„Acid Reaction“ is the first in a series of new releases by Danilo Plessow (MCDE). After having recently spent a lot of studio time recording bands for his disco-focused label Space Grapes, this marks a return to electronic music. The title Rude Futures serves as a meta commentary on the realities of the modern digital age, the dawn of AI and its impact on art and society. Musically, it’s a darker, more twisted turn to Danilo’s studio experiments – with a nod to early house and techno.
Napoli based Gigi Testa brings the heat yet again on his third Rush Hour Store Jams release with some spicey Sichuan flavours, straight from the Dragon Temple.
Daniel Monaco returns on the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with another disco heavy two tracker, with vocals from TK daMonza.
Two-tracker from Indonesian group Precious Bloom. ‘Flashlight’ on the A side is inspired by Euro disco with a touch of Indonesian city pop. The track ‘Mojo’ on the B-side explores a rhyme of witchery…
All musical movements require a spark to set them alight; in the case of Japanese house music, that spark was provided by the forward-thinking resident DJs of The Bank in Roppongi, Tokyo. In 1989, to celebrate the ground-breaking club’s first birthday, the venue released a 12” EP featuring first-time productions from three of its DJs, Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Strong Katsuya AKS Katsuya Sano. Widely considered to be one of the first ever EP of house music produced in Japan, 1st Unit was never officially released. Instead, 500 of the 1000 copies pressed were given away at The Bank’s first birthday party, with the rest initially being sold not in local record stores, but rather the venue’s own in-house shop. Three decades on, the 12” is finally set to get its first worldwide release via Rush Hour’s Store JPN Series.
Manabu Nagayama’s ‘Light & Shadow’ was released back in 2015 but never really got picked up. Rush Hour co-founder Antal Heitlager knew it had more potential than it had shown so asked Masalo to remix it. He elevates the track to new levels with subtle tweaks of the arrangement.
Amsterdam based musician/producer Djosa (long time band member of Arp Frique & The Family) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with two uplifting songs. The legendary Ronald Snijders is featured on ”Vampiro” with whom he (together with Arp Frique) made the documentary Easy Man and the album The Nelson & Djosa Sessions.
Amsterdam and Naples based bassist Daniel Monaco (bass player for Nu Genea, Mystic Jungle & Capinera) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint. A strong disco heavy two tracker featuring vocals from Mame N’Diack Seck Thiam and a wink to Cerrone, including instrumental versions. Released in conjunction with Utopia records London.
Gigi Testa, a bona fide Neapolitan hero whose work not only draws inspiration from local music of the last four decades – think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio – but also high-quality deep house and African music in all its forms.
Awanto3 (also known for his work with Aardvarck and Kid Sublime on Rednose Distrikt) returns to Rush Hour with “Party” Volume 1. Moody and rolling MPC work outs with live accompaniment from a solid cast (Jos De Haas (New Cool Collective) on percussion and Stefan Schmid (Zuco 103) on keys).
Rush Hour-affiliate and Amsterdam local Relmer is back with what may well be his best work so far. ‘H2O’ expertly displays the vibrant energy he’s known for around these parts with two Amazon-inspired deephouse groovers, a melancholic walk through the jungle, a Detroit-infused progressive anthem and a hypnotic midtempo floorwarmer.
Napoli has long been one of Italy’s most musically vibrant cities – a metropolis famed for colourful, atmospheric and vivid dance music, with a rich and diverse sonic history stretching back to the disco era. For the last 36 years, it has been home to Gigi Testa, a bona fide local hero whose work not only draws inspiration from Neapolitan music of the last four decades but also high-quality deep house and African music in all its forms. Testa has become the latest artist to contribute to the Rush Hour Store Jams series, delivering a four-track EP that takes his self-proclaimed world music-meets-club music approach in kaleidoscopic new directions. Inspired by a mixture of 1980s, post-boogie African music, the sounds of the Caribbean, Testa’s love for dance music from New York and his own Neapolitan musical roots, the Esoteric Paradise EP is an entertaining, each-catching collection of cuts the effortlessly blurs existing musical boundaries. Rich in synthesizer and drum machine sounds, it should delight all those who love melodic, tropical-tinged electronic music.
Thirteen years after his whopping ‘Time and Space’ EP, Chicago ‘O.G.’ Mark Grusane returns to the Rush Hour imprint with his ‘Dance Intensity’ EP. Combining trademark electro, wave, synth-pop and disco elements into three modern dancefloor cuts.
12inch release of highly sought after Colored Music edits by Tokyo’s, Chee Shimizu (Organic Music). The two cuts originally featured on the the bands seminal self titled album (from 1981) that remained a cult DJ secret weapon, for many years, all over the world. This heavy EP includes an alternative version of ‘Heartbeat’ that featured on the Japan only “Individual Beauty” LP of 2018 (also compiled by Shimizu).
Superior Elevation’s Tom Noble debuts on our Store jams imprint with a loud 12” two-tracker. The B-side get’s a heavy remix by Masalo.
Upcoming Amsterdam DJ /producer debuts on Rush Hour with a loud 12-inch two-tracker, New Dance. This is Masalo’s first solo material, featuring two Italo infused dance floor igniters.
Arp Frique is Niels Nieuborg from the city of Rotterdam, who has been actively involved in the Dutch live music scene for years, working with Cape Verdean & Surinamese musicians especially. After all these years, he finally presents his own true musical output. “Nos Magia” is a classic sounding, but unheard Cape Verdean funana song featuring the old skool Americo Brito on vocals. The b-side holds two collaborations with afro-beat protagonist Orlando Julius.
Amsterdam’s fastest, getting down with the machines and laying down some proper dirty rhythm tracks.
The Hipodrome Of Music 