Favourite London Things No.342 in an ongoing series: New Piccadilly Cafe

Occasional writing stints for KultureFlash have reminded me of established music journalist etiquette. Like where you mention records around the time of the release date. But i'd always fuck that up by either slinging or losing the accompanying press release.

Proof being in these very pages, where music that came out possibly years ago gets written about as if they've only just been released. Hoping that none of you people will notice this clerical error. So here's something that won't see the light of day until January 2006. I think the powers-that-be refer to this as a preview.

The Blow: touchy-feely indie from somewhere in the U.S, probably all very nice. I don't know, not heard it and in some ways I don't really have to. But this is something special, something that goes beyond the usual 'indie meets electronic' exercise.

Caro throws in two mixes: 'Puddles of Love' and 'Sea of Love'. The latter is epic, emotional and overwrought. Every syllable of Khaela Maricich's vocals are punctuated by stop/start beats. Interluded with 808 workouts and filmic strings.

But unless something else comes out before Christmas, Strategy's remix will remain as the most astonishing electronic pop record I'll have heard in 2005. Mutated vocoder vocals, dampened piano riffs and sparingly used beats elevate this to the next level.

"Pick it up, try it, get tired of it, rewind."

I guess the appeal stems from a long standing fascination with digital noise. Terms like dark ambient, drone and doom metal might sound silly to those who object to music's never-ending classifications. But totally speaks to the likes of me. I'm having difficulty trying to put how I feel about these records into words. Needless to say they've seemed to occupy my listening post on an almost daily basis. Once i've worked out what exactly is going on, I'll try to impart some opinions. In the meantime, just backtrack like I did and purchase everything else this lot have done.

Kompakt, not content with dominating the minimal house demographic, decide to launch K2: a techno offshoot. Utterly desirable; the beautifully rich black and red packaging, that familiar and comfortable Kompakt font and the cool, calculated sense of detachment. It's fucking difficult to resist.

Steadycam's flush velvet glide of 'Caress' is a good start as any; chorded blips underpin bass kicks, moody asides slide by with sneer and venom. Hug is better known as John Dahlback and continues his raucous, flirty approach to minimal sequencing. 'Fluteorgie' containing enough drama and tension to propel you towards the dancefloor with 'Pip' really turning the screws.

Robert Babicz gets all blissed out with an overtly melancholic jaunt in 'Sonntag' and propulsive, euphoric acid disco on 'Mister Head'. But Gul Boratto wins out over all with two flights of refined restraint that contain ideas above their station. Hailing from Brazil, this naturally sounds loose and limber. Natural, unenforced build up of ideas and sounds lead to a trade-off that's worth the wait.

Transmat's release policy makes no sense at all. As in, it's totally non existent. Their decrepit, crumbling (but oh-so-techno looking) website schedules releases from artists that have never seen the light of day. I mean, I know Derrick May is a slack fucker, but what's the excuse of the others?

Still, this compilation points to what might have been. Twenty-one tracks of new wave Detroit Techno. Sitting together, they form a formidable force. Individually, some of these tracks could go on to 'classic' status.

I'll leave the final word to Jonathan Burnip of Soul Jazz Records: "This could have been a feather in the cap for Detroit techno and a black eye for European minimalism."

Always meant to write something about this Rotterdam-based label. But they don't make it easy. Transparency not exactly a major characteristic of minimal techno. The impenetrable website and sleeve artwork give absolutely nothing away. But with the likes of Frank Bretschneider, Taylor Deupree and Anders Ilar gracing their small but perfectly formed roster, it's got be worth investigating.

My first experience of Audio.nl came quite late. 2002, Barcelona, Sonar Festival. Was record shopping with the late, great John Peel. Ended up in some shop called CD.Drome (stones throw from the CCCB complex, where the festival was being held). Flitting through the rack of pixel graphics and reserved colours that made up the minimal techno section, I chanced across a group of records draped in loud orange.

We both took turns to listen to the four available releases.

The free-floating propulsion of 'Gok' by Motor could fuel an entire night at a club. Weightless showers of resonance engulf submerged bass kicks. No wonder we both spent an hour at the customer turntables.

We took whatever they had left in the shop. The urgent impulsive haze that consumes any lover of vinyl came over us both. Quickly followed by a warm glow and beaming smiles. And in John's case, a gentlemanly nod to indicate extra satisfaction.

Fast forward to May 2005 and the last release came from Sweden's Anders Ilar. 'Enkel' is best described as isolationist, dub-inspired techno. Cyclic, hypnotic and mysterious. Not a single slack moment here; the clipped shear of opener 'Paragraf' leads you out of the light, before the logic-gate propelled abstraction of 'Endast' clip and anchor themselves to a groove.

A limited palette means that it might be too dry for some. But its not all introverted digital inspection. Movements like 'Tenfold' and the excellent 'Kondensator' even hint at tonal melody that bring it closer to minimal house.

But like most of Audio.nl's output, I'd be lying if I said it was surefire dancefloor material. These guys are more interested in texture and mathematics. Exploring the extreme edges of spaces that we're familiar with. Receptive, alert, senses on enter.