Still Music US レコード& CD

Review: Motional Response marks the excellent (and long overdue) debut album from Canadian producer Basic Soul Unit which finds a welcome home on the Still Music imprint. In the works for some two years, the album follows an eminently impressive array of releases for the likes of Mathematics, Creme Organization, Dolly, Mule and most recently Nonplus and sees the Toronto based artist otherwise known as Stuart Li craft ten tracks of elaborate techno. Anyone with a firm grasp of the Basic Soul Unit style will know not to expect straight up 4/4 and this truth manifests itself in the opening track "Across The Room" which pairs delicate fluttering melodies with bass heavy broken rhythms and remains pleasantly surprising on the ear throughout.

Review: Having previously explored Chicago boogie and the roots of the Windy City's house scenes, Jerome Derradji's Still Music imprint turns its attention to the story of the largely unheralded Sunset Records Inc. A collaboration between Matt Warren, Miguel Garcia and Ralphie Rosario, the label blurred the boundaries between European-influenced sounds (specifically Italo, new wave and industrial) and "beat tracks" - what would become the city's greatest musical export: house. There's some terrific material here, from the touchy-feely piano house of Warren's "You Know The Way To My Heart" and freestyle/proto house fusion of White Knight's "Demons (A Mix 2 U)", to the dense disco drums of Master Plan's "Electric Balle (Large Dub)" and the foppish, Human League-go-Italo foppishness of Boom Boom & Master Plan's "Face The Music".

Review: Essential Chicago reissue stable Still Music bring the heat once again with this collection of forgotten gems from a shortlived operation that captured the heyday of the acid house explosion. The beats stay raw and the production values revel in their simplicity as the likes of Matt Warren capitalise on what was started by Phuture et al. Michelangelo's "Lost In The World" stands out as a slow-mo analogue ballad that gives Larry Heard a run for his money in the emotive stakes, while the "Ultimate Acid Mix" of Nexus 6's "Take Me Higher" is a psychedelic freakout to test the most atonal of minds.

Review: Jerome Derradji continues his trawl through the impressive archives of KStarke Records boss Kevin "Jackmaster Hater" Starke, who boasts a stack of rare tapes of unreleased Chicago house material once belonging to Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles. This second instalment in the series features some of Starke's own acid-heavy compositions - some of which are covers of lost or unreleased tracks - as well as previously unheard material from the 1980s. Of those, the predictably dusty Ron Hardy edit of "Happiness" will probably gain most attention, though it's Derradji's edit of Terrence Woodward's stripped back but intense "Jack The Box" that hits home hardest.

Review: Kevin "Jackmaster Hater" Starke is something of a Chicago house archivist. As owner of the Wndy City's Kstarke Records (and a clutch of spin-off labels), Starke owns an impressive collection of rare tracks - mostly on cassettes - that were reportedly traded between the city's most high profile DJs during the 1980s. With a little help from Still Music boss Jerome Derradji, he's decided to gather some of these tracks together on The House That Jackmaster Hater Built Part 1. For those interested in the history of Chicago house, it's a tantalising proposition. Certainly, there's an illicit feeling about much of the raw, hissing, drum-heavy material on this first vinyl doublepack, from the Italo-influenced opener from Crystalite, to the previously unheard - and unknown - Ron Hardy edit that opens side two.

Review: For anyone with an interest in the history of house music, this excellent compilation from Jerome Derradji's Still Music imprint should be essential listening. It focuses on the output of two long forgotten Chicago labels, Mitchbal and Chicago Connection Records, during the early to mid 1980s, when electro, new wave and boogie were morphing into house. As such, 122 BPM offers a mix of rare, largely overlooked cuts that bristle with analogue dancefloor intent. There's proto-jack in the shape of Jeanette Thomas's "Shake Your Body" and Z Factor's "I Am The DJ", dubbed-out Chi-town proto house from Mitchbal and Larry Williams, and some terrific bodypoppin' electro from McGhee.

Review: The ever-loving team at Still Music present yet another unmissable selection of East side beats, this time shifting focus from Chicago to Detroit to shine the light on some of the less celebrated talents operating in the city. There is boundless quality at every turn here, from the jazzed out tones of Craig Huckaby to the raw chemistry of Marcellus Pittman. Terrence Dixon does an excellent demonstration of wormhole techno with "The Fall Guy (Part 1)", and DJ 3000 brings a demonic brand of slow-chugging house to the table. Alex Israel also reminds everyone that he truly is one of the most slept-on gems the Motor City has to offer, so get busy and connect with this utterly essential selection.

Review: Surprisingly, this is Detroit house veteran Rick Wilhite's debut album. When you consider his length of service and gargantuan reputation in deep house circles his first releases slipped out in the early 1990s, after all it's unsurprising that the release of Analog Aquarium is considered something of an event. And rightly so; you'll struggle to find quite as good a collection of high grade Motor City house. Shuffling between loose, lazy Beatdown excursions (check the brilliant Theo Parrish/Osunlade collaboration "Blame It On The Boogie") and upbeat, drum-heavy deep house floor fillers ("Deep Horizon") via jazzy analogue dubscapes ("Muzic Gonna Save The World"), it's a predictably formidable set.