June 3, 2005 | Posted by Blair at 3:51 PM

Take Me?

not that james taylor "Break Me Or Take Me" by James Taylor

Did you know that James Taylor makes techno? No seriously, he does. Certainly, this is a different direction than, say "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," but I like it. I like it a lot.

That's because this James Taylor is one half of the unstoppable Swayzak, and many folks, myself included, believe he is a techno genius. "Break Me..." is from his new album, Carthage Milk, released by the Parisian label Logistic Records. Carthage Milk is ten tracks of slippery, dub-influenced deep techno and house music, all of which is marked by Taylor's subtle, understated style and knack for melody. The record is getting a lot of very favorable comparisons to Swayzak's first really popular album, Snowboarding in Argentina, with standout tracks like "Bumpkin" and "Jackflap" already seeing play amongst better tech-DJs.

I love the strings and the slow build-up on this track, the cut up voices and the panning of sounds, the hazy feel to the synths and other little effects he uses here really rock it - I feel like the song could be another few minutes long even, but the weird Japanese voicemail, doorbell, alarm clock or whatever it is at the end of the track feels right too.

You can buy Carthage Milk direct from the label here (Europe), or from Boomkat (UK), or if you can wait till June 21st, from your local indie retailer or at amazon.com.

Also, James is doing a string of live dates this summer to support the new record, so if you're lucky enough to live in France or Spain, he's doing shows in Lille, Barcelona, Bordeaux, and the festival at Uzés, Basle, and Vieilles charrues.

Enjoy your weekend kiddies - tekno 4eva!

Comments

So so so so good. I think I'll be sipping a margarita on the beach this Sunday afternoon while listening to "Carthage Milk." I just checked out the other previews on the Logistic Records site... This disc is definitely worth the buy.

Posted by: Justin R. at June 3, 2005 5:02 PM

That was really damn good! Now if only his label didn't stream his stuff so I could get more of his stuff ;)

Posted by: James at June 3, 2005 5:14 PM

Lots of love for the robots out there--I frequent your site at least twice daily--but that was a rather unimpressive song. He relies too much on his samples--especially the stings: the strings (from Asa Chang and Jun Ray's "Hana") and the "ah-ah" (from Cornelius's "Mic Check") are really the only things carrying this song and he doesn't even bother to appropriate the samples in any way to make it his own. The samples sound exactly the same, and all he did was put a generic beat behind someone else's hard work and--oh my, is he no different than P. Diddy?

Posted by: Pelowfig at June 3, 2005 7:41 PM

ROBOTS - just wanted to say you've had a great run this past week - music has been top notch - keep it up guys

Posted by: Nick at June 3, 2005 8:23 PM

I'll have to check this one out, Im not a huge fan of the last Swayzak album Loops from the Bergerie, but definetly will give this a shot. Anywho, any LA local techno nerds gonna check out Richie Hawtin tonight?

Posted by: bassbiz at June 4, 2005 8:41 PM

Well, I love this track, problably all the more since it relies heavily on "Hana", which is a superb song...

Posted by: T. at June 6, 2005 2:55 AM

I wouldn't mind hearing "Hana," the stuff I've heard from Asa Chang and Jun Ray has been fantastic. The string samples sound great in this song, but I do wish the Cornelius samples were used more interestingly.

Posted by: jose at June 6, 2005 8:20 AM

In all honesty, I believe that the string in "Hana" are the strings in Sade's "Pearls" reworked, but I do believe that it is "Hana" he sampled.

For Jose, if you want to hear "Hana", you can follow this link to a sample of the song: http://mp3.juno.co.uk/MP3/SF159998-01-01-14.mp3

And follow this link to listen to a sample of Sade's "Pearls" if you want to: http://www.mp3search.ru/album.html?id=2869&ref=4496

Posted by: at June 6, 2005 3:30 PM

This string sample is also on Dillinja's "Feel my pain", recently out on Valve.

Posted by: DK at June 8, 2005 2:30 PM
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