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Guilty pleasures
I KNOW, you're thinking, "Dude, you just did a top 10 list for the Bay Guardian!" Well, let me tell you: I may be married to rock 'n' roll, but this clubby, electronic hussy of a nightlife is a seductive mistress, and every once in a while she deserves to be trotted out too. And this is a top 9 list, so nyah! Yes, it's been a splendid year for rock – especially locally – but it's been just as invigorating on the dark-and-digital side of techno, electro, experimental, house, hip-hop, and whatever it is that M.I.A. does. Here's a quick look back at some of the year's best. In no particular order: Fischerspooner, The Other Side – New York; Damian Lazarus, The Other Side – London; and Black Strobe, The Other Side – Paris DualDiscs (all Time Out) I've been sold on travel videos since long before Robin Leach strolled me along the beaches of Monaco, but I've never pined so much for the riches of big city life as I have after watching these horn-tooting DVD ads for entertainment mag Time Out. But wait, I'm missing the point. What you really need here are the exclusive mixes on the respective flip sides: the real look into each city's club scenes. Princess Superstar, My Machine (K7) When Miss Kittin kicked off her recent Mezzanine set with Superstar's "Perfect," I thought that maybe, just maybe, techno heads were gonna come around to Concetta Kirschner's razzle-dazzle, speed-spittin' style. 'Twas probably just a fluke, but that doesn't take anything away from this futuristic concept album about a club queen in search of robots to do her dirty work. The Fabric label I've still yet to visit London's esteemed Fabric club, but I sure hope that when I do, it stands up to the quality of its releases. The current crop of special mix discs and Fabriclive sets includes incredible collections from turntablists Scratch Perverts, baile funk mash-up master Diplo, and techno kingpins Carl Craig and Ivan Smagghe, and word has it that they have one in the pipeline from Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos. The year 2005 was great – 2006 is gonna be ... greater? The Playhouse label With hardly any North American presence or distribution, Playhouse continues to give the Cologne techno juggernaut Kompakt a run for its Deutschmarks. Famous When Dead IV, Captain Comatose's Up in Flames, and Isolee's Wearemonster, which he showcased live this year at SF's own Kontrol party, are just a few of the label's big selling points. Keep 'em coming, and bring more of yourselves over here too. Annie, Anniemal (Big Beat/679), DJ Kicks (K7) Every little thing this Bergen, Norway, singer did this year was magic, starting way back at the beginning, when she unleashed Anniemal, the record that finally made it OK for indie kids to shake it Ace of Base-style. The latest offering – a loosely mixed run-through of gay-club party anthems, '80s gems, and b-boy electro slammers – delivers a sweet reminder that Annie plans to stick around. LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem (DFA) Yeah, I guess LCD Soundsystem also carries a bit of responsibility when it comes to indie rockers popping and locking all across club land. James Murphy et al. (including his DFA production partner-in-crime Tim Goldsworthy) took everything that's poppy about techno and everything that's not so poppy about pop, and blended the two with style, wit, and aplomb. They claimed, of course, that the whole thing was an accident. Post-punk and no wave, new and old This is a bit of a rock-lovin' cheat, I know, but now more than ever these genres from a bygone era are strutting their soulful, dance floor-rockin' colors. Everyone from Gang of Four – who released Return the Gift (V2), a collection of rerecorded Go4 classics – to Liquid Liquid's Sal Principato are screaming, "We won't get fooled again!" Also seek out the forthcoming Delta 5 compilation Singles and Sessions 1979-81 (Kill Rock Stars) and the Fall's snarling Fall Heads Roll (Narnack), and pray that Soul Jazz gives Sexual Harassment their long-overdue reissue. The Soul Jazz label OK, OK, that last jab was actually meant to be a compliment, because if anyone's gonna reissue a Sexual Harassment record, it'll be London's Soul Jazz. Known for breathing new life into Jamaican dub and out-jazz, the label not only put out the fantastic Sexual Life of the Savages Brazilian post-punk survey and the Acid: Can You Jack? collection of Chicago club hits, but also stepped up where abstract techno imprint Mille Plateaux dropped off with Microsolutions to Megaproblems, a left-field compilation involving Bay Area contribs Kid 606, Sutekh, and Kit Clayton. The Warp label Sure, it had some beauties – with AFX, Autechre, and Broadcast all releasing brilliant stuff this year. But it was Warp's riskiest move – putting out Jamie Lidell's neo-soul-slinging Multiply – that proved its stalwart status more than 15 years after its launch. Lidell's record was top notch, he was finally given the credit he's been due for years, and he's got an absolutely untouchable live show, presented locally at the Independent earlier this year to boot. Red Wine Fridaze presents James F!@#$%^ Friedman with Toph One Fri/9, 10 p.m., Kate O'Brien's, 579 Howard, SF. Free. (415) 882-7240. Future Primitive Sound Sessions' 10th anniversary, with Z-Trip, Radar, Faust, Shortee, and Romanowski, Dec. 16, 9 p.m.-4 a.m., Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. Call for price. (415) 762-0151. E-mail Ken Taylor at synthetic@sfbg.com. |
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