Volume 5 of From Chicago To Detroit compiled by Jordan Fields, who starts off with ”You Make Me Feel” sounding very Detroit. Nastyboy goes Italo with ”All Night Long”. The B side introduces fresh cuts by Midnight Music Club, Kaizo and Maxi Aubert all getting Jordan’s edit treatment.
It would be fair to say that Black Jazz Consortium man Fred P is a reliable source of atmospheric, immaculately produced deep house and techno. We can’t think of a duff release to date. Certainly, this first 12″ for Secretsundaze is full of playable treats. Opener “6AM” uses tribal-influenced drum rhythms, mutilated vocal samples and moody electronics to create a dark and hypnotic early morning mood, while “Herb” is a perfect fusion of trippy broken house rhythms, hazy minor key refrains and weighty dub bass. Arguably best of all, though, is “Mile High”, a superbly emotional deep house epic full of crystalline chord progressions, sweeping synth-strings and immaculately programmed percussion. Killer deep techno tracks by the never disappointing Fred P.
Detroit Chicago crossover housetracks originally released on Terry “Housemaster” Baldwin’s Future Sound Records in 1988. Now remastered on Clone Classic Cuts with a fierce Gerd edit.
Absolute Italian gold from 1990. Peeping right over into the house canyon while retaining all of Italo’s sophistication, Ricky Montanari’s Key Tronics Ensemble was a driving force in the sound during the early 90s. “House Of Calypso” was their debut, and it came with finessed, emotional key-stroking hook that lifts relentlessly. The remix version features a dizzying solo on the peak, the softhouse version is a little more spacious and lighter in the drums. For most, though, it’s straight to the Paradise version – an out-and-out Balearic anthem that’s still enraptures 27 years later. Its first repress in 10 years, this is long overdue.
Phat grooving bass line driven power house tracks by Fells Point following his debut release on Clone Royal Oak from summer 2016.
Chapter three for the Italian deeper label Cosmic Rhythm, A very emotional trip by Spiritual Emphasi.
Spring is in the air and Matteo Pepe, aka Uabos, is taking away that winter chill with four tracks of house warmth and machine funk. Acid bars float on crisp claps for the uplifting “Mystic Force”. The Italian keeps the floor stoked with the sample strewn grooves of “Copacabana” before the synths take over with the lush chords of “City Woods”.“Karmic Souls” closes, meandering notes bend and shimmer on clean percussion for an exotic climax to an EP of ambitious analogue delights.
Edits from a hole in the ground, a hole with unreasonable echoes, insane delays… A side extends a french library musician called yannick’s crowning disco masterpiece, whilst the B suspends and rewiggles the mysterious vera’s bridge..
“Recorded the mix pretty much in one evening at my studio! Mix between vinyl and Ableton. Wanted to do something natural and with an acidic pulse so it took me a while to go back through my records. Really difficult to remember all these tracks so it took a while.”
2017 marks 10 years of Lick My Deck and we are very excited to welcome one of Chicago’s finest and one of electronic music’s most singular visionary artists to the family: Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being. Jamal teams up with “The Truth Theory Trio” to deliver the “Materialized Psychism Of The Bottomless Void” EP. “Long Night Of Iboga” opens the EP and sees Jamal & The Trio create a DJ focused cut with unpredictable drum patterns, abstract melodies and psychedelic horns. A killer weapon for any seasoned selector. “Mystery Of The Changelings” is a mesmerizing 11 minute odyssey through magical harps, melancholic synths, and a piano riff that will stay with you long after listening. Truly music for the mind, body & soul. Praise be to The Sun God.
Amongst those on the Amsterdam club scene, Tom Ruijg is highly regarded as a DJ and producer. “Skyfall” is his first 12” for Voyage Direct, following a fine contribution to the First Mission compilation back in 2015. More pertinently, the EP marks the first time he’s used the Tracey moniker for a release. Perfect balance between head-in-the-clouds melodiousness – delivered via cascading, new age influenced synthesiser motifs, starry electronics and crystalline lead lines – and serious dancefloor grunt.
The 4th edition to the Limited Series drops on Banoffee Pies Records. More mixed taste loving for your record bag. Italo feelings on Safari from FYI Chris’ own Watson leading the charge on 80’s mode along with a chugged out creeper from Hysteric. Plenty of acquarium breaks from DJ Ok and Rasputin and more bongos in between from Ny*Ak and Ian Blevins on K Dance.
After dropping several tracks for the collectable Red Laser EPs Leon x Leon exports four monster jams melding metallic disco with slo-mo italo & breezy electro-funk.
Epic building tracks full of tension by V. V the anti-SEO one-character pseudonym of someone previously known. Powered by percussion and basslines for the club, yet with their strings, cinematic instrumentation and scale, there’s a sombre dance to be done to these 3 French-titled electronic tracks.
Ron Wilson’s 777 serves up more raw and rusty house jams on a new various artists sampler entitled Internal Affairs: this is serious! On the A side is newcomer Brighton with “Tesla” (Leaves Remix), while Frankfurt’s Orson Wells gives us “Ratio” where Saarbruckens finest: Roger 23 gets on the remix and delivers a lush deep acid rendition this side of Tin Man. On the flip, Leaves returns with the impressive “Third Floor” getting an awesome remix by Pablo Mateo; working those drum computers to impressive effect as always. Finally, Orson Wells stays on too; working the nightshift on his remix for Glyn’s “Kevin Lomax” and giving it a lo-fi, neon lit makeover that will appeal to retroverts dancing well into the morning at Robert Johnson next Sunday morning.
American artist Deviere is back on Parisian label Unlearn. Lobster Theremin artist and Unlearn affiliate Royer is on remix duty. Water Drums (A1), a deep and spacey cut for a moody and introspective club experience. Strong yet subtle in the low end, this one is for the big sound systems. Royer’s Demi-Monde remix comes up as a more housy interpretation, mixing dubby inspirations with lo-fi aesthetics. Rising (B1) is an upfront dancefloor track suited for peak time euphoria. Speak Into Existence (B2) is probably the most accessible track of the EP, oscillating between acid-yet-warm feelings and solemn preacher-preachin’ vibes.
After an EP on Creme Organization off-shoot Jericho One as DJ Plant Texture, Dona Basile now assumes his Dona alias for a new EP on the main label. Entitled The V.G.P Sessions, it features four new cuts from the Italian. Up first is a live cut version of ‘Energia’, a bristling electro track with globular bass and coarse hits. Turbulent but full of synth based serenity, it is a fine start. ‘Cigarettes’ is rugged and broken, with glossy IDM synths and corrugated drums all loosely arranged into something prickly and unsettling. ‘The Deads At Twelve’ then gets even more fucked up, with rusty synths and blown out drums making for a dystopian house groove that will likely soundtrack the apocalypse. Last but not least, ‘Nr. 13’ mixes up Detroit synths, wild acid, heavenly chords and chopped up, buried deep vocal samples into something that will fire every synapse in your body. This is outlier stuff from Dona that sounds like little else.
Lobster Theremin is back and rolling and bringing more snappy electro through the Theremin caverns with this indelible EP from Unfinished Portraits.
Charlois present “Where is the Champion?”, Timothy J. Fairplay’s first full length solo album. Twelve shifting, shuffling and shimmering tracks make up this debut. Cruising the highways and byways between proto-techno, horror disco and forlorn wave, Fairplay conjures up his creations from metal and smoke. Saturated snares, clipped claps and warbling chords are dusted with distortion. And this idea of distortion, manipulation and the blurred line is omnipresent. Innocent and sinister, cruel and playful, accepted boundaries are brazenly ignored as engines growl and synthlines soar.
Steinzeit concludes the MRT grey series. The duo is comprised of Hansruedi Schnriger, one half of Echo 106, and Bjorn Magnusson. They recorded these three tracks in a weekend’s time inside Magnusson studio, which is an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere, in Switzerland, using bare concrete walls as an echo chamber. The pace is slow, atmosphere is bleak, tone is melancholic, drums are evil. It reflects how Switzerland feels in winter. Lonely, and this is true, like the name of the tracks.
The Hipodrome Of Music 