Lovers Rock US レコード& CD

Review: Ital's Lovers Rock label has been significantly more present than usual in recent months, and right after an absolute beauty by Sleeper Cell earlier last month, the New York label now presents the full debut of DJ Wey. This largely unknown figure is clearly a close ally of Lovers Rock, supplying a stand out of the label's split release 12" late last year. Granted the full space of a 12", DJ Wey embraces this chance for creative freedom with four heavy house cuts, starting with the heavy bangs and industrial melodies of "Anthem Para La Club", followed by the glitchier, deeper sways of "Emily". Over on the flipside of the wax plate, "Tare Gent Us" is more spectral and progressive in its approach, whereas "Llanganatis" breaks the tempo down to a slow, pulsating swing of gorgeous synth tones and sparse percussion, guided by dissipating moulds of bass. Lovely debut, lovely label.

Review: Earthen Sea goes by the name of Jacob Long when he's out of the studio, and out in the real world. This is for good reason, too, as his alias is just about as dreamy and hazy as one can get without taking a heavy load of tranquillisers. He's back on Ital's Lover's Rock label - the man himself has featured on Workshop, just in case you didn't know - with eight pieces of foolproof electronic psychedelia. "Entrance" sets the seen with cinematic drones, and opens up the doors to a rugged and loose collection of pseudo house tracks. Not really for the dancefloor, but equally not tame enough to be listened to on headphones, Earthen Sea's mood is energetic yet melancholic. Ambient and abstraction is mixed up with steely percussion, and locked grooves. We love this stuff, it's for the dreamers...

Review: Although the Lovers Rock label run by Daniel Martin McCormick - better known as Ital - has previously been an output for his own music, this year see the label expand operations with records from other artists. Although a future collaborative 12? between Ital and Mutual Dreaming's Aurora Halal has also been promised, the label first looks to the music of Earthen Sea, the musical project of San Francisco artist Jacob Long, who previously performed alongside Martin-McCormick as part of Mi Ami. Although Long played bass as part of Mi Ami, the Earthen Sea project - which has released a number of cassettes since 2003 - sees him utilise various electronic textures to create his own immersive style of ambient music, which takes both a rhythmic and beatless approach incorporating elements of dub techno, drone and minimalist composition.

Review: Having recently graced Workshop as well as extend his relationship with Planet Mu via the critically acclaimed Interplanetary Prophets project with Jamal Moss, Brooklynite Ital switches focus back to his own Lover's Rock label with a new 12". Although Daniel Martin-McCormick came to prominence under the Ital name in 2011 with the Ital's Theme EP on 100% Silk, it was his Culture Clubs 12-inch on his own Lover's Rock imprint that held most affection in the hearts of the Juno review team. A Hieroglyphic Being remix guaranteed the record prominence but it was the woozy title track which sounded like classic Chicago house draining down a plughole that made it stand out. Much like that recent Workshop 12", both "Throbbing" and "Nodding" see McCormick edge closer towards straighter techno rhythms, with the more shimmering aspects of his sound firmly intact.

Review: For the latest missive on his lauded Lovers Rock, Ital has joined forces with Aurora Halal, the woman behind Brooklyn's Mutual Dreaming party series and label. Pleasingly, the four tracks that make up Tower B are superb, and veer from dreamy, ultra-deep acid (opener "Shenzhen River"), to horizontal ambience (the distant field recordings, trippy electronics and dreamy chords of closer "Where Exactly I Am"). In between, you'll find the hissing, dark techno hum of "Tower B" - the EP's most obviously floor-friendly moment - and the undulating, melodious bliss of intelligent techno shuffler "From The Brink". Impressive stuff, all told.

Review: This collaboration with Mutual Dreaming's Aurora Halal is the latest in the renaissance of Ital's Lovers Rock imprint, which has also see excellent singles from himself and Earthen Sea recently. While Ital and Halal both individually make dance music that is psychedelic and driving, yet optimistic in tone, The Day After is marked out by its combination of Ital's more brittle elements and Halal's deeper, stranger textures. The delicate "Ascension" is filled with fluttering sci-fi textures that dive into hypnotic territory, while "Phase 2" delves into a nebulous haze. "The Thirst" comes across like a more psychedelic take on Robert Hood's loop techno, while "The Day After" delivers a more moody, downbeat piece of techno reminiscent of Terrence Dixon. There are countless producers making strange takes on house and techno mining the influence of Detroit for inspiration, but none are doing it as respectfully or with as much originality as Ital & Halal.

Review: Ital's Lovers Rock label makes its first appearance of 2016, in the process offering up a quartet of fresh new cuts. It's arguably nowhere near as bleak and foreboding as you'd expect, with DJ Python's yearning IDM cut "Amazonia", in particular, delivering little less than melodic melancholia. Ital, too, is in a relatively positive mood (see the fluttering new age synths and druggy, bottom end throb of "Vacation"), though Gunnar Haslam flips the script completely on his titanium-clad, clandestine electro smasher "Vector No Campo". Sleeper Cell's ultra-deep, trippy ambient cut, "V", completes a fine package.