TARTAN Vinyl & CDs

Review: Tartan's sixth offering once again combines several different sound worlds into a couple of compelling grooves. There is a world feel to the opener 'Haai' with its exotic strong sounds, lavish jazzy flutes and deep-cut disco-house drums, all topped off with a Balearic energy that will go down well at sun-kissed outdoor parties. On the flip, it is 'Orleans' which is a low-slung chugger with some cosmic chord work up top and breathy vocals adding to the slow and sensuous sense of hypnotism. Two classy tracks for sure.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record is slightly warped, otherwise in excellent condition***


The hush-hush Tartan imprint is quite hard to pigeonhole, though its' various releases tend to combine sampled elements from classic and overlooked cuts with new grooves and instrumentation. The results are rarely less than excellent and the imprint's latest two-track missive (created by an anonymous producer as usual) is no different. 'Cynical Gringo' is exceptional - a rush-inducing, life-affirming fusion of nostalgic piano house, additional percussion, restless cowbells, scintillating sax lines and vocal snippets from a Latin jazz classic. 'Sumo Shader', meanwhile, is a hypnotic, rolling, constantly building delight full of wayward synthesiser lead lines, locked-in loops, jacking drums and intergalactic electronics.

Review: A warm welcome back to Jimmy Wallace - whose recent outing as Wallace on Rhythm Section International was really rather good - and his quirky Tartan series. The series has long been hard to pigeonhole, with Wallace (we think - there's no credited artist) delivering nostalgic cuts that sit somewhere between unlikely re-edits and sample-heavy re-makes. A-side 'Ayo' begins in sleazy fashion via a throbbing, dark Italo-goes-EBM groove, before Wallace introduces a colossal piano riff, more angular electronic motifs, grandiose Fairlight style stabs and some ear-catching sampled vocal snippets. Over on the flip, 'Shoes Off' could reasonably described as 'Balearic Bhangra': a loved-up and heavily electronic workout the brilliantly blurs the boundaries between late 80s Indian pop music and vintage house.

Review: The hush-hush Tartan imprint is quite hard to pigeonhole, though its' various releases tend to combine sampled elements from classic and overlooked cuts with new grooves and instrumentation. The results are rarely less than excellent and the imprint's latest two-track missive (created by an anonymous producer as usual) is no different. 'Cynical Gringo' is exceptional - a rush-inducing, life-affirming fusion of nostalgic piano house, additional percussion, restless cowbells, scintillating sax lines and vocal snippets from a Latin jazz classic. 'Sumo Shader', meanwhile, is a hypnotic, rolling, constantly building delight full of wayward synthesiser lead lines, locked-in loops, jacking drums and intergalactic electronics.

Review: The mysterious new label Tartan is back with its second release by an anonymous artist once again. On the A side of TARTA002 we have the sunny and sublime deep house of "Butterfly" featuring an unmistakable vocal from a certain pop queen that's underpinned by an incredible arrangement in the vein of Charles Webster. Over on the flip, you're treated to some boompty and swing-fuelled minimal house that'll go down a treat at the afterhour on 'Soul'.