Nervous レコード& CD

Review: Nervous will forever be etched in the heart of house music lovers. And even after all these years the legendary New York labels continues to serve up the gems. This time out they call upon the one and only Kenny Dope, one half of Masters At Work and a legendary DJ and producer. He adds his famously characteristic warmth and soul to Kenny Bobien and Wheeler Del Torro's 'The Sun Will Shine Again.' It is a gloriously sunny tune with lively, skipping and South Hemisphere tinged beats, a great vocal and plenty of percussive action. The instrumental strips it back to more direct beat work. Both sides bang.

Review: Joseph Capriati is firmly established as a techno DJ, but growing up in Naples his first connection with electronic dance music was actually in house music. 'Peace And Blessings', featuring Arnold Jarvis, is Joseph's very personal tribute to this genre, where he produced a track that he felt encompassed the vibe and spirituality of house music. He wanted a song and vocal performance that would equally represent all the best qualities of the genre, and joined with one of the industry's most iconic and legendary vocal talents Arnold Jarvis to write lyrics and deliver a vocal performance that perfectly complements Joseph's percussion and synth driven track. Bushwhacka! on board as Mix Engineer on The Groove Mix.

Review: One of the world's premier DJ Duo's, Chus & Ceballos are well known for their uniquely energetic sets that feature hard hitting techno influences but still retain an essential connection to pure American house Music. Their music shines particularly bright in the summer, when their driving percussions impact even bigger during outdoor festivals and in the European summer clubbing markets. For their new release on Nervous, they have found a song initially released by DJ Michael Flume in 2001 called Agolele. While the release had limited exposure in its initial release, Chus & Ceballos were inspired by the authentic tribal flavor and inspired instrumentation, and saw a vision of how they could turn this into a 2019 summer club anthem. The result is out now exclusively on a Nervous Records vinyl release.

Review: This slow-burning minimal-deep house track (think Mr. G) has all the hallmarks of a seasoned classic, but it's actually a brand new track from the dream pair that is Ralph Falcon and Victoria Wilson James. Following up the underground hit that was 'I Need Someone', Nervous Records give patronage to the pair's follow-up here, along with four saucy speed garage and funky house versions by Dennis Quin, Oscar G 305 and Tenere.

Review: Tucked away on Louie Vega's fantastic - and vast - Expansions in the NYC album were a handful of tributes to disco legends Patrick Adams and Larry Levan. This double-pack brings those tributes to the floor. Vega opens with his Elements of Live band cover of Sine's Patrick Adams-produced 1978 B-side 'Chimi', turning the four-minute cut into a driving-but-bouncy, near 14-minute disco epic rich in restless bass, attractive vibraphone solos and spacey synths. On 'Change Your Mind', which is presented in both full vocal and instrumental forms, Vega recruits the voice of the Peech Boys, Bernard Fowler, and turns down a sparse, heavily electronic workout reminiscent of Larry Levan's early '80s mixes. It's genuinely great, as is the DJ Spinna-sporting, hybrid disco/organic house cover of Adams' classic 'Atmosphere Strut'. In a word: essential!

Review: This fine double-pack features more alternate takes of tracks from Louie Vega's vast Expansions in the NYC album. The headline attraction is the epic extended mix of the Rod Temperton penned jazz-funk/disco classic 'The Star of a Story', which not only boasts fine lead vocals from Lisa Fischer and shuffling samba-house beats, but also strings (arranged by Leroy Burgess) performed Kelley Polar and his colleagues in the Apple Hill quartet. The EP also includes instrumental and chunky 'Vamp Dub' passes of that track, plus alternative versions of two other tracks: the organic deep house roll of 'A Place Where We Can All Be Free' and a superb string-laden dub of 'Love Has No Time Or Place', featuring Vega's Elements of Life band, which showcases the orchestral arrangements of Leroy Burgess and the late Patrick Adams.

Review: The Master at Work that is Louie Vega has been a music-making machine all his life but in recent years has continued to reach new heights with various different projects. Here he is back on regular label Nervous with various different versions of his tunes 'Joy Universal' and 'Igobolo.' 'Joy Universal' (feat Two Soul Fusion) is classic Vega - soulful house music awash with Latin influences, loose-limbed percussion and funky basslines. And that template is tweaked over the ensuing tunes, with glorious pianos, jazzy grooves and tropical rhythms all making for a fine EP.

Review: It would be fair to say that post-disco outfit Unlimited Touch's 1980 single "I Hear Music In the Streets" is one of the greatest boogie/electrofunk records of all time. Louie Vega clearly agrees, because late last year he decided to gather together the remaining members of Unlimited Touch and record a fresh 2020 version. The A-side "Touch Mix" is the bomb. It features a more organic-sounding disco-boogie groove than the 1980 original, with delicious guitars, bass and electric piano/organ underpinning seriously good group vocals from the sometime Prelude-signed outfit. Over on the flip, Vega serves up an electric piano solo-laden dub mix, as well as a "Classic Boogie" take that naturally sounds very similar to the band's much-loved original version.

Review: It is undeniably one of the most iconic house tracks of all time: 'The Nervous Track' by Masters At Work Present Nu Yorican Soul is an exquisite coming together of MAW's deep musical heritage, Latin roots and majestic studio skills. It first landed in 1993 and its deep bass, rich bass and expressive percussion all made an immediate impact. Here presented on limited edition yellow vinyl, it comes with various mixes that highlight different aspects of the arrangement. The Horny Mix is fun, the Yellow Mix is more dreamy, but the Ballsy Mix remains a firm favourite.

Review: Considering this track originally surfaced back in 1993, it's staggering how up to the minute it still sounds, not to mention setting the tone for the swathes of downtempo and broken beat that would flood out from the 90s and beyond into the 21st century. You simply can't measure the influence of "The Nervous Track" with its horn blasts and limber drum roll, and it proves that MAW were never just about tough New York house bump. Take your pick from any of the mixes, they're all classics in their own individual ways, and they'll set any listener adrift on a summery haze of soulful tones and magical drum patterns.

Review: It's hard to over emphasise the role Timmy Regisford has played in the evolution of the New York house sound. The records he made with the late Boyd Jarvis in the mid 1980s paved the way for what became known as 'garage-house', and in the decades since he's released countless classic cuts and full-length excursions. On Source of House, he offers his take on Afro-house, combining authentic vocals, percussion and instrumentation with electronic rhythms, sun-splashed synth sounds, immersive chords and tech-tinged basslines. It's a brilliantly produced collection all told, with the multiple highlights including the summery deep house bounce of 'Good Morning', the auto-tune-sporting Afro-house-futurism of 'Angeke', the string-laden, Afro-disco-tinged 'Blalmam', and the warm, emotion-rich 'Track 38'.

Review: A year after it slipped out digitally, Danny Tenaglia's superb 'The Brooklyn Gypsy' finally lands on wax. It's perhaps deeper and groovier than some of his vintage productions, which tended towards the muscular, dark and percussive, but the bassline is fabulous, the Frankie Knuckles-esque chords and textures inspired, and the piano solo that stretches out across the track nothing short of superb. Over on the flip, Tenaglia joins forces with fellow house legend Cevin Fisher on vocal and instrumental takes of 'Move Your Body', a more energetic, thickset and piano-powered affair that sits somewhere between the sun-soaked A-side and the long, Twilo-inspired workouts that marked out Tenaglia's turn-of-the-millennium creative peak.