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- CD
(Poker Flat/Stomp)
Started by Steve Bug in 1998, Poker Flat took no time in setting up its fan base with a list of quality releases in the tech/house/minimal/electro department – including Bug’s own Loverboy and his collaboration with DJ T Monsterbaze that rumbled soundsystems everywhere. Now up to its 56th vinyl release, it continues to be a brainchild of artists like Bug, Landsky, Tejada, Lidbo, and Samuel – and this latest CD release includes ten current and forthcoming 12” releases.
The overall CD is quite a hard genre to pin-point for those that don’t go out and get Poker Flat vinyl releases religiously. It is primarily techno, although not fast (nothing much over 130bpm), but you get squelches of electro, chunky elements of house, and the odd bit of stripped down minimal sounds. John Tejada provides one of the highlights with his driving Steppa – which was incidentally included on the vinyl release of one of last year’s great tracks: Sweat on the Walls. Vincenzo provides an exclusive track for this compilation, Peng, which is mental to say the least – twisted cut-up electro vibrations, and even a cheeky sample of the Beastie Boys thrown in!
Jesper Dahlback and Alexi Delano get together under their ADJD guise for the twisted-tech Bring It Back, and Martin Landsky brings a house/electro dancefloor destroyer in the way of Fool. Things get twisted once again with the always quirky Detroit Grand Pubahs, as Big Onion provides so many squeaks and bleeps all at once.. but somehow all gelling together in a way they only know how. Argy’s track on the compilation would probably send you to the Nuthouse if you listened too many times, and the Martini Bros finish the CD off with an all-out aural assault with She’s (Heavy Metal).
It is great to see Poker Flat continuing to release CD compilations of their music, as well as vinyl, and you can get ten excellent releases on one medium. Also included in the package is a mix from Jeff Samuel, which is great for those not into mixing – or for people who don’t want to only listen to mix with extended intros or outros. All the names of Poker Flat are on this mix and Steve Bug’s Bug in the Brain gets the CD going nicely with its deep chords. Things get a little more tech-based with ADJD’s Save Me, and then Guido Schneider As Dry as I Can shows some pure hypnotic techno – and would go nicely on any upcoming horror/thriller movie!
Martin Landsky’s FM Safari gets a Cheeky Chimp Mix, which has more club appeal than the version on the unmixed CD, and this blends into the re-worked Steve Bug Loverboy – with Cassy on the vocals. Jeff Samuel provides an exclusive track for the mix, with the supremely upbeat electronica of Glurf, and soon after John Tejada steals the limelight with his spectacular bass pulses in Sweat. Phonique gets quirky with his Suspicious Kermit Dance and then ADJD finish off the mix with the deep and melodic Getting Closer.
Jeff Samuel’s mix is very well programmed, going nicely when packaged together with unmixed disc, and this 2CD set is a must for any fan of techno that draws inspiration from house, electro and minimal. Poker Flat continue to provide the goods.
