Detroit luminary Omar-S(pictured) is certainly getting into the swing of celebrating the tenth anniversary of his FXHE label. Earlier this year he mixed the FXHE 10 Year Mix Compilation,made up of 16 tracks from the label’s back catalogue by the likes of Gunnar Wendel (AKA Kassem Mosse), OB Ignitt, Luke Hess and of course Omar-S himself. Omar then dropped his Romancing The Stone EP. Now news has filtered through that Omar-S has mixed FXHE 10 Year Compilation Mix #2, which will drop on Sunday June 1. Returning to the blueprint of his 2009 Fabric 45 mix, which was comprised solely of Omar-S’ own productions (a tad self-aggrandizing perhaps, but it’s hard to raise such qualms when the final product was of such high quality) the forthcoming label mix is an all-Omar affair. The 16-track vinyl mix consists entirely of material from the Omar-S archives, with recent productions blended with tracks from his classic 2005 album Just Ask The Lonely. Omar’s coming yo!
Icelandic group GusGuswill release their next album, Mexico, in June on Kompakt Records. Mexico is the follow-up to 2011’s Arabian Horse and is apparently influenced by ’80s synthpop, garage and, uh, ’90s trance. GusGus continue their increasingly vocal trajectory on Mexico, with the title track the only instrumental one on the album. Anyone eager to hear a sample of GusGus’ latest output should seek out Mexico’s lead-off single ‘Crossfade’, which dropped last month with remixes by big guns Maceo Plex and Michael Mayer.
Vaunted veteran DJ Phil Smart willplay The Burdekin this Saturday May 31 alongside Los Angeles techno proponent David Flores, AKA Truncate, in a party that features three floors of music. Smart has played alongside many of the bigger club draw cards to tour Australia since he started spinning back in the ’80s. He can add another scalp to his belt this weekend when he plays alongside Flores, who was originally known as Audio Injection before delving in to the darker shades of techno through his work as Truncate. Smart has released his own productions and remixes under various guises, including Headland, Altitude, Sprocket and Earthlink. Additionally, Smart is the co-founder of record labels Think and Thunk, which were responsible for early releases by Infusion and Pocket. He has also had a hand in organising Burning Seed, the Australian version of the Burning Man Festival, which is happening this year from Wednesday October 1 to Tuesday October 7 in Matong State Forest, NSW.
Erudite Englishman Ewan Pearson and regular collaborator Al Usher are releasing their first new Partial Arts material since Telescope six years ago on Kompakt Records in mid-June; a single called ‘Taifa’. Pearson has had a big year behind the scenes, having recently finished studio production and mixing work for new albums from Jagwar Ma and Ben Watt, but it’s good to see him returning to the production fray with his old offsider Usher. Pearson describes ‘Taifa’ as “Kraftwerk trying to make an acid record with Andreas Vollenweider”. The undulating, pop-bred Balearic acid soundscapes of the original will be accompanied by a remix from Andy Meecham, AKA Emperor Machine, who is coming off the back of a well-received remix of Erol Alkan.
LOOKING DEEPER
Saturday May 31
Sunday June 8
Saturday June 21
