Kompakt, Russian-style
SCSI-9, the Moscow tech-house duo of Anton Kubikov and Maxim Miluytenko, is back with another release on Köln's Kompakt label, with this, the title track from their second full length album The Line of Nine.
These guys are great representatives of the Moscow club scene, and have been torchbearers for techno and house music there since the mid-90s, releasing work on Salo, Trapez, Force Tracks and Kompakt (you may recall hearing their massive 2004 track "Mini" here a while ago). Kubikov also runs his own imprint with an American who lives in LA (supposedly they've never met face-to-face, but set it all up via the internet), called Pro-Tez.
Anyway, the new record, released this last week, is full of all kinds of deep stuff: subtle drum patterns, skittering hi-hats, super deep basslines, delicate synths - all of which harkens back to their first album, 2003's Digital Russian, released by Force Tracks. This song was a standout for me, because of the lilting vocals provided by Katya Ryba, but there are a bunch of others that provide for great listening - I'll also highly recommend you check out the mesmerizing "Little Leaves Fall" and the album-closer, "Ne Contsom a Coltsom," which shoots straight for classic Detroit.
The Line of Nine is available now on CD and double-vinyl at your favorite independent retailers, via mail order through the Kompakt website, or for high-bitrate download through Kompakt MP3 Net. Highly recommended.