September 23rd 1999 was a monumental day for the Canadian electronic community… or at least should have been. This was the day the first Cynosure Recordings release, entitled “The Focal Point”, was launched out into the world. Comprising a combination of deep minimal house and jackin techno the record was steadfastly ignored and overlooked by the international techno community at large, setting a precedent and laying a course that the label has embraced as it’s burden for just over 10 years now.
Though Cynosure has provided a steady stream of fodder for the discerning DJ every few months since, music journalists the world over have by and large refused to mention it. No label profiles, no formal mention of collective works, and sadly no one hit wonders have graced the catalog. Conversely, the elite taste makers which make up the crème de la crème of the underground DJ community have continually charted and dropped track after track the world over . A strange phenomenon certain to boggle the mind of cultural theorists for years to come.
Admittedly the labels A&R choices have always gone against the grain of the populous dance music norm. Though he could be a accused of many things, “band wagon jumper” is certainly not a tag which label head Mike Shannon could wear comfortably or honestly. A devastatingly talented DJ in his own right, he has chosen to be an example both with his sets and the label of the most uncompromising possibilities that dance music has to offer. Never following, always leading, the rarest of a modus operandi. As such it seems all too fitting after a decade of living in the shadows that Shannon, the master of the piss take and techno’s prince of cats, should choose to deliver the label anthem “Under the Radar”.
Minimaland Feedback: Collectors Stuff
Tracklisting
side A – Under the Radar – Mike Shannon’s original mix
side B – Under the Radar – Ricardo Villalobos mix
side C – Under the Radar – Deadbeat mix
side D – Under the Radar – Rozzo mix
Digital Only – Under the Radar – Wasted Chicago youth dub mix (aka Justin Long and Mazi)
Digital Only – Under the Radar – Massi’s NYC deep dub mix (aka Massi DL)
Digital Only – Under the Radar – Massimo Di Lena’s Loon mix
CYN#040
Release Date: 25.01.2010
