Spring brainwashing

I imagine the thundering cacophony of humming analog machines, hammering beats and groovy synth lines of Simian Mobile Disco at Club Soda last Sunday to be the closest approximation of the voice of God possible using manmade technologies. The show reaffirmed my belief that the U.K. duo is in fact the best live techno performance in existence. If their encore set of unreleased, tripped-out cuts is anything to judge by, their new album is going to be bananas when it hits. Keep an ear out.

Cofounder of German techno/minimal/microhouse juggernaut label Kompakt, Michael Mayer will be in town tonight, Thursday, April 23. He’ll be at Club 1234 dealing out one of the slick, knowledgeable mixes for which he is noted.

In other sounds, I recently had a chance to check out some of the latest sonic swag coming up from local label Turbo Recordings. Omni-Dance is a double disc marking a decade of groundbreaking techno and electro releases, featuring some rehashed classics like a new-wavy “Mercury Tears” reprise from Chromeo, the blog-house-ified Crookers cut of Proxy’s insane industrial masterpiece “Raven” and Konrad Black’s recent chilled-out techno remake of “Sunglasses at Night,” as well as killer staples like Tiga’s heavy-duty acid and fart-bass “Mind Dimension 2” and d.i.m.’s “Sysiphos.” There are also a few fresh gems like local Mike Mind’s seamless retro outing, “Acid Machine.”

I also got a copy of Ciao!, the excellent new Tiga album, out at the end of the month. More on that soon, but for the minute go to tiga.ca to witness the hilarious video for the silly, funky single “Shoes.” It’s a twisted ’70s green-screened interview scene with all sorts of ridiculous classic video transitions, unforgettable costumes and sexual innuendo. And finally, keep your head up for a dope Mr. Oizo remix of that track, another of the many superb jams coming out on the city’s longest-running electronic music label.

SO MANY DOPE RELEASES SO FAR THIS YEAR!
jack.oatmon@gmail.com