Simoncino, with his alias Nick Anthony, takes on the second release for the Conservation Department series with a four track EP. The title track leads off and is followed by the killer groove on “Underwater Sunlight”. “Jamaica Girls” & “Lay It On The Line” on the flip bring more disco dance.
The label boss’s return to his own Mixmode sees him explore earthy house rather than the streamlined beaters that made Odyssey such a smash. Precipice EP has three hypnotic tracks of organic Motor City textures and rhythms. Mariana’s Song builds with the strong fluid motion omnipresent in all Smith’s productions. Mechanical drums drive a rugged analogue bass line, while flowing pads are layered to create a bright soundscape. The track is one to captivate the floor, building effortlessly to lock it into step. Set over a tight locomotive groove, Delano’s talent for twisting up vocal samples creates a smokey, atmosphere on Celebration. Toughening the drums and easing in the bottom end, choice drum fills heighten the impact of the beautifully swung drums. The dusty beats on Dream Come True bounce with a wide eyed rawness. At once fragile and assertive, the soft chords are reclined above a gently insistent bass line to give the floor or the home stereo a comfortable ride. Able to focus the output of his own label on the kind of tracks that first saw him emerge, Delano has built a bridge to introduce new ears to the sound of his city.
The second Gotwax! EP is a longsided club two-tracker with detroit- and dub-flavoured raw-body-music. Both tracks come from new artist ‘Obsolete Technology’.
Benjamin Brunn has been honing his distinctive and original sound over a series of intermittent releases. His use of the Nord Modular synth is one of the defining characteristics of his sound. He uses the instrument in a wide-ranging and original way, accompanied by a Roland TR707 drum machine. “A Sun Life” was not conceived as a piece of work with a theme. Over a period of two years, Benjamin Brunn sent tracks to Third Ear. Slowly the album began to take shape and become A Sun Life, an album full of different vibes, different grooves, different flows. “A Sun Life” shows Benjamin Brunn achieving something like a perfection of his sound. All the tracks have a fluidity and viscosity, whether like water or oil or honey .. air or sunlight. They start, flow and grow, shift and shimmer, their latent power held in some kind of check. Then they dissipate and fade.
The tone always makes the music. But only those who actually make the sound? An ancient-house-avantgarde dream has always been there since the legendary Warehouse days of Ron Hardy, to bring more sounds and tones constantly to an independent, repetitive development. And thus beyond the limits of an executive creative artist on the otherwise purely commercial sense what we call in common beyond imagination. “Raw Footage”, the latest album concoction of Chicago house legend Ron Trent on his new imprint Electric Blue works in the best sense of Stanislav Lem heroes Trurl & Klapauciusals, cruising like those two metal brains frantically invented by the universe of 4/4-Sounds to get insane tracks out of the new material matter located there, and put them together to brand new ones. This trackwerk varies as well as of course between classical Chi-Town to the context of contemporary, epic house dubs and lives in a perfidious manner from the interaction of various computer modules that constantly spits out new and exciting interactions.
Through the years, Basic Soul Unit has established a solid following for his quality melodic techno. “Motional Response” is a work of art. A finely crafted suite of ten tracks where elaborate techno rhythms battle with intricate synth harmonies to create a genre defining full length. Throughout this album, 303s, 909s and 808s are a constant nod to Basic Soul Unit’s Detroit and Chicago influences without ever compromising his melodic vision in techno and house. The album is including “Breath” , Basic Soul Unit’s first track with a vocalist along with a remix from label owner Jerome Derradji (with Gerald Mitchel – on strings).
Get Physical presents Kris Wadsworth and his debut album – ‘Life and Death’. Opening with the dark monologue of “Alienated American”, the stage is set for a look into what Kris is capable of when he turns his thoughts to sound. “It’s the present state of the music I make.” explains Kris, “It is a look into the future of my music, what I am capable of, but also limited to by label aesthetics.” While tracks like “Definition Of” are pretty straightforward in their own right, pieces like ‘Famous Anus’ are full of irony. “Music is my career, so it is ‘Life and Death’ to a certain extent. But also, there are too many uptight people in this industry that take themselves too seriously. It’s me: Serious music which also makes fun of the world around me.” On the other end of the scale is “Girl Talk”, a deep and gripping track, bringing a perfect late night vibe together through various pads and the organic percussion. The present vocal lines provide a rhythm and weave a thread throughout not only this track, but the general spirit of the album. The album operates on a very natural level, providing deep dancefloor gems along with timeless tracks for every occasion. It’s not your typical dance album, it pushes boundaries and challenges your expectations because that’s where it plays at it’s best – on the edge of your comfort zone, expanding your horizons and tastes while consistently delivering on all fronts.
This time Dockside works with Dwayne Jensen, one of Detroit’s true pioneers of house, boss of Fathom Records. Here are 2 excellent tracks of funky deep house with a really serious groove.
Deeply Rooted House presents the Kern Exclusives, featuring 3 exclusive tracks included in DJ Deeps latest mix CD on Tresor Records. Some fine dubbed out tripping Techno/House cuts by Bleak, Dj Gregory and a remix by Kerri Chandler for Rootstrax.
The Oliverwho Factory on Dolly. The mysterious duo from Detroit delivers a relentless techno/house workout in two versions, with all trademark Oliverwho elements present including soulful vocals. Raw, deep, funky, soulful, futuristic… in other words: Detroit techno as it should be.
The long overdue 10 track debut album from Marcellus Pittman on his own label Unirhythm. Includes some tracks that were vinyl only previously, as well as about 5 new tracks, including a Jamie 326 edit. Pittman is one of Detroit’s hidden gems of production. A talent with an unmistakeable sound that is undeniably his own.
Norm Talley drops 4 dope Detroit house tracks with different vibes on MixMode records. ‘Powder’ and ‘More Powder’ are the peak hour house tracks with classic chords and a steady uptempo groove. Then we got two Beatdown tracks ‘Lost’ and ‘Private Party’ that both stand out.
Thirtyonetwenty welcomes on the 15th release the Romanian duo Hermannstadt Collective, aka Mihai Popoviciu and Jay Bliss, and this time Markus Homm joins them. “Midnight Fun” is a homage to classic Detroit dance tracks with an up-to-date feel. The original comes along with a dub version and a remix from Olderic & Alex Piccini.
Detroit grooves from Sebastien San with a deep San Soda remix on top. We Play House Recordings is kickin’ the new year with ‘Great Cities E.P.’, a package crammed with Detroit delights, with a deep San Soda remix as a little bonus thrown in.
A collection of artists from Motown, USA to Meaux, France. United by a common musical vision, the uncompromising direction goes without question. Soulful melodies, atop thick, raw rhythm tracks, classic Detroit house tracks.
Here we get treated to an excellent old school house burner complete with remixes from some equally hot names on the scene, Tuff City Kids (Gerd Jansen owner of the Running Back label and Philip Lauer from Arto Mwambe) and Blakkat aka Mark Bell.
The Hipodrome Of Music 