Yellow Jackets number four follows the direction of the previous releases with more phat jams spread on a vinyl only 12’. Fred P offers the rhythmic yet melodic and spiritually engaging ‘Inspired By Dopeness’. Chicago’s own Specter and Madrid’s Josè Rico, who often work together as Our Own Organization, go extradeep, raw and hipnotic on the other side with the aptly titled ‘You Don’t Believe’.
Space is most definitely the place as far as the latest vinyl adventure from us here at Future Reactions is concerned. With galactic references aplenty, futuristic soundscapes and more than a hint of interstellar travel on the Analog Core EP, the only thing missing is an astronaut suit. Tracks by José Rico, Cygnuss (aka Leonid & José Rico) and Diego Perrisson.
Leonid and Jose Rico team up as Cygnuss and drop a double 12″ on Freebeat. This stunner of a double pack spans ambient melodic structures, burning acid lines, noisey electro and bashing house tracks.
The new imprint The Game presents their first release with 4 high-talented players: Skymark, Nas1, Jose Rico and Gari Romalis. Each producer delivers something different on this debut EP, expect crispy acid sketches, running MPC sequences, synths unleashed and a jackin’ low end.
Jose Rico launches the Le Disque Record Stores project: Ambiwa Records, a label dedicated to abstract House music. ”Declaration of Intent EP” is a collection of songs with a history, 4 pieces of his life talking about hypocrisy referred to poverty; the trivialisation of music as money source; the days in the studio with Ron Trent; and the night music-workers. Beyond any related stories, here you can find all the Jose Rico’s music standards: Impossible MPC percussion patterns, black keys, vocal textures, distorted kicks and tons of suspense and tension.
The enigmatic Freebeat label drops the fourth release as a collaborative effort from four deep house heavyweights. Leonid aka Paul Smith comes through with the mighty “Can’t Stop” on the A-side, a full-bodied cut with plenty of synth magic, followed by Miltiades and the slow-burning sway of “Xnn”. On the flipside, there’s a sweet and soulful house cut from DaRand Land in the form of “In Earnest”, and two pieces of off-the-wall mentalism from Jose Rico, one of which takes a totally beatless approach.
Downbeat Black features some heavily cerebral deep house founders Urtzi and Jose Rico. Urtzi impresses with his two contributions, the undulating, pad-heavy bliss of “Memories From Another Life”, and “No Back Memory” – a pensive slither of rich, piano-laden beatdown. Jose Rico opts for a slightly more energetic approach on his two cuts, though both “Small Island” (built around some superb percussion and tumbling chords) and the sun-kissed “Aint” are still lovingly melodious.
The 18th installment from Aesthetic Audio brings together four deep architects to form a collective that methodically articulates a symphony of sublime textures, lush chords and unique musical visions. Tracks by Keith Worthy, Miruga, Jose Rico and Michael Zucker.
Jose Rico and Urtzi bring us the 7th Downbeat release, paying homage to Science fiction and exploring the relation between human beings and machines. The result is a solid exercise of researching with hardware, which brings all the label influences. Jose Rico is the responsible of ”Flight to Andrómeda” and ”Hiperspace”, two obsessive, mechanical but full-of-feeling tracks. Moreover, Urtzi introduces himself with ”Ouroboros” and ”Terra Luminae”, two synthetic tracks with influences from Chicago sound. Four dance music tracks which go straight to the heart and brain.
In the 3rd Downbeat release, the main star is the Waldorf Sound. This release means the debut of one of the heads of the label, Jose Rico. His two tracks (“Restructure again” and “About it”) are obsessive, direct and forceful and define clearly his tastes and influences. Detroit and above all, Detroit. On side B, (the essential) Mike Huckaby gives us a bright pearl with a piano solo reminding us of his works on Deep Transportation.
The Hipodrome Of Music 