There we are, the last Friday Night Special of the year. We’re a little early this week, in order for you to enjoy the mix with your family under the Christmas tree. An extra special, long and deep edition with 21 tracks and 100+ minutes. Somehow, it wasn’t that hard to fill those minutes with great tracks. As a matter of fact, I even had to exclude a lot of fresh ones. There really was an abundance of good tracks this year. Even though about 95-99% of the thousands of tracks that come out every year are crap (rough estimate), that still leaves hundreds of good-to-amazing ones that are released every year. I’ve tried to gather as many as I could find for the 15 FNS mixes this year.
Two fantastic slower tracks by Kollektiv Turmstrasse and Shoe Box kick off this week’s mix, before a Ray Okpara banger lifts the pace. Robert Johnson’s San Laurentino follows with “Somewhere Under The Stars” (number 1 of 2012 on many lists), followed by some more spacey, tropical, chimey techhouse goodness from Re.You, Matthew Dekay, Tube & Berger, Monkey Safari, Bakermat, Marlose and Miguel Lobo. When Guy J’s Mercury arrives things start to go deeper. Two amazing ethereal techno tracks from Chymera and Nadia Struiwigh are the apex of the mix. To close off some great techno tracks by Guy J, Boris Werner and Sigha.
One year and 15 mixes later, we’re still up and running. Let’s see what the next year has in store!
Some deeper techno tunes this time. The mix starts with some great minimal by Coma, Dominik Eulberg, Ryan Davis and Pantha Du Prince, and then slowly builds up to a deep, melodic technojourney with tracks by Edomite, Jerome Sydenham, Phil Kieran and a classic by Steve Rachmad from his recently reissued breakthrough album. And this “dj” ain’t afraid to play a long version of a m$%&(*@cking record, so hang in there. After about 60 minutes the mix slowly comes down again with tracks by Luke Hess, Maetrik, Stephan Barnem, Redshape and Pitto.
End of the week, time for the third Friday Night Special. Another 45+ minute mix from your friends at LSD. We start off with some smooth minimal, mixed with classic Detroit, but about halfway the techno tchuk-tchuk train starts rolling, leaving no passengers behind. This one’s not for the faint-hearted. Some E Talk at the end to finish off with a smile.
The Friday Night Special is back. New mix, same recipe: a little bit of this and that, but hopefully quite yummy. In a few weeks you will be offered a cooled down, chilled treat. Tracklist after the jump…
And so, at the end of the year, you suddenly encounter one of 2011′s finest techno tracks. It’s entirely the style that I personally have kinda discovered for myself this year, which is not the industrial, pounding big-room techno (which I still love, of course), but a more chilled, relaxed, spacey kind of floating techno. Love that.
This track by Berlin (of course) duo Andhim is a perfect example of this style (edit: this one too). Brings shivers down my spine, for one, so please listen to this -- it’s slow to start but picks up at 2:30:
- Edit: Also check out this equally hypnotizing, relaxed, spacey techno track by Andhim. These boys got talent!
Somebody has uploaded what by many is considered the best techno documentary ever, Speaking in Code(2009), to YouTube. It’s narrated in German, but that shouldn’t be a problem for any Dutch or German speaking native (sorry if you’re not). The documentary won a couple of independent film festival prizes, so it’s more than just an insiders-only movie.
The film follows a couple of people, dj/producers as well as music lovers, in the European and American techno scenes as it existed a couple of years ago.
Speaking in Code is an account of people who are lost in music. Director Amy Grill follows a series of characters (including her techno-obsessed husband) over a number of years as some struggle to make it while others thrive in the world of electronic music.
The film reveals six intertwined character studies and raw vérité views of new music. It’s a window into a world filled with warehouse parties, endless gigs, international travel, risks, inventions, triumphs and breakdowns.
The characters are: Modeselektor, a producer duo, jettisoned from playing a tiny room in the US to playing to 20,000 people at the Sónar festival in Barcelona; journalist Philip Sherburne, who leaves America to find a more complete techno lifestyle in Europe; The Wighnomy Brothers, catapulted from their idyllic world in Jena, Germany to face their breaking point on camera; Tobias Thomas of Kompakt, who contemplates the near-end of his career; and Monolake, an inventor of the Ableton software that nearly all electronic musicians use to create their music, who continues his steady yet quirky approach to a life in music. While back in the US, David Day (Grill’s husband) tries tirelessly to turn Boston from a rock-centric town to a techno city. Day’s wanton attempts to make electronic music popular put strain on his marriage to the director.
And the soundtrack, I must say, is brilliant. If you got time, check this out:
A mesmerizing minimal techno track from 2009 by Dutch prodigy Pascal Terstappen a.k.a. Applescal, who at 23 has already produced eight releases, two of which full-length. I feel old.
Love the high bpm, pounding bass and spacey synthesizers in this track. Good stuff.
Here’s some Dutch electronic music that can compete with the best international stuff. Utrecht’s Nuno Dos Santos and Amsterdam’s Pien Feith remix the track ‘Black Spirals’ from rising talent Applescal. Reminiscent of Pantha du Prince and Apparat.
Taken from Amsterdam dj Miss Melera‘s Top 5 over at her site.
Pien Feith will perform at Stekker Fest in Utrecht next week, and Applescal can be admired at the Into the Woods Festival in Amersfoort on September 10!
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