Today, in good news,  Grönland Records  has announced that it will re-issue the long-out-of-print collaborative effort of Krautrock emperors Harmonia and Brian Eno, Tracks and Traces.  Resident Advisor has the scoop.  In the meantime, here is a pretty neat snippit of Harmonia’s Hans-Joachim Roedelius talking about some of his influences, including a bit on working with Eno…

You were the king of our generation.  Not a DJ gig passes me by where I don’t get a request for one of your songs, and I’m sure none ever will.  Thanks for putting a little soul in our dance, a little jive in our pop.

Seattle’s resident purveyor of  freshly chilled beats, Lusine, is on the move.  ‘Two Dots’, the first single off of the upcoming  A Certain Distance,  will be released digitally via Ghostly International tomorrow, and includes a remix by Lusine and by fellow Seattlite Pezzner.  The track is available for preview on Fader’s website, and is a big step towards poppier, less abstract territories.

Featuring a beautiful vocal turn from Vilja Larjosto, this track is painted a drippy blue with bloopy lead synths and a decidedly chill, plunky harpsichord backing melody.  A stunning glimpse of what A Certain Distance may bring.

Here we are, approaching the dead center of 2009, and last night’s heavyweight double-team line-up of The Field and the Juan Maclean is looking like the best show of the year, thus far, for our Emerald City.

Despite the requirement of a car/bus ride there, Nectar is, most definitely, the perfect concert venue for a cool summer evening. Decibel’s Sean Horton, as Nordic Soul, warmed up the speakers true to form with his impeccable mixing skills and juicy slabs of choice-cut techno goodness of all shapes and sizes. Moderat was played, Field label-mate Gui Boratto made an appearance, Soulwax ground things away, and M.A.N.D.Y remixed the Knife as (unfortunately) everyone was out on the front porch soaking up the setting sun. Horton remains in perfect stride as the biggest champion for electronic music that this city has. Thank God Decibel is still on course this year, amidst scares of lacking funds. Take that economy!

Sun now set, Axel Willner and Co, better known to most as the Field, set things in motion …

A magnificently cloudy day in Seattle welcomes the weary returning from this year’s three-day wonderland of sunburn and debauchery, now safe within the confines of the day-to-day bustle of this, our Emerald City.  The perma-dirt has been removed from underneath the fingernails, a mattress wrapped in clean sheets sits pretty at the top of the list of things to be grateful for, and a Bauhaus iced mocha helps clear the brain-haze lingering about.

Monday served as a perfect comedown from the sensory overload that is Sasquatch.  First up was Deerhoof on the main stage, a last minute schedule addition for the better.  (Mugison? Meh)  Frontwoman Satomi Matsuzaki is a pocket-size bundle of awesomeness, guiding her band through golden 60s surf rock tones prismed out at obtuse angles, splaying tiny rainbows of angular guitar-play and pipsqueak vocals all over the slowly populating main stage arena.

Following Deerhoof came a string of underwhelming-ness paired with brain and body overwhelmed-ness.  Black Moth Super Rainbow sounded close to exactly how they do on record, which is a good thing in their …

Day two: Time to lather up the sunscreen again, fight the heat-induced delirium, and get ready to do it all over.  Mad Rad kicked things off on the Yeti stage as I was in the media trailer typing madly, and from what I heard, sounded like they were showing the crowd a good time.  The computer table I was sitting at was rattling, and I managed to walk outside to catch one of the Radsters shenaniganning about on the roof of the stage.  Sweet.

As Mad Rad finished up, Hockey was taking aim on the Wookie, and came out kicking. The Wookie stage is the closest to the entrance, and as people poured into the grounds, the Portland group’s highly-danceable glammed-out garage rock definitely drew a good amount of them over. It was nice to see. These guys looked really poised, sounded super tight and abounded with energy, even getting a crowd of people pogo-ing under the high noon sun.  In short, it was a great set, and I’m looking forward to checking them out the next time they come through …

For the first time in recent memory, denizens of the Pacific Northwest actually wanted the sun to find a cloud to hide behind as the first day of this year’s Sasquatch boiled away.  From noon to midnight, the masses danced, sweated, drank $9 PBRs, and got the three day extravaganza under way in proper form.

Kicking things off with gumption was Champagne Champagne, getting a small but excitable crowd boppin’ and wavin’ their hands as the sun hit high noon.  Skipping genres from their trunk rattling Molly Ringwald love (well, let’s call it love) letter to a jangly, jiving guitar strum beat, to melodica tunes, to a heavy hitting refrain to the effect of ‘fuck the police’.  The crowd ate it up.

Following was a totally swallowed Owl City, playing to a disinterested crowd starting to gather for the next act on the Wookie stage, Blind Pilot.  The Portland group played a solid set, though a little short on excitement.  When the sun is this intense, and the distractions plenty, finely executed, though fairly vanilla acoustic rock just isn’t …

What happens when you pass a dirty favella-funk horn line through the knobs and faders of two German minimalists?  The best dance track I’ve heard this year, is what (though to be fair, this 12″ was released in October of last year).

DJ/Producer(s) Heinrichs & Hirtenfellner have been steadily on the rise over the past few years, with over twenty releases and remixes under their belt and a debut long player due this month.  Their sound is deep and minimal, usually more on the techno side of things, but definitely augmented with some funky Chicago house influence.

‘Tromp It’, is, by far, they most dynamic and ear-worming track up these guys’ sleeve.  The horns, oh my god THE HORNS!  (Wait for it, about two minutes and fifty seconds.  Stick with it, it’s worth it).  Try, just try and get this line out of your head, I dare you.

The best part is the fact that this track  mixes beautifully in almost any genre - house, B-more, baile funk, techno, and just about anything else with a 125 bpm heart beat.

Even the casual fan of electronic musical meanderings should be excited for this show tomorrow evening at Neumos.   Modeselektor and Apparat are both exceptional producers with an ear for haunting melodies and techy productions, and the combination of the two should make for an evening of top notch electronica.  Live visuals will be provided by Pfadfinderei and hometown heroes Truckasauras and Nordic Soul will be present to provide the warm-up rhythms. Here’s what I had to say about it in this month’s calendar:

Both hailing from the world’s capitol of Techno, Berlin, Modeselektor and Apparat stand at the top of the heap of chunky, genre-skittering electronica producers working today. Modeselektor’s bass-heavy beats are aimed more at getting the dance floor bouncing than Apparat’s poppier, more melodic fare, but the combination of the two (performing as the aptly named Moderat) should leave us shaking our booties to the best of both worlds. (ER)

The opening track off Moderat (which I highly recommend), entitled ‘A New Error’, makes for a good barometer:

If either of these two up-and-coming Seattle producers have their say, whomp is what gets the dance floor bouncin. Yep, that’s what it do.

For the forthcoming Dark Signals Remix EP, a collection of remixes of Sleepy Eyes of Death’s Dark Signals EP from earlier this year, Andrew Luck and Dosdai have joined forces to chop and screw ‘Pierce the Air’, a moody step-synthed sleeper characteristic of the Sleepy Eyes’ repertoire. Based on this track, I must say I’m quite excited to hear the rest of the EP, out this summer on Mass Mvmnt.

The duo keep some of the arpeggios and the creepy high-end pads from the original, and add a one-two break beat, heart-stopping bass drops, and a hell of a wonky sawtooth bass line. Whomp indeed sirs, whomp indeed.

Check it out below:

PIERCE THE AIR (Andrew Luck vs Dosadi’s Whomp Mix) by Andrew Luck vs. Dosadi