lakeofthewyles

These days, discussions on the subject of electronic music will often, quite understandably, deal with the importance of innovation; there seem to be some critics who will dismiss an artist as “derivative” simply for displaying any hint of being influenced by another’s music.  This comes as no surprise, as there are indeed many producers who make their living by churning out passable emulations of whatever sound is currently held in high esteem.

On the other hand, it’s important to remember that good records can be—and are usually—made without forcing the listener to “reinterpret the meaning of electronic music” or some nonsense along those lines.  With that in mind, we turn to The Phantom‘s EP 2, a release that deserves to be noted not for challenging the status quo but rather for celebrating it, in the best way possible.  Hit the jump for the full review.

THE PHANTOM – CEREMONY (Silverback Recordings) 12″ by The Phantom

EP 2 brings four new tracks from The Phantom, and it is a mark of Warsaw resident Bartosz Kruczynski’s talent as a producer that this latest release seems to encapsulate much of why dance music is still worth your time.

The EP opens with one of its two shining moments, the excellent “Ceremony”; Kruczynski takes a fairly straightforward approach to the warped r’n'b vocal strain that seems to pervade the work of so many producers these days, but the infusion of retro-informed piano chords at about a minute in gives the track a playful, dance-worthy undercurrent that’s hard to resist.

Closing track “Colossus” finds The Phantom toying again with styles of a bygone era, with its glittery chords and slinky funk lead, but it is in the middle of EP 2 that he demonstrates an impressive comfort working in a variety of styles, offering two pieces that fit snugly into the current canon of nebulous bass music.

The weighty, melodic hip-hop of “Gothic” is the EP’s most emotional moment, an almost-sad number that might not be the best fit when compared stylistically with the other three songs on EP 2—it sounds more akin to someone like Night Slugs’ Jam City—but an interesting and well-produced track nonetheless, and certainly worth a spin or two.

Which brings us to “Voyeur”, the EP’s penultimate track, which proves to be The Phantom’s most contemporary and energetic inclusion, and the second of EP 2‘s pair of really superb productions.  Again, as with “Ceremony”, Kruczynski fools the listener with a fairly run-of-the-mill opening, a few woozy chord sweeps topped with a syncopated rhythm that together give an early hint of what will ultimately become a relentless piece of funky house.  Exploding into an exhilarating sugar rush of stuttering chords carried aloft on a torrent of clattering percussion, “Voyeur” highlights once more the central merit of The Phantom’s work; EP 2 presents no astounding or drastic innovations in production, no radical rethinking of melody, rhythm or style, but instead showcases a very talented producer as he works comfortably in an established medium, with the end result being a handful of clean and thoughtful productions, subtle tweaks and adjustments to a formula that has already been demonstrated to work quite well.

The Phantom’s EP 2 is available now as a vinyl-only release on the excellent and fast-growing Silverback Recordings.  You can hear most of the EP (excluding “Colossus”) below.

THE PHANTOM – EP 2 (Silverback Recordings, January 2012) by The Phantom

@djlemz @flexkapazi

https://www.facebook.com/DJLemzmusic

“This one’s for the after hours after hours. This one’s for the kids who are still going on Monday and need to calm down. This one’s for the people who lost weight on the weekend and for the one’s who gained some. This one’s for the people who have to drive back to Munich after a weekend in Berlin, it’s for the kid taking the subway back to Queens drunk in the morning. This one’s for the loner. This one’s for the stoner. This one’s for that place where you need to escape to for an hour once in a while when you’ve been patient, when you’ve been good, when you’ve had enough…. It’s for the ones who dance alone at home and for those who don’t dance at all.“

Tracklisting:

Enya – Bodicea Gazneva – Secret Agent Man (Instrumental) Shit Hot Soundsystem – Illusion Trickski – Beginning Milk – B roads (6th Borough Project Dub) 3 Channels – Love is Alright Marie Madeleine – No Love (La Muerte) Pional – In Another Room Mario Basanov – Do you Remember Todd Terje – Swing Star Pt 2 Wool – The Good In You (Sabo Mix) Richard Richard – Toro (Wool’s Cool The Jets Mix) Tornado Walace – Insect Overlords Kasper Bjorke – Man From Venice Chopstick & Johnjon – Obviously She’s A Dub House of House Running To Paradise (DJ Harvey Streets Mix) Four Tet – Love Cry Fillipo Moscatello – Houz (Trickski Remix) Luca Lozano – Heaven And Hell Love On Lazerdisc – Mainframe The XX – VCR (Four Tet Remix) dOP – Blanche Niege (Lulu Rouge Edit) Rampa – Wire Rufus Wainwright – Tiergarten – (Supermayer Remix – Wool’s Hasenheide Edit)

WHITE LIGHT 52 – Wool (RIGHT CLICK, SAVE AS)

More Info on Wool

Wool Projects Soundcloud Twitter

Feel free to share and blog this mix, but please reference this page!

“The landlord turn your lieutenant into a tenant/and if your rims spinning/your jaws dented.”

That barely makes sense and it’s the hardest thing since MC Ren. Sorry Mos Def (uh Yitzhak Bey), this is the diametrical opposite of “Niggas in Paris.” I would be cool with hearing it eight times consecutively at the next Black Hippy show. Should you have missed my more covert link yesterday and be curious to read my extended thoughts on a great record, I reviewed Habits & Contradictions for MTV Hive. Should you be too lazy to read 800 words, the summary is that this album takes the stale late-period Aftermath tradition of LA gangsta rap and leaves it in the streets with its shoes and shoelaces missing.

Video via The Great Gorilla in the Sky.

Download: MP3: Schoolboy Q-”Nightmare on Figg St”

Renowned man of class Derek Blasberg captured a live performance of Azealia Banks performing ’212′ at Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris estate to celebrate Karl’s new line with Net-a-Porte.

killin it Az

Sticky Stockholm – Sleeptalking from Twelvethree Rec on Vimeo.

Super tight!