Review: &Me and Black Coffee make for something of an Afro house dream team here. The latter has long been this sound's pin-up and has gone from playing in South African townships to producing with Beyonce and winning Grammy Awards over the last decade. Now deep in his latest Ibiza season, he unveils collaborative track 'The Rapture' (Pt III), a deep rolling cut with spine-tingling chords and a rich atmosphere. &ME then goes solo for 'LIFE', a shuffling percussive groove with spoken words and enchanting chords to make for a classy two-tracker.
Review: London's 1-800 Girls brings cleanly garage and bright breaks to his All My Thoughts label, riffing on the combo of infectious aural hooks and brutalist sonics fashionable among the present chart doyens of UK dance music and techno. 'How I Feel' sounds like an innocent admission of affection in techno-garage form, pairing the flunky inter-jabs of 2-step garage with the cute-aggressive seethes of a repetitious sampled vox; the track centres on a nostalgic, airtight sequence of parapractic phonemes, onto which the listener may project their longings and amours. 'Signal' embraces both big beats and biomech squeaks verging on sports-whistles, while 'Like You Do' returns for a comparatively brooding burbler. Finally, 'Guy's Salmon' rounds things off on a dense sequence of yeahs and ohs, as ever building up a slow-burn of cool wonderment and openness.
Hand Made (feat Brutha Basil - Peacey remix) (5:30)
Hand Made (feat Brutha Basil - Rocco Rodamaal Raw mix) (4:46)
Hand Made (feat Brutha Basil - South Beach Recycling remix) (6:16)
Review: Steve Butler's most recent full-length excursion as Abel, Cosmic Law, rightly received plenty of plaudits on its release last year. 'Hand Made', a spacey, tech-tinged deep house featuring evocative spoken word vocals by American wordsmith Brother Basil, was one of that set's stand out cuts. This single release naturally features Butler's original mix, plus three new reworks. Rising star Peacey kicks things off with a spacey, bouncy, breakbeat-sporting revision, before Rocco Radamaal delivers an analogue bass-propelled, keyboard stab-sporting 'Raw Dub' that sounds like it was tailor made for dark, strobe-lit peak-time dancefloors. To round things off, sometime nu-disco sorts South Beach Recycling re-imagine the track as an intergalactic, ultra-deep slab of house hypnotism wrapped in spacey electronics.
The Truth (feat Bella Hardcover - acappella) (3:41)
Review: The Kwench label is back with more tasteful and timeless house and techno fusions here as Ad & The Persuader link up for The Truth EP. The title cut opens up with some lazy, wavy, dubby grooves with heady pads and then a dub version makes it even more fleshy and horizontal. 'Strolling' keeps things classy and deep cut with pillowy kicks toped with starry-eyed melodies and some glitchy perc. An cappella closes out the EP for DJ use. This is a quietly excellent 12" that oozes quality.
Review: Alex Albrecht is back with a brilliant follow-up to his 2018 'Blue Caves' outing on Scissor and Thread with 'Aurora.'. The Melbourne-based composer and sound designer showcases his knack for lush, evocative melodies in this one as he mixes skittering drums with intricate grooves. This package has six tracks of shimmering beauty from the buried keys and dreamy pads of 'Spring Orchard' to the rhythmic melancholy of 'Wildflower Walk'. The title track combines piano, guitar, and reverb-drenched synths into a nice warm atmosphere and Roza Terenzi's remix injects club-ready energy before closer 'Kennett River' provides a smudged, cinematic hip-hop vibe.
Review: German duo Ame, consisting of Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann, makes a striking comeback with their new single, 'Asa,' marking their first original release in three years through Innervisions. 'Asa' epitomises their approach to dance music, blending vibrant joy and euphoric energy into an unforgettable track. The composition thrives on repetition, yet each element is dynamic and ever-evolving. The piece weaves together bold synths, pulsating beats, and intricate melodies into a catchy dance track. This track demonstrates their knack for creating exhilarating, peak-time dance anthems while maintaining their signature adventurous sound.
Review: Inimeg Records label boss and general underground don Joey Anderson has always operated on the fringes of the deepest house and techno sounds. The New Jersey mainstay returns now with the Vanish EP on Obia Records while owner Wendel Sield also pops up with one tune. Anderson's trio ranges from the dusty, smoky basement dub of 'Vanish' to the ticking and glitchy minimal menace of 'Masked Ones' via the intense synth dystopia of 'Escape'. Sield's 'Cultivate' is a smeared, spacious cut with meandering pads and prickly percussion that zones you out for days.
Review: The Hyperdrive label is back with a third outing which once again offers up some exciting and forward-thinking new artists. Anderson's 'Sweet Psylow' kicks off with some psychedelic synth loops over crisp tech house drums that hark back to the 90s prog heyday. HearThuG's 'Back To The Future' is a darker sound with whistles, snappy snares and eerie chords and Luis Malon & Seb G then combine for the bouncing techno rhythms and acid-laced pads of 'Extasis Nebular.' Last but not least, Jamie Leather's 'Strange Commodities' is a surging cosmic techno trip with dynamic drums and perc and majestic leads. This is another fine release from this young label.
Review: Rawax welcomes ARAPU for a third release on the label and this time the minimal maestro taps into open-air dancing vibes with a nice organic and summery sound, but still plenty of direct grooves. 'Take It Deep Down' has dreamy vocal coos swirling up top next to soft synth patterns as the percussive beats drive down low. On the flip, 'The After' is a deep cut with rubbery, thudding kicks and organic percussion next to more smart vocal sounds that bring human emotions to the moving beats.
Review: Fresh from a digital-only outing on Cadenza, long-serving Romanian minimalist Ionut Arapu pops up on Satya with an EP that explores his little-discussed love of deep house. Check first 'Tribal', where dreamy pads, surprisingly funky TB-303 'acid' motifs and spacey lead lines cluster around layered house beats and restless hand percussion, before admiring the squelchy funkiness of Gesco collaboration 'Harsh'. He continues to combine sturdy, tribal-influenced deep house beats with warming musicality on the subtle Jaydee-influenced 'Manual Mode', while 'Just Hi' sits somewhere between breakbeat-house, deep house and tech-tinged melodic electro.
Review: Los Angeles-based ASHRR are back on 2020 Vision ahead of a new album and this time serve up their own superb version of The Romantics's 1983 hit 'Talking in Your Sleep.' In their hands, it becomes a club-ready sound with a vocal you may recognise as it featured in the Mad Max episode of Stranger Things. Add in some DFA-inspired punk funk vibes and with all the instruments reapplied while new layers of bass and synth are added and you have one fantastic new version. Balearic don Fernando steps up for two remixes, first stripping things back to a deep house sound and then bringing some dub disco vibes to the fore.
Review: "One swallow doesn't make a summer" isn't just a famous aphorism by the philosopher Aristotle. It's also the name of this stalwart Running Back V/A compilation, which aims to live by the mantle of the famous Ancient Greek thinker's passion for gestalt consistency via a stunning series of house musical forward-movers. This time bringing five tracks across the spectrum of technicolour dance music, we kick off on the trance-dance pscyho-efflorescences of Ricardo Baez' 'The Age Of Energy' and end on the twinklingly ovular world-as-will that is Jonus Eric's 'Ribbon'. All tracks here burst with the energy of a flowerbed on steroidal growth serum, yeahsome yellers and puce petunias flourishing with lady-lucky eudaimonia.
Review: BDK's Tequila EP from Say Namm White delivers four full-powered, disco-tinged house heaters. Side-1 opens with 'Big Disco Banger,' a high-energy, filtered house anthem true to its name, followed by 'I Don't Want It,' which offers a deeper, yet still anthemic, vibe. Side-2 starts with 'Love Coming Over,' leaning into a Euro disco sound with heavy Fire Island influences. The EP closes with 'Please Don't Rush,' the deepest house track of the lot. If you are a disco house enthusiasts then check this record out because its packed with infectious grooves and vibrant energy.
Review: Swedish talent Beatconductor is back with more of his masterful mash-ups, this time looking to pop icons like Taylor Swift and more commercial house artists like Peggy Gou for inspiration across the four cuts. 'Fallin' is a nice laidback and loved-up summer vibe about the feelings of falling in love, 'Sugar & Spajs' brings old school US soul sounds to another mid-tempo groove embellished with big horns and 'Tell Me U Luv Me' is a nicely heated and cosmic disco stepper with some big vocal stabs. 'Peggy Swift' closes with effortlessly breezy and catchy disco-pop.
Review: The third Bank of Switches release hears the effervescent Jake Beautyman flex some serious production muscle. We begin with 'Self Oscillating', a low-slung, late-night affair, channelling solid drums and sumptuous acid; the track is a nod to the deep, yet also keeps the energy rolling in shallower toppy waters, all the same. On the flip, meanwhile, comes the veritable squelch-out that is Steve O'Sullivan's remix, which veers on the harder edge of things yet in so doing brings out the energy further.
Review: 'Make Me Feel' is the first release from Miami-based duo Bedouin since the acclaimed Temple Of Dreams album. Featuring Iveta and arriving on their Human By Default label, the single captures their deep, organic house sound and ice again it blends their cultural influences into enchanting grooves characterised by dramatic minor chords, wavy drums, and wooden percussion. Iveta's soulful vocals add emotional depth, making the track a standout in the organic house world. Known for their SAGA party at Pacha Ibiza, Bedouin's new material has already proven to be a staple in their summer sets and will likely sound great long into winter.
Review: Bell Towers' solo dancecraft has always had a knowing sense of transcendence to it, one that refuses merely to fan-serve 'floors, and which rather prefers to challenge the listener ever so subtly, all while still keeping the sound thoroughly pleasurable. After a six-year hiatus on the front of disco edits, Towers (not his real name, FYI) returns with a third addition to the Buro Hahn, his patented series for just that endeavour, resident on the Munich label Public Possession. Though we don't know their origins, 'Can U Feel It' and 'On The Spectrum' bring an expertly sheeny, filter-happy suggestiveness to each original, the latter of which is an especially sultry verging on lecherous song. 'Lucky' is comparatively but happily cheugy, conferring something of the vibe of an obscure Japanese sitcom's title sequence, while 'Shower Scene (Extra Steam)' rounds things off on a note of bemusement with an excellent 90s-style vocaloid house number. The last track especially is a need-to-know sample source, internet searches of which still nonetheless come up empty. Could it be you who finds it?
Review: Benedict is a brand new white label that kicks off with a hand-stamped 12". We like that no-frills approach because it suggests a real belief in the music, and that is not misguided in this instance. Whoever Benedict is or are clearly has a love of sultry deep house: 'Something' is all smudged chords and pillowy kicks with a gorgeous r&b vocal loosely trailed through the whole mix. It's got heart and drive in perfect balance. 'Something Else' reworks the same cut with a little more of a kick drum focus - though it lands heavier than the original, the aching soul of the vocal is in no way lost.
What You Want (feat Colonel Red - DJ Crisps remix) (7:14)
Let's Get Wild (Orlando Voorn remix) (6:30)
Review: Bouman is looking to establish itself in the deep house world and made a fine start with its first EO, This second one is another head-turner that comes from Benx with a couple of sweet remixes. 'What You Want' (feat Colonel Red) opens up with some soul-drenched sounds and lively drum programming topped with a great original vocal. 'Beautiful' is more warm house with smoky chord work that calls to mind early Kerri Chandler. A DJ Crisps remix brings some real bass weight and garage percussion and last of all, Orlando Voorn remixes 'Let's Get Wild' into a bulky techno roller.
Review: Ali Berger has long been known for crafting soulful, dynamic house music whether through his label Trackland or releases on Spectral Sound, Clave House, Firm Tracks, and FCR. He also performs solo or with Davis Galvin as Hits Only when his unique touch always remains evident. This new 12" features four tracks that blend uplifting and introspective house vibes and it oozes class. Opener 'Sun Rising On Harmony' boasts an infectious bass line and melody, while 'Inside,' offers a classic acid house feel. On the B-side, you have the lovely 'Thoughts Like Light Snow' which delivers an alluring electro twist, while 'Mint Leaf' closes with a rich bass line and intricate details.
Review: 'My House' was a parting gift from Queen Bey herself following her record-setting 'Renaissance' album cycle, the first in a trilogy she continued with 2024s 'Cowboy Carter'. Landing multiple awards and ten top spots on various 'Best of 2022' lists, the track is a big, brassy, chant-led track featuring the same hallmarks that peppered her 'Homecoming' history-making Coachella performance. Serving as promotion and as the credits sequence, for her theatrical concert film 'Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce'. The track is anthemic and uplifting, a combination of braggadocious flexing and preaching the power of love and healing - it's an infectious hit. On the B-side of this release is an extended intro edit of Beyonce's legendary chart-topping hit 'Single Ladies', celebrating its 16th birthday this year.
Review: West London label Slip 'N' Slide continues to refresh the classics, as Seth Troxler and Franck Roger deliver remixes of the 1997 Blaze favourite 'Lovelee Dae'. An artist who needs little introduction, Seth Troxler's name is synonymous with American house and techno of the last two decades, with his formative years in Detroit shaping his sound before moving to the techno capital of the world Berlin. His ventures as a label boss, and club owner of Night Tales, further cemented the talent as an underground hero, and he now joins the likes of Carl Craig, Roman Flugel, and Isolee in giving 'Lovelee Dae' an expertly crafted remix, building from minimal grooves to a grand and immersive wash of sound. Also stepping up on remix duties comes Parisian producer, crate digger and label boss of Real Tone Records, Franck Roger, adding his signature beat focussed approach to the iconic track.
Review: Bluets' debut on Kimochi Sound seamlessly integrates into the label's well established and distinctive style. This one, with a hand-sprayed sleeve as always, opens with "if you can imagine," a confident bit of microhouse that mixes rich melodies and a lively bassline. 'Action Potential' echoes RDMA's aesthetic with its precise beats and on the B-side you will find a vaporous melody that weaves through sparse downbeat house grooves to make for a dreamlike atmosphere. Closing the EP, 'Buong Bilog' features distorted IDM rhythms and a poignant refrain that balances twitchy textures with melancholic tones. This carefully crafted release bridges home-listening electronics with dancefloor clout.
Review: Boaksi's debut EP on Seb Wildblood's all my thoughts label, titled Keep Movin', features the Zurich-based producer's talent for crafting emotionally resonant electronic music. The title track sets the tone with creamy pads, impactful percussion, and subtle dub techno influences, creating a deep and dynamic groove. 'Didn't I' follows with a beautiful, progressive melody and minimalist vocals that evoke a sense of yearning and romanticism. 'Running Out Of Time' takes a more introspective turn, featuring distant textures and soft, distorted pads over stripped-back percussion. Finally, 'Wanna Be With You' closes the EP with sweet soundscapes, elemental drums, climatic chords, and a playful synth arpeggio around an unforgettable vocal hook. Boaksi demonstrates a keen understanding of atmosphere and emotion throughout the EP, making Keep Movin' a engaging and fun record.
Review: Neat contemporary UKG taking after the classics. Ba Dum Tish once more welcomes producer Bob G for 15 minutes' worth of well-layered 2-step and 4x4, in the form of 'Happenings'. The buzzsaw on the front cover might echo the influence of Blow's 'Cutter' on the then contemporary sound of UKG in its original 90s heyday; meanwhile, sonically, the likes of 'Happenings' and 'Soothing' bring fruit-driven strings and sweet-attacked rims n' knocks to the table and 'Unclosed' and 'Off Switch' present further experiments in the realms of flat beats and speed garage, the former working in a restless acid line and the latter bringing in a touch of speed's essential laggard swing.
Review: Bogdan Ra's excellent 'What Is A DJ?' EP takes its inspiration from the late 80s acid house and Italo, displaying a real mix of vintage charm and contemporary relevance that will strike all the right notes on the dancefloor. From the snappy title cut to the electro rhythms of 'Arroios' via the funky disco rhythms of 'Tonic Glue' and feel good factor of closer 'That's All', this is quality production that will more than stand the test of time.
Review: Following Ohm Hourani's infectious 'Barbara' featuring remixes by Ricardo Villalobos and Amir Javasoul, We R The Aliens presents a standout various artists compilation with an all-star lineup of Boronas & Snad, Bartaub, Mountain People, and Nesta. Boronas & Snad's 'Affliction' is rich with haunting synths, rolling MPC percussion, and mind-bending delays. Istanbul's Bartaub pays homage to the '90s with 'Orbit The Dance Planet' which blends bumpy breaks, robotic voices, and ghastly chords. On the flip, Mountain People delivers 'I Am The Void,' featuring shuffled drums and dubby stabs. Finally, Beirut's Nesta closes with 'Tarte Citron' a late '90s tech house track with crisp percussion and catchy vocals.
Review: Tetsu Shibuya, better known as simply Tetsu or BRISA is a Japanese producer and DJ known for works on the iconic Japanese Jazzy Sport imprint, King Street sub-label Nite Grooves and his own BRISA Music. Leading the EP is title-track 'Stir', in collaboration with Turbojazz BRISA delivers a classic slice of deep house built upon layers of bright stab sequences and loose organic percussion. Detroit's beloved Jon Dixon turns his hand to 'Stir' next, encapsulating the soul of his hometown in reshaping fragments of the original composition. The original of 'Reverie' opens the B-side, laying down a broken rhythm, low-pitched vocal hooks and elongated bass grooves for a more bruk tinged feel. Byron The Aquarius then extracts the core of 'Reverie' and spins it into bumpy, subtly nuanced house workout. Lastly the third original 'Flux' rounds out the release, shifting deeper in funkinfused realms with a playful plucked bass groove and heavily swung drums.
Review: Broken Keys is a multi-talented musician and producer based in Los Angeles. His cut 'Assorted Colors' has become a real underground house classic that now lands on wax for the first time as a special extended 12" remix that really locks you into the languid grooves. The legendary Galcher Lustwerk steps up to add his own distinctive take on the original and infuses it with a techy yet atmospheric groove. Broken Keys explores a different facet of his sound with three distinct cuts on the flip that range from blunted beats and sun-kissed Balearic to chilled-out future soul. They make for a diverse package perfect for the after-club or Sunday morning listening.
Review: Steve Bug is one of the titans of the European underground and his label Pokerflat very much defined the tech house sound of the early noughties. His own Ho EP played a part in that and now it gets reissued on Chiwax's Classic Edition. 'Ho (Future Line I)' is a full throttle tech house weapon with dubby low ends and icy hi-hats, while Future Line II cuts up the beat into a more broken pattern. 'Girls On Lighters' keeps it deep with pulsing synths and humid chord infusions over thudding kicks and 'Mohair' closes out this most timeless EP with some more glitchy textures and late night sounds.
Alex Burkat - "Take It Away" (Kalyptra remix) (6:14)
Kalyptra - "Young Indigo Theme" (5:44)
Alex Burkat & Matt Cif - "Magneta" (4:53)
Review: For their second 12" release - which comes on the heels of a great debut - the Only Child label presents a fresh soundscape for a fictional Manhattan neighbourhood. It takes the form of a split EP on which Alex Burkat offers his interpretation of modern deep house on 'Take It Away', while Kalyptra brings a distinctive Ecuador-meets-Philly influence with his remix. The label hopes that the fusion of these styles creates an ethereal, body-moving soundtrack that captures the essence of walking through the streets of New York City in 2024, while 'Kalyptra' adds his own heady and dreamy tech house sounds and Matt Cid steps up to collaborate on closer 'Magenta' which glistens with melodic radiance.
Review: Melbourne's Eden Burns has been publishing their 'Big Beat Manifesto' in vinyl form for a good while now. We'd'n't've predicted a musical style popularised by Norman Cook warrants manifesto-penning on a level of the Dadaists, Futurists or Stuckists, but hey, we won't complain, cos the music is sick. And it hardly sounds like your typical 'big beat' either. Nah, this is more a tricksy, comical clubsploitation hat-trick, verging - if you must tease a genre name - dubby tech house, moving into locomotive techno. Andras and Eden Burns' 'Wrangler' begins on a recondite note, with a faint vocal sample suggesting ideas of wanting to be in on an impossible joke. Desire turns to 'Obsession' on the A2, pon which a central monotone resounds like the toot of a steam train, while the B1, 'Calvin Klein' blithely indulges the tech house underwear brand sponsorship deal through chuggy womps and further, sultry vox cutups.
Review: Alexis Cabrera has always liked to subvert expectations and cross traditional genre lines in his work. He does so again here on the On_NRV label which brims with inventive spirit. 'Mi Housa Es Tu Housa' is a vibrant minimal house cut with some fresh synth sounds looping through rolling and infectious drums. 'Balas Que Pican Cerca' has a more abstract cosmic feel with menacing sci-fi pads and unreeling drum funk. 'Expiration Pain' has a steely aesthetic with rugged and textural synth motifs looping up through the mix and last of all, 'Under That Blue Sea' is a more balmy cut that allows you to catch your breadth amongst some deeper grooves.
Shining Of Life Flutemental (unreleased version) (11:01)
Shining Of Life Flutemental (Lambros Jahmans remix) (5:15)
UNDUB (Space Ritual dub) (10:40)
Shining Of Life Flutemental (Space Ritual dub) (11:15)
Review: Some 20 years ago, Japanese producer donned the K.F alias (the initials of his given name, Kiyotaka Fukagawa) and delivered the astonishingly good 'Shining of Life', a sun-soaked Balearic house treat shot through with Japanese nu-jazz musicality, gospel-influenced vocals and expansive, life-affirming piano solos. This EP offers up previously unheard 'Shining of Light Flutemental' takes. Calm's own 'unreleased mix' retains some of the key elements of the 2004 original while adding morning-fresh flute solos and starry sounds seemingly inspired by Detroit techno. The 'Lambros Jahmans Sunset Mix' is a dreamy and immersive interpretation underpinned by an Afro-house style beat, while the 'Space Ritual Dub' is an almost entirely beat-free soundscape. On 'Undub (Space Ritual Dub)', the same producer wraps echoing flute and piano motifs around a tactile, hand percussion-driven rhythm track.
Review: Western Australian Casual Connection has been serving up occasional seven-inch singles of edits and reworks since 2019, each pleasingly limited and packed with cuts tweaked for dancefloor pressure. This '45' is the Perth-based producer's first outing of 2024. On side A you'll find '1 Thing Feels So Good', a cannily crafted number in which the vocal from Amerie R&B classic 'One Thing' rides a backing track built out of loops and samples from a pitched-down disco-boogie classic. It's cheeky but brilliantly executed - instant party-starting guaranteed! His love of blending r&b and hip-hop vocals with classic samples and his own beats comes to the fore once more on 'Always Party on Time'. It's good, too, but lacks the instant gratification provided by the A-side.
Review: Colin Curtis - an early purveyor of rare groove and jazzdance whose credo rings far and wide - has been helming his own label of originals for some time now. Presently focusing on the best live-feel broken beat, house and jazz in his orbit, his latest curation, Cengiz and Ishfaq's 'Vibrations', is no break from this general rule. Each artist helming one side respectively, Cengiz' 'Motf' and its remix work a steadily built progression around faint jeers, metallic percs, filterpassed tom fills and space-age risers, the latter of which is much more skeletal than the former; while Ishfaq's 'Wonderjazz' moves impressively somewhere in the lost interregnum between speed garage and techfunk.
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