Review: Anton ScruScru Bogomolov is a mega hyped artist but for good reason. His slew of singles have all been noteworthy and now this new 12" overflows with more brilliant ideas. After a hugely prolific 2020 he shows no signs of slowing down here. Once again he fuses classic jazz-funk style with fresh London broken beat and wall that is good about the current jazz scene. Blurring boundaries as he goes this could be as good in a live setting as it could through a big sound system in a club. Big chords, bristling drumming, disco energy, it's all here and then some.
Review: Rawax first released John Selway's Real EP back in 2020. It has aged well and is still an in-demand 12" following the sell-out of its first run. As such the German label reissues it now just as it was the first time around. The title cut is a tribal and chunky house number with thumping drums offset but tender and barely-there whispers. 'Sliders' is a twitchy technoid stomper with a sleazy vibe and the urgent, hurried grooves continue through 'Wraecca', this time overlaid with swirling solar winds and busy synth modulations. Proper tackle.
Review: Session Victim return to the Delusions Of Grandeur imprint with their third studio album. Listen To Your Heart is the result of a year of cross-continental scripting which started in their Hamburg studio and wrapped up stateside in San Francisco's Room G Studios where the duo had worked on their 2014 LP See You When You Get There. Here is the second of three LP samplers. "Shadows" gets things rolling with a classic Session Victim groove, looped up pads and hooky spoken vocal samples. Next up we have "Unchained" which drops the BPM for a widescreen, slo-mo jam clouded in a smoky haze with jazzy touches, recalling the halcyon days of Pork Recordings. Flipping over we have a brand new LP version of previous single "Up To Rise", another sublime slice of blissed-out house music with a wonderful organic and live sound palette. Echoing Rhodes licks join the lead guitar tune for a Balearic beauty which will be stuck in your head long after the sun sets. Closing this second sampler we have "Over And Over", which winds things down somewhat for an inspired, bass-led roller.
Review: Shacklo doesn't appear on wax too often but when he does it is worth hearing. His latest outing comes on Chiwax and brings some fresh ideas to the world of house and tech. The title cut is a serene seven-minute worst that comes with hints of Balearic magic in the warm retro chords and shuffling drums, gentle whistles and hedonistic vibes. 'How Deep' nods to the dreamy Italo house of the 90s, and 'Summon' has some classic New York chords over stuffing drums and deep bass. This most cuddly and loved-up of EPs closes with the Be Cosmos D style lo-fi sounds of 'Dreem', another blissed-out groover.
Sacred Church (feat Eve - Jon cutler’s Distant music mix) (5:56)
Shaker Games (7:33)
Get Me Higher (7:01)
Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Shaka's new drop on Selections is a delightful one that combines real jazz melodies with authentic deep house. Opener 'Sacred Church' (feat Eve - main mix) immediately wins you over with the buys keys, Rhodes chords and eco-system of cosmic synths that busy about while the soulful vocal oozes cool. Jon Cutler's Distant Music mix pairs things back and makes it more of a smoky late night sound and 'Shaker Games' then blisses you out with dusty drum depths and incidental chords that are magically feel good. 'Get Me Higher' shuts down with some superb US house vibes.
Review: Traxx Underground hits a quarter of a century of releases with another faultless deep house 12". This one is from UK mainstay and Ultra Knites Records label founder Mike Sharon and he shows his love of classic US styles from the get-go. 'Body Talk' is a perfect blend of driving drums and balmy, heartfelt pads that swirl with real grace. 'Under The Groove' brings some superb swing to the drums with muttered vocals up top and 'Seduction' is another smooth-cruising and soulful late-night house gem. 'Floating' is another variation on the theme that again encourages you to empty your mind and go with the flow.
Review: REPRESS ALERT!: People Pleasers is a brand new label that kicks off with the first sounds of a new project, Shep, by respected veteran producer Jay Shepheard. It is house music which underpins these but plenty more goes on up top. 'Peach Buzz' shows that from the off with some nice airy pads and emotive vocal stabs that will make any floor take note. 'Trust Your Nose' is a deep, warm cut with shuffling drum and humid 90s organ stabs while 'The Bell Curve' has a late-night feel thanks to the pulsing synth sequences that roam about the mix. 'Higher States Of Nonchalance' shuts down with the most heady sound of the lot and a persuasive dub feel that is perfect for back rooms.
Review: Hanagasumi is the word that is used in Japan for when all the cherry blossom appears in bloom and looks from afar like a white mist. It is a fitting title for this EP of delicate deep house, gorgeous melody and spiritual vibes. After the crystal clean and cleansing 'Above Fuji' there is the perfectly titled 'Naive Piano' and dreamy ambient house of 'Nocturne'. 'Eco Line; heads off on a slender electro groove into a place of astral melody and 'Tune For Relaxation' baths you in lush chords and meditative moods before 'Sydgo' wraps up the whole perfect experience with more delightfully elegant and majestic melodic house.
Avenue 6 (Is This The Real Life?) (Real Crooked mix) (7:45)
Avenue 6 (Is This The Real Life?) (Crooked Girl Crooked Boy mix) (7:20)
Review: Si Brad was the original in-house producer for the Toko label. Dormant for 20 years, it is now back with a brace of brilliant new releases that immediately put it right back at the top. 'Avenue 6(Is This The Real Life?)' is pure blissed out sunset house music. The drawn out baseline, the gently bouncing drums and the airy vocal from Azeem all take you to a perfect party by the sea. The Real Crooked mix is a low slung and playful yet menacing dub. The Croocked one then steps up once more for a second and final mix that is sparse and eerie with subtle FX and speaker tweaking details.
Review: One thing you can say about Siggatunez's Gooey Edits series is that the included reworks are never simple cut-and-paste jobs. Like Joaquin 'Joe' Clausell, the German DJ/producer enjoys adding percussion, keys, drum machine beats and more to his source material. He's at that again here, first adding heady hand percussion and jazzy keys to a classic French, Italo-disco era jam ('Feel Me'), before giving a musically expansive New York disco classic the same kind of treatment on 'Inch'. 'Just Me & You' is a slightly straighter, lightly tooled-up take on a lesser-celebrated disco-soul sing-along, while EP highlight 'The Key' sees him successfully tamper with a warm, synth-heavy, Italo-disco style slab of mid-80s electronic excellence.
Review: Romanian minimal-tech badboy, Silat Beksi, returns to the ever-impressive Pleasure Zone with pair of highly-crafted, ultra-sleek dance bangers that really put some style and panache into the whole scene. "Rolling Shapes", as the title implies, is a smooth and direct dancefloor bruiser that cruises at a steady tempo and yet still manages to pulsate its heavy bass with a distinctive style. On the B-side, "Trainline" gets even dubbier and more ethereal, retaining those swiping waves of bass, but adding in all sorts of quirky, off-the-cusp melodies for even more psychedelic fun. Class.
Review: When it comes to producing undulating, club-friendly tech-house and micro-house shufflers, Silat Beksi has a pretty good track record. We can confirm that this 12" - his first for Pleasure Zone following appearances on a string of like-minded labels - is similarly rock solid. On the A-side you'll find the deep and rolling "Back to the Future", where fluttering, outer-space ambient synths drift around a crunchy tech-house rhythm track rich in fizzing electronics and solid snares. Flipside "Kin 182" is, if anything, even deeper. Featuring a bolder bassline, dreamier chords and a breakbeat-driven house beat, it's arguably the more satisfying of the two tunes (though we wouldn't be surprised if more DJs champion the similarly impressive A-side).
Review: After 20 years of a restful sleep, the legendary Icelandic Thule offshoot house label 66 Degrees has been resurrected. Three deep cuts exhibiting what is in store for the year 2022.
It begins with "Can Ride", a neo-disco anthem from former resident Justin Simmons. Nifty groove with an acid-bassline - topped with all the razzle and dazzle that is needed to get the dancefloor moving.
The flipside starts with a remastered Raresh secret weapon, a proper minimal percussion-driven groove from Kate & Joan, a side-project of Dole & Kom from the renowned label BCC music. The Detroit-influenced dub house anthem will, without a doubt, be a useful tool for any DJs to get the crowd going.
The second cut on the B-side is from a Reykjavik-based beatmakers Oh Mama. Its wild style sample-based approach caught the label's attention and the result is a worthy debut vinyl release. Hypnotic, sexy and groovy - with a big and dirty bassline.
After building up a nice head of steam with its first few releases, French label Groovence now starts a new series, Amour Deep, with volume number one. It's a various artists affair that kicks off with the deep and sensuous sounds of Moonee's 'Amour Deep' (feat Simple Request) which has swirling and romantic pads and a great r&b vocal sample. Milk & Honey picks up the pace with the more raw and bumpy 'Chi Train' and Armless Kid goes deep into an electro workout complete with bittersweet piano chords on 'Night Ride'. Roy Vision's 'What's Your Name' rounds out the release with a more glitchy and stripped-back house sound for the dub lovers.
Review: A second round of equine tech-funk from Alexander Skancke, Foehn & Jerome and Henriku, none of whom present solo tracks, but rather collab as a trio on every number. Following up May 2024's debut edition of 'The Black Horse', we're met with a fleshed-out sophomore amble come gallop here. Opener 'Maximalism Minimalism' bowls us over with its muted flutes and hip-house samples, while 'Satt' moves more fay with its wind chime tinkles and festive woodwind riffs. On the B comes 'Hungry Beat' - by now, our steed is raveonous for a bite to eat and an oasis to drink from, lest it perishes from dancefloor thirst - and 'Eins' - on which said colt (a work-horse from a hobby) - is finally let to graze, and rest.
Review: Woody McBride's Sounds label continues to dive back in the archives and revive some absolute gold standard techno for modern diggers. This collab effort between McBride (in his DJ ESP guise) and DJ Skull originally came out in 1995, and it still sounds fierce to this day. 'The Drive' is a stripped down tool with all the right chops to tweak out a locked-in raver, but 'G-Rated' is the real gem on the record. In a blistering hailstorm of 303 squelch you get a definitive example of acid techno at its finest. 'The Power' might well find relevance in the present day trance-techno scene thanks to its unsettling leads and relentless forwards thrust.
Review: Alex "Omar" Smith has covered all bases this year, offering up singles that flit between more experimental, off kilter fare, head-nodding beats informed by hip-hop culture and the unique blend of Detroit deep house and techno that has long been his stock-in-trade. His final single of 2019 sees him gleefully charge further towards disco pastures with "Another Man", a bouncy, club-ready house workout that peppers a good-time disco groove (think rubbery slap bass and crunchy drums) with spacey synth sounds, twinkling melodies and male spoken word samples ("I can quite understand... she left me for another man"). He's back on deep house mode on flipside "Suv's AKA Fatass Mobile's", where a drowsy riff and sustained synth strings bob along atop a sea of sweaty machine drums.
Review: Smooth & Simmonds was Chris Simmonds and Ron Wells, a pair pf producers who were active from the early to mid-90s and made just a handful of EPs that have all stood the test of time. Three of the best of them have been newly remeasured by a long-time fan at the Pariter label and are now getting served up on fresh wax. This 12" features 90s EP, The Four Seasons, with two mixes of the title cut. The first is a steamy Warehouse Mix with dusty drums, subtle rave whistles and seductive vocals stitched in, while the second is a Factory Mix that rides a little more smoothly on uplifting chord work and brighter synth energy.
Review: SND & RTN brings it home on this new 12" for Lempuyang that explores their signature techno depths. 'Palantir' opens with fathoms-deep dub and ice-cold synths that snake their way over the face of the track, while 'Hyperdrive' has rumbling chords and smeared pads that keep you on the ocean floor and 'Dub Conjurer' allows in a little more light from the surface with delicate shards piercing the murk. 'Tales From The Outer Rim' shuts down with a nice gentle rhythm that undulates beneath rippling pad work and works well as perfect early evening warm up.
Review: Snips is back with a bang on his own label Barbershop Records. This time out he offers up the fresh Nebuer EP which is a project undertaken in which he mixes up sample-heavy house and hip-hop sounds, all in a style with which he has become closely associated. The artist has recently become a father for the first time and so that life event was a big influence on this studio work and each makes a specific reference to the different steps on his journey into fatherhood. That makes this a truly personal work but also one that never forgets the club and so the beats remain heavy, compelling, and packed with soulful flourishes.
Review: Soft Traffic is an alias for a well-known digi-dub producer who recently turned heads with an outing on Made Mecum. Now they land on the mighty Sushitech with a super limited, hand-stamped 12" featuring Prince Morella. It opens up with the silky smooth 'Meltem I', a liquid dub techno roller with chords rippling out to an infinite horizon as vocal muttering up top heighten the immersive trip. Part II is more icy and underwater, with rhythmic synth undulations and smooth-as-silk drum rotations locking you into a meditative state. Last of all is part III, an ambient sounds scape with subtly suggestive rhythms as you float in an underwater cavern. Classy stuff.
Genevieve (feat Zeek Burse & The Ibibio Horns) (8:06)
Genevieve (feat Daniel Meinecke - One More Organ dub) (8:53)
Review: The Sol Power All-Stars are back once more on the Rocksteady Disco label with some superb new covers of much-loved British funk band Cymande. Each one brings a fresh perspective while paying heed of the Afro-roots of the originals. 'Anthracite' (feat Denise Henderson) opens up and is designed for moaner dance floors with cosmic synth work and big, bouncing drums. There is a deeper and more steamy sense of rhythm to the tropical sounds of 'Getting It Back' while the Parkway dub of 'Anthracite' sounds like early house music. Two versions of 'Genevieve' offer shuffling rhythms and big horn stabs and stomping, ass-wiggling Afro-jazz.
Review: Much like vital Detroit label Moods & Grooves, The Solid Gold Playaz are a beloved force in the house scene. They tragically lost their co-founder Kenny Gino in 2021, but by then had already assured the legacy with deep house grooves that exude funk and class. In honour of Kenny's memory, surviving member Mike Theus carries on the journey with a new EP that, across four tracks, demonstrates real unity. Each one is built on nice lo-fi dusty drums, with undercooked synth lines bringing the unusual soul, bass adding the all-important low-end interest and plenty of smart samples finishing in style.
Review: It would be fair to say that Henry Maldonado, known more widely as Son Of Sound, has been one of the few revelations to come out of New York City since the early 2000's. For a city which gave us so much in the 80's and 90's, there have been relatively few new names to carry on the dynasty, but Maldonado's sleek and thoughtful style for imprints like Disrtrict 30 and Speak Recordings has provided a bit of life and love to the American Dream. Moreover, the man appears on Delusions Of Grandeur, one of our all time favourite labels when it comes to house, and one that we wish was more present again. The deal here is simple; Son Of House provides us with three sultry, laid-back house groovers with plenty of soul and homebred sensibility, rolling and pushing its solid grooves over bouncy, seductive melodies and feel-good charms.
Review: Magnonic Signal label boss Spin Fidelity aka Antonio Velazquez is well known for his techno outings Subwax Excursions and Parang Recordings. Here he lends his consider skills to a fourth release from the Brussels label Nightflight Records. There is some glistening old school jack and cosmic synth work on opener 'Photon Stream' that gets you locked in from the off. He then shifts down a gear for the widescreen cyber-funk of 'Ancient Love' before heading off on a silky electro tip on 'There Must Be A Way.' Closing out a hugely varied EP is the trippy acid and melodic workout that is 'Magnonic Transmission.'
Review: You might think you know the West Coast house sound but are you familiar with Eric Spire and his Silver Pearl label? He's a rather overlooked but influential figure from Los Angeles who dropped some seriously sick records back in the late 90s. They brought a hardness and psychedelic edge to house music that eventually paved the way of the sort of industrial tech that was championed by the likes of Craig Richards with his Tyrant nights and project alongside Lee Burridge. Now Sushitech label head Yossi Amoyal has dug into it to put together a series of 12"s that best showcase this special era.
Review: This is the fourth and final installment of Sushitech label head Yossi Amoya's reissue series focussing on the work of Eric Spire and his Silver Pearl label. The Los Angeles based producer was on a hot streak back in the late 90s, fomenting a new take on West Coast house music with hard drums and psychedelic synths that lay down something of a blueprint for later tech house a la Craig Richards, Wiggle and co. This useful 12" packs another punch with potent drums and razor sharp percussion across three cuts from some of the Silver Pearl mainstays.
B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
sshadess - "Discoteka" (6:28)
The Coomers - "Miso Soup" (7:20)
Girlcop - "Carbonara" (5:54)
Emsho Shoshe & Mat Fink - "Give Up" (5:09)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
'Lords Of Miami' is a fantastic name for this new one from Domesticated, a label run by one of Berlin's best electro aficionados, Robyrt Hecht. Sshadess, The Coomers, Girlcop and Emscho Shoshe each contribute original cuts ranging from the janky to the smooth, with choice bits like 'Carbonara' remaining unpretentious and not-too-produced, yet also peppery on the glitches. Shoshe's 'Give Up' lends an experiment to vocal booty house too, adding an extra creep factor to the genre with freq-scooping phasers on the sample.
Review: Over the last seven years, Stavroz have appeared on labels as diverse as Kindisch, Laut & Luise and Bedrock, but for this new one they've chosen an imprint close to home. Moodfamily presents the Ghent-based outfit's new EP entitled "Gold Town", where IJsbrand De Wilde and Gert Beazar (both DJs and sound engineers) have made the transition to a full band - now joined by Pieter De Meester and Maxim Helincks. The EP describes itself as the soundtrack for an adventure to mysterious outskirts around the globe. From the lo-slung Afro spiritual vibe of "All Day I Zama", to the dusty/jazzy deep house mystery of the title track, or the tripped-out after hours weirdness of "Ghajar" - keep an eye on these guys going into 2020!
Review: Enshrining its 20th release with a reverent new one from STBR, 'Atelir' on Daydream murks our expectations, bringing a thrilling lowercase slosher to classic black wax. 'Lloyd' and 'Homer' hear two named characters hog the studio, as STBR seizes many an interstitial productive moment in which to vary and excite the mix, though not *too* much. 'Session', meanwhile, brings a parallactic view of the prior two moods, acids squelching and spurting between relatively driven beats, while a closing paroxysm, 'Tourtour', insists we climb back down from our cloud.
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