Staff Picks: November 12th 2021

Review: In a monumental move - after being personally asked to do so by Sylvester's estate - Soulwax has returned to Craft Recordings for this latest double reworking of the icon's 1978 disco classic, 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'. This 12" is a straight-up affair, with one vocal and one instrumental adorning each respective side, and both dealing in Soulwax's slapping club reinforcements of a classic disco bit. And that's not to mention a hidden, never-heard-before Patrick Cowley synth solo found before the start of the original multitrack. This cut was specially made to play on the Despacio soundsystem, the 50,000-watt vinyl only system created by Soulwax alongside LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy.

Review: Mysticisms is back with more of that freaky floor fare to get ID spotters looking worriedly at their Shazams while the real party people get on down. Persian originally dropped the absolute bomb that is 'Feel Da Vibe' back in 2011 on Existence Is Resistance in a hailstorm of samples and some lairy garage bass wobble under a swung house beat. It's high time the mighty test press power of Persian hit a few more platters, and the track's sounding stellar 10 years on. Brother Nebula does a stellar job of hazing the track out with warbling pads pitched for the spooky but sexy hour. 'Silver Spaceships' was originally out in 2001 as a white label, capturing the energy of breakstep mixed with the airy synth platitudes of finest deep techno and electro. Alphonse offers up a remix which wigs the track out as a weightless wonder with ample subs and scattered breaks for the patient ravers.

Review: Manchester's revered DJ and producer Anz makes a long-awaited debut on Ninja Tune here with her standout All Hours EP. On it, the artist pays tribute to many different aspects of electronic music from across the ages. It is ambitious in that regard, but more than pulls off the task as it soundtracks a whole 24 hour period. After the warm bass and finger clicks of the opener come upbeat summer melodies and slapping electro-funk on 'You Could Be,' shuffling UKG vibes that are super sweet on 'Real Enough To Feel Good,' blistering old school breaks on 'Inna Circle' and a rave tinged old school and hardcore banger on 'Last Before Lights.' These genre-bending sounds are infectious and joyous in equal measure.

Review: Man like Quantic aka Will Holland, a real musicologist, world music maestro and bandleader, revisits one of his old tracks following a slew of other producers doing the same. That track is 'Pushin On' and here he takes its timeless Alice Russell vocal and drops it into a new beat. It's one that is swung with plenty of UKG references and is finished off with nice soft melodies up top. Add in a bit of tape hiss and some broken beats and you have an anthem in the making. Flip it over for a paired back instrumental. Either of these will be huge in the club, so do not sleep.

Review: The Ear Full of Wax continues to serve up lovingly presented packages - a white label hand-stamped 12" limited to 300 copies this time with music from a range of underground heads. This long-awaited second outing showcases a variety of experimental club sounds starting with Heritage & Delo's icy and minimal stepper 'Undesirable.' Low End Activist gets dark and dirty with his fizzing bass workout and Krotone's 'Immersed' is then a cluster of numbing beats and hits that also comes as a Yosh remix that is a busy breakbeat banger.

Review: The latest of Radiohead's reissues is an utter avalanche of material. 'Kid A Mnesia' itself is an 'album mashup' between their two albums Kid A and Amnesia; both projects are remastered and released side-by-side on the same LP. It doesn't stop there: for the fanatics, there's an exclusive third disc, Kid Amnesiae, which contains formerly unheard material both recording sessions, as well as Kid Amnesiette, a cassette of B-sides. This ultra-deluxe edition is, decidedly, one for the ultra-fans. Besides the radical electronic fever dreams making up both projects, this version contains the never-before-heard song 'If You Say The Word' on the bonus CD. Remastered on vinyl and cut at half the speed of the original LP, it's an audiophile's banquet. Also watch out for the exclusive booklet of drawings that come with the special edition of this special edition.

Review: British producer Felix Clary Weatherall, who is far better known as Ross From Friends, makes a huge step up with his Tread album on Brainfeeder. It retains the lo-fi, nostalgic sense of melody that made him such a breakout star a couple of years ago, but with a new depth and high-class production prowess that stands it even further apart. There are plenty of crackly old samples of soul, pitched up r&b vocals A real element of sonic experimentation is there if you look for it in this album, but the tunes themselves are so sweet and compelling that it never feels too try-hard. A fantastic work.

Review: There's currently a vogue for modern artists reworking the work of soul legends. One of our favourites from said crop has to be this 12" by nu-jazz and broken beat mainstay Atjazz, whose latest efforts come in the form Nina Simone cover, 'See-Line Woman'. Working with Dominique Fils-Aime - a Montreal singer-songwriter noted for taking inspiration from soul icons from the 40s and 60s like Simone and Billie Holiday - the result is a smooth, subdued take on the original Simone B-side. Happier light is shed on a song that originated as a 19th-Century African American folk song for sailors and sex workers.

Review: The big man Perc is back on his own Perc rex outlet with another fizzing and brain frying industrial techno EP that manages to reach new highs. The intensity of the title track is astounding - its made from layers of caustic texture, rusted metal surfaces and blistered synths that never let up. It makes Phil Spector's so-called wall of sound seem like a straw hurdle, frankly. 'Resistor' is a another fierce track that will terrify the young with its malfunctioning machine sounds and serrated loops and '240 Volts' is a bulky, cantering techno banger designed to rattle your ribs.

Review: The irrepressible, initiate Phantasy Sound goes techno for this characterful new outing from Josh Caffe. He is already an underground London legend known for his left of centre sounds and this weird and wonderful tune plays into that mystique. It's got a range of freaky vocals, French mutterings and libidinous moans and groans that are layered into the pumped up and warm techno drums and pulsing synths. It's perfectly queer and original and is backed with a darker dub on the flip that is just as steamy and high speed. 'According to Jacqueline' is a fine statement of intent from Caffe's.

Review: Durutti Column fans will often say that this album, Paean to Wilson, is the band's best work since Factory Records began its sad demise in the early 1990's. It was in 2009 that the record was commissioned by Manchester International Festival of Music, at which point Vini Reilly had already composed pieces for Manchester icon Tony Wilson to listen to from his hospital bed. The album developed from there and gave rise to a 70-minute international festival tribute to Tony Wilson. It features plenty of virtuoso guitar performances from Reilly, who refused to sing during that live show as another tribute to Wilson who had always said he should leave the vocals out.

Review: Moscoman's Disco Halal welcomes back the much loved Berlin-based artist Budakid for a second outing. It is another idiosyncratic take on house music that shows off the producer's master of his synths as well as a knack for kinked house grooves. The title track is a star-gazing affair with dreamy pads and hooks, while 'Over Not Over' offers another melancholic groove with sombre piano chords but rickety beats. There is a forlorn feeling to 'Ochre Tuesday' that's paired with an elastic bassline to great effect and then 'Astray In Woodland' and 'Cosmic Stork' close out with a more rich synth texture and upbeat house grooves.

Review: It's been two long years since Omar McCutcheon AKA Batu put out an EP on his popular Timedance label, so the arrival of I Own Your Energy is most welcome. In keeping with the weighty, mind-mangling "techno-not-techno" style he's developed over the last decade, the EP is full to bursting with hard-to-pigeonhole, sub-heavy excursions aimed fairly and squarely at UK bass dancefloors. Title track 'I Own Your Energy' wraps metallic motifs and echoing electronics to a sturdy post-dubstep beat, while 'Inner Space' is a fizzing, heavyweight techno workout that boasts some surprising (but inspired) sounds. Over on the flip, 'Go Deeper' is a sleazy and breathless polyrhythmic techno jam with a lo-fi edge, and 'Deep Breath' sounds like a Bristolian take on LFO circa Frequencies.

Review: In the prelude to his upcoming album 'Musca', two classic remixes appear by 'domestic house' legend Matthew Herbert. This time, they're given a never-before pairing on his own singles sublabel, Accidental Junior. In an intuitive move, the A-side houses none other than a new remaster of Herbert's classic remix of Moloko's 'Sing It Back', a song which has enjoyed an unlikely resurgence in popularity on the international hard dance circuit in recent years. On the B, one can find a lesser-known diggers' delight: Herbert's headsy 'High Dub' rerub of weirdo jazz crooner Louis Austen's 'Hoping'. As they always have been, both remixes are playful, hi-fi audiophile's auspices, dealing divinely in Herbert's trademark clockwork sound.

Review: The Vitamin D label is here to enrich your life with its bubbly gage vibes, and few make them better than mainstays K Lone and Wilfey D. This is another super sweet four-tracker from the pair that opens with the ripe and juicy 'Strawberries.' Emotive r&b vocal, check. Well swung drums, check. Neon chords, check. 'Moodswings' is another nice clipped bumper with some natty chord work and a more Todd Edwards styled vocal chop, and 'STR8 UP' is pure throwback two-step gold complete with string stabs and another gorgeous vocal. 'Getting Late' bangs that bit harder for the late-night hours. A fine EP.

Review: As played by DJ Koco, J Rocc,The Allergies, Smoove.... Big b boy drums, punchy brass,twangy guitar and a timeless killer vocal workout from Tyra Hammond. Irresistable soul drenched funk fodder !! Initially out on New Zealand imprint On The Crate Records back in 2006 and later featured as a 12'' EP on Mukatsuku in 2007 but long since deleted the label re visits again this bonefide monster classic yet again this time in 7 inch format with a never heard before unreleased instrumental version on flipside.