- It's refreshing that even in a globalized world, underground dance music scenes can remain intensely local. Many of today's internationally known labels got off to inauspicious beginnings, revolving around longtime friends jamming with each other, making cassettes, maybe pressing a 12-inch or two. Another unexpected cradle of dance music life is Aarhus, Denmark, specifically the scene gathering around the Help Recordings, Regelbau and 2 Bit Crew labels. Like their Vancouver peers in Mood Hut, Help's core producers (i.e. brothers and label owners Central and Sports, as well as fellow Aarhus producers C.K. and Manmade Deejay and Dutch crew member KAAP) weave themselves into an unwieldy knot of collaborations and aliases. Collectively, they've made hundreds of tracks over the past couple years, many of which are only available on limited-run cassettes. The hit rate on Irrelevant Material proves the Help crew is worth keeping an eye on, however difficult that might be.
Central, real name Natal Zaks, is the best known of this group, due to his alliance with Dekmantel, who released a couple of his records earlier this year. He kicks off Irrelevant Material with "Twice The Space In Space." It begins delicately, with a wispy synth lead that's quickly propped up by an arresting bassline and, eventually, soaring strings. Next is a dubby house cut from Aarhus supergroup Maizena, a band comprising Central, Sports, C.K. and Manmade Deejay. The nine-minute "Anti-Sex" is a brainy mix of Basic Channel-isms and jungle-inspired subwoofer violence, close to the style PLO Man explores with Acting Press. Manmade Deejay's "Inde" puts a pastoral spin on that aesthetic, using birdsong to ease the listener into an elegant downtempo jam. Lastly, Central and KAAP's collaboration is a quintessential "inside cut," dreamy, bittersweet and oddly optimistic. And with good cause—the future looks bright for this young crew.
TracklistA1 Central - Twice The Space In Space
A2 Maizena - Anti-Sex
B1 Manmade Deejay - Inde
B2 DJ Sports & C.K. & pH 1 - Second Wave
B3 Central & KAAP - Friend On The Phone