Rush Hour Holland レコード& CD

Review: Niels Nieuborg has long been a player on Holland's live music scene, largely working with ex-pat musicians from Carpe Verde and Surinam. This superb three-track EP marks his first recorded output and includes collaborations with vocalists Americo Brito and Orlando Julius. The latter stars on two up-tempo chunks of boogie-era Afrobeat that sit somewhere between the Moog-driven brilliance of William Onyeabor and the up-tempo urgency of vintage Afro-disco. It's arguably A-side "Nos Magia", featuring Brito's distinctive vocals, that really stands out, though. Spacey and incessantly funky with fizzing electronics, urgent Clavinet lines and crispy Afro-funk guitars, it's not only a killer club cut but also a thing of rare beauty.

Review: It almost feels like Amsterdam's Rush Hour has been around as long as house music itself. The Dutch powerhouse does it all from new and fresh sounds to classic reissues. For this one, the assured Await 3 brings the party with a selection of hazy and dusty MPC jams with live accompaniment from Jos De Haas of New Cool Collective on percussion and Stefan Schmid from Zuco 103 on keys. The result is a timeless mix of warm-hearted jams, house cuts, broken beats and hazy melodies that are as comfy and frayed around the edges as your favourite jeans.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


During a record digging trip to South Africa a year or two back, Rush Hour co-founder Antal stumbled on an obscure local cover of Klein & MBO's Ron Hardy and Larry Levan favourite, "The MBO Theme". The Warrior version, which was recorded at some point in the early '80s, is a little slower and breezier than Klein and MBO's original, with even finer fretless bass flavours and the track's famous melodies re-played on some particularly spacey synthesizers. Helpfully, the Klein & MBO version is on the A-side, so you can easily compare the two: Warriors' little known cover is definitely our pick of the pair.

Review: Rush Hour has been one of Europe's independent musical powerhouses for decades now. Now only does it have Amsterdam's best record shop, but it throws the best parties and puts put the fresh new records from several different genres. next to that of course they also know how to dig deep and unearth vital reissues, which is what they do here with a triple headed Japanese house affair. Katsuya Sano keeps it OG Chicago with his 'I Need Luv', then Junichi Soma offers the analogue depths of 'Ubnormal Life' and Shuji Wada shuts down with more brilliantly atmospheric sounds on 'Endless Load.'

Review: Cult Japanese video game soundtrack designer and happy house hero Soichi Terada's last album Asakusa Light on Rush Hour gets picked apart from some top remixes here. First to go is a former hip-hop beatsmith turned deep house don Byron The Aquarius. He smooths out the grooves of 'Bamboo Fighter' and layers in dusty chords and diffuse melodies that are heartwarming and hypnotic. 'Takusambient' then gets a fine treatment from Alex Attias who brings bubbly chords and bass to a lively deep house cut that is full of subtle party vibes.