Press/Reviews 2010 (eng)

Posted by in Press english, Press/Reviews

This page collects the press-releases and reviews of my work (2010).

Jacob Korn – From A Distant Point Of View EP || LOTD 06 (2010)

Review of „Left of the dial“

Jacob Korn’s debut EP on LOTD comes on the heels of critically acclaimed releases on labels such
as Running Back, Dolly, Permanent Vacation & Astrolab. Jacob’s „Distant Point of View EP“ for LOTD 
continues his excursions into the realms of the Chicago jack & Detroit tech traditions.

Jacob Korn was born in Germany in the early 80’s. His sound is influenced by Kraftwerk and the sound
of 90’s techno and house music. After a decade of sowing different musical seeds Jacob Korn is back
in the straight 4/4-domain. Given his history in glitch inspired electronica and hiphop, he continually
experiments in new recording styles and production techniques, while developing his own audiovisual
tools for media arts performances. His debut album, different EPs and remixes under various names for
european labels from Germany, France and England were fruits of this work.

The 3 tracks on the „Distant Point of View EP“ focus on the sound of synthesizers, drum computers
and samplers, following in the tradition of the Detroit and Chicago era. „Distant Point of View“ is a 13
and a half minute intense journey into raw slo mo deep house and techno territory, a heavy footed kick
juxtaposed with lush washes and synth stabs. „My Day“ , a collaboration with up and coming German
producer Flokke, is a fast paced and hypnotic dance floor monster while „whatyagonnado“ slows things
down (a bit) with a more atmosperic deep house track, yet still maintaining elements of jack. http://www.lotd.ca/distant.html

Jacob Korn – Supakrank EP || Dolly 001 (2010)

Review of „Resident Advisor“

Steffi has unveiled her new label, Dolly, seemingly at the exact right time. Deep house is all the rage again, people are in love with limited edition vinyl and when you throw the words „Panorama Bar“ on the one-sheet, it’s almost a buy-on-sight situation. Dresden resident Jacob Korn, whose tracks are regularly played by the Panorama Bar residents, especially Steffi and Tama Sumo, was a perfect fit for the upstart imprint—his infectious, druggy-morning sound is perfect for the delicate selectors that fawn over short-run vinyl-only releases.

The A-side of the release delivers two versions of the title track, and in a bold move leads the side off with the remix by Basic Soul Unit. The original slowly lurches to life with a patiently evolving, heavily filtered set of pipe organs, all while the shoulder-shaking jerk to the percussion and resonant low-end come together to produce an original and masterfully crafted track. The remix is the equivalent of a screwed-and-chopped version of a hip-hop track. BSU does a brilliant job of providing an almost indecipherable edit, and it’s an absolute monster on a big sound system. Crisp, boomy and layered in all the right places, proper applause should be awarded to the Canadian for properly executing the remix to such a complex track.

Rounding out the EP sadly feels like an afterthought compared to the entirety of the flip. Far more palatable in production than the title cut and its remix, „Mirrorflip“ is a polite, uplifting house track that would sound more at home on Plastic City or Freerange. In no way is it a bad track, and more than likely it will find its way in to DJ sets more often than its partners on the wax, but it in some way sticks out more in an undesirable way in relation to the grime of the ancillary productions. LINK

Review of „keep-it-deep.blogspot.com“

We were talking about crate diggers, weren’t we?! One of them is Gerd Janson, a stand out and passionate music journalist, (Deep) House- and Disco-DJs in Germany. He is the (co-)founder and owner of Running Back records, an exquisite label for all kinds of (electronic) dance music. It was Gerd Jansons wide-ranged a & r-work that let me discover the highly promising producer Jacob Korn months ago by releasing his 12″ „I Like The Sun“. Now, Jacob Korn is back on track with another EP, „Supakrank“. On the same-named titletrack, he draws and presents a dark yet mystic atmosphere. Do you agree that Selene, the lunar goddess, enlighted Jacob Korns creative spark that is responsible for such a tune? Stuart Li a.k.a. Basic Soul Unit is on remixing duties to bring the track to a more percussive and floor accessible area. The 12″ ends with „Mirrorflip“ where you’ll find a very warm atmosphere getting slightly and softly disturbed by organ-like sounds. Just great! link

Supakrank EP top 10 in Groove Magazine March 2010

The Supakrank EP on Dolly scored position 10 in Groove Magazine Charts March 2010. Even if the name is spelled wrong, it seems to be my record:)

The vinyls sold out in a very short period of time. The next one on Dolly will be out in May 2010.

Check out Dolly 001 on www.myspace.com/granufunk

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Review of Steffi on „Resident Advisor“:

This is the first record on my new label and I selected it because it’s just finished, I got the white labels today. I am very happy to work with Jacob on the first release. I met him through a friend of mine who said that I should really check out this guy because he is a really interesting guy and does good music. So I’ve been working on this release with him for quite a while because he sent me so many tracks, and I couldn’t really work out which one I was going to put out. I don’t think a label necessarily has to have a (big) name, because people are influenced by names far too much. I always find it very interesting to come up with something new, and if it hits me in my heart then it’s good. Link

Review of „Clone.nl“:

Klakson off shoot of Panoramabar Resident dj Steffi: Dolly records… white label-stamp styling. Limited run of 300 copies… crazy.. we know..but thats how the label wants it! Really strong release and a blazin remix by Basic Soul Unit! check!

Review of „Rushhour.nl“:

Klakson off shoot of Panoramabar Resident dj Steffi: Dolly records… white label-stamp styling. Massive record – will sell out fast!

Review of „Rubadub.co.uk“:

Massively in demand release from the new Klakson sub label Dolly (Run by Panorama Bar resident DJ Steffi). This features two killer deep Detroit style house cuts from Supakrank and a remix from the impeccably good Basic Soul Unit has notched up a fine run of releases on label like Mathematics and Philpot. It’s limited to 300 copies and is already flying out so don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Various Artists – If This Is House I Want My Money Back || Permanent Vacation 46-2 (2009)

This CD-Compilation features Jacob Korn – Grosskariert.

Review of „Resident Advisor“:

As their recent placing in RA’s top 20 labels of 2009 would suggest, Munich imprint Permanent Vacation have gained themselves a captivated audience. It would be difficult to dispute their credentials. Last year alone saw the release of Swedish starlet Sally Shapiro’s My Guilty Pleasure, the impressively deep pocketed Selected Label Works #1 compilation and the anthemic „Reckless (With Your Love)“ 12-inch from new Canadian talent Azari & III. And as if to further brandish their knack for ticking multiple boxes, we now have If This Is House I Want My Money Back to contend with—a ten-track unmixed selection of blossoming production names, with a couple of cuts licensed from elsewhere thrown in for good measure.

Although the word „house“ appearing in its title would appear to give a conspicuous nod towards its stylistic course, If This… is more of a tip-toe across the peripheries of the genre. Take album opener „Mabonda“ by UK duo Roots Unit for example: Its gradually uncurling filter and pitter-pattern percussion camps the track out in a lost city somewhere between early New York and Chicago, yet somehow smacks of contemporary European disco at the same time. Graeme Clark, AKA The Revenge, has been positioning himself as one of the flag bearers for this type of creeping four-four approach in recent months, and appears here along with Craig Smith under their edits-obsessed 6th Borough Project cloak. „McLovin'“ rides its source sample all the way into the sunset by expertly coaxing an emotive glow from a single, gently repeated phrase.

The first 40% of If This…—which also takes in the duck and pump, „The-Field-gets-stoned“ goodness of John Talabot’s „Naomi,“ and the busy beaver bass of Walter Jones‘ „I Am Loved“—leaps from one stepping stone of quality to another, but a slightly uninspired mid-section allows things to stumble into the stream. Belgian pair Mugwump are able only to tentatively imprint a groove upon „T-Coy Jelly Drops“; Neville Watson wears his old school influences a little too overtly on his sleeve for „Let Me Go“; and „The Voice From Planet Love“? Obviously it did serious damage over the summer of ’09, but inevitably feels a little worn down at this stage in the proceedings. Breakthrough Berlin-based force Hunee unfortunately can’t match his efforts for W.T. and Retreat on „Standin‘ High“ either, which leaves it up to John Talabot and Jacob Korn to do a spot of day saving. The former gets to work on Zwicker’s hook-laden „Oddity,“ which originally saw the light of day on Compost last year, while the latter shows why talk of his latent talent is indeed justified, thanks to the wonderfully oddball „Grosskariert.

Despite its occasionally flat passages, If This… continues to prop up Permanent Vacation’s esteemed reputation as purveyors of high-grade house and disco. Hell, if you’re tackling the thing digitally, simply pick and choose your favourites—no need for any refunds here. Link.

Review of „Boomkat“:

Permanent Vacation cover all angles of the House with a very cool 10-track comp feat. Dixon, Hunee, Mugwump, Neville Watson and more. 6th Borough Project’s ‚McLovin‘ covers the 100bpm slow-sh*t in slick disco style, while John Talbot sticks with the slow bpm’s for the drowsy thump of ‚Naomi‘. Mugwump’s gets far out with the dubby robo-groover ‚T-Coy Jelly Drops‘ and Rush Hour’s Neville Watson serevs the jckin‘ functions with ‚Let Me Go‘. Dixon’s outstanding edit of ‚The Voice From Planet Love‘ plays around with the sort of groove that could go on for twice as long, while new-skool Chicago hero, Hunee, tickles his organ over disco strings and the sort of proper dancing percussion that’s made him something of a hit recently. Quality house cuts assured! http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=244941

Review of „Piccadillyrecords“:

Permanent Vacation are usually more associated with disco than house, but the label brings us this 10 track compilation of sublime 4/4 house tunes. Just like in any other musical genre Permanent Vacation like to keep things diverse, so this CD features slo-mo house next to disco-house and contemporary jack trax, plus deeper Prescription-style vibes. Compiled by the label heads Benjamin Fröhlich and Tom Bioly, the set aims was to bring together some of the best new talents of the current house revival; 6th Borough Project, Mugwump, Walter Jones, Hunee, Neville Watson, Jacob Korn. Also included are two of their favourite house tracks of the year, the wonderful „The Voice From Planet Love“ by Precious System, and the deep pumping remix burner by John Talabot for Zwicker’s „Oddity“. To round things up, there are also two tracks off the label roster, one by the newly formed producer team Roots Unit, and the other by John Talabot, Permanent Vacation’s very own upcoming producer from Barcelona. Link.

Radioplays for Jacob Korn – Grosskariert:

Byte FM: Anstoss mit Klaus Walther (30.11.2009)

FM4 ORF: Liquid Radio (29.11.2009)