Clone Royal Holland Vinyl & CDs

Review: Rotterdam-based Ukrainian duo Antenna has got a super discography that includes outings on all the finest labels out there from Pinkman to Guidance to their own Antenna International US. Here they return to Clone Royal Oak for four tracks of deeply atmospheric house music. There is a big and tribal feel to 'Timbales' which is defined by thunderous hits of the eponymous drum as well as some spooky vocals. 'MDF' is more shadowy and paired back. The drum designs are so fresh it's a killer groove before things get all aggy and in your face with the off-balance stop and twitchiness of 'Bodja.' 'Park Life' closes out in reflective fashion with lush harmonies swirling around a big open space.

Review: Finnish producer Arttu Snellman makes a welcome return to Clone's Royal Oak series with the wonderfully named Evvy Steps 12". Those elder selectors out there who lived through the West London broken beat scene and have the record collection to prove it should certainly check this one! Whether it's by design or default, there is a certain bruk heavy charm reminiscent of Dego, Domu et al in their pomp deployed by Snellman here, with the title track really setting the tone. Heavily swung, with killer bassline squiggles, "Evvy Steps" is topped off with a dusty finish and is the kind of track that will work in many different sets. The two B side tracks are just as rowdy!!

Review: Last seen dropping the humongous Klinsfrar Melodies on Creme Org back in 2010, Glaswegian producer Marco Bernardi makes a triumphant return on Clone's Royal Oak initiative with The Burning Love Ensemble, a 12" replete with three potent examples of drenching simple, raw drum machine rhythms with endless layers of emotional melodies. The contemplatively titled "Days Gone By" infers what is to unfold as the track's ruff edged drum groove is driven ever backwards in the mix by layer upon layer of intricate sonic detail which is finely poised at the point of full meltdown. The title track seems like a more streamlined affair initially, all melodic elements aimed squarely for the stars before Bernardi lets loose with a thick square analogue bass tone and the drums start to go mental. Finally, "La Montagne De Reves" delves swiftly into immersive dream like territory, dragging you down willingly!

Review: Clone offshoot Royal Oak strike gold again with two tracks of idiosyncratic house moments from Glasgow's Marco Bernardi. "Innocence Of Pleasure" crafts a multitude of disparate elements and when combined they form something hypnotic. Reverberant string samples bounce between off kilter beats in need of a buff as the track opens before a rousing chord pattern accrues some emotive weight as we head into deep Detroit bizniz. The point where an electronic key melody arrives briefly will delight your senses. The flipside title track, aided by the echoed tones of Aux 88's Keith Tucker, features the sort of driving raw techno rhythm that immediately grabs your attention. Adding some injection is a percussive shuffling augmented by subtle acid bleeps and insistent bass throbs. Issued on nice dark green clear vinyl, this twelve comes with the added bonus of a free digital download.

Review: Clone is one of the oldest active labels in the game, and DJ Fett Burger has been the most singular soundsmiths in the scene for seemingly as long. This coming together of two giants is another successful one with the Sex Tags co-founder flipping Red Scorpions' "Enjoy This Limousine" into a dubbed out techno roller with jittery snares riding on bleeping electronics. Speckgurtel then tackles "Harpo" with an old school rave energy that is muted yet euphoric, before rounding off with his Drumapella version of "Sonnenambiente", which makes an effective early evening house tool.

Review: Clone tempt Psychostasia boss Reggie Dokes into providing yet more sweat addled basement tackle for their Royal Oak sub label, and the Detroit magician responds in kind with the gloriously uplifting sounds of "Haiti". Heavily reliant on bursts on raw piano that cascade around your senses, what really impresses upon repeat listen is the subtle switches in rhythm that occur throughout. Complementing this is "God Of House" a less lysergic, more introspective slice of Detroit ruffness filled with a multiplicity of spell binding instrumental touches. The upwards shift in emotion provided by a rising crescendo of strings is magnificent. Rising Dutch duo Morning Factory grasp the B Side with a heavily stacked rework of Dokes' "Once Again" which ensures this will remain in many a record box over the summer months.

Review: We've banged on about how much we enjoy Felipe Gordon's work before, noting that nearly everything he touches turns to musical gold. Predictably, his first outing on Clone's Royal Oak offshoot is superb, too. Opener 'Impresiones Acidas' is particularly impressive: a near-perfect fusion of hazy deep house, Tourist-era St Germain jazz-house and undulating, near psychedelic acid lines. It comes accompanied by a TB-303-free take, 'Impressiones' (where the original's luscious jazz guitar solos get more of an airing) and two bonus cuts: the sunshine-ready, jazzual deep house wonder of slowly shifting loop jam 'Can't You See' and the chunkier, piano-sporting deep house heaviness of 'Displacing Resolution'. In a word: impeccable!

Review: Randee Jean sees the very exciting prospect of Chicken Lips' Dean Meredith and Andrew Meecham on Clone's Royal Oak imprint, albeit under the new Randee Jean moniker. Given that the name sounds like a long-forgotten New York house producer, it's not surprising "You Got It" provides as glorious a pastiche of Paradise Garage era house as you'd expect, with a strong vocal, jazzy Rhodes and tumbling percussive swing. As ever with Clone, the remix choices prove inspired; Arttu puts his own tweaks on the track to give it a heavier, leaden stomp and thick soupy bass lifted up with its flute melody. Dexter and Awanto3 also team up to deliver two further mixes, one dubbed out funky roller with a spring in its step, and the other with a surprising ghetto flavour. As ever with Clone Royal Oak this is about 100% better than almost all other house records out there, and comes highly recommended!

Review: It is very nearly a full ten years ago that Takuya Matsumoto dropped his masterful EKR's Galactic Dance EO on Clone. Fittingly, it now gets reissued by the ever vital Dutch label. All four tracks explore medic house with deep grooves and a far-sighted sense of reverie. The A-side is taken up with a pair of tunes that are split into two parts and both just roll and roam with a delightful freedom. 'The Sun On The Refugees' has a more unsettled melodic phrasing that loops and loops until its joined with some extra keys that release the pressure then 'Satellite Orbit Funk' is downbeat and dusty house a la Theo Parrish. Superb.

Review: If Dutch duo Morning Factory served notice of their potential on releases for Yore and 20:20 Vision last year, their invitation to the Clone stable has seen them truly blossom! The duo follows a recent remix of Reggie Dokes with a full release on the Royal Oak offshoot that is the starkest demonstration to date of their innate ability to craft house music that sounds both contemporary and respectful of its forebearers. There's a multitude of ways to describe "Fantasy Check" though it's the swathes of piano flourishes that lend the track a winning sheen of loveliness. On the flip, "Diane's Love" implements a cheeky vocal sample - which you should be able to work out from the title - amidst a shuffling house groove that constantly twists inside out. We defy you not to be impressed by this!

Review: The Modular RZ EP is an excellent rough edged material from Naples pair Rio Padice and Massimo De Lena, founders of the Early Sound Recordings label and well acclimatised to working together as part of The Early Sounds Collective with fellow Neapolitan Leskin. The three tracks here are a perfect fit for Clone's irregular Royal Oak series, nudging themselves nicely in the fuzzy grey zone between house and techno and focusing on a tooly approach that keeps the beats straight whilst they work through a raft of bleep laden, analogue movements. The title track has immediate qualities that will appeal to many, but the rugged charms of "The Octave Lord Of Ring Mode" really stand out for us, with dirt encrusted bassline and semi malfunctioning fx lending the production just the right dash of wrongness.

Review: Space Dimension Controller returns to Clone's Royal Oak series in style with the first of five Correlation releases! It was back in 2010 that the then-emerging Space Dimension Controller first landed on Clone's Royal Oak imprint with Journey To The Core Of The Unknown Sphere; since that landmark release the Belfast born producer's career has taken off with successive EPs on R&S which ultimately led to this year's concept-heavy debut album Welcome To Mikrosector-50. Correlation#1 retains the intergalactic motifs that have become a Space Dimension Controller trademark, however the five tracks here find Hamill focusing on a straighter dancefloor approach akin to his earliest releases. His one concession to conceptual themes manifests itself visually with Hamill producing a series of prints relating to the mood and colour of each track. One print has been randomly inserted into each of the records included in this first pressing.

Review: The Space Dimension Controller has landed for another round of Correlation explorations on Clone Royal Oak. Take us to your leader? Nah. Just play us some of your newly discovered space oddities, we say! There's some real deepness to be found in other parts of the universe, as the high tech soul of "Galactic Insurgents" proves. As does "Scatter Scanners" which throws in some seriously funky e-bass and new jack swing influence. The further discoveries are astounding: On the B side "The Trails You Left Behind" is some seriously inter-dimensional electro funk that'd make Gerald Donald stand up and notice, while the haunting "Nova Project" is a dark cinematic cut reminiscent of John Carpenter.