VA – RDY #57 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY057]

The late great Ron Hardy had as much influence on DJing and club culture as anyone before or since. It’s not just what he played, but how he played it that set the standard from his legendary residency at the Music Box – not least the fact that he often had the highs squealing out of his system because they were the frequencies that had most impact on him while he was high on heroin. His productions all reflect his approach in the booth, and this latest collection of classics is back with rising disco, rawness, low-slung funk and high-speed, feel-good disco bliss. This release features four monstruous edits straight from the basement.

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VA – RDY #57 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY057]

Beau Wanzer – Untitled [BW06]

“Well, well, well. Look who’s back and creeping around your abandoned basement – eating rats and headcheese with a smile on his face. Chicago veteran, Beau Wanzer, heading straight for the jugular on his own imprint. Essential splatter-techno for the tweakers and fumbling freakers.”

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Beau Wanzer – Untitled [BW06]

VA – RDY #56 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY056]

Original Chicago house music hero Ron Hardy used to make and break tracks with ease. Decades on, we’re still getting treated to them with this ongoing series and the latest opens up with a familiar sound. ‘Love’ is fairly stripped of its original vocals and is a casuistic, textured and intense electronic disco cut for peak times. ‘The Night’ slows down with some freaky vocals and heavy dub disco drums then ‘1-5-1’ brings some jacked up acid house with monstrous 303 lines ripping up the groove and ice cold hi-hats keeping time. ‘The Bass’ is a raw drum track with moody Windy City vocals and dark energy.

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VA – RDY #56 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY056]

Members Only – 4 The Ones Who Know Vol. 1 [MO-036]

Members Only presents the first volume of this new series called ‘4 The Ones Who Know’. These edits were done on the fly with a Zoom Drum and SP303 in 2011 at Music Box Lisbon & in Madrid for Red Bull Music Academy.

Members Only – 4 The Ones Who Know Vol. 1 [MO-036]

Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People LP [STS431LP]

“I’ve been partying since 1984,” says Jamal Moss, the living Chicago legend known by his dedicated cult following as the one, the only, Hieroglyphic Being. “40 years later, it’s drastically different – everybody’s angry!” So sets the stage for Dance Music 4 Bad People, the artist’s first album for Smalltown Supersound. Tapping back into the same cosmic frequencies responsible for the prolific house virtuoso’s most vital work, the album sees Moss coaxing nine anthems for those up to no good from out of the ether. With driving drum machine workouts and low-slung synth sexuality, Hieroglyphic Being pays homage to human fallibility, drawing focus on the revolutionary potential of house music and club culture that is so often lost to the chaos of the present. “I have yet to walk into a club and see everybody hug and say: Let’s forgive each other, let’s move forward and make the world a better place,” he levels. “With all these conversations about sexuality, ethnicity, politics, whatever, when you walk into an environment with the music, you are supposed to celebrate all of that. Let it be and come together.”

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Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People LP [STS431LP]

Traxx presents The Definitive Articles Of House Music Chapter 5

“The 5th chapter from the definitive days of house music, as the previous 4 chapters is education that a lot of alleged “House” DJs and Producers are obviously lacking.

Traxx plays again from the early 80s, 90s & today 
from vintage, out of print and promo labels: Trax Records, Dancemania, Spectral, Sound Signature, Dirtyblends, LIES to productions from: 
Farley Jackmaster Funk, Boyd Jarvis, Marcus Mixx, JTC, Delroy Edwards, Carl Craig, Leron Carson, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Todd Terry, Colonel Abrams, Basement Jaxx, Sneaker, Gene Hunt, Mark Imperial, Orgue Electronique, Population One, Deep Concentration, Brand New Heavies, 2 Dogs In A House and a unpublished joint from the Chicago dungeon vault building blocks of the early dance music scene with selections of today and yesterday incorporating musical blueprints of Chicago, New York and Detroit’s timeless heroes we admire, honor and inspired by their education.

We hope this will give people the chance to listen to music many may have never heard on this side of sound that provides a provocative and thoughtful musical workout in your mind with vinyl turntables, a vintage mix console with an effects box and cd players.”

Traxx presents The Definitive Articles Of House Music Chapter 5

VA – Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997 [STRUT114LP]

Originally released in 2014, Strut re-introduces Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997, highly sought-after definitive retrospective of one of Chicago’s most important and innovative house music. Emerging as a raw alternative to the powerhouses of Trax and DJ International during the mid-‘80s, Dance Mania continued to represent street-level Chicago club music into the ‘90s, helping to pioneer the Ghetto & House sound. Hardcore Traxx traces the full story of the label from its heyday. 

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VA – Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997 [STRUT114LP]

DJ Rush – Childs Play [CCE043]

Classic DJ Rush in the rebound. Rawax annouce 3 releases by the Chicago Legend on Chiwax Classic Edition. The first one is the former Dance Mania bomb from 1991 called “Childs Play”.

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DJ Rush – Childs Play [CCE043]

Jamal Moss – It Is My Fault, My Fault Alone [LOVE133]

Modern Love’s 7” series returns with a 45 special from Chicago’s Sun God, delivering a pair of chrome-burn acid jak and cosmic house tear-outs fired to spangle the dance. Screwed, exceptional music for the club.

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Jamal Moss – It Is My Fault, My Fault Alone [LOVE133]