Volksworld

Second Steve Bug album, the last one in his own Raw Elements label. Techhouse with a lot of oldschool elements and spartan track structures; it's still house music though, deep, smooth and at times funky as hell. I really posted this one for the 'Big Cheese From Wisconsin' and the 'Rhodes Flash' tracks.

He's a good DJ for sure; not exactly my favorite producer, yet much respected and effective in club terms - I really liked some of his releases up to the 'Loverboy' era. Since then, he turned too much towards this (post-cocaine) variation of techhouse that was named 'minimal' (and really gets on my nerves, as you have established by now). The last 'Collaborative' concept sounds a bit better, still I'm not 100% convinced...
The thing I find more interesting, now that I listen to this one again after all these years, is how little his sound has changed through time. He's still playing the same stuff over and over again. He could have disguised this one as a new release, a 'going back to the roots' project, and very few people would have known. I consider it more a sign of creative stagnation, rather than a 'sticking to his sound' mentality. Still, many others of the deep house scene have followed his example and made careers out of it... Draw your own conclusions.

More Bug tracks here.

Steve Bug - 1997 Volksworld
Info here.

Hitparade

Station 17 is a more or less rock band based in Hamburg, which with this release crossed over to the electronic side. A number of artists from Berlin, Cologne and locals remixed their work and published this CD in Mute Tontraeger in 2001 giving a strong push to this totally great project, while an album of more or less electronic tracks by the band was released about a year ago.
Stars like Thomas Fehlmann, Steve Bug, The Modernist, Antonelli Electr., J.Koehncke and Tobias Schmidt (as T.Tobsen) appear side by side with Automatique and the yet semi-known International Pony guys Koze and Cosmic DJ, while on the listening side this album is supported by holy cows FM Einheit and Pole, with contributions by To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, Barbara Morgenstern and german hip-hoppers Denyo 77.

A lot of tracks are really good, others are weird but interesting. But you HAVE to listen to Cosmic DJ's magnificent track. Totally addictive groove and crazy samples, it stands out like a prophetic mantra, as if he describes today's techno 'scene' (haha). Hey mr.DJ, play me your song.

Station 17+ - 2001, Hitparade
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Info on the Station 17 project here and here.

Lo-Fi Stereography

This is for the minimal fans.

Lo-Fi Stereo is a all-star low-profile Frankfurt based label run by C/rock aka Dubstar or Stardub, half of better known and rising Motorcitysoul project. Existing since the mid '90s, the label focuses on some kind of house, minimal, deep, technoid, filter, sometimes sentimental stuff and others pure dancefloor tools. His other label, Stir15 is pure house oriented.
With a lot of support from Steve Bug and the Pokerflat/Dessous posse (Gamat 3000, Jeff Samuel), releases from the now star latinos (Villalobos, Luciano, Pier Bucci, Argenis Brito) and from oldschoolers like Redagain P, Marvin Dash/System 360, Jackmate and Geoff White on the other hand, Lo-Fi Stereo could have been another Pokerflat or something but it remained relatively unknown. I guess it was too weird for then and is too housey for the contemporary mini-techno market. Still I read that C/rock is resident at the Cocoon Club. I hope the best for him, although he is sometimes drifting towards the easy 'minimal' category, his taste is great and the Stardub LP was shocking when I first heard it (P.S. find it here)

This compilation also includes a Michael Mayer remix. All tracks have character and quality. This compilation was a small but important chapter in the evolution of minimal dance music. 'Chicks with Beepers' and '808 the Bassqueen' are simply classics.

VA - 2000 Lo-Fi Stereography
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Raw Elements Vol.1

A Superstition compilation of funky techno and house tracks with acid flavor, compiled by Steve Bug, showcasing early material, his and his friends - most notably Hans-Georg Schmidt of label mates Humate and old rave dog Fred Giannelli.

VA - 1995 Raw Elements Vol.1
Info here.

The Newest Funky Brutalizm

Some blah-blah coming on, feel free to skip the rambling and scroll down to the beat.

I had the fortune to spend 3-4 months during 1998 in Barcelona, by then the focal spot for urban travelers (and students) in Europe, a petite metropolis without a lot of problems usually associated with such. Supported by their rich heritage, a strong economy and a weird anarcho- nationalistic concept, Catalans lived their life rather easily and in full. 'Downtown' there were lots of bars and clubs where every rising star of the European scene to the last punk was about to visit, supporting a strong and variable local scene as well (especially regarding city's size). Of course, in direct contrast to Berlin's tanz monocultural tendencies, the key word was 'crossover' and bands and DJs alike preffered to mix stuff, each for their own ends (punk + folk, disco + techno, coke + hash, etc.)
Regarding electronic dance music their main influences were the US and France, though by that time Germany had established a strong foothold and the Barcelona-Berlin axis was working overtime (Tresor ruled). As to dance joints I remember Dot and Moog, where everybody passed by from time to time. Musically, Spain thrived on hip hop, house, funk, '80s pop and disco, while electro and techno beats were revered by a specialized Barcelona crowd. Most of the here presented DJs and producers come from this background, so it's no weird thing the way they mix all those elements you'll hear. The city's hedonistic lifestyle combined to their cut & blend aesthetics produced rough diamonds that maybe didn't have the state-of-the-art productions of the northeners or the French, still they had the one thing important to have fun: the Funk.
I stayed until June for the Sonar Festival and got rewarded by seeing for the first time Kraftwerk (well, 2 out of 4), Hell at 7.00AM, Coldcut, Fr. Kevorkian, Aux 88, Jimi Tenor and a lot lot more and I danced my ass off and had a wonderful time in this successful gathering. Which naturally got so big so quickly that a few years later when I visited it again even I was frustrated (though happy in a way that it grew) just from the sheer mass of it, while the locals were keeping away and organized anti-Sonar parties, etc.
Few souvenirs I brought from there back then, I was seriously broke. Some Mills stuff, first Speichers and a few CDs from local labels as So Dens (that released the Sonar compilations), Cosmos and Minifunk. Never regretted the money I spent for these, I played so much some of that stuff for the next years my CDs went off and I had to buy them again. Cosmos Records goes to a housey direction, while Minifunk tries some harder paths.

This one came out a year later and gives a good overview of the Barcelona style of dance music, late '90s era. Foreigners that released in Minifunk (most of them participating here) are Gemini, Tim Baker, Pacou, 20:20 Vision, Mark Ambrose, Steve Bug & Vincenzo as The Discocowboys and my personal favorites Glory B (I have to post their album...). Local stars included are An Der Beat, Loe, Angel Molina, Alex Martin, Groof and a lot more. Check and pick your favorite. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

VA - 1999 The Newest Funky Brutalizm
CD1: Part 1 - Part 2
CD2: Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Haven't been to BCN since 2002, I just know it got more and more expensive to live in. By then these labels were rather off, some dropped off, some moved to Berlin and the market focused there.