depressing, but a beautiful piece of music. I'm not sure how to define many of his productions, so let's settle for something like East Berlin-psychedelic-IDM-minimal. He also plays fun stuff too, and his choice of tracks is usually quite amazing, so we urge you to check him out if you haven't already.

  The second track is Only by the Russian Ormatie, also playing in minor tones, with more of a steady beat. Don't know much about this artist, other than the fact this release was part of Nick Warren's Balance 018 compilation. The ghastly pads combined with this little escalating chirp throughout the track makes it quite haunting.

Much more popular, Oni Ayhun's (one half of the legendary The Knife duo) OAR003-B has been a favourite since I've first heard it 2 years or so ago. It's one of those tracks that almost tell a story, constantly evolving throughout their progression. I've only heard this one played out live here in Shanghai, when Scottish legends Optimo graced us with their presence during 2011's Black Rabbit Festival.