The Secret Squirrels continue to assault the dance floor and make you want to you to dance with two more deadly reworks. On this 11th episode they continue to disrespect boundaries as they criss-cross from Disco to Italo to House music in order to do their dirty deeds.
Third time out for Francisco on Slow Motion’s strictly retro-dance-floor series – Linea Beat. Joined by partner in crime Cosmo, ‘System 3’ and ‘Get In’ are classic Slow Motion laser jams. Phasers set to stun and energy levels turned up to 11, the latest in the 12″ dance programme comes with a jacking bonus beat remix from Dephi of Tiger & Woods. Throbbing, electronic dance music for your mind, body, this is Italian dance music of the past, present and the future.
Cliff has clearly been smoking something special. “All It Takes” is one of his richest efforts to date, and that’s saying a lot coming off a consistent roll of terrific releases. A-side “Devotion” answers the EP title’s question with a masterclass in heavyweight groove-building. It’s an instant cult anthem, gritty but buttery compression, warm, wet bass, driven forward by stoner-friendly organ solos and the vocal call. It’s a perfect afterhours gear-shifter, squelching with the sweat of one hundred thousand hours of studio jamming and countless seasons of acid. “100 Dollars” is wiggly pork bun of a beat, our old friend Roland never sounding fatter or more luxurious. The only question here is whether this super-kush urban house bomb is more well paired with a low-slung indica driving in an elite automobile, or a punchy sativa dancing in a world-exclusive night club. “Big Brother” is a paranoid romp through the dark corridors of your dance-algorithm, a wonky, dissociative funk experience for heavy heads trying to unlock their own brainwashed brain and seriously dance. Rounding things off is “Xenit”, a relatively placid, deep, trancey trip that transports you 8 hours in to an amazing party, when you’re loose and well oiled with positive feelings.
Trevor Jackson tends to do things differently, so the recent announcement of nine EPs of previously unheard Playgroup material, to be released in the space of nine weeks, should have come as little surprise. Opener “Move My Body” is particularly strong, and features sampled Robert Owens vocals rising and falling over a classic, late ’80s Chicago house groove. There’s a similar retro-futurist feel to the more acid-flecked Ed DMX collaboration “I Want To Believe”, while “Play The Music” combines similar influences with a touch of NYC proto-house.
The 20th podcast from the Hipodrome Series makes a premiere, is actually the first female dj that has a podcast on our site. Roxxete aka Roxana Zangar is a young dj from Cluj, but she is making a name for herself for quite some years already. Her style is very melodic, strongly rhythmic, with great attention to detail. With a strong curiosity for the spiritual side of music, she believes in sharing her feelings, moods and beliefs through sound.
3 Year Compilation LP. There’s something undeniably old-fashioned about this latest missive from hyped imprint Nous Disques. By gathering together seven unheard tracks on one slab of wax, they recall thoughts of classic compilations from early techno labels. Musically, it’s undeniably forward thinking, gathering together a range of dancefloor-friendly cuts from label artists old and new. Highlights are plentiful, from the flexible disco bass and new age chords of Mutual Attraction’s “Track 2”, to the stripped-back, drum machine thump of Moodcut’s “Sleep In 808”, via the cybernetic techno fizz of “Azoui” by Fetnat. Elsewhere, you’ll also find some fine Larry Heard style deep house revivalism from Breakin Moves, and a mid-tempo blast of colourful synthesizer love by Cofaxx.
Wonderful, driving, Drexciya schooled Electro refreshment from CN aka Stian Gjevik on Sleepers.
Bursting out of Oakland into the ionosphere, a hot pocket of free jazz, house, blues, African & Latin rhythms, a fully shuffled deck of everything that might expand your head, all fed into the MPC, and hot-wired right into your heart. Some five years after it was released digitally, Aybee’s Deepblak label revisit the wonderful Afrikan Sciences LP Means &Ways to grant it a double LP vinyl edition. For those unfamiliar with the album, the 11-track set showed Eric Porter refusing to stand still, variously touching on polyrhythmic IDM, dusty jazz-hop, dense post-techno wonkiness, hard-to-pigeonhole madness (see “Alpha Male Syndrum”), sparkling aural experiments (“Ways & Means”), and pleasingly off-kilter dancefloor fare. Amongst this category you’ll find deliberately out-of-time deepness, slipped broken beat, and dense drum workouts (“NanoRock Skank”). As usual, Porter’s tunes are bizarre but brilliant.
Bijou is back in the Bordello and ready to bring some cool to these hot summer nights. Sun countered by sea. Soothing synthlines, airy analogue tones and gentle currents characterise the two openers, Bijou calling on calming waves and peaceful percussion to begin. The Belgian producer allows the temperature to rise for ‘Reine Des Plages’, broad basslines and funk laden bars dancing late into the night. But those fresh breezes are ever present, closing in the beach bronzed beauty of ‘La Marée’.
Homesick #5 is the unplanned result of a tremendously funky DJ set by General Ludd in Hong Kong. Three tracks have been chosen by the Homesick team to reflect the intense disco inferno atmosphere we all felt on that unforgettable night.
Fresh out of the Midwest Keith Worthy (Detroit), Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being (Chicago) and Steven Tang (Chicago) bringing some of that notorious Midwest D.N.A. on this deep acid banger.
Melbourne’s Superconscious Records has become a source for straight-up, surefire club records. International nomad and the imprint’s co-founder Fantastic Man follows suit with the label’s sixth record Rhythm Algorithm. A hypnotic trio of mind bending explorations, all with a firm retrospective nod to the inner-city sounds that club music is built on.
The forty -fourth release on Will Bankhead’s highly lauded The Trilogy Tapes comes from Born Free co-founder Samo DJ. Given the Swede’s eclectic approach, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Kicked Out of Everywhere is a pleasingly mixed-up affair. Opener “Bleeps” drags the fuzzy, sparse and bass-heavy sound of Early British techno kicking and screaming into the industrial techno age (admittedly via the broken beats of West London), while “LKF” is simultaneously dreamy, trippy and rhythmically intense. Some may hear the influence of early Belgian techno in the slippery throb of “Medellin”, while the weird, spaced-out “Downer” sounds like hazy jazz after several shoe boxes full of Ketamine.
Simoncino already released two great records on the Chiwax imprint as Ken Kojima. The ”Deep EP” is his first appearance on Rawax.
Greg Beato is back on L.I.E.S. and back in top form with this massive 5 tracker. Beato demonstrates his versatility as a producer throughout as we seem him move from melodic house, to electro, to tweaker DJ Rush style psycho beat tracks.
The Lobster white label series finally gets back into gear with a sublime five-track scorcher from core London member Luke Palmer aka Ozel AB. After firing some deafening shots with last year’s Crimes EP – which burrowed deep into some seriously trippy and journey’d house, techno and acid -Valis sees Palmer develop those evolving arrangement ideas across five very different soundboards that bring his signature brain-fuzzed deepness, rubbery acid and dubbed-out sound design to the fore.
As part of the label’s mission to champion Dutch talent, Voyage Direct has always promoted new, up and coming, and little-known producers. Here the debut 12” from a mysterious young producer known only as Darling.
The Hipodrome Of Music 