Drexciya – Sea Snake
Rayon – The Panther (Rubber Re-Edit)
Daniel MehlHart – Dunkelkammer
Modeselektor – Hasir
Bonde do Role – Melo do Vitiligo
Japanese Telecom – Beta Capsule
Deep Chord – 6:03.07
Trickski – Sweat
Anthony Rother – Genstruktur
Sascha Funke – In Between Ways

Hurrah! Charts are returning to the site this week. It’s been three months without a personal laptop, but I’m able to start reporting again on the tunes that are doing it for me, plus a wrap of my favourites for 2007. Better late than never.

Ron with the Techno Tourist crew

Master record cutter, mastering engineer and record producer at Sound Enterprises (formerly National Sound Corporation or NSC) in Detroit passed away on January 13.

My condolences go out to his family and friends. Read below for the NSC / Sound Enterprises story.

In 1989 two businessmen by the names Steve Martel and Ron Murphy decided to open a store specialising in old phonograph records, situated at 17610 W. Warren in Detroit, Michigan. They named the business National Sound Corporation.

They had the idea of also being able to cut Dub plates and records for the use in their customer’s jukeboxes, and so some record cutting equipment was also set up in one of the shops back rooms. Shortly after opening they where visited by Derrick May and Juan Atkins, who whilst looking for records noticed the cutting lathe and asked about having some acetates made.

After cutting a couple of dubs for Derrick and Juan, Ron was told that there were a lot of Detroit producers that needed a local place to have dubs and masters cut. Ron decided to upgrade the equipment whilst Derrick and Juan spread the word about the new cutting service.

The first master to be cut was Plus 8 label, followed a week later by Underground Resistance label.

Since those first masters were cut back in ‘89 there have been thousands that have followed, all inscribed with the initials NSC.

Producers were encouraged by Ron to make their records unique, by including information and phrases written onto the records, and even going as far as to talking Kevin Saunderson into cutting one of his records in reverse, and cutting locked grooves for Jeff Mills’ Discovers The Rings Of Saturn project.

The death of Steve Martel in 1994, and the subsequent problems that arose with the remaining estate, led Ron to purchase the equipment and relocate the recording service to a new location, the success of which had already led to the closure of the retail side of the business.

The new name chosen was the Sound Enterprises, however Ron has continued to put the old NSC logo on each master produced, in memory of Steve Martel without whom the business would have never been started.

Reproduced from Discogs.com

A good article on Luciano discussing his electronic music influences. He name checks Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Lil’ Louis and our own HMC.

Rumours have it that he will tour Australia in December 2008!

Great tune from Lupe Fiasco - “Kick Push”, a real breath of fresh air. Clean sounding break with some smooth strings and a nice flow from Lupe rapping about skateboarding. No bitches, no hoes, no bling, no $1000 bills - motifs that are all too common with the more commercial end of hip-hop from the US.

Check it out.

Throwback to 1990!

Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road
Ultrakurt – M’Gell
Hilltop Hoods – What A Great Night
King Britt – Rise and Vibe (feat. Dice Raw)
Ame - Rej
Hilltop Hoods – City Of Light
Pantytec – Alabaster
Matthew Dear – Dog Days (Pantytec Interpretation)
King Britt – Emotional Quotient Deringer Of Chiek Anta
King Britt – Spaces (feat. Quasimoto)

Beastie Boys – Beat For Egg Man
Jimi Tenor – Utopian Dream
Vogon – Decoy
Terranova – Bitcrush
The Forth – Intro
The Thrillseekers – Escape
Beastie Boys – Cold World
Amp Fiddler – If I Don’t
Beastie Boys – The Bridge Is Over
Spanna – Kan Kan

Charts are back!

Joe Dukie and DJ Fitchie – Midnight Marauders
Pathless – Forecast
Âme – Life Changes
Forss – Using Splashes
Micatone – Run (Seiji mix)
Georg Levin Feat. Clara Hill – I Got Somebody New
Soul Quality Quartet – Toda Tersafeira (Jazzanova Rework)
Astronomy Class – After The Carnival
Daniel Paul – Outta Space (Meitz mix)
Si*Sé – Cuando