ARTIST ALBUMS

Mar 1, 2003 12:00 PM

DJ ICEY

Different Day (Zone/System)

Florida DJ knows his way around the studio

Although this is only DJ Icey's second artist album, he's done more than 200 12-inch productions and made it clear that he's no puppet behind the turntables. Throughout Different Day, Icey proves that he knows a thing or two about arranging. Breakbeat and house rhythms, sine wave and sawtooth synths, funk horn samples, vocoders, bell-toned keyboards and a million other sounds weave in and out but don't clutter up the joint. Clearly, it's not just about a banging beat for Icey.

Different Day does have a couple of weak aspects, such as cliché lyrics (“Naïve Journey” featuring Marlon) or less-than-original old-school moments (“A Little Louder” featuring Mystro), but when the vocalist and instrumentation really gel, as with “Searching” featuring Melanie Rev, you just know the dancefloor is going to flip out. The thwacking snares and multiple intertwining synth hooks, along with Rev's powerful vocals, make for a memorable club hit. Pete Tong knew what he was doing when he discovered this DJ and put him to work.
— Kylee Swenson

ALPINESTARS

White Noise (Astralwerks)

The new British electro-pop

Raised on New Order and the Chemical Brothers, Manchester's Alpinestars had little choice in life other than to make an album like this: fizzing with wide-eyed optimism and robust, dreamlike melodies. That the group occasionally gets preoccupied with trendy electroclash effects is a mild disappointment but easy to forgive when getting swept up in booming dance tracks such as “Snow Patrol (Part 1)” and “Carbon Kid,” which sounds essentially like a Placebo remix and features the high-pitched Brian Molko on vocals.
— Aidin Vaziri

BEANS

Tomorrow Right Now (Warp)

Lyrical brother from another planet

As part of New York's Anti Pop Consortium, Beans helped ignite an international audience keen on outer-galactic lyrical ideas and quirky beats. Now solo, Beans still floats on an orbit sonically and spiritually miles apart from mainstream hip-hop. “There's too many MCs and not enough listeners,” he proclaims on “Crave” as he raps over his own human-beatbox-generated funky clicks and pops. It's an ideal example of how he treats his vocals like an advanced studio instrument with a tremendous emotional range.
— Tamara Palmer

MIRA CALIX

Skimskitta (Warp)

Lullaby for the thinking class

Quiet but never timid, sparse but never understated, the 21 entries on this disc bleed into each other to form one esoteric movement. Often sterile and insectlike, Skimskitta is populated by prickly sounds that scathe and soothe, as well as by cherubic whispers, pulsing heartbeats and warm melodies. Noises fold into each other with deliberate precision over a broad, ambient noisescape that awakens with the brooding “Distracted2” and reaches maturation with the soaring “You Open Always.” Mira Calix offers a delicate, somber beauty.
— Erin Hutton

FPU

Traxxdata (Turbo)

Techno Swede takes on '80s nostalgia

Did the '80s sound this good the first time around? Peter Benisch certainly seems to think so. The techno star from Stockholm has created a stunning album of sparse, melodic and intelligent techno shot through with electro and new-wave influences. Traxxdata is slick, moody and deliciously Euro-cool — you gotta dig that winding synth in “Crockett's Theme” and the deadpan monotone in “Racer Car.” And all tracks are solidly constructed and complex enough to appreciate long after the retro trend blows over.
— Christine Hsieh

KASKADE

It's You, It's Me (Om)

Sexy house party on a summer day

On his uplifting debut, It's You, It's Me, San Francisco-based producer Kaskade softly pours on an intoxicating blend of deep house with soul, jazz and R&B inflections. He starts with classic deep grooves and then hooks into positive melodies and attenuated effects spanning the spectrum from spacey disco funk to airy trance-flavored fill sounds and wily horn croons. The vocal production melts in the ear. Featured on most tracks are the all-smooth vocalists Joslyn, Rob Wannamaker and Amy Michelle. Feel the love.
— Stacia Monteith

JAMIE MYERSON

Sky City Going … Gone (Sound Gizmo)

Dreamy cross-country diary

Drum 'n' bass producer Jamie Myerson's atmospheric second album was created with daydream believers in mind. On this fusion of drum 'n' bass, synth pop and trip-hop, the most luminous tracks are the more singular. Intro “6 Days to Go” shimmers with psychedelic guitar, murmuring synth strains and liquid gurgles. Elsewhere on Sky City, the vocals shine, as with “That's How Much I Love You,” which soulfully lopes on Ebba Forsberg's melancholy lament. Meanwhile, Myerson's percussive finesse is evident throughout.
— Stacia Monteith

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