Madteo & Sensational, “Freak Inspector (Hieroglyphic Being Rework)” (Morphine)
Jamal Moss gets extra weird — and extra funky — on a cut that sounds like all the world’s machines gone haywire, all at once. When the aliens blast us with their EMP, expect something like this (if we’re lucky).
Mano Le Tough, “Mountains” (Permanent Vacation)
Like Ricardo Villalobos’ “Dexter,” remade by someone who grew up listening to emo.
Marcel Dettmann, “Landscape” (Music Man)
Heavy petting between blast furnaces.
Mistakes Are Ok, “Koala (BNJMN Remix 2)” (Hivern Disc)
This free download actually trumps BNJMN’s mix that was pressed to vinyl; rainy-day techno at its finest.
Omar-S, “S.E.X (C.G.P (Conant Gardens Posse) Remix)” (FXHE)
Omar-S gets relatively hi-fi – for him, anyway – on this deep, jacking, R&B-soaked analog house cut. More like this, please.
Pal +, “The Forest” (One Eyed Jacks)
A techno epic for life in the forest canopy, complete with bird calls.
Pearson Sound, “Untitled” (Pearson Sound)
Ramadanman applies some of juke’s quick-stepping energy to a snapping, percussive workout in his unmistakable style, and we’re airborne.
Ra.H & Dynamo Dreesen, “SpacePops (Donato Dozzy Remix)” (Morphine)
Italy’s kind of space techno plants his feet on the ground with a tribal-tinged groove, but acid prevails, in both senses of the word.
Recloose, “Magic feat. B. Slade” (Rush Hour)
Another instant deep-house classic, brimming with guitars, R&B vocals, and an overwhelming sense of swooniness.
Rusko, “Pressure” (Mad Decent)
Given how I’ve been banging on about U.K. garage all year, it could hardly go uncommented upon that the baron of bro-step went all MJ Cole on us.
