Clone Royal Holland レコード& CD

Review: Basic Bastard is one of the more humorous aliases ascribed to dance music household name Orlando Voorn - it's one of almost twenty. Most releases that have come out under the name have included dark surrealist themes, homing in on everything between hard techno to the self-styled genre of techno-soul. Usually optimistic, this music tends to appeal to the basic bastard in all of us; 'Engine' and 'Rise' are an essentially funky pair of tracks, the sonic equivalent of well-worn dancing shoes. The best bits here are the original 'Rise (Detroit Dub)' and the dubbed-out version of 'Engine'.

Review: Bogota producer Felipe Gordon seems to be in an unstoppable run of form right now. His new album Psychedelic Melancholia is just about to drop on Hip Dozer and is already much talked about, while he has also found time to turn out this fresh EP for Dutch label Clone. It opens up with the delightfully deep, dusty and Detroit-style house of 'No Words' then things get more physical but no less warm and vibes with the cursing grooves of 'Travel Through Your Mind'. 'No Words' (Byron The Aquarius dub mix) then boils things back down into a steamy dub stew and a second remix of the same tune by the American brings a little more playful and jazzy synth-funk.

Review: There is no stopping the prodigious producer Felipe Gordon who turns out huge amounts of work, without ever sacrificing artistry. He brings soul and jazz to his deep house sounds and this is the fourth time he has landed on Clone. 'Profundo' gets things underway with singing synths and shuffling deep beats, then 'Hold On' centres escapist and sunny melodies that take you to the Med. Elsewhere 'I Don't Know Why' brings spoken word vocals to lavish house and 'Takes Time' oozes sex appeal with its steamy sax notes and gentle piano tinkles. All of these cuts are laden with great musicality that puts many producers to shame.

Review: Second time round for Masarima's 'Freak Like U', a sparkling 2020 tribute to post-Italo-disco proto-house, co-produced by Whodamanny and Mystic Jungle. This time round, the track has been reimagined by two stellar talents: West Coast electro stalwart Egyptian Lover and Sheffield-based bleep, hardcore and acid revivalist Luca Lozano. The former handles side A, delivering warming, dreamy, tactile and glassy-eyed electro takes (vocal and instrumental) that reinforce the track's mid 1980s inspiration. Lozano, meanwhile, opts for another kind of nostalgia altogether, first combining house tempo breaks with echo-laden elements of the original (and a couple of hazy new synth stabs) on the 'Breakbeat Guy remix', before layering up the beats on a rather lovely 'Tribal Workout Dub' featuring percussionist Karlos Moran.