by Model 500
(R&S)
Dance music is a labels game. R&S, founded in Belgium at early rave’s height, has recently been reactivated; amazingly, it’s right back in the thick of things thanks to fine 12-inches by James Blake, Pariah, Fabrice Lig, and now the Detroit techno originator himself, Juan Atkins, dusting off his Model 500 guise. “OFI” sets its agenda right from the jump: “Object flying, identified/Don’t be scared, ’bout to blow your mind/From another space, another time/Wanna see the alleys of your mind,” Atkins utters through a few filters, referring back to his own 1981 “Alleys of Your Mind” (as Cybotron) and reassuring old fans that he is who he is forever. “OFI” isn’t quite a pop song, but its fizzy blares and rugged bass line give it a repeatable hookiness that makes it feel close to one.
by Jee Day
by the Crystal Ark
(DFA)
“Time goes by you—like a child,” goes the seesawing vocal refrain on “Like a Child,” by Dennis McNany, a veteran New York engineer who’s worked on other DFA and related acts before striking out with this 12-inch as Jee Day. Nostalgia plays a big role in DFA’s outlook, and “Child” and “Snake Bite,” while basically disco, carry a feel similar to early Peter Gabriel and Remain in Light–era Talking Heads. McNany also remixes “Child” as Run Roc, pushing it further into headlong, serrated, tranced-out territory while retaining an Arthur Russell–style art-disco feel. The Crystal Ark, one of DFA-regular Gavin Russom’s aliases, looks back by using sequenced synths that jab and pinch, rather than bounce and buff in a more modern way. The squiggles here suggest surgical lasers, especially when Russom caps the track by moaning, over and over again, “I’m on fire.”
by Will Saul and Mike Monday
(Aus)
England’s Aus Music, as its name betrays, offered arty variations on house music, but lately it’s been swimming in art-dubstep, thanks to recent singles by Joy Orbison and Ramadanman. Aus cofounder Will Saul and Mike Monday’s new EP together goes both ways. “Sequence 1” is like jacking Chicago house abstracted to pure texture; “Small Moments” is a lot of spooky voices shivering over a gauzy, cymbal-heavy kick-drum bounce. On the B-side, dubstep domo Scuba remixes “Sequence 1” with a skipping beat and a gurgling keyboard-bass stab that gains a kind of grace with repetition. Maybe they should call their next label Uhstep.