Discogs Digging Tips with CCL

“I luckily happened upon this record in New York after seeing it on Discogs when searching under the terms ‘Jazz’ and ‘Rock.’ Beautifully sparkling, contemplative, and striking, it leaves a lasting impression and was one of the centerpieces in my Blowing up the Workshop mix. A commenter aptly points out: ‘This is one of those records that stands out amongst the crowd, even outside its category. I wouldn’t really call it jazz or rock. It’s hard to define style-wise, but it’s a good listen from front to back. Recommended.’”

“I combined the terms ‘Breaks,’ ‘IDM,’ and ‘Industrial’ and discovered this Italian record with a few tracks that could be released on modern-day bass music labels. My favorite track is A2, ‘Intonet 1,’ which combines broken drums, distorted bass, and a beautifully contemplative synth that elevates it to something truly unique.”

“Out of Cologne, Germany, a few records from Formic label were categorized at some point as ‘Abstract,’ ‘Techno,’ and sometimes ‘Electro.’ It’s worth checking the entire catalog, I had my eye on many of them for a while, but the prices were pretty inaccessible.

“Then, I was lucky enough to come across a copy of this one and Megaperls in the old Record Loft in Berlin in 2017 in one of the bottom bins. Loopy, funky, odd, it’s the weirdo techno minimalism I love to play.”

“This record is truly wild – it has so many different types of tracks, though my favorite has to be the B1, ‘Retro,’ Sitting at 135 bpm, it sounds like a deranged machine mating ritual while still maintaining the funk and has a truly epic breakdown. The rest of the tracks are deranged DnB/halftime, and the A3 has some wicked vocals for layering. Tagged ‘Abstract,’ ‘IDM,’ and ‘Breaks,’ this record does so many different things. It also finishes on a locked groove.”

“I found this record day while searching with terms like ‘Acid House,’ ‘Breakbeat,‘ and ‘Trance.‘ This record stood out amongst the results, it features one of my favorite “proto-dubstep” tunes ‘Duble Truble,‘ a euphoric anthem with a half-time drum pattern at an unusual (for this era) 140 bpm that predates FWD>> by about ten years. The rest of the tracks are also very catchy and playable but a completely different feeling. ‘Duble Truble‘ is featured in my proto-dubstep mixtape, A Night in the Skull Discotheque.” 

“I found this Andrew Weatherall-type record while searching for ‘Shoegaze,’ ‘Indie Rock,’ ‘IDM,’ and ‘Breakbeat.’ It’s a remix record of a band called Clair – a band which is quite mysterious from my cursory searching – there is very little information online apart from a blurry band photo and one demo release. I love this record because it can be played in many different circumstances. The original track, ‘Quincy,’ is an indie-rock chugger I would play in some 90 bpm downtempo sets. If you play the A2 on 45 rpm, it turns into a warehouse hacienda banger with wicked guitars at around 130 bpm. And the B side has an excellent DnB mix and a downtempo mix.”

“I found this several years ago when searching the terms ‘Progressive House’ and ‘Abstract,’ which has turned out to be quite a fruitful search query for me. I keep coming back to this record. The track ‘Jupiter’ in particular is my favorite. A celestial beauty in the highest order – after this record started to climb in price, I was happy to see it was reissued.”