Ornate Music Vinyl & CDs

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Harvey Jones is on a roll this year, landing releases on Ranges and Echocord and promptly following them up with this refined joint for Ornate Music. He's got a full bodied take on tech house that favours deep, meditative moods but expresses them through bold, richly rendered synth lines and crisp but warm drums. 'New Speak' has a taut house groove powering it, but the mellifluous ebb and flow of the chord line keeps things soft and sensual, while 'Old Speak' plumbs into a dub techno irrigation system without shirking it's responsibilities to the dancefloor. Nail's remix of 'New Speak' amps up the bump, hitting that sweet spot where chunky house music can still cool you down.

Review: Gauss is made up of Chicago's Natan H and Owen Jay, the main man behind the Batti Batti label and countless other high grade deep and leftfield house and techno variations. The vibe is crisp and machine-powered on this collaborative EP, which follows previous appearances on Hizou Deep Rooted Music and Contrast-Wax, leading in with the punchy but mellow electro excursion "Maximum Entropy". There is a shuffle at work on "Bimodal" but still the Detroit influences are at the front and centre of the mix. "Piecewise Dub" veers off into spacious, experimental territory where the beats come second to the strafing synth work, and then "Dweller" finishes things off with some bare bones machine funk.

Review: With the original pressing of the 2013 release long gone but still in great demand, Ornate is thrilled to revisit Leif's Each Day Made New EP and give it a lavish new repress on violet coloured vinyl. When the record originally dropped it received support from artists as well-respected as Larry Heard, Soul Capsule, Jane Fitz and Rhythm Plate, and continues to be spun regularly to this day.

Since then Leif has been on an incredibly productive run, releasing his debut album Dinas Oleu on Fear Of Flying as well as singles on Sudden Drop and Idle Hands. UntilMyHeartStops, the label he runs with Joe Ellis, has continued to build in notoriety with celebrated releases from Steevio, Arnaldo and Duckett, while Leif himself is preparing to release his much-anticipated second LP through the imprint soon.

It's the perfect time to be reminded of a true gem from the London-based artist's back catalogue, from the warm, ear-snagging chords of "Circumstance 4" to the low slung downtempo funk of the title track, and give a few more eager heads the chance to grab a copy.

Review: Nail has been busy in lockdown with a few releases now surfacing in early 2021. The former DIY Discs and Classic man knows exactly how to craft infectious house tunes with high pressure vibes and mind melting synths. He does that here from the off on Ornate music. '313151' is bleepy techno that never lets up while '44151' has drunken synth sounds tumbling over one another and making you move in weird ways. '313154' is a class closer with undulating acid taking you deep down a rabbit hole with no way back.

Review: Reedale Rise is next up on Ornate Music, plying his trade in deep-diving techno and electro on a label that revels in such sounds. Following the trend set out by his turns on Hizou and Frustrated Funk, the pads shimmer and gleam while the leads dart nimbly around the tightly locked machine rhythms on these three extremely tasteful workouts. "Barbary Coast" is a mystical delight of a track that twinkles up top and hits hard down in the rhythm section. "Breath Control" is a more forward-thrusting 4/4 groover, while "Xingu" explores crafty 2-step funk with plenty more of that starry-eyed sci-fi synth play in tow.