The third man to take the baton in Delsin’s new house aligned sub-series is Helsinki’s Trevor Deep Jr. The man himself states his sound is “somewhere between Detroit deepness, classic Chicago house and the moody soundscapes of Helsinki”, something backed up by the three new tracks offered here.
The Corner is a new imprint from Anthony Parasole. The concept is complete D.I.Y. like the great street labels of the nineties, from Nervous to Rawkus – music with no boundaries! The first track up, ‘Cuttin’ Headz (Tribute)’ is by Nor’Easter which is an ode to the interlude; a tribute track to early nineties Hip-Hop! ‘Times Like This’ by Dj Qu is a fresh, driving, deep and forward moving percussive dance floor thumper. Then there is ‘Tri-State’ by Nor’Easter, a gritty NY Hip-Hop track.
Compton is the second release from Discovery Recordings. The EP comes from Chicago’s Olin and Co. Processing. ”Compton” kicks it off with hypnotic vocals made ready for the dance floor by an infectious rolling bass-line and filtered keys. ”Oslo” is built on dueling arps and spacey percussion that together cultivate a swirling deepness. On remix duty are Glasgow’s OOFT! and Berlin’s Nils Penner
This release marks the beginning of a fruitful and exciting new partnership between secretsundaze’s James Priestley & Marco Spaventi. Secretsundaze fuses 128 BPM house and techno with elements of UK bass, while taking cues from Cajmere and Chicago. ‘Baia 2012’ refers to the late 70s Cosmic scene in and around Rimini, particularly Baia Degli Angeli where Daniele Baldelli was resident. At the time, a patchwork of styles was being presented in a wild but coherent way. This unusual and organic sounding offering is backed by a Fela Kuti percussion loop, a massive bassline from a Prophet 5 synthesizer, original drum machine work, vintage synths and varied jazz riff samples. An unexpected Larry Heard inspired breakdown and searing sax line steps it up a notch and takes the track to a whole new level. If the Baia scene were still in full swing, this production would be the perfect audio representation of its evolution.
Jose Rico and Urtzi bring us the 7th Downbeat release, paying homage to Science fiction and exploring the relation between human beings and machines. The result is a solid exercise of researching with hardware, which brings all the label influences. Jose Rico is the responsible of ”Flight to Andrómeda” and ”Hiperspace”, two obsessive, mechanical but full-of-feeling tracks. Moreover, Urtzi introduces himself with ”Ouroboros” and ”Terra Luminae”, two synthetic tracks with influences from Chicago sound. Four dance music tracks which go straight to the heart and brain.
Italian producer Nick Anthony Simoncino continues his prolific production run with a new four track EP, staying on course producing classic house music. True to form, tropically tinged, melodic, deep house music that will sound perfect in the upcoming summer months.
Ander-Traxx is a fresh label operating out of Glasgow with the intent of releasing righteous underground House, and although mainly a platform for the label’s founder Alex-Ander to showcase his own productions, Ander-Traxx’s remit also includes the presentation of unknown talent for future releases. ‘For this first release, Alex steps up to the plate to deliver ”Because Of Me”, followed by 3 remixes from artists born and raised in Glasgow: Carlos Nilmmns, Meschi and Mesuma.
A dubby offshoot of the highly collectable Rawax label called Dubwax. The first release includes four stripped-down obscure house tracks from Vualitron.
The ninth Finale Sessions release. Miles Sagnia gets into some acid business, Carlos Nilmmns AKA Ross Mcmillan drops some lush deep house, Opolopo gives up analog madness w/killer drums, Shane Linehan remixes Dave Pezzner’s ”Waking Up Then Going Back To Sleep”
Strong no.8 in the Finale Sessions series. Basic Soul Unit with a bubly chicago style track. Joey Anderson goes deep with an intense track and Vincenzo delivers some summerish vibes.
Some warm and especially funky treats on Johannes Paluka aka Iron Curtis’ longplayer-debut on the Hamburg-imprint Mirau Musik. ‘Soft Wide Waist Band’ is Curtis’ entrance into the world of long players and the first of its kind for the Hamburg imprint. Of course, the man has earned his four-to-the-floor stripes navigation between deep house and soulful techno leanings, but he has also managed to steer clear of genre silt. Thus the task of creating a coherent, yet amusing album without blinkers is passed with distinction here. It streaks all the places and spaces in the past, present and future: the basic knowledge of engineering skills hones in New York, Chicago and Detroit left its traces here as much as a touch of British freewheeling mixed with the flow and indie poetry of a German country boy who has heard of electronic pop music before.
The second release on Hizou Deep Rooted Music with some excellent deep underground chicago house.
KANN returns with Prince of Denmark under his alias Traumprinz. “Paradise with a Lobotomy” expands the labels horizon towards to further individual interpretations of house and techno. For that Traumpinz brought three more than diverse tracks straight from home, to reveal a bit more of his royal universe to all the techno-paparazzis. Somewhere in between dubbed out & Disco infected House.
New Yorker Steve Moore on Future Times with two deep slow cosmic house tracks. “Zen Spiders” heads for the Outback with cresting waves and eureka moments set against a blinking synth sculpture. On the flip, “Lwaxana” turns slow motion into no motion at all as the track hovers and forms into a cloud, at sleaze tempo.
The Hipodrome Of Music 