Hell Yeah Italy Vinyl & CDs

Review: Finally, four years after their sublime debut album on Church, Italian loose-limbed downtempo magicians Aura Safari are back with a follow up long player. This one comes on the much loved Hell Yeah and is another dreamy and escapist blend of dub, jazz, Afro-cosmic, Balearica and boogie sounds that are all expertly arranged. There's a mix of synths, keys, drums and bass from members Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni and Nicholas Iammatteo that is utterly timeless and immediately heart swelling. Take a second to sink into the likes of 'Riserva Naturale' and you will soon feel your woes melt away, ready to get those hips moving as the sun sets to sounds like 'Magic Malbe.' An essential record that must not be slept on.

Review: Talented Italian collective Aura Safari features well known Italian house producer Nicolas amongst other fine musicians. They have released a fine album on UK label Church but now head to their homeland's Hell Yeah for a debut EP full of magic. 'Lagos Connect' fuses afro drumming with house beats, lush synth work and glowing melodies to make for something beautifully grown up and musical as well as danceable. After the reprise and dub comes 'Morning Rivers,' a super slinky and seductive jazz-funk number with glowing, golden chords and subtle cosmic rays of light.

Review: Kiyotaka Fukagawa released his latest album as Calm on Hell Yeah last year, but the label are wisely taking their time in revisiting the material to give it that extra dose of timelessness. On this second round of remixes, Mark Barrott brings a tasteful dose of Eastern mysticism to "Space Is My Place" on his aptly titled "Re-Imagination To The Sacred Heart Center". Turn the record over for My Friend Dario's "Etna Breeze" version of "Shadows & Lights" - an expansive acid laced ambient dream with a touch of 80s new age. This is classy stuff for gentle souls - Balearic heads take note!

Review: Calm is a Japanese master of downtempo and ambient. He has been turning out his sophisticated full-lengths in this scene for many years, and plenty of them have become cult classics, all while he offers up new tracks that are just as lush. Hell yeah has always been a keen supporter of his work and now the label reissue his early and excellent Moonage Electric Ensemble. It's a mix of spoken words and captivating melodies, downtempo beats, trip hop grooves and new classical melodies all with a fresh jazz sensibility that means it is as smooth and vital now as it ever was.

Review: Don't let the playful, tongue-in-cheek title put you off; this EP does not contain 'Balearic gabba', should such a thing exist, but rather a quartet of largely dancefloor focused remixes of delightful downtempo cuts from the Hell Yeah! Recordings catalogue. SIRS steps up first to deliver a chugging, Italo-disco-goes-Balearic re-make of Carmel 3000's 'Super Rapido', before we're treated to one of Calm's TB-303-laden 'mellow acid' dubs, this time of Sergio Messina & The Four Twenties' gorgeous, soft and sun-soaked 'Sometimes Remember'. Over on side B, Feel Fly delivers a soft-focus Balearic deep house take on Pedro Bertho and Mariana Gehring's 'Tornei', while DJ Spun's revision of My Friend Dario's 'Acid Mosquito in a Summer Night' is a twisted, genuinely psychedelic dub disco excursion.

Review: Max Essa made his name through swathes of releases for Bear Funk, but broke through once more with his essential "Lanterns" LP for Music For Dreams back in 2018. His appearances have been scattered since, but now he makes a welcome return on Hell Yeah with some of that plush, full frequency synth disco business. "Tombolo" is defined by its rich layers of lead chords and cascading electronic percussion, but it's also made even more seductive by subtle splashes of dubby processing. "The Great Adventure" is a cooler jam for more mellow moments, but it's still no slouch in the funk department. "Fool In The Pool" finishes the record off with a truly laid back combination of tabla drums, electric piano and dreamy pads. Blissful, beautifully composed music to let the mind drift to.

Review: Barely a month has passed since the release of Max Essa's latest sumptuous long-player - the lovely "Lanterns" on Music For Dreams - but the Balearic hotshot already has more killer cuts to showcase via a second EP for Hell Yeah Recordings. The real triumph is languid A-side "Han Zoc Roc (Midori Coup)", a gently unfurling fusion of slow motion electronics, gentle beats, meandering melodies and blissful instrumental solos that changes shape several times over 13 mesmerizing minutes. Over on side B, the jazz guitar-rich wonder that is "How You Showed Me Everything" sounds like a tribute to Antenna classic "African Queen", while "Rainbird's Alfafa Jam" is a slightly more energetic workout that could arguably be described as "Balearic funk".

Review: Hell Yeah is a label that is right at the heart of the Balearic sound worldwide. It is studiously run by Italian Marco, who is also a deep-digging DJ himself, a part of the Balearic Gabba Soundsystem and also co-founder of much loved Berlin club night Buena Onda. The night's second compilation is coming soon but before that is this taster which gives you a great cross-section of the sounds to expect: leftfield disco, mature grooves, deep and slow acid workouts and plenty in between. Japanese master Calm really stands out here with his take on Gallo's 'Abysso.'

Review: Ain't no label out there as Balearic as Hell Yeah, the Italy by way of Berlin imprint run by ever deep digging boss man Marco. He keeps summer vibes alive with another masterfully mature party EP featuring fine remixes of the best moments from QUIROGA's last album, Passages. Jazz N Palms, a resident at Ibiza's Pikes and regular at London's Ronnie Scotts, offers a standout track with lively flutes, bossa-rhythms and tumbling live drums on his take of 'Africa Addio.' My Friend Dario is also in fine form as the fledgling producer contuse to save up sumptuous sounds on his aversion of 'Chiaia Sunse'.

Review: While Hell Yeah! Recordings may be best-known these days for exploring the relaxed, sun-kissed world of Balearic beats, the Italian label's early releases were far bolder and more focused on peak-time dancefloors. They're back on that tip on this must-check 12", which comes courtesy of label regular Quiroga (AKA long-serving producer Walter de Vecchio). In its original form (A1), 'Once Again' is a prize chunk of mind-mangling, post acid house sleaze - all rambunctious, brain-melting acid bass, sweat-soaked drums, ultra-psychedelic TB-03 lines and breathless vocal samples. It comes accompanied by two contrasting remixes - the pitched-down, slow acid-with-pianos sunshine of the 'Ambient Mix' and DMX Krew's funky acid-electro pass - and the star-fall electric/nu-disco/acid fusion of the quirky 'Freak The Funk'.

Review: Here is the long awaited debut album from long time musical adventurer Gary Irwin as The Vendetta Suite. Over the years, Irwin has racked up releases of his own on Harthouse, Novamute and Phil Kieran Recordings, while being a frequent studio collaborator with fellow Irishman David Holmes. On The Kempe Stone Portal, released on Italian label Hell Yeah, Irwin explores such disparate genres as krautrock, library and synth music, through to house, downtempo and Balearic across this widescreen 12 track album, which is a testament to his illustrious career in music.

Review: Gary Irwin's musical journey since 1990 has been long and varied, with spells as an in-house engineer at various studios being combined with occasional releases, mostly of a Balearic flavour, as the Vendetta Suite. The Kempe Stone Portal is his first album and draws on a vast archive of tracks built up over 20 years. Musically, it's subtly diverse in the best possible way, with Irwin delivering colourful, atmospheric and emotive cuts that variously draw influence from ambient, new wave, synth-pop, new age, mid-80s AOR, library music, post-punk, dub, shoegaze and much more besides. That it all not only hangs together but also makes perfect sonic sense is testament to Irwin's skill as a composer, musician and producer. Well worth a listen.