Back Catalogue

Review: Having come to the fore with a quite superb outing on Speculator's WT imprint last year, Alex Israel adds another respected label to his discography with the Front Butt EP on Creme Organization. Described by the label as Chicago's own overlord of deranged deep house, Israel comes good on this with four tracks that align perfectly with the Creme Org aesthetic. Misty analogue textures sway rhythmically around the relative calm of opening track "Mongo Raw" which don't really prepare you for the outright jam that follows. "Habituation Micturation" is one of those effortlessly effervescent Motor City productions, raw and dusty and driven by the kind of uplifting melodic touches that tease your feet into action. It also features Detroit secret weapon Kevin Reynolds on speakerboxx duties revealing the frustrations of living in his neighbourhood, specifically some crack head relieving himself on Reynolds' garden fence. The title track adds a certain pensive mood to proceedings, as downtrodden melodic elements duke it out with the relentless jackhammer sounds of percussion before a delightful left turn into freeform ivory tinkling. Those craving some swampy organ sounds will be sated by the closing smudged jacker "White Monkey Holding Peach".

Review: The new I:Cube album is a rapid-fire collection of tracks woven together (there's a clue in that title you know) which takes the manner of a live set. The idea is essentially to bring the dance music album back to its raison d'etre, the dancefloor. To keep things interesting, the tracks are whipped through with a wonderful irreverence, as cheeky radio interludes and impulsive switch-ups keep things from staying too formulaic. Rather than some vision of a smooth, linear DJ set, this album instead takes the stance of creating pleasure through disorientation. Mr Chaix is a master of alluring grooves, and he uses that gift to really mess with your head when he changes tack, as between the edgy bleeps of "Y.O.U.R.O.C.K." and the light-hearted disco stomper "Get The Fever". Those surprise moves keep you engaged through all 23 tracks of this joyous beast. Chaix's lack of pretension is one of his greatest strengths; the I:Cube way is a direct and satisfying one. At no point is it cheesy or hackneyed, but it never tries to be too clever for its own good. With a live feel to match that immediacy, the "M" Megamix is a triumphant statement of what a dance music album should feel like. It might not be a comprehensive answer, but it certainly puts paid to all those "collection of singles" efforts out there.