Review: Religion, and specifically gospel music, always played a key part in shaping the sounds and emotions of easy house music. It is clearly going to have just as much impact on this new label God Iz Enough which debuts with an EP of the same name from Tomi Ahmedeus. His style on the opener is to lay down raw and dusty beats with an early Windy City feel and infuse them with evocative, guttural gospel vocals that really bring them to life and make them inescapably emotive. 'The Rise Of The Guttersnipe' strips things back a little and brings a shuffling tech vibe with some glistening melodies while 'Ms Ludus' is a gorgeous ambient closer.
Review: Philpot's Traxworx series got off to a blinding start earlier this year with the dust down from Roman Rauch and label regular Ike and it looks to be quite the promising endeavour if the line-ups remain as strong as this second duel featuring Arttu and Hakim Murphy. Neither artist really needs a formal introduction here and both are well suited for the floor focused nature of this series. Arttu is first up with "Can't Get Down" a collaboration with Kaye that bounces along with loose and deadly intent - if you liked the Geeeman stuff on Clone you will love this pappy, especially when that sax comes in! On the flip Innerspace Halflifer Hakim Murphy goes for the abstract approach on "ES1" which features some superb drum edits.
Review: Needs' commendable charity drive continues to bring forth the goods, both in terms of good causes and world class club music. Rallying round in support of World Mental Health Day 2020, Shanti Celeste kicks the record off in style with the rapid fire, deep-diving workout 'Fantasma'. OCB keeps the pressure up with the psychotropic techno of 'RS3', while Michelle works up some delightfully freaky synths on playful jacker 'Aesthetic'. Bobby's 'Free Your Mind' is a 90s-tinged, full fat techno production indebted to Detroit, Peder Mannerfelt keeps things stripped and raw on 'Our Levels' and Yu Su weaves a beautiful tapestry of interweaving rhythms on 'Brittney'. Adam Pits' trippy techno sounds resplendent on 'Wind Tunnel' and DJ Sports completes the set with the inventive, dembow slanted funk of 'Needs Dub'.
Review: Berlin-based Equilibrisme keeps up the fine early work here with a third vinyl release. It continues its tradition of delivering a masterful fusion of deep minimal techno, lush chords and dubby grooves that slowly but surely bring a dance floor under their control. A collaboration between Berlin-based Uruguayan producer Martin Teysera 'Oniric' opens up with seven sublime minutes of leggy, reverb heavy dub swing, Canadian dub techno legend Altitude, aka Matt Thibideau offers the more bright and textural 'Liquid' and Man-L goes it alone with the delicate melodic delights of 'Animal Crossing.'
Review: A2L were active between 1988 and 1990 and released two albums and several EPs on labels like 1st Bass, Big One and Force Inc. Their sound blended British psychedelic house with elements of new beat, industrial, EBM and early acid house and in doing so captured the raw energy of the UK rave scene. Notably different from typical acid house acts of the time, A2L's music took in machine funk, samplers and turntable techniques to create trippy, infectious grooves. This collection compiles rare underground gems from them from 1989 and features standout tracks like 'Even Though It's Make Believe' and 'Come On.' It's a great look back to the experimental spirit of the late 80s.
Review: The Abstract Eye often works live and crafts tunes in one take, and that MO is the idea behind this new collection. It features plenty of hard-to-define sounds from over the last ten years, many of them with a cosmic synth outlook and raw analogue drums. 'Skyfather' is a real eye opener with its sense of mystic cosmic wonder, 'Real Myths' fizzes bring as burning phosphorus and 'A Yearning Feeling' is more paired back and introspective with jittery drums and electro rhythms all soothed by the melancholic synth work.
Review: DDS has tapped up the mysterious and enigmatic Japanese dub techno stylist Shinichi Atobe for another album. Discipline is his seventh for the label and each of those has been as faultless as the next - happily, this keeps up that impeccable run which started with a debut on the Chain Reaction label in 2001. The eight cuts on the record offer up delay-laden steppers, swaggering 909 rhythms, plenty of evocative pads and subtle backlit synths that bring a future feel to the soulful, authentic grooves.
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