10 years of invisibility

As the pioneering super-club that is Fabric prepares to embark upon a 30+ hours extravaganza of house and techno next month, in celebration of being at the epicentre of dance music culture in the UK for the past 10 years, I thought I would take the time to draw attention to a phenomenon that has received far less praise for it's 10 years of excellence: Cynosure Recordings.

Although Cynosure Recording's artist list is as super-star-studded as the line up for Fabric's birthday bash the record labels own understated celebration does draw one parallel to the club, it too will feature the minimal techno giant Ricardo Villalobos. Cynosure are set to release a limited edition 10" from  Mike Shannon, suitably called Under the Radar, which will feature remixes from Deadbeat, Rozzo, Massi DL, Justin Long and Villalobos to celebrate 10 years of commercial invisibility.

It is difficult for me not to fall for this record label because regardless of it's lack of an arsenal of dance-floor hits (with the labels best selling release being Monoblock's Untone), Cynosure spit out brilliantly crafted dub-techno and house, despite their awareness of their bleak existence.

The labels recent re-release of Brett Johson's decade old house classic Temptation and Lies, with remixes by Deadbeat and Chic Minature, is a miniture triumph whilst other releases, such as Matt Thibideau's dub-techno Asphalt EP, are unsung masterpieces.

Keep on trucking Cynosure.

Byallo builds a stormer

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Tracklist

01. Ring in the Dead
02. Borderline
03. Rarebird
04. Simpler Times
05. Picture Heaven
06. The Hello Track
07. Bebring
08. War Zero
09. Recliner
10. Casual Sax feat. John Juster

Considering the recent surge of interest in tech-house, as the electronic music community turns tentatively away from its former stripped-down and minimal path, it seemed only fitting that this blog's opening post should belong to one of the most attention grabbing releases of this kind to date; Alland Byallo’s Brick by Brick.

From his base on the West Coast where he works as [KONTROL] resident Byallo has delivered a deep, lucid and k-user friendly release that can hold its own on the dance floor.

Before hearing this release I had little interest in the deeper side of house, opting instead for the eerier and more skeletal sounds of the likes of Troxler and Jamie Jones, with their eclectic samples and echoing looped vocals. However, Byallo’s release far exceeded the “floaty synths” and “soft kick” stigma that I had attached to the genre with the album producing both groove and kick by the bucket load.

Although this album isn’t a collection of hit tracks there are certain stand out songs which raise this album above the rabble. “Rare Bird” steams in with a glitchy synth and warm bass that should please any tech-house fan while personal highlights come in the form of the harder kick of “War Zero”, the hook of “Casual Sax” and “The hello song”, the most successful track of the album.