BLACK LOOPS Vinyl & CDs

Review: Black Loops directs a welters' worth of experience into Always Moving, his debut full-length for Freerange. Far beyond club tools, this is a sensitive elusion of watery neo soul instrumentation and distant broken beat jazz, and we're not surprised in this breath to learn of Black Loops' own background as a drummer. Nor is it any wonder either that such auteur's disco house regals such as Harvey Sutherland, Byron The Aquarius and Berlin vocalist Marlena Dae all appear on the record, through 'CDMX' to the ever so eerie, Erie-downstream deep house of 'Detroit Love Letter'. 'Electrical And LSD' takes after such influences as Metro Area's disco house shimmer, while tracks like 'Pleasure Ride' and 'Good Bye Berlin' further locks down the abiding nighttime tension - that least comparable part of his sound.

Review: Prolific Italian maestro Black Loops returns to Freerange with Always Moving, a debut album steeped in high-grade dance heritage. Drawing on over a decade of production, he moves beyond club tools to something more personal and musical, with guest appearances from Harvey Sutherland, Byron the Aquarius and Marlena Dae. Rooted in funk, soul and 90s grooves, these are rich, warm tracks with fully authentic swing i with much of the percussion played live by the artist himself. The result is fluid and human, from the broken beats of 'CDMX' to the shimmering chords of 'Detroit Love Letter'. Marlena Dae adds her touch to several standouts, including the disco-leaning 'Electrical' and hazy deep house of 'Pleasure Ride'. Even at its most downtempo, like the closing 'Good Bye Berlin', the album stays focused and melodic. A confident and expressive full-length that shows how far Black Loops has come while hinting at where he might head next.

Review: Second time around for Italian producer Black Loops' deep house tribute to his beloved Rome, which has become an in-demand and hard to find record since it first dropped on Freerange back in 2018. It's certainly one of the prolific producer's strongest releases, flexing a dusty, groovy at times pleasingly hypnotic take on late-night deep house. Check first title track '7 Hills', where jazzy Rhodes motifs, drifting chords and echoing jazz guitar notes ride a thickset groove, before admiring Mad Rey's chunkier, loopy and more locked-in peak-time interpretation. Over on side B, 'King Paul' is an even deeper and dreamier excursion in warm, bass-heavy dancefloor deepness, while 'Linda 38' offers an enticing blend of futurist electronics, jazzy keys, toasty chords and deep, analogue-rich bass.