Underground, Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

The inimitable Kenny Dixon Jr, who makes music under the moniker of – come on now, you know this one – Moodymann, has released new album ABCD, which bypassed the usual marketing hype and snuck under the radar, being released a fortnight ago without the usual fanfare. It’s now up to journalists and imposters such as myself to provide that fanfare – better late than never, eh?ABCDis Moodymann’s 10thLP since he entered the fray back in ’97 with Silentintroduction, which dropped on Carl Craig’s Planet E imprint. While some connoisseurs will pinpoint Moodymann’s Brown and Black MahoganiLPs as the Detroit auteur’s magnum opus, selecting highlights from such an illustrious discography is not an easy task. Moodymann has been increasingly active on the production front of late, issuing a free album last year through Scion and dropping a new 12″ earlier this year with his Detroit ‘super group’, the Three Chairs project, with alongside fellow Motor City luminaries Theo Parrish, Marcellus Pittmann and Rick Wilhite.ABCDis a vinyl-only release, but before the digital generation begins with the ‘woe is me’ rhetoric, I must stress that we, the people, are lucky that the release is going to be as accessible as it is: The inside word is that ABCDwas initially pressed to be sold exclusively at the 2013 edition of theDetroit Electronic Music Festival– that’s ‘DEMF’ in industry speak– which took place at the end of last month. So if you don’t have decks, get chummy with someone who does – I’m only an email away ladies – so you can have a listen toABCD, which sits between a ‘traditional album’ and an extended 12″ a la Moodymann’s 2008 albumDet.riot ’67. ABCD is out now through Dixon’s label KDJ Records.

It’s a bird – it’s a plane – Issakidis! Parisian cult figure George Issakidis recently released his debut solo albumKarezza on French label Kill The DJ, a stable for offbeat electronica that’s overseen by tastemaking French veterans Chloe and Ivan Smagghe. Don’t let the fact that the release is technically Issakidis’s debut solo LP throw you off the scent – Issakidis has a reputation amongst the cognoscenti for being an influential figure in the club realm. Since making his mark in the French scene ‘PDP’ – pre-Daft Punk – Issakidis has been releasing music for more than 15 years, and is renowned for his output with Christophe Monier as The Micronauts, with the pair remixing the likes of Underworld, Death in Vegas and the Chemical Brothers. Issakidis has also collaborated with Speedy Jfor releases on Novamute, and runs his own record label,The Republic of Desire.Karezzais a nine-track album that features collaborations with Perc and Ed Banger’s Mickey Moonlight, along with his old pal Speedy J. Lead-off single ‘Cherry Red’ is an album highlight, and is well worth seeking out for the remixes from Smagghe andTim Paris under their It’s A Fine Line moniker, and Issakidis’s own rework under his Dzir alias. However, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you did this at the expense of listening toKarezzain its entirety. For those fond of clumsy food analogies, treat ‘Cherry Red’ (and its remixes) as a delectable appetiser rather than a whole meal in itself.Karezzahas been laudedby the bigwigs at Kompakt Records since its release, and should be investigated by anyone who likes to listen and dance to slightly left-of-centreelectronic psychedelia.

Birmingham producer Mark Evetts, or Mark E as the listening public knows him, headlines the next HAHA bash at Goodgod Small Club on Friday July 5. Evetts originally made his mark via re-edits, with his ten-minute rework of Womack & Womack’s ‘Baby, I’m Scared Of You’ piquing the ears of one Giles Peterson, who in turn started playing it on his well known radio show. While originally known for reworking samples from – well, he even refashioned cuts from Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey – Evetts soon graduated to churning out original productions and remixes, launching his own label MERC and using it as a forum to hone a sound that conflates house and disco. Rip-roaring remixes of Cagedbaby’s ‘Hello There’ and Matthew Dear’s memorable single ‘Little People (Black City)’ introduced him to the Ghostly/Spectral fold, who released Evett’s first artist album, Stone Breaker, in 2011. Given the continual evolution of Evetts’ sound, one is loath to speculate what he’ll play when he makes his Sydney debut in a few weeks time for the HAHA lads. As the man himself told an online rag [which we won’t name for legal purposes], “I feel it’s important to evolve rather then revolve.” A stellar support cast, comprised of Simon Caldwell, Magda Bytnerowicz and HAHA residents D&D will also be spinning wax on the night, with $20 presale tickets available online.

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through[email protected]

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine