VA – Terry Farley Presents Acid Thunder: More Definitive Acid & Deep House 1985-1991 [HURTXCD129]

Given the expansive nature of Terry Farley’s first celebration of early and classic house, 2013’s five-disc Acid Rain, you’d think he’d be running out of choices for this second, similarly epic selection. In fact, Acid Thunder is, if anything, a more pleasingly deep and in-depth collection. Whereas that first installment was heavy on relatively well-known classics, this follow-up digs deeper for inspiration. As a result, it’s packed with tracks that many house DJs simply won’t know, or have struggled to get hold of; not just stone cold classics such as Bobby Konders’ “Nervous Acid” or Hexx Complex’s “I Want You”, but genuinely overlooked material from the likes of Risque III, Peter Black and Jack James Rabbit. It’s something of a welcome history lesson, even for those with a good grasp of house music’s formative years.

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VA – Terry Farley Presents Acid Thunder: More Definitive Acid & Deep House 1985-1991 [HURTXCD129]

D’Marc Cantu – Zone 4 [SHK008]

“Zone 4 was the first project that I created as a whole idea, the creation of Zone 4 started around the time that the final track selection to A New World was taking shape. It sat for a number of years, shelved till the day that I found a label that would honor it the way I had envisioned”.

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D’Marc Cantu – Zone 4 [SHK008]

Faugust – Devotions (1984 – 2006) [MIRA009]

Spellbinding new side project from Sigha. Following his latest Avian release, James Shaw now unveils his Faugust project with a 10” title on the Avian sublabel Mira. Emotive and highly personal, Devotions (1984 – 2006) shows a side of Shaw’s sound that has been largely buried since 2004, combining his experience as a guitarist with many of the sonic approaches that characterise his best known music today. Over the course of four tracks it layers pulsating bass and synth lines with melodic flourishes and a pop sensibility not seen in his other work.

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Faugust – Devotions (1984 – 2006) [MIRA009]

VA – Rock The Box Vol.1 [HS004]

Those with a passion for ’80s electrofunk, boogie, synth jams, machine soul and proto-house should already be aware of Inskwel and Benny Badge’s Hot Shot label. The imprint specializes in delivering fresh music inspired by those sounds. Here, the Australian duo gathers together a superb selection of contemporary revivalist sounds from like-minded souls. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the rubbery bass and vintage synths of First Touch’s “Sure Feels Good To Me” and Jupiter Gang’s bodypoppin’ electro workout “America”, to the deep proto-house of Paradise Box’s “Slave 2 Knowledge” and Inkswel’s acid-tinged midtempo deep house rework of High Accord’s “You Are (My Number One Priority)”.

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VA – Rock The Box Vol.1 [HS004]

The Black Madonna – Stay [DINER002]

The Black Madonna tries a different approach on this debut for the recently launched Night Owl Diner label. You could certainly describe both tracks as “Balearic”, and there’s a real air of wide-eyed positivity about the tumbling melodies, swirling synth-strings and mid-80s pop production of head-nodding deep house cut “Stay”. It’s pretty darn tasty, all told. Almost as good is “Requiem”, which appears to be built around a loop lifted from Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal’s “Saturday Love” (with, of course, additional synths and tuneful electronics).

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The Black Madonna – Stay [DINER002]

Mind Fair – C.E.R.E.M.O.N.Y [CHANNEL037]

The first part of another Golf channel double header from the insanely prolific and scarily on form combination of Dean Meredith & Ben Shenton. A side ‘C.E.R.E.M.O.N.Y’ has been dubbed ‘the barnyard stomp’ by split secs’ / sonns’ Travis Kirschbaum (aka TK Disco) – 11 minutes of bluesy peyote riot that features Derek Holt of 70’s black country legends The Climax Blues Band. B side ‘Hiding from my Shadow’ is ripe with the funk too, but takes us away from the fertile stench of the psychedelic session in the barn and instead channels Minneapolis via Stafford as P-funk squiggles give way to Mr. Meredith’s trademark chugging bass.

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Mind Fair – C.E.R.E.M.O.N.Y [CHANNEL037]

Manuel Gonzales – Filth EP [WB015]

Wicked Bass label presents a new release by newly emergent Detroit talent Manuel Gonzales, aka MGUN. Opener ‘Mono Port’ is a sludgy, dirty track with scuzzy ambiance, grainy white noise and plenty of grit obscuring buried deep kick drums and raw synth patterns. Second track ‘Frosted Lakes’ is a just as knackered sounding bit of whacked out techno. Broken kick drums trudge below spiralling synths, static interference and the general imperfect buzz and hum of analogue gear and it builds into a loopy banger that will blow minds as well as speakers. Last is ‘Chip Implemented’, another dystopian bit of depraved sounding techno with groaning synths, hurried drums and plenty of stormy winds blowing across its face. This is hugely textured, darkly cerebral music that manages to be minimal in design yet maximal in impact from start to finish.

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Manuel Gonzales – Filth EP [WB015]

Brooks Mosher – Don’t Say Goodbye [DOLLY019]

Warmer than warm club/techno groovers by the man Brooks Mosher, delivering his third release on Dolly. 4 very strong cuts with exactly that dreamy & sensual feeling which might be the main reason why we like to dance & sweat in the dark so much… body to body with the eyes closed, far away from everyday trouble.

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Brooks Mosher – Don’t Say Goodbye [DOLLY019]