Corrugated Tunnel 'Minor Obsessions' Review

Corrugated Tunnel drops his third studio album, Minor Obsessions, in October and it is a showcase of his diverse sounds which cross between house, techno and other styles of electronica. It's set out somewhat in a true 'artist album' manner – i.e. not being a collection of singles but more a showcase listen in itself – and is a really nicely crafted and quirky listen.

Starting with the acid influenced tech-house of 'Festival' and the techy breaks of 'Fade Away' it's quickly apparent this LP has as one foot in the 1992 Altern-8 camp and the other in the modern house. Contrasting that, 'Keep The Change' and 'Cabin Fever' are the eclectic moments of the album, reminding me in some ways of parts of the Blade Runner soundtrack – melancholy and retro-futuristic.

The use of vocals on this album is also quite classy and a departure from the usually average efforts heard in dance music - right from the full-on classic house vocals in 'The Rejection' to 'Shine On' with its Vanessa Daou-style poetry - it all works well.

'Remedy For My Soul' also appears here after a release earlier in the year with remixes from Rennie Foster, Jay Riordan etc. It might be the poppy moment of the CD, but does it with enough quirk and class to stand well above most efforts at this sort of vibe.

Corrugated Tunnel has been called Dublin's answer to Röyksopp and Trentemøller. I'd add Télépopmuzik to that list too after hearing this. Maybe it's some weird affinity to artists who have symbols on/above their vowels or that there is a fast growing stable of quality Irish artists like Chymera, Mark O'Sullivan etc helping to raise the whole game. Whatever it is, it sounds great.

'Minor Obsessions' is out on 11 October on Process Recordings.

Corrugated Tunnel's website

Filterwolf 'Music From Tomorrow' album review

Filterwolf's debut EP on Process Recs last year raised a few eyebrows with his quirky take on tech-house, a theme which holds here across his new album of post-minimal excellence.

Bosnian born but raised in Germany, Filterwolf is influenced by the minimal sound of recent years but adds to it a 1980s-vibe twist. Music From Tomorrow is straight-forward in concept but has an x-factor and unique funk which helps it stand out as quite distinct to most releases you’ll hear.

Starting out with ‘Sofia’, an ethnic music-inspired groove with an analog synth bouncing throughout, you immediately have an idea of the sound here. ‘Acrobat’ and ‘Terra Tech’ follow similar lines, making great use of eerie vocals intermingled with bouncing synths.

The standout track is ‘Nocturne‘, a simply brilliant piece of tech-house which will be rocking dance floors for a long time to come. On first listen it has an obviousness which could be mistaken for so much other rubbish out there but here the quality holds so well - from the vocal elements to the Kraftwerk-style futuristic cheekiness of the main synth.

‘Viva’ and ‘Hedonistica’ take a more pacey, dance floor vibe, still keeping with the theme of oddball haunting vocals, stabbed keys and an 80s-inspired quirk which you’d be hard pressed to find in such consistent quality outside of Carl Craig and other classic techno-slanted artists. Although this is a collection of singles more than a conventional artist album it is a great showcase of Filterwolf’s signature knack for producing quirky and original productions. 

Free Music! As an album promo Process Recordings are giving away an album track as a free 320kb/s MP3 download. Right-click and 'save-as' > Filterwolf - Nocturne 

Release: 10 May 2010 online. Junodownload release page

Abe Duque 'Don't Be So Mean' - album review

Perfectly described on the first line of the media release as being one of techno's most inspiring and often unsung heroes Abe Duque is the sort of producer talent who doesn’t come by very often.

After dozens of quality singles over the past decade Duque has forged a reputation as being an artist who is part Octave One, part Moodymann and with a few added twists thrown in.

His 2005 album, ‘So Underground It Hurts’, was fantastic and his new LP keeps the bar just as high. ‘Don’t Be So Mean’ is a collection of subtly brilliant tracks mixed with straight up dance floor rockers.

Early on you get the goods with the lead single, ‘Tonight Is Your Answer’, classic deep, dubby house full of slow burning atmospheric sounds which lead into a hypnotic groove which hooks you before you even notice what’s happened. ‘Trash Acid House’, another of the standout tracks, has an almost Blade Runner sound-track vibe to it with ethereal pads, acid tweaks and moody effects.

To cap it off is the almost 80s sounding ‘Salute The Dawn’ features the vocals of Tijana T – who's featured before on Duque releases – alongside a classic piano which is nothing short of one of the coolest blending of diverse elements you’ll hear in dance music.

‘Don’t Be So Mean’ is a solid session of infectious downbeat grooves and killer club tracks (well, not if your thing is poppy house). If this album doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will.

Out now on Process Recordings. File under: deep, dubby, techy, housey.

If it weren’t for Mark O’Sullivan's 'Fragments from a Long Country' album this would be the tech album of the 2009 for me. As it stands, to me, they’re on-par with each other, each showing a different take on modern techno.