I’ve been kind of busy recently and I’ve been neglecting the blog. I thought it needed a quick update and a chart or two seemed to fit the bill, kicking off with this one full of housey its that I have found appealing over the summer.
1 - Pepe Bradock ‘Route of Most Resistance’ (Atavisme) - One of my favoutrist producers ever (but don’t mention bloody Deep Burnt, for Pete‘s sake) and quite simply has to the record of the year so far. Really upbeat, it skips along with a sense of urgency and real energy, as the fresh keyboard hook and nagging vocal snippets carry you deep into its heart. When it finishes you instinctively reach to put the needle back to the start, it’s a hard record to follow and you’ll still be playing it in 10 years time.
2 - Leif ‘Designed with that in Mind’ (Fear of Flying) - The original mix of this is pretty dull but when Giles Smith (Secret Sundaze) and Martin Dawson get hold of it in the guise of Two Armadillo’s, they really bring home the bacon with their ‘Tribute To Trax Remix’. I’m not sure it sounds like any Trax record I’ve ever heard but that is a mere aside, as they ditch the boring bits of the original track (i.e. all of it) and construction something completely new. A deep bass line is complemented by a piano that has a dream like quality you might associate with the memory hazy summer evenings or even hazier early morning dance floors. It’s a wonderfully crafted, subtle and intelligent house track that I can only hope is around for some time to come.
>>listen to clip<<
3 - RNDM ‘Third Hand Smoke’ (Dial) - To be honest, the artist name doesn’t bode well and suggests the listener will be subjected to some sort of MNML dirge. But that could not be further from the truth, as this so deep you’ll need an aqua lung to listen to it. This is Efdemin collaborator, Oliver Kargl’s debut solo release on Dial’s new vinyl only off shoot Laid, and it’s cracker. Coming on like a cross between ‘Morning Factory’ and a Schmoov record, but still sounding fresh and totally relevant.
3 - RNDM ‘Third Hand Smoke’ (Dial) - To be honest, the artist name doesn’t bode well and suggests the listener will be subjected to some sort of MNML dirge. But that could not be further from the truth, as this so deep you’ll need an aqua lung to listen to it. This is Efdemin collaborator, Oliver Kargl’s debut solo release on Dial’s new vinyl only off shoot Laid, and it’s cracker. Coming on like a cross between ‘Morning Factory’ and a Schmoov record, but still sounding fresh and totally relevant.
>>listen to clip<<
4 - Patrice Scott ‘Excursions’ (Sistrum) - One of Detroit’s men of the moment, along with Omar S and Keith Worthy (looks like Keith lucked out in the cool techno name stakes though), Patrice is back with a bang after a couple of less spectacular efforts. Evoking memories of early Fade II Black and Octave One records, this is a wonderfully emotive electronic masterpiece. And like Fade II Black’s ‘In Sync’ it’s got a corking reprise too.
4 - Patrice Scott ‘Excursions’ (Sistrum) - One of Detroit’s men of the moment, along with Omar S and Keith Worthy (looks like Keith lucked out in the cool techno name stakes though), Patrice is back with a bang after a couple of less spectacular efforts. Evoking memories of early Fade II Black and Octave One records, this is a wonderfully emotive electronic masterpiece. And like Fade II Black’s ‘In Sync’ it’s got a corking reprise too.
>>listen to clip<<
5 - Isolee ‘Albacares/Les Andalouses’ (Mule) - Ha! Another one of favouritist buy-on-sight producers ever! ‘Albacares’ is real skanking dub feel to it, if you like the Isolee mix of ‘Africa/Brasil’ on Vega from a fewrs ago, you’ll like this. I prefer the more clubby ‘Les Andalouses’ which seems to be built around train horn noises. Not as bonkers as it sounds but typically Isolee. Fantastic.
5 - Isolee ‘Albacares/Les Andalouses’ (Mule) - Ha! Another one of favouritist buy-on-sight producers ever! ‘Albacares’ is real skanking dub feel to it, if you like the Isolee mix of ‘Africa/Brasil’ on Vega from a fewrs ago, you’ll like this. I prefer the more clubby ‘Les Andalouses’ which seems to be built around train horn noises. Not as bonkers as it sounds but typically Isolee. Fantastic.
>>listen to clip<<
6 - Cabin Fever ‘Work It/Let’s Play House’ (RKDS) - This is the sixth release in the Matt Edward’s (of Radio Slave fame) Cabin Fever series. I think most of them use other tracks as their basis, hence the ‘unofficial’ nature of their release. ‘Work It’ is just plain fierce, has plane noises, someone saying ’work it’ a lot and that heavy percussion you've come to associate with Radio Slave. ‘Let’s Play House’ is an altogether different proposition, with hissing hi-hats and Victor Simonelli-esque drums complimenting the looped up piano line, it really could be a dub mix of a US house record from around 1994. And that’s a good thing in my eyes!
6 - Cabin Fever ‘Work It/Let’s Play House’ (RKDS) - This is the sixth release in the Matt Edward’s (of Radio Slave fame) Cabin Fever series. I think most of them use other tracks as their basis, hence the ‘unofficial’ nature of their release. ‘Work It’ is just plain fierce, has plane noises, someone saying ’work it’ a lot and that heavy percussion you've come to associate with Radio Slave. ‘Let’s Play House’ is an altogether different proposition, with hissing hi-hats and Victor Simonelli-esque drums complimenting the looped up piano line, it really could be a dub mix of a US house record from around 1994. And that’s a good thing in my eyes!
>>listen to clip<<
7 - Sven Weismann ‘Shove’ (Artless) - Whilst this is on a Mojuba sub label, this is a bit of a departure from Sven’s output on that label. Rather than 2 long sides of US influenced deep house, we get 6 tracks of almost ambient soundscapes and straight-up techno. A truly wonderful record, especially the ambient bits, and probably my favourite thing Sven has done to date.
7 - Sven Weismann ‘Shove’ (Artless) - Whilst this is on a Mojuba sub label, this is a bit of a departure from Sven’s output on that label. Rather than 2 long sides of US influenced deep house, we get 6 tracks of almost ambient soundscapes and straight-up techno. A truly wonderful record, especially the ambient bits, and probably my favourite thing Sven has done to date.
8 - Reggie Dokes ‘I Wear The Mask’ (Clone Loft Supreme Series) - Two sides of goodness from the Chi-Town nu-skool on this new Clone Records sub-label. ‘Chicago Pimp’ has got people talking with its deep late night loopy groove, which I think sounds a LOT like a Scott Grooves record. But for me, the stand out is the flip ‘I Wear the Mask’. Much more going on and very dramatic, with all sorts of strings and pianos flying around. Really infectious and I can’t see how this would fail to make people move, although, thinking about it, this track sounds like a Scott Grooves record too…
9 - STL ‘Silent State’ (Smallville) - Anthea from JC Freaks put me onto this. Well when I say ‘put me onto this’ I mean she played it to me Phonica and then I bought it. If you’re regular reader of this blog, you may remember that JC Freaks debut release, ‘The Rock’ made it into my chart last summer, and in a way this track is reminiscent of Oracy’s mix of ‘The Rock’. Not that they sound the same but they creep up on you. If you were to skip through ‘Silent State’ you might think it a tad boring but it listen to the whole thing and you are slowly enveloped in the hypnotic groove. Just beautiful sparse, deep, dubby house for serious house heads.
10 - Steinhoff & Hammouda ‘Touch’ (Smallville) - Also on Smallville, I picked this to listen to the Jus-Ed ‘Euphoric’ mix of ‘You Are’. Much as I’m a Jus-Ed fan, I’m not sure what he thought was euphoric unless he thinks euphoria is triggered by fairly pedestrian plodding deep house by numbers? Anyway, I digress, because as luck would have it ‘Touch’ on the other side of this record is great. Snippets of laidback jazz piano, ever so overlay driving percussion and then you find moody synths slowly sneaking up. I’m thinking if Moodymann was German he might sound like this, but this doesn’t sound like yet another Moodymann off. If that makes sense?
11 - Tony Lionni - Found a Place (Osgut Ton) - There’s a lot of fuss around old Tony at the moment. He’s the hot new kid on the block, although Liverpudlian DJ ain’t no kid and had probably been round the block a few times first. ‘Found a Place’ has been around for a while now, I heard it few times online and everything, and didn’t feel it at all. Then I went out to Sonar and at the Rekids party at about 6am Spencer Parker dropped it and all of a sudden, soaked in sweat, surrounded Spanish clud kids, models and early morning freaks, it made perfect sense. A record made by a DJ clearly knows his stuff, for the dancefloor, I suppose it’s only right it makes sense on the dancefloor. 21st century piano house the way it should sound.
12 - Theo Parrish ‘Space Station’ (Sound Signature) - Theo teams up with one of Detroit’s other men of the moment, Omar S, who maybe repays the favour for 'The Grand Son Of Detroit Techno' by helping to deliver a sublime modern day acid classic. Starting off all floaty, with delicate keys, the clam before the storm is broken as the huge acid b-line comes thundering over the hill, interwoven with melancholic synths, weird high pitch noises, and WALLOP, it’s time to your rave on. It reminds me somewhat of Gherkin Jerk records, in that it has a quite experimental feel to it. Don’t expect to hear this on a Hed Kandi comp anytime soon.
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