Ann Arbor's Spectral Sound has released the official third installment in its Death Is Nothing to Fear EP series, burnishing its reputation as America's flagship techno label and perpetuating the greatest graphic design scheme in music today. Featuring tracks by Sami Koivikko, Seth Troxler, Kate Simko, and 2AM/FM. I suppose there are dance floors on the planet where this stuff would be in vogue, but it strikes me more as headphone music. Available for preview here.
While we're on the Ghostly/Spectral Sound tip, allow me to mention a 2007 record I rated last year but failed to discuss in detail. Matthew Dear's Asa Breed is a slow burner refocusing the scattershot quality of his duel 2004 releases Leave Luck to Heaven (the English translation of the word "Nintendo", evidently) and Backstroke into an even more pop oriented creation. Basically Dear comes off like a more cosmopolitan, less ironic James Murphy, with perhaps an even greater interest in Before and After Science-era Eno; tracks "Deserter" and "Don and Sherri" are both outstanding and representative of the subtle genius contained herein. Luckily, for those of you who did not hear Asa Breed when it was fresh, the folks at Ghostly have decided to reissue the record in a special "black edition", appending crack remixes by Hot Chip and Four Tet; available now on iTunes.
