Staff Picks: March 26th 2021

Review: If it's high-grade, musically rich deep house you're after, Kai Alce's latest three-tracker - his first solo 12" for almost three years - should be on your radar. A-side 'Heaven' is a typically groovy affair in which deep Rhodes chords, soulful vocal snippets and mazy synthesized trumpet solos dance atop a warming bassline and typically bustling, well-programmed beats. 'Luv Fantasy' is deeper and chunking, with heavier bass and sweatier drums sparring with sustained synth-strings, atmospheric organ chords and ear-catching melodic motifs, while 'Stars' sees him doff a cap to the mid 1990s sound of Kerri Chandler while breaking up the beats impressively.

Review: Hot on the heels of his rather good - though not particularly sub-heavy - Beast In My Bass EP on Automatic Writing, Sweely pitches up on Mulen for the very first time. In keeping with his evolving style, opener 'Super Deep' sits somewhere between deep house and tech-house, with warming, fluttering chords and whispered female vocal snippets riding bumping, US garage-influenced drums and heavy, chunky bass. 'What's Wrong' employs similar beats and bass but sees Sweely opt for jazzier chords, glitchy electronics and spacey stabs, while 'Underwater Adrenalinn'[sic] is darker and creepier in tone whilst retaining his usual funky drums and deep bass. Closing cut 'Against Your Idea', meanwhile, doffs a cap to late 1990s UK tech-house while being framed for 21st century dancefloors.

Review: Following searing drops from the likes of Borai and Tamoshi, Vivid come correct once more with this blistering 12" from Yosh. You may have spotted Yosh elsewhere, such as with the formidable One More Night EP for Timeisnow, but now they're back on familiar ground for more of that head-tweaking breakbeat science. There are more ragged ructions like lead track 'Destruction', and dreamier fare such as the blissful 'The Source', but throughout it's the diversity in drum palettes and needlepoint editing skills that make Yosh's tracks so vibrant and deadly. Miss this at your peril.

Review: Since the mid 1990s electronic explorer and sound designer Ryoji Ikeda has amassed a vast catalogue of releases. Some of these, though, are either hard to find or were only released on certain formats - hence this release on Sahko. It gathers together two lengthy compositions from early in his career that were previously only available on CD. Our pick of the pair is gorgeous A-side 'Luxus 1-3', a stunning, 16-minute suite from 1995 debut album 1000 Fragments that fuses deep space ambience with the orchestral musical cycles of American minimalism and plenty of gently mild-altering effects. Flipside 'Space', which first surfaced in 1998, is a ghostly piece of haunting sound design in which distance sub-bass tones struggle to break through a dense fog of creeping chords and digital watch bleeps.

Review: Right Angle Records marks its arrival into the world of minimal and tech house with a pair of fresh new cuts from Mr Fixie. His first original, 'Track & Trace' is a bulbous party pumper with nice tripped out effects, then the other, 'Purple Gloves' is a more tense and acid laced bumper.
'The Leyton House Track' is presented as a Silverlining remix, and it brings busted bass with skipping kicks and a nice sweet vocal for some rude boy flavours. Last of all, we're treated to some dreamy old school breakbeats on 'Switchheroo' (Jeigo remix).

Review: Japanese imprint Endless Flight presents a reissue of the arcane and mystical opus Ancient Rain by Koss aka Kuniyuki Takahashi, originally released back in 2008 as a CD only. It was an attempt to meld old melodic traditions with textural layers of modern electronic frequencies, in the process creating a ''new oriental sound', translating traces of ancient Asian music traditions into modern realms. Featuring a variety of moods and tones, from the celestial new age beats of 'Jumoku', to the shoegaze tinged ambient of the title track, '78 to 2008' with its knackered house vibe and the neo-classical inspiration behind 'Dream' (Real World) are just some highlights on this highly mediative sonic journey through the veteran producer's mind.

Review: Truncate is celebrated by his fellow DJs for the grand power and impact of his drums. However he shapes them, they cannot fail to arrest the attention of any dance floor. This outing on his own Truncate label is another fine example crafted alongside Dotdat. There is a trippy Detroit melodic minimalism to 'PNQ V1' that will tie your mind in knots, then 'HYD V1' layers up jacking drum loops that never resolve with edgy synth pulses. It's tense and unrelenting techno for late night experiences and to close, 'HYD V2' brings more raw and wild textures to the ever-pounding kick drums. Devastating stuff.

Review: The Jahari Massamba Unit is an all new jazz project from the legendary Madlib and Karriem Riggins. Madlib is responsible for all the instrumentals bar the drums, which Riggins takes care of, and both bring a wealth of jazz and hip hop experience and knowledge to the collaboration. The sounds are best described as spiritual jazz, or as Madlib calls it 'Black classical music', and are steeped in history while also offering up a vision of the future. There are moments of abstract sun worshiping, lush broken beat grooves with exquisite solos and more prickly pieces. This sure is another vital entry into the ever excellent discography of Madlib.

Review: 
South London via Jamaica's cktrl aka Bradley Miller is on a mission to amplify black leftfield music. This new EP is his most ambitious and accomplished yet and sees him partnering with Errol and Alex Rita's Touching Bass imprint. Spurred on by the overpowering feelings of heartbreak, the EP deals in heartfelt sounds from the clarinet, rich sax-led soundscapes and a swell of emotional empty spaces that really linger and leave an indelible heart on your mind, body and soul. As well s being one fo the few remaining original NTS DJs, Miller also recent secured a cameo in Beyonce's 'Black Is King'.

Review: The last few years have really seen Paul Woolford reach the top of his game in many different ways. Be it bowel emptying rave as Special Request, festival baiting piano house tunes or chart topping pop dance crossovers under his own name, the man is proving himself to have a real golden touch. He sure does crank out all these tunes at a prolific rate, too, but you still feel he does everything with meticulous precision. This DJ Kicks is a case in point. It touches on all the many different facets of his sound from glossy and feel good house to early Chicago classics, post-rave dreamscapes to brutal jungle breaks. What a legend.

Review: A year on from its hard hitting debut, French label Saike returns with a second sizzling offering of no frills bangers. Once again it comes from the duo of Viper Diva who mix up rave, techno and trance into shiny, maximal tunes. 'Alice' is a real stomper, with trippy chords up top and turbo charged kicks, while 'Horny Consequences' is very much not sexy in anyway, but it sure is powerful thanks to the over driven drums and ghoulish vocals. 'Snake Does Cry (Unpolished mix)' close son a big euro-trance vibe, which is sure to send hands in the air.

Review: There's very little collaborative work by Chez Damier and Ron Trent, especially the cuts they made during the days of Prescription Records, that isn't timeless and top-drawer. You could certainly say that about the four tracks that make up 1994's now reissued Hip To Be Disillusioned Volume 1. The untitled opener is loopy, deep and hypnotic in their trademark early morning style, while the track that follows - a version of Primitive Arts LP cut 'Sometimes I Feel Like' - is a little warmer and more positive in tone but no less chunky and locked-in. The flipside opens with a rolling, early morning loop jam (think deep, chunky bass, delay-laden synth stabs and crunchy drums), while the closing cut is a wickedly stripped back version of previous single 'I Feel The Rhythm'.

Review: French electro veteran dynaRec has always sat a little to the side of the masses in the scene, which is precisely what makes his music so damn special. Clearly, Helena Hauff agrees, and so dynaRec makes an appearance on Return To Disorder with this colourful, animated four-tracker. 'Expert Text Reader' is a party monster with broad appeal - it's actually redolent of the electroclash era thanks to its catchy arps and vocoder hooks. 'Ray Mentor' takes things tougher and freakier, while 'Messiah' turns up an unexpected 4/4 jacker with some mean swing and rowdy synth riffs to get people bumping hard. 'Twisted Helix Posture' finishes the EP off on a future-synth-pop tip that will have robot souls short circuiting all over the place.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.

The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.