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| Pitchfork |
 Album Review Various Artists Permanent Vacation: Selected Label Works, Vol. 2 [Permanent Vacation; 2010] 8.1 Find it at: Insound | eMusic In just four years, the Munich-based Permanent Vacation has amassed one of the most aerobic, head-nodding catalogues in all of electronic music; they are almost definitely the best label to share their moniker with an Aerosmith album. Excuse the gag, at least a little, because the label shares some of the band's tendencies to offer streamlined, updated versions of classic sounds-- in this case, late-80s and early-90s house. Its roster loads up on galloping pianos, squelchy synth patches, and hoarse-throated divas chopped into inspired repetition. More than being just retro retreads, Permanent Vacation's roster has excellently integrated prevailing subgenres-- Balearic, space disco, italo-- into weightless, endlessly re-playable jams. The mileage you get out of deciding whether a track is really space disco or Balearic disco will... vary, so suffice it to say that Select Label Works 2 features, back to back, Tensnake's "Coma Cat" and Azari & III's "Reckless (With Your Love)", or two of the most ubiquitous house hits in recent memory. When they play, concerns about defining exactly what is playing will vanish. As Permanent Vacation still thrives on vinyl, SLW2 isn't a label primer or showcase; it's a compendium of the label's recent singles (and the iron-hot inclusion of 2010's "Coma Cat"), most of which are seeing a CD for the first time. The label has been ridiculously productive, with Selected Label Works 2 marking the second two-disc comp since 2009 (the label also curated the uneven If This Is House I Want My Money Back). The mix is split pretty evenly between the about-to-explode (Azari & III, John Talabot), the exploding (Tensnake) and the exploded (Sally Shapiro). If SLW2 has a defining characteristic it's the ease with which these tracks command a room. Aside from obvious crossovers like Four Tet and Pantha du Prince, much of the year's best electronic music (Shed, Jon McMillion, Scuba) were triumps of nuance that could have been stamped "not for beginners." SLW2 is different: The hits feel like buckets of water to the face. The interceding tracks are turned in by solid veterans (Phillip Lauer's note-perfect, piano-driven house anthem "Delta NRG") or potent newcomers (Pollyester has two tracks of their swampy boogie remixed; Moonoton cozies up with 1980s R&B). Label heads Tom Bioly and Benjamin Fröhlich, who record as Permanent Vacation as well, turn in the cinematic, ominous "Zucker Hut". The inessential material-- you probably don't need two mixes of Woolfy vs. Projections' "Neeve", for instance-- serves as a reminder that SLW2 is a singles comp, B-side warts and all....full text |
| Junodownload |
| n the space of just four years Munich imprint Permanent Vacation have hustled their way to the front of the queue marked labels Juno loves and generally challenge DFA for first place in our collective affections. It’s a label that oozes quality, from the compelling concepts behind their compilations to the lovingly presented twelve inch releases. To commemorate the landmark of 50 releases, Permanent Vacation indulge us with 22 tracks from the likes of Pollyester, Tensnake, Woolfy Vs The Projections, John Talabot and Sally Shapiro. Amidst these more recognisable PV artists, there’s some curveballs like DMX Crew and Arto Mwambe’s “Lauer” and a dash of unreleased gems. Instant classics such as Tensnake’s “Coma Cat” and Azari & III’s “Reckless With Your Love” are present as well as three versions of Midnight Magic’s soon to be classic “Beam Me Up”. In fact it’s the previously unreleased version from Bostro Pesopeo that ends the compilation which provides the highlight, stripping the track of its vintage disco sheen and turning it into a quite brilliantly haunting track. Tony Poland...full text |
| Residentadvisor |
| 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....full text |
| Residentadvisor |
| 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....full text |
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