Once again the dutchman from the north Boris Bunnik (who actually resides in Rotterdam now, but that aside) is showcasing his magic fingers, this time on Shipwrec’s deep techno offshoot Deep Sound Channel. ‘Hinterland’ is a topnotch ice-cold but heartwarming submarine electro/techno album with distant hints of IDM, in other words the perfect soundtrack for the long midwinter nights to come.
Recondite aka Lorenz Brunner is back, this time partaking in some wild experiments with acid, on behalf of California’s Acid Test imprint. Beginning with the ultra-deep and reductionist “Compel” which is reminiscent of early Plastikman, he then launches into the funky R&B tempo of “Pass Up” and the sombre and emotional tones of “Undulate” which gets the first four to the floor beat going. Life & Death label mates Tale Of Us join Brunner on the stunningly soulful “Sequenze” while “Subdue” presents his darkest side on the album. Later on “Ley” gets a peak time level stomp on, in fine acidic style. While Brunner has most definitely found his stride, leading to current mass appeal, he certainly proves he still has underground credentials on this fine effort.
Șerb steps up and delivers four heady, scrunched up house excursions. Moody pads and electrified fx stretch and bang over squelching drums and a booming low end. An eclectic EP spanning thick and thin, crunching club music.
Descendents of The Deep launches the From Chicago To Detroit series, bringing together a quartet of deep house tracks from Michigan and Illinois-based producers. Jordan Fields kicks things off with the electric piano-laden strut of the surprisingly trippy “Excitement”, before Vincent Floyd offers up a masterclass in deep, New Jersey-influenced analogue deepness in the shape of “2gether”. Flip for the wonderful blissfulness of Leandre’s “Images of Spring” – think starry melodies from Detroit, coupled with the rolling swing of Chicago – and “Detroit Dubz”, a killer exercise in spooky beatdown from Norm Talley and Mike Huckaby. With its’ heavy, compressed bassline, creepy chords and reverb-laden textures, it sounds like it was tailor-made for Halloween.
Bokhari enlists Hiver and Stephen Lopkin for four impeccable cuts of deep dancefloor delight. Kicking the package off with aplomb, Hardware fanatics Hiver illustrate the power of simplicity on “Pillowhead”, submerging us in deepest tech-house joy through globular bass, hypnotic stabs and immersive textures. “Whatsoever” ups the pace a little and loses a touch of the rubbery bottom end, flying free with celestial pads, sweeping synths and emotive chords. Over on the flipside, Lopkin’s “Theme from SAPL” sounds like a missing cut from Autechre’s classic “Incunabula”, pairing Miami drum patterns and beefy bass with moody vocoder and chirping synths for a healthy dose of machine funk. Lopkin closes the set with the Garnier approved “Speedbird Heavy”, a perfectly realised excursion into deep and moody techno that’s just waiting to bounce of those warhouse walls.
A decade on from his debut release, one of Romania’s finest cultural exports returns to his favourite stomping ground with a trans- mission that showcases variety, technical skill and an intimate understanding of the dynamics of the floor. The stripped-down, moody menace of ‘The Swindle’ kicks things off, dancing semi- quavers panning left and right, a mysterious male voice incanting. A bass synth motif carries the tune to a climax before its buoyant, trancey conclusion. At all times, elements unfold organically, carrying the listener away. ‘Rotate’ casts a busier, jacking vibe, its analogue synth cycles pinging against each other. Glimmering layers of sound create an endlessly immersive, deadly deep groove. ‘Feed Me’ is slower, slinkier and rougher in equal measure. The sustained synths create a gliding sensation, the male vocal first mellifluous and sung then husky and spoken. ‘Chance’ is a shuffling, fizzing deep house groove, precision-tooled for the dance- floor. “Let it take control” urges a male voice. Sound advice for this deliciously hypnotic groove.
Dusty and soulful deep house jams from DJ Aakmael aka Greg Stewart. First track “Roses” utilizes some stunning grand piano and trumpet solos as well as a sample from ‘Jean” by Rod McKuen to accompany some tight rhythm patterns and rich strings. “Fourpoint-5” is classic deep house reminiscent of old Mr. Fingers, in all its emotive and melancholic glory. On the flip there’s “Equinox” keeping on with a deep and soulful Detroit deep house sound that fans of Kai Alce would appreciate while “H4” ends things on truly uplifting note, with its dreamy xylophone vibes working with some more nice trumpet sounds and rich strings on a seven minute epic.
Signal Code release number eight comes from the Romanian outfit Romansoff, including a remix by Privacy.
Land Of Dance presents a journey inside analog machines and science fiction movies. Two producers from different countries had split the release with their sounds and their musical attitudes. Lost SoundBytes is a Brussels Based young producer that develops an haptic music, diving sometimes into cryptic and anxious foggy areas through analog materials experimentations, as drum machines & synthetisers like Poly 61, AcidLab Bassline 3 , Wardolf Blofeld. Sebastian Swarm comes from Glasgow his three tracks are full lo-fi acid music, imprinted by a cosmic sight and chicago house’ quotes.
The second Egyptian Eyeliner release on KäfTen is just as tearful and sentimental. Ecstasy on the housefloor.
“Music Is The Answer”, Colonel Abrams’ landmark 1984 debut release, was mot his first stab at stardom. In fact, earlier the same year he’d recorded a series of dubbed-out demos with Boyd Jarvis at Timmy Regisford’s apartment. Here, those demos – mastered from dusty eight-track tape – get a public airing for the first time. Despite their vintage, all three tracks still sound phenomenally soulful and futuristic, as if all three men were laying down a blueprint for deep house (albeit with the addition of the delay-laden drums that were such a feature of NYC productions during the period). “You Got Me Running”, in particular, is superb, with Abrams’ putting in a superbly impassioned but bittersweet vocal performance.
The Chicago based Perpetual Rhythms label welcomes Trinidadian Deep to the family for their 6th release; “Native Bush EP”. Trini is known for his deep, spiritual, and tribal sounds on labels such as Ron Trent’s Future Vision Records and Neroli.The same holds here for his EP; three deep house tracks exuding love through percussive and atmospheric vectors.
Professor Inc. returns to boe with a four track EP of low slung heady house vibes, thumping drums and searing soundscapes. Punchy 4/4 rhythms and throaty chords of Crazy grace the Aside where neat percussion sections break up dubby sweeps and deft ambient samples. The rolling loose beats and haunting synths movements of Underground sit nicely inside and offer a pumping club cut. The glorious strings of Life After Asylum play nicely with vox synths, weird samples and some weighty low end. Rounding out the EP, Put Up the Vibe skips and swings with fizzy stabs, modulated percussions and warm grooving bass.
New Novel Sound. “Fear” has been an in-demand since it was featured on his Fabric mix back in 2012, and remains one of Vincent’s most striking compositions – a spacey, melancholic mixture of classic Detroit influences, unfussy deep house beats and new wave-era synth and bass touches. The flip boasts a more recent collaboration between Vincent and Marcel Dettmann, which is equally as tasty. “Vengeance” is synthesizer-heavy and intergalactic in design, with EBM style motifs and tumbling, atmospheric melodies riding a similarly no-nonsense groove.
“I Know U Have Wings” EP feats 4 tracks from one of Mathematics’ main artists, Giorgio Luceri. A serious deep textured beating EP for the serious dance floor movers & shakers.
Part 2 of the Future Jack Programs To Respond serie, bringing even more future jackers and deep & deeper techno tracks.
June Records presents Concept 1210, a collaborative project between We Are Monsters, Ratlife Records, Nation and June Records. Represented respectively by All The Wild Eyes (Solar), Credit 00, Naughty Wood, Traxx, The Pedestrian, Villan X, Trenton Chase and June. Concept 1210 is a contemporary take on DIY electronics, made with the original rhythm machines, synthesizers and sequencers that became available between the period of late 1970s to mid 1980s.
J. Tijn makes a welcome return to the Cassette Library for his second EP on WNCL Recordings. Once again, the boy wonder explores musical worlds outside of his perceived comfort zone (”HEHF”), gets his bleep on (”Fat Controller”) whilst ensuring the die-hard raving crew are kept happy (”Malaria”). To round things off, we’re also treated to the next installment in the beat-heavy Decimated series (”Decimated #8”).
French producer Anetha delivers four hypnotic techno cuts in her debut EP on Spencer Parker’s Work Them Records. ‘Black Widow’ begins with a syncopated kick and chugging synth line, before ‘Orchid’s Curse’ delivers piercing percussion and an infectious 303. ‘Last Evening’ then ventures into mesmerising territories with its tantalising atmospherics, until ‘Drive With A Dead Girl’ conjures a sullen vibe through the use of arpeggiated notes and poignant moans.
