Review: On the long-serving deep house label's latest reissue, Large Music takes us back to 1997 and one of the most beloved (and these days, hard to find) EPs by Washington, D.C duo 95 North (AKA Doug Smith and Richard Payton). As it did first time around, the EP contains four contrasting versions of 'Jazz Ascension'. The EP-opening 'Red Soul Mix' lives up to its name by wrapping breezy flutes, syynths, pianos and spoken word samples around a bumpin' bassline and classic-sounding US deep house beats, whilst the 'Red Dub' delivers a stripped-back and groove-focused take on the same musically expansive mix. Over on side two, the slightly darker and more bass-heavy 'Hard Dub' compares favourably to the then contemporaneous work of fellow Washington, D.C-duo Deep Dish. A handy, spoken word 'Washapella' rounds of an essential reissue.
Review: There are tens of members of The Blassics crew from Scandinavia, including Joona Venalainen, Juha Sarkkola, Ville-Pekka Jarvinen and several more, and they are expert genre-fusionists who draw on funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop and more to cook up their brilliant instrumental sounds. They have been doing it for more than a decade and have plenty of great albums to their name. Here they return to Funk Night with another red-hot 45 rpm. 'Fishing Break (45 mix)' is powered by raw drum breaks with brassy horns and cowbells for company, then 'Nokova' slows things down and allows a more sultry trumpet to take the lead. 'Lunki Mood' slows it down even further for late-night and loved-up jazz-funk introspection.
Review: The Blassics is a creative crew from Scandinavia featuring the likes of Hanna Lotti, Joona Venalainen, Juha Sarkkola, Ville-Pekka Jarvinen and several more musicians. They have turned out several brilliant instrumental albums over the last decade and show their chops again ion this new 7" via Funk Night. 'Addis Hop (part 1)' collides funk, jazz, spy theme soundtracks and hip-hop into a storytelling sound with a driving bassline and shimmering chords and keys. It comes in two parts, and both are effortlessly evocative and mesmerising.
Gilles's Peterson's Havana Cultura Band - "The Rumba Experiement" (Motor City Drum Ensemble remix) (6:35)
Review: New York legend and Body & Soul man Joe Claussell is first to land on this new Brownswood Remix Edition as he drops a Sacred Rhythm mix of his own tune with Cuban singer Dayme Arocena. It offers a fresh perspective on the original timeless composition with drawn-out drums leading to a signature spiritual rapture. On the flip is a dynamic reinterpretation of Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura Band by German artist Motor City Drum Ensemble, who now goes under his birth name. He brings some dusty house drums to make for a perfectly flavoursome sound for outdoor dancing.
Review: Following his standout 'Just A Flute Thing' single last time out, DJ Scientist returns with 'The Baku Files', a limited release that's an immediate crate-digger's dream. Side-A delivers a hypnotic, jazzy boom-bap instrumental built from rare Soviet-era Azeri jazz samples layered with gritty vocal chops from vintage rap records. It's a brilliant cross-cultural collage that feels at once nostalgic and fresh. Flip to side-B for 'To See You,' a slick, DJ-friendly rework of a Murat Kashlaev composition originally reissued on Spasibo Records and packed with head-nodding grooves, old-school flavour and new-school execution.
Review: The Treasure team keeps up the momentum of its early release with another fruitful dive into the annals of house history. This time, they have dug up more nuggets from FR and have refined them for contemporary floors. 'ET Is Coming Home' (vocal) is a slow and dubby cut with percolating live bass and muted horns next to some Ubiquity style vocal soul. The instrumental allows the superbly loose-limbed and live drums room to really shine, and then comes an epic, 10-minute-plus jazz-drenched house odyssey that's alive with swirling cosmic radiance and busy chords and synths. A real trip for proper music heads.
Review: Established in the UK in 2009 as master-builders of disco-house builds in the late naughty noughties, Instruments Of Rapture first cut the red tape with Ilija Rudman's 'Part Four' and lasted for just three years until 2012. And while the early axing was a shame, we think real works of art are those which are short-lived but profuse in quality. Now kicking back into gear after almost 15 years, the label now return to double up as both label and moniker, humorously titled 'You're Cured Mate'. Described as a "soundtrack more hypnotic and deadly than ever", this new one follows 'The Formula' of cut-short, hypno-loop lyrics and carnal felid whispers (especially in '7 Grams Of Funk'), marking an EPs' worth of subtle libertinage in 2025, the year of the snake.
Review: Still riding high from the success of his superb re-make of Manuel Gottsching on Test Pressing ('A Reference to E2-E4'), Alex Kassian returns to Pinchy & Friends - who released his similarly popular 2021 EP 'Leave Your Life' - after a three-year break. Beginning with the lusciously languid, Balearic, effects-laden and sonically layered title track ('Body Singer', where Jonny Nash style guitars and tumbling sax motifs rise above a sparse drum machine beat and shoegaze-esque aural textures), the Berlin-based producer offers up a loved-up mix of weightless ambient bliss (Kinship), kosmiche soundscapes (the sun-flecked 'Skinship'), revivalist Krautrock (the Can-after-several-spliffs headiness of 'Trippy Gas') and immersive, cinematic excusions (the gorgeous 'Mirror of the Heart').
Live Or Die By Love (Eric Kupper instrumental remix) (5:36)
Review: Rooted in New York house traditions,Lovetempo is an exciting new band from Brooklyn that fuse deep house, disco and funk, driven by by former The Rapture man Mattie Safer's seasoned touch. The title track delivers a Chicago house gem with an uplifting, jazzy feel and an inspirational message. 'We Can Make It Happen' dials things down into a lounge-infused jam, balancing disco and house with a relaxed, breezy energy. 'Part-Time Love Affair' leans fully into funk, highlighting the band's tight musicianship and rhythmic flair. On Side B, Eric Kupper reworks 'Live Or Die By Love' into a dancefloor house cut, extracting vocal samples from the original and flipping them into a hypnotic hook. His instrumental remix strips it back further, focusing on groove and texture. With its mix of live band energy and classic house sensibilities, 'Live Or Die By Love' is a promising statement from Lovetempo.
Review: Best known to many as Brett Domino from 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and all round internet keytar cover verion fame, Rob J Madin steps out from his comedy roots with a fresh suite of instrumental jazz-funk recorded mostly in his Sheffield attic. Drawing from the energy of artists like BadBadNotGood and Mildlife, the new six-track EP blends silky keys, warped synths, and choppy drum samples into a head-nodding, sun-drenched mod soul anthem set. 'Callisto Disco' veers over brash momenta, while 'Cherryade' leans back towards a laid-back optimism, not to mention the opener 'Bouquet Garni', which prophesies restless singalong hums by the never-forgetting listener.
Review: Ambient Classics From Japan on Mukatsuku features two lush filled classics from the label Form@ Record label from the land of the rising sun....First up, Shuichiro Nakazawa under the guise of Modern Living from 1998 - initially taken from the CD only Art Form 2 compilation although it also popped up on Music From Memory's excellent Virtual Dreams collection - now gets a whole side on loud cut 180 gram vinyl to itself. On the flipside comes Virgo aka Yasutaka Sato with his gorgeous deep techno ambient gem 'System For Zodiac piece, taken from the Landform Code CD, of which only 30 copies were ever made and has never seen light of day to vinyl until now. No repress hand numbered to 300 copies and first 100 come with Japanese Origami paper crane + sticker.
Review: The cultured creative minds of James Simonson and Blair French reunite for this new Realities Remix EP on MotorCity Wine which was, in original form, recorded by Simonson in hotel rooms across Europe and the Americas while touring with soul legend Bettye LaVette. As such it takes in myriad global influences as well as evocative field recordings which get reworked in style. Blair French adds his touch with three remixes, firstly the anthemic 'Realities (Projector Remix),' then the more dance-driven 'Elektronolux Overture (Sunday Remix)' and the lush and downtempo 'Hannah (Remix)' featuring violinist Sonia Lee. Two originals 'Realities' and 'Elektronolux Overture' also appear on vinyl for the first time and sound superb.
Review: Melbourne, Australia based sextet The Traffic, headed up by Ivan 'Choi' Khatchoyan, serve up a special MJ feature funk 45. Presented in a special pressing in red vinyl with black splatter, we get awesome renditions of Michael Jackson tracks 'Beat It' and 'Thriller' from his iconic Thriller album from 1982. The big band energy of the players make these cover versions worthy your attention, with a killer horns section imitating the king of pop's falsetto to great effect.
Review: Tweak's latest is another fine trip through rhythm, texture and atmosphere across three originals that are couched in broken beat. 'Generation' leads with lovely laidback grooves and a warm, gloopy bassline as precise electronics merge with a hint of vintage soul. The 'Red Rover' (Rework) is another sunny, horizontal sound with bubbly broken beats and lush flutes adding the hook, then 'Fathorn' explores darker, more tribal rhythms with deep bass and ritualistic percussion. Raw Deal's Freedom Time Remix of 'Fathorn' takes it further with some fluid grooves and expressive brass top notes next to glowing, golden Rhodes chords. A fantastically feel-good and fuzzy sound.
Ella Andall - "My Spirit Is Music" (Luke Una Machine Soul Tops Off edit) (7:16)
Slick Mission - "Time's Up" (Luke Una 5am Shabeen Proto House edit) (7:13)
Manu Dibango - "Jingo" (feat King Sunny Ade - Luke Una Dancing In Outer Space edit) (5:51)
Review: While he's not put out many re-edits of late, Luke Una has serious scalpel-job pedigree. Back in the 2000s, he and then DJ partner Justin Crawford released a series of largely disco-focused edit EPs on the hush-hush Electrik Souls series. Here he returns to the format with the first in a series of reworks focused on his popular, dusty-fingered E Soul Cultura project. He begins by teasing out and lightly toughening up a killer Caribbean cut from the 1990s, Ella Andall's 'My Spirit Is Music' - an insanely rare and hard to find number that the Sheffield-born DJ has naturally tweaked sensitively. Elsewhere, he emphasises the 'proto-house dub' feel of Slick Mission's early UK house number 'Time's Up', before going even dubbed-out and more percussive on Manu Dibango's lesser-known cover of Latin disco classic 'Jingo'.
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