It started with Tricky and ended with Efdemin, and all I can tell you is there’s a real six degrees of separation thing going on here. Pre-Millenium Tension is so much inspiration and punchline; the sad joke of my high-school years (back then, nothing felt more subversive than jamming “Christiansands” on the way to our small-town prom); the Bristol-heavy, Londoner sleaze so particular to the 90s; the thing I never imagined would hold up, but hold up—have you heard “Bad Dreams” lately? ‘Cause man, that shit hits.

But it’s not just those toms that do it, or that death-rattle of a bass. There’s something to Tricky’s atmosphere—early Tricky at least, before he reportedly disavowed his only good records on grounds of insanity—that makes the heaviest elements even heavier, and it inspired in me a nightmare ride through piles of understated electro. Stuff that doesn’t worship at the altar of pure beat, you know, even though Pre-Millenium Tension is inarguably beat obsessed. While some of this month’s jams love a kick (oh hello, Jahcoozi), they’re equally reliant on the little things: that one breath in a vocal track, the space blips, lounge samples, dream loops, et al, that turn a track from run-of-the-mill Tiesto thump (ew) to pure effing brilliance.

Here we go.

Tricky – Bad Dreams [Island/Polygram]

Hands down the best jam on Pre-Millenium Tension, and second only to “Black Steel” as sexiest Martina Topley-Bird vocals ever. Too bad she’s gone so sugary now; Tricky-era Martina was like the saving grace of my high-school experience.

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Jahcoozi - Speckles Shine Feat. Guillermo E. Brown [BPitch Control]

But at least Jahcoozi’s Sasha Perera is picking up the slack. The Berlin-based trio’s latest, Barefoot Wanderer, is full of rad electro-dub and dancehall, but Sasha’s back and forth with Guillermo E. Brown—plus that rad reverb explosion at the finish—pretty much makes the album. So good.

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Elite Barbarian – Going Down [Front and Follow]

Speaking of explosions: London’s Elite Barbarian are in, like, a cage match with Oneohtrix Point Never for most creepily robotic space-station trauma. I mean, I’m sure they like each other just fine, but put the duo’s It’s Only When You Get To The End That It All Make Sense in a ring with Oneohtrix’s Zones Without People and there’s no way either is coming out injury free.

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Trentemøller – Sycamore Feeling (Trentemøller Remix) [In My Room]

Trentemøller, on the other hand, seems to be downplaying any and all robotic qualities for something decidedly hushed and organic. New album The Great Wide Yonder is anything but his typical downtempo, but the Danish producer’s still a total genius; “Sycamore Feeling” wafts with reversed vocals and lazy, hollow guitars that (accidentally) school the fuck out of the XX’s “Infinity”. Whoops.

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Walls - Gaberdine [Kompakt]

The Field. Apparat. Even Trentemoller remixes—this London duo comprised of Allez Allez’s Sam Willis and Banjo Or Freakout’s Alessio Natalizia  is paying homage to the best of the best. Even their name bows its head, however unintentionally; Walls is the title of Apparat’s amazing first solo record, and this self-titled debut takes a cue. Dreamy, lush electro post-punk with a penchant for bells and airy vocal loops. Get ready to see this self-titled debut on gazillions of 2010 best-of lists.

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Efdemin – Oh My God [Dial]

Standout jam from the beloved German producer’s much-anticipated second album, Chicago. I’m not sure Efdemin could ever go wrong, but this track’s maniacal focus on the perfect lounge snippet and slight, subtle beat is beyond right: the most amazing weirdo, deep-summer space lounge.

White noise. Too much. I’m sure you understand; sometimes electronic music gets to be overwhelming. The singles, remixes, edits, re-edits, collabs, DJ sets and full artist albums pummeling you at lightning speed; we live to keep pace, but somehow, in all the flurry, forget from where the whole mess spawned. That once upon a time, genres were merely one unhyphenated word, sans sub-genre and sub-sub-genre. That it was all just…experimental. Or incidental. Or, simply, electronic.

So let’s take it back a bit, shall we?

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Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO [1968]

Mother of the Dr. Who theme song. Member of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Total tech-wizard revolutionary. Seriously, what else is there to say: electro wouldn’t be electro without Delia Derbyshire. This girl is my hero.

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Delia Derbyshire and/or Daphne Oram – Found Recording [approx. mid-1960s]

Unearthed by Mark Ayres after Delia’s death, this snippet went unheard for so long, no one’s totally sure when it was made—or whether Delia’s truly the creator. Though it’s clearly her voice asking us to “forget about this, for interest only”, some speculate that the track might actually be the work of collaborator Daphne Oram. Either way: this shit was made near the mid-60s, and it sounds like something XLR8R would flip over tomorrow.

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Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium [1959]

Bandleader, commercial writer, inventor…and unwitting electro pioneer. Raymond Scott not only broadened the voice of musique concrete (and subsequently disco, house and techno), he also built the sequencers necessary to create the compositions. He may not be as revered as, say, Robert Moog, but his work was certainly as crucial; without Scott, we’d have never had the Electronium, a random sequencing machine that paved the way for all those ER-1s and 303s racking up the bucks on eBay.

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Breaking news: Germany? Huge techno scene. Seriously massive. I mean, telling people you’re into German techno is like saying you really love paintings, especially the kind that use paint. It’s part of the definition, guys: a rose is a rose is a rose. Techno is Germany is techno.

Because for whatever reason (up to and including my hunch that Ableton Live comes free with every flat), Deutschland does it better. BPitch does it better. Ellen Allien, Paul Kalkbrenner, Thomas Fehlmann, Apparat and AGF/Delay and Pascal Vert—they all do it better. So certainly it’s redundant to base an entire month’s track-hoarding on German releases. A waste. A goes-without-saying. Right?

Well, yeah. Probably. But I’m doing it anyway.

(Except for that Indian re-release post-jump. Variety. Spice of life. Etc.)

Ellen Allien – BPitch Control Artist Video

Producer, BPitch creator and all-around rad babe Ellen Allien is unarguably the modern queen of Berlin techno and minimal, so it’s super-interesting to hear her talk about the what, how and why of the scene she’s helped foster. And I swear I’m not obsessed with her at all. Not even remotely. Look at me: aloof!

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Goldfish + Der Dulz – Plants [Haseland Magnetschallplatten]

Vaguely wacky minimal that skates just left of center. Is it quirky? Aggressive? A little tongue-in-cheek? I can’t quite get my head around  Bremen veterans Goldfish + Der Dulz—but I can’t stop listening to them either.

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Ellen Allien - Feel Like [BPitch Control]

The flip-side to the equally amazing single Pump, ostensibly from her forthcoming full-length. Classic Ellen: both minimal and maximal, hypnotic and glitched-out and absolutely on the brink of exploding before it recedes into the best sort of tease. Not that, like, I think it’s so great or anything. Aloof, remember? Look how aloof!

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I fucking hate February. It’s the worst possible month, the god-awful dregs of eastern American winter, when everything’s all grey and slush-slicked and all you can do is bear down in your freezing hell of a bedroom and hope spring comes quick and painless. I do a lot of staring at walls in February. A lot of wishing I lived on, like, Easter Island.

So I’m ditching the barren standards this month. Minimal, EBM, chilly German techno—you’re too depressing for February’s blizzard central. We need heat. Lots of it. Sunburns and bikini tops and filthy breakdowns and bass so heavy, it feels like middle earth. We need anything dub-inspired, sounds all echoing and atmospheric, and here’s the silver lining, I guess: February is the no-fail excuse for zoning out to a bunch of warm, summery jams. I mean, what else is there to do aside from check and recheck the 15-day forecast, waiting for the mercury to skyrocket up to 60? ‘Cause I’m not sure that’s the healthiest hobby. Not that I know from experience or anything.

Tek-One – Broken String [H.E.N.C.H.]

Hot-as-fuck UK dirty dub-tech from the second sampler of the first H.E.N.C.H. mixtape. I actually gravitated toward Komonazmuk’s rad A-side “You Fo”” but immediately abandoned it once “Broken String” slammed into the drop at second 55. Wait for it.

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Spektrum – Freakbox (Richie Hawtin’s Uncontrollable Edit) [BPitch Control]

Hawtin’s simmering thunderstorm makes everything else on Seth Troxler’s mixtape sound like a piddly little rain shower–and we’re not talking ho-hum stuff here. Boogie Bytes Vol. 5 also includes a pseudo-disco Fever Ray remix and a new Kiki jam, but they barely stand up to so much heat-soaked, organic noise. Perfect.

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Pardon me while I hum a little hymn for Beatport; my affection for it borders on religious fervor. Of all the places an electro nerd could channel her (probably clinical) obsession with beats and bass, this site battles only Boomkat for the title of Most Consistently Rad. Obscure one-offs from Ibiza producers? There. The dubstep remix of a disco-inspired track released digitally and with little fanfare? There. Martin Gore’s top 10 techno, house and minimal tracks? Fucking there and shining strange light on his work with Depeche Mode. Seriously, this shit is like Factsheet Five—and anyone who’s ever had a mailbox brimming with photocopied Clikatat Ikatowi interviews remembers what a thrill that was.

Which is to say: I might be skirting a problem here. Combine my Beatport passion with daily jaunts through label websites, Myspace and a whole host of blogs, and suddenly I’ve amassed so many artist tracks, remixes and DJ sets, I barely know what to do with them. Except—oh wait!—hoist them on you. Once a month. Starting now. Is this comprehensive? No. Guaranteed to be totally obscure? Not a chance. Sometimes my radar is so crammed with comparatively huge releases, I can’t get past it. But at the very least, I can share a tiny sliver of the stuff that keeps me stoked all month, the releases over which I spend a good portion of my time silently freaking out. Here’s hoping you’ll love some of them, too.

Welcome to January…

Gui Boratto – Azzurra [Kompakt]

Another single from the Brazilian producer’s 2009 full-length Take My Breath Away, but lest you think it’s just a rehash and some remixes, consider this: “Azzurra” is totally reimagined (it’s actually titled It’s Not The Same Version) and packaged with two brand new tracks. And since I’m a sucker for sick bass, even more of a sucker for an ascending melody and even more of a sucker for synths slipping in and out of tune, new jam “The Glam” is like the best thing I’ve ever heard.

But don’t dismiss “Telecaster” (especially if you know/love Boratto’s debut Chromophobia) and definitely don’t dismiss his track on ADA’s Lovestoned Remixed EP. This guy’s a total genius, and I’m counting the minutes until I see him in San Francisco. You know…in September. It’s a lot of minutes.

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Telefon Tel Aviv – Immolate Yourself Remixes [Bpitch Control]

If these remixes mark a new dawn for Telefon Tel Aviv—Joshua Eustis is officially going solo after last year’s death of TTA other half Charles Cooper—it’s looking bright as fuck. Though Eustis obviously didn’t have a hand in the actual recreation, he did manage to curate a flawless bunch of producers: Sascha Funke, Ben Klock, Thomas Muller, the usual BPitch suspects. But then you’ve got this subtle disco take from lesser known Berlin producer (and Vice Germany music reviewer) Miss Fitz, and it’s like out-of-nowhere catchy. Move over Ellen Allien—Miss Fitz is fighting for your place in my heart. (JK EA!)

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