Review: 10 Seconds is a series of beat-driven vinyl releases from Canadian artist A Track. He is best known for being a part of the globe-trotting EDM circuit and has been for decades. He also runs his own Fools Gold label and puts out from time to time a series of beat experiments smashed out on his SP1200 drum machine. This series kicks off with a nice red 10" and four cuts of floor-wrecking electro that are raw and brain-frying. They're not big, they're not hard, they're not smart, but they are sure to be damn effective.
Review: US house legend and deck technician A Trak is back with a third volume of 10 Seconds on his own Fools Gold label. This latest 10" comes on red wax and features for wonky and characterful tunes. 'Like I Said' is all low slung and funky bass guitar riffs and slick soulful house drums. 'Jyeah' brings a more cut up rhythm with warped sub and bleeping synths. 'Riiide' is another infectious house vibe with busy chords and daubs of synth, loopy vocals and hurried beats that call to mind French filter house classics and it's the same story with the brilliantly immediate thrills of 'JustCantLive'.
Review: German duo Ame, consisting of Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann, makes a striking comeback with their new single, 'Asa,' marking their first original release in three years through Innervisions. 'Asa' epitomises their approach to dance music, blending vibrant joy and euphoric energy into an unforgettable track. The composition thrives on repetition, yet each element is dynamic and ever-evolving. The piece weaves together bold synths, pulsating beats, and intricate melodies into a catchy dance track. This track demonstrates their knack for creating exhilarating, peak-time dance anthems while maintaining their signature adventurous sound.
Review: Ben Jamin's first EP on vinyl comes as a forest-green slab, and documents four of the producers most joyful disco edit cuts. On the slower side, these four cut-ups repeal the tempo as the EP progresses, with track three, 'Conclusion', operating in that liminal sweet spot between disco and hip-hop. By the end, we're in full-blown yacht disco territory, as a remix known only as 'Moment Is Real' urges us to feel the sincerity of the loving situation we find ourselves in.
Review: Jurgen Paape has a brilliantly characterful sound and wrote one of our favourite silly records in 'Ofterschwang' some 13 years ago (go check it out, it's brilliant.) We're glad to hear some new music from the long time Kompakt legend and co-founder and once again it's not what you would expect. 'Allein' is a downbeat piece with oriental melodies and gently plucked strings over warm bass. It's not for the club, that is for sure, but the flip side version 'Allein In Italien' sure is. This one is a chugging and brit Italo disco number with retro 80s synth sounds and plenty of joyous grooves.
Review: Anorax has got a vital 10" here featuring a stone cold classic Balearic house tune from Don Carlos in two different mixes. First is the Paradise mix which is as Ibiza as house music gets - the swirling pads, the subtly joyous feeling in the piano chords, the blistered bassline. It all immediately transports you to the White Isle and gazing out to see as the sun sets and the party ratchets up a gear. On the flip is a Lute Mix which brings some more mellifluous melodies and makes the drums a little more bouncy. Both are brilliant.
Review: Detroit legend Marcellus Pittman, a member of the iconic Three Chairs collective, teams up with renowned producer James Curd for the AtNosphere EP, marking his debut on Shall Not Fade. This 10" brings all the classic Detroit deep house elements togetherilush synths, smooth vocals, and rolling drum patternsicrafting a track that feels timeless. Curd, known for his work on the GTA soundtracks and various films, adds his production expertise to this collaboration, making the EP a must-have for fans of both Detroit house and masterful production. Two heavyweights on one record, delivering deep house at its finest.
Review: DJ Sneak aka the Chicago house gangster by way of Puerto Rico, has hit a purple vein of form so far this year. Several great slices of wax have all dropped already but he seemingly has more up his sleeve as now comes a new one on Salon. It opens with 'Feeling Of Power' which is pure Sneak - silky drum loops with a raw edge, disco infused atmospheres and a nice catchy vocal to really make sure you stay locked in for the duration. 'Voodoo' is a little more rickety and loose with freewheeling synth flourishes and rolling tech beats.
Review: Fun fact: over the course of his near three-decade career, DJ Sneak has only previously released one 10-inch single ('3D Print' on Pressure Traxx back in 2018). Now he has a second to add to the discography thanks to this killer two-tracker on German label Salon. Check first A-side 'Pass It Around', a heavy, breathless and restless loop jam marked out by loose-limbed drum fills, ragged acid squelches, weighty bass, disco guitar licks and cut-up vocal snippets. Over on side B, 'House Bullet' is a similarly tough but stripped-back affair in which acid house era vocal samples, TB-303 motifs and tight synth stabs ride an energetic, non-stop beat.
Review: After some great releases by the likes of Butch and BB, Hot Chip's Joe Goddard arrives on Kornel Kovacs and HNNY's Puss imprint with a, well, 'loved-up' anthem called "Love LUV". This is trippy and sensual mood music if we have ever heard it. Label co-head Kovacs gets onboard for a couple of remixes on the flip: the KK Beat Tool reaches near tribal moments on this moody backroom dub, while for the more adventurous selectors out there the KK Vox Tool is a handy acapella strictly for DJ use only.
Review: Greyscale unveils its latest endeavour, the Spectrum Series, as a way to continue to evolve its offerings and this time it is with something that makes a vibrant departure from its traditional black-and-white aesthetic. The inaugural release features the iconic Lithuanian dub track 'Kasdienybes Sventykla' by grad_u & Eazystyle MC as a way of commemorating its 15th anniversary. It came as a double CD in 2011 but now gets a first vinyl pressing on a nice 10" slab of wax. The track itself taps into the earliest roots of dub in the 70s and traces a line through the 80s with its heavyweight drums and endlessly echoing bass topped by great mic work. A pared-back instrumental features on the flip of this latest crucial drop from the dub dons at Greyscale
Yamore (feat Cesaria Evora, MoBlack, Benja & Franc Fala) (4:08)
Kabe (feat Francis Mercier & Nomis) (3:35)
Madan (feat Martin Solveig) (3:10)
Moussolou (feat Osunlade) (6:36)
Review: Salif Keita: Remixed features two new remixes of iconic tracks by one of Africa's greatest vocalists. MoBlack's remix of 'Yamore' is currently a hit on streaming platforms and radio, while Francis Mercier reworks 'Kabe' from Ana Na Ming. The EP also includes Martin Solveig's famous 2003 cover of 'Madan' and Osunlade's remix of 'Moussolou'. All four tracks are taken from Keita's legendary 2002 album Moffou, which sold over 200,000 copies globally. The remixes breathe new life into these timeless songs, continuing to captivate audiences worldwide.
Review: PIV Is a Dutch label that has done a fine job of moving the deep house dial onwards in recent times. Although its output has a healthy reverence for the classic sound, it also brings a fresh energy, spaced-out feels and tech house kick. Kolter nails that contemporary vibe once more here with the new single 'Come On Back With Your Love,' a super sweet and soulful sound. The vocal is buttery, the drums laid back and the vibes flow free. After that Sunrise Mix comes a more kicking and direct Sunset for when the darkness descends and the party switches up a gear. Class stuff.
Review: Antonio Ocasio is a spiritual house veteran truly embedded in the story of NYC house music since he minted the Tribal Winds label in 1998. There were a few years where things went quiet, but Ocasio has been back in action in 2023 and swiftly following up the Soulciety Music Series release with this stunning 12". On the A-side we get Sugah Lyrics offering her hushed, poetic vocal tones amidst the rolling percussion and dreamlike synth work of 'Sacred Tones'. The flip takes a different path as a mellow, soulful composition lays the groundwork for Nina Hadz Antich's sweet singing on 'That Something', once again affirming Ocasio's gifts as a songwriter and producer as well as an NYC deep house staple.
Review: Global Essence Sampler is a new series from Deep Inspiration Show Records that calls upon a fine roster of international producer talent to serve up one track each and reflect on what deep house is today. For Allstarr Motomusic the answer is smooth and cruising house grooves with elastic basslines and distant vocal wails. Barce explores classic Larry Heard-style cosmic melodic territory with plenty of star-gazing potential, and Zarenzeit's 'Zahara' is another one that floats amongst the stars with lush ambient pads. Jank offers a more dusty, rhythmic house sound for cosy backroom parties, and then come the jazzy melodies and soulful bass noodling of Jan Kincl's '3300 Gratiot Ave.' Magic stuff.
Review: Austrian label forTunea hits its quarter century with a tasteful 10" that comes hand numbered and is limited to just 300 copies, which are sure to fly as the grooves here are super sweet. Peletronic serves them up, starting with the busy and direct 'Sanguine' which is as bold optimistic as the title suggests. It has warm and rushing chords overlaid with vocal whoops to bring the emotion. 'Reflections' then has a more inward vibe with melancholic minor chords over a more loopy and less direct beat. It's still a house cut to make the floor take flight.
Review: On paper, combining Coltrane jazz classic 'A Love Supreme' and Bob Marley's 'Exodus' in a Cuban jazz style seems like an odd idea, but as Joe Clausell and pianist Matt Jenson proved on their 2013 album as Rebel Tumbao, it's actually a genius one. For proof, check out the original mix, which is tucked away on the flipside of this belated remix EP. The real star attraction though is Ron Trent's A-side remix, which brilliantly re-images the track as a skanking chunk of slow-motion dub house complete with echoing vocal snippets, reverb-laden pianos and plenty of Latin and African style hand percussion. Eqwel's accompanying 'Dub Bass Mix', a more glitchy, electronic affair, is also well worth a listen.
Review: Cristian Sarde (aka. Mamosato, Samo) teams up with fellow techno tussler Bakked for an off-piste non-label release, sharing inverse sides of a single furtive black label record. Veering minimal, moving, and moribund, both staples of the Italian dance musical underground share what is implied to be their deepest, darkest and most exclusive thoughts, strictly for heads only; 'Love Tea' is an unusual track, fusing an almost early-noughts dubstep wriggle against an otherwise taut house groove; a move we don't see coming. Bakked meanwhile brings 'Effect171', on which a raw MPC-style jam - pleated with analogue rimshots and backsliding chords - is sown as the underlying field line onto which a dreamy sampled vocal admission, "I don't mind talking about it", may be heard. Both artists sound to have indulged a weirder side to their crafts, hence the labelless aside, and we love to hear it.
Review: The Top Secret label keeps things tight once more with a pair of very different jams, but both are going to get huge reactions when dropped at the right time. U first is 'Get Criminal' which is a rework of an MJ classic with his smoky vocals reusing by scene else in a more unsettling fashion and the original drums run through with some futuristic and molten melodies. On the flip is 'Eurotrance', a good old-fashioned piano rave-up with belting vocals, trance synths and euro dance drums. Lovely, fun, accessible and effective.
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