The best new singles this week
This week’s to-die-for 45s
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Jamie 3:26 – Live My Life (Nu Groove)
Beloved Chicago selector Jamie 326 arrives on Nu Groove Records with a release that beautifully connects house music’s glorious past and optimistic present, serving a pair of fully authentic cuts on the ‘Live My Life’ EP. With such a formidable pedigree, one would be forgiven for thinking Jamie ‘326’ Watson had been turning out wax since the dawn of house music. In fact, his production debut arrived on Partehardy back in 2008, with a continual stream of high-grade releases following ever since. He’s made appearances on labels including BBE, Local Talk, GAMM, and his own 326 imprints, but it’s arguably for his irrepressible crowd rocking DJ sets that he’s best known. His selections routinely transcend temporal dimensions, utilising, as he does, sounds forged throughout the house and disco epoch and beyond. With this in mind, his Nu Groove debut feels like a rather wonderful fit, since the label itself is steeped in vintage allure while newly invigorated with a contemporary thrust.
The quasi-mythical New York imprint has enjoyed a fluctuating existence since being launched by Frank and Karen Mendez back in 1988. Throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, the label released a flurry of far-reaching house jams from the likes of The Burrell Brothers, Aphrodisiac, Bas Noir, Kenny Dope and Frankie Bones, quickly becoming a mainstay for lovers of the blossoming house sound. After an extended period of slumber, Nu Groove reappeared around a decade ago with a series of compilations and reissues, before, in 2017, UK club colossus Defected Records swooped in to acquire the label. ‘Live My Life’ sounds almost as if it’s been plucked from a hidden Chicago house archive, with its tough four/four groove powering an infectious vocal hook over a stripped arrangement, as organs swirl and ascending strings soar into the ether. B side track ‘Feelin’ It’ adds a few measures of disco energy, with lively percussion, funk guitars, and phasing chords caressing the soul-searing vocal chops as they echo across the heaving dancefloor.
PC
Perception & Mad Mike – Windchime (Remastered) (Underground Resistance)
Underground Resistance continue their recent kind-hearted approach to reissuing their immense catalogue, this time presenting a remastered edition of Perception & Mad Mike’s seminal ‘Windchime’ EP. The enigmatic Detroit collective hold an untouchable place in the hearts and minds of the world’s machine soul disciples. Since bursting out of Motor City techno’s second wave in 1990, the label and its associated artists have become synonymous with an uncompromising sound that encapsulates the soul-rich zenith of raw, profound, and entirely authentic subterranean dance music. Launched by Mad Mike Banks, Jeff Mills, and Robert Hood with a distinct militant brand image, over time the collective morphed and evolved to include (and, in some cases, exclude) the likes of Rolando, Gerald Mitchell, and James Pennington among many others. Ground-breaking releases arrived from Suburban Knight, Aztec Mystic, Davina, UR and more, and it’s appropriate to say the label long ago achieved legendary status.
Following a string of gratefully received reissues in recent months and years, this time attention is turned to UR co-founder Mike Banks’ 2004 collaboration with Chuck ‘Perception’ Gibson. Though original copies of the title aren’t especially rare, the remastered and freshly pressed version is unquestionably worth owning for any Detroit enthusiasts who don’t yet own a copy. The music, today as then, sounds entirely stunning. Stripped and blissfully soulful, the title track sees celestial melodies intertwine, with its evocative string stab solo darting through hypnotic marimbas while the held down rhythm maintains the course. The arrangement breaks down for a life-affirming eruption, as sustained bass notes and simmering strings make way for the infectious lead melodies to dance back into life. On the reverse, Gibson goes it alone with the dream-inducing ‘Abandoned Building In Mono’. Here, emotive harmonies hover over a simple drum track, gently undulating as shimmering keys delicately canter over the meditative groove. Both tracks are nothing short of exquisite, with each representing a magnificent example of the introspective reaches of the supremely thick UR canon.
PC
The Glimmers / Golden Bug / Leroy Hanghofer / The KDMS – Lost Gomma Mixes (Toy Tonics)
Berlin-based Toy Tonics take a nostalgic trip into discos past, paying homage to past lives with the four-track ‘Lost Gomma Mixes’ EP. A younger incarnation of Toy Tonics operated as a sub-label to now dormant German indie goliath, Gomma Records – a label once renowned for its forward-facing dance inventory. Now fully formed and having long ago flown the proverbial nest, the Tonics team revisit some former glories by digging up a selection of long lost tracks that originally surfaced during the heady Gomma years. The record features an ensemble cast of disco luminaries, some we’ve not heard from for a while, and others who are still very much part of the movement’s fertile landscape. Kicking things off, we find Pete Herbert & Tristan da Cunha’s scintillating remix of The Glimmers’ ‘U Rocked My World’. Aimed squarely at the disco jugular, the track unfolds over a deliciously percussive house groove, with growling bass undulating under Latin piano chords and searing vocal sweeps that steadily build to a fist-pumping crescendo. Next, In Flagranti take on Golden Bug’s ‘LookLookLook’, where bubbling synth lines interplay with driving chords, infectious bass slaps and maniacal vocal slices for an intoxicating main room explosion.
On the reverse, a name we don’t see too often (save the occasional mega pop remix appearance) pops up to enliven Leroy Hanghofer’s ‘Pin’. Stuart ‘Jacques Lu Cont’ Price burst onto and out of the dance underground in and around the naughties, exemplifying the fun and frenetic electro house sound with work recorded under various guises. Now best known for his work behind the controls for the likes of Dua Lipa and Madonna, here we find him flexing in club mode under his much loved Lu Cont moniker, alongside Sloop John Barillo. A touch more subtle than his most unadulterated work, here we find throbbing bass propelling deviant vocal chops and space-age synth sweeps over a crisp disco funk rhythm. Finally, legendary NYC DJ and former Studio 54 resident Nicky Siano steps in to work his magic on ‘Never Stop Believing’ from The KDMS. Laying the seductive vocal over a brooding bassline, Siano adds layers of effervescent percussion, freeform overdubs and atmospheric horns over a sparsely populated cut. Harking back to simpler times while retaining enduring freshness, the music slots immaculately into today’s dancefloors.
PC
Lightning In A Twilight Hour – The Circling Of The Seasons (Elefant)
A blissful slice of balearica from Bobby Wratten’s LIATH project. ‘The Circling Of The Seasons’ comes as a teaser to his second solo album under the moniker. It’s an exemplary slice of Wratten’s style: droning soundscapes, gemstoney refractions, sloshing blips and trickles, crisp 909s, pure intonation, minimal riffs…
Despite relating to the upcoming project, the two songs tease but do not feature on the album. Rather, Wratten asks that we take them in on their own merits and only link them to the album thematically, which helps amp up the mystery. Charting a more experimental and ambient fusion sound than former pop-folk songs (‘Everyone Talks About The Weather’ springing to mind), these trancelike dirges touch just as closely on the repeating trills of Terry Riley as they do the stripped-down folk of Christy Moore.
The eponymous A-side opens with nymphish vocals, and launches into a humming, drum-machined, pastoral indie jam. Produced with Wratten’s longtime friend Ian Catt – and with vocals from fellow former Field Mice members Anne Mari Davies and Beth Arzy – its guitar strums away like curious thoughts on the wintry passage of time: “the circling of the seasons / the wind of the leaf / their branches to blossom / all of life is here.”
‘Neuchatel’ is unequivocally more ambient, holding fast on drums, and instead offering up a more hidden grotto of undulating, tundric ambience. Natural pops, guitar whirs, and rhythmic bass – courtesy of Field Mice bassist Michael Hiscock – occupies this dynamic but breathable mix. A short and ‘broken’ vocal line peppers up, sonically blurring the lines between vocal and guitar. The sudden dynamic shift between pop and minimalism has the promise for a myriad album, and we’re extremely excited for the LP yet to come.
JIJ
Fouk – Paradise EP (Shall Not Fade)
Dutch duo Fouk make their Shall Not Fade debut here, crafting five energy-rich club tracks on the ‘Paradise’ EP. Daniel Leseman and Hans ‘Junktion’ Peeman have been recording together as Fouk since around 2014, showing up on respected labels including Heist, Razor N Tape, Kolour Limited, and House Of Disco. Looking back at their uniformly high-grade inventory, it’s perhaps surprising that they’ve only tended to average a release or two per year, but the quality of their productions ensures their work maintains a formidable presence across deep house-inclined floors. Exhibiting their warm and funk-flecked aesthetic through the EP, each track on ‘Paradise’ is a safe bet for conjuring club-ready vibrations. The title track sees forceful piano chords and delicate gamelan chimes canter over effervescent percussion as strings gently simmer in the distance, while the emotion-heavy chords of ‘Next Summer’ caress psychedelic synth solos over a steady house tempo.
‘Tough Love’ ups the energy levels a touch, with freaky loops filtering over energetic drums as aberrant synths and far away vocals rally over the horizon. Maintaining the floor-focus, the delightfully upbeat ‘Late Night Snack’ sees irreverent synths dancing over looped chords and vital percussion, before closing track ‘Drugged Out’ sees the EP home with rolling rhythms, sturdy disco bass and hypnotic vocal licks.
PC
Gigi FM’s ‘Magnetite’ EP is one directly born from – and not just catering to – the dance. Aside from her work as a DJ and producer, Gigi is also a dancer, ritualist, astrologer and everything in between. With all said practises feeding into each other in one neat creative whirlwind, Gigi’s music is specially imbued with the context of the body.
This strange, whirly techno project marks her debut release for fellow parisian Bambounou and his new label Bambe. Taken on its own, it has undeniable charm as a smoky belter of crossrhythmic and blossoming proportions, with stabs, bells and arps filtering out from each strange stew. It’s enjoyable enough. But the influence of Gigi’s extra-musical pursuits add a real spice to the mix; cementing her transcendent aspirations related to dance, lead track ‘Senstronaut (MYO)’ was arranged entirely using an MYO motion sensor – an electronic arm band that connects to MIDI via motion, allowing Gigi to build layers on layers of sound purely from arm gestures.
It’s an unusually full-circle feat. With Gigi drawing on Kinesiology (the study of human movement), an additional subtext rears its head, as she connects the dots between ancient dance rituals, modern secular raves, and the cosmic. According to Gigi, the mineral magnetite – an iron ore found in sand deposits, and the most magnetic of all naturally occuring substances on Earth – is central to humans’ core urge to dance. Of course, it was the first substance to lead humans to discover the fundamental property of magnetism.
That in mind, our take on the EP is imbued with a tense north-south dynamism, as fundamental axis shifts occur in our geo-cognitive strata. ‘Manas Pst’ is earthy and cavernous, with deposits of pure bass pulse cropping up in underground spits of djembe, tweet and kick. ‘Ketu’s Dance’ is the fastest and most movable techno bit, hitting on great cosmic wooshes and a reesey melody – both integral parts of Gigi’s firedance, a call to the stars. ‘Tear Drops’, finally, lowers the tone to an ionic tempo, reducing the dancefloor to a hot ferrite isotope. For those who don’t naturally experience the joy of electrosensitivity, this EP is your way in.
JIJ
Austin Ato – When Love Is Tender (Phonica White)
Glaswegian producer, DJ and Musician Austin Ato returns to Phonica White for his latest escapade in sample-laced dancefloor delirium, offering up four tracks on the ‘When Love Is Tender’ EP. Ato is steadily carving out a fine reputation as a purveyor of sophisticated and funk-coated club material, having released superlative work on go-to labels Futureboogie, Delusions Of Grandeur, and Classic, among a handful of others. Generally operating on the sunny side of the dance spectrum, his music is often endowed with a delightfully feel-good quality – something each and every one of us can greatly benefit from during these most trying of times. His latest release fits the happy-making mould rather wonderfully, with each track ostensibly designed with a mind to invigorate hedonistic dancers. ‘When Love Is Tender’ occupies the hazy territory between disco edit and sample-based house jam, with contagious guitar licks, silky vocal chops and rousing horn motifs gloriously bubbling over full-bodied house drums. ‘All Night Long’ follows a similar trajectory while being a few shades deeper, with atmospheric string loops and rolling bass propping up twinkling keys over a dusty rhythm. The title track also appears in an alternative ‘Sweet Mix’, subtly re-framing the key parts with similarly propulsive results. Finally, ‘When Love Is Drums’ jettisons the instrumentation to allow the rhythm to do the talking, with flanging drums adding a space-age feel to the percussive groove.
PC
This week’s reviewers – Patrizio Cavaliere, Jude Iago James