Euphoric & classic analog house tracks by John Massiande on the new Housewax release.
001.Features
DeeKay Jones – Jones Comin’ Down [SHK007]
For its seventh release Shaddock unearths a genre-defining piece of music overlooked by even the most thorough of crate diggers, backed by a storming Hercules & Love Affair remix. New York, New York by DeeKay Jones is an electrifying piece of hypnotic electric-disco-wave, produced in the eponymous citys concrete jungle back in 1981. Its a track that had all the potential to propel dance music forward: Relentless drum computer beats that predate techno, and even Chicago house, by years. A minimalistic synth hook that sounds more futuristic than any cutting edge dance record available at the time. And brilliantly overdubbed chants (taken from a 1970 The Last Poets album), which anticipated sample culture and should have made this an anthem. New York, New York is accompanied by two more unreleased DeeKay Jones tracks from the same era and a remix by non other then Hercules & Love Affair vs. Haze Factory.
Hakim Murphy – Chiffre [MS0093]
Chiffre opens with “Tegal E”, boasting strong kicks, intricate percussion, fierce bass lines and a haunting synth lead which introduces the listener to Hakim’s deep cerebral textures, patterns, and rhythms. Up next, a remix of “Nabodani” by DJ Spider takes things to the next level with heartthrob kicks, jazzy percussion loops, and menacing soundscapes. Opening the B-side, we have Murdoc’s remix of “Vatitio”, a smooth rendition of the original featuring winding bass lines, unique synth pads and rhythmic pauses throughout the progression of the track. Concluding the release is the final track, titled “Gangsta Glide”; a strong composition returning us full-circle, back to Hakim’s dreamlike spheres of heightened reality.
Jonsson & Alter – 2 [KM032]
Having commenced 2013 with one long player in Andreas Tilliander’s TM404 project, Kontra Music signs off for the year with the second album from label regulars Jonsson & Alter. It’s a fine way to bookend another impressive calendar year for the Malmo-based label who have slipped out a bunch of killer twelves in-between as well as found the SKUM label with compatriots Skudge. The inspiration behind Henrik Jonsson and Joel Alter’s nonchalantly titled second album 2 apparently derives from the time Jonsson & Alter spent performing the previous album live and wanting to incorporate “heavier beats”. The result is a nine-track album that sees Jonsson & Alter produce a refined and matured follow up to their debut, while managing to maintain a raw and housey aesthetic.
Marcello Napoletano – Rush EP [WEN003]
Marcello Napoletano is back on What Ever Not with a fresh ep including four raw house tracks.
Marc Cotterell – Set Me Free [PPD003]
Late Night Underground House Music. Label owner Marc Cotterell delivers two tracks of deep soulful late night groovers. Side A holds the vocal of Claudia while laying down deep chords and baseline. Side B goes more floor friendly with club beats and flowing late night keys thanks to David Powers.
Santiago Santamaria – Thin Lines EP [PPD002]
Deep late night, educated house music by Santiago Santamaria on Plastik People label. The release includes a remix by label owner Marc Cotterell.
VA – L.I.E.S. Presents Music For Shut-Ins [LIES041]
A collection of hits, misses, new loves, and future head scratchers running the gamut from floor ready beat tracks (Legowelt) to post chill out room bleep-hop (Daywalker & CF) to industro-wave anti beat experimentation (Svengalisghost) with no restrictions or limitations. As with last year’s American Noise compilation, disc one revists prime cuts from the nearly 30 releases the label will have released by the end of 2013, while disc two compiles unreleased tracks exclusive to this cd. A document of the immediate energy surrounding these musicians here and now, maybe one can call it club music for people who hate going to the club? or simply “Music for Shut Ins.”
R-A-G – Life [LXRC015]
The road to Hell is paved in gold. One that guides to Disorder, Repression and eventually a last leap into OD. Yes, boy, this is Life. Unfair, menacing, dark and twisted, like the new EP from R-A-G out on Lux Rec. The Dutch trio presents its first release outside the M>O>S legacy and delivers three excessive tracks wandering on the fringes of the jacking zone, analog techno and wavy obscurity. Walk in, embrace Life. Hear it pulsates, disappear.
Nepal – Drift [SEQ009]
And here we are, just as promised, exploring the dark corners of Nick Lapien; the man otherwise known as Metropolis. This time around, he comes back with a pair of extended cuts that veer off into heretofore unexplored terrain, relishing in detail with a sharp focus on momentum and lyricism. ‘Glow’, the A side, uses a basic 2-note sine wave bass line and a 136 BPM kick as the backdrop for a 13+ minute descent into a thicket of static and clattering modular craftiness—a pathway into the unknown through auditory hypnosis. On the flip side, ‘Rebuild’, a milder 4/4 beauty, uses a soft bass riff for its duration as shuffling synth experimentation stretches the stereo field. A long trumpet solo by Mark Nieuwenhuis casts a soothing, mournful light into the piece. Immerse yourself into the sounds and let yourself be guided, let yourself be found.
Fishermen – Patterns And Paths [SKUDGEWLP001]
After their wonderful EP from a year ago, the Fishermen are ready to take you on a diving trip with their very first album, an accomplishment in itself With “Patterns and Paths”, Thomas Jaldemark (YTA) and Martin Skoggehall (MRSK, Smell The Flesh) have crafted a rather mesmerizing story of abstract and figurative tropes altogether, and eerie is probably the best word to describe the general mood of this, but hard and raw eeriness! The affair starts with “Green Horn”, a gentle foreplay setting the tone for an imminent journey into the lightless abysses. “Hope Is gone” further enhances the incoming grim turn of events in a coil-like fashion before “Serpents” makes our feet and hips take over our fear of the unknown. The trance has indeed begun and we’re soon entering a hidden warehouse rave cave of un-earthy shamanism, the unforgiving stomp of “Get None”. “Dyspnea” manages to find a path into deeper regions the groove shift towards a darker funk with “Lost Teeth”, a caribbean techno banger that’d wake any zombie in the making! “The Four Skulls” suddenly hints of a safer journey with healing percs and melancholic pads, but “Rise” soon shatters those false hopes with an evil lurking motoric groove. Then, you hit “Scurvy” where the pace slows down a little only to introduce the seductive side of this gloomy adventure, a challenge to you feet inducing lascivious moves. Keeping you in trance, “In Solitude” kind of combines both previous tracks strengths with an added Twin Peaks value. Now finally reaching the far bottom of the ocean, the mood gets even more claustrophobic with “Sunken Mosque”, the last stage of this trance before maybe getting back to the surface. Indeed, if “Torments” might let you catch a breath of air, it is filled with minerals, the world above has changed, and you might very well feel safer back under the water, a reverse mirror to Mike Ink’s old Gas project.
Ben Sims – Fabric 73 [FABRIC145]
Prolific, eclectic, and always evolving, Ben Sims’ name has been synonymous with quality techno for nearly two decades. His enviable career path mirrors the history of twenty years of popular music in the UK, drifting from hip-hop and reggae into the early days of pirate radio, the peak of acid house, and pummeling hardcore. Sims has always been a precocious listener – in his early teens he would DJ his school’s disco parties prior to gaining a reputation as an advanced talent on the rave and club circuit – and his experience is reflected in the timelessness of the selections on fabric 73. Beholden to no specific era or genre beyond the power of their pure transportive grooves, on fabric 73 Sims showcases the restlessly creative selections that continue to make him an essential and inspiring DJ for advanced techno listeners worldwide.
Peter Van Hoesen – Life Performance [TRESOR265]
One year on from ‘Perceiver’, Peter Van Hoesen presents his first live album, documenting his performance during the Time To Express label night at Tresor on July 19th 2013. Armed with three synths, a drum machine, two iPads and some outboard effects, he covers a brace of new material woven with recent releases in typically disciplined and unrelenting PvH style, capturing his highly efficient energy transfer and breathless momentum in full effect and perhaps providing better context for his music than any studio album could.
Synthek & Audiolouis – Reclaim Your City [NATCHLTD004]
The fourth Natch release present many ways to approach modern Techno. Ryc is an acid descent to the underground, driven to the depth by the darkest basslines whilst Raffaele Attanasio take off with a bangin’ remix really efficient on the dancefloor. Meddle shows the pure Natch style at its finest, which Mattias Fridell remix infect with a diverse and powerful rhythmic pattern.
Abdulla Rashim – Aksum [ARR006]
Journey through vivid sonic currents and states which might as well be regarded as Rashim’s magnum opus: the 006 release on ARR is a new height delivered as a mini-album. The more basic and primal spirit of this release encapsulates Rashim’s music in a way which makes total sense. Bound over six tracks, they all display a different perspective of this dramatic colossus.
Uku Kuut – Grand Hotel [PPU052]
PPU providing yet again with 10 more selections from the archives of Estonian funk front man Uku Kuut. Grand Hotel is an instrumental journey from his days in the Soviet Union, Sweden, Los Angeles, Estonia. Including his very first home recording dating back to 1982, and a track that was recorded at Herbie Hancock’s personal studio. It’s a miracle these masters are still around after 30+ years of traveling from country to country. They finally find a safe place to rest.. Grand Hotel.
Gay Marvine – Bath House Etiquette Vol.4 [BHE004]
Gay Marvine presents 4 new reworks… A1 Burning Love – ”Burning Love Breakdown”: Juan Atkins once claimed this to be his favorite 12” from the ‘disco’ era, which would have been called progressive in Detroit. A2 Southern Freeze – ”Southern Freeez”: A natural palate cleanser, this jam is both smooth and jagged, putting together elements found in First Choice and Steely Dan in a perfect Jazz dance floor context. Pre-synth genius from John Rocca. B1 Sweet Secret – ”Frozen Faces”: Transforming the classic German Synth Pop jam into a more uptempo floorfiller. Please take her advice and dance. And dance. B2 On The EMS – ”On The Run” (Pink Floyd, 1973). Finally an easy to DJ version of this synth classic. Given a steady jacking rhythm and slowed down to 130 from the original 165, this cut will rock floors for the adventurous DJ.
Bariş K – 200 [EES002]
The second release from [Emotional] Especial sees the welcome return of Baris K. Known for his edit series of obscure Turkish Psychedelic, Rock and Disco, here he takes the producer’s chair to present “200”. Working with musicians and singers to create a completely original production. The song’s message for equality (of the sexes) highlights the bigotry and backward political and religious boundaries his country faces and acts as a siren to the current troubles. Handed to Emotional Recordings over 5 years ago but with no label to release it at that time, now we are delighted to be able to release 200’s message. The original is backed with remixed from new Romanian production duo Khidja, as well as East London’s finest, The Asphodells. Teaming up with guitarist Balabas, Romania’s Khidja turn in a deep and introspective interpretation mixing their own heavy eastern influences, while the B-side sees Weatherall and Fairplay don their Asphodells mantle for two renditions that firmly lay it before the ALFOS alter. With artwork (by Jamie Paton) highlighting the struggle for fairness and freedom in his homeland, we hope the release can be seen as a support for their tribulations and highlight the talent that lays East.
Julius Steinhoff – You Collect Secrets [PLAYRJC027]
Three tracks that nicely bend the rules of deep house and push bass lines into the abyss. A leading member of Hamburg’s Smallville Records and one half of the critically-acclaimed and party-proof Smallpeople, Steinhoff delivers three tracks that nicely bend the rules of deep house, meander the maze of trance-hypnotism, cold-forge metallic drums and push bass lines into the abyss. A record that owes as much to Larry Heard’s way of thinking, as it does to white rooms and probably subconsciously to James Holden’s art of playing records. Built for eternity.
Robert Hood – Eleven [MPM018]
Following on from his Floorplan album and November’s Floorplan EP, Robert Hood returns with a new double header on M-Plant, to close 2013. He delivers these two new cuts of pulsating, body-moving Techno with that classic, deep and minimal Hood sound. He builds ‘Eleven’ and ‘Alarm’, layer upon layer, gradually drawing all the elements together, until they become a penetrating attack on the senses.
