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Sunday 18 December 2016

I Can Mend Your Broken Heart


I followed a link on Twitter the other night to Fact Magazine's 20 Best House And Techno Records of 2016 and started digging. I haven't got through them all yet but am having fun delving. The fact that I knew hadn't heard of pretty much any of them and knew almost nothing about any of them was-
a) a bit over-facing
b) a bit daunting  and
c) proof that I'm well out of touch. But
d) shows that end of year lists have a useful purpose.

This one is really good. Released back in May on Where To Now? Records it starts with a echo-laden woman's voice and then a crisp beat. Icy waves of synth come in and some buzzes and beeps, layers of recorded noise with the rhythm becoming more complex. The narration continues intermittently but I'm never being quite able to make out what she's talking about. The moans five minutes in start to clear things up. BBC Radiophonic Workshop gone laptop techno. Lovely stuff.

Machine Woman (Anastasia Vtorova) was born in Leningrad, raised in Nottingham and now lives in Berlin (this song is very Berlin).

7 comments:

The Swede said...

I've been working my way through the very same list. The genre is a long way away from my area of expertise (not that I actually have an area of expertise), so it's a handy shortcut to have a selection put together (nearly said curated there) by people in the know.

Echorich said...

Thanks for the link SA - I scanned the list and only knew one track. Traumprinz - NY Diva Has Been Set On Fire almost made it to my Top 50, but I have a tradition of leaving dance/house/beat music off that annual list. it's a bass shaker you might have heard in NYC back in the day. It samples Cedela' The Underground which you couldn't avoid at Twilo, Tunnel or Roxy back at the dawn of the Millennium.
Gonna spend some time with this list today! Thanks!!

Echorich said...

I hit send and then realize that there IS one more track on the Fact Magazine list I loved in 2016 - Mr. Fingers/Larry Heard's return with Qwazars. Heard brings back some of the past to remind us of what House Music can sound like in the future.

Swiss Adam said...

That was the one I'd heard of.

Walter said...

Thank you for this link SA. The only one I know is Porter Ricks but I know what to investigate when I am back

Walter said...

Thank you for this link SA. The only one I know is Porter Ricks but I know what to investigate when I am back

Anonymous said...

Ha!!! Makes me feel a bit better about myself re my comment on your end of year round-up. It's impossible to keep up these days.....