TEA's Top 100 Tracks for 2012

"People read this shit everyday, more than they read books,” French sound poet Anne-James Chaton told me in an interview this year. 

A bedrock for Chaton's work is his notion of "poor" or "low intensity" literature - the recurrent text we read on bank slips, shopping receipts or bus tickets. 

So how far distanced is the end-of-year electronic music list with the ostensibly dull shopping docket or the mundane bank statement? Is it necessitous archiving? Or do we go as far a saying it's subcultural cataloguing?

TEA's annual top 100, now in its third year, remains a list of our favourite tracks that made their way down our external auditory meatus by the way of our inbox, record bag or CD wallet.

Each of the 100 selections has it's own story, whether it be an ear pricking moment in a podcast, pestering Daniel Filipovic for a track I.D during one of his DJ sets, an on-point suggestion by Hans at Transition Records, music sent to me speeding down the online promo-bahn, or simply music I bought myself.

TEA, through personal taste, has generally remained Euro-centric in its focus toward electronic music, so it was rousing to see music outside of Europe champion our 2012 register. 

So before scrolling straight to bottom, why not flick the kettl' on for a cuppa and an inquisitive perusal through the YouTube links provided.  

100.Mo Kolours - Banana Wine [One-Handed Music]

99.Rhauder feat. Paul St. Hilaire - "Sidechain" (dub version) [Ornaments]
98.The Analog Roland Orchestra - Velvet Green [Ornaments]
97.Abdulla Rashim - Weldiya 2 [Prologue]

96.Chevel - Apply Within [Enklav]
95.Truncate - Diffraction (Markus Suckut Remix) [Modularz]
94.Delta Funktionen - Redemption [Delsin]
93.Cassegrain - Distil [Prologue]
92.Mike Dehnert - Granulat [Fachwerk]

91.Demdike Stare - Kommunion (Alternative Version) [Modern Love]

90.Jeff Derringer - The Trail Of Your Blood In The Snow [Perc Trax]
89.AnD - ADBF [Black Sun Records]
88.G MAN & ROB STROBE - Skotch [Sonic Groove]
87.Maan - L1 [Non Series]
86.Yoshihiro Arikawa - Lapse [Toffler Sound]
85.Third Side - Unity (Steffi Remix) [Restoration]
84.Conforce - 24 (Gesloten Cirkel remix) [Clone Basement Series]
83.youANDme - Mouche [Dust2Dub_Rec]

82.Myles Sergé - Distant Cries [Space]

81.Quince - Alfa [Clone Store Only Series]

80.Legowelt - Rave Till Dawn [Clone]
79.Sascha Rydell - When You Play It [Fachwerk]
78.Roman Lindau - Grow [Fachwerk]
77.Barker & Baumecker - Crows [Ostgut Ton]
76.Diagenetic Origin - Landet [Sonic Groove]
75.Lucy - Milgram Experiment [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
74.Oscar Mulero - Intentionally False [Warm Up]

73.Marco Zenker - Stressin Neighbour
72.Roman Lindau - Plavix [Fachwerk]

71.Tom Dicicco - Exit [Inner Surface Music]

70.Actress - Caves Of Paradise [Honest Jons] 
69.Actress - Marble Plexus [Honest Jons]
68.Norm Talley - Travlin [Landed Records]
67.Claro Intelecto - Voyeurism [Delsin]
66.Psyk - Distance [Mote-Evolver]
65.Henning Baer - Folsom [Sonic Groove]
64.The Exaltics - Node#2 (Delta Funktionen Remix) [Modal Analysis]
63.Mike Dehnert - Modulat [Fachwerk]
62.Planetary Assault Systems - Function 4 (Marcel Dettmann Base Dub Remix) [Mote-Evolver]

61.Die Roh - Look Out (Tessela Remix) [Vae Victis]

60.Aiken - Second Balance (Regis Remix) [M_REC LTD]
59.Actress - The Lords Graffiti [Honest Jons]
58.Fission Theory - Moon Drive [Cuckoo Music]
57.Markus Suckut - Broken [Repitch]
56.The Fear Ratio - Skana [Blueprint]
55.Alex Cortex - Mem [Killekill]
54.Mike Dehnert - Andruck [Delsin]
53.Alden Tyrell - Rush [Clone Basement Series]
52.Woo York - Void (Truncate Remix) [Igla]

51.Aubrey - Inflation [Farden Records]

50.Pfirter - Multiverse (Markus Suckut Remix) [MindTrip Music]
49.Mike Dehnert - Fraction [Fachwerk]
48.Psyk - Isolate [Mote-Evolver]
47.Truncate - Diffraction (Jonas Kopp Remix) [Modularz]
46.Barker & Baumecker - Trafo [Ostgut Ton]
45.Lucy - Asch Paradigm [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
44.BMB - Dead Sun [Liberation Technologies]
43.Ctrls - Socket [Token]
42.Ed Davenport - Djungel Alliance [Counterchange]

41.Reeko - Lynx [Seleccion Natural]

40.Gerry Read - Yeh Come Dance [Delsin]
39.Truss - Hackney [Perc Trax]
38.L.B Dub Corp - Choctaw Dub [Stroboscopic Artefacts] 
37.Rndm - Recover [Naif]

36.EDMX - Rushing My Tits Off [Power Vacuum]

35.G.R.I.T - Clouded Horizon [Meanwhile]
34.Claro Intelecto - Reformed [Delsin]
33.Alex Cortex - R-Byte [KilleKill]
32.Shifted - Leather [Mote-Evolver]

31.The E.X.S - Untitled 04 [Unhoerbar]

30.Myk Derrill - Apply [Fluxus]
29.Julian Neumann - Being F [Third Eye]
28.Barker & Baumecker - Buttcracker [Ostgut Ton]
27.Szare - Excavated And Remodelled By Hand [Horizontal Ground]
26.Raffaele Attanasio - Black Bloc (Markus Suckut Construct) [Non Series]
25.Traumprinz - Love Yeah [Kann Records]
24.Prince Of Denmark - Untitled [Giegling]
23.Jouem - Certainty Of Salvation [Mojuba]
22.Sascha Rydell - Alchemie du Verbe [Fachwerk]

21.Unknown - A1 [Star Dub]

20.SHXCXCHCXSH - HHHHHHHGGKS [HEM]
19.Mix Mup - Before [Mikrodisko Recordings]
18.Anne-James Chaton - en ville [Raster-Noton]
17.Reeko - Momentum [Pole Recordings]
16.Dadub - Endless [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
15.Tessela - D Jane [Punch Drunk]
14.Joey Anderson - Hydrine [Deconstruct Music]
13.Ducerey Ada Nexino - Level In Shadow [Sludge Tapes]
12.Roberto - First Principles (Unbalanced Remix) [Affin]

11.Roger 23 - Optical Tjeck [Neurhythmics]

10.Stanislav Tolkachev - Building Peaks [Modularz]

I first came across Ukrainian producer Stanislav Tolkachev reviewing a digital various artists EP by a Ukrainian label Techno UA, it was called Detroit, Berlin, Kiev: Techno Connection. Tolkachev's Detroit inspired track "Negative Space" was the clear stand out.

Six months later Tolkachev's "Building Peaks" made the cut on part two of a Developer and Truncate Modularz release, the double package also featured strong remixes from Shifted, Jonas Kopp, Markus Suckut. 

Phase later used "Building Peaks" to open his Resident Advisor podcast in a track that progressively builds with stuttered and arpeggiated tension.

9.Murat Tepeli - Çiftetelli [Philpot]

Murat Tepili's second ever solo 12" features the track "Çifetelli", taking up the entire A-side of Philpot's beautifully pressed and white In The Mood For EP.

It's one for the dance floor and a cut with the ability to draw Panoramabar's curtains if the timing is right. 

At it's most complex, "Çifetelli" is a raw and Restoration Rec sounding jam, as a crude kick drum booms over oriental sounding sitars, junk percussion and subtle synths, but the tracks flashpoint is the final bass line crescendo.  

8.Jagdstaffel 66 - Alle Piloten Mit In Den Tod [Creme Eclipse]

There's something incredible cheesy, haunting and intelligible about Jagdstaffel 66's Starfighter EP. The pick of the five tracker however is "Alle Piloten Mit Den Tod", which roughly translates in English to "All Pilots are Dead".

The track opens with gregorian and synthesised sounding chants and dystopic synths similar to Milton Bradley's first End Of All Existence 12". 

Power Vacuum beats and reversed hats soon slog and pump under the weight of a sonic quietus, with the spritely inclusion of a sinister, yet playful acid trill. A great set opening.

7.Frak - Synthfrilla [Sex Tags Mania]

The only release for quirky Norwegian imprint Sex Tags Mania this year came via Frak, who had a stellar year with three fortified 12"s on Kontra-Musik and another on Borft Records.

Our pick of Frak's 2012 catalogue was the loud synths of "Synthfrilla", which define the zany four track EP, which also features a mix of "Second Coming" from the 2012 remix-prolific DJ Sotofett.  

6.Baaz - Glim [Office]

Baaz's "Glim" from the What About Talk About EP was one of, if not the best, deep house tracks of 2012, nestling in alongside four other esoteric and jazzy house cuts.

Pitched well below the 120bpm mark, heartwarming chords ebb and flow to the swing of dusty drum beats and chalky percussion. 

5.Furfriend - Geck [Killekill]

Killekill continues to purposely differentiate itself from much of what is coming out of Berlin at the moment. As part of the three-part KilleKill Megahits series, the label has commissioned a far flung group of producers to contribute to its ghetto-laced techno oddities. 

If there’s one track worth playing this year to a sweaty and male dominated dance floor, it’s Furfriend’s debut track “Geck”. Backed by masculine techno beats, a dead panned dominatrix vocal explains to “Take it, easy gonna jizz” and “When you suck it’s gonna rock,”. There's always room for a little gay humour in German techno.

4.René Audiard - Doctrine [Supply]

It's the spacious minimalism, jungle rope swing and quirky percussion of "Doctrine", the opener to Audiard's Pechorin LP, that makes this track so appealing. 

From a DJs perspective, it's that little more challenging, yet all the more rewarding to mix. 

3.Marcel Dettmann - Landscape [Music Man]

It's easy to picture a dusty Dettmann emerging from days locked away in his Berlin studio, covered in a fine powder of analogue dust. There's every chance it happened after producing the track "Landscape" for seminal techno imprint Music Man Recordings.

Since the release of his self titled LP in 2010, Dettmann has continuously he is much a DJs-DJs as he is a producers-producer. 

2.Kyle Hall & Kero - K2 Attack! [Wild Oats]

Kyle Hall played Adelaide's Cuckoo on September 29th and it was his and Kero's "K2 Attack!" that had the Cuckoo alumni feverishly foaming at the mouth - so much so, Phil Rogers, who runs the club, approached Hall to ask what it was. Hall pointed to a spinning white label telling him it was a new one of his, soon to be released on Wild Oates. 

Fast forward a month or so later and I found myself at Cuckoo listening to the esoteric and off kilter sounds of a Tim Carter and Sanjit Dhillon DJ set. Mid conversation, my ears were plucked with force from the conversation I was having, with me rudely interjecting - "what the hell is this!?".

I plonked myself in the middle of a spacious Cuckoo dance floor, the centre of attention for the clubs astutely tuned Funktion-One sound system, where like seagulls drawn to some stray chips, myself and several other techno boffins gathered in, giggling like Beavis and Butthead to the nauseating acidic's and abhorrent cranny spewing from the clubs tweeters.

1.Robert Hood - Hate Transmissions [Music Man]

Very rarely am I attracted to the musicality of Detroit techno or the percussive trickery of Chicagoan house. Nor am I the sort to moronically woop at the first sign of acid. 

The poignantly titled and ten-minute long "Hate Transmissions" from Hood's third instalment of the Nighttime World LPs, however, does harbour many of the sounds I generally recoil from, specifically snares, rim-shots and centre stage 303s. 

What begins as a taut and Hooded kick drum, lightly draped in reverb, quickly shifts gears into a long burning and torqued acid workout. It's straddled by motorcity hi-hats, tense leads, clucking rim shots, militarised snares and narrative screams of anguish. 

Over the course of ten venomous minutes there are several climatic, yet subtle drops where Hood's boiling acid somehow seethes even hotter to the fall of thrumming toms and overworked factory mechanics. 

Robert Hood's anecdotalist "Hate Transmissions" puts to bed the notion that IDM is captive to ambient electronica detached from the club and dance floor.

TEA's 2012 in Review - Part 2

Six months down and it was a pleasure to welcome the incognito SVN to TEA’s podcast bunker with an hour’s worth of veiled and flirtatious house music. 

In 2011 "Track 2" from SUE001 nestled in neatly at number 10 on TEA’s Top 100 Tracks for 2011 - pigeonholed by us as “acoustic house” (one for the Hardwax wordsmith). In 2012 the tenebrous German, under his SVN handle, released the one production, "Track 1", a collaboration with the sub rosa Paleo Logos.

Mike Dehnert loaded up record number 25 into the Fachwerk canon, which according to Discogs is his ninth long player. Sascha Rydell and Roman Lindau submitted their own solo EPs for the label with their Propose and Source D'Inspiration missives as well as contributing (along with MD) to three Fachwerk various artist EPs. 

Having already spoken with Sacha Rydell in 2011, TEA snaffled part two of the Fachwerk throng in Roman Lindau for a mix and interview. It was the first time a writer other than myself contributed to the blog and it was TEA resident DJ (when he is in Australia) Nic Tuohey and he met up with Lindau while spending six hedonistic months in Berlin. 

A Fresh TEA interview and podcast with Reno Wurzbacher soon followed with the Berliner opening the doors to “the huge Fachwerk-apartment” to let us in on Sachas Rydell’s record collection, his relationship with Roman Lindau, hip hop and his attuned taste for turkish tea.

Dario Tronchin aka Chevel burst out of abyss in 2012 with six releases - a watershed year for the young Italian. He coincided his sonic rebirth with a special Chevel-only mix for TEA in the lead up to the launch of his DIY imprint Enklav. Prior to unravelling his self-released Apply Within LP, RA’s Andrew Ryce jotted: 

"Dario Tronchin is a young Italian producer whose detail-oriented techno shares a lot in common with experimentally-inclined producers such as Lucy and Kangding Ray. The majority of his early work came through adventurous Italian label Stroboscopic Artefacts and German imprint Meerestief, but most recently he set up the Enklav digital-only platform as an outlet primarily for his own material. 



That imprint released his first full-length late last month, following a series of four EPs in September. Apply Within features 12 new tracks from Tronchin, with a slightly stronger emphasis on melody and pad work than his previous releases."

Chevel - Apply Within [Enklav]

The first TEA selections of 2012 came via Patrick Walker and Al Mathews (aka Smear) aka Forward Strategy Group. Since 2009 the duo have steadily released a controlled stream of EPs - largely on Perc Trax - which ultimately led to their saluted and debut album Labour Division, unshackled in May of this year. FSG’s Labour Division came one year after Perc’s heralded Wicker and Steel LP -  described by The Guardian in the wake of last years London riots as “an angry snapshot of modern Britain”. 

Come August 17, we broke a five month TEA party drought at our housey homeland Loop with Cosy Sounds Part II. Cemented to the bill as always was Daniel “Swayze” Filipovic and myself, James Manning. 

TEA excitedly ushered in Phaon Phipat - a diamond DJ in the sometimes rough of Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to meet Phipat at a Levon Vincent show and the days following, via a few friendly email exchanges, I was led to his superb Space Odyssey 900 and 001 mixes. The young Melbournian’s taste in deep house rivals that of the lab coated Germans making it. 

On the night of Phipat's TEA debut, I remember having a conversation with a friend of his, Alex Gibb, an instrumental cog (along with Phipat) in the well curated Melbourne throw down HELMET. Our chortle lampooned worn out EQ knobs - particularly the bass and effects knobs on Pioneer mixers. 



The next night I serendipitously came across a worn out bass knob of my own and this humorous turn of events resulted in my “Diary Of A Lonely DJ” post, which highlighted the many shortcomings local DJs have to put up with, including: awkwardly repositioning turntables back from "battle mode", finding out which RCA cable leads where, to then shining the back of a mixer with a phone to figure out what goes where - all of which eats into your already brief one hour opening slot.

Yet another thrashed knob

Nic Tuohey’s second written entry began as an private email he sent to me after a night with Marcel Dettmann at Berghain. It read: 

“Yesterday I woke up with a killer hangover at midday and got coerced into going to Berghain. No regrets really. Dettmann played the best set I've ever seen by him. I would go as far as saying I have not heard a techno set like that in about 12 years. Sounded like a set by Mills or Hawtin back in the day (not to detract from his ability because he clearly is a legend in his own right). 

It was immaculately programmed, real sense of storytelling and every track was just like ‘where the fuck did he find this record???’ It would be fair to say that most of the records he played were old ones anyway, so I might actually be telling the truth rather than hypothesising. 

Ben Klock was great as well but didnt have the intellectualism, futurism and obscurity that Herr Dettmann did. He did what he did best though and absolutely smashed it with his industrial strength minimalism.”

Intellectualism, Futurism and Obscurity  

My attention then turned east. No longer is the Eastern Bloc of Europe the butt of YouTube videos showing grubby daylight forest raves, with shirtless skinheads trying to insert their blocky craniums into throbbing speaker cones. 

Eastern European techno is amidst a revolution with artists like Stanislav Tolkachev, Unbalance and Unbroken Dub worth keeping an eye on in 2013. 

TEA’s 28th podcastee Woo York joins Tolkachev as an up and coming Ukrainian act and in 2012 the duo released their third EP Igla for Mutex Recordings (neatly packaged with remixes from Truncate and MRSK). 

Woo York's TEA podcast was live P.A. made up of exclusively their own and improvised material. 

Stanislav Tolkachev

Woo York

It's now September and time for some retrospect. Collecting techno for me at the begininning, was originally fuelled by the bigger-the-better kick drum, clashing hi-hats and ear jarring percussion. However, I've never really been a fan of snares in techno, even rim shots for that matter...

Trends come and go and tastes change, but an intrigue in simplicity and repetition, as well as a fascination for the overly complex, for me at least, will always remain. 





Why Don't you Change was a mix of ambient records and techno B-sides that I have collected since starting TEA. It's 100 per cent vinyl sounds (which you will notice thanks to the intermittent mono-to-stereo signal from my worn needles during the first couple of minutes) and was mixed using two Technics 1200s and a basic Numark DMX06 mixer. 

The inspiration behind the mix was the cold and grey skies of a Melbourne afternoon coupled with moving house, which ultimately ended up as an mini-ode to those who have influenced my music, DJing, writing and of course TEA. 

TBC.

Put the Kettl' On

It's pre-TEA party Thursday, so to get you through the next working day and the trip out to My Aeon, I've brewed a quick pot of sugared beats and techno infusions.

Expect servings from Herr Dettmann, Markus Suckut, Robert Hood, Shifted, Ctrls, Mod.Civil and some TEA podcastees.  

Sverca's new mix of AnD is floating around too.

Nick Tuohey flicks the switch at 10:00pm

TEA on Tour - Part 1

I boarded one of Qantas' gleaming new Airbus A380's and was blessed with a 21 hour bump free flight to London. A 45 minute stopover in Singapore was enough to stretch the legs before being rounded up into holding pen C23 to be filed back on to QF9 bound for London.

Wedged between two seats in 86F, a constant power struggle over armrest territory was waged for the duration of the flight, me loosing ground on both east and western fronts. During the downtime of battle I took to transcribing and recent interview I did with a speedy talking Glaswegian, not the easiest of tasks but respite nevertheless.

A quick skim through Qantas' impressive in-flight viewing options saw me chose (for some reason) a two part documentary on the trails and tribulations of making it into the Australian Army's SAS (SPecial Air Service) - Australia's ultimate problem solver apparently. Half way through part one I new I had made a bad decision but like the troops I was watching I soldiered on and saw it through to the end.

It was a typically cliche flight of short sleeved and overly camp air stewards complimenting customers on their selections of chicken over pork, 3 Aussie lads championing the efforts of David Boon's infamous 52 VB can binge, DVT prevention exercises and people wearing noise cancelling headphones, I eventually touched down at Heathrow Airport and 2 hours later found my way to my final destination of Bow in the east end, home for my time in London.

A cup of lemon and ginger tea followed by a quick 2 and half hour power kip and I was ready hit London, the first time I had been back since my 2 living stint in 2008. First stop was lunch in Camden with a old friend followed by my first purchase of the trip. From here the Northern and Central lines rattled me into Soho were a trip to Vinyl Junkies saw me purchase 5 or 6 R&S classics at two or three quid a pop. Next up was the short hop, skip and jump to Phonica where I wasn't greeted by a lethargic and typically uninterested record store clerk, seems to be prerequisite these days. I walked out with XBD - Bakfom still yearning for the day I engage in a friendly conversation about music with a record store employee.

Vinyl Junkies - Soho

A date with some more friends at my favourite old haunt The Carpenters Arms capped off day 1 of my first visit to London in close to two years. Tomorrow I was boarding a flight to Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Dance Event where the opening parties of Planet E's 20th Anniversary with Carl Craig, Moritz Von Oswald, Motor City Drum Ensemble and Ben UFO (plus others) at Melkweg and CLR's label night with Chris Liebing, Terence Fixmer, Tommy Four Seven, Monoloc (plus others) at Studio 80 were waiting.

A 4:00pm rendezvous at Liverpool St Station carried me north of London to Stansted Airport bound for Amsterdam. After a hastily made decision of shepherds pie and a pint of Amstel (Dutch beer innit) I was politely reminded by a friend that we were soon to board and was forced to down my shepheards pie in the same fashion as my beer. After taking off from Stansted, the seatbelt sign had barely been turned off before we were told to prepare the cabin for landing, arm doors and cross check, touching down in Amsterdam a nifty 35 minutes later. Specks of rain accompanied our trek into the southern part of the city but it wasn't enough to deter our childlike bemusement of the cities coffee shops and a regrettable flake out Wednesday night quickly ensued meaning we missed two of ADE's impressive opening parties.

Thursday started with a coffee, cream cheese bagel and very berry muffin, served by the sweetest of Amsterdam locals. Walking around the canals after breakfast I noticed bit by bit my wardrobe was slowly falling apart, the hole in the crouch of my jeans was getting bigger with every step, water in the streets from rain the night before informed me of a newly formed hole in the front of my right shoe and the pin securing the left arm of my sun glasses was still at large. Time to hit the shops.

Red Light Radio - Amsterdam

New trousers and shoes purchased and I was now ready to hit ADE. That night I was invited along to a Red Light Radio broadcast, a radio station which operates out of a pre-owned workers booth located in the heart of Amsterdam's red-light district De Wallen. The Dekmantel lads kept things sweet and moody with a touch of sleaze whilst plenty of beat spotting, track championing and back slapping was had inside, confusing the window shoppers passing by.

From there we took off to the Fachwerk label night at the bitter sweet Sugar Factory. Upon entry Sascha Rydell had the club shuffling to a typically Fachwerk template of dubby low end beats and flaky hats buried deep within the mix. Roman Lindau took the reigns from Sascha Rydell indicating to me that this would be a Fachwerk threeway and I was soon proved right as Mike 'the don' Dehnert took over and round 1 was complete. Round 2 saw Rydell keep to his previous low end theory before swapping with Lindau who punched out a personal favourite of mine Can't Fix It giving the night some needed momentum. After some more warped vocals and shackling percussion Sugar Factory stepped up a gear as Dehnert straddled the building vibe and brought a close to round 2. The night didn’t end up being as late as I expected but I do remember walking out with big fat Fachwerk smile on my face.

Late Friday morning we set of to the same bagel house as we had been to the previous morning, only we weren't greeted by the same sweet little lady as before, but a Goldmember-esque bagel warden. On top of that we were attacked by a squadron of pigeons who were all to used to human contact closing the book on our bagel and cream cheese chapter. As the afternoon turned into night we did sushi and devoured a varied selection of sushi rolls, wagyū beef whilst tipping back warm saki. We then headed to the Rush Hour All Stars party at Cafe Cox where props go to JuJu of JuJu and Jordash fame for donning a Scott Ferguson T-Shirt. Scott Ferguson FTW.

Rush Hour All Stars Party - Cafe Cox (Pic Courtesy Tony Poland)

All Star Line up

After JuJu and Jordash’s set we caught the first few tracks of Awanto 3 but were forced to hop a cab to Amsterdam's super club Trouw, Dutch for trust I was told by the cabby. The first thing I noticed when walking into the Trouw (minus the Berghain looks and intimidation) was the clarity in sound and impressive Funktion 1 rigging. I managed to catch the last half an hour to forty five minutes of Julio Bashmore's set where a very receptive crowd responded well to the MK's Dub of the 1995 R&B hit Freak You by Jodeci and Bashmore's own Battle For Middle You. I parked myself up, above and next to the DJ booth but far away enough to not be considered a groupie, fan boy or hangers on. I watch intently as Martyn introduced his set with some fresh cuts from his new album Masks as well as some sprinklings from Great Lengths. Once they were out of the Trouw was served a typically eclectic set of drum n bass, jungle with the accompanying Amen breaks, house and garage and techno.

Colors - Trouw (Pic Courtesy Trouw)

The Man The Martyn (Pic Courtesy Trouw)

The Battle For Middle You, Julio Bashmore (Pic Courtesy Trouw)

Addison Groove (Pic Courtesy Trouw)

Trouw Peak Time (Pic Courtesy Trouw)

Next up was Addison Groove who if I had to guess was pushing 140bpm at +8 for the entirety of his set. AD’s milkshake brought all the boys to the yard and the rest of the night was high-powered to say the least as the baseball capped Bristolian finished off the night with some teasing spin backs and a nostalgic if not cliche closer. The next day a toasted ham and cheese melt and short espresso macchiato brought back my Fachwerk smile from the previous thursday night and conveniently across the road from where we had breakfast was Record Mania, housing a incredible array of anything from Classical, Jazz and Funk to Post Punk, Rock N Roll and Avant Garde records. Still yet to burst my Amsterdam record shopping cherry I indulged in an Art of Noise picture disc, Talking Heads Stop Making Sense live album (thanks mum), Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghost's as well as John Cage’s Nova Musicha featuring a reinterpretation of Cage's seminal 1952 piece 4'33”.

Saturday afternoon was full of more record shopping as I made my way to Rush Hour. Like an excitable child asking are we there yet? are we there yet? I arrived to a packed out store full of out of town record shoppers (such as myself), so much so there were cues for the listening stations. A sift through their second hand section (one of the most exciting parts of record shopping) had me come across John Heckles Life On Titan EP on Mathematics. I put myself on the Dutch artist and label tip seeing I was in the country and picked up a JuJu & Jordash remix of Cloud's What You Want on Exceptional Blue as well as Mike Dehnerts - Before Framework EP on Delsin. When waiting to use a listening station a beefy house rang through Rush Hours having me look over at mate to which he mouthed Aard--Vark. It turned out to be (Just Washed) That Pig (Extended Mix) released on Rush Hours new Vault Series. After some other quick pick ups I made my way to the counter and was on the verge of paying when the friendly clerk put on Blawaan's epic R&S cut Vibe Decorium/What You Do With What You Have, yep throw that one in as well.

Record Mania Mania Mania Mania!

Listening Booth In Rush Hour.

Rush hour at Rush Hour, get it?

Feeling content we left Rush Hour a few Euro down and a few records up and stopped past yet another warm looking freehouse and debriefed over our purchases clinking Leffe Blondes and gobbling up two rounds of a traditional dutch bar snack Bitterballen. Saturday nights cards turned up with Theo Parrish and Kyle Hall at Toko MC and RA's X party at Trouw. Out of all the ADE nights to flake out on we may well have picked the best one as Theo was reported to clear a lot floor space with his 100bpm grovellers and RA's X secret X artist was Sascha of Sascha and Digweed fame. Awakening the following morning as bright as Daisy's or erm..Tulips we started the day with a Shmoke and a Pancake which soon lead to a food coma thanks to the gluttonous pancake and waffle menu available to me. I walked off breakfast over 3 blocks where we made our way to an Irish pub to sink a few Guinness's whilst watching Man United get dragged through the mud by Man City 6-1 at the theatre of dreams.

Bitterballen, Dutch For Beer Nuts.

We Got Waffles, We Got Pancakes.

From here I made tracks to the Ostgut Ton Party at Toko MC, an old Cinema space and caught the end of Nick Hoppner's set which was neither deep house nor techno, but a pleasure to listen to nevertheless. Next up was Marcel Dettmann who opened with some light chords and ambience slowly introducing some streamlined kick, snare hat combo’s, nicely done. Behind the decks Dettmann gives off a presence of complete control and his precession mixing is a absolute pleasure to listen too, his mix of Planetary Assault Systems Bell Blocker was definitely a moment.

The World Wide Phenomenon That Is Ostgut Ton.

Next up was Marcel Fengler disappointingly not wearing his two tone suit seen on the cover of his Berghain 5 mix. I was under a time constraint to get back to Trouw for their closing party and to say goodbye to a friend who had looked after us during our stay in Amsterdam. Reluctantly I left the Ostgut party and hopped a cab to Trouw where I was surprised to walk into Seth Troxler banging out Ben Klock's remix to Martyn's Is This Insanity. Maybe this wont be so bad I thought but my doubts were confirmed when (piss weak in comparison) tribal percussion and african chanting aka tech house was mixed over the top and remained the theme for the rest of the night. We said our goodbyes and like true tourists hopped in a cab and got ripped off, maybe telling the cabby to take us to the Heineken Brewery was enough of a reason for him to do so. I pushed through a 6am rise and boarded a flight back to London where the Stansted Express rolled me back into Liverpool St Station at approximately 9:30am. A short tube ride further east saw me find my way home back to Bow where a day of rest, pizza, cherry coke and Lious Theroux capped off what was a very memorable trip to the land of the super friendly, Amsterdam.

I also managed to make a quick 1 hour Ableton mix on the first leg of my journey from Singapore to Melbourne. Enjoy.

Download QF9 MEL-SIN Mix

1. Efdemin & Kassian Troyer - Blount [Curle]
2. Conforce - Vacuum [Delsin]
3. Mikkel Metal - Cassini [Tartelet Records]
4. AnD - Hydrothermal [Idle Hands]
5. Chevel - Portego [Stroboscopic Artefacts]
6. Dark Room Alliance - Stige (Deepbass Remix) [Archetype Records]
7. Northern Structures - Bolts [Sonic Groove]
8. Mattias Fridell - Indicating Absence [M_Grey]
9. Luke Slater - Lurchers Dub [Mote Evolver]
10. Henning Baer - In Transit [K209]
11. Conrad Van Orton - After Smoke [ANG Records]