Russian producer Anton Zap on his own imprint Ethereal Sound recordings. ”I Get No Kick From Champagne” Be sure to check out this party builder! ”Air” Another ethereal cracker for more late night jams with some funky bassline and tight drums. Perfect if you feel like changing the direction of your party. ”Velo” Absolutely stunning track with warm synths and an 80’s touch to it.
Sistrum steps into 2010 in proper fashion, as Patrice Scott brings forth his latest sonic artwork in the form of the Distance Against Time EP. Picking up where his acclaimed Excursions EP (SIS010) left off, the three cuts featured here forge ahead into the depths, rewarding those with a conscious ear for quality electronic sounds.
Yore starts the new year off on the good foot with a four-tracker from the Dutch Duo “Morning Factory” that’s remarkably accomplished for a first release. Expertly manning the controls are two gentlemen from The Netherlands, Jean-Pierre van der Leeuw and Jozef Lemmens, who clearly produce a high-octane electronic body music that’s timeless and fresh
Two and a half years after their debut LP, 23 Seconds dazzled critics and lit up dance floors worldwide, Cobblestone Jazz are back with a powerhouse new album that captures their live-in-the-studio energy like never before. A mixture of heady, jazz-inspired house grooves and below-the-belt analog funk, it raises the bar for electronic dance music in 2010. Titled The Modern Deep Left Quartet, the record marks an important addition to the Cobblestone Jazz lineup, as the trio of Mathew Jonson, Danuel Tate and Tyger Dhula brings aboard Colin de la Plante (aka the Mole).
Three tracks on Jus Ed’s Underground Quality label by this, to us unknown producer. Comes with a remix by Jus-Ed as well. Excellent soulful & jazzy deephouse tracks.
Mild Pitch return with their first release in the new decade and serve you Manuel Tur’s solo debut on the young Essen-based label. Opening the EP with the sizzling beatless prelude that is “The Priceless Message”, the title track “Agrafena” carries on with heavy rough drums and countless layers of shifting vibes and strings that grow to a swirl of epic dimension. The dramatic build-up and fuzzy textures create that trademark dense atmosphere Manuel’s work is best known for. The flip side offers a more experimental take, fusing the stomping and jazzy drums of “Agrafena” with the deconstructed sound fragments of the prelude, that make “Dream & Delirium” a truly phantasmagoric yet mysteriously dark but hot-blooded affair.
From the great success of Smallvilles first label compilation “And Suddenly Its Morning” a new deep-house collective evolved: The Smallpeople aka Dionne, Steinhoff & Hammouda, Jaques le Bon and Christopher Rau. Hanging at their record store, djing together and exchanging beats and samples made the lovely Hamburg House gang around Smallville owners Julius Steinhoff and Just von Ahlefeld (aka Dionne) an new source of deepest club culture. Due to their large output Jus Ed from Bridgeport NY signed another 12inch of the Smallpeople for his Underground Quality imprint to come out right after their amazing debut on Laid Recordings.
With five Beat Pharmacy albums and almost a dozen vinyl releases on Francois K’s Deep Space imprint, this dubby and eclectic project of Brendon Moeller needs no introduction. Chugging along at 120bpm, underpinned by a thick sub-dub bassline and a modulating Maurizio-style synth cord arpeggio, Pump is a hypnotic slap of deep smoky house with some memorable hooks to boot. Swirling rhodes keyboards and a slick piano riff serve as a lovely counterpoint to the swinging funk of the hi-hat groove. With remixes by Echospace head honcho, Stephen Hitchell under his Intrusion guise and London’s Bearweasel this proves to be a solid package.
The beginning of a new stage on Exquisite Music, a time to explore different directions without forgetting the imprint’s deep foundations. Gilles Bineaux delivers a neo-detroit’ish masterpiece, whilst Bioground takes you on a tripped out journey, somewhere between micro house and deep techno.
Stripped down drum rhythm tracks from the busy french house producer that slowly evolve in proper tracks with layers of strings and pulsating synths. Flip side has a more chicago vibe with bits of bleepy DBX basslines. Strong release and probably one of our recent Planet E favorites.
The Yore Captain returns to his own Yore Imprint on the Labels 21st Release. “Shadow City” presents different visions of funky house grooves. The A side’s “The “Y” Theme” gets deeply moving with a funky house pulse before stoking the fire with the addition of speaking voices, a move which single-handedly jumpstarts the track. After the voices appear, the groove’s intensity escalates and plunges deeper, its gyroscopic house swing becoming more dizzying and torrential with each passing bar before coming to an acidy storming end. In its opening moments, “Shadow City” opts for a deeper and more serenading vibe by comparison, but that’s traded in for a slinkier attack at the three-minute mark that grows progressively more ferocious as the track makes its drastic upwards ascent. The B side’s B2 track, “Mumbai Dweller” keeps the focus primarily on the bottom end, specifically a strutting tribal-house funk groove that’s dragged even deeper by a throbbing bass undertow, adding Dark Chords to it, giving this EP a Darker Feeling towards the end.
Following up a solid EP for Unique the Homewreckers return on Circus Company this time with a killer remix by Dave Aju in tow. Deep, enveloping and chord heavy house, with mr Aju’s version going for a techier sound.
Ok, first of all I want to reveal a myth: These infotexts are mostly written by the labelowners themselves, not by hardworking editors. So what happens, when the guy behind a label releases his own music? Well, either he is a wellorganised deadline-machine and he asks somebody capable of doing this stupid job, or he realizes: “Oh fuck the distribution what’s to do their work and they needed this sheet weeks ago…” So in the end, he’s gotta do it himself: Of course, now I could tell you how great this record is (what it is!) and what a hell of a motherfucker I am (also true!)… but I prefer telling you sentimental other bullshit instead… This EP marks a new beginning in my career.
Kai Alce’s celebration of the legendary Detroit clubbing landmark rolls on with pt.2 of the exceptional ‘Music Institute 20th Anniversary’ Series including exceptional tracks from Derrick May, Mike Huckaby, Theo Parrish and Kai Alce. We get a prime-time Latin infected groove from Mr Mayday, some deeper jazzwise abstraction from Theo, crystallized square-bass driven house from Huckaby and a kinda Other People Place style mover from Kai Alce to finish.
Nice cuts by two uptempo tracks by these two friends. Delano Smith goes for a slightly deeper introvert cut that builds and grooves and that has a nice athmospheric feel to it. Norm Talley goes for a jazzier approach and a nice steady almost 2 step beat that keeps going.
Jus-Ed “I didn’t know of Aybee until recently after I met him through Fred P. Fred had played this classic track called “build her” by Delaroix which turns out to be Aybee! This EP bridges the gap between Afro House and Tech House. Guaranteed to move the crowd!”
Time for the next release of the Mojuba-labelboss Don Williams to continue his Detroit-series on a.r.t.less after Sven Weisemanns Shove EP. The main title > Vector Dance< takes a different way to approach things than its predecessors on the Black and Red EP! Witness the funk and groove that brought us the city from the D combined with a scifi-feel which embodies the vision of techno for many of us! The second track is a soulful ride into deep glimmering field of hi-tech emotions!
Three tracks on Playhouse with two mighty remixes from Mike Huckaby & Luke Solomon. ‘Slightly’ gets the Huckaby treatment, with classic bass lines and classic and classy Detroit house. The flip sees ‘The Lords Of Sanity’ getting worked by Luke Solomon. Nice to hear LoSoul always gets something special in his tracks that make them stand out of the pack.
Baaz comes back home at Sthlmaudio Recordings for a rich and surprise full new EP called Woodland Drive. The 12 inches start right off with Sink, a very Baaz styled house track which is dance appealing and yet refined and subtle. A raw bassy groove monster track. The next one might surprise the Baaz fans out there, yes it’s a Hip-Hop track featuring the soul vocals of Katrina Marie. We figured out that it might be fresh to provide some other point of view in the repeating herself dance scene. The B side strikes hard on the House side again, It s Gone is one of those pure shining and rolling tracks. Once to you uplift it you’d just let it go. A bass heavy subtle and groovy house cut, Baaz trademark?! Essential. And again the B2 and closing track is an lush and low key hip-hop science out of Baaz most retired places.
The Hipodrome Of Music 