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.
Justin Van Der Volgen’s My Rules label is back with its second release of 2016: the Lee Douglas edit of Soulful Dynamics – Jungle People. Given the nod and approved by the band, this is the version you’ve heard and been looking for over the last few years. Now finally seeing a proper release after many requests. Douglas takes the original, teases out the arrangement and turns the psychedelic knob to 100.
Hailing from Mexico, Zombies In Miami are debuting on Bordello A Parigi with a pair of late night burners. ‘Turquoise’ is a sliding snaking piece of synthesizer sorcery. Crisp beats are draped in hazy harmonies, reverb soaked bars rising amongst soaring keys and echoed vocals for a work of true elation. ‘Hipodromo’ follows, and starts as it means to go out. Drums crash before a floor melting synthline is dropped. The swirl of the mirrorball takes over as this duo whisk you into the warm and melting sounds of strings, rich bass and climbing claps.
Following hot on the heels of Tadd Mullinix’s ‘Skein’ – Bopside’s second album release for 2016 comes from label owner Tadd Mullinix’s dancefloor destroying nom de plume who needs little introduction: JTC An 8 track concise body of work perfectly calibrated for DJ use and home listening alike, where the beats hit hard and the melodies linger in your brain. The self-titled LP starts with ‘Caskadia’ – a call to arms for dancers with call and response synth lines and broken beats. ‘Atmospheres Pt.2’ takes things out into deep space, and ‘Nexus Ship Core’ is an acid drenched burner with glacial synths. ‘Infoline’ then makes it’s first appearance in a remixed guise by Rephlex alumni Ed DMX, then closing out the album with its recognisable lead line in its original form. Things take a deeper turn with ‘Dusselmorph’ before the full on breakbeat assault of ‘Blitz Puff (High Position Mix) takes things up a gear, then dropping you off safe and sound, though a little shaken with ‘Atmospheres pt.5 (Hemi Mix).
Noleian Reusse (half of Africans with Mainframes) and Thomas Cox (one third of Pittsburgh Track Authority) got together in the studio in Pittsburgh during a week of extreme social unrest in the USA in late 2015, resulting in these recordings. The tracks are crafted with a stripped back electronic funk and a stark, relentless feel that reflects the energy in the air at the time.
MERC welcomes Mark Seven as guest editor on E-Versions 7. It took a long time, a lot of telephone conversations, a lot of pleading, digging, sweat and tears to simply find out what Tony’s Slice was after hearing it on Mark’s Parkway Mastermix. Turns out its MKVIIs attempt at recreating a live mix by Tony Humphries he heard on Kiss cutting 2 copies of the phone conversation back and forward forever. With EV#7 looming we knew this would be a perfect opportunity to have a guest on the series, so we persisted and broke him down and he finally gave in to the pressure.
In addition to Tony’s Slice, MKVII has turned in a superb acid work out in the form of Case Study #9.
David Vunk’s Moustache records is back with the New “Moustache X” featuring on A1: Alessandro Adriani – Death Move 1# acid new wave techno rocking hard, A2: ENDFEST – Seutek Boogie Boy (A tribute to Cor Vaandrager) west coast electro pure analogue a true hardware story, B1: Unit Black Flight – Shortwave Radio Antenna Down (Antoni Maiovvi Remix) Love on first sight discovered while playing Magic waves dj set Hassan style B2: D’Evoe – Need U. Chicago franky K. arpeggio 1993 style with twin peaks kinda beautiful strings.
Next up for the brand new DKMNTL UFO series is Rohan Walder aka Randomer. The Londoner graces our new platform with his signature sound that blurs the lines between big boned.
02AM is an 4 track EP by the young producer Hekkla from Eindhoven. The first track is ‘Sunset Strip’, a slowly build house track that moves like the last waves of heat at the end of a hot summers day, walking home feeling satisfied, all ready for the night. ‘Saturday Morning Sentimentality’ is a hard to pinpoint track that sounds like the bastard son of a trio between the melancholic side of Cyndi Lauper, Alphaville and the echoes of a cheesy saturday morning cartoon theme song from the late 80’s. On the other side ‘Memories of Tau Ceti’ feels like tumbling into space with only the memories left of a good time on an alien world, accelerating faster and faster but still enjoying it, even though you know that the vacuum of space will eventually kill you. Finishing with the hardest track ‘No Math’, because, boys and girls, it’s no math.
The Hipodrome Of Music 