FYI CHRIS レコード& CD

Review: A classic from start to end - FYI Chris step forward with their finest cuts to date for the homies at RS INTL. Chris Coupe and Chris Watson are back with a feel good EP for the summer. They look to the sounds of New York City's fabled ballroom/vogue scene on the tough bass-heavy bounce of "Contact" (Underground Track) and followed by the evocative deep house of "Daze" featuring Simeon Jones. On the flip, they go deeper and in to even trippier territory on the sensual tribal house of "Special Names" and further down the spiral on the tunnelling and hypnotic "Morph" - which is unlike anything we've heard from the pair before.

Review: Chris Watson and Chris Coupe are a duo from south east London, using music to make music. This would mark their second release for the esteemed London deep house imprint Church, in addition to tracks for other fine tastemakers such as Rhythm Section Intl and Bristol's Banoffee Pies. The Home Alone EP is an impressive and consistent effort. Starting out with the emotive title track, fuelled by dusty rhythms, soulful tones and some smooth sax for good measure. Next track "Oort Cloud picks up the pace in style with more energy and attitude particularly: that bassline and skeletal rhythm department allowing for the flute solo to really shine through. On the flip, it's all about closing track "Courtyard" which is a smokey and slowed down expression in techno, in the vein of L.I.E.S. but without the all the punk attitude, instead going for an evocative feeling: one chugging steam train of a groove!

Review: Following well-regarded outings on Banoffee Pies and Linoli Industries, FYI Chris returns to the loving arms of Rhythm Section International, and its 'Executive Producer' Bradley Zero. He's in fine form, too, delivering a quartet of tracks that largely steer clear of predictable deep house tropes. Check, for example, the curious - but rather good - "Russian Woodpecker", where spacey synth hits and Scanner style mobile field recordings join forces with a jumpy bassline and off-kilter rhuthm track. The loose and dreamy "Repeater" adds a little dub-wise flavour to a loose and lo-fi, MPC head's take on dream house, while "How To Ruin The World" is an undeniably melancholic journey that's as melodious as it as lo-fi. Closer "Lone Star", meanwhile, is a stripped back groove joint of the highest calibre.

Review: The last Rhythm Section release came from Vancouver man Local Artist, but number 6 sees Peckham man Bradley Zero actually looking to local artists in the shape of FYI Chris. The production handle of Chris Watson and his namesake Coupe, this Peckham duo have already impressed with the No Hurry stealth drop on Church late last year, but it's clear they've learnt a few new tricks since then. Nestling snugly into the SE London beatdown sound Bradley has been cultivating through the label, Back In The Millenium is pleasantly hard to pin down with bits of house, hip hop and acid thrown into the mixer. We are quite impressed by "Jeru" which desiccates a famed '90s Primo sample with some dextrous MPC work, whilst MCDE fans will be all over "Need I Say More". A big 12" Nik!

Review: Plenty of big hitters feature on this new various artists collection from Care4Life. It's a Harvey edit of Kiwi that kicks off with a slow, darkened grubby dub disco workout then Apiento & Tepper link for "Blossoms", another deep and dubby cut but with thoughtful pads and icy electro twinges. FYI Chris ups the ante with a warm and atmospheric house cut that carries you away on a spaced out vibe and Luke Vibert gets typically wonky and electric on his playful downbeat jam "That's Ill Folks." The biggest curveball of the lot is Clark's "Laptop Stand", an acoustic guitar piece with a curious folk vocal.