Having spent a decade working in record stores, I must admit that last year’s transition from retailer to consumer was relatively swift and painless. In fact, the novelty of free weekends hasn’t worn off. It’s still a treat to wander aimlessly around Dublin’s rainy streets, through its record stores at a leisurely pace on a Saturday afternoon. Anything beats placing a key in the shop door on a wet morning at 9am, counting out till floats and administering half-assed, insincere verbal warnings to part-time staff for being late. “Sorry boss, my alarm never went off. Must’ve been a power cut in the middle of the night or something”. “Pull the other one mate, I know Justice were playing last night, and I can see your dilated pupils from the other end of the shop” said the manager, green with envy.

Having stepped sideways career-wise, my insatiable appetite for new music is still thankfully satisfied on a daily basis. New releases pop through the letterbox - little padded envelopes of joy – each one feverishly ripped open a timely reminder of the good old days of working in independent record stores. Ah, delivery day, and the ritual of breaking open new release boxes with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old on Christmas morning. But of late, the standard of these packages seems to have dipped significantly. Actually, the standard AND variety. I reckon I could open my own Generic Maudlin Singer-Songwriter Store at this stage, or a Top Shop Endorsed Indie Band market stall, maybe even a Predictably Bland Chillout Mix mail order website at the very least. But as I stare at the CD piles cluttering the area surrounding my stereo, many of them awaiting their inevitable fate of banishment to the old sock drawer in the spare room, something struck me. Where are all the techno, house and electro albums gone? Am I missing something here? Do they not have my address? Maybe it’s the bloody postman - I’m sure I spotted him at Pogo once!

I was intent on solving this puzzle, but Saturday’s shopping trip yielded no clues. My only purchases, a Four Tet EP, and the Ricardo Villalobos single Fizheuer Zieheuer. No new albums, just an old single and a new EP. The blank, nervous look on the faces of friends and record store assistants when asked for recent recommendations seems to suggest there is a severe lack of quality dance albums out there at the moment. A quick flick through the ‘current listening’ pile was further proof. Gui Boratto, Pantha Du Prince, The Field, Matthew Dear and MIA – all last year! Only Kelley Polar, Million Dollar Orchestra and Booka Shade had survived the previous cull to the dreaded sock drawer. Although Beatport is littered with exciting new songs, and my iPod is full of techno playlists, it seems there isn’t much on the horizon in terms of long players. I have encountered some excellent compilations – namely Strut Records reissues - and mix CDs of late, but that’s about it. The Sunday Business Post has an interesting section in their Agenda magazine where journalists return to an old classic album or hidden gem. It’s interesting to find decade-old albums from Aphex Twin, Carl Craig and LFO scattered amongst reviews of pristine new indie, R n’B and MOR records. But I do find myself asking the question, where are all the classics these days? We’re halfway through the year already and there are very few momentous album releases from the dance fraternity. Is it a case that the standard of singles is now so high, it’s virtually impossible for most artists to sustain across a full-length record? Or does the album format no longer suit current trends and genres of electronic music? Maybe I am just looking in the wrong places, maybe that’s it. But here lies the beauty of a website/blog/forum for electronic music and more. It creates a community - a vital necessity for any scene - and it provides everyone with a platform to disseminate info and opinions. With that in mind, here’s my two cents. Kelley Polar is still the best dance record I’ve heard this year, but I want to hear more, and better. What are they and where are they? In terms of forthcoming releases, I’ve just heard the new Milosh album on !K7 and it is beautiful, as is the forthcoming Pivot album on Warp – electronica meets thumping Krautrock beats, and if you’re looking for a great hip hop record then The Cool Kids have an excellent old-school album called The Bake Sale out very soon.

In a perfect world, we’d all be offering our two cents here, taking that valuable info, and getting ourselves down to the local friendly independent music retailer to place an order and give them some much needed support.

Words- The Obscure Remixer

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magoo95 @ 3 Jul 2008 14:35

Now this year Benga ( have 2 mention dubstep no , 4 sure! ) .... Matias Aguayo his stuff can be nice.... Nathan Fake... El Guincho : )

BodytonicRadio @ 3 Jul 2008 20:26

Quiet Village, Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus and Al Green are some that i can think of that have made amazing albums this year ...