Review: It almost feels like Amsterdam's Rush Hour has been around as long as house music itself. The Dutch powerhouse does it all from new and fresh sounds to classic reissues. For this one, the assured Await 3 brings the party with a selection of hazy and dusty MPC jams with live accompaniment from Jos De Haas of New Cool Collective on percussion and Stefan Schmid from Zuco 103 on keys. The result is a timeless mix of warm-hearted jams, house cuts, broken beats and hazy melodies that are as comfy and frayed around the edges as your favourite jeans.
Review: Lars Bartkuhn sonically portrays his recent relocation to Brazil on his latest ambient / new age LP Dystopia. It's an ironic title for sure, since it hardly sounds like what we'd usually imagine a dystopia to sound like. Perhaps the LP's making could shed some light on this paradox; Bartkuhn's first solo LP for almost nine years, it was born out of two interlinked ideas: a desire to create improvised music without the aid of computer sequencers or an electronic drum set, and a deeply held love of storytelling through sound. It's this revelling in imperfection which perhaps makes the album 'dystopic' - bits like 'Largo' and 'Do You Know How To Get Out' are beautifully rhythmic and driving, despite their apparent lack of computerisation going into the process. Sonically, it's aquatic, malleting, tactile, bubbly, serene.
Review: Rush Hour have released some killer reissues in their time, and this mini-album from Ben Cenac of Newcleus fame, released under the Dream 2 Science moniker in 1990 is no exception, sounding like a conscious response to the warm, soul-flecked offerings of contemporaries Bobby Konders, the Burrell Brothers and Lamont Booker. Amazingly, Dream 2 Science still sounds remarkably fresh, 22 years on. The production, in particular, is terrific. While many house records of the period sound clumsy and dated, there's a timeless quality to the intricately programmed drum machine rhythms, the drifting chords, warm analogue basslines and cute vibraphone melodies.
Review: Dutch label, party and record shop Rush Hour has long been a bastion of quality and their Store Jams imprint is always worth checking. Next up on it is Daniel Monaco who returns with another disco outing featuring Afro-tinged vocals from TK daMonza. 'Mamela' kicks off with feel good energy, streaming pads and a funky bassline that gets you going and brings the love, while the flipside joint 'Kalam Kalam' slows things down with funky twangs and sensors vocals bringing a more playful sound.
Review: Rush Hour has been one of Europe's independent musical powerhouses for decades now. Now only does it have Amsterdam's best record shop, but it throws the best parties and puts put the fresh new records from several different genres. next to that of course they also know how to dig deep and unearth vital reissues, which is what they do here with a triple headed Japanese house affair. Katsuya Sano keeps it OG Chicago with his 'I Need Luv', then Junichi Soma offers the analogue depths of 'Ubnormal Life' and Shuji Wada shuts down with more brilliantly atmospheric sounds on 'Endless Load.'
Review: Having given the Dream 2 Science album the wider audience it richly deserved earlier this year, Rush Hour dig out another NYC garage classic from the archives of Ben Cenac for a much deserved reissue. Unlike that album, this Sha-Lor record Cenac recorded in collaboration with vocalists Sharmelle and Lorrie back in 1988 gained wider success, becoming a Summer Of Love staple. It's not hard to see why "I'm In Love" proved so enduring on the A Side Caught Up mix either, with the duo's vocals still retaining a power to move some 24 years on, while Cenac's stripped back bass heavy production is NYC garage at its finest. This being Rush Hour, there's also the bonus of a previously unreleased instrumental version occupying the flip.
Review: Cult Japanese video game soundtrack designer and happy house hero Soichi Terada's last album Asakusa Light on Rush Hour gets picked apart from some top remixes here. First to go is a former hip-hop beatsmith turned deep house don Byron The Aquarius. He smooths out the grooves of 'Bamboo Fighter' and layers in dusty chords and diffuse melodies that are heartwarming and hypnotic. 'Takusambient' then gets a fine treatment from Alex Attias who brings bubbly chords and bass to a lively deep house cut that is full of subtle party vibes.
Review: For deep house diggers, Soichi Terada has long been a source of inspiration. While he's still active, it's the early '90s material he released on the Far East Recordings label - an imprint he founded soon after his graduation in 1990 - that most excites. Following the 2014 re-release of his sublime hook-up with Nami Shimada, "Sunshower", Rush Hour has decided to put together this excellent retrospective. Compiled by self-confessed fan Hunee, Sounds From The Far East contains a mixture of hard-to-find Terada originals, collaborations, and tracks by fellow Far East Recordings artist Shinichiro Yokota, all in the label's trademark melody-rich, evocative deep house style.
Review: Napoli-based Gigi Testa is next up on the mighty Rush Hour with a third outing on the Store Jams label featuring "some spicy Sichuan flavours straight from the Dragon Temple." 'Sichuan' is the opener and it pairs some bubbly synth lines full of colour with happy piano chords that dance about over nice analogue house drums. 'Dragon Temple' on the flip has a worldly feel with Eastern melodies, nice 80s drum sounds and a squelchy bassline that brings a nice exotic feel to any set.
Review: Dutchman Tom Trago has somehow been away from what was once his home label for a full decade now. He makes a welcome return like a long-lost son on new album Deco, a superbly accomplished record that takes its name from a sauna he frequented when he needed to decompress. Eventually, he put his musical career on hold and went to speed time with his young family and so this album was recorded after a long time away from club dance floors. It is delightfully whimsical with airy melodies, curious chords and majestic synth craft all drifting over barely-there rhythms. It's an album that provided musical therapy for Trago, and now us.
Review: Leon Vynehall's stunningly picturesque "Midnight On Rainbow Road" was one of the undoubted highlights of Gerd Jansen's second Musik For Autobahns compilation, which was released in the autumn of 2015 by Rush Hour. Here, it gets a deserved single release, with the original - a hypnotic, driving-inspired blend of fluid electronic melodies, a wispy percussion and Jonny Nash style glistening guitar lines - being complimented by a brand new "Beat Edit". This adds a slowly unfurling, head-nodding rhythm that takes the track further towards Detroit Beatdown territory. In essence, though, it sounds like an early '90s ambient house jam. That's no bad thing, given that Vynehall seems to have emphasised the sun-kissed beauty of the original in the process.
Review: Bedford-based trio Zenana never made much of an impact when they were first active in the 1980s but have become the toast of the world's media following the rediscovery of their excellent, Italo and Hi-NRG-influenced 1986 synth-pop single, 'Witches', by crate diggers a couple of years back. Here that fine track, originally produced in terraced house in Cornwall by the brother of bandmember Anita Tedder, gets the reissue treatment on Rush Hour's RSS series - thanks, in no small part, to a new (but authentically 80s sounding) extended remix from long-established Bristol DJ/production duo Bedmo Disco. Their flipside 'Spell of Love' version strips back and stretches out the track, taking cues from NYC proto-house, Martin Rushent dubs and mid-80s Shep Pettibone remixes. It's the 12" dance mix the song never had first time round.
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