Ornate Music レコード& CD

Review: Some classic stuff here from German/American duo Chubby Dubz, who've created a rich collection of three indispensable new tunes for Ornate Music. As with all the songs, a deeper-than-Barry White vocal floats over the top, gently narrating while the deep house grooves develop beautifully. The arrangements are pitch perfect, with sounds never over complicated or over used, while the warm drums keep the rhythm locked. While the Chubs are obviously aware of their house history, songs like "Turn Around" still sound contemporary. Definitely one for fans of Motor City Drum Ensemble - highly recommended

Review: One of the founder members of the DiY crew - whose records have been picked up by Zip for his latest Fabric mix, and whose legendary outdoor parties in the early 90s were instrumental in the government bringing in the Criminal Justice Bill - Digs is a long-time comrade of the Ornate Music crew, and his debut for the label comes keenly anticipated. Across three tracks of warm yet party-starting deep house, he demonstrates his keen ear for playful rhythms and interesting melodies; the abstract chimes and diva vocals of "Jus' In Style" are underpinned by a subtle acid bassline simmering to the surface, while "Loopdaloop" combines an insistent organ with clattering percussion that's more WAX than Kerri Chandler. "Gimme The Trus'" closes things out with a number filled with rolling drums, hypnotic vocal, sweeping pads and improvised synth jam that inject a bit of classic Chi-town soul into proceedings.

Review: London-based deep house label Ornate Music come through with another gem in the shape of the latest EP from Dubbyman, filled with robust, beatdown grooves. The EP opens with "Time & Sensibility", creating an all-enveloping atmosphere with its oven-warm pads and rich analogue bass, punctuated with jazzy chords and vocal murmurings. "Kirigi Is Coming", meanwhile, showcases Dubbyman's excellent knack for crafting Moodymann style textures with the depth to boot, combining a solid rhythmic snap with drawn out vocal landscapes and Detroit-referencing melodies. Finally "Uuuuhhhh!!!!" closes the EP with its breathy intro and low slung filtered grooves combining with bubbling laser sound effects.

Review: It's early days for Jakob Panthel and his Faune alias, but he more than steps up to the plate as London label Ornate Music invite him to present his vision for immersive, techno tinged deep house. "5.34 AM" is aptly named, the undulating chord pulse at the heart of the track aiming for the woozy hour of the dance before dawn breaks through. "Reduit" is a more sprightly affair, using similar ingredients but pushing a brighter line in synths amidst the raw drums. "Grindewald" meanwhile heads out into more ambient techno territory with its plush pads and snaking arpeggios, soothing the feisty club-ready energy of the previous two tracks.

Review: Deep house label Ornate rounds off a fine year with a 12 inch from esteemed Irish production duo Fish Go Deep aka Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson. "Deep, Like" kicks off the A Side, with the result bring to mind what would happen if Jean Michel Jarre rolled a spliff and started making deep house, while the synth work on "Model One" will please anyone who indulged in the recent Recloose retrospective on Rush Hour. "Dub Model", meanwhile, is drenched in positively luscious Detroit chords and shares the B Side with Dylan Debutt's emotive 'red light' remix of the EP's eponymous track.

Review: Homepark might only have a few releases in their arsenal, but the standard of labels the East London duo have graced demonstrates it's all about the quality and not quantity. Having already graced the likes of Bliq, 3rd Strike, Enterbt and Simoncino's House Sound initiative, Homepark hop onto one of the UK's most respected proper house hubs in the shape of Ornate Music with the three tracker Fill Emptiness EP. Senses are flushed with warmth as soon as the title track arises from the warmth of the opening pads, slinking into twilight action on a slick Chicago groove driven by crisp, intricate percussion. Proceedings change up on the flip, with the buffed up toughness of "Fall Down On Me" with Homepark taking a more stripped back approach, lining a bumping drum track with mere hints at melody (which explode with intermittent excitement) and an expertly weaved vocal sample drenched in all too effective delay. Finally, Homepark flex their emotive chord abilities to the max on the sumptuous "Ninety" letting the textural emotions build for a good few minutes before dropping the kick!

Review: REPRESS ALERT!!! Coming correct from deep within the London scene, Jonno & Tommo consummate their production partnership with a return to Ornate to delve further into the hypnotic, soulful end of the house spectrum. "Close The Door" stretches across the A-side of their new release, the tough demeanour of the drum-heavy intro giving way to a serene pad arrangement, setting the tone for a starlit workout bolstered by an infectious hook of dusty vocal and subtle sonic decoration that accentuates the groove. "Small Stone" represents a more reflective mood on the flip, steadily feeding in reams of rhythm and melody before fully blossoming into an equally seductive, bumping jam laced with a perfectly pitched acid line that nestles into the cosy confines of the track.Secret weapon of the capital's underground house fraternity, Miles Sagnia steps up with a simmering remix of "Small Stone" that keeps the tension high and the textures roaming through a decidedly futuristic soundscape, while still retaining the ethereal tone of the original.

Review: Operating from the heart of Brooklyn, NY, the latest artist to sign up to Ornate is Jordan, whose plush deep house sound has already surfaced via a collaboration with Fred P on the Deep Explorer compilation Far & Beyond.

Living on the border of the Bushwick and Ridgewood neighbourhoods, the title of the EP is a nod to the difference Jordan sees between his own spiritual, detailed work and the trend for rougher analogue sounds that have been sweeping the city he calls home. With a focus on expressive, richly melodic synths and delicately balanced rhythms, his music stands apart from the wave of guttural lo-fi sonics, and yet this is still house music with that East coast punch where it counts.

With an imminent release for the noted Finale Sounds imprint establishing Jordan well within the remit of high-end house and techno, it gives us great pleasure to present these exercises in soulful immersion, from the three 4/4 driven pieces to the ambient vignette "Visage". With the door open for more experimental interpretations, it made perfect sense to invite former Ornate guest Leif back to turn out a remix of the track, his own hushed tones having recently graced a critically-acclaimed debut album for Fear Of Flying. It's the ideal complement to an EP of highly developed musicianship that spells another exciting step forward for both Jordan and Ornate.

Review: Following a string of hot releases from Leif, Jonno & Tommo, Rai Scott and Jordan, London-based label Ornate Music is reaching across the channel to Parisian producers and Flyance Records founders Ka One & St-Sene - who deliver four tracks of pitch-perfect, soul-searching 4/4 that align perfectly with the sonic philosophy of the label.

The EP comes to life with the energised insistence of "Necessary Illusions", which capitalises on a sprightly rhythm section balanced out by sweeping pads that help the track straddle the warm-up / peak-time divide with grace.
"404 Page Not Found" takes a more heads-down route into moody bass tones, snapping percussive hits and mysterious melodic swirls lingering in the far distance, making a haunting foil to the inviting tones of the opening track.

On the flip, "F/ck The Hype" channels the spirit of dub techno into a subtly funky confection, letting the aqueous chords bounce in their feedback echoes, neatly sidestepping the soporific qualities normally associated with the style.
"Facing You" meanwhile makes for the ideal EP closer with its submerged beats and elegant swathes of harmony, conjuring up a captivating melancholia in each lingering piano note and chiming bell.

With each track telling its own unique story, Ka One and St-Sene have crafted a rich and engrossing release that shows how much diversity there is to be enjoyed in the contemporary house and techno scene.

Review: Hot on the heels of Ornate Music's last release featuring the bumping house business of Digs, the imprint set their sights on Welsh producer Leif, who has been turning heads with his masterful deep house for labels like Fear Of Flying and Fina since 2003. Kicking off with "Circumstance 4", whose smooth organ refrain drifts over a lightly rolling groove, the vibe switches up with "Every Cloud", whose gentle jazz-inspired piano and abstract, dubbed out soundscape is strongly reminiscent of Floating Points more freeform productions. However, it's "Each Day Made New" that provides the EP's most surprising moment, an Andres style hip-hop track with a cut-up, sunshine drenched quality calling Recloose to mind.

Review: Miles Sagnia has a deep-rooted backstory in the UK underground techno scene. Under his own name and as Miles Atmospheric he's produced consistently compelling techno for labels like Finale Sessions, FireScope, Aesthetic Audio and Applied Rhythmic Technology. Such associations point to the soundworld Sagnia inhabits - a harmonically balanced strain of deep-diving brain food that favours expressive musicality and inventive programming over rigid functionality. Having previously appeared as Miles Sagnia on Ornate back in 2010, he returns to the label as Miles Atmospheric with three cuts that explore melancholic moods through artful interplay between beautifully rendered synth tones and intricate drum machine excursions. These tracks still move with purpose and presence, but the end goal is more cerebral than physical - a perfect fit for the immersive experiences Ornate has always strived to promote.

Review: Miles Sagnia, who already has a release on Keith Worthy's esteemed Aesthetic Audio label under his belt, continues to explore the more melodic end of deep house on the Astrobiological Funk EP for Ornate Music. Acid squiggles underpin pleasant piano stabs and vocal snatches on "Interplanetary Visitors", a track steeped in oven warm Detroitisms. Flip over for "Bounce Theory" which got Juno pulses races thanks to its deeply submerged sensual vocal groans and beefy drums, while "Twilight" closes out a fine 12" with a gentle shuffling rhythm.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Deep house emporium Ornate Music cast their worldly gaze to the Far East, calling on Japanese producer Sai, a graduate of Agnes's STHLM Audio imprint, for a killer four track EP entitled Bedroom Eyes. The sultry, suggestive nature of the title is translated into the tunes on offer, with opening cut "2AM" offering the most subtle of acid lines alongside piano flourishes and a spoken word vocal snippet. Better still is the afterhours bump of "Blue Lingerie", while "MR" toughens things up on the flip with a analogue grit and cooing vox. The 12" is rounded off with another original cut in "Another Myself", which is dripping in classic Motor City house vibes with gently oscillating bass tones reaching deep down inside.

Review: Ornate resurface with their first release of 2014 and usher in a label debut for Rai Scott, the Edinburgh-based producer who has been making a name for herself as part of the 2DeepSoul project with Brad Peterson and the Inner Shift Music label they both run. This standalone appearance on Ornate Music provides the opportunity for Rai to explore the deepest facets of her sound. Machine soul runs throughout the three original tracks on this EP, marrying the warmth and punch of classic techno instrumentation with compositional skills and a sharp ear for production. Reaching out to Dubbyman for a remix, the Deep Explorer boss uses a crisp broken beat structure to inject a wholly different kind of energy into "Do We Really Know".

Review: Dutch producer Sota is the latest to be snapped up by Ornate Music, presenting his second ever release having first come to light with his own Talaman label earlier in the year. "Subsonica" rides on a tough house groove, keeping the elements as spartan as possible while heading straight into the deep end of the night. "Inverse" is a skippier affair that deals with heavily processed synth flares and a deadly swinging groove, and then "Chatka" finishes the EP off with a dreamy cut peppered with delay processing for the quintessential dubby trip through refined 4/4 dance music.

Review: Jayson Wynters is best known for his recent work on Don't Be Afraid, but the Birmingham resident has also been spotted on Mr G's Phoenix G label and elsewhere. Now he brings his smooth, undulating style of deep house to Ornate, fitting right in alongside the likes of Sota, Gauss and Faune with the immersive pulse and swooping pads of "Ancient Tones." "Jet Lagged" is a true trip-out affair with a bassline to sink into and chord washes that reach skywards, and then Caldera comes on board for a remix of "Ancient Tones" that works some crafty broken beats into the mix for a distinctive, wholly different outcome to the original.

Review: Deep house imprint Ornate reaches its landmark 10th release with YSE (pronounced 'easy' in case you were wondering), a man who in his own words "enjoys nicely syncopated rhythms, heavy melodies, outgoing quirkiness and a quality glass full of cheap Brandy and Coke - hold the ice", all of which - bar the cheap Brandy and Coke - are in full effect on this frankly awesome Drawn At Dawn EP. "Gelly" and the mischievously titled "Who's Got The Clap?" vie for your attention on the A Side, with the mechanical chords, sparkling groove and masterfully arranged vocal samples of the latter proving to be the highlight. Sprawled across the B Side you'll find a Chi-town bassline flexing against dreamy Motor City atmospherics and some nice pan pot percussion.