Serious Electro

Various – Nobody’s Perfect Mixed by Andrea Parker (Touchin’ Bass)

Andrea Parker’s Touchin’ Bass label is gradually defining a new template for contemporary electro. Gathering friends and collaborators, she has released a series of vinyl-only singles, the highlights of which are gathered here. Her mix is typically tight and seamless. Like the vinyl releases, it tends towards the more brooding, moody side of electro. DJ Assault and DJ Godfather provide some electro ‘booty party’ clichés, but these are (comparatively) restrained, if slightly out of place within a fairly dark, serious and minimal mix. It’s hard to pick out individual tracks from such a tight mix, but the (post)-industrial electro sounds of Manasyt’s Scornfinger is very impressive, as are the Andrea Parker/David Morley tracks. These and some others have a subtle sense of drama and the Touchin’ Bass sound tends to reconfigure electro as a cinematic listening music - Hydraulix’s Zero One has some very dark, filmic sci-fi samples. There is a serious bass undertow running throughout the mix, so although it only really becomes ‘full on’ near the end, it still creates the desire to move (though relatively slowly). Overall, this tour through 21 tracks in under an hour is an excellent overview of the label and its contribution to the development of the genre.