★★★★☆
This is a good match: spiky Motor City definer May, and firebrand wildcard Edgar. Not billed as an old-versus-new soundclash, more a post-it on the fridge reminding you who invented this shit, May has the occasional look back and takes his time when looking for a deep, higher plain, through Petar Dundov’s 12 minute long “Distant Shores” and Carl Craig’s “Sandstorms” trying to solve its own crankiness. It’s about respecting the essence, as on Federico Grazzini’s “Nova,” rather than turning it into logarithms or another chance for local classics. Cradling the sphere of techno with room for some expansion, The D’s precious aura is championed with core values plugged into tribal pair Yotam Avni’s “Pentimento” and Deep’a & Biri’s “Hova.”
Edgar hotfoots it more to the club, buoyed by May’s inclusion of Benny Rodrigues. Anyone expecting his sexualised showmanship will have their disappointment soothed by his fine selection that goes toe to toe — some might say upstage — the former’s longer, broodier selections. Shock tactics left in the locker room, Kris Wadsworth’s “Connection” and Edgar’s own “Semierotic” do have more of an electro pose to them, but neither are flaunting it because they’ve got it. Edgar starts on the up with his clearly Detroit-designated “Let Yrself Be Free” and makes Magic Touch a true ambassador, continues with feisty Lando Kal, and clocks up acid rebel Kyle Hall and Darling Farah as further picks to rewind.
File under: John Beltran, Noel Jackson, Axiom Crux
Read our list of 125 dance/electronic albums to look for in 2013 here.