Blog: Acid Ted

Here's a free download of a minimix for the new Smiley Fingers comp. There's plenty to enjoy, including the opener Kick N Snare by Mobius Strum, Dave Seaman's Toxic Picnic (reviewed here ) and Hausewerks (reviewed here ). There's a sense of a wholeness here that you don't often find on other comps. Good work. www.beatport.com/release/we-ar e-s…ey-vol-8/1093182 www.facebook.com/smileyfingers records www.smileyfingers.com Tracklist 01. Mobius Strum – Kick N’ Snare 02. Larry Cadge – My Roots 03. Rick [...]

Something that claims its percussion uses only rocks and sticks found in the forest makes me want to snort with derision. But there's something rather sweet about a pair of tunes produced by a couple of Swedes following a trip to South Korea. There's even a remix from Applescal and a free download. The forest-botherers Gidge are Jonatan Nilsson and Ludvig Stolterman from Sweden. The whole thing's avaiable on a name your price basis. For Seoul Pt2 is an ambient piece with disembodied voices and warped tones floating about. A real dreamscape. Pt1 is more of the [...]

• Weval - The Most (David Douglas Remix).mp3

April saw Sweden's Leav (Jonas Isaksson) release Bask . Now an EP of summer house remixes. Of the original track I said " Bask   is a sprightly thing that gambols around like a new tech house lamb ". J Op and J Herbert provide a deep house remix that has the washing of the waves in the background and takes the tune to a summer beach house place. There's nothing jarring or awkward in this slightly sleepy mix. Kapstaden gives us a slightly jazz techno mix. Oddly satisfying, with its ersatz trumpet line. Trust Orchestra [...]

Apologies for The Fast Show rip off but a package that includes not only a Prin Thomas remix but also a Weatherall remix is worth getting damp trousers for. I've no idea who Daniele Baldelli & DJ Rocca are and am too excited to care. The Weatherall remix is one of those weirded out indie disco mixes that he does so well. No evidence of his Krautrock fetish here. The Prin Thomas remix is inevitably one of those spun out cosmic disco remixes. Blurb:  Off the back of their sold out album, Daniele Baldelli & DJ [...]

Something a bit synthy, a bit Balearic, a bit ambient. Golden Sails are the owners of Brooklyn's Honeywax Records. They've got a two track release out. Lead track Glider is pleasant enough synth beach music. But it's the other track, Suspension , that you should head for. This is a gorgeous synth-led deep house tune, almost veering on the ambient. Quality music. Blurb: Golden Sails second release on Brooklyn's Honeywax Records is another warm weather trip into Balearic beats, deep house and techno. The lead track, "Glider" has a slow, beachside [...]

New on Ground Level records comes this from Rebel Sketchy . Expect bass. Grinspiller  Bromley mix is less breaks and more bass than you might otherwise expect. It's a bit laidback, in so far as anything with this much sub bass can be laid back. The extended mix is the better of the two mixes, adding a bit more disco funk to the mix. Definitely, the one to go for. Blurb:  Since joining the Ground Level roster in 2011 Rebel Sketchy has been a key artist for the label, dropping innovative original [...]

Excellent new release on France's Skryptom Records from Traumer (Romain Poncet). This goes from synthiness to full-on banging techno. Opener, Sofa goes for the synths dominating. One of those sunset tunes, with an intentional epicness. Lovely. Does the sample  really say " move their fannies "? How odd. Oscla is an abrupt change of pace into pounding techno. This one sets out its stall from the off and doesn't let go. Astra provides some relief after that relentlessness with some Detroit influenced dub techno. Very cool. The EP ends with more heavy [...]

• Traumer - Movements EP

I'm not sure this LP can properly be described as the future. But it is an interesting solo listening experience from Uruguay's Par. More soundtrack than dance floor attack, the tracks encompass the melodic soundscapes of opener Las Reglas , through the caffeinated edginess of Replicas , to the almost-not-thereness of the hissing title track. Blurb:  Acclaimed New York techno label Biatch Corp turns to the emerging Montevideo artist Par for one of the most ambitious electronic music full lengths in years. El Futuro could be described as an exciting combination of genre-blurring music, cutting [...]

Yorkshire's Mono Life is back with some more French disco house for the summer. Following on from the French house sound of Disco In Paris , The Music has more of that Discovery -era Daft Punk soundingness but still retaining its own sense of self. This is a damn funky little number, with the sample adding to, rather than subtracting from, the overall feel. http://facebook.com/monolifemu sic

Since it's been a day of classic dance music styles, here's some fine house music from Danny O to end with. Fingerprints and Passwords is a lovely bit of sunny house  music, just slightly on the lazy side for those early evening occasions.  Exiled To Siberia is more of a prime time number but bubbles along pleasantly. The final track is Dog On A Lead . More warm house music, with greater synth action. A lovely light EP. Blurb:  After a collaboration as remixer, Danny O is back on Smiley [...]

If anyone's dubbing up your techno it's Dubmetrical. They've a second compilation album coming out next month. Here's a sampler. Federico Concas gives us Jump . Sadly, not a cover of the Van Halen classic but a moody techno piece. This is one of those rolling hypnotic dub tunes. Rolando Vallice takes things up a notch with There's A Man Down There . Disembodied vocals sit astride something that's more tech house than techno. Adam Cro forsakes the dub for an altogether sharper piece of techno on Kiscro , that jabs at you constantly. Label [...]

New tech house EP from Yado Atiz. This comes with a blizzard of remixes. Losing sits somewhere on the tech house / house border, largely due to the sample giving what would otherwise be a straight tech house tune a bit of warmth. Vertical Smile is the more interesting track, with tech house styling plus some bongos for extra points. This is real 3am stuff in it's relentless approach. Rather fine. It comes with a separate EP with seven remixes of Vertical Smile - surely too much for [...]

Here's something slow and just a little bit warped to end your weekend. Free download. Big Bear Music is from Austin, Texas. Other than that, I know nothing. The track is a lovely downtempo piece, just slightly warped and glitched, especially round the vocal sample. Lovely experimental track; a bit like a loved-up Aphex twin. We need more from this ursine fellow. Durante: (spanish) 'During', or 'In the course of' enjoy and share the love

And, it's talented youngsters that annoy me the most. Take shakuru tajiri for instance. A mere stripling at 18 and he produces stuff like this. It's bloody lovely. Damn him. Free download. Things U Do and Maybe, U at least have the merit of allowing me to tut tut about the text speak. But they have a laid back bluesy downtempo feel that you just have to give in to. A bit beachy. A bit Balearic. A bit hippy. http://www.shaktajiri.bandcamp .com/

On the basis that Sundays are for something different, here's Platypi on Brighton's Numerology Records. This is like that warped downtempo hip hop of Mr Scruff. Three tracks for you. Lassitude is glitched downtempo hip hop with a bit of added chip bloops. Slightly disposable. Red Baloons (sic) takes a similar path but in a more lazy rounded out way that feels more complete in its head-nodding charm. Tswing takes lounge music, including tinkling piano, and twists it into new shapes. Interesting. Grab it from itunes here:  itunes.apple.com/gb/album/some thi…ngle/id648903071 [...]

It's a Saturday night. Let's pretend I'm off out clubbin' and givin' it large, rather than the reality of shuffling off to bed with my cocoa. Here's Flume remixed by A Purple Heart into a glitched dnb track that's on the money with that punchy kick. Right, I'm off to bed; don't you stay up too late; don't make too much noise and don't forget to lock the door when you come in. http://www.apurpleheart.com/

Here are a couple of new tracks from Marshall Watson that arrive without explanation, as they so often do. And there does feel to be a story behind these untypically downtempo tracks. The First Morning sounds almost religious as a title. It has a downtempo early morning feel with soft piano and tom toms. A lovely dreamy piece to watch the clouds drift across the sky. Your Love All The Time is a more IDM soul venture, akin to Mr Scruff or some of Coldcut's more 60s style adventures. [...]

It's a month since my last Max Cooper post, so I think I'm allowed another. This time a remix for The Slow Revolt. It's more of that Orbital meets David Gray vibe. A rich voice set against clicky but melodic IDM. A one note organ synth, some strings and contemplating the vastness of existence. This follows Max's remix of This Dark Matter Blurb:  The Slow Revolt is a great musician, with a great voice, so it was a pleasure to remix this track of [...]

As you would expect, this EP from D Numbers' Brian Mayhall is an eclectic collection of tracks that defy categorisation. No bad thing. Opener 'Insects' is a sparse affair, a combo of mournful melodica, whispered voices, staccato beats and bass that gradually gather pace but remain largely subdued. In contrast, 'Wind Chill' has a jazzy feel, the scat singing augmented by some nifty keyboard work and housey beats, whilst retaining the exiguous feel of the previous track. A reverberating synth ripples through the lovely 'Aint Sunshine', handclaps, snatched vocals and a gently throbbing [...]

Just over nine minutes of pure, unadulterated, pounding techno on the new release by Ben Atha. Sweet. This is a real heads down, eyes shut, pumping powerhouse of a   track, shot through with echoes of the classic 'Access' from way back when. Opening with a pounding, industrial beat that eschews any ambiguity about where it may be heading, the intensity simply increases by the minute as a ricocheting synth   kicks in, reverberating away nicely, before some razor sharp, high hat cymbals get added to the fray. [...]