Name: Various Artists - Selected Label Works 2
Item: Various Artists - Selected Label Works 2
Author: Derek Miller

If there once seemed a certain contentment from indie-oriented listeners to let labels like DFA or maybe Smalltown Supersound serve as their only loci of crossover, dance music's certainly gained another potent voice in Munich's Permanent Vacation. Much of this appeal lies in the label's ability to straddle the, admittedly, ever-shrinking home/club divide. In four short years, the Permanent Vacation has established itself as one of electronic music's most diverse and multifaceted imprints. Significantly, in terms of drawing the attention of more traditionally album-friendly stratums, the label's nailed the dance LP not once but twice, on the Maurice Fulton-helmed Kathy Diamond album, Miss Diamond to You, and on the lovelorn electro-pop of Sally Shapiro's My Guilty Pleasure. But what began as ostensibly a more classical house and disco affair has lengthened its sonic arc dramatically in the intervening years, drawing in hairy prog-rock, soundtrack and library music, Balearic and blue-eyed Italo like that of label chanteuse Shapiro. With blog spotlight cuts and floor dynamos like the fizzy piano romp of Tensnake's "Coma Cat," the sunny Mediterranean haze of John Talabot's "Matilda's Dream" and especially Azari and III's infectious '90s radio house throwback "Reckless (With Your Love)," the last year or so has brought the label even more attention. Thankfully, for the neat and tidy amongst us, Permanent's summarizing that period by issuing the second edition of Selected Label Works, a series quickly summiting the annual label comp pile. At two discs and 22 total tracks, Selected Label Works 2 is, just as with the first, admittedly a lot to take in. Frankly, it's probably a must-own for the home listening set just for collecting the tracks mentioned above. But these are tough times. For those of you looking for a little more encouragement, it's safe to say the comp's loaded with hirsute little escapes and dance floor delusions. Woolfy vs. Projections "Neeve (Time and Space Machine Mix)" is strutty, wide-eyed Balearic disco of questionable vintage, while Jacques Renault's excellent remix of Midnight Magic's "Beam Me Up—that mounting Paradise Garage bassline, that Chicago piano assault and, most importantly, that sultry vocal vamping—seems potent and persuasive enough to argue as a classic in the make. Moonoton's "I Need You Tonight," with guest vocals from Olga Ponomaryova, is sadder and more lonesome, a bit of slow-pitched first morning pop more appropriate for rainy nights indoors than dance floor hedonism. As with last year's edition, the boys behind Permanent—Tom Bioly and Benjamin Fröhlich—aren't content just manning the comp's assembly. Most notably, they turn in a compelling original—the pummeling, string-laced funk of "Zucker Hut," which churns into a stormy blast of horns—and a remix of Pollyester's "German Love Letter" drenched in echo and heavy hand-drumming. Pollyester's "The Indian" also gets the remix treatment from Brits Mock & Toof, who imbue the cut's bouncy house with a midnight-forest vibe that's partly spiritual and partly just kind of spooky. As such, it's sort of the ideal representative for a label as simultaneously zany, peculiar and persistently engaging as Permanent Vacation. Theirs is a brainy kind of delirium, as focused on floor release as on those 3 AM detours on routes one recognizes only in daylight.

Tracklist

CD 1 01. Woolfy vs Projections - Neeve (The Time And Space Machine Mix) 02. Tensnake - Need Your Lovin (Dub Mix) 03. Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Remix) 04. Tensnake - Coma Cat 05. Azari & III - Reckless (With Your Love) 06. Lauer - Delta NRG 07. Tensnake - Get It Right 08. The Embassy - Lurking (With A Distance) (Tensnake Dub) 09. Sally Shapiro – Miracle (Bogdan Irkük Remix) 10. DMX Krew - Come To Me 11. Sally Shapiro - My Fantasy (Bottin Remix) CD 2 01. Moonoton feat. Olga Ponomaryova - I Need You Tonight 02. Lexx - Serenity 03. Spectacle - Prism 04. Woolfy vs Projections - Neeve (Permanent Vacation Tropical Heat Remix) 05. Permanent Vacation - Zucker Hut 06. John Talabot - Matilda’s Dream 07. Pollyester - German Love Letter (Permanent Vacation Remix) 08. Boom Clap Bachelors - L-O-V-E (Kem Fuego's Version) 09. Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (The Loving Hand Remix) 10. Pollyester - The Indian (Mock & Toof Remix) 11. Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (Bostro Pesopeo Remix)