Portly guys with scraggly hair and beards, the Wighnomy Bros. don't look the part of German techno titans. But their music has come to define a rising swell of minimal techno blown out to maximal ends. Collecting 12 of their reworks for the likes of Truby Trio, Dominik Eulberg, and Triola, Remikks Potpourri (Mute Germany) trades in gummy grooves and clicky polyrhythms that lock hands in a tactical embrace of trance. For every floating cloud, though, there's an ionic twitter to fill the atmosphere with unease… A-
Hip-hop doesn't get much more old-school than it does on Big Apple Rappin': The Early Days Of Hip-Hop Culture In New York City 1979-1982 (Soul Jazz). The two discs offer numerous vocal invitations to "rock on," and the beats do the good work of reminding just how much hip-hop was disco back in the day. One gleaming jewel among many: The Fly Guys tossing off a line about getting dirty and explosive with Superman's mom in "Fly Guys Rap"… B
A DJ/producer with little interest in the pounding time-trial mania of much present-day drum-and-bass, High Contrast wraps his arms around big strings and bigger vocal hooks on Fabriclive 25 (Fabric), a robust musical session played for the London club behind one of the best mix-disc series going. The beats are fleet and kinetic enough to make dilated eyes dart around the room, but the sounds overhead breathe deep from soul and house moods while heaving to keep up… B+
Draped with dreamy techno that hangs in the air too long to come down as anything more than mist, I.A. Bericochea's Sueño (Rojo) wanders over beats that bump more than bang. The sound follows a familiar map to the netherworld of dub, but Bericochea takes a sideways tour of sounds—melodic basslines, shaking cymbals, fluttery guitar strums—that point back to his home in Madrid, Spain. Some of it crackles hot enough for a dance floor, but more of it simmers with the kind of patience suitable for the hours before and after big peaks. B